Chapter 7 – Abduction
Point of view from the navi: Blues.EXE

“Roru-chan!!” I could only hear Rock calling out for his crush. Yes, crush, for I am aware of his feelings towards Roru. There are times when they are really obvious about it. Me and Medi often laugh about it. He was just silly enough to not say anything to her yet.
He called out for her again as the Bug-Frag dashed forward with my standard Sword and slashed Roru without remorse. She made two terrible mistakes. The first one was when she came up close to me. She shouldn’t have done that knowing that I was still infected with the Bug-Frag. I’m sure she acted without think, since she was always like that. Meiru-san programmed Roru in somewhat of a weird way. At least, by my point of view. The second error was when she turned away from me. The Bug-Frag saw it as a threat and forced me to attack my friends.
“Roru-chan, no! Burusu, try to calm down!” Rock cried out again as he ran up to Roru.
As he reached up, the Bug-Frag made a swing with the Sword, which he quickly dodged. Rock downloaded his Buster and aimed at me, but flinched in the same minute. I’m aware he always had a hard time with the fact of having to shoot his friends. The Bug-Frag saw this opening and made another swing at Rock, hitting him barely inches away from his face. If I could, I would prefer to stab myself repeatedly rather than stab my friends. With Rock out of the way, the Bug-Frag kneeled down and grasped Roru’s neck in a tight grip.
“R.. Roru-ch.. chan..” Rock tried to call out, but was too weak.

“Burusu!!”

Medi-chan ran up to Rock and called out to me. She stepped forward. Somehow, I believe she had found some strength in herself to speak up. That was a good thing, knowing how tired and weak she was.
“Burusu, please listen to me! You have to--” As it heard her gentle voice, I noticed the Bug-Frag turning itself towards her, making her stop talking. I sensed it staring at Medi-chan up and down, though, why I could not tell. I felt disgusted at myself in the following moments. I saw the Bug-Frag’s dirtied thoughts rushing through my mind as it looked at Medi-chan again in that devious way that it has. I felt sick. I tried even harder to make it stop as it suddenly let go of Roru’s neck and walked towards her. I tried to make it stop walking, but it barely worked. Rock got himself up and ran up to Roru.
“R-Roru-chan! A-Are you alright?” he asked, as he kneeled before his crush.
“R-Rock.. I-I.. I..” I heard her gapping weakly.
Without me being fully aware of it, the Bug-Frag had moved itself closer to Medi-chan. Its cursed thoughts kept brushing through my mind and I felt like throwing up. Never would I think in such a way about my Medi-chan. That Bug-Frag was just repulsive in every possible way.

“B-Burusu..”

Her trembling and shaky voice showed that she was afraid. That much I could tell. All I wanted was to make her feel safe again. Safe like it used to be. When she used to smile so often for me. Yet, that was something that wasn’t possible at that time. Something that I just couldn’t do.

Doki, doki.

It stood before her, unmoving. I could feel Medi-chan shaking from fear as a sweat drop appeared in her forehead. It slowly ran down under her visor and stopped over her chin for a moment, before falling to the ground. It was followed by another one. I noticed Rock and Roru looking at us, unmoving as well, like they didn’t know what to do next. Fearing that a move in false would trigger something less good from the Bug-Frag.

They did well in not moving.

It was one of those moments in which the first one to move was the first one to die. The pressure around us was breath-taking and heavy. Just like her expression. It was clear that Medi-chan was scared, just like everyone else, something that I don’t see very often. Her gentle face was a mix of fear, worry and pity. The heart raced at the speed of a hummingbird’s wing beat as one waited to see the other’s next move.

Doki, doki… Doki, doki.

In a life-crushing hold, the Bug-Frag quickly grabbed Medi-chan, holding her by the small of her back. To my surprise, it almost squashed her against itself and suddenly kissed her, without even consider her feelings. She flinched and did not reply to the Bug-Frag’s action. It was the Bug-Frag that was kissing Medi-chan, but, I somehow slightly felt her lips against my own. It could only have been my imagination, correct? I was locked up deep inside the parasite, so I was not supposed to feel anything from the outside, correct? I suddenly felt angry at myself, for I couldn’t do anything to stop this from happening.

“B-Burusu.. Wh-What are you doing..?”

Through her visor, Medi-chan could see the Bug-Frag’s expression. It had made a devious smile as it kept looking at her. If I could, I would have already slashed its head off, but since I was locked, I did nothing, only watched in silence, watching the grotesque thoughts that belonged to the Bug-Frag. Another moment went by in which no one moved again. Her expression showed fear. Its expression showed lust. This wouldn’t end well for sure. The pressure became heavier as the Bug-Frag prepared itself to do something.
“A-Ah.. Burusu..”
This time, it made another life-taking grasp, which made Medi-chan gasp for air, before she lost consciousness. Her petite body went limp, but the parasite held her without problem. The Bug-Frag turned around and began to walk away, towards an opened warp point. Roru saw this and tried to stop it.
“Ah? Onee-San!”
Before anyone could make any type of move, the Bug-Frag downloaded my standard Sword and swung it around, sending Roru and Rock a cloud of dust. Roru called out again before everything suddenly turned black.

