Day 8: Bonds Thicker than Blood

"You alright, Ryan?" Kiara asked through the phone. She didn't even do her normal wake up call. It as obvious she was concerned from him.

"Yeah, Choco-sensei and I sorted everything out last night," Ryan replied, his cheeks tinting pink at the thought of the previous night. It wasn't that he was attracted to Choco, but he wasn't used to intimacy and frankly, the concept of intimacy scared him. "Everything's alright now."

"By sorted out… do you mean…" Kiara giggled suggestively, causing a tick to appear on Ryan's forehead, his blush fading instantly.

"Tenchou, do you really think I'm capable of getting laid?" Ryan deadpanned.

"Probably not," Kiara laughed. "Anyways, can you do me a favor?"

"What is it?" Ryan asked.

"Can you bring some sake? I wired some money into your account," Kiara replied. "I put in 400,000 yen as well as your weekly pay. The higher the quality, the better."

"Wow, that's a lot of money for sake," Ryan said, a hint of shock entering his tone. As someone who was still barely getting off his feet, 400,000 yen seemed like a fortune.

"We're hosting a very important event today," Kiara said. The sadness in Kiara's tone told Ryan enough.

"Alright, Tenchou," Ryan said, trying to sound enthusiastic and cheery in hopes of cheering up his manager. Part of him told him that Kiara was keeping more secrets, but Ryan had never heard Kiara sound so sad. "I'll get whatever I can."

"Thanks, I knew I could count on you," Kiara said, her voice sounding brighter, even if only a miniscule amount. "Can I see you in thirty minutes?"

"I'll try my best to get there earlier," Ryan said, getting his wallet.

"Alright! I'll see you at work," Kiara said, hanging up the phone.

-

Ryan entered the liquor store with a sigh before moving over to the alcohol section. "Ahoy~!" Ryan turned to see a girl in a skimpy pirate costume giving him a peace sign.

"Morning," Ryan awkwardly waved before turning back to the Sake, picking one that costed exactly 400,000 yen.

"What can a girl do to get a drink around here~?" Ryan turned to see the girl making a suggestive pose, eyeing the bottle of sake he was holding. He resisted the urge to facepalm. Was she really doing this in a liquor store?

"Are you doing this in a liquor store?" Ryan verbalized his thoughts. "This is for work. Plus, if you're going out in public with that outfit, you're probably a lesbian."

"I mean… you're right…" The girl was taken aback. "No one has ever said that so directly, though."

"If you excuse me, I have to get to work before my Tenchou kills me," Ryan said, hurrying to the register.

"Huh," The girl said, staring at the place where Ryan once stood.

-

Ryan walked into the restaurant, walking in with the bottle of sake. Kiara looked up from underneath the counter, her expression brightening.

"Great!" She chirped as Ryan handed her the bottle. "This was her favorite…"

"Whose favorite?" Ryan asked.

"It's not my place to tell," Kiara said, offering Ryan a sad smile. Before he could open his mouth, Kiara continued. "Just wait until everyone gets here. We'll explain then."

"Okay," Ryan accepted that answer as he walked into the break room to get changed.

As he changed, he heard the doors open and chatting, Kiara's voice amongst the chattering. As Ryan walked out, he saw a girl with gray lion ears and Adidas clothing chatting with Kiara. Ryan recognized her immediately. Shishiro Botan was one of the world's best FPS pro gamer. Ryan was never one for First Person Shooters, but he always enjoyed watching Botan's livestreams, it being one of the highlights of Ryan's NEET year.

"Shishiro-san!" Ryan almost jumped out of his skin in shock. Botan turned to him, a confused expression on her face. "My name's Ryan Shade! I'm a huge fan!"

"See, Botan-senpai?" Kiara nudged Botan from behind the counter. "You do have fans!"

"I'm honored, Ryan-san," Botan bowed slightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Please, just Ryan," Ryan waved his shaking hand dismissively.

With a gust of snowflakes, a woman with an artic coat and long, pointy ears appeared. "Ah, Botan-chan!" The woman smiled. "It's nice to see you again."

"Ohayo, Lamy-mama!" Botan gestured for her to sit next to her, which the woman obliged.

"Welcome to KFP," Ryan bowed slightly towards the blue-haired woman. "My name is Ryan Shade. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"O-oh," The woman flushed, seemingly flustered, but offered a kind smile, nonetheless. "My name is Yukihana Lamy. It's nice to meet you too."

