~Notes~
In about three chapters, this story will suddenly get so much more interesting again.

Episode 54 The Journey in the Clouds

Ivy pauses, her delicate fingers wrapped around a quill as she sits in front of a wooden desk. She runs her hand absentmindedly through her hair, looking down at the open journal in front of her.

‘Dear Diary,

After making our final preparations to leave the Rift World, we’ve finally begun our journey back to the Maple World! Although I personally can’t say I have too much emotional attachment to that place after losing my memories, I’m really, really happy for Kunai, Ryuu, and Ayame, who are finally getting the chance to come back home.

Apparently Silver’s been having her troops build an airship, and that’s what we’re riding now on our way out to the border. Once we reach the border, it’ll only be a matter of time before we can go through. We won’t need any special preparations to go through like we did last time; it seems the Myougun didn’t bother making it as difficult to leave the Rift World as it is to enter. They probably made it that way so their forces could easily enter the Maple World.

It seems like everyone is really excited to be going back. It’s been a long time since we’ve left, so I hope this time we can enjoy ourselves a little in the Maple World too. Even though Arai isn’t with us anymore, I’m sure that’s what he would’ve wanted as well.

Everyone’s decided to come along on this trip, including Silver and Tide. They’ve also brought along all of the Rift World’s rebel militia forces in anticipation of the war that’s about to break out. Meanwhile, the more experienced people in our group have been meeting regularly today, to discuss their strategy for once we enter the Maple World. After that, we’ll—’

“Ivy.” A voice interrupts Ivy’s reading.

She spins around in surprise, closing her journal with a soft thud. She peers around, finding Kunai standing in front of her. The light of clear sunshine slants down through the many glass windows in the cabin, throwing the room into a vast halcyon of light.

“Kunai!” Ivy gasps in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Can we talk?” Kunai replies, rather shyly.

Sasha emerges from her cabin having traded all her heavy armor for regular civilian’s clothes. She wears a white hooded vest and bellbottom jeans, and has let her long blue hair flow freely, fluttering in the high wind on the ship’s deck.

Sasha sighs happily, a relaxed, girlish look in her clear blue eyes. She looks around for a moment, before striding over to Lily, who is leaning over the ship’s railing, looking out at the surrounding clouds. Her Helios lies on the ground next to her, leaning against the railing.

“What’s up, Lily?” Sasha asks, joining her at the railing.

Lily stares for a moment, blinking perplexedly. “Why are you dressed in such strange clothes? You look quite bizarre in such a garb.”

Sasha opens her mouth for a moment, unsure of how to reply. Then, suddenly, she nods in understanding. “Oh, that’s right…you’ve lived your whole life at The End of the World, haven’t you? So this kind of dress must look really strange to you. But where I come from, Skylark City, this is the typical style of dress.”

“How strange,” Lily comments, “your bottoms are straight, almost like a man’s.”

“Erm…yeah,” Sasha replies uncomfortably.

“What is the Maple World like?” Lily suddenly asks, staring with a melancholy look in her eyes at the invisible ground below. The fluffy, white clouds around them blur the ground, dimming it, and making it almost impossible to see.

“I really don’t know,” Sasha replies slowly, “I’m the wrong person to ask. I’ve never been there myself either. Just like you, I’ve lived in the Night World all my life…even coming out here, where the sun rises, is a shock.”

Sasha pauses for a moment, pondering this idea. “It’s strange, huh?” she says suddenly. “I mean, when you think about it, we’re kinda alike, yet we’re not. We’ve both spent our whole lives in the Night World, and yet we both come from completely different backgrounds.”

Lily remains strangely silent, dangling her arms over the railing. Her eyes continue to portray a sense of melancholic depression. Sasha shifts uncomfortably, noting the darkness in her eyes. “What’s wrong, Lily?”

“Kunai.” Lily’s voice is low, as she stretches forth her hands, in order to feel the wind whip against her open palms. “He…he really is my brother, correct?”

“Y-Yeah,” Sasha stutters, taken aback. “Of course he is! What makes you think he isn’t?”

“I’ve spent my entire life alone,” Lily replies, “it is hard to imagine that I have living family.”

“Don’t forget,” Sasha replies, “I’ve spent a good majority of my life alone in our world, too. I’ve had friends, but never any that I could really depend on. I’m sure Kunai kind of feels the same way too, realizing all of a sudden that he has a little sister to take care of.”

“His intentions are good, correct?” Lily asks.

Sasha stares for a long while, completely surprised by Lily’s question. “Of course his intentions are good,” Sasha murmurs slowly, “he’s your big brother. I’m sure he’ll protect you no matter what. Most of the guys in our group are pretty strong and dependable, you know. Well, maybe with the exception of Tide—”

“You don’t sound very sure,” Lily mutters, “judging by the amount of time it took for you to respond.”

