Leon hummed to himself, navigating the slippery rocks with all the grace of a ballet dancer. He kept his eyes on the offending slime that coated the rocks, whose very mission was to send the four humans careening into the muck. Trailing behind Hakuren, almost like a second shadow, Leon was careful not to get his shoes and jeans dirty, He’d have to look horrendous for days on end and that didn’t really sit well with the young lad. No, not at all, Leon decided, prancing from one rock to another and getting ahead of Hakuren and Leila.

He was just balancing himself on a protruding piece of bright blue stone when Mado ran off, wielding the whip she’d brought along with her. He ducked at the last moment, the whip missing him by mere centimeters. What on earth was this girl doing? Leon stumbled backwards, careful not to land in the disgusting muck. He wasn’t sure he could handle parading around in muck-covered jeans, that was for sure. His foot landed half a meter behind him on another rock, where it proceeded to slip from under him again. He frantically searched for another one before stepping onto another one, heaving a sigh on relief when he found stable footing. He liked this cave less and less. What being with at least [i]one[/i] brain cell would come to these caves to leave clues? Or perhaps they were sadistic, annoying Nobodies that liked watching others struggle. He would’ve bet that somewhere up towards the roof, hiding amongst the stalactites was a Nobody or even the witch herself, somehow coming back from life. 

His ridiculous thoughts went on in that vein for a while, until he saw Mado loose her footing and land in the very same muck he was trying to avoid. At least she had stopped brandishing the whip. Watching her made Leon nearly slip himself and he flailed lightly, regaining his balance before righting himself. He watched her land in the dirt and felt a little bit of pity for her. But it was interesting. Of course, until he saw that she was still wearing his jacket. His heart wrenched a little bit for his precious piece of clothing as Leon almost reached out to it, beckoning the jacket back to him, back to safety. Luckily, it wasn’t splattered with mud (or whatever it was).

“Mado-san, please try not to get my jacket dirty. It’s precious.” And pretty, Leon added to himself. 

Inwardly crying, he turned towards Mado, intent on watching her so that she wouldn’t fall again, dirtying his jacket in the process. Of course, that threatened his face with the possibility of several whip-lashes but it was worth it. He did feel a bit bad about her shoeless state but he sure as hell wasn’t giving his shoes up this time. Instead, he slowed down, waiting for Mado to catch up. 

“Hakuren-san, how much farther?” Leon was beginning to get bored. Playing hopscotch in a leaky, damp cave was fun for only so long. What were they even looking for?