It took two days for us to be prepared for our trip. As six, we headed out and explored the points of interest close to us and didn’t find anything in particular. We did find a lot of appliance stores and stores that had plumbing supplies, neither looted by the previous inhabitants so we took everything we could. I didn’t know anything about the plumbing items we had, except for the obvious ones like pipes and showerheads, but Lemon seemed excited.

Our nights were spent with Sheep and I dismantling appliances and reassembling. We had become less cautious about making noise and having light during the night. As long as we didn’t make any loud sudden sounds we would be okay, so we kept working during the night, once again relying on only five to six hours of sleep. It’s well worth it however, overall I learnt nine new blueprints, though it mostly revolved around appliances like fridges, freezers and so on. I even learnt how to make a TV, which is completely useless to us but would be free Job Points. It seems that the term ‘machinery’ is very loose in this world.

For the time being I had chosen to stockpile my Job Points, until such a time that we can start accumulating a large amount of materials and see what we needed exactly. I wanted to also hunt down and learn blueprints for machinery for construction, like a cement mixer, but we simply didn’t have the time to do so. We would of course come back to find those types of machines when we found a good location.

As we packed the minivan with what little we had with food, weapons and the supplies we had recently found, I could tell every one of us were excited at the prospect of leaving the town, but we were equally scared as well since this would be full of unknowns. We all agreed however this is the best option to move forward with, we simply didn't have the manpower to convert a town to a base, so starting afresh is best.

“Midnight?”

Turning to Aerith, who looked a bit curious, I asked her what’s up.

“H-how did you and Winter become…you know?”

“Know what?” Smiling slightly, I had a hunch on what she wanted to ask but prompted her anyway.

“How did you two become a…couple?” A blush appeared on her face as she asked with some embarrassment.

“Oh? Interested in my love life are you?” Chuckling as Aerith shook her head, she looked at me while blushing harder.

“Back in our world there is someone I l-like, when we return I w-want to tell him how I feel b-but don’t know how.”

Remembering that Aerith is six years younger than me, I leaned against the campervan and looked at the blue sky above us, memories of the time I met Rebecca coming to my mind as I felt a small smile come to mind.

“We were fifteen when we first met, both of us attended the same school. I was one of those popular and cool kids back then and Rebecca was one of the quieter kids, but top of her class while I had been around above average, so our paths never really crossed except for one area. Our school had an esports club and I stomped everyone, no matter the game within a week I had it figured out. No one could contest me, except for one person.

“Back then, her username had been Winter Rose. It still is I suppose, but everyone shortens it to Winter these days. No matter how good at a game I got, Winter Rose would be right there, contesting against me. As a teen who wanted to get into an esports team, I was at first frustrated.” Chuckling, the memories kept coming as I looked over at Rebecca who is currently helping Lemon. “I did everything I could to finally overcome Winter Rose. I failed to see it at the time, but because of her I only got better at games because I put so much time into practising.

“It wasn’t only me improving though, she too kept pace with me and we very quickly left the others in the club behind in terms of skill. One day I got frustrated and decided to confront her. Stupid teenager me thought yelling at her would somehow make me the best player and in hindsight I’m glad I did so. See, the club had a hundred people so finding out a particular player wasn’t hard, but usually others wouldn’t go out of their way to do so. I quickly did find out who it was though since Winter Rose sat at the same table as always and one day I finally got up after losing to her and marched over to the desk they said she sat at.”

Glancing at Rebecca who met my eyes with a gentle smile as I returned it, I continued the story to Aerith. “When I first saw her, my heart skipped a beat and my mind went blank. I totally forgot why I had marched over there in the first place, I could only stare at her beauty. I couldn’t believe my eyes and after I stared at her for nearly a minute, did you know what she said?”

Turning to Aerith who seemed to be hooked, I shook my head and quoted those words Rebecca had first spoken to me. “Good game.”

“I guess you didn’t take that well?” Aerith chuckles as I smile.

“Initially I had been confused. Why is this beautiful girl saying good game to me? Then I remembered why I had marched over there and I felt embarrassed. I quickly muttered it back to her! I didn’t know how to react so I quickly walked back to my PC and went for another round, but I couldn’t get her out of my mind, so after a few more rounds I approached her again.”

“Where you nervously asked me to go out for dinner and I accepted, thinking you just wanted to talk about games.” Rebecca appeared at my side, like she’d just teleported there. Well, I hadn’t been paying attention to my surroundings.

“Well we did talk about games!”

“True, but you quickly changed the topic to anime after an hour.” Rebecca took my hand as she leaned against the campervan and looked at Aerith. “Stories about love lifes?”

“Aerith is looking for advice for a boy in our world.” Saying it bluntly as Aerith blushed brightly, causing the two of us to giggle, I turned to Winter. “So I thought I’d tell her about how we met.”

“Mm, I remember when you first approached me, staring at me blankly flapping your lips like you were speechless.”

