BRIAN

"So… why did Eligor call you 'traitor'?"

I was anticipating the question. Knowing Kiri, it was bound to be asked, eventually. I was actually surprised that she even waited so long to pop it, instead of assaulting me straight away. Was she actually trying to restrain herself from doing it? I doubt it, but the small delay had been enough for me to prepare myself to answer. Enough information to satisfy her, but not so much that she'll start asking the more uncomfortable questions… or so I thought.

"I used to be a part of another group, when I was younger. It hadn't been my choice to join and I didn't like their MO… so, first chance that I got, I booked it and left them behind. They've been hunting me down ever since. I had no idea they were gonna find me here as well…"

There. Quick and concise. If I knew her well enough, then she shouldn't…

"What's this group?! Where do they operate?! How do I make them stop?!"

… I had learned nothing. Her boundless curiosity hit me like a tidal wave. Wait… did she just…

"Make them stop? That's what you want to know?"

She shrugged.

"Well… yeah. If they're hunting you down, I want them to stop. Why, what else was I supposed to ask?"

I… I was speechless. But in hindsight, I shouldn't have been, to be honest. Heroes… always the same thing, no matter what. But Kiriko was a hero among heroes, always trying to stick her nose everywhere.

I can't deny that I was slightly flattered though.

"I appreciate the thought. But there's no stopping them. Not yet, at least. Neither of us is sufficiently prepared to take on something like that".

"More difficult than a Palace?"

"Much… much more difficult".

That… and I wasn't mentally prepared to take them on just yet. I needed time. A lot of it.

"You're not gonna say anything more than that, aren't you?"

Well, ain't she a little detective?

"Nope. It's something that I'd rather not think about…"

She raised an eyebrow.

"They are literally after your head! I feel like you should be a lot more concerned about it!"

Irritation flared within me.

"And whatever makes you think that I'm NOT concerned about it?!"

Her fists went to her sides.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that you're trying to avoid the topic?!"

I rolled my eyes.

"If anything, that would mean that I AM concerned about it! I just know that there's not a single thing that I can do about it!"

Kiriko's eyes narrowed as she walked up to me and jabbed her finger against my chest. I have no idea if it was the anger or anything along those lines…

But the contact didn't really bother me, all things considered. In hindsight, it was a sign for things to come.

"Damn it, Brian! What are you so scared of that is making you act this way?! You're being even more cryptic than usual!"

"Perhaps because I don't want to talk about it?! It's not a period of my life that I look back at fondly!"

Those particular words seemed to snap her out of whatever anger she was feeling.

"I…"

She sighed.

"I did it again, didn't I? Goddamnit…"

Did what? My own irritation fizzled out. Kiriko inhaled through her nose, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"My mother and my friends always say that I don't really know when it's time to back out and give someone else some space. I suppose that they're right, much to my chagrin. It's just that I… I'm worried about you. A lot. You have an entire criminal organization with, I assume, the same powers as ours and… there's nothing that I can do about it…"

Feeling powerless. That's one of the things that Kamori Kiriko hates and fears the most, I realized. I saw it when we started on the first part of Hashimoto's Palace, I saw it when Maya acted suspiciously…

And I was seeing it at that moment, once more. She was, and still is, a complete open book when it comes to her emotions.

"I'm sorry if I pushed too much. I know that your past is painful and all… but I just want to help you. And if I can't make those guys stop, then I want to, at least, do something to make you feel a bit better…"

I heaved a small sigh. Dumb actions, but good intentions. That's Kiri's character in a nutshell. It's not that simple, obviously, but the more complicated facets of her personality still hadn't really surfaced much.

But still… at that moment, I took the decision that, likely, started the most drastic change to our relationship. I tilted my head up, looking at the sun that was starting to set. The redness of its rays served to put my mind at ease… like they've always done.

"You're right about something though… I am scared of them. Terrified even. Those people… they took something from me. Something very important to me, that I can never get back. And in exchange… they gave me something that I can never be rid of. Something that will haunt me for the rest of my days, most likely".

