Mishiro

Objective: Move Debris
ID: 133281
Final LD: 14 + 7(bonus) = 21

She received the alert from a player who had descended to the festivities of Floor 11 and immediately fell in line to help. Invasions weren't unheard of, but what had her worried was that nothing of this caliber had ever happened in the history of SAO. As soon as she materialized in Floor 17's teleporter, freshly buffed and with her friend's lent scythe at her back, Mishiro almost instantly fell into a coughing fit. The sky, red with the fires that raged all over Larissa. Smoke filled the streets, seeping into her lungs and making it difficult to see and breathe. The walls needed repairs and houses were broken down.

And that was only the vanguard.

Mishiro slipped an armored arm under a small NPC's legs and supported their back with the other. "Hold still," she said softly. It hadn't taken her long to find and free two citizens; she had followed their cries for help and arrived at a crumbling building. "You--" she turned her head and addressed the second one, who was in a better state than the other, "--can you walk? We'll take it slow."

She gently lifted up the small child in her arms and briskly walked towards where the other players had set up a tent for the injured.

Received.

If?

Mishiro turned her head, studying the stranger on the other end of the bench. His orange cursor. Gray eyes that almost reflected her own. The way he looked at her when she talked but always had his head turned away when it was his turn. Perchance, didn't he look a bit... lonely?

"You talk as if you don't have a choice," the girl noted. She set her now empty mug down on the space between them, giving enough pause for if he was interested in the thread she left dangling. "Someone once told me -- just because we're here, in this situation, doesn't mean everything has to grind to a halt. We can find a reason to smile; and if not, we can use that as our reason to move forward; and if not, we can hope."

...Jinx was better at this.

"I don't think you ever answered your own question. What would you do when the game is cleared?"

Wouldn't those be the least of everyone's priorities? Mishiro loved Christmas for all that it meant to the younger version of herself who was delighted at the simple prospect of the yearly noche buena, but she couldn't deny the mixture of emotions that ran through her fellow guild members as the holiday season came upon them once again. Four years had passed. This would make for the fourth Christmas they spent away from their real world.

Twenty-four floors cleared.

She didn't want to spiral down that void. It was a very dangerous, pointless thing; that despair. In the fair set up before them, people still smiled brightly. And the snowflakes fell in a way which she rarely experienced in this floor, and she shared the quiet moment with a stranger.

Her pale gaze rested upon him, briefly, when he spoke up once again. It was natural to be a bit curious. She couldn't read into the way he looked up to the sky nor the way he spoke a touch too soft for someone at his distance, but she thought she could discern the basics when he didn't look directly at her -- mistakenly. 

Idle conversation, perhaps.

But it was something to think about. It wasn't a topic often brought up, she hadn't even talked about it with Jinx, and as time passed, she noticed that her idle musings had become less frequent -- replaced by thoughts of the present. The base desire to reach the end of this game remained, but she was foggy on what to do after.

Probably, she would spend longer on recovery than most. Perhaps with the complicated state she had entered the game in, she wouldn't even regain her full health at all. She had her own dreams before she logged into SAO, but like most girls her age and even moreso with her situation, she often went back and forth on whether she could really achieve them. She still wanted to. But for the forseeable future, it would be her in that apartment room once again, going through the daily motions of therapy, occasionally going to the park or the library with someone to aid her, and often watching the city from her window.

Streetlights, wires, buildings which obstructed the view of the sky.

"I used to live in the city, back in the real world. And here, in a place away from the larger towns," Mishiro first explained. "It's been too long and the lifestyle's different. Better than before, minus the death game part."

She had to be sure, to keep that last part in. For reasons she well understood, some players did not take too kindly to those sorts of remarks.

"So when this is all over, I want to experience the genuine thing. I'll look for a way to move to the countryside; a small town, maybe. Before that, though--"

Mishiro cast her gaze down and brought the mug close to her lips, as if to cover the wistfulness that rose in her expression with her thick gloves.

