Chapter 4 / Collapsing Reality


The sun was unrelenting to Naofumi's face. Even if it had just risen up over the horizon, the angle still shot through his open window and woke him up. He felt refreshed from his sleep, getting some stretches in before heading over to the window to pop it open. He dipped his head out to see the bustling morning to the capital.

He slept more than he wanted to, so he had to get going quickly. Grabbing his clothing, putting on his armor and pocketting his coin pouch; afterwards, he would be off to get Myne from the room next door. Hopefully, she wasn't waiting for long—

"Wait, didn't I leave my stuff on the table?"

The table was empty of anything of value. No coins, no equipment. Even his clothes had been gone, leaving him with nothing except his underclothes. He looked around the room to see if he simply remembered wrong, but there were only so many places that the things could hide. He came up empty-handed and when he went to check the door, he noticed the knob was looser than before.

"Was I robbed…? Oh, crap, this isn't good!"

He ran out of his room immediately and went over to Myne's room. He knocked on the door repeatedly in a panic, trying to get Myne's attention. "Myne! Hey, Myne! Are you awake yet!?" There hadn't been any response, so he knocked a few times again. "Hey, this is important!"

There was still no response.

Naofumi placed his head against the room. To his surprise, it was deadly silent. It was almost as if no one had been inside, but he was soon disturbed by the sound of footsteps down the hall.

He didn't want to explain why he was in his underclothing in the middle of the hall, but he was lucky to see that it was a group of knights that had been heading his way.

"Nice! You guys are here!" Naofumi rushed over to them. "Could you hear me out for a moment? I've got a problem on my hands!"

The knight in front merely glared at Naofumi. That mere line of sight caused him to falter a bit, feeling the sudden animosity from the knight. "Are you the Shield Hero?"

"Y-yes, but—"

"Then you will come with us. We have a warrant for your arrest, Shield Hero. The king will be seeing you immediately." Two knights came up to Naofumi and grabbed him. "Do not resist or we will use force."

"I… What…?" With some handcuffs being clicked onto his wrist, Naofumi's mind couldn't process what was happening. "W-wait, this has to be a mistake here! Something's not right!"

The knights weren't listening to him and he turned his head towards Myne's room out of desperation. "M-Myne! If you're in there, please come quickly! I'm in some trouble—!"

"You will remain silent!" They forcefully pushed him along with them.

He didn't understand what was going on. Everyone that they passed on their way out from the inn gazed at him like he was some type of criminal. He was the only person out of the loop. If his friends were here, they would help him out, but he didn't know where they were.

Naofumi gulped. "G-Guys… Where the hell are you…?"

-/IV/-

Itsuki got out of his bed and changed into his outfit. He didn't get much done in terms of levels from yesterday because he was snooping around the Church of Three Heroes during that time. That name alone harbored so many red flags that he needed to see what they were all about.

After he finished, there was hard knocking on his door. He wondered what was up, thinking that it was a party member of his. Itsuki opened up the door, only to be surprised. He widened his eyes, not expecting to see Ren of all people, out of breath.

"Ren…?"

"Things are bad. Like really bad." Ren's fist slammed against the door frame. "You've got to listen to this! You were right!"

"I was right?" Itsuki gulped. "You don't mean you're talking about Myne?"

"Judge it for yourself. I heard that Naofumi is getting arrested." Itsuki flinched at the news. "For whatever it is, I don't care. Naofumi isn't someone to go out and commit a crime like that, especially this early on, so I think Myne did something."

"You have gotta be joking!"

"I wish that was the case!"

"What are we still doing here, standing around!?"

Itsuki abandoned the room quickly, letting Ren guide the way. People looked at them as they rushed out from the inn, but Itsuki couldn't care about any sort of attention he might be pulling. Naofumi most certainly needed their help right now.

If Naofumi was already arrested, it was entirely possible that they would miss him if they went to where he was staying. It would be better to find out where they were bringing Naofumi; the knights would likely bring him to the castle for judgment.

However, there was a construction blockage ahead of them. This would have been the quickest way back to the castle, so it was unfortunate that something like this showed up. Itsuki was tempted to simply ignore the workers and jump over their barrier, but there was an alleyway right next to where the construction started.

Thinking about it, Itsuki didn't remember coming across any type of construction blockage yesterday. He knew that he walked down this street yesterday. Was this something new to the streets this morning? While he was still pondering on that mystery, Ren's eyes locked on the alternate route.

"Forget the main road! If we head down this alleyway, we might be able to make it in time!"

"Go ahead! I'm not complaining!"

