Chapter Text
The nice thing about traveling Europe by train is that you get to see the landscape change gradually. The annoying thing is that it takes forever.
Reze had been looking out the window for a while, looking at the lush rural landscape passing by. Since they had left the station, suburbs had given way to villages, villages to fields, which eventually gave way to meadows.
“What are you reading?” she asks her travel companion, who was sitting opposite from her in the compartment.
“Nobody's Boy. It's by some French guy named Malot.” Miri Sugo replied, looking up from the paperback he had been immersed in since their trip had started a few days back.
"Why are you reading a children's book?"
"It's not only for children! It's a classic!" he pouts "Also, it was one of the few things she shop had in a language I can read. It's about this orphan kid, who travels Europe with his friends and despite facing lots of hardship, he also meets lots of kind people who help him out.” he beamed, apparently excited to share this information with her.
“Sounds unrealistic to me.” she sighs.
“Don't be like that Reze! Stuff like that happens all the time! Just think of the old lady who gave us directions to the platform earlier.” he waved the book in order to stress his point.
Reze rolled her eyes “She stole your wallet.”
Shocked Miri reached for his pocket and found it empty.
“Don't worry! I stole it back for you, when I said I'd go to the bathroom before departure.” she tosses him the black leather purse from her bag.
“Wow! Thanks! See, good things do happen!” he smiles, but she just shakes her head.
He's been like that the whole trip. Ever since they found themselves on this secret mission while also on the run from his and her former employers, he's been annoyingly positive. He even insisted on visiting some of the typical tourist attractions.
“Make the most of it, while we are already here!” he had called it.
She'd rather call it a potentially dangerous waste of time, but since nobody would possibly expect two of the most wanted deserters to just go sight seeing, she had begrudgingly agreed.
“You are surprisingly unamusing for what Denji told me about your time together.” he now said, casually, but to her it felt like being stabbed. It took her a moment, before she was able to ask: “What exactly did he tell you?”
“That you are a really fun person to be around.”
After a grim snort she replied: “That's because I played that role in order to get to his chainsaw heart. I was literally send to kill that idiot.”
“Yet he's still alive and kicking.” Miri countered, a little too amused for her liking.
Reze didn't want to answer to that. This whole affair was something she still felt deeply ashamed about. Still she felt the longing to know what Denji had told this guy about what happened back then. But he probably knew the basics. He had been with Public Safety too and certainly he had seen the media coverage of their battle downtown. She wondered why she even still cared about all that. It was all long in the past. Now she had a mission to fulfill!
“He also mentioned that you wanted to run away back then.” Miri added, because the silence felt awkward to him.
Reze actually growled: “Did that idiot really have to spread out all this embarrassing stuff in front of everyone he knows?!”
“I don't see what's embarrassing about that. While I was tied to Miss Makima, all I could think of was running away.” Mir replied with a sincerity that totally deflates her anger.
For a moment she just sulks in silence. Damned Denji! Damned stupid puppy eyed idiot!
“I've actually always hoped that I could travel like this one day. So this mission is actually kind of a dream come true!” Miri smiles, while looking wistfully out the window, before returning to his reading again, leaving Reze slightly puzzled.