“Well—yeah…” Sasha stutters, “to be honest, I really am not that sure. But Kunai is strong, and he worked hard to train in order to help protect you. I don’t know how much more proof than that you need.”

“It’s only…” Lily mutters, “it’s only, very recently he’s acquired this look in his eyes that makes me unsure of myself. It’s almost closest in resemblance to a demonic gleam in his eyes. Sometimes it’s there, sometimes it’s not. But when you look deep into his eyes for a long time, you start to see it again, even when it’s not there.”

“Lily…” Sasha murmurs, her tone serious, “how long have you seen this?”

Lily gives Sasha and unsettling stare, before sighing and shaking her head. She lowers her eyes to the distant ground below once more.

Inside a darker cabin within the airship, Ryuu, Ayame, Silver, and Tide have sat down around a round table to discuss their battle tactics. A group of various other important men within the Rift militia have gathered around also, but remain gravely silent, listening to the words of the main four.

“Depending on the scale of the attack, our forces should be large enough, and strong enough, to quickly wipe out the assault,” Ayame says, pointing her finger along a map of Ludibrium. “We know for certain that the Myougun have no bases in the area, especially after Atelier was knocked down prior to you guys entering Rift, Ryuu.

“If that’s the case, the assault will most likely be composed of Paradoxes. They are much more mobile and easily transported. If my predictions are correct, then we should be able to counteract the assault with heavy fire.”

“Something doesn’t seem right, though,” Ryuu growls, scratching his chin. “Why the hell would the Myougun randomly decide to launch an attack on Ludibrium like this? Ludibrium has already been trashed in prior attacks. Most of the citizens have evacuated the area. It doesn’t make sense for them to want to attack it.”

“You bring up a good point,” Silver retorts. “We’ll have to be extremely careful, and wary. This could easily be a setup by the Myougun.”

“Why would they want to set us up, though?” Ayame wonders.

“Probably…” Tide begins, “to get us to go there in the first place.”

A heavy silence falls inside the cabin for a long while after Tide’s words. Each of the four, Ryuu, Ayame, Silver, and Tide stare with narrowed eyes at each other, considering the implications in their minds.

On the other side of the airship, Ivy and Kunai stroll along, coming to a stop near the stern. Ivy looks worriedly at Kunai, her black hair swishing behind her in the clear sunshine.

“Um, did you want to talk about anything in particular, Kunai?” Ivy asks, staring attentively into Kunai’s eyes.

Kunai, however, fails to return Ivy’s loving stare, but remains stubbornly staring straight forward. He shoves his hands in his pockets, sighing heavily. He turns, and takes a seat against the railing of the ship.

Ivy follows, doing the same, and together, the two of them sit side by side silently for some time. Finally, Kunai speaks, his voice low. “Ivy…how are you doing?”

“Huh?” Ivy starts in surprise, not expecting the question at all. “Um, well…fine, I guess. Kunai, are you feeling okay? What’s up with you all of a sudden? You don’t look too well.”

“I’m fine,” Kunai replies, “it’s just…we haven’t had much chance to talk lately because of everything that’s been happening. I kind of miss that.”

“Kunai…” Ivy murmurs, staring longingly into his eyes, “you don’t have to pretend. It’s pretty obvious that something’s bothering you. Why won’t you tell me what it is?”

“Nothing’s bothering me!” Kunai shouts, pounding his fist on the floor. He pauses for a moment afterwards, staring at his fist as if in shock from the impact it created. “Nothing’s wrong…”

“Kunai…!” Ivy half-screams, grabbing Kunai by the hand. “Ever since you came back from your training with Azuma you’ve been acting very strangely! I didn’t say anything, but you…you scared me a lot, when…when you tried to murder Shuriken.”

Kunai turns his head to look into Ivy’s eyes, but at that moment, he freezes, and takes a deep breath, gasping for air. His eyes widen, and he raises a shaking hand up to his forehead, wiping a bead of sweat off. He and lowers it again, watching his hand convulse.

“Kunai!” Ivy cries in alarm. “What’s wrong?!”

“This…this necklace!” Kunai shouts abruptly, wrapping his hands around the black necklace. “It’s cursed!” He yanks at it, and for a moment, the necklace loosens around his neck, and Ivy watches in horror as Kunai’s pupils dilate, giving him a grotesque, evil stare.

Ivy freezes, watching Kunai in fear. However, the next moment, Kunai’s entire body relaxes, and he slides, almost weakly to lean his head against Ivy’s shoulder.

Ivy gives him a bewildered look, before wrapping her own arms around him and crying into Kunai’s shoulder. “K-Kunai! Please d-don’t ever leave me a-again!”

