And so it was that the two of them spent each afternoon together. After the bus dropped them off they would walk to Yuri’s house to do homework, then goof off as they saw fit, or at least until it was time for Chloe to head back for dinner. Often they would play games like tag or hide-and-seek, but other times they would simply talk about school that day. Initially Yuri’s mother would also be at the house with them along with his sister Tasha. But she would often be in a room by herself, never interacting with them. As for his father, he only came back from work around 6:00 and was too tired to ever speak to them. As soon as he came in the door he would trudge straight to the refrigerator, grab a bottle of liquor, and sit down in the den to watch TV. And so only Tasha accompanied them, much to Yuri’s dismay.

“Oh come on. Why can’t she join us?” Chloe asked. It was a normal day after school. The two of them had just finished their homework and were about to play a board game when Tasha waddled up to them with a candy bar in her mouth. She pointed to the board and said “I wanna play!”

“No!” said Yuri. “We’re already playing! Go away!” He then glanced at her candy bar. “And where on earth did you get that?”

Chloe glanced away, hoping Yuri wouldn’t notice her guilty face. Unfortunately Tasha pointed her out and Yuri knew right away where she had gotten the candy.

“But we just started. Oh come on, let her play.”

“But she’s five! She can’t even play chess!” Yuri protested.

“Neither can you.” Scoffed Chloe as she moved her rook to knock out Yuri’s pawn.

“Oh come on!” Yuri threw up his hands in frustration. “And that’s another thing. How come you’re so much better than me?”

Chloe giggled. “I’ve had practice.”

Suddenly Tasha grabbed hold of Chloe’s rook and ran off with it. Chloe chased after her to grab hold of her “horsey,” as Tasha called it. Yuri followed, knocking over the chess board. “See what you made me do!” he yelled at his sister, pointing accusingly at her. He eventually caught up to Tasha and attempted to wrestle the piece away from her, prying it out of her hands.

“Hey!” Tasha protested, trying to grab her “horsey” back. Chloe rushed over to reclaim her rook, but Tasha wouldn’t have any of it.

“Mine!” she cried.

“Now look Tasha…” Chloe began, only for Tasha to start wailing. She and Yuri exchanged glances. It seemed they were at an impasse.

“Hey, listen.” Chloe sighed. “Would you like to play with us?” Yuri groaned at the suggestion, but her knew there was no other way.

“Yay!” Tasha squealed. “Can I use the horsey?”

“Yes,” Chloe said. “You can use the ‘horsey.’ Though it’s called a rook. Come on, I’ll show you how to play.”

The trio froze as a hallway door flung open. Out stumbled Yuri’s mother. “You!” she said, pointing to all three of them. Yuri flinched. “Go outside. I can’t get any sleep with all this racket.” Chloe thought there was something odd about the way she spoke, as if her voice was still heavy with sleep.

Immediately Yuri jumped and grabbed Tasha by the hand. “Come on.” he told Chloe. “Let’s go.” Chloe started to say something, but thought it best to simply follow along. They spent the rest of the evening playing what Tasha thought chess should be.

The next day as the two of them walked home from school, Yuri tugged at Chloe’s sleeve. “Um, do you think we can go to your house today?”

“Why?”

“Uh, no reason.” He continued to trudge quietly onward. Chloe stared at him, knowing there must be an answer. Eventually Yuri gave in and sighed. “My mom thinks you’re too…”

“Too what?”

Yuri stammered. “Too ‘disruptive.’”

“What!?”

“Yeah…”

Chloe thought about this a moment. “Hold on. I’ll go inside and ask.” As soon as they arrived at her house she did just that. Ana was confused as to why, but otherwise agreed to have Yuri over. From that day forward the two of them hung out at her house. Sometimes the Naptyas would even let him eat dinner with them, not that they minded. "Anything to help out the family of one of my workers!” Armin would say. They would always chat with him and soon he became a regular part of their weekly routine.

And then one day he stopped coming. When asked why at school, Yuri gave no direct answer. Whenever Armin and Ana asked about him, they grew concerned because Chloe honestly did not know what to say. Then they came up with an idea. One weekend at breakfast Ana slipped Chloe a small wad of cash. “Here,” she said. “It’s not much, but why don’t you and your friend go into town today. It’s nice outside. Go have some fun.”

Excited, Chloe thanked Ana, took the money and ran to Yuri’s house. After knocking on the door she waited a minute only for Yuri’s mother to answer the door. “You!?” she scoffed. “What do you want?”

