I woke up the following day still cuddling Yuki. As I rembered the event from last night, my face turned red, but I couldn’t help but smile too. I was giddy, like a schoolgirl whose crush accepted their confession.
I climbed out of bed and saw it was still a bit early, so I let Yuki sleep for a little longer. I grabbed so clothes and made my way to the bathroom to take a quick shower. Finishing that, I made my way to the living room where I saw Alex and Naomi sitting on the couch, staring at with serious expressions.
“Take a seat,” Alex said with a severe tone. I was a little nervous now, so I sat down. “What’s wrong, Alex?” I asked.
“What are your intentions with my sweet innocent daughter?” Alex asked. I stared at her in confusion for a mont before catching on to what she was getting at. “Hey, no fair! You can play the doting father role!” I exclaid.
Breaking out of character, both Naomi and Alex laughed at my plight. “Sorry, couldn’t help it. We heard about your little workout last night, so we had to ss with you.” Alex said as she laughed. “I must say, though…damn, that must have been one intense workout session.” Alex continued.
Now I could really feel my face heat up from the embarrassnt. I sat there, my mouth gaping like a fish gasping for air on land. “Sorry, Sarah. Didn’t an to embarrass you so much. But still, it was quite the visual you left us.” Alex said, trying to calm down.
“You have given new insight and inspiration for my future novel,” Naomi replied as if she was taking notes. “Anyway, changing subject. You finally made it to the capital now, right? I want to finally et up with you in the ga.” Alex said. I could see Naomi get a bit depressed from the slight change in her expression.
“Yeah, just made it yesterday. I am kind of excited to go exploring. Also, Naomi, if you can make it to Riadence, you can travel with . Yuki did give you permission to use her pod.” I said to both won.
Naomi seed to perk up a bit at that. I did miss her antics a bit in the ga and was hoping this could get her to perk up a bit more and get her out of her depression. She needs to learn to live with herself and break her dependency on her family.
After chatting, Yuki finally ca out of the room dressed for school. She had just had a shower recently due to her wet hair, so she brought the blow dryer, a small mirror, and a small assortnt of makeup to the kitchen table. I decided to make her a quick breakfast as she got ready.
“I think I am going to head ho here soon. I need to go to work for a few hours then I will hop in the ga.” Alex said. “I thought that the gym you worked at was closing. You still work there?” I asked.
“Yeah, I just work part-ti now, helping them with so things as they get ready to close,” Alex replied. I gave her a quick hug as she left the house. I would see her again today, so I wasn’t too worried. I helped Yuki dry her hair and put it in a ponytail while she applied a small amount of makeup.
“I got to get going, mom. I’ll see you later.” Yuki said as she kissed on the cheek. Despite saying she didn’t want to return to school, she seed awfully excited about it. After she left, I turned to Naomi. “I am logging into the ga now. You are free to do so too.” I spoke.
“Thanks. I will look for so jobs first for a bit before I do. Can’t just mooch off you.” Naomi responded. “That’s fine, but don’t stress too much over it. We can et up there if you make your way over to the capital.” I said as I walked to my bedroom.
Once in my room, I stripped down to my underwear, got back into my pod, and logged in to the ga. I woke up in the inn from yesterday and decided that today would be a good day to get another one of my quests finished. I still had to find Urlgan’s ntor and tell him about the demons.
I left the inn and walked around the town. I asked the people if they knew the location of the hunter’s school. Since I was looking for Urlgan’s ntor, I figured I would start there. I got information on its location but finding it was still tricky as this place didn’t use street nas except on main roads. I did eventually find it.
I walked into the building and saw soone sitting at a desk, absorbed in paperwork. “Excuse . Do you know where I can find soone nad l’Ar?” I asked the person. They looked up at , startled for a mont but quickly responded. “Yes, he can be found in the training courtyard in the back. He is a tall beastkin; can’t miss him.”
I nodded and made my way toward the back doors, hoping they led to the courtyard. Turns out I was correct. The yard was much larger than I saw in Darkwood City. Several other players were also training on dummies or taking lessons from NPCs.
I did find l’Ar, however, and tall was an understatent. He was a large, well-built lion man. He was easily pushing 300cm in height alone. He wore simple leather armor that reminded of the armor that the ancient Spartans wore. He looked very intimidating with the number of scars he had, including the one across his left eye.
“Are you l’ar?” I asked as I walked up to the large man. The beastkin looked down at . I could see him appraising before he answered. “That is I. What can I do for you?” l’Ar responded in a powerful deep gruff voice. “Urlgan sent to find you to tell you about demons found in Darkwood forest. I killed the demon there already, but I suppose there could be more.” I replied.
I saw the lion man’s face light up with shock as I told him my story. He then closed his good eye as he looked like he was in thought. “If what you say is true, this is an ill on. That also makes you a formidable warrior. You’ll have to forgive , but I must verify your story first. Please try to stay in the city as much as possible so I can get back to you later.”
