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One can never know what will happen when accompanying Shinri.
That is something that Lien learned since the Koillective started traveling with Shinri. Every Koipanion that has accompanied him always comes back with stories to tell. Of course, Lien makes sure to check their stories against Shinri’s account. A little embellishment never hurts a good story telling session, but one needs multiple sources to be able to glean important information.
Though Lien has some of her own doubts about the adventures that Shinri puts himself through.
“ Shinri…why are we standing in front of an Okiya? ” Lien looked at the building before them with confusion.
“Well, some of the locals mentioned that this building is haunted, though others claim that it’s a living building.”
Miria leaned forward to look at Shinri quizzically. “ And we are about to enter this building because… ”
“What? Aren’t you a little curious?” There was a glimmer in Shinri’s eyes as he whipped his head to face the Koipanions by his side. “Everyone has been talking about it since we stepped into town. Didn’t it pique your interest?”
This time, Kaoru leaned back to address Shinri. “ Very bold to come without gear though! I know humans like adding spice to their life, but this feels spicier than your normal ideas! ”
A dejected look fell on Shinri’s face at that. “I thought it would be a fun activity for us to do together. Out of all the Koillective, I rarely see you three. Though we can do something else if you guys-.”
“ Nonono! If you want to do this, don’t let our trepidation stop you! ” Despite saying this, Lien can’t ignore the sense of unease that settled in the back of her mind. Judging by the strength of the feeling, both Miria and Kaoru had the same feeling. Well, at least Miria. She can only register a ticking clock from Kaoru. But gods be damned before they let Shinri know.
Miria shrugged. “ Besides, it’s nice to see you get excited to do something. ”
“Oh, is it obvious?”
“ Yes. But that’s not a bad thing. We like seeing you be excited. ” Kaoru’s perpetually smiling face showed intention to continue his statement, but a quick nudge from both Miria and Lien stopped him from talking.
“ Why don’t we head inside? We can look around for a bit before deciding whether to do late night ghost hunting. ” The three koipanions watched as Shinri’s face brightened up before running into the Okiya. They quickly followed behind him.
Walking through the doors, Lien was surprised to see the interior fully furnished. Despite the low lighting, it was obvious that the building was well maintained. There were no cobwebs in sight, not even a little bit of dust. There were fresh flowers in the vases with no signs of wilting. Which made it all the more suspicious to Lien. Why did the building have a reputation for being haunted? It seemed to be still in use. But what would “living building” mean?
While Lien was looking around, there was a faint ping in her subconscious. Directing her attention to it, she faintly heard Miria remark, ‘ Well, it doesn’t look like a haunted building. The data is still recent. ’ There was a slight pause. ‘ … Where did Shinri go? ’
Kaoru chuckled, though the shaking of his shoulders was the only external indicator of it.. ‘ He probably ran off to explore a little more, but doesn’t things feel…off? ’
Lien can’t help but whisper, “ It’s almost as if…we shouldn’t be here… ”
Suddenly, the table that Lien was observing shook violently. Along with the floor that they were all standing on. Before she could get a hand on the wall to steady herself, she was knocked down by a large mass sliding into her legs.
“SHINRI!”
Both the shout and a low groan made Lien realize that the mass pinning her down was a semi-conscious Shinri. As she struggled into a seated position, she quickly rolled Shinri onto his back to check on his condition. A few pats to his face with the back of her hand had him grabbing her wrist to reassure her. Even so, she still scanned him for extreme injury before moving to help him up.
At the same time, Miria and Kaoru quickly turned towards the direction that Shinri flew from. There was something in the shadows quickly approaching them. They tried their best to attack, breaking down data to trap whatever is coming. But their efforts were thwarted at every turn, their data deletions seemingly reversed at every point. They only saw a flash of red before they were thrown through a set of false walls.
As Lien reached toward Shinri to help him onto his feet, there were two crashes before she was lifted up by an unknown, yet familiar, force and thrown against a distant wall. The contents of the wall fell onto her as she collapsed, chipping into her shell. But she didn’t feel the pain that she is supposed to feel when she incurs damage. Rather, she felt a growing realization.
