"What are you doing?"
Emiri shrieked, jumping up from the bar stool she'd been sitting on and turning around to find Kirito standing at the bottom of the stairs leading from the inn rooms to the bar. As she watched, he walked over to her, and moved to grab the notebook she'd left on the counter, and even though she was much closer, he somehow still managed to grab it before her.
She wasn't going to let that stop her, though, as she stepped up to him and held out her hand, palm up. "Give it back."
"What's in here?"
"Nothing that concerns you, now give it--Don't open it!"
He slammed shut the pages he'd began flipping open, and sighed, lowering the notebook to his side. "Why are you even awake?"
"I could ask you the same question."
He paused. "I couldn't sleep."
"Me either."
Emiri nodded at her hand. "My notebook. Now."
"What's so important about it?"
"Doesn't matter to you, now give it back!"
He sighed before holding it out. Emiri snatched it back immediately, tucking it into the pocket of her jacket for safekeeping. She huffed before sitting back down on the barstool. Kirito sat down beside her, tapping his fingers on the surface of the bar.
"So, what's in the book?" He asked.
Emiri crossed her arms. "If you must know, it's a journal."
"A journal?"
"You know, like a diary--"
"I know what a journal is, but...why do you have one?"
"Because besides Sachi it's the only thing that keeps me sane!" She snapped. At his surprised look, she took a deep breath and laid her forehead on the counter.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be." He shrugged. "We all have to find ways to stay sane here, I guess. For some people, it's their determination to escape, and for others...well, I don't know, it's kind of impossible to know what everybody does, huh?"
"It is." Emiri glanced over at him and narrowed her eyes. "Kirito, are you going to go with Keita tomorrow to buy the house?"
"No, why?"
She smiled. "Because I just had an idea."
"Sword-fighting? He's going to teach you sword-fighting?"
"Well, you have to admit I'm really bad at it." Emiri grinned at her sister. She was sitting on the bed opposite Sachi in their room at the inn. It was early in the morning on the day Keita planned to find a house to purchase for the guild. The rest of them weren't going with him, but they were going to see him off.
Sachi smiled. "That is true. And if anyone can teach you, it's Kirito."
"What's with that tone?" Emiri frowned, getting up to sit next to her sister. "Do you have a crush on him or something?"
"What? No!" She blushed, turning away and crossing her arms. "Okay, maybe...but that's not what I was talking about!"
"Fine, then what were you talking about?"
"I'm talking about his level." She turned back to face Emiri, but now she looked more excited than embarrassed.
"What do you mean by that?"
"He isn't level 20, he's nearly level 50, Em!" She was grinning now, but Emiri didn't exactly share her enthusiasm.
"What are you talking about, Sachi? He can't be that high of a level. And if he is, what the hell is he doing down here in the dregs with us?"
"Well, I don't know that, but I saw his stats when he wasn't looking. It's true."
"Alright, alright, I believe you." Emiri sighed. "I don't get it, but I believe you. If he's that strong, why isn't he fighting on the front lines with the assault team or something? Wouldn't he be more suited for the Knights of the Blood Oath or the Holy Dragon Alliance guild?"
"Well, of course he would, but he's here with us instead, and that clearly means something. I just don't know what."
"Maybe I'll ask him tonight when he's teaching me to fight." Emiri took a deep breath before standing up and holding out her hand for Sachi to take. She smiled and grabbed onto Emiri's hand, hugging her tightly once she was on her feet.
"Thanks, Emiri." Sachi said. "I love you."
Emiri smiled, ruffling her hair. "I love you too, Sachi. Now...let's go see Keita off. Tonight, we'll have a house to call our own!"
"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Emiri called up to the front of the group for the fourth time. "I mean, Keita doesn't know we're here, and what if something happens--"
"Oh, chill out, Emi!" Ducker turned around with a huge grin. "What's gonna happen? Keita's getting the house, but we're getting the cor to buy furniture. Besides, we've got you and Kirito, remember? If anything does happen, you two will take down whatever monsters dare threaten the Moonlit Black Cats!"
"I-I don't know, this doesn't seem--"
"Look, there's the entrance!" Tetsuo shouted, bringing Ducker's attention from Emiri to the front. He ran forwards and paused at the door.
"Are you all ready?" He asked, but he didn't wait for responses, and instead turned around and shoved the door open.
"A treasure chest!" He exclaimed. "Ah, guys, we hit the jackpot!"
Ducker, Tetsuo, Sasamaru, and Sachi all ran together into the room. Emiri moved to follow behind, drawing her bow, but then she heard Kirito start to yell. "Wait! Stop! It's a trap!"
"What?" Emiri halted right inside the door, and Kirito spun around, trying to push her out of the room, but before he could the door slammed shut and the room turned blood red.
Kirito cursed under his breath, drawing his sword. "Stay out of the fight, Emiri!" He told her before running to where the others were all standing in a circle.
Emiri grit her teeth, clenching her bow like a lifeline. "Kirito! What the hell--" Then she saw them, hundreds of armored white soldiers melting from the walls and converging on the others. They didn't seem to notice Emiri standing alone at the back of the room, but they definitely noticed Sachi, who looked scared out of her mind.
"Sachi!" She yelled. "Sachi!"
It was useless; their teleportation crystals wouldn't work, and there were too many of the armored soldiers for them to fight. As if to prove her point, several of the soldiers split from their ranks and slammed into Ducker, throwing him to the ground. Immediately, they began whaling on him with their weapons until he burst apart.
A scream wrenched itself from Emiri's throat at the sight, and her body moved of its own accord. She dropped her bow and ran forward, only to stop short when four of the soldiers blocked her pat, holding up spears and advancing towards her. Behind them, she could see Tetsuo get slashed in half by another of the soldiers, and Sasamaru be thrown across the room and burst apart. They were gone, and Sachi...
Sachi was standing in the center of a ring of the soldiers with her spear in hand, but she wasn't using it. Kirito was too far away to help, and even if he were, there was no way he could kill so many to get to Sachi. Emiri pulled out her dagger, even though it was no use against the soldiers, because she wasn't going to go down without a fight. If she was going to die here, she would take plenty of these soldiers with her.
One of the soldiers in front of her stepped forward, blocking her view of Sachi, which Emiri still, to this day, wasn't sure if she should count as a blessing or a nightmare. Whatever the case, it kept her from seeing the moment the soldiers delivered their final blow to her little sister.
She felt it, though, the moment she was gone, the sudden hopelessness that washed over her as her only remaining real family was just suddenly gone. Thankfully, the feeling didn't have to last long as the soldiers converged on her, drawing weapons and knocking her across the room.
She skidded to a stop, flat on her back, and watched as her HP meter dropped by half. On it, a yellow lightning bolt told her she had somehow been poisoned, and the poison kept her HP dropping at a gradual rate. The soldiers followed her, and the one in front raised its weapon to kill her without the help of the poison, but then something happened. The other three soldiers burst apart after a black sword slashed through them, and the same sword impaled the soldier whose spear was held directly over her head, causing it to clang to the floor.
Her HP was nearly gone now, as Kirito came into view holding a small vial of odd liquid. He was crying, but he held the vial up to her lips anyways, urging her to drink it. Involuntarily, she did, and she saw her HP gauge stop sinking, instead pausing directly in the red, but her vision began to fade away before she could see if anything else changed. The red color of the room changed back to its original white, while Emiri's vision started fading to black until it was all she could see, and her conscious mind faded into the darkness as well.