Saya woke up to something she seriously hadn't been expecting; banging on the hotel room door.
In an instant she was out of the bed and on the floor, crouched down and scanning the room.
Though her brain knew that the fight against Diva was now over, her body also remembered that the battle against chiropterans wasn't; so it was just as alert as always.
Haji was in-between her and the door, his clawed hand raised, and she noticed that Riku had decided to stay as well, her little brother now running over to her.
"Saya!" He spoke loudly, a light tinge of fear in his voice.
She stood up, no immediate threat present, and walked over to Haji's cello case, opening it momentarily to take her sword out before closing the lid once again.
"Riku, go hide please." She spoke to him, trying to keep her voice from sounding harsh.
He hesitated though and when Saya looked at him again he seemed different than she remembered.
"Saya, I want to stay here and help you." Riku said with fear once again in his voice, but with something else present as well.
She felt her eyes widen slightly at his decision but soon regained her composure.
"Riku, you can't- I need you to stay safe."
"But I'm your chevalier now, right? I can't just go run and hide anymore! I- I have to stay and help you!"
The door of the room was starting to crack and as much as Saya wished they could just sit down and talk about this there simply wasn't enough time.
Just as she was going to speak again, however, she heard Diva wake up and remembered that she was here.
"She must be who they're after!" Saya thought, surprised she hadn't thought of it sooner.
"Riku, I need you to protect Diva then."
He took a step backwards, his face showing more fear.
"Please, Riku. I think those people are here for her. I need you to protect her for me okay?" Saya asked him softly, despite the situation.
A few seconds later his face grew sterner, still not looking very resolute, but he nodded.
Saya nodded herself and then looked back towards the door.
"You should go into the bathroom and lock the door." She said as one of the metal pins in the hinges was sent flying off into the air, breaking a mirror in the room.
"Saya!" Diva called out her name in fright, causing her to once again stray her sight from the door.
"It's okay, Diva, you'll be fine. We won't let them get to you."
Her little sister shook her head widely before haphazardly hopping off the bed and holding onto Saya.
"I'm not worried about me! I don't want you to get hurt!"
Once again Saya was surprised but then she felt a small smile make its way onto her face.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine. We haven't had dinner yet after all." She spoke, trying to make Diva feel a bit better.
It worked enough for her sister to give a small upset nod before her grip loosened and she and Riku ran back into the bathroom, the sound of the lock drowned out by the breaking of the door.
"Saya, these people are humans." Haji told her silently.
She nodded.
"I know. But so is Diva now."
"You will be able to fight them then?"
Saya pulled the sword out of the sheath, the blunt end of the sword aimed outwards as opposed to sharp one.
"Yes."
There were a few moments of silence between them before the door was broken down and several people who she assumed were members of the Red Shield charged into the room.
Only a few seconds after Riku turned the lock, he heard the door to the hotel room break in and Diva covered her head with her hands.
She was already in the bathtub sitting down and curled up but it really seemed like she was scared.
"Though I am too." Riku thought to himself as he walked over to the bathtub.
He still didn't feel comfortable being close to Diva, after what had happened, but Saya had asked him to protect her sister so he would.
Diva looked up at him, her eyes full of worry more than fear, and Riku knew she had changed. Not externally maybe, but on the inside.
"Um, I'm sure Saya will be okay. Haji's there too, and he wouldn't let anything happen to her." He spoke, trying to make her feel better.
She nodded, much like she had when Saya told her that everyone would be okay.
"Thanks." Diva managed out before digging her back underneath her arms.
Riku smiled nervously when he realized he hadn't helped much and looked back towards the door.
There were still sounds of fighting and as much as he wanted to go outside and see how Saya and Haji were faring he knew he had to stay here and protect Diva if anyone got into the bathroom.
"Anyway, I haven't heard either of them get hurt, so I'm sure they're fine." Riku thought to himself, not noticing he'd thought out loud.
As he did however, Riku looked over his shoulder, seeing Diva's blue eyes peering out at him in curiosity.
His gaze scrambled around, trying to find something to focus on so he wouldn't feel so embarrassed.
Eventually he gave up and turned back towards her.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to think that out loud." He apologized with a nervous smile.
Her eyes blinked but that's all the response she gave and he started to feel a bit uncomfortable.
"Uhh. I- um…." He for some reason couldn't form a cohesive sentence.
Through her "walls"; her legs, he could see her worried frown turn upwards and turn into a mildly amused expression.
"You're funny." She remarked softly.
He scratched his head, his cheeks turning pink as he tried to make himself invisible.
"You think so?"
She purred a confirmation, something that despite her nature still surprised him.
"Cute too." Diva added, her smile widening as she stood up and got out of the bathtub.
Riku backed up towards the door, feeling strange and somewhat afraid again more than embarrassed.
"What am I going to do?" He thought to himself while almost tripping over a bathroom mat.
"I can't just shove her away. She's a girl. Oh, never mind. I couldn't do that anyway." Riku continued, perplexed.
Just as her arms started to lift, reaching for him, his back collided with the bathroom door and he ran out of space to retreat to.
He unlocked the door and scrambled for the handle but remembered he couldn't leave yet; not before Saya told him he could.
Nevertheless, his feet kept pushing against the floor; as if begging it to give them more space.
Diva reached him and his eyes widened as her face got closer-
Then the bathroom door opened and his vision spun upwards; feeling like he was on a vertical tire-swing that was going too fast.
His back collided with the floor and it surprised Riku how it hadn't really hurt, despite how loud his landing was.
"Riku it's okay-" Saya stopped her sentence short when she realized that both he and Diva were on the floor together.
Evidently she also noticed how embarrassed and nervous he was, on account of his face being "washed red".
"Diva, what are you doing?!" She spoke loudly, surprised at how quickly her sister had gotten out of control in such a short time.
He felt Diva's face look up at Saya; his eyes unable to tell what her expression was because they were shut tighter than a bulkhead door.
"Hugging." She spoke innocently.
His eyes re-opened even though he was still nervous when he realized that's all she had been trying to do.
Saya seemed relieved as well and sighed.
"Oh, well you know you're only supposed to do that if the other person wants to also right?"
Diva shrugged before looking back down at Riku, causing his head to push back against the floor.
"You wanted to. Right Riku?" She asked, gazing at him again with her wide, barely-blinking eyes.
"Um…yeah…" He managed to stumble out.
She nodded and nuzzled against him, making Riku feel like his face was the color of the inside of a watermelon.
"Maybe I'll just sleep her tonight-" She began before Saya spoke up in a strangely loud tone.
"Hey, Riku, could you go tell Joel what happened for me please? I'm sure he would like to know about this if he hasn't heard about it already."
"Hey!" Diva started; the beginning of a pout.
"Sure." He responded too quickly.
"Awww. Et tu Riku?" Her whining was cut off as she began giggling at how ridiculous her last sentence sounded and got off him.
He sighed in relief and stood up, trying to push any wrinkles out of his clothes while walking towards the door, still beat red.
Finally an update for this story. Sorry for it taking so long. I'm really going to try and work on this story as much as possible to make up for the absence of chapters for these past months. Also, I've never wrote Riku's perspective before so I'm not sure how well I did. Please tell me if it was done decently, and if there was anything I could have done to make it more like his character.
