[Keiko Kobayashi POV]
Messages, private conversations, friendship invitations…
These three things were what appeared on my devices. Such an extreme amount of notifications that I was forced to disable them for a while. I knew what I was getting myself into by becoming a World Champion, but I didn't expect it to be as instantaneous as what happened. The only answer to this would be something related to YGGDRASIL's time being faster than the real world. At least there were good things, like my website reaching a huge amount of people accessing it simultaneously.
“I have to thank the Devs for paying for a more robust server for the website… it would be annoying for a World Champion who works in journalism not to have a website that can support so many people.” It was one of the things I said, alone in my room and staring at the computer screen, with the website in question open.
However, there were other things that made me happier, one of them being that…
Two IRL days after winning the Midgard World Tournament, we had a fast meeting, and my beloved paladin of justice had arrived with a new member to our party. He is a skeleton, according to his clothes and the brief conversation we had, he is a player who wants to focus a lot on being a wizard, not in the same way I do, but rather a complete focus on dark properties, like a necromancer. I was quite excited, after all we had a cleric, a paladin, a builder, a swordsman, a shield, a naturalist, but none of us had such a grand focus on wanting to use the Dark element in a magical way. He still seemed to be a newbie, so I asked him to know what times he would normally be online, so that both I and others would be willing to help him. After all, we are his “senpais”, aren’t we?
And yes, that meant he had agreed to join our group. With 10 members now, we can access the requirements to become a Clan. We would still need a few more players to reach the “Guild” requirement, but that is for another time.
The second thing that made me very happy was that, after some people were reluctant about it, we managed to schedule an irl meeting with all the members of the new team that was being made official from now on. Apparently they all live in New Tokyo or nearby prefectures, so there was no problem with me paying for their transportation. Of course, some insisted on going their own way, but this was the “first meeting” related to my work, plus this was all my idea, so I should be the responsible for it.
In the invitation I sent to them, I said that there would be no dress code, it would be something in the style of a meeting between schoolmates, with the only thing that everyone should have being something that we could use to identify each other by InGame Name. This was done so that no one felt forced to say their real name, after all, today was the day to really get to know who the people behind the characters are.
I have to say, the fact that T_M and B.B. trusted me a lot, meant that none of the others were afraid of wanting to meet me irl. “Really thanks, guys…”
I got up, grabbing some clothes to get dressed. Even being from a rich family, I've never been much for wearing expensive or fancy clothes, so I picked a beige shirt, a dark red long-sleeved coat and black jeans. For style, I took boots that went just below the knee, as well as a gold accessory for my brown hair, a small detail that reminds me of the hair clip that my character has. As a method of identifying myself, I took an old brooch from my drawer, took a piece of paper with “Hikari” written on it and placed it on my coat, in the left chest area.
And so I waited until 4 pm, which was when I received a message on my cellphone. It was my paladin friend, who had arrived to pick me up. It was a chance to take advantage of the fact that he lived close enough that it wouldn't be a problem to give me a ride, as we've known each other since long before the game, there was no problem with that either. So I took a backpack in which I left only essential things and left my house, obviously turning on the security system while I was inside the elevator.
Arriving at the parking area, I could see that the vehicle wasn't incredibly glamorous, but it demonstrated how expensive it was compared to the other cars there. As I approached, one of the windows rolled down, showing that man, white hair, an envious beard, a strong physique, as well as dressed in a white polo shirt, a simple bow tie, black pants and shoes.
“Good afternoon, Masato-Sama.” I said, laughing lightly and noticing that there was a person in the backseat. “Oh, Selen, how are you? I didn’t expect you to be here.” I got into the front seat, my backpack resting near my feet.
“I'm fine, I'm going because today is my free day... besides... I heard that daddy was going to a great restaurant that you would be paying for. When you two go out together, the places you pay for are always the best.” She said with a sweet laugh.
“Seh, what did I say about acting like that?” He asked in a very commanding voice, his daughter instantly trembled and immediately apologized for speaking like that.
I just laughed, accepting her apology and closing the door. Masato, better known as Touch_Me, just kept a serious and imposing expression, but soon relaxed, also giving a hearty laugh next to me. Selen ended up laughing too, but not that much.
“I still can't believe how you two are such good friends…” She said while looking at her cellphone.
“This is called, companionship in games, my dear Selen Senju.” I answered her in a deep voice.
“I actually find it all very fun and challenging, my dear.” Masato replied, with an obvious smile on his face.
“And there are more, you are in the presence of two YGGDRASIL World Champions! Something really big!” The theatrical way I did ended up making Masato laugh a lot.
While we didn't arrive at the restaurant, I looked at the notifications to see if anyone had sent any messages. Apparently BB and Peroroncino were the only ones who responded that they had already arrived, but that was to be expected, they live in the same neighborhood as us. And it didn't take long for us to be there either.
It was a very simple looking place from the outside, but luckily it had an indoor parking area, so none of us needed a respirator to walk to the door. Inside it was a super minimalist area, with simple and basic colors, as well as chairs without legs, supported by the walls with tables between them. As for the organization, it was something that I would say was a reimagination of restaurants from the 80s, 20th century.
A holographic screen was near the entrance, asking if we had reserved a table or not. I inputted the reservation code and a lovely map appeared on the screen, showing which table was ours, so we headed towards the place without delay, it was a private room. Two people were already there.
