Ruby woke up. She was sure she died. She was certain that in the world of the living her gravestone would have the words 'fell off a cliff, fighting' on it, though she was't sure about the fighting part of it. She was sure she was in heaven. This thought surprisingly made her a bit calm due to which she wasn't so worried about where she was.
Now here she was in a warm room. The room looked as if it was in a cottage. In front of the comfy bed she was laying on, across the room, was a fireplace where a fire was burning lighting up the room and spreading warmth all over. Close by that were two chairs and in the corner of the room was a table. Beside the bed she was laying on was the girl she fought with. She was still unconscious. 'What was her name? Was it Leah?' Ruby thought as she glanced at the girl. Ruby had never seen a girl as beautiful as her. Her purple hair that was in the same hair style as her, now disheveled. Her face was covered with a few bruises but yet she looked pretty. She still looked pretty good looking in her tattered armor and robe. 'Why am I even thinking like this?' Ruby thought to herself as she face palmed. It was unlike her to feel like this. She could stare at her all day. Ruby wanted to know Leah more and get closer to her. 'she does look pretty.'
Her thoughts were interrupted by the door that she didn't notice open up with a bam. Ruby squealed in fright and hid behind the sheets. "-and then Maki chan was all angry. It was so funny nya!" the one who entered said to the person coming behind her, who had a staff in her hand. "Rin chan you shouldn't prank someone like that." the one with the staff chided. Ruby sat there confused.
The one with the staff looked at her and gave her a smile. Ruby immediately hid behind the sheets, scared. "It's alright nya. We won't hurt you nya." Rin said extending a lollipop, which came out of no where, to Ruby. Ruby hesitantly took it and popped it into her mouth. 'So good...' she thought as she tasted the strawberry flavor. "My name is Rin and this is Kayo chin nya!" 'nya?' Ruby thought. She then come to a conclusion that Rin had a verbal tic like Hanamaru but instead of "zura" she said "nya" like a cat.
"Rin chan..." the one with the staff gave her a look before turning to Ruby. "I'm Hanayo. Rin chan calls me Kayo chin." Hanayo introduced. "Welcome to the Rice Kingdom, the neighbor to the famous Uranohoshi Kingdom and Hakodate Kingdom!" Hanayo said excited.
"I-I'm not dead?" Ruby stuttered to which Rin laughed. "No nya! We saw the two of you falling and we caught you nya. I turned into an eagle to save you and Kayo chin grew a huge plant to save your friend nya!" Rin stressed on the word huge and moved her hands as she explained what had happened.
'She isn't really my friend... but I wouldn't mind her being my friend' Ruby thought. Hanayo then spoke picking off where Rin left off. "Our friend Maki chan healed the two of you. She just left when you woke up."
They were interrupted with a cough. "Where am I!?" Leah sat up straight scared, holding a ball of ice in her hand, ready to attack. "No need to be scared nya! You are in the Rice Kingdom nya!"
"What! So I'm not dead?"
They explained the situation again, this time to Leah. "I get it. Just so you know she is not my friend." Leah pointed at Ruby, giving her a dirty look. Ruby squeaked again. "Don't be so cold nya. I'll get some warn Ramen to eat and Kayo chin some rice nya!" Rin skipped out of the room.
That left Ruby with Leah and Hanayo. There was a silence lingering in the air. It wasn't an awkward one. It felt comforting. Hanayo seemed like a nice person. Or at least that's what Ruby thought. "You both may stay as long as you like." Hanayo said with a warm smile after sometime. That's when Ruby remembered about her friends. They must be worried sick. Ruby began to panic and began to cry. The other two looked at her wondering why was the happy girl crying all of a sudden. "Onee chan..." Ruby muttered as she hugged the sheets as she sobbed into it. Ruby wondered how her sister would take the news of her falling off the cliff. Surely she wouldn't be happy and she would go on about how she shouldn't have let Ruby to become a knight. Who knows what Dia might do to know what exactly happened. Especially since she was the second one from her kingdom to supposedly die from fighting the Ice sisters.
