Normally, getting out the bed that she was sharing with her loved ones was not something that Serra would ever even consider doing. Not only would she not be able to wake them up for more lewd things if she got in the mood, but she would also lose the opportunity to use their bodies as pillows if she got out of bed. However, there were two things.

One, the others might have been mentally exhausted from the in-game events, but Serra could not sleep.

Two, Serra had plans with somebody in-game.

So, as sacrilegious as it may have been, Serra climbed off of the bed and tried her best to stay quiet as she looked around for her virtual reality headset.

Fortunately for her, they were all so tired that there was no chance she was going to wake them up. She also made much more noise than she realized she did since she couldn’t exactly hear how much sound she was making while in real life.

Serra looked down at the headset and then back over to the bed. Part of her was tempted to skip out on the plans she made with a certain somebody so that she could get back into bed with her boyfriend and girlfriends. She was even more tempted when she saw Cassandra’s oversized sleeping shirt sliding off of her shoulders, providing the smaller girl with a very pleasant view.

But she resisted.

Serra had plans and it would have been rude to skip out on them, plus she needed to do it if she wanted to become stronger.

That was why she sat down in the chair, slipped the headset on, and immersed herself into virtual reality.

She was immediately greeted by her virtual assistant – or rather, her virtual assisistants.

“Welcome back, mistress!” a pseudo Nell said as she bowed while wearing a rather skimpy maid uniform. Meanwhile, Azalabulia was tied up like a pig hanging from a wooden beam, Cassiel was blushing and looking away while wearing some sort of tight, leather outfit, and Fenrir… well, Fenrir was the one on his hands and knees with a gag in his mouth as Serra sat atop his back.

Technically, they were all just one virtual assistant.

“We need to find out a role for Eva now,” Serra told the pseudo Nell.

“Certainly! I shall do my best to think of one such role for her while you attend your meeting, mistress.”

A snap of the pseudo Nell’s fingers later and a copy of Eva appeared right next to her.

“Good girl,” Serra praised.

The pseudo Nell’s tail wagged like a hound’s behind her as she continued the immersion process, officially entering Serra into the world of Fantay Tales Online despite only being out of it for under an hour in the real world.

Everybody else was so tired that they immediately wanted to get into bed and didn’t even bother with dinner. At least Ryouta told them that, since they were skipping dinner, it meant they’d need to go out for a really big breakfast.

Serra was looking forward to that. Though, at this point, she figured that she’d be staying up all night until it was time to go out for breakfast. Then she’d have to go out and maybe get some coffee so that she could hopefully stay awake throughout the day rather than crash and burn. The last thing that she wanted to do was get onto a sleep schedule where she slept while all of her lovers were awake and vise-versa.

If it wasn’t for the fact that she wasn’t even slightly tired, she’d probably be willing to skip out on the plans and apologize for it later.

But that was not the case.

Once more in her virtual body within Fantasy Tales Online, Serra looked around to remember where exactly she stopped at.

Right. Where else? She was on top of Fenrir.

Serra leaned up to kiss the “sleeping” Fenrir on the cheek before rolling off of him and the hammock.

While all of the players around her were asleep, somebody else was there to greet her.

Rock and Shogun lazily lifted their heads up to look at Serra.

Serra raised a finger in front of her lips to shush them, even though it wasn’t necessarily at all, and then whispered, “Sorry for waking you. Go back to sleep.”

Rock and Shogun yawned in unison before cuddling back up against each other.

Onboard The Shoebill’s deck, Serra looked only to see that it was the middle of the night in this virtual world. The sky was ful of glistening stars belonging to every color of the rainbow, the waves quietly rolled onto the beach as if even they were trying not to disturb all of those slumbering nearby, and various bugs’ chirps were mixed in with the croaking of frogs.

All of that combined with the gentle breeze brushing past her features made for a perfect night – a night more serene than any she had ever experienced before.

But tranquility was not the purpose of her coming back to the game.

She was there to meet somebody.

And that somebody was standing right next to The Shoebill on the dock.

