“Aghh!!”

Emi’s fingers pressed firmly into her skull, her veins popping out on her hands and face. It was a frightening sight to witness. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her, seeing her struggle with the pain in her head.

“It hurts! It—”

She was hyperventilating, breathing rapidly in and out, her eyes glued to the floor. Sweat was falling off her face at an unnatural rate.

“I-I can’t— I can’t b-b-breath!”

Her entire body was trembling and tears were now falling from her cheeks.

“L-Luna, help me!” Emi forced her head up, shuddering. She was still crouched on the ground. Her wide-opened blood red eye, flashed in and out of synthesis. “I-I…”

Luna stood in front of her, clutching her switchblade loosely. Her face was shrouded in darkness and all that could be seen was a pair of vivid violet eyes gazing down disturbingly at Emi’s squashed-up figure.

“It hurts…” Emi whimpered. “It hurts so much…!”

Luna’s lips moved.

“Let me fix that for you.”

I jumped up, alert. “N-no!—”

Mayu stopped me, grabbing onto my arm. “Ryo—!”

I glanced back at her, my chest pounding.

“Just leave it…” Mayu winced at me, her face fatigued. “Don’t let Emi live… she’s too strong…”

I hesitated, contemplating the decision, then the images of all the people that had died flashed into my mind, blinding my vision. The guy with the slit throat at the park. The warehouse massacre. Kaiji. Kaori. The images surged in my mind, and my vision returned, staring into Mayu’s face, my breath heavy.

“I can’t let her do this…”

“Ryo…”

I pulled Mayu’s hand off mine, her fingers released reluctantly, and I turned to face Luna. She had the switchblade up in the air, the edge of the blade pointing down at Emi.

“L-Luna!!”

I yelled, sprinting towards the scene. She didn’t respond. She didn’t hear me. My heart sunk as I realised that she was too zoned out to hear her surroundings. The knife was falling now, and I was still sprinting, my legs pushing me faster than I had ever ran before.

Come on, come on!

The switchblade was falling into Emi’s face, the handle gripped tightly in Luna’s knuckle. I was so close! I was almost there! But the blade was falling fast, rapidly approaching Emi without a sign of stopping.

I couldn’t get there in time! It was dropping too fast and I…

I leaped on the last step, throwing myself over Emi, my hands wrapping around her.

“Luna, stop—!!!!!”

……

The edge of the blade stopped right in front of my face, and I mean literally right in front of my face. If I had to say how far it was, then it would be about one millimeter. I could feel my skin screaming, staring the knife down. I moved my eyes away from the switchblade, slowly looking up at Luna.

She was gazing down at me, her violet eyes glowing terrifyingly, but a look of recognition on her face.

“Ryo…?” She seemed puzzled.

I swallowed. “Put your knife down, Luna...”

Luna stared at me, unmoving. My entire body was tense and my breathing had stopped on its own.

Then, the switchblade moved back, dropping onto the floor. I breathed at last, feeling sweat on my face and back. That was so close… way too close for comfort. I heard Mayu exhaling too, seeing the switchblade hit the ground. It seemed she had also held her breath during that scramble.

I turned down to Emi who I was holding in my arms. Her luminous blood red eyes stared up at my eyes, shocking me for a second before the glow dulled completely and her face relaxed. Her eyes closed, then her head slumped to my chest, unconscious.

Thank god. I made it in time.

I lowered Emi gently to the concrete pavement.

“R-Ryo!”

Luna kneeled to face me, her palms on the ground. Her face was filled with worry and tears bubbled in her eyes.

“Why did you do that?!”

“Luna—”

“I-I could have killed you!!”

“I know…”

“…”

“I’m sorry, Luna…”

She didn’t respond.

“I said I’m sorry—”

“Don’t ever do that again!”

Luna pulled me into a hug, her arms wrapping tightly behind my back and her chin on my shoulder. I felt her sobbing quietly next to my face, and I stared to my side, awkwardly. Then slowly, I raised my hands, putting them around her back.

“It’s okay, Luna…” I soothed.

I glanced up at Mayu who was staring down at Luna and me, a relieved smile on her face, though her eyes seemed sad.

“Ah, she’s waking!”

“Really?”

“Come!”

Emi’s eyes twitched, her eyelashes fluttered, then slowly her eyes opened, squinting at the light from the apartment. She tried to move, but her arms pulled lightly at the ropes that were tied tightly around her. She was bound to a chair, her arms and legs restricted by the ropes that held her in place.