“That’s fine. I was planning on staying here for a while anyways.” I responded. The man just nodded his head and then walked back into the building. I decided then to et with Alex and see what she is doing. I opened my nu and was about to send a ssage when I noticed a nearby player had a floating ball of light following him. He looked like he was also in his nus, and I suddenly rembered about my spark I nad Kairi.
I was starting to panic for a mont but then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see who it was and found it was Eri. “Don’t worry about Kairi. She is fine.” Eri spoke. I stared at her for a mont before speaking. “Eh! Wait, how did you know what I was thinking…never mind, don’t answer that. Probably god’s powers or sothing. What do you an don’t worry about her?” I managed to say.
“After your little trip in a certain dungeon, Kairi beca a little…abnormal. We are currently taking care of her and trying to get her back to normalcy. In the anti, I reverted your old character nu from before they introduced the sparks.” Eri said while leaning on my shoulder slightly.
I noticed we were getting so attention as so players started noticing Eri with . “Alright, I’ll take your word for it. But now I feel bad for forgetting her.” I said as I tried to lead Eri out of the courtyard. “It should be fine. You did go through a lot the sa day you got her,” Eri said back as she followed . Eventually, we made it outside in front of the school. I then noticed a woman with dium-length brown hair dressed as a witch standing where Eri was.
“I figured I needed to disguise myself to stop the unwarranted attention.” Said the woman with Eri’s voice. “Oh! I understand. I am about to ssage my sister to see if she wants to do anything.” I then opened my chat nu and searched for Alex’s account, LadyMisery. I was then able to find her character na Algea Hedone. I sent her a quick ssage, and shortly after, I got a response to et her at the Adventurer’s Hall.
*******
Yuki arrived at school with plenty of ti to spare. She was glad to be almost done with the place. Because she was held back a year, she beca what was known as a super senior, A title for those who had to repeat a year.
Before she could start her classes properly, she had to visit the principal in his office first. She hated it but she understood the reason for it. It didn’t take her long to get to his office. The secretary told her to wait as he was busy at the mont. Yuki sat down on a nearby couch and waited.
After waiting several minutes, the office door opened, and a slightly disfigured Aria walked out. Her injuries healed nicely for the most part. She still had so slight bruising around the eye. The worst of it looked like she had so stitches going across her right eye and up across her brow a bit. It wasn’t too serious, but it would leave an interesting scar.
Yuki got up and ignored the girl as she went into the principal’s office and closed the door behind her. “Have a seat, Miss Allen.” The man pointed to the chair in front of his desk. “I just wanted to have a quick chat with you. I just need to reiterate that you need to have that essay turned into my office by the end of Friday. Also, you need to be on your best behavior. Your chances of walking for your graduation depend on it. Do I make myself clear?” The principal sternly said.
Yuki knew she had ssed up and was glad she could still have a chance to walk. “I understand,” Yuki said with determination. “Good. Go to your horoom now, and I will see you when you turn in the essay.”
Yuki got up and left the office. She saw one of Aria’s minions sitting on the couch, waiting, looking a bit worse than Aria. Yuki thought she needed to control her anger a bit more. She ignored the girl and left the faculty room. In the hallway, she was t with Aria, who seed to be waiting for her.
Yuki didn’t want to deal with whatever Aria wanted and started to walk past the girl. “Yuki, wait! Please…I-I need to tell you sothing.” Yuki was not in the mood, but her pleading voice made her stop and turn toward the other girl. “What is it.” Yuki spat out with a cold emotion.
Aria looked as if she was about to break down and cry but stopped herself from doing so. “I wanted to apologize. I am sorry I took my anger out on you. Ever since my dad…after I found out your connection Exodus Tech, I mistreated you.” She managed to say in between sobs.
Yuki was still staring at the girl coldly. “So you have so issue with my father and took it out on , and now you’re sorry? You’re just sorry because your bullying ca to light?” Yuki said, her words laced with venom.
“NO! I an…” Aria heaved a large sigh before continuing. “I guess I need to tell you the full story. My father was a chief engineer for Exodus Tech. But then, one day, he changed. He seed to be paranoid as if soone was after him. I overheard his conversation with my mother about how he discovered sothing where he worked. He said it would destroy everything and that if anything happened to him, my mom should release his findings. Three days later, his body was found in a river.”
Yuki was genuinely shocked by this bit of information. She no longer recognized her father anymore, but this seed to further move him away. “After I was expelled, my mom explained that you and your mother are also victims of Kaito. She had so contacts in the company, and she found out so information. But whatever my father wanted her to do, she ignored it to protect . So truly, from the bottom of my heart. I am very sorry.”
With those words, Aria turned and walked away, leaving a stunned Yuki in the hallway.
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