Chloe was a little taken aback by this, but undeterred. “Could Yuri come out today?” she asked, to which the door was shut in her face. She just stood there, perplexed. Perhaps Yuri’s mother went to go get him. It took long enough. After fifteen minutes the door cracked open and Yuri stepped through with a wide grin on his face.

“Finally!” Chloe said. “What took you so long?”

“Sorry. I just got ready. So where are we going?”

“Into town. You haven’t been there much, have you?”

“Uh-uh.”

“Alright! I’ve got lot’s of places for you to see!”

Yuri ran ahead of her. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go! Race you to the bus stop!”

“Hey, no fair!” Chloe cried, running after him. They eventually made it to the bus stop out of breath. Once they arrived into town Yuri asked “So what’re we gonna do?”

Chloe pointed to an open air market just across the street. “They’ve got lots of stuff.” Yuri just stood there, taking it all in. “Well come on!” Chloe waved, “Let’s go!”

The two of them rushed over to the marketplace and began poring over all the wares on display. The place was particularly lively with farmers, vendors, and customers all mingling together, and Yuri fed off of their energy. He ran from stand to stand, ooing and awing at the variety of fruits, vegetables, and pastries on sale.

“How much is this?” He asked, scooping up a handful of dates.

“Seven tomar a kilogram young man.” said the stand owner.

“Seven!?” No thanks!” Yuri walked up to Chloe. “Can you believe what they were asking for a bunch of those?”

Chloe thought to herself for a moment, then gazed down the row of stands. “Hold on a second.” She ran off and disappeared around a corner as Yuri stood there wondering what on earth she was doing. A moment later she returned with a bundle of cloth in her arms. “Here, try this on.” she said, unfolding it and holding it in front of him. It was a brightly colored blue and gold tunic with intricate patterns of fire and stars woven into the fabric.

Yuri was now more confused than ever. “What is that?”

Chloe beamed proudly. “It’s a traditional Artabanian costume. I found them on sale for really cheap. Try it!” Yuri was reluctant to put it on, but as Chloe was adamant he obliged begrudgingly.

“There, you happy now?” The tunic felt surprisingly light and comfortable, even over his slacks and button-up shirt in the heat.

Chloe tilted her head and scratched her chin. “Hmm, you need a hat. Come on!” She dragged him by the sleeve toward the clothing stand.

“But I don’t want a…”

“Here!” Chloe placed a small black cap on his head. After looking him over she clapped her hands and exclaimed “Perfect!”

“May I take this off now? I feel… silly.” Yuri groaned.

“Aww, why? You look so cute! Like you could be a prince from the old days.”

“Pffft! The prince of what? Cleaning my room?”

Chloe grabbed hold of his sleeve and held up the fabric. “See this? Ana says this pattern represents wisdom from heaven. Maybe you’re a wise prince?”

“Shut up!”

Chloe then gave a deep bow and giggled to herself. “Oh wise prince Yuri, what shall we do next?”

“Stop it!” Yuri protested, but he couldn’t help but laugh along. Then Chloe saw his face and the two burst out laughing and couldn’t stop. Finally, red in the face Yuri said “Well since you insist, I guess we’ll go get something to eat.” With that he began to remove the tunic and hat, much to Chloe’s dismay.

“Aw, but I already bought those.” She picked up the clothes from the ground and put them into a bag. “Fine.” She looked at her watch. “I guess it is time to eat.”

As they crossed the road they spied some smaller buildings, newer shops to explore. These were the shops with more expensive goods. Yuri was particularly fascinated by a small shop of consumer goods. “Woah, would you look at that!” He pressed his nose against the glass storefront.

“What? What is it!?” Chloe asked. She peeked into to see a row of large television sets, one of which was linked to a smaller console. On a sign was written “New! Now with over One-Hundred Games!”

“Oh, yeah I’ve heard of those, but I’ve never seen one in person.” Chloe said.

“I want one! We never had video games where I’m from.”

Chloe eyed the price tag. “It’s awfully expensive. I don’t know how anyone can afford one.”

“Yeah.” Yuri sighed. “Let’s still go and check it out at least.” As they went inside and browsed the array of electronics, Chloe was struck by how much the world had changed, even in her small town. Formerly such wares would never have been thinkable, and now goods from across the ocean appeared in her home market. It was both wonderful and saddening to see such change, like the comfortable old town was gradually being replaced. Yuri however lapped it up, poking and prodding at each machine, prompting the shop owner to react. Finally the owner shooed them both out for fear of breaking something.

