Claire watched on with mild curiosity as Jerome played through the starting sequence of Planetary Guardian’s on her phone. He had insisted on it once they had made it back to their dorms after Commander Maynard and the Guardians had left, saying that it was the most boring part of the game. Left unsaid was everyone’s curiosity on what she had gotten from the Kitsune and want to see that gift as swiftly as possible.

Alice has apparently gotten five free pulls from an expensive Guardian pool alongside a small personal message from the Kitsune herself, though while obviously pre-written was still pretty cool and made her even giddier than she was after meeting the Kitsune earlier. Claire was still sure that no matter what she got here she wouldn’t be playing the game due to the bits of existential dread it gave her just thinking about the concepts of the game, but she still couldn’t help but wonder if it’d be the same message or something different for her. A part of her just had to know.

Soon enough, Jerome had finished and had given Claire back her phone to redeem the code on the card. She redeemed the code while ignoring a notification from the game about energy being full, she was definitely going to have to disable them after this if she didn't want an absolute ton of them pinging her phone. A moment after the code had been successfully redeemed the game began to play celebratory music as it shifted to a fog-covered screen.

“Hmm, I wonder, just how well will you be able to command me?” Came a familiar, yet off-sounding voice as the Three Tailed Kitsune appeared on the screen alongside five filled stars. causing both Alice and Jerome to gasp upon seeing her screen from over her shoulder.

Claire didn’t react too much upon seeing the lovely-looking Kitsune other than some satisfaction from seeing her curiosity sated. “Huh, I suppose that does make sense. that's pretty cool I suppose.”

Alice gave her a look full of obvious jealousy as Jerome gasped at her words. “Pretty cool? You just got a honest to goodness legendary in the form of the Kitsune herself. Do you even understand how rare they are or how crazy that is?”

Claire blinked at the intensity of their reactions. Was what she got really that crazy for the game? “Uh, probably really rare judging by the name.”

Alice was instant in her response. “One in one-thousand from the most expensive pull in the game which even the whales struggle to get at times. I can’t believe that she actually gifted you that. I mean I can’t be mad at what I got but... damn, you’re set in the game now for a good while at least.”

Claire understood that to her friends she had been blessed by some insane fortune, which she could understand because one in one-thousand were some frankly ridiculous odds. But to her? She was much more interested in the message notification she got a few moments afterward than the game itself and the implications of her getting a legendary. “Ooh, it came with a message as well, just like yours Alice. I wonder what it says.” She hit the auto-update button for the team Jerome had so far put together for her and started to navigate over to view that.

Both her friends gave each other a look and sighed simultaneously. Claire rolled her eyes before looking up at them. “Hey, I know I’ve just gotten something insane to you guys but remember, this is the first time I’ve ever played this game. I don’t understand it like either of you do.”

Jerome nodded. “Yeah... it just hurts a little to watch, you know? Especially since literally everybody else at the college has at least tried it since this college was made in the memory of the Grand Archmage, you're the one outlier here. And while I'm glad to have met you it still confuses me sometimes that you chose to attend here with how little you seem to care about Guardians. Though thinking about it, it’s probably a bit similar to what you were thinking when you introduced Alice to those shooter games you play sometimes.”

Claire giggled as she remembered how that particular adventure had turned out. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Though I still can’t believe some of the things she managed to pull off that were both simultaneously terrible and amazing at the same time there once she figured out the movement and abilities.”

Alice pouted at Claire. “Hey, I don’t play FPS games as a general rule for that exact reason. It’s not my fault I didn’t realize that friendly fire with guns didn’t work but grenades did.”

Claire just laughed as she opened up the message from the Kitsune. “You somehow managed to get everyone but one of your teammates with one grenade. The fact that moments afterward the one teammate who survived just slowly turned to look at you before you both were gunned down was just the cherry on top. I wish we had actually been recording there just so we could watch that again.”

After another giggle at the memory, Claire began to read through the message.

Hey darling, I see you’ve redeemed the code I gave you. Figured you’d want a way to cherish my curves a little more from the earlier conversation. Enjoy~!

Claire blushed after she read through the message. Just why did the Kitsune have to be so flirty? And she definitely did not swing that way even if...

Claire’s slowly spiraling thoughts were swiftly banished by Alice when she spoke up, the girl in question currently pouting. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Anyways, you get anything else special in the message?”

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Jerome’s smile grew a little devilish in the moment Claire hesitated to respond. “I think she did Alice, just look at the blush she’s sporting now.” He leaned forward slightly to get a better look at her phone. “Just what exactly did your message say...”

Claire was blushing even harder now as she pulled her phone away from him and into her chest. “Hey! You don’t need to know what it said exactly, it was just a simple message from the Kitsune. Nothing more.” She swatted Alice’s hand away not a moment after as she attempted to snatch her phone. “And that goes for you too Alice!”

Alice just giggled. “Aww, okay then. I suppose I’ll just have to imagine in great detail what she might’ve said.”

Jerome chuckled as his smile grew more devilish. “Well, I can fill in a bit of your imagination Alice. I do believe I glimpsed the word curves in her message, though not much else. I do wonder whatever she could have been talking about.”