Those soulless, black eyes stared at Serra as Mister Smiles waved at her.

Serra waved back and walked over to him.

Or rather… walked over to who she now knew was not a he. At least, Serra was very confident that Mister Smiles was not actually a mister after hearing “his” voice earlier.

Unfortunately for Serra, even if they were alone and both supposedly girls… Serra still struggled with new people. As far as she was concerned, Mister Smiles was very much a new person to her.

And it seemed like Mister Smiles was struggling, too.

The stand stood by each other in silence for a few very awkward moments before Serra finally took a deep breath and said, “Hey.”

“Hey,” Mister Smiles said in return, the young and feminine voice coming from behind the mask nothing like what one would assume them to sound like.

“Sorry if… you were waiting a long time.”

“It’s okay. I’m… used to it.”

The awkward silence returned. In fact, it returned in such force that it could be compared to when a max-level character in an MMORPG returned to the starting zone to kill everything just by looking in their general direction.

The awkward silence was the overpowered character. Serra and Mister Smiles were the starting zone.

Serra felt like she should be the one to say something, maybe, but it was Mister Smiles who proposed to help her earlier in the first place after overhearing her conversation with her girlfriends. Shouldn’t Mister Smiles be taking the lead?

Serra took another deep breath. If she could want to do horribly lewd things to her lovers while being in a relationship with multiple people, she could talk to somebody with a silly mask.

Right?

“Will… you really help me?” Serra asked.

Mister Smiles nodded.

“Why?”

“You… remind me of myself,” Mister Smiles answered. “How I used to be.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re surrounded by strong people and feel weak when you look at them, so you want to get stronger… right?”

Serra nodded. “Yeah.”

“I… was the same. I see the old me when I look at you.”

“Are you going to make me look like you?” As comedic as Mister Smiles looked, Serra really had no interest in looking anything like them.

“No, but if you want people to notice you more, I can give you one of my old masks. No one cared who I was until I put on the mask.”

“Heh, I know that reference.”

“You… you do?”

“Old movies are great.”

Mister Smiles might have had on a mask that made it impossible to see any sort of facial expression of theirs, but their body language was clear. Mister Smiles was so happy that somebody understood their reference that they couldn’t help but to bounce a little. “I – I love old movies. New movies suck.”

“Yeah. And… I don’t care about being noticed. I don’t want to be weak. I don’t care about being popular.”

“Masks are good for both. More people pay attention to you for wearing one, but nobody knows who you are.”

“Oh, who are you? I forgot to ask.”

“Mister Smiles is all you need to know.”

“But how do I know I can trust you?”

“You… you don’t. You have to trust me.”

“This is starting to sound suspicious.”

“I – I don’t mean it to! I’m sorry… I don’t want to be suspicious. It’s just… talking about the mask is hard. Even talking with it on is hard if I’m not used to somebody, plus… I probably sound weird.”

“You sound normal.”

“That’s only because I’m trying my best to hide my accent.”

“You have an accent?”

“Yeah, but it’s one of those ones that people hate.”

“I wanna hear it.”

“W-why?”

“I’m deaf in real life. I don’t get to hear lots of accents.”

Mister Smiles took a step back before sighing. “Now I feel bad…”

“Sorry, you don’t have to.”

“N-no. I guess it’s… ah guess it’s fine.”

Serra smiled as soon as she heard what she assumed was the slightest show of Mister Smile’s accent.

“S-see?! Yer – yer smilin’! Yer just gonna make fun of me like—”

“I like it. It’s cute.”

“Cu-cute? There – there ain’t nothin’ cute about it!”

“Thanks for letting my hear it. You can stop if you want to. I think it’s cute but I don’t want you to force yourself.”

“It – it ain’t like ah’m forcin’ it er anythin’. Ah actually kinda like bein’ able ta talk like this if ya really don’t mind it…”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I like it a lot. You can talk however you want.”

“Th-then ah guess ah can keep it up. Just don’t let the others hear ‘bout this. Especially… especially… y-ya know… him.”