To how twisted these alleyways may be, Ren took turns with confidence.

The distance from the castle, hanging over the city, started to shrink. It always made him think that Ren already had a route planned out, but there were certainly brief seconds of hesitation where he had to figure out which branching path was better.

However, that routine would quickly come to an end.

"Whoa!"

Ren suddenly jumped backwards, slamming himself into Itsuki. His nose felt crushed by the impact, but it wasn't going to leave a mark. The important thing in Itsuki's mind though was the reason why they had stopped so abruptly.

"What the hell was that for?" Itsuki rubbed his nose and glanced before them, only to see what was there. Or rather, what Ren had narrowly dodged. "An arrow?"

"More incoming!"

Ren pulled Itsuki back as additional arrows shot outwards from down the alleyway. Their targets were aimed for them, causing them to retreat and take cover around the bend. Itsuki found himself rolling against the ground, being unprepared, but Ren's natural instincts were always online.

"Get your head down, Itsuki!"

Without hesitation, Itsuki did as he was told and his friend drew his sword forwards. A metallic clash rang through the air and Itsuki saw a few more arrows broken into pieces. Ren abandoned his stance and began rushing through the alleyway with his sword gripped tightly in his hand.

There was a hooded figure down the path.

Without being prompted, Itsuki pulled out his bow and fired over Ren's shoulder. The hooded figure was forced to defend, giving Ren the opening to thrust his sword forwards. It would have connected if it weren't for more arrows providing cover, causing Ren to back off and slashing the projectiles into pieces in his retreat.

Another figure revealed themselves from the darkness.

Itsuki ran over to help support Ren, but it started to become more obvious that they weren't up against one or two people. Three more figures walked up behind them, likely the one that launched the initial strike. They were completely trapped and surrounded.

Itsuki finally figured that the construction site was far too suspicious. It was as if they were trying to funnel the two heroes down this desolate place as a part of a plan. The enemies didn't say anything yet, but their motivations were written on their hands in the form of drawn swords, wielded spears and pulled-back bows.

"Well, this is pretty bad," Itsuki said.

"Tell me something more obvious here," Ren grumbled.

One of the hooded figures stepped up, brandishing his sword. His animosity against them could be tasted in the air as all Itsuki could see from the shadow were a pair of eyes. A mask, uniform to the other figures, had been hiding underneath.

"To think that our beloved heroes have been tainted by the demon. You couldn't be the heroes that we seeked redemption from. You must be false heroes. And for that sin of pretending to be the true heroes, we shall hope that your life ends here!"

"We might have skipped a few steps here!" Ren replied. "What are you talking about!?"

"Don't make me waste any further words on scum like you. For the sake of the future, we shall have your heads served on a silver platter! For the sake of the true heroes that have yet to be summoned, we will end your miserable lives! There's no way that the real heroes would be amiable to that despicable demon!"

"Itsuki! You didn't accidentally make any enemies yesterday, did you!?"

"I could ask the same thing to you!"

"Nothing comes to mind!"

"Wait, they mentioned something about a demon, right? Could they be talking about Naofumi?"

"So I need an explanation as to how you came to that conclusion."

"I meant to tell you this for when we met again, but when I went to the Church of Three Heroes yesterday, I found out about what the basis of their religion is centered. As the name suggests, it worships the presence of three heroes, that being the Bow Hero, the Sword Hero and the Spear Hero. For some reason though, they treat the Shield Hero as—"

"Die, you fakers!"

Being interrupted, Ren and Itsuki readied themselves as the hooded figures ran forwards to them. There was no more time to explain, but Ren probably understood enough to grasp what might be the cause. Whatever the reason may be, it didn't change what they needed to do.

"I'll leave that for later."

"Yeah, we've got bigger problems here."

They needed to get out of here alive.

-/IV/-

Naofumi was thrown onto the floor of the throne room. Getting dragged through the streets was one thing, but they didn't even give him a chance to get any decent clothes on. He was still in his underclothing. He noticed that there had been quite the audience to see what was going on, muttering amongst themselves as if his sentence had already been decided.

His eyes glanced over to the king on the throne, but his change in posture was stopped by two knights who held their spears at his neck. The blades stopped, giving him the ample time to read the king's expression. It was rather angry, but he didn't know why.

However, he saw two people he was relieved to see, standing off to the king's side.

"Oh, Myne! Motoyasu! I'm really glad to see you two!"

The moment he called out to Myne, she hid behind dumbfounded and speechless Motoyasu. As pale as a ghost, as frozen as ice. As if he wasn't believing what he was seeing.

"N-Naofumi?" he croaked. "What are you doing over there?"