"I want to return to my normal life... if it would be possible."

She held out her hand and let the snowflakes fall softly on her palm. Around her, the people who had gathered from the sound of the bells started to move upon the conclusion of the event NPC's speech. They milled about the stalls, picking and choosing among their Christmas-themed wares, and Mishiro saw much fuss around one of the larger game stalls.

This was... pleasant. No surprises. Even with the nature of the previous event, it seemed that none of the other players had their guard up and the girl found herself venturing into the fair without a single ounce of tension.

Mishiro set her sights on the large game stall first: disc throwing. From the way players had crowded around the participants and cheered whenever they hit the target, she thought it was something she had to try for herself -- reward or not. She positioned herself by the marker line and accepted the first disc from the stall NPC, assessing the line of targets and the points assigned to them. If the grand prize was her goal, all she needed to do was hit the minimum amount of points; no benefit to getting a perfect score other than plain bragging rights. And she wanted to aim for the ones with lesser difficulty as much as possible. So, with her four attempts -- target three thrice, and somehow score on target four once.

There was just one problem.

For anyone who ever saw Mishiro in her high school volleyball class or during the rare times Roman let her play frisbee with his familiar, it was a very well-known fact that she was the absolute worst at aiming.

Three discs wasted on Target 3. The girl had no idea how, but the trajectory of her second disc somehow went so far off the path that it almost hit some random schmuck on the head. She was frustrated and she'd taken an entire minute to apologize, and she knew landing her disc on even the farthest target wouldn't do anything to change her reward.

So Mishiro tossed her last disc carelessly at Target 1.

Thwack.

She accepted her pity reward from the NPC and made straight for the hot chocolate stall to comfort herself from her failures.

Falling, falling softly... Her breath came out in visible white puffs of air to join the remnants of steam rising from her mug as she watched the light snowfall. When she was younger, she used to love the pitter-patter of the drizzling rain against the tiled roof of her old home. In a tropical country, that was the best she could get. But sometimes, it was still uncomfortably warm and when one was staying in the city, it brought about a very unpleasant scent.

But the snow was silent, delicate, tranquil. It remained a gentle blanket against the ground and she could hold it in her hands. She was tempted to dip down and gather some now, but the white layer atop the plaza's pavement was still too thin.

For the moment, the girl sat still and sipped from her warm cup of hot chocolate.

There was a flicker of movement at the edge of her vision and a voice drew her out of her calm reverie. She lowered her mug and turned her head to the side, at the unfamiliar person who had seated himself on the other end of the bench.

An orange cursor?

Mishiro gave the very distinctive indicator a second glance before she turned her blank eyes back to the snow. It wasn't a big deal; festivals of this sort drew many types of players in, and she had seen a few crystals of the same color bobbing about in the sea of green.

"I just finished looking around," the girl said. And she too ended up playing the disc-throwing game everyone was flocking towards, she neglected to add. "We don't get weather like this every day. It's beautiful."

Mishiro snapped her sketchbook shut. She leaned back on her bench and dismissed it to her inventory, mug of hot chocolate now in both hands. Her gray gaze traveled up to the midday sky. Enough time had passed since the commencement of the festival for the larger crowds to disperse, and the snowflakes were still lightly falling. Onto her steadily cooling mug, onto her loose black hair, and blending into her white dress and fluffy coat. It was a beautiful weather today -- her favorite weather, in fact -- where it was snowing but not too light that she barely felt it and not too heavy that she had to stay inside and wait out the storm. 

Around her, players and NPCs were still wandering about the festival. As word of it spread, there were as many people filtering into the plaza as there were leaving. The biggest crowds formed around the disc toss -- something she had already tried earlier, but she wasn't interested in leaving yet.

A wish...

It was scripted dialogue, most likely. Who wouldn't decorate a festival's opening speech with fancy words? Perhaps, it even started to hold less meaning when her wonder at the start of the festival faded away as she realized it was an NPC adding glamour to an event generated by the system it belonged to. Still, it was enough. 

