"Ren?" Mori couldn't think, yet memories deluged her buffering brain. She remembered a fellow schoolgirl who despised having to dye her natural honey-colored hair to dress-code conforming black, a girl whose favorite ice cream flavor was strawberry, her first SniperX partner and the public representative of their team.

Ren had been the only one bold enough to show her face over live streams. In the early days, when other gamers were toxic, Ren had been the one to shut them down. When Mori buckled from the pressure and the online bullying, Ren had been the one to bolster her up.

But eight years ago, Mori had quit gaming, cut off her team, and moved across the ocean. She hadn't seen or spoken to any of them since.

Until now.

Mori stared at her former best friend, watching Ren's expression shift from shock, to fear, to anger. Ren's knuckles whitened as she gripped her scythe. Eyes narrowed, her voice came out like a growl, "Catch up with you later, Mentos."

Amidst the roar of the crowd and the hum of the electrical barrier, Ren swept her scythe in an arc. The weapon spilled out purple smoke that crept across the ground to reach Mori.

Sensation in her feet disappeared. Mori gasped and stumbled backward, but the smoke clung to her legs like viscous slime. The white bar of her health flashed before inching lower.

"Mori!" Ronin shouted behind her. "Do...do something! Don't just stand there!"

Don't shoot your friends. How ironic now.

Biting her lip, Mori shouldered her rifle and fired a wild shot at her opponent. The bullet connected with shielding, making the bubble visible. Aiming for the pocket, Mori squeezed the trigger again. The bubble shattered like glass, but when the glimmers in the air fizzled out, Ren was nowhere to be seen.

"What—" Mori spun around a second too slow. Glass rained down in shards and pain reverberated through her skull, blacking out her vision. She dropped to her knees. Nothing had ever hurt this much before, and even without her sight, she could feel her health's rapid decline.

"Gotten rusty, have we? You always used to be so good at guarding flank though."

Metal tore through her gut, slipping below her ribs. Mori's hand closed around the point of the weapon, the scythe's blade cutting deep into her palm, in a vain effort to stop it.

This was agony. This was pain so unbearable she couldn't even scream, only gasp like a fish snagged out of the water by a silver hook.

And as fear closed in, death right on its heels, Mori thought she heard someone laughing.

Dying lasted a mere moment.

Mori surfaced, shivering as if she'd stepped out of a hot tub into freezing air. She put a hand to her stomach and found it whole. Her head spun, sending her heaving out her insides onto the grass. Never again. Ronin, you're going to pay for this.

A hand slipped under her arm and helped her to her feet. Mori groaned in protest, but the person half-dragged her off the field.

"First time?" Ren's voice asked with mild amusement.

"I deserve it, don't I?" Mori slurred—her tongue didn't want to work. Soft grass brushed her cheek as Ren lowered her onto the ground.

"Kinda. You did ghost me after all."

Mori curled into fetal position. "I'm sorry," she whispered, cracking open an eyelid.

Ren sat on the grass next to her, scythe in her lap. Her brown eyes softened beneath long lashes. "I guess I accept your apology. I just...I wish you'd told me more, you know? You said goodbye but—well, I guess I didn't really think you meant it until you were gone."

Sitting up, Mori caught sight of Ronin weaving through the crowd to head toward them. She pulled up a fistful of grass and dropped it onto Ren's leg where it disintegrated, as if they were middle school students again, relaxing on a lawn while cicadas buzzed in the summer heat. "How's the rest of the team?" she asked.

"Stuck in here for the most part—we all came together." Ren blew out a forceful puff of air. "Tsuki isn't though, she dropped off when she got married three-ish years ago. Tsuna, Yuta, and Niko are here. Suvi is a recent add and we got a new leader about a year after you left."

"You didn't want to be the leader?" Mori said softly.

Ren flipped her scythe over in her hands, the crescent blade shining in the moonlight. "Couldn't handle it, Mentos. I guess I don't blame you as much as I did when you first disappeared because now I understand what you were running from. You were the leader who worked behind the scenes, not me. I liked blowing stuff up and putting on a show."

Mori mulled the info over in silence. Ronin kept his distance on the outskirts of the mini battlefields, presumably giving them space to have their private conversation.

"Is..." Mori hesitated. "What about Demi?" She listened to Ren make a choking sound in the back of her throat, heart sinking like a stone in the ocean.

"Demi..." Ren blinked several times, lashes fluttering like a butterfly having an apoplectic fit. "Demi came in with us. We lost her in one of the undead dungeons in this ring." She squeezed her eyes shut, tears leaking out the corners.

"Like...lost in a dungeon maze or—"

"She died, Mentos." Ren shuddered. "A specter thing grabbed her and we didn't realize until it was too late that it sucked health out of her in equal measure to the damage we dealt it. I didn't realize it." The scythe in Ren's lap fractured, whisked away to storage, while she hid her face in her hands. "I killed Demi."

At the sound of Ren crying, Mori got up and wrapped her arms around her. "I wish you'd been here, Mori," the other woman sobbed into her shoulder. "I made such a stupid mistake."

"I wish I'd been here too," Mori said, stroking her friend's hair. And I promise you, Ren, I'm going to end this.

"How'd you get here?" Ren sniffled. "Can't believe I haven't run into you before now, though there was this one player who was asking about you."

Mori's eyes widened and she slowly pulled out of the hug to study Ren's face. "Who asked you about me?"

Ren shrugged, scrubbing her tears away with the back of her hand. "This girl. She said she was a fan, knew all about the Dozen Day Grind. She asked if I'd seen a player with my old teammate's—your—username."

