View source for Seven Days on the Road (Chrono Harlaown)

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2023/11/19
|Location=Aomori
|Synopsis=Chrono's journey on the road wasn't successful, but he learned a few things.
|Cast of Characters=166
}}
Day 1:

Chrono took one step out from the building and his spell completed. Stinger Move went off and he was enveloped in blue magic. His body moved with the magical bolt, a moment later he was there in front of the child. With his second step he leapt, grabbing the child and yanking them onto the sidewalk.

The bus skidded, barely coming to a stop where the child had been a moment before. A few seconds later the bus driver came running out, asking what happened?

Chrono panted for a moment before glaring down at the kid. Why had the kid dashed in front of a bus like that? It was--

…

He then saw the kitten held in the kid’s arms. He yelped and took a step back, before sighing. Of course.

Day 2:

Chrono held his staff aloft, a frown on his lips. The readings were good, but they… weren’t very useful. It might help him locate future Arthra drops, but it wasn’t going to be useful in finding the rest of the crew.

Fenyx, meanwhile, was harassing a group of pigeons nearby. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t really care. Bird was going to bird.

Day 3:

“Is that… there… there’s no way,” Chrono said softly, his eyes wide.

But it was there. They’d actually done it. They’d actually blown it up, the madman (and madwoman).

Niji Dasshu’s face was on a billboard that Chrono was at least 90% sure was homemade with the words ‘Home of the (soon to be) world famous Niji Dasshu!’ He gaped. That couldn’t ACTUALLY be one of--

“She’s a beaut, isn’t she?” a woman with red hair asked, making him jump.

“Uhhhh, I guess?” Chrono said. “Is that… Dasshu-san? From Radiant Heart Academy?”

“YOU KNOW OUR DAUGHTER?!” a rather massive, buff man with black hair asked. Oh dear heavens he was wearing a Niji Dasshu t-shirt. How?

“Uhhhh… yes. She’s one of my friends back at--”

“Come on, come in!” the woman said, all but dragging him into the house, making him squeak. “I just made some fresh takoyaki, it’s her favorite you know. We want to know all about what she’s been up to?”

Chrono gulped and had a feeling… he was in over his head. So much made sense now, at least.

Day 4:

Chrono woke up in a cold sweat, hugging his blankets to his body. He could hear the alarms of the Arthra as it was torn apart by time and space. He could see their faces. Feel the warmth as all of them gathered their magic together in a final attempt to escape.

He could see all of their faces staring back at him. Where was he? Why wasn’t he here yet? Why didn’t he find them? Where was he? He climbed out of the bed and slowly made his way to the balcony, glancing out over the city of Aomori. He had to give Setsuna credit, the resort was nice. Fenyx, at least, was enjoying (and overusing) many of the amenities.

Tonight it looked like he wouldn’t even be using the bed. One henshin later and he was gone.

Day 5:

“Leave them alone,” Chrono said, his eyes narrowed on the pack of hoodlums surrounding the young couple. One of them turned to see him and then gave a short laugh.

“Pfft, and who are you supposed to be?” the man asked.

“Final fantasy villain,” Chrono said without missing a beat. “Leave them alone or you won’t like the consequences.”

One of the men charged him. He nudged his shoulder up, causing Fenyx to fly into the air. He then moved to the side, gripping the man’s wrist with one hand and kicking his feet out when he passed, using the man’s momentum to spin him and make him crash onto the ground a moment later. He was lucky it was dirt and not cement. Even then, it still looked painful and the man showed no desire to stand up again.

Chrono turned towards the other three, who were now focused on him. << Go. Call the authorities. >> a voice said in the heads of the couple, one that would likely be explained as them having been ‘yelled’ to by Chrono later.

A few seconds later the four hoodlums were groaning on the ground, a knife lay beneath Chrono’s boot and Fenyx landed on his arm again. “Hm? No. That was hardly reckless. I was in henshin. Nonsense, I didn’t want to hurt them too much. After all…”

“They might be someone’s Catra as well.”

Day 6:

“I’m fine, Fenyx,” Chrono lied.

He wasn’t fine. He’d failed. He’d failed and he’d failed and he’d failed to find them. He hadn’t found any sign of them. He’d done more scans, more examinations, spread their pictures all over more cities…

And not a single one of them had appeared.

He wondered if his mother was okay. Were any of them okay? He went home tomorrow and… and he’d failed.

He barely even looked up when the mugger ran by, merely striking out with his rod and knocking their feet out from under them, sending them to the ground. For a moment, he felt a stark urge to make them pay for interfering his thoughts… fortunately, he suppressed the urge. Tomorrow he’d go home…

Then he’d find somewhere new. Until the day there was nowhere else to look.

Day 7:

Home. He was… home. Soon he’d see Rashmi and, despite how poorly he had slept the night before, he--

An alert came up. A fire? Well, that was something for the local fire department, right? Not--

Then his sensors alerted him to something else. A barrier. Siiiiiigh. It--

Oh. Wait. One of Nicomachea’s barriers. Slowly, a somewhat goofy grin formed on his lips. She really did have such beautiful barriers. But well, he had to go help. Now. “Come along, Fenyx,” he said, before walking away from the airport…

Odd. It was good to be home.