What would she wish for?

From a nearby building's overhanging shop sign, a branch of mistletoe dangled above her head.

[tag: @Pinball]

Days passed. The seasons changed once again. Now, the surface of the lake next to their house was frozen -- yet still too thin for ice skating, it always was -- and they spent less and less of their afternoons outside as light snowfalls turned into blizzards and the kotatsu in the living room became the place they frequented the most. Her cafe started offering the warmer variants of the usual menu, but even then, the stream of customers thinned; in this cold weather, no one wanted to make the half-hour walk from the safezone into the large settlement at the end of a paved path which cut through a forest. All in all, it was a very sleepy weather...

And like every other winter in Aincrad, there was another festival being held to liven things up.

She heard the tolling of the bells first. Walking down the streets of Floor 11's main settlement, Mishiro was on a secret Christmas shopping trip -- her arms wrapped around a paper bag filled to the brim with various small items she planned to gift wrap later -- when she heard the first chime. It was followed by another, and the rest of the bells joined in, until the sweet carol reverberated down every road of Taft. She protectively wrapped her arms tighter around her bag of Christmas gifts and looked around; the bells had caught many players and NPCs' attention too, and they started to follow the sound to its source.

The movement of the crowd led her to the main intersection, then towards the road leading directly to the central plaza. Mishiro walked slowly at first - then gradually increased her pace into a jog when she heard someone speaking in the plaza, then dismissed her paper bag into her inventory and broke into a run when a gap opened in the crowd. She weaved in and out of groups of players and NPCs and stopped beside a building bordering the central plaza.

"But not only today shall I give and take, but also grant a wish for anyone who seeks my help for a new hope!"

--And a glint of childish excitement appeared in her dull gray eyes as he took out a little bell and made it snow.

"Then it's nice to meet you." So that's how things were. Roman's smile turned knowing. There weren't many ways to interpret how Pinball visibly turned flustered over a simple question or how his gaze lingered on the girl for a little too long. Well, it flew over her head. But pretty much everything did, so that was beside the point. "Shiromi hardly ever brings her friends here, so it's a nice surprise. I'm Claude. What's your name?"

This...
Was taking forever.

So much so that it dampened the little symphony that played in her heart when she heard him speak. She fed Bandit another one of Roman's dumplings with a vengeance. The small brown ferret gave a delighted squeak and he looked down at them - at Mishiro, and the plate missing two of his favorite dumplings, and her flat expression as her chopsticks hovered over the third one.

"Oh, uh - crap. Were you waiting?"

Obviously.

"I'm so sorry!" He hastily slid into the seat beside her and turned an embarrassed smile to Pinball. "Why don't you join us? The more the merrier... if you have nowhere else to be, I guess."

At that point, Pinball attempted to exclude himself.

"--Wait."

Mishiro normally wouldn't have. But her clear voice cut through the awkward pause that had ensued.

"Did you come here for a reason?" She tilted her head in genuine curiosity. Beside her, Roman listened in intently as he snapped his chopsticks. "I'd rather you stay, even if it's just for a little while."

Of course. Mishiro had to let out a small sigh. It was her own logic-- why did she even doubt? Because of the names of the innocent that were now crossed out on the Monument? Because of everyone else's opinion? Because he would let her help? Regardless, no person's heart can be completely black; as long as they possessed free will, there was always the capacity go turn back to the right path. While the need to understand always remained present, this was the other general conclusion she should have focused on. But as long as no one took action... it'll always just remain a small possibility.

Someone can, but not necessarily 'someone will.' He made her leave the first time. He turned and left himself the second. She... likely wasn't going to try a third. But who else knew him and drew the same conclusion? Would anyone? As his friend and the one who had drawn this conclusion, the duty should fall to her--

In her eyes was a spark of a tentative resolve.