Claire began to glare daggers at the both of them as her blush continued to intensify. “I’m going to end you both in your sleep tonight. It’s going to be exceedingly painful. Do you hear me?”

They both just continued to laugh at her, heedless of her threats as the night went on.

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Claire gave a happy sniff of the steaming cup of coffee in front of her. It smelled wonderful and she took a sip of the delicious coffee. Today was a free day for her and both her friends, something they had organized together in their schedules. No classes, no work, just a day to rest and relax. Though the both of them were still asleep in their dorm room while she was out and about, the poor night owls.

“I take it the coffee is as good as always Claire?” Claire looked up at the smiling face of the boy who had said that her server today and occasional coworker when she was here as a waitress and not a customer, Joshua.

She smiled and nodded back to him. “Yep! Whatever Mr. Dane might say about The Green Leaf cafe’s teas, the coffee here is still far superior. Oh, and can you ask him if I can also get a new bag of the mix? I’m about to run out of the last one I got."

Joshua laughed and shook his head. “You know that whenever you say that, you hurt something deep inside him, right? But yes, I’ll ask him about it.”

Claire giggled as Joshua began to walk off. “If he doesn’t want me to say that, he needs to stop making such damn good coffee here.”

Claire took another sip of her steaming hot coffee and gave a satisfied sigh as she closed her eyes. It was on days like these that she could just relax and forget about her worries, especially at The Green Leaf which while a little far to get to from the college even with a self-driving taxi, was definitely worth it. Life was good.

"And here, are yo-oooohhh ahhhhh!" Well life was good for about three seconds that is as Claire's eyes burst open to the sight of a waitress, Elizabeth, mid-trip and the two glasses on the tray she was holding flying right towards her with a look of panic on her face. The two men she had been about to serve were looking on with wide eyes.

Claire didn't think, she just acted as time seemed too slow for her. She tossed her glass of coffee forward as gently as she could on the table before her hands shot up towards the glasses of hot tea flying at her. She idly noted that Joshua who had just opened the backroom door was looking on with a mix of horror and resigned frustration.

Elizabeth had managed to not completely trip and catch herself as the small tray she had been holding fell to the ground right beside her table. One of the men's hands had just about reached Elizabeth in a vain attempt to steady her and save the cups from falling. The two cups sailed right into Claire's hands and while a bit of the hot tea within spilled out and onto her she paid the slight burning sensation little mind. Her cup of coffee tipped over slightly as it landed with a thud as it slid but in the end stayed standing.

She put both cups of tea down beside her own before turning to glare at the currently awe-stricken Elizabeth. "Elizabeth! This is why everyone always tells you to stop doing those little twirls while you're holding the damn trays! I don't care how good you are at it or how fancy it looks, you are just asking for this type of shit to happen!"

Elizabeth barely seemed to hear Claire much to her annoyance while she stared at her. "You just caught the drinks before they could shatter on the ground or even really spill."

Claire blinked. What was so- oh. She frowned as she stared back at Elizabeth, both frustrated with her and herself now. Why the hell had she just caught both of those glasses like that? That was just a surefire way to draw attention in a way she really didn't want. She really hoped she could just play that off or get off that topic. "Elizabeth, just because I somehow managed to miraculously catch them does not change a damn thing. No more little twirls while you're serving. Are you even listening to me?"

Something seemed to stir in Elizabeth as she shook her head before she exclaimed out loud, "That was absolutely incredible Claire! You just caught those drinks like it was nothing!"

Before Claire could even figure out a response to that, the man who had tried to steady Elizabeth when she tripped had spoken up. "While it was certainly incredible and it might even be worth her checking to see if she can see her status like a Guardian now, you might want to actually listen to what she's saying, miss. And can we also actually get our tea please?"

Elizabeth gasped before quickly grabbing both of the cups of tea and handing them off to the two men. "Sorry, sorry. I just couldn't believe what she just did. Here you both go and uh, thanks Claire for the save there. And I know I messed up bad there but that never happens, I just messed up this once."

Claire just sighed and put a hand against her forehead as she forced away any thoughts of what the man had said about checking her "Status". Of course, just even the mere thought of that brought up the beginnings of a simple transparent blue menu in front of her for just a second.

Claire Summers

Level 28 Cat-Human (Class not yet chosen, Please select one at your earliest convenience.)

She forced it to dissipate before she could glean any more of it as she stared at Elizabeth, not at all happy about even the momentary reminder that she not at all a normal human. How had her morning been going so well to only turn out like this?

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"Did you manage to get access to her information?"

"Yep, wasn't hard at all, especially with what you managed to provide me with."

"Thank you. You kept it discreet though, right?"

"Of course. Even if someone else were to notice the discrepancies it's formatted just like every other probe I've made. Nobody but us should be able to figure out what's up with her, for the moment at least."

"Hmm, so you noticed it too?"

"Heh, not many things can actually keep your interest. It's the only real reason I could think of it for it, well other than you just doing this because you can. And the past data doesn't lie even if it's nothing concrete."

"Well, I can assure you she is one of us. I just hope that she doesn't get caught anytime soon. It'd be a proper shame if she did."