“B-big sister Luna!!” Emi stared up tearfully at Luna as though she was looking up at a figure of religious worship. “Y-you came to save me!”

Emi scrambled up to her feet, then ran at Luna to embrace her. Luna raised her palm so that Emi’s face would collide into it, then pushed Emi off to the side carelessly.

“Hak—” Emi fell into the grass, landing on her bottom.

Luna raced towards me, leaning down with a panicked look. “A-are you okay, Ryo?!” She asked, her eyes were darting all over my body for signs of injury. “I-I came as soon as I heard you yell! I-It was that stupid Mayu’s fault for pushing you down the hill!”

Mayu was standing by the side, sighing, but she had a relieved look seeing me. She was holding onto Emi’s giant mahogany bag with one hand, dragging it by the roped opening at the top.

“I’m fine, Luna…” I tried to wave her off from me as I got off the ground.

“Are you sure? You’re covered in scratches!” Luna wouldn’t budge. “We need to get you back home. I-I will treat your wounds.”

“Really, I’m fine, Luna.” I insisted. “Besides, shouldn’t you worry about Emi as well? She was taking care of me the whole time!”

We all glanced over at Emi who was sitting down on the grass with a smile on her face, gazing dreamily at Luna.

“M-me?” Emi coughed, realising everyone was staring at her. “Oh no, I’m fine, Ryo. Thanks for asking!” She laughed, waving her hands in front of her, cheeks red.

Luna gave her an annoyed look, then sighed. “I guess I do have to thank you, Emi… for taking care of Ryo…”

“H-huh?” Emi seemed genuinely surprised by the generosity that Luna was displaying. “It’s okay, Luna…”

“Well, now that everyone is fine,” Mayu chimed in, speaking loudly. “Let’s get out of this stupid forest.”

“Right.” I nodded, agreeing with Mayu. I was so sick of being in the forest after everything that’s happened. It felt like I had been stuck here for years.

“And, carry your own stupid machete.” Mayu complained, throwing the bag she was holding out onto the ground in front of Emi. “It’s so damn heavy!”

The bag hit the ground with a dull thud, causing the dirt underneath to crack under its weight. It felt like the ground shook when it landed, and I stared at the bag, swallowing.

“Haha, I’m so sorry, big sister Mayu…” Emi laughed weakly, picking up her bag with ease as she rewrapped it around her shoulders. “Thank you for picking it up for me!”

“You know you’re supposed to keep your weapon on you at all times.” Mayu sighed, putting a hand to her face. “That’s one of the first things we’ve learnt back at Asahikawa. I can’t believe I have to tell you this…”

Emi nodded her head obediently, frowning at her own mistake.

I felt sorry for Emi. She seemed like the little sister that everyone picked on.

“What are you even talking about, Mayu?” Luna rolled her eyes. “You almost got Ryo killed today.”

“W-what?” Mayu winced. “You’re still going on about that? You were the one that pushed him down the hill!”

“That’s because you knocked me towards him!”

“You started the fight!”

I had no energy to stop them from arguing, so I let them bicker on with a sigh. Something wet fell on my face, and I glanced up in the sky. The sky was covered in dark clouds, and the sun was completely gone now. The sound of thunder in the distance crackled from above.

“Rain!” Emi laughed. “Let’s dance, Ryo!”

Luna shot a venomous glare at Emi, and she quickly straightened up, wiping the smile off her face.

“Just our luck…” I groaned. Of all times to rain…

“Let’s get to a shelter!” Mayu said in a more concerned tone than I would had thought. “I don’t want to get my clothes wet!”

I looked down at her clothing. She was wearing something different to her usual self, probably new. I guess she still had to buy her clothes, despite being an Ashen and all.

“We passed a cottage before,” Luna said, “let’s go, Ryo.”

I nodded, and she grabbed my arm, pulling me with her as the four of us ran from the rain.

We arrived at the cottage that Luna was talking about. It was made almost entirely of wood, except for the glass windows. I had imagined a small one-room cottage in my mind, but it was bigger than I thought, almost being the same size as a normal house.

Mayu pushed past the unlocked front door hurriedly, and we followed after, eager to escape the rain that was now turning into a full-blown storm.

