The Arrival

 Usually, I would look forward to seeing a meteor. But tonight, I dreaded it.

"Only a few more minutes!"

Erica was still excited. Her voice filled the small room, but her energy couldn't quite reach me.

"Hey, Sara, is everything alright?"

She looked at me, concern in her voice. Usually, I couldn't keep my head from turning towards the sky, but tonight, my gaze was fixed on my shoes.

"Yeah, it's all good. I'm just not feeling it today," I mumbled.

"Are you getting sick?"

I shook my head.

"No, no, don't worry about it."

That was easier said to others than applied to myself. I was probably worrying as much as Arisu was, who was unusually quiet. The whole club room felt a lot darker now, and the other girls were quiet as well. While they didn't know what was going on, they could sense something was off.

In the silence, I dared to look towards the window. The stars seemed brighter tonight, overwhelming in the sea of velvet blue. So many of them, twinkling with light and life. I still couldn't quite grasp that there was life, different from us humans, out there. Different, but similar. I only had to look at Arisu and her struggles. They seemed quite human to me, but what did I know? Does she want to go back? Or does she want to stay here with us? But I could feel it deep down in my core that tonight would turn everything I knew upside-down. And that thought terrified me. The others could tell. Since I didn't worry as much anymore, when I did, it was all the more apparent. But we all looked outside, trying to enjoy the moment.

In this moment, I was just glad to have my friends here with me.

"Ah! There!"

I blinked, and then saw what Erica was pointing at in the dark.

It was beautiful. I couldn't look away, not that I wanted to.

The meteor sailed across the sky, its tail blazing bright behind it. At once, time felt both immediate and stretched out, as if I could taste each of my heartbeats, and the ones of my friends. Tonight, we were alive, the planet was alive, and it was wonderful. We stood there in stunned silence, and my worry had dissipated, as if the short moment of wonder had taken them with it.

I blinked, and it was over. But even though darkness took over the room again, a bit of the shining flame of the meteor stayed in me. I closed my eyes. What I would give for this moment to stay forever...

A bright light filled the room, and even though my eyes were closed, they hurt. Around me, my friends screamed, and I was sure my own screams mixed with them, together with a high pitched, piercing sound. Suddenly, it was over, and I gasped, as if I had been underwater for too long. Slowly, I tried to open my eyes. Darkness surrounded me, and for a moment I could neither make out my friends nor the stars outside. Everything was black.

"Brother!"

Arisu could barely contain the rage in her voice.

"Here you are."

An unfamiliar voice, cold but smooth, answered my friend in the darkness. It was a sound that would make Maria swoon, but as I couldn't see her, I couldn't judge her reaction. Maybe it was better this way.

"We need to go," the man urged.

"No."

Classic Arisu. I could hear her brother sigh.

"You don't have a choice. This little... escapade has been going on far too long, and..."

"Oh my, Arisu," Maria suddenly whispered through the darkness, "You didn't mention you have a hot brother? Is he single?"

"Stop it, Maria." Arisu hissed back at her. "You're not going to date my brother!"

Arisu went and turned on the light. For a moment, I was blinded, but then I could see her brother. He was much taller than all of us, with the same, long green hair as Arisu. His eyes were also just as green as hers, but they had a mean streak to them. Yes, it was better if Maria stayed far away from him, I was sure. His fashion style also worried me. Where Arisu was wearing bright, fun colors and layers, his clothes looked more military. He surely was prepared for a fight. What does he expect to find here?, I wondered.

He looked at us all in shock, and then turned to Arisu.

"You have revealed yourself to the humans?"

She shrugged with a grin on her face.

"And you have now too, dearest brother. So, what are you going to do?"

I let out a small sigh as relief flooded me. It was good to see that she wanted to protect us. Somehow, it all felt like it was going to turn upside down. But Arius was her usual, cheerful self, so it couldn't be that dangerous.

"We have to eliminate them."

Suddenly, he took out a gun-shaped object, pointing it directly at me. I couldn't do or think anything, but my hands shot up instinctively.

"Are you mad? You're not going to do that!"

Suddenly, I could only see Arisu's back, with panicked sounds from Maria and some whispers from Pudding and Erica.

"They are my friends. If you dare to harm them..."

Her voice got low, and there was a threat in them.

"Then what?"

He let out a cold, mean laugh. I wanted to cry, but couldn't. There was only numbness in me. This can't be happening. What even is happening? Are we really going to die? Here?

But before he could finish laughing or I could finish my thoughts, a wooden THUNK interrupted everything. The man crumpled onto the floor, with Erica standing over him, a chair in her hands.

