Memories of Fated

Chapter Twelve - Black Cats

POV: Ito Tsubaki

A couple of months after you have been stuck in a virtual reality game with swords, your arms get a bit tried after swinging them around for hours on end.

"Kyo!" I call from the other side of the rock field, waving my hand in the air. "Wanna head back to the inn!"

It had been like this every day, training, eating, sleeping, more training. We have tried to stay away from the front lines though, not wanting a whole repeat of the beater and the niecer incident.

Not saying that we have been slacking off, we have been doing the exact opposite of that in fact, training and raising our levels the best we can.

"Yeah sure" Kyo saunters over with his usual swagger, bow swung over his shoulder and knife hanging out of his other hand.

"Any results?" I ask flatly, stretching my arms out, the bones cracking with a sickening click.

"Kyoto Katuo reporting for duty" He stands straight, giving me a mocking salute. "Currently at level 45, Commander Yira!"

I give him a lazy salute back with a small smirk, "Commander Yira still beats you, Cadet Kyoto"

"What level?" He says dryly

"You buy dinner and I will tell you!"

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Our inn is placed in a quieter part of town 26 and on a floor above us, planning for the storming of floor 27 could be taking place. The sun is setting as we wave through the crowds, the street lights only just beginning to glow.

"So where are we going?" Kyo questions, his voice riddled with annoyance.

"I don't know, your paying!" I shrug.

"I don't know how I have lived with you for 6 months"

We stop our conversation as we head to the nearest of the identical restaurants found all over the game world, each selling the same type of food. I sighed. At least it wouldn't burn the bank.

I choose the table the furthest away from everyone else, right in the corner of the wooden building, lit with candles, bodies of players casting a shadowy light over the wood.

As we sit down, the notification lights up, asking for what we want to eat. I push the thing over to Kyo with a flick of my finger and he raises his eyebrows, stiffening an eye roll.

"What do you want to eat?"

"Cake" I mumble, my jaw moving against the hand that holds it, elbow on the table.

"But you can't eat cake, you had cake yesterday!"

"Well, I will have a strawberry cake this time rather than a chocolate one okay Cadet Kyoto?"

A heavy sigh escapes him as he picks the cake I wanted, then whatever he wants and pays, the food spawning with a flash of blue light.

This is the reason me and Kyo don't tend to cook, like at all. Maybe cooking here isn't as complicated, but it is still a big hassle. Plus you don't have to wait!

I dig my spoon into the Strawberry cake, the white chocolate icing melting into bliss on my tongue. The red strawberry sits at the top part of the cake, which I deliberately avoid until the rest of the cake is done.

No sooner after I had finished shoving the first spoonful of cake into my mouth does Kyo ask impatiently, "What level are you then?"

I force myself to swallow the heavenly desert before I wanted to, smiling before saying low under my breath. "fifty"

"A whole five levels ahead!" he leans back in his chair, the wood groaning, trying to take his weight. "We might have to go to the front lines then tomorrow"

"Nah" I spoon another piece of cake off the main body, pointing the spoon at Kyo before I speak. "The dungeon of floor 26 would be better, I heard that there were still enemies spawning there"

"I agree with the redhead, the front lines would be hell, after all the ALS guild just got annihilated" A player with dark red hair take the chair next to Kyo, a scraping sound only emphasising the silence around the table.

Me and Kyo exchange looks before I rest my free hand casually on my sword, gripping it tightly. This has happened once before when a player offered for us to join their guild and when we said no, a fight broke out.

Let's just say it didn't end well with those guild members.

"Oh sorry, how rude of me, I haven't introduced myself" To be honest, I don't care what his name is, only how much of a threat he could be if we refused his upcoming offer.

"My name is Keita, the leader of a small guild called the moonlight black cats and we are wanting to level up and so are you."

I stare at his health bar again, seeing the emblem hovering. It had a light blue background with a yellowish moon and a squiggle but I couldn't work out what it was supposed to be.

"So would you like to partner up with us, just for a short while, while we all level up" He smiles at both of us. "Then you can leave anytime you wish"

Me and Kyo glance at each other again and I force myself to take a bite of the forgotten cake on the spoon. It tastes like ash and soot in my mouth as I swallowed.

