Love Beyond the Ashes

Who Risu Likes

Moona pov: Risu Pekora and I went to the nearest cafe. I was going to get to the bottom of who Risu liked. She refused to speak, as per usual.

"Moona, I'm telling you I don't love anyone, just have admiration for people." Risu stated

"Like for who?" I asked.

"You, Iofi, Pekora-senpai, Okayu-senpai, Korone-senpai, Oga-senpai, the list goes on." She stated

I thought about it and began to go through the options and who she could possibly love. I was hoping it wasn't me or Pekora since we couldn't give her that if she was in love with us.

"Is it Oga-senpai?" When I asked, her face flushed bright pink.

"I don't love him, I just admire him," Risu said.

"Then why are you blushing?" I questioned

"I'm not in love with a girl!" Risu shouted

That shut me up immediately I didn't know who she possibly could be in love with. Was it Iofi? If so, then that was kind of sad since we were abandoned by her. She won't even answer us if we call her.

"Do you love Iofi?" I questioned She shook her head and also nodded.

"We are like family, but I feel a certain way." She said

I nodded I understand how she felt. She really wasn't content with the three of us. She felt as if our sibling-like relationship was an escape from reality. She had actual feelings under there.

There was nothing I could do for Risu though, since I couldn't bring Iofi back just like her. I used to have a crush on Iofi, but you just have to move on. After all, she introduced me to Shachou after all.

"Let's find Iofi together, Risu..." I said, gently clasping her hand.

"Doesn't Iofi have a tracker on at all times?" Pekora asked.

"She used to, but she went offline..." I said, sighing a bit.

"Why is the tracker you have flashing red?" Pekora asked.

"Wait..." I looked at it and saw it flashing once every three seconds, meaning Iofi was nearby at some point.

"Mine is flashing too..." Risu said

This meant that Iofi was nearby as soon as we met up with Risu, since we had to be together since both our trackers were flashing rapidly.

So Iofi was avoiding us instead of coming forward. Was she afraid of facing us? I didn't know she really needed to hide. We would forgive her if she showed herself to us. We weren't mad since we all decided to go our separate ways for a little while

"Tsk... so Iofi was somewhere nearby, huh" Risu said, standing up. I grabbed her, pulling her down next to me.

"Listen, we need her to come to us. If we try to find her, she'll avoid us." I said

She nodded and sat back down, waiting to hear what I was going to propose, after which "we will find her!" if looking for her wasn't an option.I said she cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"We won't look for her, but we'll find her." She said it in confusion.

"Yeah, we'll just have to lure her to the mystical forest," I said.

"Wait, are you going to use me as bait?" Pekora asked.

"No Shachou I'll be the bait for reasons... I said

Risu and Pekora didn't seem to understand what I meant by that, but they just had to trust me if they wanted their dream reality to come true.

Iofi would have to come back if my plan worked. I hoped it would. I just had to trick her into thinking my life was in danger.

We went to a costume shop and got Risu and Pekora fitted in robber outfits. The tracker was still flashing, meaning she was still nearby.

"Help me!" I yelled as I let myself get thrashed around by Pekora and Risu.

"Shut up!" Risu said, using a deeper voice.

"Iofi help!" I called out to no response.

"We'll have to kill you, Peko." She cut herself off before she could say Peko, which was a good thing.

A laser suddenly shot at us This was definitely from Iofi. All three of us ran in the direction of the Lazer and that brought us to the rooftop, but there was no one there.

"Damn it!" Risu shouted, slamming her fist on the wall.

Whenever we thought we could find Iofi, she always slipped under our noses. We couldn't believe this.

"If I could control the world, I would make it so the three of us never split up." Risu sighed.

"That's not possible." I said, sitting on the ledge of the rooftop.

"It could be if the council has a say," Pekora said.

"Oh, you really think so?" I asked.

"Yeah I do!" Pekora said happily

I thought it was plausible, but who's to say it couldn't happen because no one in the council has that power? Then it hit me: Mumei had that power.

There was no way Mumei could come up with something like that. She probably forgot what her purpose was since she was a forgetful owl. However, there was a possibility she could remember that she was more than just a vessel.

I wasn't worrying, I wasn't going back to council, I was just going to focus on myself for now and Iofi

For some reason, I couldn't shake this feeling that Iofi was still here watching us, but she wasn't. There was no way unless she had a cloaking device, but why go through that effort?

"Let's go..." My life flashed before my eyes as I jumped off the building. Not even a second passed before I was grabbed and pulled back up by someone who could not be seen.

"And there you are, Iofi..." I said, grabbing onto her. The body was definitely Iofi's, but she suddenly vanished.

"What?" I said in confusion, looking over to another building where she stood.

Iofi was in front of us, yet so far away.