Chapter 365: 365 - A Tough Decision

"I said open up!" the voice became louder, the the hitting even more so. Inside, all four people held their breath, as they waited to see what would follow, ready to fight if needed.

"Sir, like I said, this room is under maintenance and locked from the inside. Only when the maintenance crew arrives tomorrow will we have access to it again," a female's voice could be heard from beyond the door, trying to convince the man.

"Tsch! I guess there's no helping it."

Noah and those inside eyes each other, waiting for the cue, sitting back down as the noise of people slowly seemed to die down.

"... Khish, why would it be you?" Sha furrowed her brows as soon as they relaxed, looking around to see Noah and Al avert their gaze.

"Long story short, they wanted to get rid of me, but for some inexplicable reason I didn't die in the suicide mission they sent me to," she said, making Sha curl her fists.

"To think they would go as far as to aim for you just to keep themselves spotless and shiny... This family ir completely rotten to the core," Sha muttered, her usual bright self nowhere to be seen. Noah's eyes wandered towards her, as he felt if he let her be there might be a massacre... Somehow.

"Sha... You shouldn't worry so much about those things anymore," he said, making the healer snap out, looking at him with widened eyes. "I'm going to take care of them, so you don't have to worry too much about it. Khish can help me and Carlos with information and counterinteligence, Allie already is the owner of the Ice parlor we worked, though it will take a little to renovate the whole place. Meanwhile, we can have them two train fortress diving with the kids and get her acknowledged as a Blessed. You don't have to worry too much," he said, making Sha look down while smiling wryly.

"You know, sometimes it feels like I'm completely useless," she said, thinking of how she failed to protect both of her sisters. Yet, contrary to her expectations, Noah was the first to refute her.

"That's never going to be true," he said, making the girl look up to see both her sisters nodding.

"Even if you didn't manage to stop our parents back then, you went out of your way to leave home and go searching for me, didn't you?" Allie called her out with a warm smile.

"But I didn't find you..."

"Because they were sabotaging you from doing so. It was never your fault. I, as your older sister, should've been the one to warn you what they were planning on doing to us, so that you could've protected Khish. Compared to me, you're a way better sister," Allie said, a smile on her face still. By this time, Noah was already feeling completely left out and alien to the whole thing. After all, he was not part of their family.

"Both of you, you did your best. It was my fault that I didn't listen to anyone and chose to believe until I had no other choice but to face the truth..." she put her hands together onto the table, letting both of the others hold hers. "But in the end, all three of us owe everything to a single person."

"Yeah, that is true. Even meeting today," Sha said, turning towards Noah, and catching his attention back from dozing off.

"Eh? Why are you looking at me like that? Me?" he asked, met by the three's eyesight.

"Of course! Now, let's drink and eat~!" Al cheered, and coincidently, a small hatch opposite to the door opened up, bringing more foods and drinks to them.

"Eh? Since when was there something like that over there?" Khish asked, surprised at how seamless the wall looked before, and how, aside from Noah, everyone had surprise no idea about the fact there wass still more food to arrive.

"What? They told me there was more stuff coming," he said, before turning standing up and putting the recently arrived food onto the table.

The four spent over an hour eating and drinking, before someone knocked onto the door to the room they were in. "Noah, is everything good?" Noah heard the voice of his friend, standing up and unlocking the door.

"Yeah. Is it all done and dealt with?" he asked, the young waiter nodding.

"They have gone away, and we have confirmed there to be nobody watching the exits of this establishment. You may leave whenever you feel is best," he said, talking a fleeing glance at the girls over Noah's shoulders. "But to think you would be this popular... I'll have to tease Carlos for not being able to do the same next time around."

Noah and him laughed it off, and Noah headed back inside. "By the way, thanks for warning me," he said, looking back over his own shoulder.

"Don't sweat over it. It is part of my job to protect our high-profile customers too," he said with a broad smile, before closing the door back up and leaving.

"So... There's this one thing we haven't talked about," Noah called the girls out, who were already at least half drunk. "Where are you guys heading from here?" he asked, realizing three things.

One, it was too late to do what he had arranged with Maggie; Two, Sha was probably going alone; and Three... Khish probably had nowhere to go.

"Eh...? Me is going with you back home like we had said," Al answered like normal, but Noah didn't fail to realize the slip-up in her sentence.

"You know it's not about you, Al." Noah rolled his eyes, his eyes meeting with Khish's.

"I mean... I don't know. It was so good being here with all of you that I forgot..." she muttered, embarrassed, as she thought where she was going to spend the night.

"We can have her come to my place. I have a spare bedroom," Sha said while tilting her head, but Noah quickly shot her down.

"That's too dangerous. You family already has an eye out for you, if you take Khish home, there's no telling what they could do to her and you. I can't let that happen," Noah explained, making Sha pout a little.

"Then why don't you take her to live with you just like you are already doing to Allie anyways?" she protested, her face looking rather cute to him.

"You got it all—"

"I think that might be a good idea." As he was mid-sentence into refuting her claim about Allie living together with him, Khish herself interrupted.

"That's even more dangerous!" Noah stood up, realizing they were about to agree with her. "Both you and Allie are targets. They want both of you dead. You two living together in the same place just makes it more convenient for them," he said, looking at Sha's surprised face. "Living with Sha is a no because I don't want her to get caught up if you ever get attacked, but living with Allie is just taunting them," he said, as his mind spun trying to find a better solution to this whole ordeal.

'OH...' he came to a realization, thinking about it better. "I think I know how to fix all of this," he said, making the three look at each other curiously, as Noah pulled his phone.

"Carlos?" he asked, as he stopped hearing the tone of his call.

[Yeah?! Where the hell are you? Maggie is pisssed that you lied about the sleep-over,] Carlos immediately complained, making Noah smile.

"Some things happened. The place we were eating was targeted and we had to wait for them to leave."

[Damnit! So, what is it, then? I'm guessing it's all dealt with by now.]

"Well... sorta," Noah said half laughing, as he threw a glance around. "Remember the the girl who broke into my house and all?" he asked, trying to fill Carlos in.

[Of course I do, what about it? Did she try something stupid again?] Noah almost burst into laughter at Carlos' caustic remarks, but kept it cool.

"No, but let me get this going. Remember the pink haired healer that is part of my group?"

[Yeah, yeah, your Blessed Girlfriend,]

"She's not my—nevermind," Noah stopped mid-sentence, realizing Sha's eyes on him, and reminding himself of the strange quest he had gotten from the flames. "Her. And also, the girl from the ice-cream place earlier today," he kept speaking making Carlos feel slightly uncomfortable.

[Yeah, yeah. I remember all of them! Why are you talking as if this is somehow related to—]

"They are all sisters," Noah interrupted him, making Carlos freeze up for an instant.

[Excuse me...?] he asked in shock, both staying silent for a few minutes, before he spoke once again. [Fuck... I see what the problem is. I'll send someone to pick the car and a driver with a larger one. We can check the details for what is going to happen afterwards here, but you shold always leave some imps with them, got it?!] Noah swallowed dry at Carlos' perception, and for a second envied his ease in understanding others' problems.

"Welp, I guess it's all sorted. Sha, Khish, you're gonna join Allie tonight in a sleepover with my sister," he said, surprising the three.

"So we're not going just to our home together?!" Al asked, making Noah widen his eyes, and realize there was at least one big misunderstanding earlier... Provided this was not just the alcohol speaking.