One was a blond guy with short hair and slightly artificially tanned skin, he was dressed messily, like a classic school bully. It was easy to see that he had a piece of paper stuck to his right cheek, with the word “PeroPero” written on it.
Next to him was a woman with very long black hair, dressed in a long-sleeved, high-necked pink sweater, tight-fitting black jeans completely hiding her legs, and black gloves that left only her ring fingers exposed. She turned her face towards us upon noticing our presence, so I could see that she had an adorable pink slime brooch on her right shoulder.
“Woah, I didn’t expect that from you Hikari, you’re actually a lot older than I thought.” That's what Pero said, but I didn't respond, I just gave him a facepalm, because it was obvious that he was talking to Masato, after all, he hadn't put on any identification, and possibly the pervert in our group didn't notice my brooch.
My good friend just coughed lightly. “I think you made a mistake… My justice doesn’t allow me to accept so many things like that…”
Their gaze quickly shifted to Selen, but finally they reached me, as I puffed out my chest, leaving my identifier clearly visible to them. While the woman who was clearly BB looked me up and down, very surprised, Peroroncino simply started laughing.
I responded with a sigh, choosing to sit next to BB. "What was it? Did you think that the person who says ‘Justice’ all the time would be the child and the famous journalist would be a strong guy?”
“To be honest... Yes, I thought exactly that, I'm in shock that things turned out like this... Anyway, I'm still impressed with how you two look.” Pero was the first to respond, while BB continued to look at me, seeming to analyze my clothes or face.
“I know you’re a ‘slime’, but do you need to be thinking about eating me out of the game?” My response made her immediately blush, while Pero laughed a few times.
“It’s not good to say things like that so openly, Hikari-kun.” Touch_Me responded, sighing and turning on the screen next to where he had sat at the table, looking at the restaurant's menu.
“Well… who is this that arrived with you? Was there another woman in our group? eeeh?” Pero asked again, observing Selen next to her father.
“She is my daughter… she asked to come with me just because this restaurant is very expensive and famous for its delicious synthetic meats… Introduce yourself to them.” Masato spoke, still looking at the menu.
“Hm… yes, people call me Seh, nice to meet you… uh…”
“Peroroncino. This is my name in the group.”
“And I’m his older sister… They call me Bukubukuchagama…” B.B. said that, still slightly blushing, now looking fixedly at the table.
“Oh! Oneesan was so serious and stiff before, do new faces make you so shy?” Pero said provocatively, but before Masato could complain about his way of acting outside the game, BB ended up throwing a kind of rubber bat in his face, it was a direct blow, enough that, if there was no support for back in the chairs, Pero would possibly fall to the floor.
“Brat… What have I said about talking like that in public? Eh?... Do you want us to have a ‘great’ time when we get back home? Eh…?"
Her voice became incredibly mature, in the biggest Dommy Mommy style I've ever seen in this life. This caused Selen to have a look of astonishment, Touch to have an eyebrow raised, while Peroroncino seemed to have his courage hidden, that bad boy bully aura disappearing instantly and transforming into the same aura of a tamed dog. Really, she is an excellent voice actor, to the point where I was surprised by her sudden change in mood, after that teasing phrase her younger brother said.
“We better calm down here, BB, we don’t want any trouble.” I said, touching her shoulder to get her attention, and she seemed to adjust herself in the chair and once again her cheeks turned red.
“Anyway… I didn’t expect you to be such a woman Bukubuku, I’m surprised and proud that someone like you is the one to control this brother of yours.” Masato commented.
“Hey!!” Peroroncino wanted to protest about that, but was quieted by yet another cold look from his sister.
However, she was embarrassed by what my friend had said, looking away from us. “Thank you… I think… As this brat's older sister, I always need to pull his leash so as not to overdo it and embarrass our family in public… after all, we only have ourselves at the moment…”
That conversation had unintentionally gotten into a very personal and heavy subject, but thanks to fate, something happened to ease the tension, three men appeared inside our private room. One of them had long brown hair, wore a gray hat and loose white clothes, with two brooches, an upside-down cross and another with a star, obviously that was Luci★Fer. The second had a closed brown coat, covering much of his torso, while there were long jeans, and instead of brooches, he seemed to have just put on a head accessory, something that resembled small goat horns, so this was Ulbert in this logic. The third one seems to stand out among all of us there at the moment, wearing a basic worker's outfit, such as a white shirt, dark blue suit, with pants and tie of the same color, however he had a piece of paper stuck to his belt, with a simple drawing of a skull, most likely it was the newbie, Momonga.
“Watashi Momonga desu.” The worker said, bowing to us at the table, but this caused a slight laugh from Peroroncino.
“Relax, newbie. We’re all friends here, there’s no need for so much education, after all, we’re all ‘monsters’, aren’t we?” His way of speaking seemed to have returned to his relaxed style.
“I agree, we are all here as friends and allies in a way.” Luci★Fer said, adjusting his own hat a little and sitting down next to Pero.
“That’s true… anyway, it’s good to finally meet you guys… And thank you very much, Hikari, for the opportunity.” The person I interpreted to be Ulbert spoke… looking at Touch_Me.