KIRIKO

Guilt is not an emotion that I'm terribly familiar with. Not that I never make mistakes (hell, do I bloody make A LOT of them!) or that I believe I'm perfect or anything along those lines. But I usually wash it all away with a smile and a joke, in order to try and spare everyone's feelings, mostly my own. A flaw of mine, but one that never really backfired much.

Up until then. That time was when I couldn't muster the strength for my usual jokes.

I felt like the greatest asshole in Hanamura. I was anticipating the argument, obviously. I knew that it was a sore topic, but I felt compelled to go through with it anyway, because I genuinely did want to help him, in any way that I possibly could. I would never stand aside and allow a friend of mine to suffer, especially him.

The one thing that I wasn't anticipating was him caving in and actually saying something. Because of my selfishness, I was making him relieve some extremely unpleasant memories… traumatic events that shaped him into the prickly, paranoid ball of mistrust that he was.

I didn't know what those memories were exactly… I just knew that I made Leader sad with my ramblings and curiosity, and that was unacceptable.

I initially went in for a hug, before remembering that I couldn't. So I settled with gently grabbing his sleeve, like a lost child. I probably could have given his hand or shoulder a small squeeze, he would have tolerated it… but I was deathly afraid of making things worse.

If he noticed my, honestly, pathetic attempt at comforting him, he didn't acknowledge it. He merely started walking again, escaping my feeble grasp with ease. His back felt like an impenetrable wall, guarding the person that I knew he could be. The one that I had seen just below the surface, times and times again, but that he kept under lock and key at all times.

For just one second, I was sure that he was about to leave me behind… until he turned back to me with a shadow of a smile.

"Well? What are you waiting for? We don't have much time left to see what's wrong with your friend".

Maya… right. Maya needed me. I slapped my face with both of my hands at the same time, to get myself back into the game.

"Right behind you, Leader!"

He rolled his eyes at the nickname, but it had none of the irritation that I was used to seeing everytime that I used it. He was starting to get used to it, probably. Good for him, because I wasn't planning on dropping it anytime soon… for the simple reason that it's how I felt.

Brian was my leader, in the Metaverse… and, much later on, even out of it. It's a feeling that had been there from the very start, back when I awakened and summoned Tamamo for the first time… one of trust.

I trusted him to lead me into battle and navigate the adversities of that strange new world… but when it came to our regular reality…

"Hey, wait! Don't rush ahead like that!"

"Hurry up then! You're way too slow!"

… his opinion wasn't the most impactful, let's just say. I heard him sigh behind me, before jogging to catch up with me. He sent me a disgruntled look, while I answered with a smile…

"So, you are capable of running! Man, I thought you were some sort of horror movie villain, walking and teleporting around off screen! What a relief!"

… and a joke. And in the meantime, my head was spinning.

Maya was in danger. I knew that she was. I could feel it deep within my bones. The only question was, obviously, what I could do.

What WE could do, I remembered with an honest smile, this time. Perhaps Brian didn't care about her… and that was fine. But he cared enough about me to help me, instead of leaving me to deal with it on my own. That had to mean something. Maybe I was breaking through, finally?

I snorted to myself. Nah, I knew better than to think that I had managed to pierce his shell. But… I had made a crack.

That was enough for me, at least for that moment.

"So. Where do we start, Kiri?"

I almost stumbled.

"You're asking me?!"

He shrugged.

"Yeah. This is your friend, after all. I figured that you would know better".

That was a fair assessment, if I ever heard one. I hummed, stroking my chin.

"Ideally, I would love to find Maya directly and ask her… but she's not the hide and seek queen for nothing. If she doesn't want to be found, you will not find her, no matter how much you try…"

He snorted.

"Sure. Because the last time she tried to sneak around, it went so well for her".

I smiled, despite the jab. But that did indeed contrast with what I knew about her.

"Yeah… that time she was being… almost obnoxiously loud, even. It's not like her to be found so easily. It's almost like…"

"She wanted us to bust her…"

Leader finished my sentence for me. I frowned, scratching the side of my head.

"Damn it Maya, what are you trying to tell me…?"

The two of us spent a couple of minutes racking our brains. Or… I did, more like.