"Onee chan?" Leah looked at the sobbing girl, before her eyes widened as she remembered something. "Onee sama does she know I'm here!?" Leah asked Hanayo, and began to panic. Hanayo felt a bit overwhelmed with the situation. One one side she had a crying kid, who she didn't know how to console. On the other there was a panicking girl who demanded answers. "Dareka taskete!" Hanayo screamed. The two girls looked at her, a confused. Ruby stopped crying, due to that shock. "Kayo chin what happened nya!?" Rin came running in with four bowls, two balancing on each arm. Hanayo was weeping. Rin turned to the two angrily at which the two girls yelped. "Did you do anything to Kayo chin nya?" Rin growled like a cat. "We did nothing I swear." Leah said, waving her arms, clearly scared. Ruby was to frightened to say anything on the other hand. "Rin chan they are right. I was just overwhelmed." Hanayo explained, wiping her tears. "If you say so nya!" Rin returned to her normal self. Leah and Ruby made a mental note not to make Rin angry. Ever.
"So what made you feel like that nya?" Rin asked Hanayo while passing out the bowls of food to everyone. "It's about their sisters..."
"You have sisters nya?" the two nodded at the question. "That's so cool! Two of my friends have sisters too! They-"
"Can I contact my sister, please." Leah interrupted, "I don't want her to worry."
"M-me too." Ruby squeaked, "I also need to contact my squadron..."
"You're a knight!?" Hanayo's eyes sparkled in excitement. Ruby nodded. Just before Hanayo was about to say something Ruby said, "I just want to contact them, to tell them I'm alright." Rin and Hanayo looked at each other and gulped before turning to the two girls. "We can do that but..." Hanayo trailed off. "We might need to go to the neighboring forest and search for this particular person nya." Rin continued, "she usually never stays in one place there."
"WHAT!" the two said in unison. Then chaos broke out. The two blabbered on about how their comrades/sisters' would be worried. Hanayo then said feebly, "T-there is another way though." the two on hearing this kept quiet and were all ears for Hanayo. "Follow me." Hanayo said getting up from her chair, placing her cup of rice on the chair. Rin did the same, followed by Ruby and Leah. They were outside surrounded by rice fields all over. 'No wonder they call it the rice kingdom.' Ruby thought as Hanayo pointed to a mountain far away. "That's the mountain from where you fell from. It won't be easy to reach there though. You must pass the Forest of Birds. Then you must pass the abandoned village to reach it." Hanayo took a breath before continuing her explanation. "Since you don't have much time you might need to do this..." Hanayo began to explain the two a procedure. Ruby hoped that she would be able to do this.
They were back at Chika's place. They returned back to town and were astonished to not find dragon over there. They stayed over there for a few days, to check if it returned but it didn't. Just because they finished the mission it didn't mean they were happy. They had lost a member who was vital for the group. It wasn't just her. A person who was close to another person's heart was gone too. The remaining members of Aqours and Sarah sat in Chika's room, sad. Not even Yoshiko's antics were able to make them laugh or do something about it like usual. Both parties called out a truce after the incident. The most affected by this was Sarah, Chika and Hanamaru. Sarah had lost her sister and Hanamaru had lost a precious friend. Chika felt guilty for forcing Ruby to fight Leah at that moment. They weren't ready to believe that they were gone. In fact none of them wanted to accept it but it was the dirty truth. The room was silent.
The door opened with a bam. It was Mito , Chika's older sister. "Hey dummy I think you might want to see this." Mito said to Chika. Chika was in no mood to look at anything, but then again who knows what it might be, "Come outside, all of you." Mito added, before rushing outside. Everyone looked confused and slowly shuffled out of the room.
Chika's mood completely changed on going outside. Her frown was turned onto a toothy grin. From afar the nine people and Mito could see a white ray shooting up, then a red one enveloping it. On the bright blue shy was written the words "ALIVE" Chika was sure it was no other than Ruby and Leah. Everyone was happy and cheered as hope began to reestablish it's place in everyone's hearts. Maybe they could save them.
Everything returned to happiness and joy as they saw the message. Chika would have to write another report to Mari but she didn't care. As long as they were safe. "Everyone let's go and get them!" Chika said excited for what's ahead. "Hai!" everyone said in unison. "Aye aye captain, full steam ahead!"
And so they were going to embark on another journey to save their comrades, that is after Chika and Sarah write another report to their respective kingdoms.
"My sister is what!" Dia exclaimed, after reading a letter Chika had sent a few days ago to Mari. "Yes, it's true."
"How can this be..." Dia muttered and placed her face in her hands. She was not ready to accept the news. Ruby was a Kurosawa and Kurosawa's never back down that easily. They will always strike back even if they have to face death. There was no way Ruby would have fallen down a cliff and is dead. Sure Ruby was soft at heart but it never meant she was fierce. She was a Kurosawa after all. She needed to see what happened with her own eyes. Dia almost stormed out of the room when Mari called her, "You're going there aren't you?" Mari had a knowing look in her eyes. "Yes."