"That's what I don't understand! These guys just arrested me without explaining anything!"

However, Naofumi realized the wording of his friend's sentence.

"Wait, what do you mean by 'over there'?"

"M-Myne didn't say who it was, but… I didn't think it would be…"

The king cleared his throat to grab everyone's attention. "We will now hear the charges against the Shield Hero."

"C-charges?"

Myne finally came out from behind Motoyasu, causing even more confusion in Naofumi. If there was a victim pointing him out for a crime, one of the last people that he expected to walk up had been Myne herself. He prayed that he had some type of misunderstanding, especially considering the time they spent on the first day.

She started crying, trying to get her words out as Motoyasu instinctively tried to comfort her. However, it looked as if Motoyasu had been trembling much more than Myne could ever tremble herself.

"L-last night…" Myne sniffled through her sobs. "I… I think the Shield Hero drank too much last night, and when the night settled in where everyone was asleep, the Shield Hero bursted into my room and tried to…"

Motoyasu reached out for Myne's hand, trying to calm her down. She weakly broke free from Motoyasu's hands and pointed to Naofumi with a shaking finger.

"He held me down, tried to rip my clothes off, and did everything in his power to keep me there. I screamed, doing what I could to escape before he violated me and tried to find someone to save me. That's when I came across Mister Motoyasu."

Motoyasu could confirm their encounter, at the very least. He came across Myne in that ruined state last night, a few hours after they parted. He immediately tried to get answers from her, but she was far too stressed to even say what happened. He wondered where Naofumi had been during the time, but he simply escorted her to the knights and stayed by her side until she was feeling better, even if he had to sacrifice some of his sleep to do so. Myne was able to talk with the knights about the incident, but Motoyasu only received the bare details as he comforted her.

When the accused had been Naofumi, he wasn't sure what he should do. If he said anything against it, it would have looked like he was betraying Myne's trust in him. Was it just him or had the temperature of the room been steadily rising? He could feel sweat starting to form.

"What are you talking about, Myne!?" Naofumi spat, bewildered by the testimony. "After we had our meal, I went back to my room to sleep! I didn't wake up until the next morning to find—!"

Naofumi gasped, remembering his own crime that happened to him. "Y-Your Majesty, you've got to listen to me! I was robbed last night! Everything from my armour, to my money, they've all been taken from me! I think someone broke into my room and—!"

"Silence! You dare speak out of line, you scoundrel!"

Both Naofumi and Motoyasu glanced over to the king, taken back by how easily he had dismissed the counterclaim of another case.

"Your Majesty!" Motoyasu called out. "Perhaps we should listen to Naofumi's claims a bit more before saying anything for certain. If his things truly did get taken from him last night, wouldn't that mean it was possible that someone dressed up like him before breaking into Myne's room!?"

Naofumi didn't make such a connection before. If Myne believed Naofumi did it, but it was actually somebody using his stolen stuff, it made for the perfect fit to the puzzle here! Naofumi felt more thankful that Motoyasu was here to save the day.

However, he was mistaken.

"M-Mister Motoyasu…" Myne had tears welling in her eyes. "You don't believe me…?"

"W-what? No, no, that's not it, Myne," Motoyasu replied softly. "Of course I believe you, but I think you were just mistaken. That's all! There's nothing else to it!"

"I'm absolutely certain that it was the Shield Hero. His face looked like him, the hair looked like him, and even the shield was there on his arm. I didn't turn off the lights yet, so I managed to get a perfect look at him when he broke in…"

"N-no way… Seriously…?" Motoyasu leered over to Naofumi before turning back to Myne. "I can't believe that's…"

"Are you saying that you don't believe me anymore?"

As much as Myne was quaking from her words, she tried to break off from Motoyasu with fear lingering in her eyes. Those motions caused Motoyasu to act impulsively to keep her spirits from lowering any further. Besides, what else could explain the scenario right now?

He thought she was in so much pain.

"No, I do believe you, Myne! I promise!"

Unfortunately, Naofumi could only watch his friend flip sides. His mouth hung open as he couldn't fathom what had just happened. From this angle, it looked if Myne was dangling his friend between her delicate fingers.

Something that told him that whatever Myne was doing, she was intentionally lying.

"Motoyasu, don't listen to her!" he screamed. "She's trying to deceive you! I'm innocent!"

"N-Naofumi…?"

His friend looked over in horror. It was obvious he didn't know what to do. Something was stopping him from making a firm decision and the gaze in his eyes held more trauma than Myne could ever lie about. Did Motoyasu even know that he was hurting far more than Myne?