“You alright?” I kneeled to her, worried.

“W-where am I?” Emi groaned. Her waist was wrapped in bandages, soaking up the blood that was leaking from her wound. Luna had done the handiwork, making sure that she wouldn’t lose any more blood.

“You lost,” Mayu said, sitting on a chair behind me. Her legs and arms were crossed, and her face seemed as though she was still pondering if letting me save Emi was a good idea. She sighed, shifting on her seat. “We should have killed her…”

“It’s not too late to fix it.” Luna said cheerfully from the side. She pulled her switchblade out from behind her, moving towards Emi.

“What— no!” I blocked Luna with my arm, pushing her back. “Luna! That’s not what we’re doing!”

Luna frowned, but didn’t resist against me. She hid the switchblade back behind her, then walked off to the kotatsu table, plopping down on the cushions.

“Listen…” I turned back to Emi with a serious look. “We want you to help us.”

Emi blinked at me. “You’re the one that saved me…”

“Uh, yeah…”

“Thank you.” Emi bowed her head sincerely. “I’m grateful for that…”

I was surprised by her maturity despite her young look. I still didn’t know whether she was 12 years old or what.

“It’s okay...” I replied.

“Although I would have been happy to die at Luna’s hand too,” Emi raised her head, smiling, “I still appreciate what you did.”

Warmth gathered on my cheeks, seeing the look on her face. It was a cute smile, one that made my head spin. I didn’t know she could smile like that. All I remembered from the fight was her deranged look along with her murderous blood red eyes. That moment when she charged at me with her machete was still glued to my mind.

“Ugh…” Mayu stuck her tongue out as though there was a bad taste in her mouth. “I knew this would be a bad idea…”

“Anyways,” I shook my head, trying to be serious again, “we want you to join us, Emi.”

“Join you?” Emi repeated, confused.

“Yes,” I nodded, “right now we know the Ashens are planning to capture Luna and take her back. We’re trying to stop that from happening.”

“W-what…” Emi glanced down worriedly at her pockets. “Where’s my Navigator?”

Mayu held up a crushed-up device in her hand. “I destroyed it.”

“Uuoo…” Emi’s face seemed sad, looking up at her Navigator. “That thing was so cool…”

“You weren’t planning to tell the other Ashens where we were, right?” I asked hesitantly.

Emi shook her head. “No, I was just worried it was still recording the location.”

My face perked up, hearing that. “So you agree to help us?”

“Hmm…” Emi had a look on her face that said she was pretending to think. She glanced up, her lips pouted. “If Luna gives me a hug, I’ll think about it.”

Luna flinched from the kotatsu table. She was lying on the table, her head turned away from us. I got up from the ground and walked to her, tapping her on the shoulder.

“Luna, Emi said she will help us if you give her a hug.”

“Ryo… I can’t hug anyone else…”

“Why not?”

“… I can only hug you…”

“Haah?” I furrowed my eyebrows, not comprehending the logic of what she was saying. Then, an idea came to my mind. I turned away from her, sighing. “That’s too bad… I was planning to go out with you tomorrow…”

Luna raised her head and stared at me, giving me her full attention. Got you. I grinned sneakily, then quickly hid my smile. I shook my head, acting disappointed.

“I had a really fun day planned out…” I glanced back at her. “Just the two of us… alone…”

“I-I will do it…” Luna said hastily, her cheeks red.

It was almost too easy. I felt sort of bad for manipulating her like that, but we really needed to get Emi on our side. I guess I could make up for it tomorrow with her. I didn’t plan on lying about my part of the deal.

Luna pulled herself up from the kotatsu table, taking a deep breath. Her cheeks were still red, but there was a determined look in her eyes.

“I-I’m only doing this… for you, Ryo…”

“I know.” I said.

Luna marched over to Emi. I saw an ecstatic look breaking out on Emi’s face. “Ah!! Luna! Really?!”

I nodded over to Mayu. “Get Emi out of the ropes.”

Mayu sighed, then groaned. “Why am I doing this…” She got up from her chair, walking behind Emi’s chair and untied the ropes grudgingly. They fell loose at Emi’s feet, and she sprang up, staring dreamily at Luna.

Luna closed her eyes, looking as though she was in pain. She reached her shaky arms out slowly by Emi’s side. Luna took another deep breath, her face flushed with unwillingness. Then gradually, her arms closed around Emi’s small figure, until they were wrapped loosely around her back.