“Ivy…” Kunai murmurs, “just tell me how you’ve been doing. I need to know that things have stayed normal.”

“I’ve been doing okay, Kunai, now that you’re here again…” Ivy replies, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

‘Idiot.’ The voice in Kunai’s temple rings loud and clear once more, echoing through his head. ‘If you had pulled that necklace off entirely, you would have caused a lot of damage.’

Kunai’s grip on Ivy suddenly tightens, and Ivy winces in surprise, not anticipating the sudden change of strength in Kunai’s hold on her. She stares perplexedly at him, though he makes no sign of having noticed.

‘Sh…shut up!’ Kunai replies to the voice.

“Phew!” Tide sighs, stretching his arms laxly, as he walks out of the commander’s meeting. “That was one sober meeting in there. It would’ve sobered anybody up, no matter how drunk they were. I’m sure glad to be outta there.”

Tide glances around, rubbing his hands mischievously. “All right! What is there to do on board this ship here?!”

Walking down the empty hallway inside the ship, Tide suddenly spots Otis, who is attempting to pry himself through the locked door of one of the rooms.

Tide blinks, squatting down to get a better view of Otis. “Yo. Otis? What’re you up to?”

Otis ignores Tide, and continues to paw furiously at the door, unable to go through or under it. “Gahh! Open up, you stupid door! Don’t make me knock the—oh, hey, Tide-gorilla!”

“And what are you doing out here?” Tide asks suspiciously.

“Nothing incriminating,” Otis replies innocently. “Just trying to get into the room behind this here door.”

Tide glances at the wooden door, blinking perplexedly at it. “Huh? This door. Isn’t this Sasha’s room? Why would you wanna sneak into her room?”

“I saw her come in and change earlier!” Otis cries triumphantly. “That means she’ll probably wanna change back to her normal clothes later! And then—”

“Ah! Say no more, my friend!” Tide cries, bursting into a grin. “Illicit activities are my favorite way to pass the time! I’ll be glad to help ya out, buddy, but you gotta promise me a share of some of the fun.”

“Sure thing, bub!” Otis cries jovially.

Tide suddenly stands up, and places his hand on the doorknob. However, even as he does so, a loud, angry cry rings from down the previously empty hallway.

“HEY! What do you think you’re doing over there?!” Sasha storms down the hallway, followed closely by Lily.

“Uh-oh!” Tide cries, jumping off his feet in astonishment. “Caught in the act of manly mischief!”

“You’re on your own, bud!” Otis cries, forcefully pushing his entire body to hide under the door.

Tide looks left and right, panicking profusely. “Oh crap! Some buddy you are, Otis! Leaving me out here with these two beautiful, yet dangerous women!”

Tide backs away, as Sasha and Lily approach him, fuming. “Where do you think you’re going, Tide?!” Sasha shouts, as Tide continues to back down. “If you’re trying to do what I think you were trying to do, I won’t forgive you!”

“Shall I cut off his bodily protrusions with my axe?” Lily suggests, weighing her Helios in her arms.

“Cut off my what?!” Tide screams, backing away still even faster.

“Wanna stay and find out?” Sasha asks, grinning evilly.

“No thanks! You ladies have a nice day now!” Tide cries, disappearing faster than lightning.

“Hmph,” Sasha mutters, folding her arms.

As the complete darkness and stillness of night falls, the airship of the Rift World forces continues to sail through the sky. The clouds have dispersed, making way for a clear, midnight blue sky. Overhead, thousands of stars twinkle pleasantly in the sky, a stargazing delight.

Kunai and Ivy continue to sit near the stern of the ship, leaning on each other’s shoulders, despite the cold night air. Eventually, the speed of the ship begins to substantially slow, and they jerk out of their subconscious trance.

Kunai rises, yawning slightly, as Ivy does the same. She smoothens her robes free of wrinkles, and stretches, glancing curiously about. “Why have we stopped?”

“Probably because of that,” Kunai mutters softly, pointing at the skyline.

Off in the distance, an infinitely tall tower rises up into the heavens, and at its very apex hovers a colorful town of blocks and rainbow colors, sitting softly in the night sky, waiting for them.

Next Time: Episode 55 Shattered Spectrum

Kunai: Ludibrium is under attack!

Tide: All right! A chance to rescue some pretty ladies!

Kunai: Sorry, Tide. But I don’t think you’ll be fulfilling your manly needs tonight.

Tide: You take the fun out of everything.

Rill: That’s right!

Kunai/Tide: EH?!

Kunai: What are you doing here?! You’re not supposed to be introduced yet!

Rill: Oops! Did I make a spoiler?

Kunai/Tide: …

Episode 55 Shattered Spectrum coming soon!