Love Far Beyond the Ashes

New Destination

Azki pov: As soon as Sui-chan and I made it back to the others, I went inside Aki's place and immediately collapsed on her guest bed. Suisei gently hugged me as I sunk into the mattress.

"You two seem closer." Sora-chan giggled

"Yeah," I told her, "she really needed that conversation." I sighed

Sora-chan laughed once again before lying next to me and putting me in a hug.

"Your wet..."  Sora-chan said with shocked eyes

"Sorry we fell into a waterfall," I explained.

"What the hell is happening here!?" Mikochi said she looked like she overheard something bad.

"Wait, what do you think is going on!?" I asked

"Uhmm...got to go!" She yelled, only to be blocked by Roboco.

"Nope, you are still under house arrest." A-chan stated

"R—right!"  Miko said in response as she ran into the room and sat down.

"You three are adorable," Nodoka said, referring to us.

I didn't try to argue with her about that. I guess we are cute together, not that we see each other the way Mikochi thinks.

"Are you asleep, Sui-chan?" Toko-chan asked

"Just leave her, senpai!" Furen said

"No, that's my girlfriend..." Toko-chan said

Furen began to pout when she heard that word. Toko-chan sighed before petting the knight gently.

"You are still my number one," she said.

I looked on and smiled—why are we all so dysfunctional? I wondered to myself:

We need to find a new place to go soon since our journey is never ending and this wasn't even our stop anyways; we're only here because Roboco came here.

"Do you have a map?" I asked Aki.

"Yeah," Aki replied.

"Can I see it?" I asked

"Why?" Aki asked.

"So I can study and pinpoint our next location," I told her.

"Let me get it," Aki said.

"Let's wake Sui-chan up in a bit," I said.

"Are you sure you are all ready to leave?" A-chan asked

I didn't know what to say to that. I'm sure we are ready, but I don't know if we actually are since we are still pretty battered, but we can't stay here any longer. I think Sui-chan will have to inform council where she is headed though.

I need to find someone to stop my hypnotic suggestions, and we need to stop Yagoo.

We can't let him roam around freely since we know he's still around and he's shown in some power shows that he can still become a threat. We can't let him have time to prepare. We need to think about this logic. We can't just pretend that he doesn't exist anymore.

Roboco was a little detour, so we need to focus on Yagoo more now that how dangerous he can be is unknown, but we can't take chances anymore, unfortunately.

"Sora-chan, keep your eyes out for you know who," I said.

"Yeah, I'll help you get rid of your hypnotist." Sora-chan said

"They are the enemy," I told her.

She laughed at that and said, "I'll use that." She giggled

Aki brought the map inside and unfolded it, showing it all to us. She had a displeased look on her face.

"I couldn't find a map with labels, so I have no idea where the mystical forest is in relation to that," she said.

I looked at the map and pointed "right here."

"Wait really!?"  Aki said

"Yeah, we're near the prefecture," I said.

"Huh, I honestly didn't know that." Aki said

"You've never really left this forest," Roboco said.

"Yeah, I wish, but I have things to do," Aki said.

I looked at Sora, and we had an idea.

"Let's leave for a bit," I suggested.

She looked at me. "What do you mean?" Aki asked

"We can go to the outside world and show you around, and then we can see if you like it," Sora-chan said.

Aki thought about it and shook her head somberly. "I can't leave," she said.

Roboco looked at Aki and held her hand gently. "Darling, you should go." She said

"Eh?"  We all said

"This is a new development," Mikochi said.

"Zzzzzz...."  Sui-chan began to snore, snapping all the tension away.

"Jeez, she's so loud." A-chan sighed

"How can she be so relaxed?" Nodoka asked

Anemachi came into the cabin and walked over to her sister. "Wake up, dumbass," she said before slapping her across the face.

"I'm awake!"  Sui-chan yelled  Before suddenly coughing up blood

"You need to relax," Anemachi said.

"You woke her up!" Sora-chan and I yelled

"Look, she can't take naps," Anemachi told us.

"I'm aware, but she hasn't slept in a while," Azki said.

"How long has it been?" Mikochi asked

"Like a month?" Sui-chan yawned

"You have to be joking..." A-chan said

"Nope," Sui-chan said.

"There is no way you are still alive!" Nodoka yelled

"I want to change that." Sui-chan told us, "Actually, it may have been two months." She corrected

"You are a different breed." A-chan said

"Maybe," Sui-chan said.

"By the way, how haven't you bled out?" Mikochi asked

"Oh, I have a lot of blood—probably six times that of an average human," Sui-chan said.

"That part is a lie because that isn't possible," I told her.

Sui-chan nodded and said, "Toko-chan, come here!" She called out like a needy child. Toko approached her, getting pet by her.

"We are leaving soon. Let's go," she said.

"Wait, you were listening?" Mikochi asked

"Yeah, she's always tuned in," I said.

"Are we going to skim past the whole Roboco thing?" Nodoka asked

"The what?"  Sora-chan asked

All of us suddenly remembered, and we looked at Roboco.

"So what was that darling about?" I asked

"Uhhhh... can't compute," Roboco said.

"Don't you dare act like you don't get it!" A-chan yelled

"Sorry, I don't know what darling means!" Roboco said

I laughed at Robochi and smirked at her. We're going to grill her.