"Oh, n-"
Before the last syllable could escape Mimiru's mouth, she could see the (annoying and all too frequent) blade at her throat. Her assailant's other arm had hers pinned to her side, leaving her no means of defense. Undeterred, Mimiru snarled and yelled at the nuisance, who was a simple gesture away from undoing her previous hour's hard work.
"What do you want!?"
"Ooh," Sora's silken tone grated on Mimiru's nerves, before its typical shift to whining disappointment. "Is that any way to greet a friend?"
"Friend! Oh, you-"
The blade pressed closer, while Sora held his other hand in front of Mimiru's face and shook his finger disapprovingly. "Nuh-uh-uh." Mimiru grit her teeth, but her face relaxed, silent offering submission. Sora chuckled. "Now, are we going to be a good girl....?"
"If I have to be your 'good girl' then just kill me now!"
"Oh, Mimiru," Sora's arms relaxed into an open-handed shrug, releasing her. "You always make it fun."
Mimiru had rolled forward as soon as Sora's arms released her, gathering her sword into hand when her fall had broken before tumbling to a stand once more. On her feet now, her arms were tensed and her weapon pointed at the irritating Twin Blade. To this, Sora crossed his arms and shook his head.
"You'd think that you'd know better than to threaten me by now... Don't you know I'm out of your league? In fact, you still have leagues to go before you're even in the neighborhood of mine."
"Oh? You talk big, and I know you've PKed BT before, but she's just a Wavemaster and I'm a Heavy Blade!"
"Oooh, I see," Sora purred. "JUST a Wavemaster... I wonder how poor little Tsukasa would feel to know that's how you look at his class..."
"Tsu...kasa," Mimiru whispered, lowering her eyes briefly in shame at having indirectly insulted her friend.
*CLANG.*
In the moment of distraction, Sora had made his move. With his first step forward, he batted the tip of her blade to her right, unsteadying her grip. His next step brought his other arm over to bar her blade's base with a vertical thrust, slamming its heavy tip into the ground. "Boing." Sora leapt onto the middle of her blade and knelt, scissoring his blades across her throat once more. Mimiru was speechless, expecting she had tested the limits of Sora's patience. But when she opened her eyes after the expected deathblow never came, Mimiru could see Sora standing on the flat, holding his chin over crossed arms. Seemingly lost in his next thought, he finally snapped his fingers and grinned widely. "Let's form a party! I've watched you, standing around here doing nothing... We could go to a dungeon...fight a big monster... Get new member addresses... It would be lots of fun!"
Mimiru choked down the urge to scream "NO!", especially considering how many opportunities she had to grudgingly admit to herself that Sora had to kill her and left her still alive, that didn't mean she wasn't in any imminent danger if she further declined. Still...
"I don't want to form a party with you... I don't want to be your friend!"
Sora hopped off and sheathed his blades. "Of course you want to be my friend, and use me to meet all of my friends," Sora shrugged nonchalantly, then quipped "...and maybe find something to help poor, dear little Tsukasa..."
Mimiru glared in contempt at Sora for his using of Tsukasa's fate as a bargaining chip. But if she didn't relent, he might never help them again, and if he could link them with the legendary hacker Helba, then who else might he know..?
"What do I have to do?" Mimiru groaned. Sora paused to smirk, and she could tell by his expression that he was gloating inwardly. "Oh, it's nothing much...I just need someone to help me get an event item, that's all."
Mimiru sighed. "Fine. I'll join your party, but after this, we're even!"
Sora chuckled quietly. "Whatever you say..."
Sora began disappearing behind the folding yellow runes of a gate, but before he disappeared, he added one last conceited note to further infuriate Mimiru.
"Partner."
It was mere moments after exiting the portal into Dun Loireag that Mimiru was attacked by Sora's repeated flash mail invites.
"GAGRGRGHFF!" Mimiru thought she would froth at the mouth. "ACCEPT!" Once she clicked the approval button for one, at least the rest disappeared.
"Seeee, it's not so bad."
"What the HELL is your problem? I said I'd join you-"
"I just had to be sure you didn't put it off. Ready?"
Mimiru grumbled. "Yeah, whatever."
"Sure you don't want to know the field element? Change your equipment?"
"No, 'thanks'," Mimiru sneered, "I don't need your help."
"Oh, we'll see how your tune changes," Sora's menacing whisper was cut short when Mimiru turned her nose up at him. "Hah...Just a quick server change and we'll be on our way."
Mimiru tilted her head, a puzzled expression on her face. "Server...Change?"
But Sora had already disappeared into another warp gate, and though she wasn't certain she wanted to follow, the game dragged her into one after him.