Bao stood in front of the cafe, his trembling arm pressed down the doorknob which opened the old wooden door. The familiar high pitched tone of the bell hanging over the door, announced his arrival, drawing the attention of Ning and Aika, who had already occupied a table with three cups of coffee. Not that there would have been any people who visit the cafe beside them, to begin with. His friend held up an arm, a bright smile printed on his face, but Bao stood still and let his eyes check every corner of the room before even reacting to Ning.

"Where is the old man?" Bao approached their table with a firm look on the empty counter. "Except for when he serves someone, he never leaves his beloved spot." He sat down on the opposite side of the table where neither of them was sitting.

"Well... this cafe has a new owner from now on. Actually, these three cups were his parting gift to us before he left." Ning took a sip from his cup.

"Is that why you called me here? And why did you invite Aika?" He feared the answer that he would receive but somewhere within him, he hoped that the message from the unknown ally would be a lie and that he could remain good friends with Ning.

"Well..." Ning exchanged brief eye contact with Aika. "... to tell you the whole truth we already knew each other since our childhood and your encounter with her was definitely not a coincidence. Not to mention that the one who bought this cafe was no other than me. Just now you're probably wondering why I did all this to you right? You don't need to lie, your face is like an open book."

Bao forgot to close his mouth during Ning's monologue, as he was about to take a sip of the precious last cup of coffee made by the old man. The cold handle of porcelain slipped from his hand as he stared into the face of his betraying friend, a burning hatred towards him flared up inside Bao, devouring every last bit of trust he had left. But he had no time to be surprised or even shocked by the revelation of his friend, he grabbed the table edge with all of his force, so that the knuckles turned white and flipped it in the direction of the two. Surprised by his impulsive action they could only watch as he jumped up and ran towards the exit, which got immediately blocked by a man in a black suit at least two heads taller and wider than him.

"I'm surprised that you reacted so quick, thankfully though, I had already taken some precautions in case that you tried to escape." Ning pointed his finger towards the muscular man blocking the path. "Anyway don't we need to finish our previous discussion?"

"Right." Bao, trapped between Ning and the bouncer-like guy, looked to the ground. "I don't know why you're doing this to me and knowing it wouldn't change the fact that you betrayed me, your best friend. So just fuck off already!"

"You know that I won't just let you go like this and that aside you're asking the wrong questions, Bao."

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"What do you mean?"

"You are the one who avoided any contact with us the past week, do you perhaps feel guilty for it or do you fear us? Why are you here and how did you even come here?" Ning and Aika stepped closer.

"Wh... what you're saying doesn't make any sense..."Cold sweat ran down from his forehead. "I had just a lot of work to do, with the game and my family I... I just had no time."

"Does it? Does it make no sense? Or are you just running away, like you always do?" A knife appeared out of nowhere in Ning's hand as he stepped closer again. "Then what is with Aika? She works with you, there is no way you wouldn't have had any intersection with her."

"Wh.. what are you doing Ning?! Stay away with that knife, don't you dare come closer!"

"Master, if I might suggest that I take care of him, after all, we don`t want you to dirty your hands don't we?"

Bao stared into their faces but contrary to his hopes they were dead-serious and didn't even flinch when saying it. By now his clothes were drenched in cold sweat.

"You should be more careful to not dig too deep into the matters of others, it might be harmful for your health Bao." Aika stepped forward but before he could do anything against the attack a piercing pain spread from his back and made him fall on one knee.

"You forgot about my other bodyguard, didn't you." The traitor came closer to him. "Le... it.... b.... son..."

Ning's words seemed far away like someone was trying to speak to him from the other side of the street. Instead, another voice could be heard much clearer, it was a female one.

"Da..., David are you okay?!" Elincia stood over him her head slightly above his'.

"What... what happened?" Wet grass stroked his hands as he lied flat on the ground.

"Sorry mate, it was my fault." Morell reached out his arm to pick him up.

"It sure was, I said to not overdo it, dammit." Her soft hands palpated his forehead and he felt a reassuring warmth spreading in his body. "Nothing too serious, nevertheless you should take a good nights rest for today just to make sure, Morell will take over your shift tonight."

"But I..."

"No buts, Morell, after all, you are responsible for this."

"Bu... He was the one who asked for swordsmanship training, if I don't rough him up a little bit he won't learn anything!"

It struck him like thunder. The past few days he avoided any contact with the two of them, that's why his part-time job has been hell and as always he escaped into his virtual world. Every time he puts in the cable and dives into Nelenia all his problems and worries were forgotten.

"Are you listening to what I'm saying David?", pouted Elincia right in front of him, her arms on her hips.

"Ye... yes. I'll lay down now and take a good rest."

The logout didn't have any major side effects, probably because he didn't level up in recent days, only his swordsmanship skill increased with the help of the hard training he went through with Morax.

A small blinking light from his phone distracted him from his thoughts.

<15 missed calls>

<5 unread messages>

Flashbacks of his dream immediately crossed his mind and he felt the phantom pain in his back from the knife he never got stabbed from.