"I told you to be quiet, you wretch!" the king spat. "I knew from the moment that I saw you, I knew you were different from the other heroes! I had a suspicion you were up to no good, but I graced you with the benefit of my doubt! Now, look where that has gotten us!"

He slammed his fist on the throne's armrest.

"Any act of sexual aggression, whether it be from a civilian or a hero, will be met with the same punishment in the end! Here in Melromarc, these atrocious acts will not go overlooked! Criminals who dare cross that law and order will be met with death!"

"W-What…?"

Naofumi was too shocked to respond, but Motoyasu bit down on his own emotions.

"T-that's a bit too much, isn't it!? Don't you need the Cardinal Heroes to help save your country!? How will executing the Shield Hero do anything for you!?"

"We would rather for there to be three heroes, instead of three heroes and a villain disguised as one. It is as simple as that, Spear Hero."

"There has to be another way! Couldn't you just send Naofumi back? Just summon a brand new Shield Hero to take his place!?"

At this point, Motoyasu didn't know what he was saying. He supposed that if the king was going to see his friend as guilty, he wanted Naofumi to at least have his life intact. And yet, doesn't that mean he himself believed in the accusations.

No. No. There had to be a proper explanation for all of this!

"Unfortunately, we cannot do that. I told you during the first meeting, did I not? We do not know about any methods to send heroes back to their homeland and besides, to summon a new Shield Hero—" the king glanced back at Motoyasu, "—the current set of Cardinal Heroes must all die."

Naofumi wanted all of this to be one big nightmare, but as his panic started to rise, he finally realized that only Motoyasu had been present. Sure, Myne might have been able to only contact Motoyasu through own actions, but this was a big event considering the audience that was around.

Wouldn't Ren and Itsuki be here by now? Where were they?

"This is a mistake," Naofumi mumbled. "I… I didn't do anything."

"As much as I would like to impart the death sentence on this excuse for a hero, I've been told it is unwise to send you to the usual sentencing. Criminal or not, you are still our defense to the waves of destruction, even if you are a villain in disguise."

"Didn't you just say you would only rather have three heroes?" Naofumi's sarcastic muttering went unheard by the king, but the nearby knights listened and responded by knocking his head over with a fist. Surprisingly, that one didn't hurt as much as he would expect.

"In such conditions, we shall allow you to walk away unpunished by my hand. However, do not think of this as a blessing, Shield Hero." The king leaned in forwards, as if he was declaring war on him. "Word spreads quickly. The people will already know of your crimes, so they will act accordingly. Do not think for a second that your life will come by as easily now, especially when we will be cutting off any assistance that you'll request from us. Do not think you will have another opportunity to make such treacherous acts to your party members."

When everyone turned their backs to Naofumi, he didn't realize he cared so little about their opinion of him. In fact, all he wanted was Motoyasu to see the truth before his eyes. It didn't matter if the king deposed him or if the country saw him as a criminal, but he couldn't stand having Motoyasu be the same.

"Motoyasu…! Please…!"

Tears started falling from Naofumi's eyes without intention. They dripped onto the carpet, being soaked into the fabric and left small, little stains.

"You've got to listen to me…!"

"Naofumi, I…" Motoyasu shivered, closing his eyes. "I don't know…"

They've known each other for years. They've been living with each other for just as long. Naofumi couldn't understand why Motoyasu couldn't make a decision between his friend and a liar; he didn't understand why he was struggling so much to pick a side.

He wanted to believe. He desperately wanted to believe that Motoyasu had his reasons, but the more he thought about it, the more it hurt for him.

"Myne is lying to you, Motoyasu! I didn't do any of this!"

"Knights, if you would so please," the king sighed. "To think that the criminal would resort to begging like this, I can't believe we were thinking that we were going to be protected by a scoundrel like him. Take him away, I don't want to see him anymore."

"MOTOYASU! DAMN IT, LISTEN TO ME! PLEASE!"

The knight pushed Naofumi off his balance and started to drag him out despite his refusal to leave. He didn't want to leave under these conditions. He didn't want to leave while Motoyasu was still confused and hurt. He didn't want to leave while he was vulnerable to even more of Myne's damn lies!

His arm launched out towards his friend, as if he could reach him, but he was simply a throne room too short. The door closed on, leaving him to not know what fate had in store for his friend. The knights talked badly about the Shield Hero right front of his face while they pulled him out of the castle. They threw him out from the castle perimeter, leaving him to squirm on the ground.

A small crowd watched from a distance, seeing that the Shield Hero was crying, slamming down his fist on the ground repeatedly. Time felt so slow to him as everything felt like it was taken away from him in one single swoop.