"Oh no! Did you kill him?," Maria shrieked.

"She didn't," Arisu answered, "He can take more than that. Good hit, though."

"Thanks."

Erica seemed a bit ashamed and slowly set down the chair, pushing it neatly under the table. Then, she looked at Arisu and the rest of us.

"What are we going to do now?"

We all looked at the alien on the floor, still unconscious. Was Arisu really sure he was fine?

"We need to... uh..."

Arisu was thinking, and started to pace around her brother. Then, she stopped.

"Wait. One moment."

She knelt down and rummaged through his clothes.

"Ah! There."

She had a big grin on her face again. I certainly had no idea what was going on. Was this how she felt most of the time?

"We can handcuff him with this."

She showed us a small, metal thing. While it made no noise, it emanated a pink light in irregular intervals.

"I'm sure he planned to use it on me when I wasn't cooperating. Well, too bad. No one can prepare for Erica."

I watched as she put the device on his forehead, and he slumped down more. This must be pretty advanced technology. Even just watching it made my head spin.

"But we can't let him stay here. Not only would the cleaning staff notice when they come here..." Erica looked a bit guilty. "He also looks pretty uncomfortable on the floor."

"Hm."

Arisu didn't look particularly motivated to ease his suffering, but the look Erica gave her made her sigh.

"Okay."

"Also, he can't do anything anymore, right?," Erica confirmed.

"True. And he really shouldn't be discovered."

Arisu tilted her head, and looked at us all.

"But where should we take him?"

When her gaze fell on me, I shook my head.

"Can't bring him with us. It's already enough to have you hide in my room."

"Well, if you carry him..."

Pudding shrugged, a content smile on her face.

"My parents are out of town for the next weeks. I wanted to stay in my room and play games all night anyways, he can keep me some company."

Arisu nodded.

"Sounds good. Here, I'll take him."

She waved in front of her brothers forehead like I might do it in front of a soap dispenser at a public bathroom, and with the motion, he levitated into the air. Pudding and Erica went out of the club room, then Arisu and her floating brother, while Maria and I closed the door behind us. Thankfully, we encountered no one on our way to the exit nor outside of the school.

"What's his name, by the way?"

Maria gave the unconscious man a concerned look.

"I don't recall him introducing himself."

At first, Arisu only snorted. Then, she explained herself: "He never does that unless forced. NNS-Y can be really rude."

"Ninsei?" Pudding smiled. "That sounds nice. Will he like ramen?"

Arisu laughed.

"I'm sure he will. I mean, who can resist ramen?"

While they were talking and laughing, I looked around. But no one was outside. It wasn't unusual, as we were regularly the only ones walking around at the dead of night. But still, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. But maybe that was all connected to Arisu's brother. Ninsei? What an odd name. But maybe... even though no one noticed us, I glanced up at the stars. Who knew who could be watching us from afar?

"Ah, here. One moment, I have to find my keys."

After quickly searching her pockets, Pudding unlocked her front door and let us all inside. We went up to her room, as cozy as ever. Pudding went ahead and gestured towards her big, white and pink chair.

"There. Ah, one moment."

Before Arisu could set her brother down on the chair, Arisu took a cat paw-shaped pillow from the ground and gently set it on her chair.

"There. that's comfy."

She had a big grin on her face, and honestly, it was well deserved.

"Thanks, Pudding!"

Arisu made Ninsei float onto the chair. There, the tall man slumped into the pink plush, still unconscious. Pudding went to her second chair and started her console.

"Alright, then we'll see each other tomorrow. Too bad we didn't really see the stars tonight."

She sighed, and took one of the controllers.

"Or do you want to stay and play a round?"

But we all quickly declined. While it usually would be fun, tonight it would feel weird, with Ninsei just... sitting there.

"Uh..."

But Pudding nodded, surely sensing what we couldn't say.

"It's alright. I've got my player two already here, uwa."

"Yeah, I'm tired. Sorry, Pudding," Arisu yawned.

She didn't seem too concerned for her brother, and she certainly was the one who knew him best.

"Let's go, Sara."

I nodded, and with a wave, we said goodbye to our friends. Maria came with us outside, while Erica stayed behind for a bit.

"Are you sure he's okay?"

Arisu nodded, her hair swaying around her body.

"He's tough. Also, it's not the first time I got him with that. He might be a bit grumpy in the morning, but that's it."

"Ah, if you say so..."

Maria looked relieved. When we had to part ways, she waved at us.

"See you tomorrow!"

"Seeya!"

While I couldn't shake my gut feeling, I was too tired to question it. Pudding was great at making others feel relaxed. Surely, it was the same for Arisu's brother.