“Ah, my clothes!” Mayu cried. “I only just got them as well…”

“That’s bad luck...” I said, feeling her pain. I was also soaked in rain, though it wasn’t too bad as we had gotten out before it got heavier. The sound of rain hitting the roof was drumming lightly in my ear, though looking out the window, things were much more chaotic than it sounded. Seemed like the cottage was pretty sturdy.

“Are you guys sure no one lives here?” I asked, looking around. “Where’s the owner?”

“There’s a note here.” Luna said, standing by the closed front door. She was staring at a paper that was encased in a glass on the wall. “It says: ‘Dear visitors, this cottage is a safe house for lost hikers and to shield against the terrible weather that frequents this park. Please make yourselves at home. Signed, Koji.”

“What a nice guy!” Emi said.

“Well, we probably have to stay here until the storm clears.” I said, unsure. I didn’t like the idea of being locked up with the three of them in one house.

Something clacked, and I glanced at Mayu to see her bending down by the fireplace, having started the fire. The smell of burnt wood filled the air.

“It’s so cold!” Mayu said, huddling to herself. “I need to get my clothes dry…”

Feeling the warmth from the fireplace, I quickly joined Mayu, and plopped myself down in front of the fire.

“I’m going to go take a shower.” Luna said, walking to the bathroom.

“Can I come with yo—” Emi started.

“No.” Luna replied, then the door to the bathroom slammed shut.

Emi pouted, then came over to the fireplace with us. She sat next to Mayu, yawning. Mayu ignored Emi, and turned to me, smiling. “Hey, Ryo…” She leaned to me, and the top of her shirt fell sideways, revealing a healthy dose of cleavage. Instantly, my face went red.

“Do you want me to warm you up?” Mayu said, her pale emerald eyes locked with mine. “You look really wet…”

“Huh… Uh…” I was dazzled by her cleavage. I shook my head. “No. Mayu, uh, no.”

“Come on,” Mayu moaned, “Luna’s gone. Let’s warm each other up while we wait for the shower.”

“That sounds like a good idea!” Emi suddenly said, then jumped on Mayu, wrapping her arms around her waist. “Yay!”

“Ugh, what are you doing, Emi?!” The serious look on Mayu’s face disappeared, replaced by irritation at Emi. “L-Let go of me, Emi! I didn’t mean you!”

“Whaat?” Emi complained, looking up but refusing to let go. “Why? You’re so warm!”

“Cause I wasn’t talking to you!”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god Emi was here to stop Mayu from doing anything crazy. I didn’t want to have to witness another fight break out between Mayu and Luna.

Mayu continued struggling to get Emi off her, while Emi held her in an unbreakable hug. I closed my eyes, letting the heat from the fire sink in. It felt so good, after having been stuck out in the cold outside for so long.

Something wrapped around me, and I opened my eyes to see Mayu hugging me, her eyes squeezed closed and cheeks red. Emi was still holding onto Mayu from behind, with a face that said she was enjoying the warmth.

“M-Mayu?” I said, surprised by the contact.

“You’re so mean, Ryo.” Mayu said, her eyes still tightly closed. “I just wanted to hug you… Why can’t you just say yes…”

“I-it’s not like that…” I didn’t know how to respond to her.

Her chest was rubbing against me, and I could almost feel her naked skin through the wet clothing.

Mayu breathed on my neck, the hot air of her breath tickling my skin.

“I really… do like you… Ryo…”

…

Hearing those words, my mind went completely blank. It felt like I had to give her a proper answer, but my own feelings were so muddled. Did I like Luna, or did I like Mayu?... but they were both Ashens. Weren’t they not supposed to feel emotions? How did I know that I wasn’t being tricked? Mayu’s pale emerald eyes were now open, staring deeply into mine. She was waiting for me to reply, but I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t just not say anything here…

…

“Mayu!” Luna was standing by the bathroom door, her face red. She was wrapped in a towel around her body and her hands were tightly curled into fists by her sides. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

Mayu jumped back from me, her elbow hitting into Emi’s face causing her to let out a short cry.

“Uh, I-I… I wasn’t doing anything…” Mayu said, not concerned about Emi.