Emi squealed, her own face was flushing with excitement. She pulled Luna into a tight hug, pushing her cheek onto Luna’s chest. She was too short to reach Luna’s head.

“I-I’m so happy!! This is the first time you hugged me, Luna!!”

“…”

Luna looked as though she was disgusted.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Luna grabbed onto Emi’s shoulders with both hands, and pushed her as far back as possible.

Emi bounced up and down, exhilarated. “This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me!” She glanced at me, then without warning, she ran into me, throwing her arms around me tightly. “Thank you Ryo!!”

“Hey, hey…” I tried to pull her back, but she stuck onto me like glue. My face was growing red.

“Emi!” Mayu yelped, her cheeks flushing. She ran over to help pull Emi off.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Luna ran forward too, flustered.

Luna and Mayu grabbed onto either hands of Emi and pulled her away, using their entire strength. Emi was strong…

Emi pouted as they pulled her back onto the chair. “No fair, there’s two of you…”

I sighed, palming my face. Now there was going to be more trouble with another person in our group. But inside, I was relieved that she wasn’t killed. We are now a lot stronger with Emi on our side. She was the number 3 ranking Ashen… I wondered who was number 2… If we could defeat the number 2 Ashen, then there would be nothing else in our way…

Luna and Mayu dropped Emi in the chair, panting. She had been squirming in their grasp.

“Ryo!” Luna turned to me, pointing at me with a flushed face. “Don’t forget your promise!”

I laughed weakly. “I won’t…”

“When do I get a day with Ryo?” Mayu complained, sinking back into her seat.

“Never.” Luna snapped.

“H-hey, I wasn’t talking to you!” Mayu retorted.

“If you’re talking to Ryo, then you’re talking to me!”

“What?! How does that work?”

“Because we’re intertwined as lovers! We share the same soul!”

“Haah? That’s so dumb I want to vomit!”

The two continued arguing while I groaned from the side.

“Come on guys… let’s be mature…”

It took a while before I managed to eventually stop the arguing. I had placed them apart from one another, Mayu sitting on a chair in one side of the room, and Luna on the kotatsu table on the other side.

“Finally…” I breathed, wiping my forehead with the back of my hand, exhausted. “Let’s get back on topic…” I turned to Emi. “So… what is your answer?”

“Yes!” Emi swung playfully on the chair. She had a lot of fun watching Luna and Mayu fight. “I’ll help you guys out!”

A sigh of relief escaped my lips. That was one problem solved.

“If you are planning to join us, then you need to transfer into the school with us.” Luna said. “We need to keep an eye on you at all times.”

“H-hey Luna, don’t say it like that…” I glanced at her, frowning.

“No problem.” Emi nodded her head. “I want to stick by you all the time anyways.” She said, beaming at Luna.

Luna shrunk back, her lips curling. She looked as though she regretted her decision.

“Emi, we have some questions for you… in regards to the military group that is controlling the Ashens.” I chose my words carefully.

“Oh, you mean the R.E.M.?”

“The what?” I was surprised by her willingness to reveal information. It didn’t seem like she had any sense of loyalty towards the military lab that had created her.

“Revolutionary Evolution Movement.” Emi replied casually. “They’re the ones in charge of Project Ashens now. Luna might not know since she left before they took over, but Mayu should know.”

I can’t believe I never asked Mayu about it. Ugh. Let’s ask something that Mayu might not know.

“Anyways, how much do the other Ashens know about Luna’s whereabouts?” I rubbed my head, feeling embarrassed by my first question.

“They haven’t pinpointed a location besides Tokyo.” Emi said and relief fell over me. “Although…” Emi continued, and the relief disappeared. “Number two, Aya, seems to have a much better idea.”

I flinched, hearing that. She must had been the one that came to our apartment last time.

“How strong is Aya?” I asked hesitantly.

Mayu sighed. “She’s gotten insanely strong since Luna left the organisation. It will be a tough fight if she were to face with Luna.”

“Us three should be able to overpower her though.” Emi chimed in, and I was reminded of the fact that Emi was the third strongest Ashen. It was hard to keep that in mind when she looked like she was at the age where she just got admitted to middle school.

I exhaled. “When will the Ashens stop chasing Luna…”

“Never.” Emi answered. “Luna is the strongest of all the Ashens. They will keep chasing her forever no matter what.”

I winced, hearing that. “So I guess the only option is to fight…”

Emi smiled. “That’s right.”