Emi was flying.

In some dark corridor, some unknown force pushed her along at the speed of light toward some unknown destination. Lights flashed by as she went. There was a box on the floor; she curled up and sailed right over it. Her mind silently willed this to end, but she kept going.

And then she was falling. Falling down an concrete pit with light at the bottom seeming to come through distant metal gratings. She did a half-somersault as she fell, so that she was looking upward. Her arms and legs extended automatically, and for the first time she was afraid. Her heart started beating faster and faster as she went. She closed her eyes, waiting for the impact…

A spasm jerked Emi awake. She gasped and opened her eyes. She blinked and looked at her alarm clock. "01:00" in big red digits blinked back at her in the darkness.

"Christ, not this again." Emi hated falling dreams. They always interrupted the much-needed sleep after a big day. Now she wouldn't be able to get more shuteye for a little while. She got up and headed to the bathroom.

Emi touched the wall switch, and the new LED mirror lights flashed on with a bluish-white glare that made Emi shut her eyes tightly in pain. "Goddamn it." She turned the lights back off and opened her eyes again. The warm orange glow of a nightlight next to the mirror was much more refreshing.

She looked in the mirror and ran her fingers through her short brown hair to comb out the bedhead. She smiled at her reflection.

Short hair was always a matter of pride for Emi. Once upon a time, she used to have a shoulder-length cut like most of her classmates. But after an accident in science class involving a Bunsen burner scorched away a significant portion of her hair (thankfully she had suffered only minor burns), she had begun cutting it short. There were no downsides, she had found. It was easier to brush, easier to cut, and less prone to getting caught on things—good for being an effective commander in sensha-dō. It clearly wasn't an impediment to her love life, since Kaito was quite fond of it.

She turned away from the mirror and headed back to bed. She would try to get some sleep. Kuromorimine made a point of wasting no time. They would practice against Saunders the next day and try to figure out how Ooarai had managed to defeat both of them against all predictions.

As she lay back down and pulled the covers over herself, her phone buzzed on the nightstand. The screen lit up. Emi pushed herself up and read the notification: "9 text messages from Mom."

Emi sighed and unlocked her phone. She opened up her messages and began reading what her mother had sent.

Emi-chan, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but we can't afford to pay for your education anymore.

"What?!" Emi was incredulous. Her family had always been well-to-do. Money was never an issue. Why now?

I've been debating whether I should let you know about this, but I feel I have no choice at this point but to tell you everything. I've put it off as long as possible, since I didn't know if I was going to have to tell you all this, but I can stall no more.

"Come on, just get to the point, would ya?"

Your father, as you know, is a big name in automotive engineering. Well, recently a part that he designed failed, and more than 400 people died in crashes worldwide as a result. So their families sued the company and won. The company paid them and then turned around and sued your father for failing to do his job.

"The hell is this?"

I know that's a bullshit way to handle this, a horrid way of saving face, but nevertheless that's what they did. And they won because they had the top lawyers in the country convince the judge that your father is some kind of irresponsible murderer. So we lost the case…

"Okay…"

To the tune of 4 billion yen. That's half of what the company had to pay, but it's still more than we can afford.

"Oh no." Emi dreaded what was coming next, but she kept reading.

So, now we have no savings, all your father's assets in the stock market are gone, and we're going to lose the house soon. We've taken out as many loans as we can, but we're still nearly a billion yen short of paying the amount ordered by the court and we're drowning in debt.

We cannot afford for you to keep attending Kuromorimine Academy any longer. The school has agreed to a 50% refund of your tuition, but we need to pull you out.

I'm sorry to tell you all this. I'm crying as I write this. I never thought life would get this desperate. Yet here we are. We've got to figure out a way to move through this without losing too much of our dignity.

I'm coming in a few hours to pick you up. I wish there was another way. I love you.