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“What do you mean they’re gone!? How is that possible!?” Enzan-sama held his head with his right hand. He surely was distressed now.
“I don’t know. In a second they were there and in the next, they suddenly just..” Rock tried to explain.
“Disappeared into a warp point.” Roru finished.
“Can’t you tell to where did they go?” Enzan-sama asked.
“No. I’m sorry, it was too fast. Plus, the Bug-Frag created some dust cloud when it left.” Rock replied, lowering his head.
“And we also took severe damage in the process as well.” Roru complemented.
The group was back in the camp and reporting. The sudden fact that the Bug-Frag abducted Medi-chan seemed to have shocked everyone, especially Jasmine-san.
“But why would the Bug-Frag kidnap Medi now?” Jasmine asked.
“And why Medi and not any other navi?” Enzan-sama asked.
“I don’t know.” Netto seemed defeated.
“I do. Burusu-san and Medi-Onee-San were having a relationship.” Roru said out loud.
“Wait, what?”
“Relationship?”
“Why would they have a relationship?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Why didn’t they say anything?”
“When did they even start a relationship?”
As the various questions appeared about me and Medi, Roru just crossed her arms and remained quiet for a moment. When everyone decided to shut up, she looked at everyone with a somewhat serious expression.
“That is exactly why I didn’t say anything.” Roru said, still with her arms crossed.
“Same here.” Rock commented. He seemed upset at the facts.
“You knew something like this and you didn’t tell me? Me, your brother?”
“Yes, I didn’t tell, Netto-kun, because you’d start assuming things and eventually the entire world would know.” Rock sighed.
“No, I wouldn’t..” Netto pouted.
“Yes, you would. I know you, Onii-san.” Rock sighed.
“Roru, please explain to us this issue.”  Hikari-hakase requested.
“First of all, it is not an issue. And second, I don’t know all the details, of course. Medi-Onee-San told me that it just happened.”
“I see..  What else?” Hikari-hakase made that thinking pose of his.
“That is probably why the Bug-Frag took Medi.” Rock said.
“Because, being in Burusu-san’s body, it might somehow sense what he feels.” Roru commented.
“Is this possible, Hakase?” Enzan-sama asked.
“Hmm.. Maybe. I’m not too sure.”
“What do you mean you’re not sure?”
“There is not much data on these fields about a navi’s feelings, so, I cannot assume anything just yet.” Hikari-hakase explained.
“But, Papa, I’m sure you can come up with some explanation, right?” the bandana boy asked. This person was still too naïve to understand so much things.
“I think so, Netto, but I need time.” His father replied.
Enzan-sama made a heavy, loud sigh. So much was happening, and he didn’t know how to deal with everything. Of course, he had help from all the crew, but the psychological part of him was cracking. He was sure he was going to have some sort of stroke if something better didn’t happen.
“.. So much.. All at once.. What to do..? What to do..?” he asked himself.

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“Enzan..”
He lifted his head and looked at the Chinese girl standing at his side. Enzan-sama looked somewhat surprised as he stood up from his chair. She was probably the last person that he was expecting to see. Plus, he thought that she was still angry at him from what he had done before, but, she was standing before him with an expression that showed concern.
“J-Jasmine.. What are you--”
Without allowing Enzan-sama to speak any further, Jasmine-san quickly took a step forward, towards him and wrapped her arms around his torso. It was only now that Enzan-sama noticed the difference in their heights. Her head reached about his chest. She, indeed, was a short person. But he didn’t have the time to think anymore, for Jasmine-san began speaking.
“I’m here for you. You’ve been sad, I can tell. Even when you try to look tough and strong. I can tell that you are sad.”
“.. I thought you hadn’t forgiven me.”
“I thought the same, but, when I saw your troubled face because of Burusu, I knew.”
There was a pause. Jasmine-san’s grip tightened slightly.
“.. You knew what..?” he had to ask.
“I knew.. that you were feeling exact same thing that I felt when you said those things to Medi.” she replied.
There was another pause. Yet, this one was longer. Jasmine-san didn’t say anything else, and Enzan-sama felt no need to speak up either. He was sure now. He had a friend there. And he was damn glad it happened. That made a small smile enter his face. It changed his stressed expression to a calmer one. They remained like that for a moment, before Enxan-sama decided to speak.

“Thank you.. Jasmine.” He said quietly as he brought his arms upwards and held Jasmine-san back.

End of chapter 7