His respect. His trust. His money. His friend.

All because Myne pointed a finger at him.

He didn't know what to do now.

Everything felt so meaningless, but he had to keep going. He finally found some temporary strength in his legs and stood back up, wiping the tears off his face. He looked behind him, knowing Motoyasu was in danger right now, but he couldn't exactly stand around and do nothing.

If Myne wanted to kick him down to the dirt for whatever reason, it was his job to rise back up as a hero. If that's what it took to protect Motoyasu, that was what he was willing to do.

"Just wait, Motoyasu." Naofumi slowly walked down the street; his voice as dry as the desert and shivering like a tundra. He didn't know where he was heading; he just knew he needed to make progress. "I'm going to show you that Myne is a liar. I'm going to show you that Myne isn't who you may think she is and I'm going to save you from her. Just you wait."

-/IV/-

Motoyasu wanted to puke.

He asked for some time alone after the trial was finished. Motoyasu did his best to keep Myne happy, but it came with a severe cost. His mouth didn't listen to his head, his head didn't listen to his heart, his heart didn't listen to his mouth; his consciousness was all messed up after such a confrontation.

He knew Naofumi was innocent. He knew Naofumi was no that type of person!

Why couldn't he say anything against it?

It was because it would mean that he was going against Myne. She wanted to trust him and if he betrayed that trust of hers, she would be broken up. He was the one that Myne ran to when she was scared to have that sense of trust turned on her, that would have been painful.

It was not as if he couldn't ignore what he had done to Naofumi. He didn't choose a side, but that's what the world decided for him. He didn't want that ending. He didn't think he would have been forced into this again. He didn't want to experience the pain that came with his inability to choose, to commit to one decision or another.

Couldn't there have been an answer that satisfied both sides?

Couldn't there have been an answer that made everyone happy!?

The refreshing air from the open window helped calm his nerves. Although, he felt like he couldn't move away from this place or else he might find himself collapsing against the cold ground.

"Damn it all!" Motoyasu slammed his fist on the windowsill, feeling like he was being torn apart from the inside. "Why the hell am I like this!?"

He hated himself.

He hated himself for a long time. This was simply the cultivation of that hate, spreading out because he didn't do anything about it. He pretended that everything was already content and refused to acknowledge that hatred, but when things boiled down to it, it would always end up like this.

Why couldn't have this been so much easier?

"Mister Motoyasu?"

Myne's voice called out to him in the middle of his personal dilemma. He tried to compose himself, making sure that she wouldn't notice his problems

"Oh? Hey, Myne." Motoyasu provided his usual smile. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Now that the criminal has been confronted, a little. I have you to thank. If you hadn't been there for me, I wouldn't know what I would have done."

"I didn't do anything."

"You gave me the confidence to speak out against him. I should have stayed alongside you, but I know your heart was in a good place, thinking about the Shield Hero like that. It was simply a shame that this was your friend's true nature."

"Naofumi isn't…" He bit down on his tongue. He himself didn't know what he was going to say.

"You did the right thing, Mister Motoyasu. Thank you for what you've done."

He didn't want to talk about this anymore. He wanted to run away.

"Anyways, Myne. What are you going to do from here on out?"

"I'd like to be taken up with my original decision. After all, I know for sure that you're a hero that's worth following."

"You still want to be journeying with a hero?"

"No, I want to be journeying with you." Myne reached out to grab Motoyasu's hand. He didn't resist as a soft smile escaped her lips. "Even if you don't feel like you did anything, I still feel indebted to you. I can trust you after what happened today."

As her delicate fingers wrapped around his own, lifting them up slightly, like he was being strung along, unable to resist her words. Motoyasu's consciousness faltered for a brief moment. Images flickered from the depths of his memories, causing him to be unsteady underneath.. He still smiled back at Myne, not realizing his breath had been slightly heavier, but the thin sweat coming from hand as it clasped with Myne—

felt like blood.

Just as it felt on that certain day all those years ago.

"I won't betray that trust of yours, Myne. Don't worry about it."

Myne smiled once more in a way that Motoyasu couldn't see for himself.

-/IV/-

"N-no way…"

"Despite the potential level difference, that was pretty easy."

"You would think that a two versus five would be more difficult than that."

Ren sheathed his sword as Itsuki put back his bow, leaving the unconscious bodies of the assassins sprawled along the ground. It wasn't much of a challenge, especially when Ren and Itsuki were teaming up together. There was still one enemy that was still awake, trying desperately to stand back up.

"Cough it up. Tell us why you attacked us."

