Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

Kaizen was surprised and confused to see Bloody Lily in Jayaa's house, but she seemed more surprised and scared to see a stranger in her house. They asked each other what they were doing there and then after exchanging a few words, they were silent, trying to process the situation.

"So, you are Jayaa's sister named Emma..." Kaizen stated, sitting on a couch and staring at the floor.

"Yes."

"Sorry, I shouldn't be walking around the house so at ease. For a few minutes, I forgot there was anyone else in the house outside of Isabella and Jayaa."

The woman looked more relieved now, but still a bit wary.

"And you are Klaus... voices really do change quite a bit over the phone, don't they? That day we spoke, I didn't even remember Kaizen."

"Yes... Does Jayaa know about you being who you really are? I mean, what you really do..."

"No. He doesn't know..."

"If I may, can you answer me why he can't know? He plays Rise Online too, and you two seemed very close to me during that call."

"I never thought I would be talking about this with Kaizen, but that's okay, I think it's only fair that you know because you are someone who will be living with us for a while. Our parents are very conservative, traditional, and have a law firm in Washington. However, I never wanted to pursue a traditional career as a lawyer or become a judge, which is what they wanted me to do, so when I turned eighteen, I moved here to New York to try to make a living as a model. And to their chagrin, I succeeded."

"That explains what Jayaa said about you hardly staying home."

Emma sketched a brief smile and turned serious again. "That's the bad part about this job. Moving on... When I left home and their town, my parents were furious, but they accepted my plans after a few months. However, the fact that I left home made Jayaa, who is two years younger than me, the target of my parents. They put a lot of pressure on him, but after they accepted me, it eased the weight on his shoulder a bit."

"Wait, Jayaa said something about coming to New York to try to become a singer. So, was that a lie?" Kaizen remembered vividly the conversation he had with Jayaa on the way to the Lightlands.

"No, he actually came to New York after he turned 18 too... I think that was a bit of an influence of mine." Emma said, staring at the other buildings through the pane of her apartment window. "We were both always pretty close, so I ended up caring a lot about what he would do with his life. When I left home, Jayaa realized that he didn't want to become a lawyer either and started rebelling against our parents. So he started singing in some clubs, but they didn't give much thought to it Eventually, he repeated what I did."

"And your parents, have they never seen you since you left home?"

"No... But they send birthday cards and Christmas presents to both of us every year. I think they expect us to go there, but I don't feel like it, and Jayaa doesn't even want to hear from our parents until he has realized his dream of becoming a singer. In a way, I feel that if I tell him I play Rise Online more than I do modeling jobs these days, he might feel betrayed because he has me for inspiration."

Klaus was silent for a while, processing all that. It wasn't the first time he had heard about conservative, traditional parents, but it was still shocking to hear Emma's story.

"I understand your feeling, Emma. I promise I won't say anything about it to Jayaa, so you can rest assured."

"Thanks, Kaizen, oops...I better call you Klaus out of the game. I'm sorry I got you into this story."

"Don't worry about it. I'm good at keeping secrets."

At that moment, at that end of their conversation, they both finally looked each other in the eye again and it made them realize the situation they were in.

Emma was still only in her towel and Klaus had no shirt. If Jayaa left his room now, he would definitely get it all wrong.

"I think I'd better go..." The two said simultaneously as they got up from the couch.

A little embarrassed and surprised by the whole thing still, Emma blushed, looked at Klaus and looked away quickly.

The black haired man was also feeling a little embarrassed, so he held out his arms for the famous Bloody Lily to go up to the second floor in front. However, as soon as they both reached the stairs, he realized that this was a very bad idea. Thanks to the angling of the stairs, he could see under the towel.

"Ex-excuse me, I think I'd better get up front." He said, leaving Emma initially confused, but she allowed him to come up front with no problem. Only after she entered her bedroom, which was as spacious as the living room, did she realize what happened on the stairs.

"Oh my god. I completely forgot that I was just in a towel." She clapped her hands over her mouth, shocked and with a characteristic blush coloring her face. "He is...more than polite than I thought.... No, I can't allow myself to think like a teenager now. I have to concentrate on the game."

Still, she couldn't get the image of Klaus out of her head for many minutes. It was absolutely frightening the coincidence that the man she learned to trust that very day, was also the man her brother was helping. Millions of questions plagued her mind and she couldn't find answers to most of them. However, a single conclusion perpetuated itself in her mind.

"Klaus is having financial, family and personal problems, he's just a rookie and yet it's amazing how he can be so strong and charismatic. He's not a good man, but he doesn't seem like a bad man either. I think I can trust him for now."

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

More character images in:

https://discord.gg/bpqq9u4gS8

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