"Thank you."

"Fou?"

Bandit snuggled into her lap, as if reminding her of its place as her favorite familiar... and primary recipient of her treats. Looking down at the cute squirrel-like creature, it was clear where Bandit saw a potential threat to its title. Mishiro lifted her hand and softly stroked the small white creature's head. It leaned into her touch. "Fou! Fou!"

She tilted her head. 

"Fou. Fou."

On her lap, Bandit gave a jealous bark.

"No--" That was, perhaps, the first time she disagreed with Jinx on a matter that didn't directly involve either of them. It did concern her, but she felt as if personal beliefs were at play. "--Love is founded on knowledge. Probably there are parts that are out of our control, but it still remains a conscious choice in the end. And how else can we make that decision if we don't know them? Or, in different terms, how are we supposed to make a judgment when we don't even have enough evidence?"

'Love?' It flew over her head, but that had been horribly misleading.

"That might be a bit of an over-exaggeration," Mishiro disagreed with a small shake of her head. On an out of control boat. She wouldn't die if her friend spiraled down any further, at least. Maybe she would be more akin to someone watching the boat sink from a lighthouse. "It isn't my problem. It shouldn't affect me directly."

It shouldn't, but now they were having this conversation and Mishiro knew herself she wasn't acting on pure, detached altruism. 

She felt like she was going on mental circles.

Mishiro did not want to talk about this anymore. It was bad enough that she had to speak to Jinx about it on this day of all times. It was bad enough that she wanted to return to the girl's embrace and cry in frustration. A guide? Perhaps. She made it sound so simple. But he already had his other friends. One year and some few months ago, he suddenly dropped by her cafe - slightly different in demeanor, and promising to do things better this time around - and the only thing she could ever do was to forgive. If anything, she always made things worse.

"We agree on that. Or, at least, I think it's impossible for anyone to be purely evil."

She nodded with an imposed sense of finality and for a moment, that conversation was over. As if to remind them of the reason they came here, the two small familiars burst out of the bushes with delighted squeaks. Bandit hopped over Fou and circled around it playfully - years of running to and fro to hide from hostiles made it the faster between the two - before scampering back to its second master's lap. Mishiro unequipped her gauntlet and occupied herself with stroking the ferret's soft fur.

"I hope he does find one."

And maybe she wouldn't mind if it wasn't her. 

"Why?" The last time she asked him that question, he turned his back to her and left her with nothing but an apology. She didn't know. She didn't know anything. Her entire understanding of the awkward, fumbling person who reached out to her despite her initial lack of interest had been thrown into question. It was wrong to kill a person. It was an even greater offense to kill an innocent person. But there were the green players she pitied but couldn't put a face to. And now, the girl who looked at the world with an almost childlike wonder and definitely deserved to outlive this game. 

Was there even a use to thinking about this? 

She couldn't do anything. 
She never did anything.

And suddenly, she was enveloped in her friend's soft embrace. Mishiro's hands remained at her sides. An unusual chill emanated from her armor - where earlier, when they were seated beside each other, it wasn't evident enough to warrant anything more than a second glance; but now, it was as if Jinx had wrapped herself around something almost as cold as an icicle - but Mishiro didn't pull away. And neither did she lean in.

Her words were gentle, reassuring, like the calming lullaby she had always wanted to hear when she was younger. It served to stave off those thoughts for a little while. But what comfort was a lullaby to the violent thunderstorm raging outside the window?

"I don't understand him."

When Jinx released her, she refused to meet her inquisitive gaze. Mishiro pulled herself back to seat herself properly once again, with her hands folded over her lap, and cast her gaze to the rushing river at their side instead. Her voice was more careful, controlled, but it failed to hide her vulnerability.

"I don't think I ever did."

It was only somewhat obvious, but he had his senses trained somewhere else. Somewhere. Somewhere. Everywhere. The larger predators, circling overhead. The sound of the vast sea in the not-so-distant distance. The movements in the grass and the leaves around them. 