"No! How is this possible!?" the man growled, trying to stand up. "You two are false heroes, sent to us by that demon in order to bring chaos to our world! It is the job of the righteous men, us, to deal with problems such as yourself until the arrival of the true heroes! You should not be winning! We have the faith of the Three Heroes on our side! We have—!"

Ren kicked him hard in the stomach, enough to make him knock out from the pain.

"So they're from the Church of Three Heroes?" Itsuki pondered. "That's weird. Were they already onto me? It shouldn't be possible. I didn't do anything that's suspicious."

"They wouldn't attack two of the four heroes without a good reason."

"Something about us being false heroes…?"

"The deal with the Church is that they see the Shield Hero as a demon?"

"I know, it sounds ridiculous, but it's true."

Ren noticed some of their equipment and decided to lean down to check them.

"W-what are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm looting them."

"This isn't the time! We need to find Naofumi!"

"It will only take a few seconds if you keep quiet."

Ren would always have a tendency to strip everything off any entity in Brave Star Online, even if a late-game player like him had no real need to keep stock of that. Itsuki couldn't see anything worth taking along, but his friend essentially stripped one assassin of everything he had. The mask, cloak, sword, and whatever was on the assassin's belt.

It was slightly frightening how proficient Ren had been.

"Alright, I'm done here. Let's continue this after we find Naofumi."

"The looting or the topic?"

"The topic, obviously!"

"You'd be surprised."

Both Ren and Itsuki picked one of the branching alleyways and prayed that it would pull them back to the right path. They felt slightly tired from their little skirmish, but they were still willing to run to get to Naofumi as quickly as possible. They found themselves back to the main roads not before long, some distance away from the castle and started running over to meet one of the knights on guard.

"We heard the Shield Hero got arrested!" Ren spat. He was out of breath, but still found the energy to shout. "We demand to see him immediately!"

"You wouldn't refuse a request from the Cardinal Heroes, right?" Itsuki followed, scraping his lungs for air. "This is important business. We have to see him right now."

He shook his head. "I apologize, heroes. That Shield Hero is no longer here. He has already been dismissed by the king from his trial. Good riddance as well."

"Good riddance? Why'd you—!?"

"Itsuki." Ren grabbed Itsuki's hand and tugged him back a bit. Ren stepped forwards to stand in for his friend. "What happened here? We were only able to hear the rumors."

"He was given a trial by the king and found guilty of his crimes."

"Do you know where he went?"

"Like hell I would care. I'm just glad he's out of our hair now."

Ren held out his arm once more to stop Itsuki from trying to punch the knight in the face. They didn't need even more enemies here, as much as Ren wanted to let Itsuki do it. "Can you at least tell us how long ago the trial was?"

"I'd say no more than fifteen minutes passed after we kicked the Shield Hero out of the castle."

"We can still catch up to him," Itsuki muttered to Ren.

"If we can figure out which direction he went," Ren muttered back to Itsuki. "The capital is big and if we can't figure out where Naofumi wandered off to, it'll be as good as nothing."

"What? Are you saying you don't want to take that risk? Because it might end up as good as nothing, but doing something is better than nothing."

Ren felt something might have been off. Naofumi was convicted, so their friend must have been in a terrible spot right now. He was sure if he and Itsuki were to be there, they would have been fighting their hardest to prove that Naofumi wasn't a criminal, but there was one person left unaccounted for.

"The Spear Hero," Ren muttered, gazing back at the knight. "Was he present at the trial?"

"Huh? Motoyasu?"

"Indeed he was. I personally thought he alone was the only responsible hero here to show up, but I must retract my statement, seeing you two here. Seeing how tired you two are, I'm sure that you were trying to get here as soon as possible when you were told."

Ren narrowed his eyes. "No one told us about the trial. I found out through the word on the streets and I had to find the Bow Hero to inform him."

"Is that right?" the knight asked, genuinely sounding surprised. "I recall hearing that there were attendants sent out by the king to call in the other Cardinal Heroes for the trial's witnessing."

"Never mind that for now," Ren dismissed. "Is the Spear Hero still around? If we can't meet the Shield Hero, it would be best to meet up with someone that was at the trial."

"He's still inside of the castle."

"Can we go ahead and meet him?"

"Please be my guest. The castle is free for you to enter, but I'm not sure where the Spear Hero would be." The knight stepped out of the way for them. "I'll be sure to alert the Spear Hero that you two are looking for him if he does come out first."

Ren sighed heavily. "Yeah, I guess that's fine."