I looked bored watching that, while Peroroncino started laughing again ang again. The three of them were quite confused, until we explained that I was Hikari. The most “humiliating” part was that they said the same thing Pero said. “You look like a kid who would be talking about justice all the time and he really seems like a super responsible and respectful guy.”
After they kept apologizing for that mistake, we started ordering some food while we were waiting for the others. I knew that, unfortunately, Warrior Takemikazuchi had canceled his coming to our irl meeting, due to some family problem, which we decided not to ask about in depth, so the only ones missing were Blue Planet and Punitto Moe.
Luckily, they both arrived before our food. Blue Planet wore a brooch with the classic appearance of Earth on his chest, dressed in a slightly formal way, his glasses along with his hair style made him look like a university professor, the kind where the students are always good friends with, even if their grades aren’t so friendly. Punitto Moe, on the other hand, was dressed in a simple uniform, green with white and red stripes, with the way to identify him being the letters “PM” marked in green on a simple mask that covered the lower part of his face.
“I hope we weren’t late… I almost forgot about our meeting, I was doing a little extra work at home…” Punitto Moe said, massaging his own left shoulder.
“Likewise, I was grading some exams… and wow, I knew YGGDRASIL had a lot of kids playing, but seeing only two in our group still surprises me.” BP said, possibly referring to me and Selen.
“Oh… no, I’m not a player like you… I came here because I begged my father.” She replied, making Masato sigh.
“So we even have a family man here? Really, our group is very diverse…” Punitto Moe spoke, deciding to sit on my other side. “Do you mind if I stay here, Hikari?”
"Make yourself comfortable." I answered him. “We ordered some grilled synthetic meat, along with some cans of drinks. Will you want something too?”
“A simple beer is enough for me.” PM responded.
“No problem, I always bring some natural juice with m- Wait a minute… Hikari???? One of our leaders is a child???” When BP said that, everyone started laughing, including me.
“Yes… your leader is a 21 year old young adult, take this surprise, Professor Planet.” I smirked.
“Wait… you said you brought ‘natural juice’?” Momonga asked, making us all notice this little detail.
“Well… I work as a professor at an university, which participates in the initiative to recreate fruit plantations in biodomes. They ask me to always drink the natural juices they produce... it's as if I were a test subject to see if the new hybrid fruits, which are being harvested, are suitable for prolonged human consumption.” He has a big smug, as if he was ultra proud of being in said 'extra-job'.
"This is amazing! Really, something very interesting... it's no wonder that your character is the closest thing possible to a real druid.” Touch_Me's words made BP's cheeks redden, giving a genuine smile.
It didn't take long for the synthetic meat to arrive, there was no smell, but the taste and texture were excellent. It clearly didn't come close to real grilled meats, which are extremely expensive and rare at the moment, but at least it came close enough that I, a person focused solely on conversation and interaction, wouldn't notice. Drinks arrived too, they were largely alcoholic drinks as only one of us would be driving once our little “party” was over.
Slowly, the slightly tense atmosphere of 9 players meeting each other irl, began to disappear. Becoming warmer and more fun to talk to and joke with each other, it even seemed like we forgot that we were all working adults, starting to act more like our characters, for pure roleplay. To be honest, I let myself get carried away by alcohol, even coming up with the stupid idea of playing truth or dare between us. Obviously, some like Selen, Masato, Blue Planet and Punitto Moe decided not to participate.
“So… Truth or dare, Peroroncici?” Momonga asked when it was his turn.
“Peroroncici??? HA!” We started laughing because he got the name wrong, but Peroroncino continued. "Dare!!"
“Hmm… I heard that you have a huge collection of dubious action figures… Put your cellphone on the table, with the image open of the last photo you have of any of these action figures!”
“Hahah! Holy… That was pretty heavy, Skeletron!” Luci★Fer was laughing more and more.
“Hmph! That's nothing!" But he said that possibly not even thinking about the problems that this could cause him.
And with great luck, when he showed the cellphone screen to all of us, we saw a photo of a set of collectible dolls from an anime, possibly something from the Old Net era. It was a raccoon woman with a katana, dressed in a classic kimono, and a little blonde girl with wings, wearing a white and blue tunic. Seconds passed and I could see Peroroncino breathing a sigh of relief, as if he finally noticed the danger in this.
But soon, he looked at me. “Uhh… Hikari! Truth or Dare?"
"Truth." I decided to play it a little safe.
“*Hic* How boring… anyway… uh… Are you wearing contact lenses?”
His question left me a little confused and I soon gently touched my face, noticing a small detail. I didn't have my contact lenses on, making everyone see that I had heterochromia. This hadn't been mentioned before by any of them, even though it was the only thing about me that really caught their attention, so what surprised me most was that it was only mentioned now.
“Nope. These are my eyes indeed.” I said, using the index and middle fingers of both hands to keep my eyes wide open. “I normally wear lenses to keep them the same color, but apparently I forgot to put them on.”
Everyone seemed interested in that fact, making them look closely at my face, until I finally continued the game, but before that I took a long sip of my drink. “Ulbert-”
"Truth." He responded before I could finish.
"Okay! Hm… let me think… If one of us fought you, which one of us would you be most afraid of?”
The demon player was very thoughtful, but soon responded. “If we count back in time… I would be scared of Takemikazuchi, but currently… I’m between you and Touch-sama.”