"I can see that you need to think about it first if you want to join us meet us at the teleport for the 26th dungeon and we can kill some enemies!" I watched his back as he leaves, his guildmates following behind him from a different table.

As I stare at my cake, the strawberry suddenly doesn't look as nice. Standing up, I throw the contents of the plate into the bin, muttering.

"Well, that was a waste of a perfectly good cake!"

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POV: Kyo

I watch as Ito throws the cake in the bin, blue shards floating up from the lid as she huffs and sits down again, resting her hand on her chin.

"Hey! I paid for that!"

She gives me a look that says 'shut up'. I shovel more of my curry into my mouth, the spice warming my tongue as I mull the words swirling in my head. How do I say them without offending her?

it is not like I can just say 'Yeah Yira, I want to join a guild and hang out with other people because I am bored with talking to you'

Well, maybe it is not quite like that but I don't know how to put it into words... I guess I just want to have someone else to talk other than Yira. I miss interacting with Other people rather than avoiding them like we have to now.

My mouth dries as I say lower than before "What do you think of his offer?"

She lifts her head, eyebrows raised, "You want to accept it?"

"Well..." I struggle for words.

"You do, Don't you?"

"Aren't you tired of it just being us? And this is our chance to make some friends and help other people!" My fork clanks on the plate as I drop it.

Yira slams her hand on the table, the sound echoing in the loud inn. Eyes dart around to us, baring in our backs like cuts of a knife. But her words are more damaging as she hisses them in my ear,

"If you go, I go! Because I couldn't live with myself if someone hurt you because you are close to me!" She stands to leave, chair scraping, sound grating in my ears. "Because I am his niece"

A snake coils in my gut with guilt as the door to the inn slams shut, glasses of the bar rattling with the force of the slam. I stand up as well, chucking the curry into the bin before leaving, shutting the door with a click.

I wish I could slam it.

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POV: Ito

Each step I take away from Kyo feels wrong, but along with each echo of the stone in the night, the rage in my veins fades. Of course, I understand how is feeling, and I want to say yes. Want but can't.

If they discover who I am, who's blood runs through my veins, it is not me who I am worried about. They can do whatever they want with me, and maybe I deserve it for everyone that died. It is Kyo I worry for, what they could do with him.

It is march now in the real world and the cold would be biting against my skin, but the muggy heat coats my skin instead. I met Kyo on a bitter day like that.

I give myself a little shake, then I am running, a type of flying over the ground. To experience this speed, this kind of freedom, it only exists here, here were physics can be told to go away with a middle finger.

A smile spreads over my lips as I equip my sword mid-stride, the red metal and silver lining glinting. Metal swirls around the handle and the red gem set in the middle adorns the hilt, the beautiful craftsmanship I spotted about 6 floors down; there are so many floors it is hard to remember.

Two hands raise the sword as I swing it and the red sword skill sends one of the scattered trees toppling down with a resonating crash. At the destruction, I smile and lift the sword once again.

**********

It is much later as I return to our room, tired and unwilling to talk. But that was what I was hoping for as I walked out of that inn, a chance to calm down and think about it. I make the creak of the door obvious as I enter, wanting Kyo to know I am there.

"Yira!" He starts but I stop him with my hand.

"Tomorrow, we go with the black cats to join their guild for however long we want but I have two conditions that we must follow" He nods in confirmation.

"1) No one must know who I am; if they even drop one hint, we leave." That is the one I am less worried about, but the second, I know Kyo won't like it. He hates lying.

"2) We have to keep our true levels a secret"

Kyo purses his lips, bottling the protests inside because he knows it is even a development that I am even agreeing to this. "You have to understand Kyo, if we tell them our true level, then questions will be asked and at some point, it will come out who I am"

"Then we will have to lie and I know how much you hate that so, this is the compromise, Okay?"

I could always leave him, but even the thought makes me shudder. Yes, I would miss him but having someone who knows who I am is a relief. Having someone who knows everything about me and doesn't want to hunt me.

"Okay"

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