Emi went white. This was not how she had been expecting things to go. This couldn't happen, it couldn't! Her family was many things, but poor was not one of them. This had to be a misunderstanding. She would call her father and get this straightened out.

She dialed his number and waited. After a long wait, he picked up the phone. "Emi-chan?"

"Dad. What's going on? Is it true?"

Her father paused and sighed. "It's true. All of it."

"WHAT?!"

"I'm sorry. Your mother is on her way to the carrier to come get you."

"But—"

"It's out of my hands. Again, I'm sorry." He hung up.

Emi's arms hung limp at her sides. So it was true after all. Her family had lost everything. Heck, she probably wouldn't get to hold onto her cell phone much longer.

That reminded her. She needed to tell Kaito that her family was going down the tubes. If anyone had to know, it would be him.

"Are you awake?" she texted him.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Awful news: my family just landed in major trouble and I don't think we'll be able to see each other again. I'm going to be leaving KMM."

There was no answer.

After a few minutes, she tried again. "Oh, come on, I know you're awake. Just say SOMETHING, anything, to let me know you've gotten this!"

There was no reply.

She knew he wasn't asleep; his Reddit account was always active at this time of night, and tonight was no exception.

"Why isn't he answering me?" she wondered aloud. She tried to believe that he was just busy doing other things, that he would answer soon. But his reply never came.

Then it hit her: ghosting.

The realization hit her like a punch in the gut. She sank to the floor, sobbing. It was all an act. He had used her as a prop, something to caress in good times and throw away in bad times.

Emi curled up in a ball on the floor and cried herself to sleep. With each heaving sob, the faces of her teammates, the people she had come to love and cherish as her own family, flashed before her eyes. She was going to be leaving them, all of them, bound for some miserable fate in oblivion. The thought made her sob even harder.

—

"Have you been crying?" a familiar voice said. Emi opened one eye. Maho Nishizumi, her idol and commander, was bending worriedly over her. Emi looked around. She was still on the floor of her room, but now she was freezing.

"No," she croaked.

"You sure about that? You don't look okay."

"Leave me alone."

"Seriously, what is going on?"

"I'd rather not say."

"Okay, then, how about this for an explanation? Your life has gone to shit."

Emi sat bolt upright and blushed. "Where'd you hear that?"

"I hear things. I'm responsible for my teammates' well-being as commander. So, is it true?"

"No."

"If that's the case, then what is wrong?"

"I-I…don't…" Emi couldn't finish the sentence. Her voice trailed off.

Maho sat next to her. "You can tell me the truth, okay? If something is wrong, I need to know."

"You already know, don't you?"

"I only know what I've been told. That's not very reliable."

"Not reliable? How's this for reliable? My boyfriend ghosts me when I tell him my family is in the shit!"

"So it is true," Maho mused, taken aback by Emi's outburst.

"Yes," Emi murmured, staring at the floor.

"Listen, Emi. Trust me. I can help you get through this."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah. My family can pay your tuition—"

"Pity. Last thing I need is pity. I just want some fucking dignity!"

"It's not pity. I certainly don't wish your situation on anyone, but don't think for one second that this is about me pitying you. This is about keeping together what we've done as a team, as a school. I don't want to let your family's troubles wreck that."

Emi stared at the floor again. "Sorry, Maho-san."

"In any case, we need you now. My mom has arranged for you to be under our care for two more weeks as a temporary measure. You'll remain a Kuromorimine student for as long as possible on Nishizumi family money. Hopefully your parents can turn this catastrophe around to some degree by then."

"Thank you, Maho-san. I don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything. Just get ready for the match today. Good luck. We're all counting on you." Maho left the room.

Emi stood up and walked to the bathroom again. She looked in the mirror. A grotesque beast stared back at her. She retched and managed to land most of her dinner from the night before in the toilet.

She shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair to straighten it. Her face was devoid of color.

At least Kuromorimine's sensha-dō uniform had some red in it. It might help cover over her abnormal paleness.