“Being a World Champion really makes people afraid to face us.” Masato commented, and I just agreed, making a loud ‘Humuhumu’.
“Hm…” Ulbert took another sip of his drink, now pointing at BB. “Bukubuku! Truth or Dare?"
"Dare!" She said quite cheerfully, even though she hadn't drunk that much, her face was very red, and a silly smile was on it.
"Okay! I always wanted to see this! *Hic*... Flirt, anyone at this table, with the most perverted voice you can think of!” Everyone's eyes, except BB, went wide at Ulbert's request.
“My goodness… Doing this with a professional hentai voice actor… this is going to be intense…” Punitto Moe commented, while I saw Masato covering Selen's ears with his hands, which I found minimally funny, since she's a little older than me.
“Okaaaay~” BB spoke in a very adorable voice in the biggest loli style possible, it was so contrasting with her appearance, that it made Momonga and Luci★Fer cough up a little of their drinks.
Soon BB turned to me, giving my left arm a firm hug, placing my shoulder right at her bust. I felt my face get quite hot at that moment, with her voice changing drastically to something quite sexy and provocative.
“Hikari-kyun~ What do you think about going to a sauna? This way my body melts, and you can use me for a bath~”
“Woaaah!?!?” Most exclaimed seeing the way she spoke to me, while my face heated up even more.
Clearly that flirting was referring to her character in YGGDRASIL. The thought of a slime next to me in a sauna, with it melting and covering my entire body… Plus that voice was the icing on the cake, making me feel a little blood running down my nose. But it didn't end there, with her giving a small lick near my mouth, cleaning the blood that ran onto my chin. I could feel like steam was coming out of my ears, and I slowly turned to the people there at the table, everyone was also blushing from the scene, while Selen now had her eyes covered by Masato's hands.
“I think you overdid the type of challenge, Ulbert…” I commented, as I saw BB still hugging me there, with a simply silly face and closed eyes, looking like she slept in that position.
“Sheeesh, I didn’t expect that… Honestly.” Ulbert replied.
“She is a girl who works in a part of adult entertainment, besides obviously liking Hikari, who was sitting next to her, what did you think was going to happen?” Punitto Moe spoke, making most of the game's participants facepalm themselves.
“I knew she liked me… but not like that…” I replied sincerely.
“Most likely she’s so *Hic* drunk, that she forgot we’re not in YGGDRASIL.” Peroroncino said, taking out his cellphone and taking a photo of that scene. “Hehehehe! But it was worth it, I will use this photo to win some favors from her.”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Pero…” Masato and I spoke at the same time, with voices that clearly demonstrated our disgust with his idea, making him turn away, not wanting to see our disapproving faces.
“Anyway, better to make her comfortable, no?” Momonga raised that point, but when I tried to put her head lying on the table, she held on tighter to my arm.
“My left arm was sacrificed…” I gave a long sigh, picking up a piece of synthetic meat with my fork and putting it in my mouth.
“I can’t believe you have such weird friends, dad.” Selen said that, and soon we all felt a little embarrassed about it.
“They drank, it's normal for people with stressful lives to be like this after drinking… that's why I told you to stay at home… But your mother kept asking me to let you come, just because Hikari was going to be here too…” Masato said, in a tired voice while drinking an apple soda. “And that’s also why we made the rule that you can only drink after you’re 30.”
“That’s so ‘Touch_Me’ to say.” I, along with Ulbert, Luci★Fer and Blue Planet, spoke at the same time. This made Selen start laughing at everyone's reaction to how iconic her father's speaking style was among us.
After eating some more grilled food, Momonga looked at me strangely, and spoke after taking another sip of his drink. “Hikari-Sama… I would like to know something…”
“Hmm. You can ask, what do you want to know?” I said, still having to take care of the drunk BB next to me, who continued to hug my left arm. The way I spoke demonstrated how quickly I got used to the situation I found myself in.
“How would you describe the color of your eyes?”
His question took me by surprise, as it was much more random for me than I thought, but I still answered. “Well… The medical term is to say that one is brown and the other is amber. But I like to be dramatic and say milk chocolate brown, and fool's gold plated amber. Why the question?"
“Fool’s gold-plated amber? That’s a very specific and bizarre way to describe a color.” Punitto Moe commented, finishing what was on his plate.
“I said it was my dramatic way of saying it. Not that it was something common.” I answered him, but then I looked at Momonga, who seemed to be a little silent after I spoke. “Want to ask other thing?"
“N-No… it was just… just curiosity…”
“I see… It's really rare to see someone who is naturally like me, so it's worth being curious…” I drank another glass of my drink.
Slowly, our meeting was ending, but before it ended for good, some interesting things happened…
Ulbert came to me when I was leaving the table to go to the bathroom, he gave me some Players’ ID links. Apparently they were people who wanted to join our group, but were unable to contact us in advance. He told me that these players wanted to form a group with the same objective as ours, but because we have two World Champions, it was more appropriate to unite, rather than create separately. I told him that I would research these players when I got home, and then see if they could actually join or not.
Another thing that happened was BukuBuku... When I came back from the conversation with Ulbert, she didn't want to let me go for anything, it didn't matter that the meeting was over, she kept grabbing me and hugging my arm. We tried everything we could to separate her from me, but Peroroncino ended up giving us some very special information.