“Fen?”

Mister Smiles lowered their head and tapped their fingers together in front of them.

Even better than sharing an interest in movies, sharing an interest in Fenrir made it even easier for Serra to relate to Mister Smiles. Mister Smiles went from being a friendly stranger to a fellow deviant of culture. Well, the deviant part was still pending, but Mister Smiles had to have good taste if they were interested in her boyfriend.

“Sorry if this sounds rude,” Serra said, “but are you helping me to get closer to him?”

“A-ah – there’s no… no way… well… maybe… b-but ah’m serious when ah say ah want to help ya, too! Ya really are just like tha old me…”

Serra tried to think back to what could have caused Mister Smiles to gain such an attraction to Fenrir so quickly. As far as Serra knew, today – well, technically the previous day, it was their first time ever meeting. What could it have been? Sure, Fenrir was great like always, but if just being great via simply existing was enough to make girls fall for him then he would have a harem of the entire world by now. So, what else could it have been?

And then Serra realized it.

“Oh. It was the neck,” she said.

Mister Smiles waved their arms around in a panic while rapidly shaking their head from side to side. “Ah ain’t – ah ain’t so easy that ah’ll fall for somebody just because they bit mah neck! Even – even if it did feel really good!”

“It’s okay. Most of us fell for him for weaker reasons than that, I think.”

“Ah don’t know if that’s a good thing er a bad thing…”

“It’s a thing thing.”

Serra wasn’t even trying to be funny yet she got a genuine chuckle out from behind Mister Smiles’ mask.

“We can talk about him later if you want,” Serra said. “I want to get stronger first.”

“Right. That’s why yer here. Sorry,” Mister Smiles said. “Let’s go into the forest.”

“Suspicious.”

“Ah promise I don’t goet any suspicious reaons. Ah just can’t… ya know, if ah’m comfyh enough ta let ya hear mah accent, ah don’t see why ah can’t let ya see me for real.”

“For real? Did you do the same thing as me? Sera asked. It might have been a simple figure of speech to most people but, as somebody who actually made her in-game avatar look exactly like her real body, she took it very seriously in this context.

And she wasn’t the only one.

“Ye-yeah… ah never played much games before this’un. Ah didn’t know it ain’t exactly safe ta do somethin’ like ‘at.”

“It’s okay. Being fake is overrated.”

“Yer… yer sayin’ ‘at to somebody who hides her voice and looks,” Mister Smiles said, subtly confirming that Serra was ninety-nine percent sure about.

Mister Smiles was, in fact, a she.

“Don’t worry about it,” Serra said.

Mister Smiles might have been the one who took initiative by offering to help Serra grow stronger, but now Serra was the one in control of the situation if anything. Sure, she might have still had some minor suspicions, but she was the one flustering Mister Smiles, leading the conversation, and she even became the first of the two girls to walk toward the forest.

Serra wasn’t even sure at this point that Mister Smiles would actually be able to help her at all. So far, it seemed like Serra was the one who was going to be helping Mister Smiles.

But that was alright.

Whoever ended up helping the other, Serra was in need of some way to pass the time since she couldn’t sleep. It was either hang out with Mister Smiles in-game or return to reality and maybe try playing with the ferrets, but that would require waking them up. So, really, it came down to hanging out with Mister Smiles or probably doing nothing other than lazily browsing the internet out of desperation.

((This series is only officially posted to: scribblehub.com, acearriande.com, patreon.com/acearriande, and royalroad.com. If you are reading this series on any other website, please send me an email at acearriande.dmca@gmailcom. I will not be able to continue posting my stories for free if my series continue being uploaded without my consent to other platforms. If you have paid money for this on Amazon, email me, file a report, and request a refund as it has been stolen and illegally published.))

Once they reached the forest, the two girls went far enough into it so that nobody would be able to see them from outside of it. Somebody would really have to purposely go hunting for them in order to find them.

“Al-alright,” Mister Smiles said. “Don’t… don’t be too surprised, alright?”