The cowboy must really like ferrets.

"Oh! I found this guy in an abandoned caravan." That was the simplest way he could sum it up. He reached up and scratched Bandit's head and it pulled back to sniff at his gloved hand before giving a disappointed snort and retreating back to his hood. The familiar, apparently, hadn't caught a whiff of treats. "That doesn't usually happen though. Normally, they can be found on any floor with farms or forests."

...was he even supposed to having a casual conversation in the highest unlocked floor like this? This was a bit weird, but... fine. He wasn't used to stopping to talk to other players when he was out solo, bit this guy seemed friendly enough.

At least, that impression managed to stick for a few moments.

"I..." Well, that stung. 1.) He just met this guy; and 2.) The cowboy kind of had a point, Claude had somehow completely missed him earlier. "If you're talking about the familiar, he knows how to run and hide himself from danger. Besides--" What was a "not high-leveled player" doing on the highest unlocked floor? Sightseeing? "--You're being a bit reckless yourself. This isn't the safest place to be in if you aren't too confident in your level, you know?"

No comments about his own level.

Also--

It turned out he was literally out sightseeing.

Now Claude barely knew this guy, but he thought he should at least let him have his nice view without the potential danger of being dive-bombed by one of the flying mobs or something.

"I'll take you up on that. But I'm gonna have to ask you to return to the safe zone in a bit."

He made a brief check on his surroundings and followed.

God, Leah was going to kill him. 

It was another player. A former guild member, actually--

No. No, it couldn't be. It shouldn't be.

Although I don't think he even cared about us. We were just a decoy...

There had to be another guild member who went rogue, right? He didn't-- He shouldn't have even the slightest motive to harm Jinx. It had to be someone else. It had to be someone else. She wanted it to be someone--

Mishiro's heart sank.

"Pin...?"

Half a question, half a lost echo. But she couldn't have misheard. Her voice held an unmistakable familiarity, as if she'd thought of that name more times than she would care to admit. She struggled to grasp the fact that... that person she once knew... went after her friend. The same way he did with the green players whose names were now stricken out of the Monument.

Her expression was close to shell-shocked as she tried to find a way to explain. But one can only rationalize a person's actions so much. What he did with those green players... the same thing could have happened to Jinx.

At a loss for an answer, her voice trembled with uncertainty as she spoke.

"Why would he--?"

For just a second, it wasn't the unnervingly calm girl, who never seemed to bat an eye at anything, seated beside Jinx. It was the regular girl underneath who was more lost and confused she ever let on. Where there might have been small cracks earlier, this time it had practically fallen apart. 

Mishiro... didn't know what to think anymore.

"No, it shouldn't," she responded firmly. "If they have the will to repent, we shouldn't be so heartless as to deny them the chance. As a matter of fact, I believe we should play a more active role than that, but I digress. The choice of whether they want to redeem themselves, it's their life and it will be their will and efforts, so it ultimately lies with them.

"But..."

Her voice faltered.

"It's easier said than done. 'Complex phenomena require equally complex explanations.' It applies to all of this, I think. I have my own beliefs and I believe they're well-founded, but at the same time, I still feel as if they only scratch the surface. I'm too inexperienced, but it's the best answer I can come up with at the moment." 

Truly, the last year had done much to prove that last statement. People were unpredictable. And it wasn't the good, fun unpredictable like Arabelle was. The better term for that would have been 'eccentric.' Perhaps it was the amount of distance she always kept between herself and her 'real-life' friends. Perhaps it was the entirely different variables that were introduced when they were trapped in a world which should have been nothing but a light-hearted fantasy. But it became clear that she was so, so far--

From understanding anything
or anyone
at all.

"I just want to understand them, that's all. Because when you have a firm grasp of a problem, it's easier to find a solution." Or if there even was any.