Ryan offered a small nod. As he did, the doors slammed opened, revealing an outfit looking similar to a traditional Chinese outfit, though somehow looking completely different. "SUPERNENECHI HAS ARRIVED!"

Ryan jumped in shock before pointing at her, a hurt expression on his face. "IT'S YOU!" Ryan actually new who Momosuzu Nene was. When Ryan was looking for jobs, he actually applied to NenePro, but like many others, didn't even give him an email. "YOU KNOW, I NEVER GOT AN EMAIL BACK FROM YOUR COMPANY!"

"I'M SORRY!" Nene bowed, distress in her tone. "Kiara and I had a fight over who should hire you and I was too hurt to reply to your application!"

"You fought over me?" Ryan looked at Kiara, who only winked.

"I still have burn marks," Nene rubbed her back, crocodile tears forming in her eyes.

"Okay…" Ryan said, unable to come up with a response as Nene sat on the other side of Botan.

Suddenly, a girl dived through the doors, landing face first on the floor before jumping up, her fist in the air and a bloody nose, one of her bunny ears bending forward. "I AM PHEONIX!"

"NO, I AM PHEONIX!" Kiara exclaimed instantly. Ryan just brushed this off as an inside joke. Kiara was human, right?

"Oh, not this again," Nene muttered under her breath.

"Guys, this isn't the time," Botan and Lamy instantly stood up, trying to calm the two.

"Oh!" The bunny girl noticed Ryan and dashed up to him, forgetting her prior argument with Kiara. "Hi! I'm Omaru Polka! I am a Pheo- Fennec girl!"

'So not a bunny,' Ryan thought to himself.

"Ryan Shade," he offered his hand, which Polka shook. Ryan recoiled slightly when he felt a hand buzzer on Polka's hands. "I would say nice to meet you, but I think you've lost that right."

Polka and Kiara laughed whole Botan and Lamy giggled, soft smiles on their faces.

"So, do you have it?" Lamy asked Kiara, who nodded. She walked over to the back and came back with a framed picture of what looked like a demon girl smiling at the camera. The girl had pink hair with blond streaks, a left horn bigger than her right horn, and headphones around her neck along with the sake that Ryan brought.

"Who's this?" Ryan asked as Kiara placed the picture on the counter next to Polka's seat. She then placed sake cups for everyone, not forgetting herself, Ryan, and the picture of the girl.

"This was Mano Aloe," Botan said, nodding in thanks as Kiara poured her a cup of alcohol. "We were all in a team together a while ago. We went through a lot together."

"Yeah," Lamy's smile turned sad, nostalgia flashing through her eyes. "She made us lunch every day, no matter how bad things got. I really miss her bento boxes."

"I remember when we went to her room for the first time," Polka drank her cup of sake in one take, holding the cup out to Kiara, who poured her another glass. "She always cleaned the office during her breaks, but her room was so messy! We spent the first three hours of our stay helping her clean her room."

"Aloe-chan would always give me advice about becoming an idol," Nene sniffled, sipping at her cup, her cheeks already flushed with intoxication. "Without her, NenePro would have never gotten as far as it did."

"I see," Ryan decided to leave his sake for the time being. "What happened to her?"

"We were raiding a MILF stronghold," Botan explained, all four of them looking down. "They were planning on raiding Atlantis and all of their plans were in that one place. We managed to destroy the plans, but we were cornered… Aloe-chan decided to divert their attention… she sacrificed herself so we could escape…"

Nene slammed her hand on the counted, causing everyone to look at her. "It should've been me," she said, tears flowing freely.

"You shouldn't say that," Lamy pulled Nene into a hug. "I believe she wouldn't want to see you like this."

"You're right…" Nene hugged Lamy back, sniffling. "It's just hard…"

"She sounds like a wonderful person," Ryan smiled softly. Though he was doing this to comfort the others, he felt a deep sense of respect for Aloe. If presented the decision, he wasn't sure if he was brave enough to do what Aloe did. She was a hero, through and through.

"She was," Botan held her sake cup up. "A toast to our friend, our savior, and our sister."

Even though Ryan didn't feel right doing it, as he didn't know her, but he held his cup with everyone else, more out of respect than obligation, which was a first for him.

"Rest in peace, Aloe," Everyone said at once, a few people saying "Aloe-chan" and Ryan saying "Mano-san" before drinking their cup of sake.

"Do you have it?" Botan asked Kiara, who gave her another bottle of sake. Botan nodded in thanks as the four stood up. "We have one more spot to visit. It was nice meeting you, Ryan."