“I won’t be,” Serra replied. “I don’t care what you look like. You could be rainbow colored and I wouldn’t care.”

Plus Mister Smiles wouldn’t be the first rainbow-themed person around.

“Then… then turn ahround,” Mister Smiles said.

Serra nodded and turned around.

The next thing she heard was – well, she couldn’t tell what exactly the sound was since it was unlike anything she had ever heard before. The only sound she was able to recognize was the zipper sound effect, so Serra assumed that Mister Smiles must have been removing her mask.

“A-alright. Ya can look now,” Mister Smiles said.

Serra, not even knowing what to expect since she didn’t really care in the first place, turned around.

Most likely, any possible guess for how Mister Smiles looked would have been wrong if Serra had tried to think one up.

Mister Smiles might have looked like a regular, realistic human, but… she looked nothing like any of the other players they had encountered thus far. Even something as simple as the darker color of her skin was an extreme contrast against everybody they lived by in real life. One would think that an avalanche somehow blanketed all of their neighbors.

But Mister Smiles, the one who was previously regarded as a man in a glorified speedo with a muscular, smiling mask on over his head, was nothing like who now stood before Serra.

Well, except for the height. The height was still the same which easily made her the tallest out of all of Serra’s girlfriends… and a good head taller than Fenrir.

In real life at least. In-game, Mister Smiles and Fenrir were a match for height.

Mister Smiles was a tall woman with dark skin, yellow eyes, and short, black hair that didn’t even reach past her shoulders. She also lacked the exaggerating muscles that Mister Smiles had, but she was still toned enough that her biceps had clear bumps, her abs were clearly defined, and her thighs looked like they were more than capable of crushing a watermelon between them.

And, of course, Serra couldn’t help but to look at Mister Smile’s chest.

Then Serra looked down at her own chest.

Somehow, despite being significantly shorter and overall smaller in every single way than Mister Smiles… Serra was the bustier one for once.

Tall, dark, muscular, and as flat as possible while having a cute face, short hair, and a country gal’s accent.

Needless to say, Serra was impressed. She was impressed that Mister Smiles’ real body was so different and expectation-defying. Serra didn’t even have any expectations yet her expectations were still thoroughly denied.

Furthermore, sitting on a pile on the ground next to Mister Smiles was the full body suit that she wore with her mask sitting on top of it. All she had on now were boots, short shorts, and a small tank top that stopped short of her abdomen.

“Ya – ya don’t have ta stare at me so much. Ah know ah look weird,” Mister Smiles said.

“Not weird,” Serra replied. “Really cute. Really, really cute.”

Mister Smiles’ cheeks blush was subtle as her cheeks were already dark to begin with, but Serra had become the master of picking up on the sometimes-subtle blushes of her girlfriends.

And boyfriend.

Serra always knew when Fenrir was blushing either in-game or in real life.

Serra also had a very hard time not staring directly at Mister Smiles’ thighs. Right now, even more than growing stronger, Serra wanted her face to be pressed between those thighs. She wanted to feel the soul get squeezed out of her by having Mister Smiles’ thighs crushing her head.

Even if it meant popping like a watermelon, Mister Smiles’ athletic thighs were worth it.

“Do… do ya really think so?” Mister Smiles asked.

“Yeah. Fen would think you’re super hot, too,” Serra answered.

Mister Smiles’ blush grew even darker. “A-ah ain’t lettin’ ‘im see me! Ah – ah ain’t nothin’ like tha rest of ya. Yer all so… ya know, pretty ‘nd feminine and stuff. And… ya know.”

“White?”

“Yeah… ah figured that’s the kind of gal he likes. N-not ‘at there’s anythin’ wrong with ‘at. Ah just figured… it’d be nice ta entertain tha thought. Maybe ah’ve just been single fer too long now…’

“It’s coincidence. Fen doesn’t care about stuff like that. None of us do.”

Serra didn’t know it, but she opened up the gates by saying that.

And there was no stopping what was about to come next.