“She gets very angry if she doesn't get what she wants, even more so when she's drunk… Getting in the way now is the same as having a ticking bomb near us.”
And because of that, we came up with an ultra-brilliant idea. As we all trust each other, especially me and Bukubuku, because we talked a lot online since the beginning of the World Tournament, and because I, BB, Pero and Masato all live in the same neighborhood... I decided that she would go with me to my house, and when she was in a sane state again, I would take her back to her house.
This was the most logical option and would cause the least problems, in my opinion, but… O M F G… the amount of teasing and jokes about me taking an older woman to my house was so great that I decided to pay for things straight away and go directly to the parking lot, where I waited for Selen and Masato so we could finally get out of there. BB and I were in the back seats, while the other two were in the front.
“I can't believe that even Pero kept making jokes asking me to stay with her so he can get free…” I said, while I was still sitting there, head patting a drunken Bukubuku.
“I still think it’s impressive how you came out on top here.”
“Selen?! Are you even making jokes like that? I’m just being a gentleman and letting a woman off the hook.” In the second half of my speech, I changed the intonation of my voice to something more theatrical.
“I don't know which side to take, on the one hand, I understand your logic completely, Keiko. On the other hand, I think people have a reason to joke.” Masato continued to look at the road as he said that.
“Eh… My real name? Hello?” I tried to get his attention.
“She's drunk, I don't think it's a problem for her to hear your first name once~ Besides, your family is quite famous, I was surprised that no one recognized you when we got there, to be honest…” Selen spoke while adjusting herself a little the makeup on the cheeks.
“It's because I do text interviews, I don't show my face or anything like that, and all the photos related to me I ask to represent me as a small seedling with 4-leaf clovers at the ends. That’s why I didn’t try to come with a mask, unlike Punitto Moe.”
“Hella ‘Lucky Tree’, aren’t you?” Selen made that pun, making Masato laugh.
“Well, what is more appropriate to represent me than that? My name basically has this meaning, in a way…”
It didn't take long for us to arrive at the parking lot of my building, and so I was left there with BB. Strangely, it wasn't that difficult to walk her to my house, she didn't trip and just stayed close to me, without letting go of my arm yet.
“Ehn… Your brat… stop moving so much… *Hic*…” She said, clearly drunk and thinking I was her brother, but out of nowhere she decided to not only hug my arm, but my body itself.
Inside the elevator, she pressed her body against mine, hugging me as if I were a stuffed animal, and I just watched. I was a little taller than her, enough for her face to be at the height of my neck, she completely hugged my waist while saying something that I couldn't even hear. However, it completely chilled me that she would do that in a place like this.
‘My god… Is this really happening?’ I thought to myself, and finally the elevator door opened.
I managed to get her to stop hugging me like that, but instead of grabbing my arm again, she held tight to my left hand. “Baaaaaaakaaaaaaaaa~ *Hic* Don’t let go of me~” Her voice was completely soft and calm, with a stupid smile on her face.
I took a few steps until I reached the door, luckily the key was in my right pocket, so she didn't get in the way of me opening it and entering the apartment with her. Being there, she let go of my hand, taking a few steps alone and murmuring things that I couldn't find any sense of. They were all meaningless sentences, as if they were lines from characters she had recently voiced.
‘Is she that drunk?’ I thought, taking a long sigh and slowly leading her to the living room’s sofa. When I touched her, she turned to me and hugged me tightly again, this time with her arms around my neck. I could see the reddened cheeks, that silly smile, and a lost look, but one that seemed to stare deeply at me.
“Heelllo, handsome… who are you?~” She had an incredibly seductive voice. “Maybe you’re here for *HIC* me?~”
Before I could do anything, she pulled me firmly, bringing our faces closer and stealing a kiss. I tried to pull our faces away, but she continued intensely, finally letting go of me when it seemed like we were out of breath. She fell, taking me with her, but we managed to fall onto the sofa together, with her slowly letting go of my neck.
‘My first kiss… stolen by an older and drunk woman…???? This wasn't what I expected... Is the universe really taunting me or what?'
Finally, truly free, I got up from the couch and watched her lying down, hugging one of the pillows there. I decided to get ready, so I grabbed some clean clothes and went to take a shower. It didn't take long and I came out of the bathroom wearing black shorts, a white tank top with a small anime logo on the back, and red crocs shoes.
Returning to the living room, I saw her still sleeping there. I felt terrible letting her sleep on the couch, so I carried her to my room. I don't know if it was good or bad that she was much lighter than I thought, but at least it made it easier to carry her, leaving her now lying on my bed.
“Uwaaaaaaaa!~” She made an adorable noise, but then did something that many would consider indecent.
She simply started to take off the pink sweater she was wearing, showing that she was wearing a red sports bra underneath her clothes, and finally threw herself face down on the bed. Immediately after that, she began to snore, as if she had fallen into a deep sleep.
“. . . . . Drunk women are really unpredictable. . . .” Those were the only words that came out of my mouth, however, being a gentleman, I took one of my blankets and put it over her.
In order to forget about the things I just went through at this very moment, I decided to look for the players that Ulbert had mentioned. Entering the YGGDRASIL registration system, and with the IDs he sent me, it didn't take long for me to find the players mentioned. I pulled their public profiles into separate windows, so I wouldn't get confused in my analyses.
