The Game

 At first, I stumbled around in the darkness, eyes closed, not knowing what had happened. I could feel the others, also trying not to fall. We still held each other's hand, and so we tugged and pushed as we desperately tried to regain our balance. In my ears was a sharp noise, and the ground slightly shook with the stomping of our feet. But whatever had happened, was now over. Slowly, I opened my eyes, still not letting go of their hands. I saw that I had grabbed Arisu's hand, and she held it so tight that it almost hurt. She didn't look at me, but instead somewhere else, with a frightened expression on her face.

"Why did you summon us like this, Mother?"

"It's your own fault, dear."

A sharp, strict voice rang through the darkness. While I couldn't see who Arisu was talking to, it was clear that it was her mother. Maybe her father was there, too? I slowly exhaled and tried to make as little noise as possible. But we're still alive. That's good.

"But it's alright now."

Arisu's mother sighed.

"We're going to delete this planet and those pesky lifeforms that have attached themselves to you. And your brother."

Her tone grew sharper as she mentioned Ninsei. I couldn't help but shudder at her words. I didn't want to be in his shoes. In the darkness, I looked for his outline, and saw him between Erica and Pudding, still holding their hands, just like we did. While I was glad that we were all still alive, and here, I wasn't sure if Earth currently was the safer option.

"Mother, I can explain," he tried to say.

But his mother sharply interrupted him.

"You don't need to."

There was a strange happiness in her voice.

"It will all be over soon."

"No, mother, you don't understand-"

"I don't wanna-"

"No arguing from both of you."

Her voice was cold and sharp, shutting both of them up.

"We are leaving. End of discussion."

Somewhere in the darkness, I could hear someone clap their hands together once. Around us, lights started to glow. My friends were illuminated in red, blue and green. But I only looked at Arisu, who still glared at her mother. Her body and hair was rigid, and the rage in her eyes was only thinly veiled.

"I don't have to listen to you. These are my friends!"

"I do not care."

For the first time, I dared to look at her mother. The women bore a striking resemblance to her daughter - but she looked more elegant, and a lot colder. She wore most of her hair in a giant bun, and her long robes glittered as if stars adorned them. The sound of her heels echoed through the room as she walked towards her daughter.

"You have been misbehaving for far too long. If you don't come willingly..."

I could barely breath because of her voice, but Arisu didn't even flinch.

"Far too long? You know what actually took far too long? The you noticed I wasn't even there anymore!"

"I-"

That clearly hurt her mother, who recoiled.

"You don't actually care about me, do you?" Arisu hissed.

I held her hand tighter. Those were hurtful words, barely contained by her rage. And yet, I could see her eyes getting teary.

"Of course, dear, we..."

"Not 'we'! Dad isn't even here."

"He has to..."

"He just wants his daughter to sit alone in her room, like you want me to, right? I'm not a pet!"

"ARX-U, don't you think that is a bit harsh?"

She whipped her head around, and directed her anger at her brother.

"And you! You think you can be all cool and strong and never care about me? We don't even spend time together anymore! Neither you nor them know anything about me!"

"Th-that's not true..."

But he couldn't look at his sister.

"It's not?"

She crossed her arms, letting go of my hand. I tried not to reach out to her again, even though I really wanted to.

"You really want to take everything away from me, that has ever brought me happiness?"

She looked at both her brother and her mother.

"You don't know what you're speaking of."

Her mother mirrored her daughter's pose.

"They don't give you happiness."

"Of course they do! Unlike you, they actually know me!"

"These lifeforms have spent a fraction of our time with you, and you dare make such statements?"

Arisu glared at her.

"I do. And I want to settle this."

She pointed both her fingers and her hair at her mother, her body still trembling with rage.

"I'm going to host a game show! I'll ask all of you questions about me and my life, and whoever wins will decide what happens with Earth! You, or the 'pesky lifeforms'!"

I meekly raised my hand.

"I-uh..."

But no one noticed it. That sounds an awful lot like the fate of Earth lies on our shoulders, right? I wasn't sure if I could handle that.

"As you wish."

Her mother glared back at her.

"We shall use the thought detector to see who is correct."

And then, for the first time, Arisu's mother really looked at us humans.

"If they think they know you better than I do, they will pay dearly."

I gulped. She was terrifying, but something in her words made me angry. Angry enough to raise my voice.

"She's our friend!"

I didn't know if it was courage or stupidity to throw those words right in her face, but they were out quicker than I could think about it. It almost felt like Arisu's anger, and the pain she had endured, flowed through me.

"We care about her. And if she ever vanished without a word, we would immediately search for her! How did you not notice?"

"I do not have to explain myself to something like you."

I shot her one last glance, before I turned to my friends.

