That TIme I was Sent to Another World with Nothing but a Backpack

"We have to get over to the Nekomian Kingdom! Right away!" I exclaimed, rousing my friends from their sleep.

Akari rubbed her eyes, her hair tangled across her face as she looked at me groggily.

"Cody... its way too early to be waking me up..." She groaned.

"Sorry, but there was this strange guy with calico eyes that snuck up on us last night! He said the first senti- I mean, he said a monster was attacking the Nekomian Kingdom and we had to beat it!" I explained, trying not to lose my breath while simultaneously blurting out information.

"Different eyes you say...?" asked Mochi, his body still rolled up in his blanket like a burrito.

"Yeah, and it was terrifying! My body wouldn't even move from the fear of it all, that daunting blood red eye... and the other a light blue, that emitted an almost icy feeling..."

"Hmm, almost reminds me of..." Mochi looked to Akari, who was obviously trying to ignore us.

I suddenly remembered the last words the man said to me, the most daunting of them all was...

"He said something about, protecting his little sister..." I admitted, eyeing Akari suspiciously. "Do you by any chance know who it could be Akari...?"

Akari looked away, silently packing up our campsite. I turned back to Mochi for an explanation.

"I cant go..." She stated, her body still as a statue.

"Come on sunshine, you can just run away your whole life!" Argued Mochi.

"I can't go back... I care about you two and want to help slay this monster, but I just... can't..."

"What's going on?" I asked, completely confused by this new side of Akari I was beginning to see.

"I..." She murmured.

"I?" I asked, trying to get her to continue.

She sighed, silently finishing packing her sleeping area, before sitting on a nearby log.

I shrugged, assuming this was probably some hormonal outburst thing that I wouldn't understand. I rolled up the blanket that Akari had lent me, helped Mochi secure his blanket to his fanny-pack-like travel bag, and started in the direction I remembered that the map had said led to the Nekomian Empire.

"Alright, guys! Were outta here-"

"No. I already told you that I can't go back." Stated Akari, looking down at the ground.

"Y-Your really going to stay behind? I mean... I won't stop you, I'm just kind of surprised... Assumed that the whole speech was some kind of outburst, you know?"

Mochi stretched out wide before beginning down the path.

"Come on kid, there's no point trying to convince her to do anything, I've tried many times, and never had any success..."

I sadly looked back at my fluffy-eared companion, who I had actually begun enjoying the company of despite our short time together, and turned away, starting my way down the trail, leaving her, alone, behind us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How much longer till we get there Mochi!" I whined, my legs aching from our long walk.

"Well, won't be too long until we reach the DMZ."

"The DMZ!" I exclaimed. "Are you saying there's like a North Korea/South Korea thing going on here?"