“I kinda was back then. After that first night, we quickly became friends and started hanging out more and more. I stopped being the popular kid quickly as I spent more time with Rebecca. Before I knew it, I started to look forward to meeting with her at school, waking up excited to see her, looking for her in between classes and practically rushing to find her after classes were over. One day I started to get nervous around her and I didn’t understand why.

“After a month of becoming even more nervous around her, I spoke to mum about it. I thought there was something wrong with me, why am I all nervous to spend time with my friend after being so excited to see her? I didn’t understand my feelings back then so when I told mum about it, she just laughed as I angrily told her to stop laughing. Mum told me what I had been feeling was love and that I had been getting nervous around Rebecca because of that.”

“I remember you telling me that.” Rebecca chuckles. “This dolt hadn’t realised that I had feelings for her since before she saw me. Did she tell you my first words to her?” Aerith nods as Rebecca shakes her head again. “I had been so nervous when she marched over to my desk. I had seen her around school a lot and knew she’d been called ‘Midnight’ in the esports club. I had played games a lot myself and decided to join the esports club to hopefully get to know her more.

“I remember my first month, I found myself completely outmatched by her. I was no prodigy, but I had some amount of skill but even then no matter the genre or game she completely outpaced me. So I started to hunt down hints and tips to get better, practised outside of school, and begged dad to buy me a completely new PC. He refused at first, but after telling him why he only laughed and before I knew it we had gone to a computer store and made a custom PC for me. It was expensive, but dad said it would impress her when I finally brought her over.” Rebecca giggled as she leaned her head against mine.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Before I knew it, I got good. Really good. My grades dropped slightly as a result, but dad said it would be fine. But even though I had started beating Ruby, I never made any progress to get to know her. I hadn’t even spoken to her, only ever gazing at her in amazement while my nerves never let me move. Surely if I beat her a few times she’d come over and talk to me, right? So I kept going, but she also kept getting better, and before I knew it a few weeks quickly escaped me.

“One day, dad came up to me because I had only just got a passing grade on a test. He hadn’t minded at first, but since I hadn’t made any progress he put his foot down. Two weeks, I had two weeks to actually talk to Ruby and bring her to meet with him or he would pull me from the club and return my PC. He never intended to do either, but to me at that time this was the worst punishment ever!

“But every time I went to go and speak with her, my nerves won and I couldn’t. A week very quickly went by and dread started to creep into my heart. What if Ruby didn’t care about me, what if she just ignored me? She was popular after all, she wouldn’t have time for me. Then one day out of nowhere, I saw her storming over towards me. I thought she was going to yell at the teacher, but then she stopped at my desk and just stood there, looking at me blankly. It took a minute before I realised that it’s her, she’s in front of me, staring at me! I didn’t know what to think, my mind had gone blank as well! My mouth had other plans though and before I knew it I just said good game.

“I returned to my senses as soon as those words left my mouth, and quickly tried to think of something to say. I heard Ruby mutter good game and then she ran off. I thought I had blown it, my one chance and my big stupid mouth had ruined it! I was nearly on the verge of tears and just played more to try and distract myself, though I wasn’t into it. Imagine my surprise when I finished a game and looked up to see Ruby standing there, nervously asking me if I wanted to go and get dinner. So we went to get fish and chips.”

“So you two went on a date just like that?” Aerith had been enthralled in this story the entire time and with a chuckle, Rebecca and I shook our heads.

“No, that wasn’t really a date. It’s more like two teenagers getting something to eat before we blubbered about games and anime.”

“You blubbered on, I was a nervous wreck and barely spoke, afraid of saying something stupid after my first slip up. During that dinner, dad waltzed by, did a double take while I looked at him in horror before he pretended I wasn’t there and quickly left. Later I told him that he had just walked into the first time we had been speaking and he looked so proud.” A gentle smile appeared on Rebecca’s face. I squeezed her hand while she returned it.

“After I told mum about my feelings, she started to push me to tell Rebecca about how I felt. I didn’t know how and I was afraid that if I told her that I had fallen in love with her it would ruin our friendship. I kept delaying it, telling myself I would and before I knew it half a year passed. Then mum came to the rescue. One day she told me to invite Rebecca to dinner and so I did. When Rebecca was dropped off, she wanted to say hi to mum and what awaited us was a dinner table set up with a rather romantic dinner setting with no mum in sight.”

“She escaped through the back door and dad quickly drove off with her. The two of them had planned this out, at some point they had met behind our backs and had grown frustrated at how our relationship had come to a standpoint. So they set up a romantic dinner and took away the modem, so we couldn’t even play games or watch TV.”

“After we ate dinner, we kinda just talked on the couch, but the mood had changed because of how dinner had been presented to us. At first I had been angry at mum, I thought she’d ruined my friendship, but then Rebecca confessed to me. Just out of the blue, just told me she’d always liked me in a romantic way. I had never thought she’d felt that way towards me so once again I had become speechless as my mind went blank again!”