“You weren’t doing anything?” Luna repeated, then stomped over towards us. “Really?”

“Y-yeah…” Mayu glanced down anxiously at Luna’s fists.

“That hurt…” Emi complained, rubbing her face.

“Emi!” Luna snapped, and Emi stood up, quickly getting into the posture of a soldier at attention. All playfulness was wiped off her face and was replaced by a somewhat serious look, but her child-like face betrayed her intentions. I was amazed at how fast Emi reacted.

“What was Mayu doing while I was gone?” Luna asked, giving Emi a deathly glare. “Tell me everything that happened.”

“Mayu was seducing Ryo using her sexual body parts, namely her chest-”

“H-hey—!” Mayu interjected.

“-which performed as a distraction to close the distance between Mayu and her target without raising awareness-”

“I-I didn’t mean to do it like that…”

“-then, Mayu created a fabrication, with the pretext being to get warmth, to ease the target into accepting a proposal constructed for ulterior motives.”

…

“I can’t believe you betrayed me like that, Emi!” Mayu said.

Emi stuck her tongue out playfully at Mayu. “Sorry, big sister Mayu. I like Luna more than you.”

“And?” Luna pushed on. “What else happened?”

Emi continued. “However, the target refused the proposal for reasons that I do not know. Then Mayu—”

“T-that’s enough! Okay! Fine, I tried to seduce him!” Mayu said loudly, her face red. “Are you happy now? There, I said it!”

There was an awkward silence around the room. I wasn’t really sure what was about to happen.

“I-I’m going to kill you!” Luna broke the silence, her cheeks flushing.

“H-hey, Luna—!”

I tried to stop Luna, but she lunged at Mayu, catching her by the shoulders and into a short roll on the floor. Luna got herself on top of Mayu, but she couldn’t get a clean hold on Mayu, and they struggled in a mess of limbs, with Mayu holding onto both Luna’s hands, preventing her from using them.

“G-get off me!” Mayu yelped, and Luna punched her fists down at Mayu’s cheek, but it was a soft hit since Mayu was holding onto her hands.

“Y-you whore!” Luna yelled.

Oh my god. They were fighting again! I was still sitting by the fireplace, stunned by what had occurred over the span of a minute.

“Go Luna!” Emi cheered, laughing, while standing by the side. “You can do it!”

The scene was so surreal, seeing Luna and Mayu fighting on the floor, and Emi rally them from the side. My brain stopped working for a moment, contemplating what I was witnessing, before I snapped back to reality.

“W-what are you doing, Emi?” I said, picking myself off the ground. “Stop them!”

“Huh?” Emi looked up from the fight, and at me with an innocent gaze. “Why?”

Luna ripped her switchblade out from behind her, and slammed it into Mayu’s head. Mayu yanked her head just in time, and the switchblade pierced into the wooden floor, sending chips of wood into the air.

“Aah~!” Emi turned back to the fight with an ecstatic face. “Big sister Luna is getting serious!”

Where the hell did she even get the switchblade out from?! I was astonished, seeing Luna now waving the switchblade around dangerously amidst their fight. Wasn’t she wearing only a towel?!

I glanced at Luna’s back, and noticed the towel had almost come undone, showing her bare behind and parts of her lower back. There was a black bandage-like wrap around Luna’s naked waist, which I now realised was where she kept her switchblade under her clothes.

The sight of Luna’s body was making me dizzy.

“E-Emi, make them stop!” I tried to cover my eyes from looking at Luna’s body, but it was hard to resist. “Please!”

“I-I can’t Ryo… Luna wouldn’t like that…”

“…”

I guess I had to do it myself. But Luna’s switchblade was jumping around everywhere. And, it wasn’t like she could hear me.

“L-Luna…” I called out.

Luna was struggling with Mayu on the floor, the switchblade now at Mayu’s neck, begging to push into skin, but Mayu was holding on with all her strength to stop it from happening. Her hands were shaking from the force that Luna was using to push the switchblade down with.

I snuck behind the two of them, then waiting for Luna to keep still, I grabbed her from behind, quickly yanking her backwards.

