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"Come on! You'd think this town would have something to eat that doesn't have fish in it," Takeshi said with a groan as he slumped his shoulders, walking with heavy steps as his best friend and exceed partner floated beside him in the air. They'd just finished a job not too far from the city, and had decided to stop and grab a bit to eat with their newly earned money on the way back to the guild hall in Magnolia. Buster, his exceed, was more than happy to eat fish three times a day and then some, but Takeshi liked a nice variety in his diet. They'd already had fish twice in the last couple days, he wanted something different.

"Gee Takeshi, you don't usually care what you eat, are you sure you're not still upset about not finding Emerala?" His little buddy asked him in a concerned voice as the black and white striped exceed floated on small, white wings that attached to his back.

Takeshi groaned softly and ran a hand through his messy black hair, which was starting to get so long it nearly reached his shoulders. He really needed to get it cut soon. But yes, of course he was still upset about not finding his dragon, who also happened to be his adopted mother for all intents and purposes. She'd raised him ever since she'd found him wandering the forest as a small child all by himself. He can barely remember much about it, except that Emerala is the one person Takeshi cares about more than anyone else, and he hasn't seen her in years. She'd disappeared without a trace several years ago without even so much as saying goodbye to him.

"I'm gonna kick Max's butt for telling me that bullcrap rumor he says he heard," Takeshi grumbled in a low voice and clenched his fists. He hated that he'd been sent on a wild goose chase, luckily the job he'd taken had been near by, but still. Where the heck was she? Why did she leave him so suddenly and without saying anything? Was she planning on coming back? Was she alive? No, she had to be. Takeshi knew that she at least had to be alive, he wouldn't give up hope that she was.

"I'm sure we will find her someday Takeshi, but I wish I knew how,"Buster said in a sad voice, looking down at the ground.

Turning his head to look at the little exceed, Takeshi grinned and rubbed Buster's head with his left hand affectionately for a second, "Aw, no worries little buddy. I'm sure she'll turn up eventually. We just gotta keep looking and eventually we'll find her," He said in a hopeful voice, his face alight in happiness.

Buster smiled and clenched his fists in determination, nodding his head once, "Aye,"

"Now come on, let's go find some food," He said and continued walking.

All of a sudden, there was a bunch of screaming coming from up the street. But it sounded like excited screaming.

"Salamander! Oh my god he's so hot!"

Turning his head to look at Buster in confusion, Takeshi arched an eyebrow, "Salamander?" But all Buster did is shrug, and Takeshi was off, running at an easy pace to get their quickly and see what was going on. It didn't take him long before he saw a grat number of what appeared to be screaming girls all standing in a circle around one man. The man was dressed strangely in a long majenta robe of sorts, but Takeshi could barely get a look at the guy past all the screaming girls.

Who was this guy?

Takeshi had sworn he'd never heard of any Salamander before, and the guy certainly didn't look familiar to him. But then again, Taeshi was often oblivious to a lot of things, and his memory was absolutely terrible. So he could have just forgotten that he'd ever met the guy. Heck, he couldn't remember what he had for breakfast three days ago.

"What the heck is going on?" He asked in a loud, projective voice as he began pushing his way through the crowd quickly towards where the man stood.

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Takeshi Momori

Takeshi kept pushing his way through the crowd of screaming girls, gritting his teeth in irritation as a few of them tried to push him back towards the back of the crowd, clearly wanting to get as close to this Salamander guy that they could. Takeshi couldn't see why, it's not like the guy was a celebrity, right? If so, Takeshi would have heard about him before. Or at least, he thought he would have. But then again, maybe he wasn't a wizard. Takeshi didn't really follow the news if it wasn't magic related.

But when he got to the front of the crowd, the strange man hadn't become any more known to him, and Takeshi was starting to wonder why he had wasted his time. He should be searching for Emerala, not chasing after some guy named after a lizard, even if he was famous. Shaking his head slightly, he frowned.

"Why the heck are you?" He said in total curiousity and just like that, it was like a bomb had gone off right there in the square. Girls all around him turned around to shoot him murderous glances, yelling at him for asking a simple question. It seemed that they couldn't even begin to believe that he didn't know who this guy was. Apparently, this Salamander guy was quite the big deal, though Takeshi still couldn't figure out why.

"How dare you?!"
"Do you even know who you are talking to?"
"Show some respect!"

Takeshi furrowed his brow as he stood next to some blonde girl he didn't recognize, "Why? Who is this guy?" He asked and looked back at Buster, who had just flown to hover in the air next to his head. Buster simply shrugged and shook his head, clearly making it known that he also had no idea who this guy was. Which meant that Takeshi had never met him, Buster would have told him if they had crossed paths at some point. The exceed's memory was much better than his own.

Sighing softly, Takeshi moved to turn and head back in the direction he'd come, not taking a step quite yet but thinking about doing so. Hanging out here was pointless, it wasn't going to help him find Emerala, and it wasn't [going to help him get a full belly. At that thought, his stomach growled loudly again and he ran a hand through his messy hair, debating what to do. He should probably go and continue his search for something to eat. Looking down at the ground he dipped his hands into his pockets, surprised when they were empty.

"Where's our money?" He asked Buster curiously in shock.

"Don't ask me! You told me you had it," Buster said and shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest.

Hanging his head, Takeshi groaned, "So much for eating...".

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