I was downstairs snacking with Nina and Kei when Alec came down. He had changed into a black Jinbei that had vertical stripes running down the whole thing. The clothes looked a little big on him, but not enough to be in danger of falling off. It made him look a bit smaller and way cuter.

“D-does it look ok?” He asked, making a dumb cutesy pose and imitating my reaction not fifteen minutes earlier.

I flashed him a cheeky smile and played along. “N-no- uh, yes! It- you- cute. Jerk.” I stuck my tongue out at him for good measure.

Alec made a good show of acting flustered, which earned laughs around the table. 

“Goddess, you two!” Nina laughed. “Get going already!” 

“We’ll find you after the fireworks,” Kei said. “Have fun, and be safe.”

***

The city had really come alive in the summer night. Many festival lights were strung across the stands, while others danced gently in the night sky. Stands of festival games and food stalls lined the streets, each decorated with arrangements of plants that looked like ripe ears of rice. I watched hungrily as one of the food vendors expertly stacked a fresh batch of mochi balls into a neat pyramid.

“Guess we should have asked for some money,” Alec noted.

“I’ll pay!” I offered. “I’ve been saving up.” A quick swipe through my inventory earned me a small bag of coins I’d been saving from doing chores in the guildhall. I grinned proudly at Alec. He didn’t share my enthusiasm, though. He was watching me with wide eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Your console,” he said. “It’s fixed.”

I tilted my head. “Do consoles even break? What do you mean?”

“Sylvie, it was broken back in Utau Kyookoku, remember?”

I took another look at my device. Alec was right. The screens had repaired themselves, and it appeared fully solid now. That seemed pretty hard to forget; were my memories messing with me again?

I pressed my palm into my forehead with a sigh. “Sorry. This is becoming a lot more frequent than I’d like.”

“Don’t worry about it. That’s why I’m here, right? Anyways, I am kinda hungry. Do you think the money is okay to spend?”

“Well, it is my money in at least one set of memories, so I think we’re good? Let’s get some mochi!”

We wandered around for a little while longer before settling on a mochi stall near the shrine. There was a little girl about my age, er-  physical age, that was advertising her mom’s stand. When she came up to us asking us to buy some, neither Alec nor I had the heart to turn her down. The mochi was delicious, so we agreed it was money well spent.

We tried a few of the festival games too, but neither of us had much luck. Alec almost managed to scoop a fish with a paper net, but the flailing from his prey broke the flimsy tool at the last moment.

Once we’d had our fun, we began walking towards the shrine plaza to watch the fireworks. We had just set foot on the cobbles when Alec suddenly pulled me down behind a bush.

“Hey!” I protested. “What are you-”

“Sshhh! Look!”

I peeked above the bush. There were five anti-cheat guards in the plaza, each wrapped in their signature black shadow. They spread out in a wide area, scaring away some of the festival-goers as they began to look through bushes and other nearby hiding spots.

I shared a worried glance with Alec. We needed to find Nina and Kei quickly. I grasped at my pendant, trying to feel out the others. I felt Alec right next to me, but I could only roughly guess the other two were somewhere in the city streets. My concentration was shattered by a sudden wave of malice as I tried to pinpoint their exact location. The abruptness of it all sent a chill through me, despite the balminess of the summer night.

“Did you find them?” I asked, panic rising in my voice.

“No! I got cut off. I-”

We were interrupted by the sound of a shot being fired. I reacted a second too late, and a red coil of data collided with my chest. The thing wrapped around me like a snake and squeezed, hard. I whimpered, struggling to grab at it, or at least trying to as it tightened more and more. I couldn’t move my arms or legs at all.

“Syl!” Alec exclaimed. He reached towards my restraints.

“Don’t!” I warned. “I think it’s paralyzing me!”

“But-!” Another shot rang out. Alec rolled to the side, but the coil had a mind of its own. It made a quick loop in the air and nailed Alec in the back. He cried out in pain before he fell in a heap next to me. All I could do was whimper as my restraints sapped my consciousness from me.

***

I awoke on a cold iron floor sometime later, and my heart sank as my vision cleared. We were trapped in a large birdcage in the center of a large, empty room. It looked like a storehouse of some kind, though it had been abandoned. Crates and barrels were scattered around the floor haphazardly, and there were cracks and dents in parts of the stone wall. My ears perked at the sounds of waves outside. Were we by the docks?

A quick checkup revealed no broken bones, just a sore spot where I’d been hit and an ache in my arms from being squeezed so tightly. My elemental stones had been confiscated sometime after that encounter. Without access to magic, we were stuck in here with no way to escape.

“Ow…” Alec groaned as he came to. He rubbed back, nursing the spot where he’d been hit. “At least we aren’t dead,” he commented dryly.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s over,” I whispered. “Nina’s spell is gonna end. If that doesn’t kill us, the anti-cheat system will certainly find a way tomorrow.”

“Sylvie…”

“Dammit!” I yelled in frustration. “We were so close!”

Alec frowned. “It’s not over! Look, they didn’t take our pendants! Nina and Kei will find us, so don’t cry, ok?”

I sniffed and wiped my eyes in a futile attempt to hide my despair. “What if they don’t find us in time? What happens then?”

Alec grabbed me from behind, wrapping me in a tight hug. “I don’t know, but they won’t abandon us,” He reassured me. “Trust in them, okay?” 

He tried to pull away a few moments later, but I clung to him. “Not yet. I want to stay like this for a while.”

“Needy fox.” Despite his complaints, Alec shuffled around a bit so I could sit comfortably in his lap. Once we were settled, he started giving me gentle pats on the head.

“Sorry,” he said with a bittersweet laugh. “This isn’t how I expected our first date to go. I thought I’d have to trick you into going to that sweets shop with me,”

“Hey,” I grumbled. “For the record, I would have gone if you’d just asked properly.”

“Good to know,” he chuckled. 

The conversation kind of died off after that. I didn’t mind though. As long as we stayed close like this anyways. It was calming me down a lot.

Alec spoke up just as I was starting to nod off. “In case this is our last day of life, can I do something stupid?”

“Sure?”

He went silent after that. Maybe he was having second thoughts? 

I was completely zoned out when he tapped me on the shoulder. I reflectively turned my head to face him, and he… he kissed me! Like, kissed kissed me! Not like an on the cheek kiss. Like, a lips on lips kiss! It was sweet, tender, and everything about it felt so right. I reveled in my euphoria and my fluttering emotions, our predicament all but forgotten. But all too soon, he pulled away. 

“Too stupid?” He asked. No stupid grin or cocky smirk, just Alec being honest and vulnerable with me. It was adorable.

“N-not at all,” I stammered. “That- it- it was nice.”

“Who’s tripping over their words now?” He teased.

I smiled back at him. “Way to ruin the moment, dummy.”

“Oops,” He smirked. “Can I try again?”

“Dummy. If we get out of this somehow, you owe me like five more dates, minimum.”

Ninichu

We're nearing the end! Thank you all for coming along this journey with me, despite my weird upload schedule. I'm determined to finish this novella, so I promise I'm not going anywhere! Thank you for being patient with me!