This power…this is one of our own…
Hoisting herself up, she quickly scanned the room to figure out where everyone is. Miria and Kaoru were against the wall opposite of her, pushing some false walls away from them. Their shells were also damaged, but they still seem sturdy enough. Shinri is still on the ground, but now pinned down by a feminine figure. He was struggling against her, but it was obvious that this was a fight he was losing. They needed to act fast.
‘ Miria! Kaoru! Pocket us! Now!’ Looking around, Lien grabbed an ornament and took aim at the assailant’s head. She waited until she could feel the dimensional shift that Miria and Kaoru were inducing before throwing the ornament.
As all five were transported into a pocket dimension by the combined efforts of Miria and Kaoru, the ornament Lien threw landed squarely on the back of the attacker’s head. A set of four red eyes glared at Lien, releasing Shinri before quickly rushing for her. Lien could barely get to her feet before she was slammed down onto the ground. Her teeth clacked sharply as her head bounced, instantly losing focus as flashing lights overtook her vision. There was no time to shout before
Miria and Kaoru felt panic and pain course through them. They knew that Lien did not have the same combat abilities as them, but they can’t come to divert the attacker’s attention. Whomever they had brought into the dimension with them was trying to break it down again. It was taking all their power to simply keep them all in this dimension. They could only wince as each crack of her shell sent more pain through the consciousness.
Kaoru caught a bit of movement in the corner of his eye. He watched as Shinri staggered to his feet before rushing over to where Lien was being thrown around. Both he and Miria could only watch as Shinri approached the attacker with his sash in hand, quickly wrapping it around her neck and yanking her back. This causes her to drop Lien and whip around to face Shinri.
However, the look of rage melted into confusion, then recognition. Miria felt the resistance against the dimension fade away. She could tell that Shinri was talking to the assailant, but she’s no longer focusing on that. Both she and Kaoru quickly went over to Lien to check on her. She was laying limp on the ground, cracks littering her external shell.
‘ Lien?’ Miria tried to connect to Lien, but there was no immediate response. She felt a few pulses of pain before hearing a faint ‘ ...crackling…’ She pushed further through the consciousness in order to determine why Lien was so unresponsive.
Kaoru felt shock flow from Miria as she examined Lien. ‘ How is she?’
‘Not good. Fractured skull and ribs, the damage to her head has given her something akin to a human concussion. Her shell is too damaged to transport her. We’ll have to take her to Amaryllis.’
‘We can heal her here.’ The presence of a new voice in the consciousness had both Kois whipping around, powers at the ready. Shinri had to step in front of the former assailant to prevent them from attacking her.
“Guy, it’s alright! She doesn’t mean any harm!”
“ That’s impossible. She attacked us. We have to bring Lien to Amaryllis so she can be healed.”
“It will take too long for us to get back to Ama.” Shinri stepped forward to pick up Lien’s limp body. Miria and Kaoru were quick to step between the stranger and Shinri, neither trusting that she wouldn’t try to attack them again. “It will be better if one of you heads back to bring Ama here. Mai can take care of the majority of Lien’s injuries.”
“Mai?” Both kois turned to look at the stranger, who was standing looking a little apologetic.
“I assure you that I will do no more harm to your friend. But it would be more efficient if she were to stay to heal. I can prepare a room for her right away. We just need to return to the Okiya.”
Both kois looked at each other. They only had both Mai and Shinri’s word that Mai would not attack any of them. But one of them would have to leave the other with a truly powerful opponent and risk losing them all.
Eventually, the pocket dimension melted away, bringing everyone back into the Okiya. Kaoru stepped out of the Okiya while Shinri and Miria followed Mai to an upper room. Kaoru will admit; this was an interesting way to meet a Koipanion. But maybe Lien won’t mind too much that her shell was essentially sacrificed for a new addition to the Koillective Consciousness.