Sunlight pooled into the room through the windows.

Now that Sako thought about it, she could use Skill Swap as a useful trading tool. She sat up in her bed and looked across the room to Kiyomi’s bed. There was a large gap between their two beds. They were in separate corners. “Ki, it’s morning.”

Kiyomi was sleeping soundly, half-covered in her sheet.

“Kiiii! Uuuup!” She flung a pillow. It landed on her.

No reply.

Sako grunted, got off the bed, and walked to the bathroom to take a shower and brush her teeth. When she came out in a white shirt and pants, Kiyomi was still in bed.

Rolling her eyes, she went and rolled Kiyomi off the bed. Kiyomi landed on the wooden floor with a thud. Nope. Still asleep. Snoring too.

She sighed, went back to her bed, and collapsed on it.

40 minutes later

Kiyomi sat up slowly on the floor with a yawn in her oversized pajamas. The room came with spare clothes, which was how she had gotten her pajamas.

Sako was lying on her back, looking up at the ceiling.

“You could’ve woken me up.”

“I tried.”

“You could’ve tried harder.”

“I didn’t want to be too mean.” Pushing Kiyomi off the bed had been mean enough for Sako.

Kiyomi moved to the bathroom sluggishly. “Alright, sunshine.” She shut the door behind her.

While Kiyomi was fixing herself, Sako had some time to plan their next move.

How to get home… It would probably be best to find an info broker, someone like that. Because it would be bad to be going around asking anyone after telling them the fact that they were from a different world. People would think they had lost it, the NPCs anyway. And it would grow extremely tedious. They would eventually draw unnecessary attention too.

But how important was it? Should it be top priority, or should they at least get to a decent level first with decent gear in case they ran into unexpected danger? Level 5 was still extremely weak, especially because the max level was 1 000, according to the starter guide. And expenses…

Half an hour later

Kiyomi stepped out of the bathroom in full black, shirt and pants. All their clothes were the courtesy of the innkeeper.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Sako kept her eyes on the ceiling. “What do you think we should do next after breakfast?”

“Have a look around town to see what it’s like out there and try and find an info broker.”

“Yeah, I was thinking that. But we wouldn’t have any money to pay them.”

“It’s still a good idea. If we find them, we could ask for prices then go and get the right amount to buy the info. We’ll know exactly how much to aim for.”

“But how do you know they won’t move to a different location once we get back?” Sako rolled over onto her stomach, looking at Kiyomi as she went to the bed and sat.

“Because stationary proprietors don’t just suddenly get up and move arbitrarily without telling their customers while still being in business, at least not usually. They’d lose customers because no one would know where to find them. And they would have to rebuild their reputation if they move to a foreign environment. But this is assuming the brokers here follow a traditional marketing model.”

“Oh?” Sako up, surprised. “How come you know so much?”

“That’s common sense actually. But I’ve played a lot of video games, especially MMOs with complex, multi-faceted economies. I’ve also done research on theoretical and practical economies with their potential implementations in said games as well as their short-term and long-term impacts.”

“Jeez. You could’ve used all that big brain power and effort to get yourself a boyfriend.”

She scoffed. “Like I need one.”

“Oh wait. Or is it that you’re too scared to try?” Sako giggled, holding her stomach.

“Shut up!” Kiyomi flung a pillow.

She yelped. The pillow hit her in the face and knocked her down flat. She sat up again, holding it with both hands as a shield. “Haha! The fact that you’re mad proves I’m right.”

“You’re not!”

“Riiiight.”

Kiyomi flung another pillow, but it bounced off Sako’s shield.

Sako stuck her tongue out. “Try again!”

“I sure will!”

“Prove it!”

“Shut up!”

“Come on! I dare ya!”

“I’ll do it!”

“Then do it, nerd!”

Kiyomi ran over and dived onto the bed, but Sako fell flat and rolled away so Kiyomi wouldn’t land on her.

“Wait! I have an important question!”

Kiyomi paused as she sat up. “What.”

Sako turned smug. “Are you into girls then, or—”

She flushed, grabbed a pillow, and lifted it, about to hit her in the face.

To save herself, Sako lunged herself at Kiyomi, wrapping her arms around her slender waist. Her weight and momentum forced Kiyomi down on her back. Then Sako took the chance to climb onto her and straddle her stomach before pinning her arms down with her own hands. After leaning down to her face, she smirked deviously. “I win.”

“That’s just ’cause you have fighting experience!” Kiyomi glared.

“Whaaat? Little old me? It’s not like I used to be in the military. I only know a tiny bit of martial arts.”

“Liar. Quit being so modest.”

Sako giggled. “Modesty is good!”

“Modesty is bad! Now get off. You’re heavy.”

“What?! I only have like 1 more pound than you. You’re just weak.”

“At least I’m not an airhead sometimes!” Kiyomi sneered.

“You saying I’m an airhead?!”

“Oh noooo! Never! Not my dear, sweet Sako!”

Sako grunted. “How am I an airhead? I got good grades in all my classes, while you barely passed them. Sometimes, you’d even get big, fat zeros. Yeah, don’t think that I wouldn’t sneak a peek at your papers when you weren’t looking.”

“Tch. Outside of school and fighting, you don’t know a damn thing about the world. Maybe a little, but not much.” Kiyomi spat on her cheek.

“EUGH!” She shut her eyes and released Kiyomi’s arms. “WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?!”

“Hehehe. Works every time.” She shoved Sako off her.

Sako grabbed a loose sheet and wiped Kiyomi’s spit off her cheek.

When she opened her eyes, Kiyomi was leaning back against the bedhead, content with a simple smile.

“I’m hungry.” Sako was ready to go downstairs to order breakfast from the innkeeper.

Some aspects of the game felt so real. It was all so weird: the fact that they could shower, brush their teeth, and get hungry in a video game.