Mori remembered that time she'd spent grinding with the team, locked in her room. Shiori had brought her food. "What color was she wearing? What was her gamer tag? How long ago did you see her?"

Picking at her nail bed, Ren answered, "Red. She was wearing red and I met her last year, before the fourth ring was cleared. It was a really goofy username...like Niko's. Shishi maybe?"

A weight lifted from Mori's chest, one she hadn't known was there. "I think you met my sister."

"Squirt?" Ren shoved Mori, though harder than she likely intended. "Sorry, but—No. Way. Isn't the kid still in elementary school?"

Mori got up from where she'd toppled over and shoved back. "You're forgetting we're old. Squirt's in college now."

A low whistle issued from Ren's lips. "Well, I know I'd be able to recognize her if I saw her again. She had these brass knuckles with spikes and a flame effect on her hair—looked pretty cool actually. Cooler than you."

"Thanks for reminding me why I missed you." Mori sighed.

Ren grinned, a slight redness around her eyes the only evidence that she wasn't the same untouchable, blustery teenager Mori had left behind. "No problem. You'll have plenty of opportunities to keep remembering."

A window opened in front of Mori with a party request.

"What's this?"

Mori yelped in surprise at Ronin's voice. "Why'd you have to sneak up like that?"

"I wasn't sneaking!" he protested. "You were taking longer than a girl getting ready for her first date so I thought I'd come over and see if you wanted a tent to spend the night out here."

Mori rolled her eyes, gesturing between the two players and waving away the party request with her hand. "Ren, this is Ronin. Ronin, Ren."

"I'm Mori's duo," Ronin clarified, making Mori want to sink into the ground. What could be worse than bringing home a date to her parents? Bringing a new duo to her SniperX ex-duo, that's what.

Ren side-eyed Ronin before giving a nod. "Heard about you. You can call me Wraith—it's catchier."

"You're a SniperX champ, aren't you?" Ronin drummed his fingers on the hilt of his sword, the only one of them appearing at ease. "I used to watch your streams."

"Mori here is the real champ," Ren bit back. She was showing way too much teeth for her smile to be friendly. "Made it higher on the leaderboard than I ever did. Number two."

If Ren had swept a rug out from under Ronin's feet, he would've been less bewildered. He looked to Mori then back at Ren, as if trying to figure out if they'd two-timed him with a prank.

"No way," he finally said.

"Yes, way." Ren smirked, summoning her scythe and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Anyways," Mori diverted. "Re—I mean, Wraith, said she saw my sister."

"And I also offered Mori here the last spot in our party," Ren said pointedly. "Our leader is top ten, we have good rep, and Mori will fit in swell. She's like family already."

Oh my gosh, Ren. Mori didn't know who she wanted to smack with a spatula more. "I just need a moment to talk," she said to Ren, tugging her current duo away by his sleeve.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Ronin asked once they'd wandered out of earshot.

"How could I?" Mori threw her hands up in the air. "You thought MementoMori was a guy! You called me a SniperX wannabe!"

Ronin sighed, massaging his temples. "Okay, so I got you all wrong. What's this about joining a different party?"

Shaking her head, Mori replied, "The party thing doesn't matter. Is there a player you're tracking with a tag that includes 'shishi'?"

Eyes glazing over, Ronin stared past her shoulder to the point where Mori wondered if he'd zoned out. He shouldn't be due for weekly scream sesh yet.

He focused back in on her. "Yeah."

She's alive then too. Mori put a hand over her mouth to cover the small cry of relief. "Can you tell me where she is?"

Ronin's jaw ticked. "No."

"Why not?" When Ronin turned away, Mori ran in front of him, forcing him to look at her. "I'm so close to finding her! Please, Ronin."

It would be so easy. He could make it easy, yet Ronin lurched back to avoid touching her and there was fear in his avoidant gaze. "I told you. It's better if you don't," he mumbled.

"Mori." Ren rested a hand on her shoulder—the pink glow of her scythe like a lantern in the darkness. "I'm supposed to meet up with the others soon. Are you coming?"

Ronin looked like a shadow in the night, but his earring shone like a winter star. "We should keep heading for the center," he said.

"I don't want to make this decision!" Mori screamed, anger thick in her words. Anger at Ronin for refusing to tell her Shiori's location. Anger at Ren for driving this rift between them. Underlying both, anger at herself, but for what she couldn't tell.

"Then don't," Ren said softly. "You have your coin, don't you?"

Mori yanked on the cord, unclasping it and sliding the coin off. "Light, please. Ronin, which side?"

Ren stepped closer with her scythe which brightened to a ghostly white, while Ronin hung back.

"I'm not picking, Mori. You should call the shot yourself," he objected.

"Sprout," Ren said.

The coin glinted, suspended for a moment in the air before falling back into Mori's palm. "Sprout," she echoed. Fate set the course, now all she had to do was follow it. She and Ronin had made it through the fourth ring, but she had a friend and sister who needed her now.

"Thank you for everything." Mori extended her hand to him. This was the least she could offer.

Ronin shook it with gentle reluctance, his hand cold as ice yet calming. "I did say you could break up with me anytime, didn't I? Just...take care, kiddo." He saluted Ren before leaving, like a losing general quitting the battlefield.

Mori watched him go, a fleeting desire to run after him and say it'd been a joke flashing through her. Instead she whispered so Ren wouldn't hear, because all things came to an end. Some things couldn't be helped.

"Goodnight, Riku."

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Chapter Word Count: 2100
Total Word Count: 18244