That was as honest as she would allow herself to get. Probably, she was being unfair to Jinx. Probably, she wasn't applying some of her own logic to herself. Probably, her mind was a complete, jumbled mess.

Mishiro didn't know.

But unbeknownst to her, her confusion would just be the start of another downward spiral.

"When we were fighting the Easter event boss, you mentioned something," she explained, mirroring Jinx's confusion. "If I recall correctly, you were speaking to Dustin but I was close enough to hear. Something about a player killer. I thought--" Her previous assumption. The girl beside her already knew, it was what momentarily brought them out of a rather solemn discussion in the first place. Mishiro turned to look at the girl she had come to care about with a hint of concern. "--I must have jumped to conclusions. But if it wasn't them, then it was someone else?"

There was no mistaking the heartfelt gratitude in her lavender eyes. "I was just doing what anyone else would have done." Somehow, Mishiro couldn't bring herself to say that out loud. Somehow, defaulting to her usual response suddenly felt... wrong. Perhaps it was the way Jinx worded it. But when she looked at the girl seated beside her, she remembered how the timid shielder had smiled so brightly upon seeing her earlier. She remembered their small conversations and the wonder in those same lavender eyes as she beheld the view from the top of the waterfall.

All because she did what she thought was right.

It was a lot to process. 

But she came a step closer to understanding that she should accept this gratitude without her usual protest. Mishiro hadn't known Jinx for a long while, but she was personally glad she had been given the chance to live on. 

Wordlessly, she dematerialized her right gauntlet and briefly rested her hand atop Jinx's as the other girl wiped at her eyes.

I appreciate the gratitude.

She couldn't say it out loud, but she hoped her quiet gesture was enough.

They spent the rest of their time in quiet conversation before they had to return to the village.

"Thank you for today. Bandit, say thank you to the girl you used as your pillow." With the sleepy ferret now in her arms, Mishiro playfully waggled its little paws at Jinx as if to make a waving gesture. A hint of mirth nestled itself in her pale gray eyes when the familiar gave a yawn of protest and snuggled into her. "As I said earlier, send me a message when you have the items. I'll see you soon."

With a tender smile, she departed.

What a brutal practice. She already knew as much as the first half; Jinx had told her that when they earned some respite after the ambush she saved the other girl from and as with most things, she had gone to Roman to confirm that that was indeed the case.

"I wasn't necessarily asking about that." Mishiro pulled her knees close to her chest - as close as her heavy armor would allow her, anyway - and together, they looked aimlessly down at their own distorted reflections in the river. "Why do you think they ended up that way? The ones who made a deliberate choice to kill the innocent, the players responsible for that guild in the first place and the ones who followed after them... do think they believe in what they're doing? That they thought of a problem and somewhere along the line, they committed a fatal error in their logic? It certainly is common. People sometimes forgo ethics in favor of efficiency. Or are they doing it because it's wrong? Or...

"Do you think their hearts just turned black?"

The sound--
--of the rushing river.

"Sorry. I actually know the answer. It's a case by case basis." Curling into herself a bit further, ebony locks hung low over her dull gray eyes. It was a sunny day, but she felt a touch colder as she always did. "There are multiple causes and no one person can be in the exact same disposition. The problem is... which causes apply to who and under what specific combination? Doesn't really get any less complicated, does it?"

It was in the second half that she tilted her head up to look at Jinx. 

That was news.

"I suppose going after the same person twice would have inevitably led to their arrest. You're rather kind, Jinx," she spoke with a small hint of a sincere smile. "Even though you encountered them twice... something about the way you said it implies that you wanted to help them in some way. What of them? Do you think there's something better that would come off it despite what they've done?"

Another subtle glance.

Mishiro wasn't paying much attention, but it was evident they were both - very awkwardly - staying still as if neither could decide when it was polite to sit. Why all the fuss? They all knew each other now, it would be impolite to sit at another table.

...she kind of wanted to start eating already...

"Are you a friend of Shiromi's?"