"We got this."

We all nodded in unison, more serious than I had expected. Even Pudding was fully awake.

But Ninsei took a step back, going up to Arisu.

"I can't help either of you."

He looked between us and his mother.

"Instead, I will serve as the neutral party, judging if needed be."

"Good."

She nodded, probably thinking him an ally. But to me, he looked truly split. He spent even less time on Earth than Arisu did, and still liked us and our culture enough that he couldn't assume his normal position? I felt a weird kind of pride swell up in me. We would show that woman what it meant to care about Arisu!

The girl in question went over to a strange device and settled in the chair-like thing in the middle of it. At once, the machine came to life, whirring and blinking. Jerking movements made the machine adjust to Arisu. She had her eyes closed, as if this was just normal to her, and only opened them once the machine was done.

"Okay, we can start. Write your answer down on the screen."

Small noises escaped the girls and me as suddenly, a monitor emerged from the ground, with alien script running over the glass-like surface. A moment later, we could see a keyboard appear on the screen, adjusted to our language. Opposite of us, her mother watched this happen with a dark smile on her face.

"I will indulge in your little game, only to show you how much I love you."

Arisu scoffed, but didn't answer. Instead, she looked at Ninsei, who took a step forward.

"Okay, I will start now. First question: what is her favorite food?"

"Hm. How easy."

Her mother's fingers danced over the monitor, and a beep declared her answer being logged in. We looked at each other, slightly unsure.

"Sara, you know her best," whispered Maria, "What do you think it is?"

It was true. We spent most time together, but that also meant I remembered many different things she loved to eat.

"Probably icecream?"

I looked at the others, and earned encouraging nods. That was enough for me to put 'icecream' as our answer.

Still, my finger hovered over the 'submit' button for a moment. Even though I knew how much she loved icecream, what did I know about her life before she crashed down on Earth? Nothing. Suddenly, I didn't feel as confident I could win this game, as much as I did before.

But then, I pressed down. Worrying wouldn't help me think of a better answer. I heard the beep, and Ninsei nodded.

"The answers are in."

He did great as our gameshow host. His aura might be cold and mighty, but I was sure he was still the same underneath it all. If Pudding had brought her games along, they might even be playing them. I shook my head. No, that wasn't true. Both of them knew how important this event was. The future of Earth depended on it!

I watched as Arisu closed her eyes, and mere seconds later, her answer appeared on the monitor over her head.

'STRAWBERRY ICECREAM'

I squealed, and the others joined my in our high-pitched celebration.

"What?"

Arisu's mother managed to stay composed, but there was anger in her voice. I didn't care about it, however.

"You don't know anything about me." Arisu looked her dead in the eye. "Next question!"

We all stopped our celebration. This wasn't over yet.

Arisu looked at Ninsei again, who nodded.

"What is her most precious memory?"

Again, her mother seemed sure of her answer, quickly putting it down.

"Has she ever talked about that?" Erica whispered.

"Ah, I don't know."

We looked at each other, once again unsure. This seemed like something that might have come up during one of our stargazing sessions, but I couldn't remember anything like that.

"Me neither."

I didn't want to let the others down, but I also couldn't lie to them. Once again I was reminded that Arisu existed outside of our friendship.

"Let's just put something down. A precious memory for us all."

Erica went forward, and, after a moment of consideration, typed in 'New Year's Eve fireworks'. After the beeping stopped, Ninsei pointed towards Arisu.

"Again, the answers are in."

We watched the screen over her head in anticipation.

'THE DAY I GOT PURIRIN'

"Oh," I softly sighed.

"That makes sense."

Erica crossed her arms and nodded.

This was something we couldn't have known. Now, in hindsight, it was obvious: but wasn't that always the case?

But while we were a bit disappointed, her mother looked furious.

"That's your most important memory?" she hissed, gripping the screen in front of her.

Arisu glared back at her.

"You know that I spent more time with PURIRIN than you, right?"

"I- that's not-"

"Of course it is."

She sighed, before looking at our answers.

"None of you got it right. Though, I'd say that us watching the fireworks is more important to me than winning that stupid medal for excellent metal synthesis!"

Suddenly, she looked away.

"I only did that for you, you know?" she added softly.

"But you were so happy about it..."

Suddenly, Arisu looked so small. It even made her mother speak softer. But at her words, our friend jumped out of her seat.

"Happy for you!"

She was crying.

"You could have simply listened to me, instead of parading around that stupid perfect version of myself that you made up!"

"I did not-"

Suddenly, they were both screaming again. Ninsei looked as uncomfortable as I felt, but none of us had the courage to intervene.

Their screaming was interrupted by the sound of a door sliding open.