Chapter 24: Kaori
Back when Miyu disappeared in front of her eyes, Kaori had been freaked out by the strange phenomenon.
She tried to call Kio and Riko, to explain the situation and get some advice on what to do.
However, when their phones couldn't connect, she could only imagine the worst-case scenario.
'What if they also got attacked, like Mom and Dad…'
Even though Kio told her to stay strong, when she wasn't able to contact any of them, she began to panic.
She wanted to find a way to get to Kio's workplace, but with so many zombies outside her house, she knew she wouldn't be able to do it without getting bitten.
Thus, she just halfheartedly sat on her bed, staring at the spot where Miyu had been previously.
As nightfall arrived, she noticed her body started to fade away too.
'Maybe I'll go to where Miyu went.'
A look of determination flashed across her eyes as she planned to immediately look for Miyu, no matter what happens.
***
"Kaori!"
Kio shouted his sister's name as he immediately moved in to give her a hug after he noticed the look of confusion on her face.
"Eh? Kio… is that really you?"
"Yea."
"Big brother! Sob…"
Kaori began crying as she felt safe inside of his embrace, releasing all the worries and anguish she endured for the last few days.
She similarly wrapped her arms around Kio, deeply ecstatic at their reunion.
"Kio, I'm sorry… even though you told me to be strong for Miyu, I let her disappear in front of my sight. What should we do? I don't know where to look for her now..."
"Kaori!"
Even though the siblings were having their moment, Miyu walked up to them and hugged Kaori when she heard her name being called.
"Eh? M-Miyu, why are you here, too?"
"Big sister brought me here earlier… sob…"
As soon as Miyu mentioned Riko, tears started flowing uncontrollably from her eyes.
"Miyu, what's wrong?"
"Sob… big sister, she… she…"
Although Kio felt like he should back up a bit once Miyu joined the embrace, he couldn't let go at this moment.
Stretching his hand towards her head, he gently patted Miyu's head to comfort her.
Since Miyu was unable to explain the situation, he felt like he should be the one to tell Kaori what happened to Riko.
"..."
After Kaori heard about how Riko died and their plans to get the Revival Jewel, she felt extremely sorrowful.
Since Riko chose to risk her own life to save Kio, and pleaded with him to not find the priest, Kaori couldn't blame him for what happened.
However, she directed all her anger towards somebody else.
"Who does that Takumi guy think he is! Attacking a zombie dog even though you were in his line of fire!"
"I know how you feel Kaori, if it wasn't for Riko's injury being so urgent, I would've killed that guy myself."
"So… what happened to Riko in the end…?"
As Kaori uttered those words, she had also been checking her surroundings.
In her sight were a few tents, campfire, and many unfamiliar people. Although she wanted to ask the elves if their ears were real, now wasn't the time or place for that.
Finally, her eyes landed on the body of Riko, who was lying on her back on the ground.
"Riko…"
Tears welled up in her eyes as she knelt down beside Riko, holding onto her cold hands.
"Riko, thank you so much for protecting my big brother. I promise I will do everything I can to help get the Revival Jewel to bring you back to life."
After Kaori finished crying, she stood up and faced Kio.
"Let's bury her body."
"Yea, I was thinking the same."
Using the shovel that Dan had provided them earlier, Kio began digging a hole close to the exit of the hidden passage that they used to escape.
Looking at the passage from outside, they could see it was covered with thick vines and bushes, making it hard to spot.
After digging a decently sized hole, Kio was about to lower Riko's body into it when a thought suddenly came to his mind.
'What if…'
He wanted to test his idea, so he gently placed his hand on top of Riko's body, and focused his thoughts.
An instant later, Riko's body disappeared, and he knew his idea worked.
'I wasn't confident in this, but I guess after she died, her body doesn't count as a living being anymore.'
As Riko's body was now in his inventory, he hoped that it wouldn't decay in there.
Although he didn't have much information about the Revival Jewel, if one of its requirements turns out to be a body that has just died or is in decent condition, he knew he couldn't risk letting her body rot in the grave.
He could only stay optimistic about the future now, otherwise he would cause Miyu to despair after losing all of her family members.
Since Kaori, Miyu, and Luna were all nearby when he dug the hole, they witnessed the scene where Riko's body suddenly disappeared.
Mary and Dan were also here, since Mary didn't want to stay with Ren's group or the elves. Dan tagged along to ensure the safety of his daughter.
"Where did Riko's body disappear to? Kio, what did you do???"
Kaori asked, as she wasn't informed about her inventory yet.
Miyu, Luna, and Mary were similarly confused, as they also had no idea about it.
Dan knew about a few items that could teleport a person, but he was confident that nobody used such an item on her at this moment.
"Well, I guess now's a good time to explain everything that I know."
Kio initially only wanted to inform Kaori, Miyu, and Luna about their circumstances.
Even though Luna was his slave and didn't need to know everything about him, he felt like he should clearly explain everything to her, since she could probably already guess some things based on what had already happened.
Besides, if she decided on him to be her fated person, he might as well treat her with care.
Although he wasn't romantically interested in Luna right now, he didn't know why he felt concerned about her.
As for Dan and Mary, since he planned on asking for their help later on, he took the initiative to earnestly share this matter with them.
In regards to Fae and her elves, even though they were kind enough to invite Kio's group to their home, he couldn't really trust them.
Fae aside, the rest of the elves were too arrogant and proud, unwilling to even chat with Kio's group.
With the addition of their prejudice towards the human race, Kio didn't know how the elves would react if they knew everything about his group.
Even though Fae expressed some good intention for rescuing her brother and friends, Kio still couldn't trust them with just that.
A person's heart is the most difficult thing to grasp, especially when a stranger's life is weighed against their whole clan's future.
If the elves had any sort of intention towards their knowledge and items from their original world, they could easily kidnap some of them to force the others to spill everything they knew.
Or worse, since this was a fantasy world, Kio couldn't reject some other methods of interrogation, such as mind control or enslaving them.
He knew he wouldn't be able to protect the girls currently, which is why he planned to ask Dan for assistance later.
Once Kio and the others found a spot to sit, he started to narrate his story.
"As some of you may have already suspected, we aren't originally from this world."
Dropping this statement right out of the bat, Luna and Mary had their eyes opened wide in surprise.
In contrast to those two, Dan appeared rather calm.
"Hoh, so it was you kids who were summoned as the heroes of this Kingdom."
"I guess so."
As Kio replied, he took out a few chocolate bars for himself and the three girls who sat close to him.
Kaori sat directly to his left side, with Luna on his other side.
Miyu found a place for herself beside Kaori, hugging onto her arm.
As Dan and Mary were sitting in front of them, they became curious about the item that Kio just took out from thin air.
Kio personally opened the chocolate bar wrapper and fed Luna a bite, before letting her hold it herself after he saw her enjoying it.
"Mmm! This is so good!"
When Dan and Mary heard her reaction to the rectangular brown bar, they also wanted to try it, but they felt too embarrassed to ask for some too.
Kio noticed their stares, so he waved for Mary to come over.
He repeated his earlier actions, opening the wrapper and personally feeding her a bite, before passing her another one for Dan.
"Mmm!"
As Kaori and Miyu witnessed everything that just happened, they couldn't understand why Kio was so nice to the two girls.
"Big brother, you-"
Before Kaori could even finish her words, Kio interrupted her.
"Stop! Don't call me that too!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
vincesocoo
vincesocoo VinceSocoo here~
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I feel bad leaving Fae out of this information sharing session, but you can't trust everybody that easily right?
Kio had his reasons to trust Luna and Dan...
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As always, please vote with your stones and comment below if you are enjoying the story.
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