“Ah—!” Luna cried, falling on top of me. She was still warm from the shower, and I was getting dizzy again from the touch of her skin, although parts of her towel were still hanging on loosely, covering most of the important bits.

Mayu crawled away from us, breathing deeply. “I-I can’t believe, y-you’re still doing this…”

“Aww…” Emi wailed, seeing the fight break apart. “It was just getting started…”

“L-Luna…” I said, keeping her in my hold, though she wasn’t resisting. “Please… No more violence…”

Luna took a deep breath. “Okay… You’re right, Ryo.”

“I-If you’re going to live a normal life…” Mayu was still wheezing. “You need to start acting like a normal person…”

“Tch.” Luna looked at Mayu distastefully. “I don’t need to hear that from you.”

Luna got up from the ground, helping me up in the process. I glanced down at her bare back, mesmerised for a second, before Luna rewrapped the towel around herself properly, not noticing that I was staring.

“You know what, Mayu?” Luna breathed out. “Next time you’re in trouble in a fight, I’m just going to let you die.”

“…”

Mayu fell silent, still lying by the floor.

“Luna, you don’t mean what you said.” I said. “Come on, you and Mayu are a team.”

“Team? She just drags me down all the time!”

“H-hey, I helped you out when—” Mayu started to say, but Luna interrupted her.

“—You’re just so fucking stupid, do you know that, Mayu? I’m sick of having to carry your dumb ass around every single fight we get in. Like, how do you always manage to make a mistake in the middle of every fight? Do you even have a brain in that thick skull of yours? Or is the only thing that you know how to do is to try to get Ryo to sleep with you?”

“…”

“It’s actually fucking disgusting watching you flirt with Ryo. You are really low, do you know that? You’re just so desperate, Mayu, you really—”

“Luna, that’s enough!” I quickly grabbed her by the wrist, dragging her to one of the bedrooms before she could say anymore. Pushing her in, I closed the door behind us, then I turned to her with a look of disbelief.

“Luna!” I said. “That was way over the line!”

Luna glanced at me, saw the anger on my face, then avoided my stare, choosing to look away instead.

“She started it, Ryo…” Luna mumbled.

“Don’t give me that!” I was stunned by her excuse. “How can you not see that what you’re doing is wrong?!”

“What did I do wrong?” Luna flinched, looking up at me. “I was just protecting you!”

“Y-you… Are you serious?” I shook my head. “You’re not protecting me… You’re just lashing out at people.”

“I did it for you!” Luna said. “I did it because I love you!”

“If you love me, then you would stop trying to kill Mayu!”

“…”

“I’m sick of this…” I glanced away from her. “And, Mayu’s right, you know? You can’t live a normal life if you’re going to attack everyone around me.”

Luna was silent for a while more. “I-I’m sorry, Ryo…”

“You always apologise and end up doing the same things over and over again.” I sighed. “There’s no point apologising if you don’t mean it.”

“I-I mean it… I won’t do it again… I’m really sorry…”

I didn’t really believe her, but I sighed again. “Okay, let’s go back to the others.”

I opened the door of the bedroom, and led us back in to the living room. Emi and Mayu turned to glance at us when the door opened, still sitting by the fireplace.

“Luna has something to say to you, Mayu.” I said, walking over to the two of them, then turned to Luna, waiting.

Luna glanced at me, then down at the floor, shuffling. “I-I’m sorry, Mayu…” She said reluctantly. “For trying to kill you.”

I raised my eyebrow at the last sentence, but shrugged my shoulders. Whatever. This was good enough.

“It’s okay, Luna…” Mayu said hesitantly, then glanced at me, with an expression that said, ‘What the hell is going on?’

“You two need to get together, okay?” I ignored the expression on Mayu’s face. “You’re a team. You guys are going to be helping each other out to defeat the other Ashens, right? Then it makes sense that two you need to get along.”

I glanced over at the two of them, then realised I forgot to include Emi, who was staring up at me, confused. “And Emi.” I added. “The three of you need to learn to co-operate.”

They glanced at each other hesitantly, then nodded their heads slowly, as though tied together by an invisible string.

“Now that, that’s over.” I sighed, then waved at them. “I’m going to go take a shower.”

Without waiting for a response, I turned and went in to the bathroom, shutting the door behind me.