"I'm coming too."
"BUU BUU DESU WA!" Dia said. "You have to take care of the kingdom. What will the kingdom do without a leader? You need to stay beck." Dia tried to knock some sense in Mari's mind. "Nope. I'm coming. The kingdom won't collapse if I'm not here for a day of two." she said casually to which Dia sighed. "Fine... but may I know something?"
Mari signaled Dia to go on. "Mari san, why are you giving them such quests which are meant for knights of a higher grade? They have just become knights and it is not safe to do this. Now look what has happened because of it."
"Dia, they have to grow and we don't have many knight in the kingdom who are as good as them. We don't have much strength but if we work together anything is possible! Because of their teamwork I gave them hard tasks." Mari explained. Dia left with a bow after hearing her answer but Dia knew it wasn't the whole answer. After Dia left Mari felt something boil within her. Was it the spirit of revenge? Maybe. After all once she faces the Ice sisters she was going to bring hell on them for what they did. A knock came from the door. "Yes come in!"
"Mari sama here is the scroll from the pigeons from the Northern Mountains." the castle worker presented Mari with a scroll. "Thank you! Ciao!" the castle worker bowed and left the room. Mari kept the scroll down thinking it was from the villagers over there thanking her for her help and went to work on other stuff. Little did she know that that tiny scroll had some vital information form Chika that explained what had happened and that Ruby was safe.
Ruby sat outside the house looking at the scenery. It was late at night. The air was warm and give her a sense of security as it blew. The rice was slightly moving, according to the direction of the wind. The sky was cloudless and the moon was bright in the sky surrounded by the stars which decorated the black sky. Ruby felt at peace. They were going to leave the next day, along with Hanayo and Rin who wanted to see Ruby's squadron. Ruby got to know a lot of stuff while talking to them. Hanayo was kind of like her. According to Hanayo Ruby reminded her of erself when she was young. Rin reminded Ruby of Hanamaru, maybe because of the virbal tic.
She didn't get to know much about Leah though. She wanted to know more about her. She wanted to break all the walls surrounding the girl. She wanted to become good friends with her. While talking to Hanayo Ruby did find out that Leah also had a love for knights. Ruby wanted to talk about knights with Leah but had no clue how to approach her. Leah had a edgy and cool personality. Ruby on the other hand was just shy.
"Lovely scenery isn't it?" Hanayo said, hefting her staff. Ruby hummed in response. "I'll be right back. I'll need to set a leader to lead the Kingdom when I'm gone."
"Alright. Gambaruby!" Ruby did her signature pose, at which Hanayo smiled. Hanayo was reminded of her senpai and her signature move. It was a famous one at that time when she was a knight.
Ruby was then again left alone. It was silent and calm around her till she heard some crying noises. She wondered who was it and went inside the warm cottage. She could see Leah crying in her sleep. Worried, Ruby rushed to her side wondering how to calm her down. She looked around for some help but only found Rin who had transfigured into a cat sleeping in her little bed. "Onee chan..." Leah sobbed in her sleep. Ruby gave Leah a awkward hug from the side. In some time Ruby noticed that she calmed down. Just as she was going to break away from her Leah, in her sleeep, pulled Ruby onto her bed. Ruby had to control herself from squeaking. She knew Leah was still asleep but what was she supposed to do, now that she is stick in Leah's grip. Leah was hugging Ruby from behind. Ruby's heart beat quickened as Leah held on to her tight. Ruby meanwhile, was a mess. She had no clue what was going on with her. Her heart was pounding, her hands were sweating and she somehow felt the touch to be nice. She tried to get out of Leah's grip but couldn't. 'I guess I'll have to sleep with... her.' Ruby thought as she gave up trying. She hoped that Leah could not hear her heart as it pounded. Ruby closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep as she felt a warm sensation evolve on her back which wasn't from Leah.
Meanwhile Hanayo had already returned. She was watching the scene take place in front of her. She smiled to herself and thought that one day the two would be happy together. Hanayo did know that knights are not allowed to be in relationships to prevent them straying from duty but if it was between the same gender it was allowed. Hanayo went insde and shut the door behind her getting ready for bed, after all they would begin their trip tomorrow morning.