After the angel twins Keith and Estelle joined us on our travels, we headed to the city of Hanna, a smaller city in the colder parts of Azarya.

"Achoo!" Keith sneezed, as we walked down the snowy path that led to our destination. "Bless you!" Haruka smiled. "Where are we going, Anyways?" Estelle asked, rubbing her arms to try and warm herself up. "Hanna." I said, as I adjusted my dark red cloak. "The city of never ending winter... sounds pretty cool to me!" Haruka grinned, completely unfazed by the low temperatures. "To think that we could even make a snowman!" She laughed.

"Haruka, you are a demon... but why aren't you cold? Dante seems like he's freezing!" Keith snickered. "I'm not cold." I replied. "Well, I'm one of the rare ice demons, so this temperature is actually pretty nice from my point of view." She smiled. We kept walking until we spotted a faint glow in the distance. "There's the city. Only a bit more walking and we can warm up in an Inn..." Estelle sighed in relief. Eventually, we reached the city. It was a city inhabited by mostly Espers, but there were also Humans, too.

Kids were happily running through the streets, grabbing clumps of snow off of the ground and hurling them at each other, and adults walked the streets donning fluffy coats and boots. "Wow... talk about a completely different atmosphere compared to Treehusk..." Keith said, as Estelle nodded. "Oh man, I'm already getting holiday vibes from this place!" Haruka said in a excited tone.

"Well, first things first, were going to have to buy ourselves coats so we don't freeze." I said, spotting a clothing shop not too far away. I began to make my way there as the others followed me. We walked inside, and we were struck with a wave of heat. "Ahhhhh..." The twins and I said happily. "Welcome!" The woman at the register said. Haruka waved, as we all split up, checking out different coats. I just picked out a black coat with soft, dark red lining. The twins picked similar coats. They were both white, but Estelle's had purple accents, while Keith's had yellow accents. Haruka didn't really need a coat, but she picked one out anyways. Hers was Navy blue, with black fur on the inside. We bought our coats, put them on, and walked out of the shop to see an Esper man and a human woman causing a commotion.

They had their weapons in hand. The man wielded a giant claymore, while the woman held a rifle. "This is your last chance, so stop bothering me." The woman said in a serious tone. She had short pink hair with blonde highlights, and wore a military vest. She also wore a skirt, and black combat boots. Her bright green eyes shot daggers at the Esper that stood before her. "Last chance for what? Look sweetheart, I have no intention of hurting a woman, so if you'd kindly put your gun away..." The man said, stabbing his sword into the ground, and resting an arm on the hilt as he lit a cigarette. He had dusty brown hair, and wore a fur lined coat, as well as gray pants, and black boots. He had slight stubble on his chin, as well as an eyepatch on his right eye. He was a Wolf Esper, too. People crowded as they watched this scene unfold. "Don't call me that, it's disgusting." She said, before hesitating to say something else. She remained quiet as the man exhaled a puff of smoke. "I'm not going to let you go this easily!" She raised her gun, as the man sighed, and pulled his sword out. They both charged at each other. I walked between them, and coated myself in a blaze of crimson flames. They both stopped, and backed away from me, as the flames disappeared. "Why don't you two go your separate ways before you accidentally hurt someone?" I asked, glaring, as I put my hands in my coat pockets.

"...Fine. I'll overlook this for today. But mark my words, Kurosaki. You do anything suspicious again, I will have your head." She put her gun away, and walked off. The crowd of people soon began to dissipate. "Not bad. You a mage?" The Esper man said, as I turned to face him. Haruka and the twins walked over to me. "Yeah. She is too." I pointed to Haruka, as she waved. "Neat. Thanks for getting that situation under control. My name is Kurosaki, but you can call me Kuro." He grinned, as he held out his hand for me to shake. "I'm Dante. This is Haruka, Keith, and Estelle." I shook his hand, as the twins and Haruka waved. "Mind if I ask what that was all about?" I asked him, as he smiled. "Nope, I don't mind. Let's get somewhere warm though, they'll freeze. He pointed to the twins as we followed him to a small tavern.

The tavern wasn't too busy, so we managed to grab a table with five chairs. "Alrighty. So, that woman who was quite angry with me is called Ayane. She is a part of the militia, but not fully. She's more like an ex-militia soldier. Believe it or not, she's actually an acquaintance of mine. Anyways, back to the main topic. She seems to see me as some sort of bad guy, because I try to talk to her. Like I said before, we're acquainted, but she doesn't seem to like me." He grinned.

"She seems to see me as some kind of weirdo that follows her around, but I'm really not. I mean, yeah I try to interact, but she's always giving me the cold shoulder." He said, as we nodded. "By the way, you said these two were...?" Kuro pointed to the twins. "I'm Estelle, and this is Keith." Estelle said politely.

"Estelle and Keith... Huh?" He said, thinking. "What is it?" Estelle asked, as he shook his head. "Nothing. Those names just sounded a bit familiar, that's all." He smiled. "Maybe we can talk to her?" Haruka asked, as Kuro closed his eyes briefly. "Nah. I don't think that'll be necessary. She'll probably approach you, Dante. She looked quite baffled when she saw your fire." He laughed.

"Mind if I ask you something, geezer?" Keith asked, as Kuro frowned. "Jeez, I'm not that old. I'm only 28." Kuro frowned. "What was your question, small fry?" He asked, smirking. "How do you use that sword of yours?" Keith asked him, looking determined. "You're asking cause you want me to teach you a few tricks when using melee weapons, right?" He replied, as Keith's eyes widened. "H-How'd you know?" Keith said, clearly baffled. "Because I noticed that you use a hammer, and you've been staring at my sword for quite a bit." He grinned.

This man is surprisingly observant.

Which is a good thing.

"I'll be down for teaching you some tricks, but I need to see how you fight before I do. Then I can tell you what you need to know." He said, stretching. "In other words you're saying you're going to have us take on a quest for proper measure?" Haruka asked, smiling. "Yep. I have the perfect one in mind too." He stood up.

This man isn't really as bad as he seemed when we saw him fighting that ex-milita girl.

He's smart, and he knows how to do things the right way.

This quest will be easy!

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Heya Guys! It's me, WaffleCake!

Oh baby. It's ya boi Kuro back at it again! LOL

Kuro was my favorite character in the original Sky chronicles, and he was a favorite among readers as well.

Originally he was that one guy who was super carefree, but also mature.

I hope to retain those aspects while also making him intelligent and just a good character in general! XD

So, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you guys in the next one! Bye-bye!

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