"Say, Kiri. Do you remember exactly what your friend said when we discovered her?"

I thumped the side of my head, jogging my memory.

"She needed a safe route for… somewhere, right? You thought that she was tailing us to find our hideout…"

He nodded.

"Yup. But if you think about it better, she said something else after. Something that we both missed that time".

I hated whenever he did that, you know? Speaking in riddles, trying to make you reach the answers for yourself instead of simply telling you. Even outside of the Metaverse, he was still trying to teach me how to deal with those kinds of situations.

But back then, it only made me mad. However, I managed to bite back down my rude, but very intelligent, answer and focused back on what Maya said. What was it…

"... this is as close as I'm gonna get to where I need to go. Which means that she already had a destination in mind, while she was following us!"

Brian smiled and nodded at me.

"Sounds like it. Which either means that she already knew about the arcade, or she was heading somewhere completely different in the same area".

That's all nice and dandy, but now the question simply shifted.

"Where was she headed…?"

I tried to think about it some more, before biting back a scream and starting to stomp off to the alley where we busted her, while ignoring Leader's shouts.

I was gonna find that dumbass, and have HER answer these blasted questions herself!

BRIAN

Aaaaand there she went again. Charging headfirst like a bull. I can't say that I was terribly surprised, to be honest. Act first, think later was very much her modus operandi. So, I sighed and started following her. I have no idea of how much use I could be outside of the Metaverse, if we were to get into a fight, but better than have her run off on her own.

We were on the right track, I felt. Moreover, I was starting to have a feeling on what exactly was wrong with that Maya girl. But it was still way too early to be sure, so I kept that suspicion to myself and trudged on after her.

Soon enough, she stopped right where we had our last interaction with the girl. Kiri was swiveling her head back and forth, before eventually settling into a precise direction.

"She went that way when she left. Come on, we're going after her".

"If we take for granted the fact that she didn't fake us out and change direction after getting out of our line of sight".

She growled at that.

"We'll figure it out if and when it happens! Come on, this way!"

She started running again, forcing me to follow her. She was tired of the secrets and mysteries, and honestly I couldn't blame her. The problem was that she was acting extremely reckless, likely because her friend was involved. I had managed to keep a lid on it up until that point, but now she was rabid. And she wasn't gonna stop until she knew.

Eventually, the hunt was over. Surprisingly, there weren't any misdirections… we were exactly where Maya wanted us to be.

I found Kiri staring at an abandoned flat, her eyes filled with nostalgia.

"This is Maya's childhood home… where she lived with her parents, back when…"

She trailed off, allowing me to reach the logical explanation.

Wordlessly, she pushed open the door of the flat, entering slowly… almost respectfully. When we found the door of Maya's old apartment, the silence grew almost oppressive. The inside of the apartment was completely bare, obviously, the interior having been cleaned out sometime ago, judging by the smell that lingered.

Kiriko kept on walking, her footsteps silent behind her, while I trailed after like a ghost.

"Her room… if there's anything here, then it has to be behind this door…"

She gulped, feeling the weight of the situation. It was obvious that this place hadn't been picked randomly, and that whatever it is that was hiding, was bound to be heavy with trauma and sadness.

Kiri was hesitating, which is so unlike her that it almost scared me for a moment. But she was still committed. She just needed a little push.

I gently placed my hand on her shoulders. She instinctively covered it with hers, drawing some small amount of force from the contact.

Weirdly enough, I didn't feel the immediate need to take my appendage back, so I allowed the small moment to linger for a bit, until she turned her head towards me and nodded. We were both ready.

She placed her hand on the doorknob, took a deep breath… and swung the door open.

Hello?! Is this thing on?! It is?! Noice.

Welcome back, dudes and gentleladies, to another episode of UTFW, the show where we love inner monologues!

A part of the Maya dilemma is about to be unveiled, at last! What will our heroes (or more like, one heroine and one mercenary) find behind that closed door? We shall have to see.

Don't worry, no Doki Doki Literature Club shenanigans, I promise ahahaha.

That's all folks! Ta-ta for now!