The pair of heroes headed inside to the castle, making fleet footwork to find their friend. Ren didn't want to ask around, but Itsuki helped out there, getting some directions from some of the maids of the castle to where they last saw Motoyasu.

Not before long, they turned the corner to find who they were looking for, but he came alongside a certain other person. Itsuki flinched to see the combination; although this would have been a believable sight without context, he couldn't think of it such with what he knew.

After all, they don't have firm confirmation that could link everything together and there was no reason to make more enemies if it was going to make their lives more difficult. At least, not yet. As far as this woman could possibly believe, she didn't know that they were already onto her.

What was Myne planning to do here?

They both unintentionally gave glares to Myne, but she looked surprised to see them here. Motoyasu's happiness was the only thing that shattered the tension between the three apart.

"Oh, Ren! Itsuki! What are you guys doing here?"

"We came because Naofumi got arrested, but it looks like we were too late on our arrival."

"We tried as quickly as possible, but on our way here, we got—"

"—delayed," Ren said, cutting off the specifics. Considering how they were suspecting Myne, it was much better to hide as much of their hand as possible. "We got delayed. It's unfortunate, but things like that can just happen. Mind filling us in, Motoyasu?"

Motoyasu flinched. It sounded like he was trying to answer, but it was all getting stuck in his throat. In his place, Myne answered. She looked as if she was distraught from bringing it up for herself, but Ren and Itsuki couldn't buy it.

"I wanted to believe in the Shield Hero," she started off, "but last night, he barged into my room and tried to rape me. He might have been under the influence of alcohol, but I was so scared that I ran and I didn't think much about it. I didn't want this whole situation to happen, but it spiraled out of my control. Maybe if he accepted some responsibility, maybe I'd still…"

"You don't need to recount it if it hurts for you," Motoyasu said softly.

"Because I wasn't asking her," Ren replied harshly. Myne looked as if she gritted her teeth at his dismissal. "I was asking Motoyasu."

"Hey, don't be like that. Myne was trying to help you know the situation better, despite what happened to her."

"Despite what happened to her?" Itsuki stomped his foot. "You actually believe that crap, Motoyasu? Are you being serious?"

"E-excuse me!?" Myne said, sounding offended.

"Do you really think Naofumi is someone that would do that!?"

"I-I…" Motoyasu glanced over to Myne, who had been looking at him with wishful eyes, filled with trust as much as it was filled with fear. "I-It's a possibili—"

He didn't get the chance to finish his sentence.

Itsuki didn't need to hear the indecisive bullshit being spewed from their friend. Motoyasu quickly found himself slammed against the wall by Itsuki.

"You're fucking with me." Anger seeped through Itsuki's lips as Myne watched in horror. "No wonder the king thought Naofumi was guilty! You didn't do anything to help him out, you bastard!"

"I-I couldn't!" Motoyasu gulped; his eyes widened from anguish. "I don't think Myne was lying! The way that she was crying, it's difficult to think that she would lie like that!"

"So you would believe this lying bitch over a friend you knew for years!? Do you really think Naofumi would have done such a thing!?"

"N-no, that's not it! That's not it at all!" Motoyasu stammered. "T-there's just… I think there's another explanation here that we're missing! I'm willing to believe Myne, but it's not that I'm going against Naofumi!"

"Sometimes, the answer is the simplest, Motoyasu! Why can't you see that!? Why do you feel the need to make excuses for unjustifiable situations!? "

"M-Mister Bow Hero," Myne said, reaching out to stop him. "Please calm yourself. I merely spoke of what I believed to have happened. It was the king and the knights that investigated and concluded that result, so I was inclined to believe it as well, despite my will to do so."

He ignored Myne's pleas, but Ren stepped in between them, leaning closer to her ear. "You should be considering yourself lucky that you're not the one who got slammed against the wall." He'd be surprised if she didn't feel the silent anger coming from his words.

Pushing Myne aside softly while Itsuki's grip on Motoyasu's collar got tighter, Ren approached the small fight and became the one to try and tug him off their supposed friend.

"Itsuki. Get off him. It's not worth it."

"Not worth it!?" Itsuki raised a finger to Motoyasu, staggering his footsteps backwards, but his grip was still strong. "He didn't do anything to help Naofumi when we couldn't get here in time! I don't care what type of bullshit reasoning he has! Naofumi was innocent, I promise you that, and he was unjustly treated like a damn criminal! All in front of Motoyasu's eyes! He let this happen!"

"B-but I tried to—!"

"Action speaks louder than words, Motoyasu!" Itsuki snarled back, not giving a second for Motoyasu's feeble defense. "Or rather in your case, your damn inability to act to help out Naofumi! What's next!? Are you going to throw us under the bus as well!?"