It was still pouring heavily outside by the time that we all took our turns at the shower, but the whole cottage was now comfortably warm, with the fire being on for a while. There was one remaining task on hand.

I glanced at the doors leading to the bedrooms.

There was… one… two… three.

Three bedrooms.

We had four people.

…

It was like a wave of terror washing over me. How the hell were we going to make this work? After all that ‘being a team’ speech by me, I was faced with another looming problem, one with seemingly no solutions. There was no way that Luna was going to sleep with Mayu. That was given. Luna also hated being touched by anyone other than me, so that ruled Luna and Emi out of the equation.

What about Mayu and Emi?

I glanced over at the two of them. Mayu was still sitting by the fireplace, drying her clothes, while Emi was staring inside the contents of a fridge in the kitchen.

I then turned my eyes to Luna, who was on the landline phone that was left in the cottage. She was trying to call for help so that rescue services could pick us up from the storm. Unfortunately, she wasn’t get through to anyone because of the terrible weather.

None of them seemed to have picked up on the newly found problem that I have discovered. At least, I’d imagine that if one of them did, then there should be a noticeable commotion happening already. Seeing as that hasn’t happened, it must mean that the three of them are still unaware.

Now, I needed to make Mayu and Emi agree to sleep together before another fight break out over sleeping arrangements.

I decided to start off by asking Mayu first, as I thought she was the most reasonable person in the cottage.

Walking over to Mayu, I sat down next to her by the fireplace.

“Clothes still aren’t dry, huh?” I asked, laughing slightly. Let’s start off slowly. Mayu probably didn’t want to sleep with Emi either. After all, she had come to the park where Luna and I were having our date, because she didn’t want to be in the same house as Emi.

“No…” Mayu sighed, staring down at her shirt and touching the fabric. “I think the clothes are ruined by the rain, they look more baggy than before.”

Uh-oh. She already wasn’t in a good mood.

I laughed again weakly. “That’s no good…” Dammit. I can’t think of what to say next. Quick, just try to change the topic to something positive. “What do you think about Emi?”

Huh? What the hell?! Why did I ask her that straight away?!

“Emi?” Mayu glanced up at me suspiciously. “Why are you asking me about her?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” I rubbed the back of my head. “I just wanted to know what you think…”

Mayu sighed, then turned back to her clothes. “I told you what I thought before, Ryo. We shouldn’t had saved her. She’s way too strong to have as an enemy.”

“But she’s our ally…”

“For now.” Mayu replied. “You don’t know when she will turn her back on us. She isn’t all too mentally there. She’s still developing and has the mind of a child. You don’t know if she could suddenly change her views on us one day.”

“I guess you’re right…”

“Also,” Mayu continued, “you saw what happens when she uses her synthesis. She can’t control it yet. Even though she’s really strong, she might just end up hurting us in the end.”

I nodded solemnly. “Right…” Crap. This wasn’t the topic that I wanted to talk about. “But, w-what do you think about her personally.”

“Personally?” Mayu seemed confused.

“Yeah,” I said, “you know, like, do you see her as a friend?”

“…”

“Um… like, do you like her?” I tried to clarify myself.

“No!” Mayu suddenly snapped, surprising me. “I don’t like her, I thought you know that, Ryo. She’s the reason I didn’t want to be stuck back at the house in the first place. All she ever talks about is Luna. Luna this, Luna that!”

“R-right—”

“Not to mention, she just sold me out to Luna moments ago. I thought she wasn’t even listening in to our conversation before, but she was actually listening to everything!” Mayu’s face got red. “She even got all the details… ugh…”

“So, you wouldn’t be able to give her a chance…?”

Mayu looked at me as though I had just punched her in the face.

“Chance?” Mayu said, shocked.

“Ahh, forget it.” I shook my head, afraid of what she might say next.

Quickly, I picked myself up from the fireplace, scuttling away as fast as I could.

Crap, that didn’t go so well. Not well at all in fact. It didn’t seem like Mayu was going to be forgiving Emi anytime soon. Was this plan all for naught?

I glanced over at Emi, my last beacon of hope.

Maybe if I could get Emi to apologise and make things up with Mayu…

It was worth a shot.