The first one that caught my attention was one with the nickname [Tabula Smaragdina], his striking appearance, along with his race, was something I hadn't yet experienced in the game. I had never met a Heteromorph Player, who had decided the path of the Brain Eater race, a humanoid being with a distorted octopus head. In his description, he said several things about Lovecraft, an ancient writer who appeared before the Old Web, related to myths about cosmic and supernatural terror, and an obvious inspiration for the choice of his race in the game. Furthermore, he talked a lot about alchemy and the inexplicable desire to learn, which made me smile, after all, we didn't have anyone in our group currently who was on the path of the Alchemist JobClass. It would be good to take a closer look and see if he is within our real ideals.
The second was one that had the appearance of a Hecatonchires, from Greek mythology, a being that has countless transfigured heads and connected to a main body, however, in YGGDRASIL, there were not the countless limbs like in the original texts. This player had the nickname [Bellriver] and seemed to be someone like me, a person who likes to be everything, but not have an absolute focus on anything, or at least I thought, until I read the description published on his profile. Someone who wants to be both a magical and a physical player, without having assistant JobClasses or things like that. I should take a closer look to see if everything is in order to enter.
The third one I saw was a player called [Yamaiko], being a player focused on magic involving spirits. In her public description, she referred to herself as a Healer, which surprised me a lot, as she was a Nephilim, the race of giants that Takemikazuchi is also part of. A healer with naturally high defense and attack attributes due to its race, that was something great to see, after all our only cleric was Punitto Moe, and he doesn't have any really effective healing magic. I'll see what others think of her...
And so I went, looking at several other Players’ IDs that Ulbert had given me. My mind focused a lot on this, but when I was already watching the 24th player’s profile, I heard a sound behind me.
Turning back, it was Bukubuku, she seemed to finally be waking up. With one hand on her head, clearly feeling the effects of a hangover, she looked around, confused, and tried to get up, but slipped and ended up sitting on the bed. I got up from the chair and approached her, smiling slightly. When our eyes met, she raised an eyebrow, slowly realizing who I was, leaving her cheeks red, but not from the drink.
“H-Hey?! Uh… H-Hikari?!? Wha- W-Where are we?!?” She exclaimed in fright after regaining her senses.
“At my house... you got too drunk there and wouldn't let me go for anything... your brother said it was better for me to take you with me, and when you woke up, I'd get a taxi for you.” I answered her calmly, extending my hand to help her get up.
“Ugh… he only said that because he hates to be close to me when I'm drunk… a-and I'm sorry if I caused any problems…” She accepted my hand and stood up, seeming to avoid eye contact with me, but soon looked really confused with where she was. “My god… how many old things…”
“Oh, you didn’t like it? I bought as many items as possible that go back to the Old Net times, and there are other things that just imitate items that are much older than that…” I laughed lightly, fixing my hair.
“You really must be rich to buy things like that… the only times I saw things from the Old Net era were when the parents or grandparents of people I knew decided not to sell them. I’ve never seen anyone have those types of things by buying them.” Her voice seemed very reflective, as she took a good look at my room.
“If you say so…” I tried to speak calmly, but I couldn’t stop thinking that she didn’t even notice that she wasn’t wearing her sweater, so I went to pick up the piece of clothing she had thrown on the floor and handed it to her. “You were so drunk that you took this off…”
Her face became even redder, with her mouth moving a lot, as if she was trying to say something, but her voice wasn’t coming out at all. She was in pure panic at that moment, so I decided to leave the room to let her breathe a little, returning with a glass of water. She still hadn't worn the sweater.
“Uh… T-Thank you…” She said, taking the glass of water and drinking it.
“It was nothing… and relax, no one will know what happened here.” My words made her eyes widen.
“Wait… I just did ONLY this, right? I JUST took off my sweater… didn’t I?” She asked, almost desperate.
“Uh… you were rubbing against me too… and…”
Her gaze became almost blank immediately when I didn't continue speaking. "AND…? What did I…?"
“Ehh… you basically… grabbed me and kissed me to the point where we almost fell to the ground…” I decided to be honest with her, and in response to that, she became expressionless, with a lost look, as if she was having an internal scream.
“B-but relax… that’s not a problem… you were drunk… and Pero said that your crush on me wasn’t a roleplay… so… it’s not something wrong… right?”
“...Wait...my brother said what?...”
Aaaaand… did I make everything worse…?
“D-Did he tell you about this…?” She returned to a mixed expression between shyness and anger.
“Actually… Yes… he said… but everyone said it was obvious… I was apparently the only one who thought you were acting extremely well…” My words made her look at the ground again.
She started to mumble softly, as if she were talking to herself and didn't think I was listening. "M-My god... he must be disgusted... a woman like me falling in love with someone young like him... and on top of that... kissing him while drunk... I'm horrible... my god I'm going to become worse than Kazuya..."
“You don’t need to act like that… We are adults after all, you aren’t in ‘love’ with someone underage, I don’t look that youn- Wait a minute, who is Kazuya?”
“Wait… you said before that you were 21, is that true…?” I just nodded, but she soon had a look of shock. “K-Kazuya? Huh… it’s my brother…”
I patted her again, this time on her head. “As I said before, no one will know what happened, only if you want me to tell them... In fact... since you said your brother's real name, it would be more appropriate for you to know my real name, wouldn't it?”