Unlike her, he didn't sound annoyed at having to repeat himself.

She took the smallest dumpling from Roman's plate and fed it to the ferret on her lap. A friend? It wasn't directed at her, but she mulled over it all the same. She just met Pinball so by her regular standards, he was nothing more than an acquaintance... if she were to think that simply. Her thoughts strayed to the time they spent together after she met him at the cafe by coincidence.

Though she remained largely unaware of it, Mishiro was paying close attention to Pinball's response.

This... was exactly the opposite of what she intended to happen. 

Dealing with others was hard in that sense. She tried to do the best she could but when she made a mistake, she was left with the feeling that she should have known this would happen. Jinx had earlier admitted she was eternally grateful to her. Neither could Mishiro downplay what she did when they first met. If she had been in the other's shoes... she would be looking to do anything for the person who saved her.

What a mess this was. She wanted Jinx to know that it was nothing personal, that even the people she was admittedly closer to had no idea of the entirety of it - sans Arabelle, who forcibly dragged a confession from her. Instead, there they were, going on an back-and-forth conversation that seemed to be leading nowhere. Her friend had turned and made for the river instead. Hurt, and a bit aimless.

Mishiro saw that exact same expression in a mirror once and she didn't like it.

Was she doing exactly what she begged him not to do?

"Can I ask you something? It might bring back bad memories." They had settled themselves by the river and Mishiro had her gaze fixed on the forest on the other side. She paused for a moment, self-editing the words she was about to say. "Back when we first met, I remember you knew some of them. Do you know... why they ended up doing that?"

She drew near to the edge of the cliff. From there it was a sudden drop down - down along the waterfall to the relatively calm blue lake beneath. Carefully, Mishiro lowered herself to sit beside Jinx. She withdrew a record crystal from her inventory, shut one eye, and peered at the landscape through the semitransparent rock. A small menu hovered by her free hand and the curious object captured the scenery with a soft click. 

"I don't know exactly what they are," she told Jinx as she expanded the menu to check on the crystal's remaining memory. The rest of the pictures she had taken scrolled past, minimized and formatted very much like a film reel. Landscapes, architecture, flower arrangements, and the occasional craft she was pleased with. "But I have a few guide books back at my place. I'll browse through them later and send you a message."

Her crystal dissipated in a cloud of translucent blue shards.

Thank you... for what?

"You're welcome...?" she responded automatically. Mishiro watched her out of the corner of her eye, trying to detect a hint from Jinx's expression. "Um, I want to offer my thanks for this too. I haven't been spending time with others like this lately. It's a welcome change."

"It means exactly that," Mishiro responded. She was almost taken aback by the girl's confusion - perhaps she said something vague earlier - but she just chalked it up to Jinx's lack of experience with familiars. "I told Bandit to stay with Fou for the meantime. Roman made it so that his familiar would also follow my commands, so long as it's not contrary to his."

In the distance, the brown ferret sniffed up a tree. Then it nosed around the colorful bushes and flowers that consisted of Fou's habitat and dived into a nearby pile of leaves with a playful squeak. Mishiro's issued command ensured it remained only within a certain invisible radius drawn around the other familiar, but it wasn't as if she prohibited it to explore. For now, it was content with frolicking around the unusually colorful place it had found itself in with its new friend.

She was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

There was something... strangely disarming about Jinx's concern. Perhaps it was even about Jinx, in general. So soft, so accepting. Like she could tell her anything and nothing Mishiro could ever possibly say would even bring a frown to her face.

"I'm sorry."

As gently as possible, she shrugged Jinx's hand off. 

"I wouldn't... say it's terrible - but I'm not exactly fine either," she admitted, refusing to meet Jinx's concerned gaze with her own. There was no sense to insisting she was fine when the girl had noticed already, and neither was there any sense in spilling out all of the happenings of the past year. Jinx didn't come here to listen to her problems, and the fun time the timid shielder had likely been looking forward to with the two familiars was slowly inching out of reach. "I don't think it's something I should be concerning myself with either, so I ask that you pay it no heed."