“Yeah, ‘at’s what they all say. Last boy ah was with was the one who got me playin’ this game. He made such a huge deal about how acceptin’ he was ‘nd everythin’… but ah found out he didn’t really give two shits about acceptin’ me fer however ah look. Ah was just a fetish ta him. Found out he was postin’ to online forums all dedicated to findin’ girls like me and creepy stuff like ‘at. He wouldn’t shut up about how he was datin’ an ‘exotic’ gal and even posted pictures of me that ah didn’t even know he took. After tryin’ so hard to become stronger for him… ah ended up tossin’ him away as soon as I learned about how much of a creep he was.”

“Oh,” Serra said.

Realizing that she might have just opened up about something too personal far too soon when that was nowhere near close to the point of heading into the forest alone together… Mister Smiles’ forehead became a bit sweaty. “S-sorry about ‘at. Ah ain’t sayin’ yer all like ‘at or anythin’, ah just… have a bad experience with people actin’ like they don’t care.”

“We really don’t care. You’re not a fetish to us, either. I think. Nell’s into monsters and illegal stuff. Cass is like you and likes being bit. Azawaza… I’m not sure yet. Fen likes sweaters. He really likes sweaters. And I’m getting into BDSM stuff. I don’t think any of us want to do lewd things to somebody just because they’re black.”

“‘at’s… ah guess it’s nice knowin’ ‘at. N-not yer fetishes or anythin’, but… knowin’ ‘at I ain’t one of them. Ah mean, ah know ‘at it’s only the minority ‘nd all, and ah probably worry about it way more ‘an ah should, but tha man ah was with for a few years pulled that on me, so ah guess it’s kinda an irrational fear now.”

“It’s okay. The only part of you I’m fetishizing are your thighs. And your accent.”

“Yer – yer pretty honest… ah don’t know how ah’m supposed to react ta that…”

“I kinda know how you feel.”

“About what?”

“The fetish thing. It’s never happened to me, but I’ve seen people online talk about how they’re sad that technology can almost always fix people now since it ruined their fantasies. I’ve seen guys talk about how they wish they had girlfriends in wheelchairs and stuff so that the girls would be dependent on them to reach high stuff, get help if they fall, and other stuff. It was always kind of gross.”

“Ah… ya did say yer deaf, didn’t ya?”

“Yeah.”

“Sorry. Bein’ turned into a fetish over a disability has gotta be worse ‘an bein’ turned into one over skin color.”

“No. They’re equally bad. Oh, and I get to be Fen’s ‘cute deaf gf’ which I know would make them all jealous since they’ll never have a girl like me. The people who fetishize us never get to end up with us.”

“Yeah, ‘at’s a good way of lookin’ at it.”

Similar interest in movies, similar interest in men, similar opinions on being fetishized, and accepting each other for who they are without making any big deal over it – the two girls didn’t even realize how close to one another they grew in the short time since meeting up at the dock. They started off barely even being able to talk to each othe,r but now they were more than happy to discuss serious matters together. Mister Smiles got to rant about her ex boyfriend and Serra got to talk about the weird people she’d met who were upset that disabled people were now less disabled.

Sure, Serra might have wanted to be fetishized in most ways, but that was because she chose to present herself in such a fetishizable way to her lovers. She wanted them to fetishize her. She did not want random creeps on the internet to fetishize her simply for being deaf.

If she was going to be fetishized, it was going to be because of what she wanted to be fetishized over. Such as her petite body. Or her lewd personality. So on and so on.

“By the way, we’re hiring,” Serra said.

“Hi-hirin’? Whatcha mean?” Mister Smiles asked.

“We’re hiring new girlfriends. You can apply whenever you want, but you have to make the others like you, too. We’re a group package.”

“Ah – ah barely know ya and yer sayin’ somethin’ like ‘at!”

“I’m jumping to the point. If you like Fen then it’s okay to let you know. It will save time if you know it’s okay right away. You’re even allowed to flirt with him in front of us and stuff.”

“Ah could never!”

“But you’re still allowed to.”