"I-I…"

"Itsuki! I said cut it out, dumbass!" As much as Itsuki felt glued to Motoyasu, Ren yanked his close friend off from his wrath. "Getting angry here isn't going to change anything. Let's head out and track down Naofumi now."

A silence came from the area, letting Itsuki take a deep breath. Or perhaps, it was a sigh of exasperation. Either one was entirely possible considering how he was feeling right now.

"Fine," Itsuki scoffed. If he could find the will to spit on Motoyasu, he certainly would have done it. "We basically wasted our time here anyways."

Itsuki walked down the hall, leaving Motoyasu frozen against the wall. His eyes couldn't move anywhere from where Itsuki had just been standing, simply gazing out into that empty void. He found himself sliding down from the wall with his legs giving out on him, forcing him to sit in contemplation as to what just happened.

Myne came over to help him out, but Ren didn't look like he was going to even talk to Motoyasu. He began to follow Itsuki's footsteps, but he stopped after taking only a small distance. He didn't bother to turn his head back, even closing his eyes with a heavy sigh.

"Motoyasu. Listen to yourself for once, not other people. Is this what instincts are telling you?"

He walked off after giving that little discretion to his friend, leaving nothing else behind in his tracks. He didn't know how Motoyasu was feeling after that confrontation, but as long as Myne was there next to him, Ren realized they couldn't do anything.

"If you think too much about it, you'll have already defeated the purpose."

It was that which frustrated him the most.


[SKIT 016 : Entrusted Job]

[Itsuki] : "I thought I told you to keep an eye on Myne!"
[Ren] : "She spent time with Motoyasu last night after Naofumi went to sleep. I was certain that Motoyasu would be able to look after her, so I went out to grind some levels. I've been slacking off my experience points because of the job you entrusted to you."
[Itsuki] : "You're blaming me!?"
[Ren] : "I'm not blaming you! I got caught off my guard here! We both were! I didn't think Myne would act so early like this!"
[Itsuki] : "Me and you both, Ren. We need to get to the bottom of this madness as quickly as possible!"

[SKIT 017 : Lost Friend]

[Naofumi] : "Motoyasu..."
[Naofumi] : "I don't know what drove him to act like that, but I can tell he was confused. He was lost."
[Naofumi] : "He's suffering right now and with Myne with his side, he's going to continue to suffer."
[Naofumi] : "I need to find out a way to protect him."
[Naofumi] : "Although, it might not be easy. With no money or equipment, I have to worry about myself first."
[Naofumi] : "Without any method to attack, how am I going to get through this...?"

[SKIT 018 : Spoils of War]

[Itsuki] : "Did you really have to take his stuff?"
[Ren] : "They're spoils of war. I'd be dumb to not take what I can."
[Itsuki] : "Spoils of... W-what the hell are you talking about!?"
[Ren] : "Don't be coy with me. In every fight of an RPG, you receives drops from battles."
[Ren] : "In this case, his sword, his clothes, his mask, his utility items, and a few potions."
[Itsuki] : "I've never fought a battle in Dimension Wave where you get that much things from non-boss battle."
[Ren] : "Just be glad I didn't take his money."
[Itsuki] : "That's not a sentence I should be happy about."

[SKIT 019 : Ill-Mannered Knights]

[Itsuki] : "You would think that the knights would have some decency here."
[Ren] : "Leave the topic alone. We're not going to get anywhere if we keep stirring up energy towards something that doesn't matter."
[Itsuki] : "You say that, but it's already clear as that the knights going to do anything about it. I don't even think they're even believe us if we say that the Shield Hero is innocent from his crimes! I mean, we've only got a small sample size, but if the guy guarding the castle is acting like that, how am I suppose to believe that there aren't others like him looming around the castle?"
[Ren] : "We'll have to keep this between us for now. If the princess truly is the person behind this, then we can't interact frequently with anyone affiliated with the royal family. At least, not until we figure out a way to get Naofumi out of that mess."
[Itsuki] : "Damn it, this is messed up..."
[Ren] : (Who even is this princess in the first place...? I wonder...?)

[SKIT 020 : Satisfaction]

[Motoyasu] : "Why is it difficult to make everyone happy? I don't understand."
[Motoyasu] : "If I pick somebody's side, then the other person will get hurt."
[Motoyasu] : "And if I don't pick, both of them could get hurt."
[Motoyasu] : "Though, how could I make the conscious decision to hurt someone?"
[Motoyasu] : "Why can't... everyone just get along...?"