Island Ptichka, Evening.

"The Bird Tribe is just as unique as the other ones; we are lucky that we came here while the Bird Tribe was in the middle of organizing a festival..."

"It seems we will get to see fireworks tonight around 9:00 PM!"

A cute smile appeared on Lia’s face as she took a bite of the cotton candy that she was holding in her hand and then took a sip of chilled soft drink held in her other hand.

Rio nodded his head at those words as he lightly held Lia close to him by placing his hand on her slender waist so that she wouldn’t get separated from him in this crowded place.

"In the past two days, we explored Felina Island and Dreamer Island; they were good and had their own unique charms, but Island Ptichka is much richer in scenery and famous tourist spot numbers..."

Island Felina was the primary home of the cat tribe and its various sub-tribes that included tigers, lions, etc., all types of feline-type beast folk.

Island Dreamer, on the other hand, was ruled by the dog tribe, and its name ’Dreamer’ was also inspired by the bloodline ability ’Enhanced Intuition’ that many high-rank awakeners of the dog tribe awaken naturally as they get stronger.

The island was filled with many training maniacs, and there were hundreds of private and public training organizations everywhere; it was more a military fortress than a tourist spot, as most Dog People liked to train like crazy.

Unlike Felina Island, where the cat tribe was mostly focused on agility and speed, the dog tribe was focused on strength and defense.

Link immediately fell in love with the island the very moment Miki introduced its culture to the group and thus went to watch the various training grounds and related stuff with Riya.

And Miki couldn’t just let them charge into random private training organizations’ buildings; she had to stay with Link and Riya.

Thus, the group split up as Rio and Lia decided to explore Island Ptichka, which belonged to the Bird Tribe.

And sure enough, they weren’t disappointed at all as they found out that the bird tribe was holding an annual festival two days later.

Thus, Rio and Lia decided to inform Link and the others about it too.

In the end, the group decided that they would explore the various islands for the first two days of the vacation and then go to the festival on the night of the fireworks show together!

While enjoying and traveling, two days passed by pretty fast; Rio and Lia explored various islands together.

Some were empty islands with no population and not much to see, but there were some islands that had amazing scenery, and thus Lia and Rio spent quite a bit of time exploring them all.

There were many more islands in the beast archipelago, but they were either military bases or private properties of various big companies, so Rio and Lia didn’t bother going to them.

After wandering around to their hearts’ content and spending quality time together, Rio and Lia came back to Island Ptichka for the festival and the fireworks show, which was going to be held today.

"Link said they would meet us at the central fountain plaza of the east side half an hour before the fireworks show starts. We still have a little bit of time before that, so what do you want to do next?"

At Rio’s question, Lia’s eyes fell on the Ferris wheel in the distance, shining brightly with beautiful colors under the darkening sky.

"Let’s go there! It’s been a while since I rode one of those!"

To S-rank awakeners like them, flying in the sky was already pretty much normal, so the enthusiasm for amusement park rides wasn’t very attractive to them anymore.

But the rides weren’t what the two of them cared about the most; they only cared about the fact that they were both together, and going to the Ferris wheel was just an excuse to spend more time closer to each other.

"Indeed, I wanted to go there too... let’s go..."

While clinging to each other closely and enjoying the tasty junk food, the two of them rode on a Ferris wheel and sat beside each other as they held hands and looked at the full moon shining amidst the starry sky.

"I feel like it’s been ages since we last went on dates... I think the last one was that aquarium date before you went to the spirit realm and I went on my training mission..."

Lia leaned her head against Rio’s shoulder as she took a long sigh while thinking about the past.

In the past year, so many things happened that their lives changed a lot.

Rio became one of the most famous S-rankers in the world as he became a bane in the eyes of the criminals all over the world.

Although the spirit realm didn’t affect Rio physically, as he was immune to miasmic corruption,

The things he experienced inside of it did make a major impact on his mind as he learned a lot and grew tremendously after that mission.

Lia, on the other hand, went through a near-death experience, made new friends that she could not meet again, and became even more mature than before.

Both of their lives were packed with misery, constant, never-ending hard work, and thirst for more and more power. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

If it were a regular couple that behaved like them, the couple would have not lasted longer than a few months at all, and both parties would have broken up with each other after such long intervals of remaining separated from each other.

For Lia, the training mission was just a few days long, but for Rio, it was almost an entire year in which he fought hundreds of people, experienced countless schemes, and watched many tragedies happen in front of him.

If it were anyone else in Rio’s place, they would have long become an entirely different person after seeing so much, and perhaps even their love would have become nothing but a forgotten memory.

But the situation between Lia and Rio was unique.

They both knew about each other’s difficulties, and even if they were separated for years, it was possible for them to remain just as affectionate for each other as they always were.

"When I was younger... I used to feel envious of everyone who had loved ones and was happy... I was envious of Kira to the extreme..."

"But now... I think I have found my own reason to live for... I don’t need to be envious of anyone anymore... Thank you, Rio; you are the biggest blessing in my life..."

Looking at the amazing scenery outside the Ferris wheel cart while leaning against Rio’s shoulders, Lia felt emotional.

Seeing her like that, Rio smiled lightly as he wrapped his hand around her and spoke,

"You are a bigger blessing to me. I am the one who should be thankful that you accepted me..."

Seeing Rio trying to compete with her in a battle of who loved the other more among them both, Lia felt a bit rebellious as she held his face with her hands and spoke while leaning forward.

"I am the one who loves you more than you love me!"

To secure her victory, Lia didn’t let Rio speak anything against her statement as she sealed his lip with her own!

*Whistle~* *Whistle~*

"Hah? Will you look at these two lovebirds! Here we are all waiting for you two to arrive, and you guys are busy in your own world by yourself!"

Lia hurriedly pushed Rio away as her face reddened in embarrassment after the sudden voice interrupted her attempt to overpower Rio.

"Th-that’s not it! We were just about to make our way to you guys!"

At some point, Riya had flown over to the Ferris wheel in search of the two of them, as it was almost time to meet and they still hadn’t arrived at the agreed location!

"Where’s Link and Miki?"

Ignoring the teasing look on Riya’s face as she felt smug after catching the two of them being lovey-dovey, Lia immediately changed the topic!

The Ferris wheel also came to a stop at that time as Riya landed on the ground, waiting for the couple.

"There’s this arm-wrestling competition going on near the central plaza that has a big stuffed plush toy as a reward; he’s competing in that to win it for me..."

"As for Miki, she went to buy some snacks for us all... You two are the only ones who are late; hurry up or we will all miss the fireworks..."

At Riya’s words, Lia and Rio nodded their heads and followed Riya as the trio headed towards the central plaza in full swing!

"How was your vacation the past two days? Where did you and Rio go? Tell me all about it..."

As the two girls met, they immediately started to gossip with each other about their respective dates and vacations with bright smiles on their faces.

Rio could only stay silent and follow them quietly, as he found it difficult to interject into the girly topics of the two.

Thankfully, the central plaza was not too far away, and they reached it pretty fast.