“Well,” Yuri said. “That happened.”

“Let’s get something to eat.” Chloe dragged Yuri back towards the market where there was a vast array of foods cooking, baking, and frying. The smells of salt and spices captivated both their senses as they took deep sniffs of the air. Yuri waltzed to one stand in particular and looked longingly at a row of kebabs frying over a grill. “I don’t know what those are, but I’ll have two please!” he said, and forked over a large wad of money. As he took a bite his eyes lit up. “Mmmm! Here Chloe, you gotta try this!” He gave one of the kebabs to her. Chloe took a bite. “Wow! This is good.”

They continued walking and talking, all the while eating their kebabs. Yuri told her about his idea to grow rich from growing a date farm. “Do you really think it will work?” Chloe asked.

“Of course it’ll work! Just think of all the money they make at the stand! I figure you could just buy a few seeds and grow your own orchard! You’d make a killing!”

They arrived at the end of the sidewalk and waited for traffic to pass.

“But where would you get the water?”

Yuri looked thoughtful. “Hmm, I dunno.” He took another bite of his kebab and looked across the street. “I guess you could get it from…”

“Look out!” Chloe screamed. Suddenly Yuri found himself knocked down on the ground. As his face hit the dirt he heard the screech of tires and honk of a horn. As he cleared the dust from his face he barely registered Chloe sprawled on top of his leg and gritting her teeth and pain as the door to a red sports car swung open.

The driver practically jumped out of his car as he screamed at them. “Hey get out of the way! If I see one dent of my car…”

Both Chloe and Yuri got the message and he helped her up and ran as fast as they could across the street. They stared at the driver as he angrily looked his car over, then got back in and sped away.

Chloe shot the driver an icy glare. “City drivers are so rude!”

Yuri stared at her leg in horror. It was covered in dirt and bruises. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine. It just hurts a little. Chloe clenched her teeth as the two of them hobbled along. “You should worry about yourself. Just look at your pants!”

Yuri looked down to see one of his pants legs torn and dirty. “Uh-oh, I hadn’t noticed that.”

“It’s not bleeding is it?”

Yuri checked. “No, not really.” He lowered his gaze. “My mom’s gonna kill me.”

“Why do you say that?”

Yuri stared tentatively at the ground, avoiding her gaze. “I didn’t tell you this, but I’m not supposed to be out there with you. My mom wouldn’t let me.”

This upset Chloe more than it shocked her. “Why!?”

Yuri heaved a heavy sigh. “I dunno. She just said I spend too much time with ‘that girl.'”

Chloe took exception to this. “Hmph. ‘That girl.’” She folded her arms and sat down on the ground.

Yuri sat beside her. “Yeah. She really doesn’t like company I guess. That’s why I wanted to race you to the bus stop. I didn’t want my mom to catch me.”

They decided it was time to go back home. As they walked, or hobbled, back to the bus stop, Yuri bought some bandages and helped Chloe wrap them around her leg. She insisted that she do the same to Yuri, but he refused. “I’m fine. Just a scratch and torn pants is all.”

Chloe smiled. “Well okay then. If you wanna just tough it out, then be my guest.”

Yuri huffed. “No, it’s not that!.. Oh well, forget it.” As they walked home he caught sight of his housing complex and stopped. “Oh, I’m in for it now…” Taking a cautious step forward he waved and said “Bye Chloe. I’ll see you in school tomorrow. Maybe.” Chloe watched as he walked away, then headed home herself. Her leg felt a bit better now. The car apparently did not hit her too hard. Still, she felt guilty at the thought of Yuri getting into trouble, all on account of her.

Ana of course reacted almost immediately when she saw Chloe’s leg and it only grew worse when she told her what had happened. After soaking it in some water and scrubbing away the dirt, they both went into the kitchen as Chloe helped Ana prepare dinner.

“Must've been from the city. I don’t know what it is about those people. All money and no sense.” Ana scoffed. Then in a much cheerier tone she asked “Well other than your little run-in today, how was your time? Did you have fun?”

Guilt still coursing through her mind, Chloe didn’t answer. Ana gave her a worried side glance. After thinking over an answer, Chloe decided all would be well. She looked up at Ana, then back down at the pot she was stirring, and gave a tentative smile. “Yes.” she said. “I did.”