"It was nice meeting you too, Shishiro-san, Omaru-san, Yukihana-san, Momosuzu-san," Ryan offered a polite smile.

"Please, call me Botan," Botan smiled back. "You've respected us and listened to our story. For that, you've earned the right to my given name."

"Same here!" Nene smiled. "Call me Nene, Nenechi, or CEO!"

"I'm his CEO!" Kiara exclaimed, causing Nene to giggle a bit.

"Feel free to call me Lamy or Lamy-mama," Lamy smiled.

"Ooh! Call me Polka!" Polka jumped up and down.

"Alright," Ryan smiled as they turned to leave. "I hope to see you again soon."

-

Botan, Nene, Polka, and Lamy sat in a half circle in front of a grave, a cup of sake in front of each of them, including the grave. "People who drink from the same sake cup are considered family," Lamy said, looking at the grave.

Here lies Mano Aloe

2005-2020

"Aloe in our minds,

Aloe in our hearts"

"Sisters?" Nene raised her cup of sake, looking at the people around her.

"Sisters," the rest of them agreed, drinking their sake. As they left, they left the cup of sake, along with a letter from each of them.

-

Ryan sat down on his computer chair and sighed. "Today was emotionally draining," he said. He checked his bank account. His eyes widened in shock as he noticed 100,000 yen more than he did in the beginning of the day. 100k per week? He decided to call up Kiara.

"Hello!" Kiara chirped. He guessed that Kiara didn't use her catchphrase since it wasn't the morning. "What did you need?"

"Uh, I think you gave me too much money," Ryan said, double checking his bank balance on his computer. "You seemed to have given me 100,000 yen."

"That's right!" Kiara said. "What seems to be the problem?"

"Isn't that too much?" Ryan repeated. "I don't really think I deserve this much."

"No, you do," Kiara said without a second thought. "You've been doing really well! Most people called the cops when they saw half the people who walked in here. You've been one of the best employees I've ever had. I wish you would have applied earlier."

"You don't know how much this means to me," Ryan said. At that point, he didn't really care too much for the money anymore. He doesn't remember the last time he was appreciated. Sure, he didn't remember much at all, but in the year he's been a NEET, all he's gotten was angry phone calls from his mother and automated voice messages. "I'm honored to be of value to you."

"You're not of value to me," Kiara said, shocking Ryan. "I didn't keep you around because you're useful. I keep you around because you're Ryan. Sure, you're good at your job, but that isn't all of you. I need you because you do your work, but I want you because you're Ryan."

"Thank you…" Ryan said, wiping his eyes. "You mean a lot to me, Tenchou. I hope you know that."

"I'm glad to hear that," Kiara said before hanging up. Ryan looked at his bank balance before closing it. He didn't care for such superficial things. He only needed a fifth of that a week to afford his wages, so he didn't care for such superficial things. He looked at his phone, the screen showing a picture of Sabrina smiling back at him.

"Sabrina," he said, not caring if anyone was listening. "I think I've found what I needed to be happy."

-

"Why not?!" A brown-haired girl shouted at a hooded figure. "There's no reason for me to stay here in America! Let me see him!"

The hooded figure looked up, revealing a white mask with a large, black one imprinted on it. There was no indication he could see through the mask, as the entire mask was completely covered in plastic. "I told you, he's not ready," the hooded figure said. "Sabrina, you need to stay in America."

"He deserves to have his memories," the girl, Sabrina said.

"I know it hurts," the hooded figure replied. "It hurts me too, but we don't know what could happen if he gets them back. Now go. We still need to clean up the MILF here in America."

"Whatever," Sabrina grumbled as she put on her own mask, identical to the one the hooded figure was wearing except the giant one was replaced by a four. "See you, Shade."

Sabrina opened a portal with her hands and jumped through. As the portal closed, Shade looked to the sky. "Storm, am I doing the right thing?"

-

Mano Aloe was standing in an empty void, staring off into the endless blackness. "Aloe-san," a voice caused her to turn around and facing a hooded figure wearing a white mask with a back zero covering a majority of it.

"Storm," Aloe bowed slightly.

"You don't need to bow to me," Storm held his hand up.

"Are you sure I can't meet them?" Aloe asked.

"I wish you could," Storm said, shaking his head. "But we can't interfere. Not yet. The void prohibits us."

"I see," Aloe held out her hand and a framed picture formed in her hand. The picture showed her, Lamy, Botan, Nene, and Polka posing for the camera together. "I miss you all. I hope we can see each other again soon."