The three girls sat in the inn room: Kiyomi and Sako each sat backwards on a chair, feet apart around the chairbacks with hands resting on top.
Luna sat in front of them on the floor, tied up in black rope Kiyomi had summoned. HP: 7% and recovering very slowly. She was leaning against the wall, head down.
Once her HP reached 10%, she half-opened her eyes and looked up at them.
“How are you feeling?” Sako asked.
Luna shook her head the slightest bit.
“Groggy?”
She gave a short nod, looking drowsy and ready to pass out again.
“You should be pissed at her, not concerned,” Kiyomi said.
“Yeah, but you gave her a pretty good hit, so I’m not. If I’m being honest… well… seeing that Critical Hit was… um…” Sako pulled her eyes away from her and stared down at her own shoes.
“Satisfying?” Kiyomi asked.
After some long seconds, Sako nodded subtly.
She smiled because she knew that deep down, Sako had a dark side. Everyone had a dark side. “And you’re ashamed of it?”
“It’s not something to be proud of.”
“Sako,” Kiyomi said.
Sako looked her in the eyes.
“It’s fine to hit people like that sometimes, even IRL. If they piss you off, do something about it.”
They all stayed quiet for a good while longer, deep in their thoughts.
Sako was carving things into her wooden chairback with something Kiyomi couldn’t see from her short distance: a few arm’s lengths away. She was obviously bothered about stuff.
Luna still looked like a lifeless doll.
Kiyomi wasn’t sure where to start with her solo grinding.
“Where did you get the fire extinguisher?” Sako continued her carving, eyes locked onto her handiwork.
“It’s one of those odd spells that’s totally unrelated to my class. One of the extra ones. I have a subsection called ‘Odd Spells’ with random but fun and cool spells.”
She nodded. “I think I’ll change my class later.”
“To what?”
“Dunno yet. This class doesn’t suit me.”
“Alright. I’ll support whatever you choose. Take your time and think about it.”
“Thanks.”
Her reply was automatic and plastic, but Kiyomi wouldn’t start on that. Sako looked like she wanted time for herself.
They sat there again for minutes…
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Tick… Tick… Tick… Tick… Tick… Tick… Tick… Tick… Tick… Tick… Tick… Tick…
There was a wall clock up in one corner.
“I miss Mom,” Sako said.
“Yeah, your mom was nice.”
“Unless you mentioned my sunflowers.” Sako chuckled weakly then her face grew sad again.
Kiyomi had lost her parents, murdered at two separate times on the same day. It hadn’t been a coincidence. From then on, she had gone to live with her aunt, hating the world.
“Sunflowers…” Those were too bright for Kiyomi’s taste.
“Yeah…”
“What’re we waiting on again?”
“For Luna to recover. I want to ask her a few things.”
“Can’t you just buy a Recovery Potion and use it to heal her instantly?” Kiyomi asked.
“Ah, but then I wouldn’t get the peace and quiet I’ve been wanting all morning.” Then she realized what she had said. “O-oh, please don’t tell her I said any of this by the way! It’s, um… not like I hate her or anything… I don’t hate her, I swear…”
Kiyomi held her head down, trying to contain her laugh. This was rich. So rich coming from Sako, the nice girl. She couldn’t wait for the day Sako would finally punch someone in the face. What a sweet day that would be. She looked over to Luna. 11... 12…
Critically thinking about Luna, most people with a brain would ditch this lunatic by now. But this could work to their advantage. They could keep her as a tool for when they needed an extra person for certain things, like to deal with the mechanics of a boss or use her as a decoy. And the perfect way to hook her in was to use Sako as bait. But the trickiest part would be for Sako to maintain a distant friendship with her, making sure Luna kept a constant interest in her so that when the time came, she could call on Luna. Maybe if Sako promised her sex, which wasn’t even possible in-game, she would come running. Classic bait-and-switch. And then if Luna died somehow, that wouldn’t be their problem. And it wasn’t like she wouldn’t respawn at the nearest spawn point.
19… 20.
“Are you any better?” Sako asked Luna.
“…A little… better.”
“Do you want 10 more minutes?”
Luna nodded a bit. Her HP was regenerating at a rate of 1% every three minutes.
10 minutes later
23%.
“What… do you want,” Luna asked in a low, sulky tone. She was probably still suffering from a headache. “You just had to tie me up.”
“Yep,” Kiyomi replied.
“Hey, can I ask you some stuff?” Sako asked.
“And what if I say no?”
“Then I’ll knock your HP down with a bigger fire extinguisher,” Kiyomi said.
Luna grunted.
“Why’d you do it?” Sako had a tiny edge in her tone. So subtle that Kiyomi had nearly missed it.
Luna didn’t answer.
“Please, Luna.” Sako’s tone was patient and emotionless.
She still wouldn’t answer.
Sako got up from her chair and crouched down to Luna’s level. She lifted a hand, about to slap her.
“Do your worst.”
After pausing with some reluctance, Sako sighed and lowered her hand. Violence was pointless if it didn’t intimidate her. She stood up and sat back on her chair, how she had been sitting. “I’ll… give you a kiss if you answer me.”
“Where?”
“On your forehead.”
“No. Somewhere else.”
“Where?”
“On my mouth.”
“You don’t get to choose…”
“I’ll choose what I want.”
“Luna…”
“Give me two kisses now, and I’ll tell you. A long one on the lips with your tongue in my mouth—”
“No, one kiss after you tell me, and I get to decide where—”
“Then I’m not cooperating. Do what I say and—”
“SHUT UP. THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS. I SAVED YOU, AND THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT ME? BY DOING THE VERY SAME THING I SAVED YOU FROM? I HAVE DONE EVERYTHING WITHIN REASON THAT YOU HAVE WANTED FROM ME, YET YOU CAN’T DO ONE SIMPLE THING FOR ME? WHAT KIND OF RELATIONSHIP IS THAT?” Sako got up, lifted her chair with a hand, and flung against the window. The glass shattered as the chair flew out and fell onto the street below.
Luna’s eyes went wide with astonishment and fear.
Even Kiyomi had flinched at that.
Tick… Tick… Tick… Tick…
“Fine,” Luna replied in a small tone.