“N-No! I-It would be more appropriate for you to say your name if I say mine too…” She was still a little nervous.
“So… how about we talk? If we count time inside the game, we've known each other for around a year or more. It wouldn’t be strange if we spoke more openly… let’s start with age, since it’s the first thing you know about me, but I don’t know about yours.”
The expression and agitated shape of her eyes seemed to show that she was looking for a way out of that situation, but finally, the woman in front of me gave up. “Well… I’m 29… I’ll be 30 this year…”
“So that’s why you were really nervous? Were your dreams broken because I’m 9 years younger?” She confirmed with her head moving very quickly, seeming quite honest about it, but I replied. “Like I said before, we’re adults, besides… I don’t see a problem with having something with a woman older than me.”
“A-are you sure?”
“Huh! Our relationship, whether as friends or something more, was something created by our personalities, not by our irl bodies, right?” she nodded. “So… If you really want to make your crush on me become something real and not just in the game, I won’t stop you.”
Her eyes started to shine, as if whatever problem was in her head had disappeared because of my words. I just laughed at her reaction, continuing the head patting. Finally, she finally seemed more relaxed, returning to sit on my bed, while I returned to my computer chair.
“Let’s continue our introductory conversation, okay?” I suggested “Let’s recap… I’m 21, and you’re going to be 30.”
“Yes… My surname is… Aoki…”
“Mine is Kobayashi.” I smiled at her.
“Kobayashi? Hm… I feel like I’ve heard this surname somewhere…”
“It’s the name of an air purification company.” Her eyes widened at that response. “I'm the owner's son... but at the moment I'm not thinking about working with him... I'm just with the people of YGGDRASIL.”
She remained silent, staring into space, thoughtful, but finally speaking again. “T-That explains the very expensive things you have…”
“I hope that doesn't make you any more scared... Unless you want to be... uh... what's the term they use for that?... a 'Sugar Baby'?... No, wait... that's when the girl is the youngest…” I tried to think of the words to say, but when I looked at her again, her face turned red like an HP Potion, with her eyes slightly flickering.
“I-I think this term works… But please… never say that when other people are around…” She stuttered a lot.
“Okay, I promise I’ll only call you that when we’re alone, okay?”
“N-N-N-No! Isn’t that what I meant?!” She exclaimed, extremely flushed and nervous about the situation, she grabbed one of my pillows and pressed it hard against her own face. I on the other hand just laughed, I don't know why, possibly teasing her a little, in the same way she does with everyone in the game.
“Okay… well… you work as a Voice Actor, while I work in journalism within YGGDRASIL… Do you want to talk about what you like, or is there something else you want to talk about so we can continue our conversation?” I continued with a slight smile.
“If it doesn’t sound too rude… Well, my name is Haruka.” She seemed calmer at that moment, looking at the floor.
“Haruka? It's a cute name…” I made her blush, again, making me laugh a little. “My name is Keiko.”
“Keiko… were you… serious about accepting the idea?”
“Seriously serious about this, if it doesn't work out, we can just stop and just continue with our in-game lives, as friends or acquaintances...” My response made her suddenly jump on top of me, sitting on my lap and hugging me with force.
"Thank you very much!!!!" She smiled, hugging herself even tighter against me.
‘Oh boy… does the universe love to tease me?’ I thought, as my face was pressed against her bust.
----------------------------------------
{3 months later / 2137’s Halloween Event}
Everyone from Nine's Own Goal was together for this event, even though the actual date of Halloween was two days ago, we were still able to participate. The event is supposed to continue for two whole weeks, but only those who were online on that Thursday, October 31st, could enter. Since in that day, for 4 hours irl, the devs had placed entry keys for the event in the main YGGDRASIL shop. Me, Momonga and Tabula, one of our new members, were online at that moment, so we were able to obtain the access key for everyone in the group.
The event itself was actually a temporary dungeon, having the appearance of a haunted mansion, with at least 4 visible floors. Three copies of this dungeon had appeared in each realm; they did like that, making each one have different challenges, always being an anxiety-provoking surprise, perfect for a festive date about scare and terror.
"Guys! I hope everyone opened the boxes I sent on your profiles! From what I researched, there are settings that end up causing debuffs to players with physical damage JobClasses, and others that cause debuffs to players with magical damage JobClasses! Physical players, put the [Monster Life Gloves]! Magical players, put the [Mask of Skeletal Splendor]!” Punitto Moe said, standing a little behind me.
[Monster Life Gloves] were special accessories that allowed you to use physical weapons, with slash or strike damage, against specific enemies, which would normally be difficult to face. In Heteromorph players, the appearance of the gloves was something simple like leather, but in non-heteromorph players, that item make the hands change shape to that of some random monster. [Mask of Skeletal Splendor] was an item that worked in the same way, but to help people with magical damage from becoming weaker, with the common appearance being the front part of a platinum-colored vampire skull.
Being the only non-heteromorph player in the group, I was the only one who suffered slight changes in appearance thanks to the two items. From the elbows onwards, my arm had become skeletal, with the bones being incredibly dense, and the fingers becoming claws. My face looked like someone who hadn't eaten in years, with my eyes glowing like a vampire staring at its victim, and sharp fangs in a werewolf style.