I strolled over to Emi, who was still staring inside the fridge, one hand keeping the door open.

“H-hey, Emi.” I said. “What are you looking at?”

I glanced inside the fridge, and saw nothing inside.

“Food.” Emi said.

“Huh?” I didn’t know what she was saying. “But there’s nothing inside.”

Emi turned to me with a tearful expression. “Food, Ryo… I’m so hungry...”

“W-wha— calm down Emi!” I said. There were tears running down Emi’s face, although it wasn’t really serious. “I’m sure there’s food somewhere in the cottage.”

“I looked everywhere!” Emi cried. “There’s nothing, not even scraps!”

“Maybe, you aren’t looking in the right places.” I said, walking to other parts of the kitchen to check the shelves, but just like Emi said, there was nothing.

“I’m so hungry, I’m gonna die…” Emi gripped onto the sides of my arm, shaking. “I think I’m going to faint…”

“A-are you serious?”

“Yes…”

“I-I think I have something on me.” I touched the pockets of my pants, looking for food that I might had placed on me for the bushwalking journey I had planned with Luna. “Ah!” I touched something solid, and I pulled out a muesli bar that was somewhat squashed from my fall earlier.

“That will do!” Emi snatched the muesli bar out of my hand, and bit it with the wrapper still on.

“You have to take off the wrapper!” I grabbed the muesli bar out of Emi’s hand, tearing it open, before handing it back to her. “Here.”

Emi started eating straight away, gradually regaining her composure. “Thanks, Ryo, you’re always saving me…” Emi said, chewing with tears still running down her face, but this time it was tears of joy.

“It’s okay.” I laughed shakily. That whole ordeal was bizarre. Was she serious about fainting? Did she really need food that bad? But, Luna and Mayu was fine, so it didn’t make seem like it was an Ashen thing.

“I feel a lot better.” Emi breathed out. “That was great.”

“That’s good to know.” I said, nodding. “Uh… listen, Emi… could you do me a favour?”

“Sure,” Emi beamed, “what do you want me to do, Ryo?”

“Could you apologise to Mayu and make up with her?”

“No problem.” Emi replied back, almost instantly. “Did you want me to do it now?”

“Wow,” I was taken aback by her willingness, “sure, yeah, do it now.”

Emi strutted past me, and straight over to Mayu, while I watched her in bewilderment.

Standing by the kitchen, I couldn’t hear what they were saying properly, but it appeared like Emi said a few words, then Mayu replied back, then Emi, then…

WHACK!

Mayu smacked Emi on the top of her head, and Emi took the hit without doing anything back in response, while I winced from afar. Emi turned away from Mayu, then walked back over to me.

“Okay! I did it, Ryo!” Emi announced, seemingly pleased by herself.

“Y-you did what?” I said in confusion. “Wait, what did you say to her exactly, Emi? And why the hell did she hit you?”

“I did what you told me to do.” Emi replied back. “I went over and told her that I am sorry that she wasn’t as good looking as Luna, and that I would like to make up with her by helping her find another guy to sleep with.”

I looked at Emi in awe, my mouth refusing to shut.

“Then she asked me if that was all I had to say, and then I told her that, although it was smart of her to use her chest as a distraction to close on to a target, it is also to her disadvantage because Luna has a bigger chest than her.”

“W-w-w-wha…?” I couldn’t comprehend what I was hearing.

“That’s when she struck me on the head.” Emi ended the story. “I think it went reasonably well.”

This plan was a complete and utter failure. A dead end. There was no way this was going to work. No way in hell.

“O-okay… thanks, Emi…” I said, dazed.

“No problem!” Emi grinned.

I stumbled away from Emi, wondering how everything went so badly, then I bumped into Luna, surprising me. She had been standing in the way that I was walking.

“L-Luna!” I said, taking a step back. “H-hey…”

“What are you doing, Ryo?” Luna asked, smiling slyly.

The look on her face made me suspicious. “Uh… nothing… why?”

“I have something to tell you, Ryo.” Luna said, excited and ignoring my question.

“What is it…?”

Luna leaned over to whisper in my ear.

“There’s only three bedrooms, so we can sleep together tonight!”