When school ended and Aiki had woken up, Eiji took him out to go search for Farah. She'd been missing for a while without a trace, so they definitely need to go try and find her. They made it to the city and started to search, assisted by their enhanced senses.
A random guy came and sat down beside Farah after only a few minutes. "Hey."
Farah looked over at him and noticed he was sitting close. "Hello…" She inched away.
"British accent?" he asked. "Hot."
"Please stop talking to me," Farah replied, looking in the opposite direction.
Eiji caught the first little blip of noise that sounded like Farah and got Aiki to follow him. Under normal circumstances, he would have dragged Aiki along, but their arms and hands were pretty damaged from the burns, and he didn't want to hurt them. They spotted Farah and came up behind her, staring down the guy with their eyes aglow like a couple of foxboy bodyguards.
The guy noted the foxboys and his eyes widened. "Uh, okay bye…" He couldn't have left quicker.
Farah looked confused until she saw Aiki and Eiji. Then she stood quickly. "What in the Otherworld are you two doing here?" she demanded.
"We're looking for you, of course… you disappeared after we went inside." Eiji explained softly after the guy had left. Aiki still seemed tired and stressed and not especially chatty at the moment. "We should head back to our house for now, okay?"
"No," Farah protested. "No, I… I came here to leave… It was my fault that you…" She closed her eyes and turned away. "I came here to be alone," she said over her shoulder.
"It's not your fault…" Aiki murmured softly. "It's mine. I-I should've been more careful… I should've been better…" Eiji placed one hand on Aiki's shoulder to get them to stop talking. "It's no one's fault. Training accidents happen all the time. That's what the healers are for, okay? You guys don't need to be blaming yourselves."
Farah closed her eyes and winced. "I want to be by myself right now, alright?" she asked, sharper than she'd meant it to be.
Aiki and Eiji winced as well. "We can't just leave you here by yourself… it's dangerous to wander alone in the city, and you need a license to use your powers to really do anything about crime or whatever."
"A license to use magic? That's insane!" Farah cried, pivoting so her back was to them. She couldn't let them see the tears she was hiding that slowly threatened to spill out.
"Well, it's a safety issue since most people have powers that can be dangerous if used incorrectly… it's mostly an issue with hero work and other authorities who need permission to use their powers against another person directly, if that makes sense. But that's really not that important… is there anything we can do to make you feel better?" Eiji asked softly.
Farah exhaled shakily and contorted her face as if she was in pain. "Help me get home," she answered, practically choking on her words as they came out.
"We're… we're doing the best we can, Farah. We don't really have much interdimensional magic here, if any, so we're really relying on your side to pull through." Eiji explained, trying to be gentle. "I know it's hard, but I promise we'll do whatever we can to get you back home."
"Please, I just need to be alone," Farah demanded as she turned around to face them. Quieter, she added, "Please."
"It's not safe here, Farah… do you even know how to get back to our house? I don't want you to get stranded out here."
"Just let me be alone," Farah repeated. She could feel her emotions bubbling up, and she was desperately trying to suppress them.
Eiji sighed softly and pulled out a little notebook to write something on before handing Farah the little slip of paper after tearing it out. "Fine. But here's my number so you can text me when you want to come back."
Farah took the paper and nodded. “Thank you,” she murmured as she slipped it in her pocket.
Aiki offered their number as well, and after a minute of hesitation, the two of them finally turned and left Farah to herself.
Farah sighed and watched them go, trying not to extend her powers to them. She sat back down to enter the numbers into her phone, and when she was done, she put it on 'Do Not Disturb'. She didn't want to be bothered.
Aiki and Eiji headed back home and explained the situation to their parents so they wouldn't be worried, and then headed up to work on their homework. All the could really hope was that Farah would choose to come back on her own.
Farah eventually stood back up and walked through some of the crowds to explore and clear her mind. As she turned a corner, a group of men, who were standing in the entrance to an alleyway and smoking, noticed her and began to catcall. Farah quickly sped up her pace, tears stinging in her eyes.
Aiki and Eiji were growing worried that Farah still hadn't returned, but they didn't want to upset her by going to find her again. But still, they knew the kinds of people who were in the city, and they didn't want Farah to get into trouble for defending herself.
Farah didn't know how she'd ended up in the city square, but it was where she found herself. Surrounded by people and noise and distractions. She couldn't tell if it excited her or disgusted her, but she kept moving forward.
Eventually, Aiki and Eiji headed out to look for Farah again. It was getting late, and she really shouldn't be out by herself in the middle of a city at night. They called out her name, searching around the city for her.