"Are you ready?!?" Touch_Me took a few steps, being in front of everyone and turning towards us.
“YEAAAAH!!!” Me and all 22 other members exclaimed, excited for this.
“Then let’s go!!” He said turning to the door and using the key to open it.
With the entrance to the dungeon-mansion open, we saw a grand and beautiful area, worthy of an 18th century rich man, but there was one detail that didn't make that area so beautiful...
“Daaaarling… can you clean up?” BB spoke calmly, approaching me, and I just sighed, her character, like always, being a pink slime, but having a type of female mask floating inside her body, just for the Halloween’s aesthetic.
“Do I really have to do this?...” I asked, already knowing what she meant by that.
“Yes… After all, I won the bet, didn’t I, Hikari-kun?” Tabula said happily next to me, with his tentacles waving a lot, excitedly.
“Wait, were you serious when you made the bet?” The next one to speak was one of the new players that we had invited thanks to Ulbert and Tabula's contacts, he was monstrous with aspects of a large lion-type beast, the nickname [Beast King Mekongawa] really suited him in a way.
“Wait, what bet?” our main healer at that moment, Yamaiko, asked very curiously.
“If the first room was full… Hikari-kun would have to use one of his signature World Item attacks to clear the area.” Tabula couldn't contain his excitement, with his tentacles moving a lot.
“Ugh… I only accepted because they said there was a 7% chance that the configuration of this dungeon we chose would have the first room full of monsters… I don't like using my weapon that way… I prefer to use it more in PvP against the ones that only use exploits…” I replied, opening my inventory, putting on my classic [Kuwoi-Muramasa], to get my ‘Not-So-Famous-Right-Now’ katana.
“I don’t understand why you don’t use your World Item all the time, Hikari.” Touch_Me spoke, looking closely at the brand new katana that was in my hands.
In structure, it was identical to [Kuwoi-Muramasa], but the colors seemed much cleaner and pure. Its handle was white with purple and blue diamond details; The guard was in the shape of a star with 10 edges, which changed color between constantly bright red and blue; And finally, the blade had designs of waves and a flame, engraved in the dark metal.
“That’s because, unlike your [Compliance with Law], my [Yamato-Kowaidasai] was made to slice and dice existence, it’s not something mainly to protect.” I explained, hearing some laughter from the people in my group due to the name of my World Item.
I wasn't even worried, I want everyone to be so afraid of my new katana, that no one will laugh at the name again, and for that to happen, it must be used a few times, to show its real importance. I observed it in my hand, with its stats being at level 5, different from my initial katana which had already reached level 100 because I used it a lot.
“Come on, just do what the newbies want, I don’t care about that nonsense.” Punitto Moe ordered and I just gave another sigh.
Holding my World Item tightly with both hands now, I watched as Touch_Me walked out of my way, leaving only the door open in my view, with all those monsters there, walking back and forth, without having charged at us yet, since no one has actually stepped foot inside the dungeon. Positioning myself, preparing for a strong horizontal cut, I exclaimed dramatically, after all, almost none of the new members saw that, everyone was excited to see a piece of the destructive power of a World Item.
“For the love of cherry trees! For the hate of my enemies! And for my responsibility as the first bloodshed! World Class Attack, [Dimensional Infinite Cutter]!!!”
The NOG members, the monsters inside that first room, the entire world seemed to slow down around me, to the point that I could say they really stopped moving. Not only that, but my speed increased significantly, teleporting to the first enemy in front of me and slashing through it, as if it were butter cutted by a hot cleaver. Another blow like that was given, and another... and another...
My body didn't move, it simply teleported towards the enemy, with them already receiving the cut. If I had to explain this to someone, it would be like [Blood Rush Fever], but much faster and without the restriction of only hitting my targets in areas with their body exposed. I didn't think about how many of those monsters I had cut through with my blade, I just did it, as if it were natural. Finally, my body seemed to teleport to where I was before using the skill, with the world moving again, the NOG members started moving again as if nothing had happened, but only the monsters inside were still.
“Dude… Was that nothing?” Tabula questioned, obviously because he hadn't seen my attack, only the consequence that came soon after.
With a simple movement of swinging my blade towards the ground, a loud and sharp sound appeared. It was the sound of countless cuts appearing in mid-air, as if I had cut with molecular precision, and instead of the pieces of bodies separating, as happens with [Blood Rush Fever], small black holes appeared, swallowing the enemies. Leaving only several Data Crystals behind, being the loot of my attack.
[Item Yamato-Kowaidasai stole Experience Points]
[Item Yamato-Kowaidasai Lv.5 → Lv.15]
“Hm…?” I watched the system message, giving a slight laugh. 'I've actually barely used this katana... since I got it... Anyway... I don't think anyone will be sad... the EXP needed to go from Lv.5 to Lv.15 isn't that great, compared to the level most of us are currently...'
I looked at Tabula who seemed in disbelief, not only him but all the rookie NOG members were impressed with the clean up I did in one simple attack. Finally, I turned to Touch_Me.
“I said… it’s very OverPower… it takes away the fun… you can keep your armor all the time… I’ll only use this beauty when I really need it…” That’s what I said, before exchanging katanas again, keeping my classic in hand and entering with everyone present there.
A Halloween dungeon, for a ‘Halloween’ group.