“Ah’m puttin’ my stuff back on after we’re done ‘ere and not takin’ it off again. Ah’m fine sticking around in the back and admirin’ from a distance…”

“That makes you sound like a stalker. Fen already had one. I don’t think he wants another.”

“Ah – ah ain’t a stalker! Ah’m just… ah ain’t gonna get all head-over-heels over a guy just because he attacked mah weakpoint…”

“Your neck is your weakpoint?”

“Ah mean… a-ah never said ‘at… exactly…”

“It’s okay. If you stay around then Fen will probably do other things to make you fall in love with him. It’s only a matter of time. Then you’ll love the rest of us by extension. We make him do all the hard work.”

“What… what do ya mean by that?”

“Fen does lots of stuff for people without realizing it. He helped me survive at first by feeding me and clothing me when I had no idea what to do, then he always treated me just like any friend. He let Cass penetrate him with her spear from behind and always ended up turning her on whenever they had practice fights, plus he punched a guy who was being a dick to her at her real job. Nell was somebody’s slave when he rescued her. Azawaza was lonely and scared most people away, but Fen accepted her and played along with her without any other intentions. Then he helped Eva with some stuff and almost died saving her during a battle.”

“He… he did all ‘at?”

“Yeah. Every day that you spend around him increases the chances of something bad happening to you that he saves you from. Or it increases the chances of him accidentally turning you on without realizing it. Nudge nudge. Wink wink.”

“H-heh, ah know ‘at reference. ‘nd it’s not like he got me that worked up… ‘at’s a lie. Geez, ah really have been single fer too long…”

“See? No matter what you do, if you stay around Fen, he’ll save you or turn you on. It always happens. Tabs is the only exception, but that’s because she’s not into guys. He’s been super supportive of her and kinda saved her in a way before.”

“Ah don’t know if yer makin’ ‘im sound more like a good person or a womanizer.”

“I think he’s technically both. I don’t know. I’m not good with big words.”

“Heh, ah know tha feelin’. Anywho… ah brought ya out here so we could train. Let’s stop talkin’ about ‘im and all that other stuff. Let’s focus on gettin’ ya stronger so that ya can be proud of yerself. Sound good?” Mister Smiles cracked her fingers and neck while waiting for a response.

Serra smiled and nodded, giving Mister Smiles exactly the response that she was hoping for. “Yeah. I want to get strong enough so that I can be the one who protects others sometimes. Fen is the only one who gets to conveniently act like a main character in a story, so that’s not fun. I want to be like a main character, too.”

“Then we’ll just have ta make ya like a main character! That means we’ve got ta get ya some ultimate attacks, maybe an epic weapon, ‘nd all that other stuff. Ah can try ta help ya with those but, fer now, ah’m thinkin’ that ah can teach ya tha basics of fightin’. How ta move around on the battlefield, how to fight without a weapon in case ya ever lose yers, stuff like ‘at.”

“Will I become like you were I don’t die no matter how much I get hurt?”

“Heh, ya’d have to steal mah gear from me for ‘at. That there suit ‘nd mask are some of the best equips ya can find in this game. They were personally crafted for me by the leader of the Desert Stalkers herself! Ah—”

“Desert Stalkers?”

“Ya – ya didn’t hear nothin’.”

“I heard you say you got them crafted by the leader of the Desert Stalkers.”

Mister Smiles looked away, holding her hands together behind her back as she tried—and failed—to innocently whistle.

“Are you like a secret spy or something?” Serra teased.

Mister Smiles froze in place and her face quickly became drenched in sweat. “Ah – ah don’t know what yer talkin’ about…”

“Oh. Okay,” Serra said and shrugged. “Can you still teach me how to get stronger?”

Mister Smiles relaxed and wiped the sweat off of her face. “Yeah, course ah can.” Somehow, she was able to convince Serra that she really didn’t know what she was talking about.

Meanwhile, Serra realized that it probably wasn’t a good idea to call out a spy to their face, and she was definitely going to tell Fenrir about her being a spy later.