“I won’t lie, I found a great amount of amusement in that afterwards. At that time I was a nervous wreck, that confession had just flowed from my mouth. It’s like when I had said good game to her when we first met, but this time it was a confession. When I snapped back to reality and realised what I did, I was so embarrassed. I had thought Ruby wouldn’t respond or tell me she didn’t feel that way at all. I felt crushed at just my own thoughts of rejection, but I never expected her to suddenly kiss me!”

Aerith blushed again as she looked at me as I pursed my lips.

“I didn’t know how to respond and I thought I’d just kiss her! I didn’t know, okay?!” Feeling a blush creep onto my face, I looked towards Rebecca, looking into her eyes as I smiled. “After that, we started dating. Because we had been friends for so long and because we had already had our parents blessing, we spent a lot of time together. Mum said that when she got home and saw us sleeping in each other's arms she had called Rebecca’s dad and they both cheered, gathering their friends and heading to a pub. Ah, those two idiots.”

Both Rebecca and I were indebted to our parents, they had never once rejected the thought of the two of us being lesbians and they had only ever encouraged us. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have met Rebecca. All I want is to get married to Rebecca with the wedding that mum had alone planned for us.

“I suppose to answer your original question Aerith, it’s not to rush it. Get to know him, spend time with him and make sure he’s right for you. It’ll come naturally and you’ll absolutely know when the time is right.”

“But don’t linger on it like we did. I have slight regret at not confessing earlier, if I did we would’ve been dating sooner. Though maybe it’s good, I had waited.” Rebecca chuckles as I shake my head with a giggle of my own.

“S-such a good story…” Aerith seemed lost for words so I decided to continue our little girl's talk.

“Why do you like this boy? What makes him stand out to you? Like Rebecca did, perhaps you could pick up an interest he shares with you.”

Excitedly, Aerith looked up and started talking about this boy, named Blane, and why she liked him, leading us to talk and laugh for a while before Sheep came over.

“Seems like you’re all having a good time. We’re done packing, Midnight.” Sheep nods towards me as I smile back, the mask of leadership once again being put on.

“Good, we’ll do as planned and head out once the Husks have gone in the morning. Make sure to double check everything before night settles in, we’ll spend the night in the campervan and make sure Husks don’t storm us while in it. We’ll need you guys to stay on guard for a few hours but make sure to get rest, especially Ghost and yourself since you two will be driving.” Along with those two, Winter and I would also be driving. We planned to take four cars with us, and since Aerith has no idea how to drive and Lemon had just started to learn, four is all we could take.

“Got it. Anything else we need to do?”

“Mm, no. We’ll come back for the machinery we left at the house once we find a place to build a base. Just make sure you’re all well rested, tomorrow when we’re leaving town it may get a bit hairy so we want to be in a good state of mind.”

“Got it. Make sure you guys rest once you’re sure the Husks won’t just swarm you.” Sheep bid us goodbye while we headed inside and continued chatting with Aerith, getting to know her more.

“So your name is Ellie? Is it short for anything?”

“No, mum and dad didn’t want a complicated name for me, and mum really loved the name Ellie. The other name would’ve been Matilda and my boy's name would’ve been Gerald.”

“Dad said mum wanted to call me Gary if I was a boy.”

“Mum always told me she wanted to call me Bartholomew if I was a boy, thank the gods I turned out to be a girl.” Ellie and Rebecca both laugh as I sighed in agony. I still couldn’t tell if mum had been serious about that name, but really thank goodness.

Ellie had been working her way through school and had three brothers, two older and one younger. They all loved playing games and it’s how Ellie also got into them. When I asked, she said they hadn’t full dived, opting to focus on their studies as it had been exam time and the youngest wasn’t old enough, so she had been the only one to full dive out of them all.

As night sets in, we cover the windows and stop talking, keeping an eye and ear out for the Husks. Carefully peeking out of the curtains, I watched as the Husks raised from the ground all around us, popping out from wherever there was dirt. We had noticed this, they never came up from the ground where there is cement. Perhaps that’s the way to prevent them from coming up and why they don’t just rise up into houses or cars.

No, that’s not right. They don’t come up from under cars that are parked on dirt either. I started to think quickly as I stopped watching and let my mind go full force on thinking over possibilities as movies, animes and games of similar settings ran through my mind. Quickly, I thought of a possibility as I looked towards the moon. If the moon shines on it, do the Husks come out? Unlike our world's moon, this one had a slight yellow hue to it. Thinking of testing this more, I mentally noted to myself to find a tarp to cover the ground while we were out of the town to test.

As the night passed, we took turns to keep watch and very quickly morning arrived. We avoided noise and light and the Husks never once turned their attention to us, and with that reassurance, we quickly made coffee, heated up some rice and got ready to head out with me driving the leading car, an SUV with our equipment in it.