That should be enough.

"You're supposed to be watching over them though. Let's go back." She tossed one last wistful glance at the river a small part of her did want to see and headed back to where they came from. "If you want me with you, I'll follow."

"Fou, fou!" "Yip, yip!"

Behind them, the two familiars had taken to imitating each other. After Fou imitated Bandit's gesture of pawing at the ground playfully, the ferret had taken to barking playfully in response to the unusual sound the small white creature was making; whether they were actually communicating would remain a mystery to the two players. Quickly growing bored of staying in one place with its new playmate, the brown ferret scampered a few paces away and stopped to look back at Fou, as if it was waiting for it to come chasing after.

Jinx had followed after her, concern written all over her expression. 

"Bandit won't leave Fou as long as I'm still on the same floor," she assured with a thin smile. Mishiro turned around to face Jinx properly, her hands folded in front of her. For just this moment, she didn't understand that her calm, distant gray eyes offered no comfort. "I used my secondary authority to issue a command earlier."

The ferret on the ground wouldn't understand Jinx's introduction, but it was convinced the small white creature in front of it was a new playmate. It curiously nosed the newly-named Fou's paw. In complete contrast to the pale familiar's quieter personality, Bandit puffed out its tail and barked excitedly. It scampered in a half-circle around Fou and pawed at the ground.

Mishiro watched the cute scene with a carefully composed expression. "Bandit doesn't usually see familiars its size," she thought to explain. There was Arabelle's crow, Moondust, but it had the oddest fear of other players' familiars and the purple-haired girl didn't exactly like bringing it with her either. Her gray eyes landed on Jinx and after a slight pause, she followed down the other girl's sentiments. "I think Fou will find one last memory to remember this place by today. They look like they could be good friends."

She half-turned towards the rushing river and tossed a glance over her shoulder. "I'll be over there."

Mishiro blinked slowly and the ferret on her shoulder, now roused from its sleep, imitated her gesture. She followed Jinx's gaze to the grass by the side of the rushing river.

There, almost blending in with the shimmering grass around it, was a small fluffy creature who watched them both curiously. It had the body of a squirrel, the ears of a hare, and a bushy mane and tail and its fur was as white as snow. And was that a miniature white cloak secured around its neck? She had never seen anything like it before, not even in her fantasy books. But if she were to guess, it looked like the sort of creature a fairy would have as a familiar.

"Yes, I see it." 

So this was the familiar that appeared for Jinx. She quickly held Bandit back before it could hop off her shoulder and approach the small creature; she didn't want to unintentionally scare it away. The ferret chittered and struggled in protest, but it eventually quieted down as it became evident she would hold it still until Jinx tamed it.

Slowly, master and familiar made their bond. When the timid shielder pulled her new friend to her chest with a delighted smile, Mishiro finally let go of Bandit. The brown ferret scampered towards Jinx and stood on its hind legs in front of the girl with an eager bark.

"Congratulations," she offered with a soft smile. "Do you want to head back now or shall we stay here a bit longer? I'm fine with either."

Jinx was the same as ever. A bit absentminded, but as eager to find a furry friend as the last time. Her excitement was almost contagious. "You're welcome," Mishiro responded politely. She grasped her own Ghost Treat behind her back. Quietly, she flicked open a menu and dropped the unique item into her inventory. There was no need to trade it over yet, after all. "I look forward to seeing what you can find."

She walked with the timid shielder, her gray eyes straying to the side to take in their surroundings. 

There was always something so calming about walking down a familiar road. They took the same winding paths, slowed down at the same spots to admire the scenic view of the crystal blue lake, and went up the same incline. Jinx seemed intent on taming her familiar above the waterfall they found a few months ago, and with her success guaranteed the first time around, Mishiro wondered just what exactly would appear for them.