Phoenix

Moving

"Will a bigger bed fit in here?"

Sting shrugged his shoulders.

"We can fit it in somehow."

Emi and Lector looked at each other before crossing their arms.

"Sting," Lector started, "I think we need to get a bigger apartment."

"What? No way. This place is big enough for the three of us. We can make it work."

"But I want my own bedroom!"

"What? Lector, you've always been fine sharing with me!"

Lector crossed his arms again and replied, "Well now I want my independence."

Sting looked at Lector exasperated before turning to Emi.

"Don't tell me you're going to start now, too."

"Sting, if you really don't want to move, I can just stay with Kira."

Sting sighed before mumbling that he would start looking for a bigger apartment. Emi smiled before leaning up and kissing his cheek. The dragon slayer held both her hands and kissed her forehead.

"You two are going to be the death of me."

"Yay! I get my own room! Lady Emiko, are you going to help me decorate it?"

Emi giggled before nodding and giving him a fist bump.

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"What about this one?"

"Too small," Lector replied.

"This?"

"That's way out of our price range," Emi pointed out.

"This one has to be the one."

Emi looked over and smiled before exclaiming, "You're right. And it's right next to Kira. We'll be hallway buddies!"

Sting groaned before shutting down the apartment. Emi took the newspaper and started looking.

"There's this one. It's a little pricey, but I think we should check it out."

"And then there's this one," Lector pointed. "It's right next to the fish market."

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"I don't get why you have to come with us," Sting groaned.

"I'm Emi's roommate until she officially moves out, which means that I need to approve of her living situation before she can move out."

"That's not how roommates work at all."

Kira shrugged and said that Emi wanted her to come anyway and that he would have to deal with it. Sting rolled his eyes and followed Emi and Lector as they were humming down the hall.

"She sure looks happy."

"It's because she's not living with you anymore."

"Will you two knock it off? You're ruining the fun."

They both looked at Emi to see that she had her hands on her hips. Lector sat on Emi's head and crossed his arms. Sting and Kira sighed before following the pair to the apartment door. They all stepped inside and started wandering. Lector went to check out the room that would be his, Kira checked the kitchen, and Emi and Sting looked at what would be their room.

"Damn. This room is huge," Emi commented.

"You think it'll be big enough for a bigger bed?" Sting sarcastically echoed her earlier question.

Emi giggled before turning around and facing him. She took his hand and stepped further into the room.

"We could put the bed here and then have space for the closets here. The mirror would go here and--"

"Sting, Lady Emiko! My room is awesome. It's so big!"

The two wizards looked at Lector before grinning. They both asked if they could see his room and he grabbed their hands and flew to the room.

"Wow, Lector, you're room sure is big. What would you put in here?"

Lector started rambling about all the ideas he had for his room.

Emi leaned over to Sting and whispered, "I think he likes it."

Sting chuckled, "You really think so? I think we might have to convince him."

"Hey losers, the kitchen checks out."

Emi turned to Kira and followed her to the kitchen, leaving Sting and Lector to continue exploring.

"Are you actually considering this place?"

"I mean," Emi started, "it definitely looks like we would fit here happily. The only problem would be that we would have to take more jobs to pay for it."

"I approve."

Emi laughed at her best friends before pulling her into a tight hug. They looked at each other and started giggling as they imagined all of the gross things Emi would have to experience while she lived with two guys.

"If this place ends up anything like how their place looks, you need to come and kidnap me."

"Em, whatcha talking about?"

Kira smirked, "Only about how you and Lector are disgusting and messy."

Sting ignored her and turned to Emi.

"So?"

"Lady Emiko, can we please pick this one?"

"I think this is the one," Emi stated.

Lector cheered loudly and Sting gave Emi's hand a gentle squeeze.

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Sting groaned as he loaded one more box into the cart.

"Nobody told me moving was going to be like this."

"Didn't you move into your apartment by yourself?"

"Lector and I didn't have any stuff to move in. We got all of it as we needed it."

"Hey losers, I brought some help," Kira said as she led the members of Phoenix Wing.

"Oh thank god."

After about three hours, all of Sting and Lector's stuff was packed and brought to the carriage. They started to unload the boxes to the apartment and then turned around to help Emi with her stuff. When they got to the apartment, Sting couldn't find her anywhere.

"Em, where are—"

"I'm just packing the last few things."

Sting came over to look over her shoulder as she packed away a picture of a younger version of Emi and an unknown person. Sting tilted his head.

"Who's that?"

"It's my teacher, Cain."

"For some reason I never thought he'd look like that."

Emi giggled before carefully placing the picture in the last box before taping it shut.

"Well, let's start lifting! I'll take the heav—"

With a snap of Emi's fingers, the boxes started floating. She pointed the boxes to the carriage, using her Navigate spell.

"Em?"

"Hm?"

"Are you telling me that you could've used that for all my stuff instead of everyone lifting everything?"

"You insisted on packing up your apartment while I did mine. I asked if you wanted my help, so I don't feel bad."

"You're cruel."