It's now nightfall and I've just gotten out of the bath with Lisa. I still prefer having someone to bath with, but with it being the third time now bathing with Lisa, I just feel like it'll be more relaxing with Charlotte instead. That said, I feel like Lisa and I have gotten a lot closer now, even though we mainly talked about Charlotte for the whole day. I just hope Charlotte's doing okay...
"Huh?" Suddenly, a phone begins to ring from Lisa's phone as she immediately took it out to check. In an instant, her face went pale as not a single bit of happiness was to be seen as she stared at her phone. "Shiro! Let's go!"
"Y-yes!"
I was going to ask about it but to hear and see Lisa that panicked, even breaking into a sweat, I held off as I quickly followed Lisa out of the house and into her car. I was in the middle of putting my seatbelt on when the car suddenly took off. Wait, Lisa's not wearing a seatbelt?
Looking over at Lisa, her eyebrows are narrowed as she tightens her grip on the steering wheel, staring daggers at the road as the car quickly built up more and more speed.
"Hang in there..." Lisa mutters that as I feel a slight sting in my chest. I don't want to think that it could be Charlotte, but.
"Is it Charlotte?" I ask anyway.
"..." But instead of getting an answer, I'm left in silence as Lisa almost looks like she's about to break the steering wheel with how tight she's holding it. Is it really Charlotte?
It's now that I find myself gripping onto my skirt, trying to find just a hint of comfort, but the stinging pain in my heart only increases as time goes on. What was that message that Lisa got? Is Charlotte in trouble? Is she dead? What happened to her? My thoughts are only filled with negatives as my body only grows more tense, time seeming to be flowing far too slowly... Hurry.
During the drive, Lisa contacted people on her phone whilst driving, but I was more focused on what's in front of me. Before when we used to go out into the town or city, I'd be looking all over the place, taking in as much as I can. But right now... All I'm looking for is Charlotte, but no matter how hard I look, I don't see her anywhere.
"How long?" I end up asking that, not wanting to wait any longer.
"I'm going as fast as I can." She says while driving through several intersections, dodging and weaving through traffic, just barely not crashing into anything. Lisa's very skilled. "She's on the move, but we don't know exactly what happened."
She shows me her phone as I find a single red dot that's displayed. There's also other drawings around, but only the red dot is moving.
"That's Charlotte?"
"Yes."
So she's alive at least... I feel my heart calm down at the thought, but Lisa still looks to be in a rush. But almost as if right on time, the red dot stops moving and instead goes back in the other direction, moving around in quite an erratic way. I end up thinking back on the last time I saw her fight in the hotel. It feels like the same thing... She's fighting?
"Lisa!"
"On it!" She swerves the car around a corner, barely dodging another car as car horns could be heard in the distance.
Please make it in time...
After tenty minutes, Lisa ends up stopping the car. The location we're at is quite far away from the city area as there's very minimal street lights around, but I can still see just fine.
"Let's go!"
"Yes!"
I follow Lisa as we break into a sprint, with me following closely behind Lisa. I nearly trip over the rocks and stones on the ground, but I can't waste time falling right now. I manage to keep up with Lisa as we soon come to a place with the ocean to our side. It was such a vast and beautiful view, but my eyes were more focused on the clearing in front of us...
"Ch-Charlotte!" I let out a scream at the sight in front of me. My legs end up moving on their own, running straight to her.
"Shiro!" But just then Lisa call out as she pulls me to the side. I was confused, but that only lasted for an instant as soon, right where I was planning to run, a large crater opened up in the ground as chunks of earth flew by in it's explosion.
It was only then that I realized that Charlotte's surrounded by several people off in the distance.
"Stay here." Lisa says before quickly running towards Charlotte and the people around her.
Stay here? Usually I'd do as I'm told, but seeing Charlotte under attack like this... How can I do that? So, for the first time, I disobey someone as I also chase after Lisa, heading in the direction of Charlotte.
Magic was flying all over the place, with Charlotte managing to dodge some of the attacks, but a few of them do manage to hit her, specifically a blade of water, sending her crashing into a wall. The sight only made me run faster, but Lisa manages to get there first as she just barely intercepts a ball of fire, dispersing it with her hands.
"Charlotte!"
I yell out once more as I've finally made it to her. Lisa looks to have now engaged the people around us, so I take a moment to look over Charlotte's body. But it was then that I noticed just how badly Charlotte looks...
Her face is covered in dirt and blood, and her clothes are all cut up, exposing even more cuts and gashes on her legs and especially her arms. But that was the least of my concerns.
"Sh-Shiro..."
Her voice is incredibly weak, but I was too focused on her chest. There, a massive slice was carved into her, going from just below her neck, all the way down to her belly in a diagonal line. She must be using mana to keep her blood from escaping, but even now, her blood is still leaking.
Is she... Dying? I feel my heart stop at the thought as all the pain that was inside me suddenly vanishes. Instead, I feel an overwhelming amount of heat begins to rise within me, even spreading to even my arms and legs. It's feels like a switch inside me has been flipped.