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“Hmm, it’s quiet, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
The crimson coastline of the sunset, the first star appearing in the eastern sky, and the sound of the ripples were soothing to the ear.
There were no other people around, making it a perfect situation for a date.
The one standing next to me was a small girl with light blue hair.
She wore a small-sleeved top that left her shoulders bare, orange hakama like a Taisho-era schoolgirl, and held a staff in her hand. Her perky, fluffy ears and tail were particularly eye-catching.
In short, she was a beautiful, Japanese-style beast-eared mage.
“It’s too quiet, the target mob isn’t even spawning! I even used a paid drop-rate boost item, this is crap!”
“Hey, hey, we just defeated it a moment ago.”
“Ugh! I’m going to send a complaint email to the management! While I’m at it, I’ll demand they implement an avatar part that’s just panties!”
“They’re not going to listen to that, you idiot.”
Contrary to her cute appearance, the words coming out of her mouth were foul. She was flailing her arms, stomping her feet, and clicking her tongue, using her whole body to express her displeasure.
I watched her while shrugging my shoulders, clad in scale mail and carrying a large battle-axe.
There wasn't a shred of a sweet, date-like atmosphere here.
She is Philia-san. Judging from our daily conversations, she’s probably a high school student like me.
We were playing Find Chronicle Online, commonly known as FCO, an MMORPG. It’s a standard fantasy title, but it became popular for its unprecedented sense of immersion, marketed as being compatible with VR goggles. Unfortunately, I don’t own any VR goggles...
Currently, I was gathering materials with Philia-san. We were having some idle chat to kill time while waiting for the target mob to respawn.
“By the way, what do you think of this avatar?”
“The skirt is long for you, Phi-san.”
“Right! I thought it might be elegant to hide the legs for once. Thighs are great, but upper arms and backs are good too, yeah. I could go through three bowls of rice just looking at them.”
“You have such weirdly specific obsessions.”
Philia-san loves tinkering with her character’s outfit to make it look cute. She often says things like, ‘In reality, no one wears something this short! Look, you can see the panties!’ Right now, she was saying, ‘I can’t leave out the nape of the neck when it comes to the back and upper arms... should I change the hairstyle?’
Her behavior and the things she worries about are a bit middle-aged-man-like, but that’s normal for her.
Philia-san often tells me I should wear fashionable equipment too, but I can’t help it since I’m not interested. It doesn't really get me excited to dress up a male character.
Just like that, it’s been about three years since we met in the game.
I happened to meet Philia-san when we both started around the same time, and we’ve been playing together ever since. We’ve even worked hard together to achieve top-tier rankings in the game.
Even though I’ve never met her in person, I consider her a best friend.
...Well, maybe more of a partner-in-crime? I don’t even know if the person inside is a man or a woman... but being with them is fun, so that’s a minor issue.
In the first place, I don’t know their real name or where they live. It’s a relationship strictly within the game.
We often talk about trivial things you can’t mention in daily life, like thighs, upper arms, or bare backs, just like we are now.
All I know is that they are a student and that they like aroma candles. When I said that sounds like a hobby for a girl, they got sulky and asked, ‘Is there something wrong with that?’
“By the way, Kreis-kun, did you hear that this game is doing a collaboration with Karaoke Celery? Apparently, they’re recreating the in-game food.”
“Let’s see—oh, it’s on the official site. ‘Dragon King Fafnir’s Eye Croquettes’... what is this?”
“‘Prosciutto made by Town Goblins’ and ‘Fried Kraken,’ doesn’t that pique your interest?”
“Ugh, the presentation looks gross! Now I’m actually curious.”
Karaoke Celery is a karaoke chain that puts a lot of effort into anime songs and the like. It seems they are often used as venues for offline meetups.
“Ah, I’d love to go there at least once!”
“Now that I think about it, there was one in front of the station near my house... Oh, it starts this weekend.”
“Eh, really?! Lucky! I live in a regional city, so... oh, the Hatsuseya branch is doing it!”
“Hatsuseya?”
That name sounded familiar. It was the name of the station I use every day to commute to school. Could it be...
“Yeah, it’s my nearest station. But even for me, going to karaoke alone is a bit of a high hurdle—”
“Are you serious?! I’m at Hatsuseya too!”
“Eh?! Kreis-kun, really?!”
“What, we live close by? Then, hey, want to go together this weekend?”
Excited by the unexpected coincidence, I invited her without thinking.
Philia-san’s large eyes wavered. The ambient sound of the ripples coming from the screen felt incredibly loud.
Two minutes... then three minutes. It wasn't unusual for responses in chat not to come immediately. However, that brief period was enough time for my head to cool down.
Ah, did I overstep?
There are people who clearly draw a line between the game and reality. Philia-san might be someone who wants to keep our relationship strictly within the game. Since we’ve been together for three years, I should have thought about that more carefully.
Just as I was rethinking and typing ‘Sorry, forget wha—’ a response came.
“Well, how should I put this? My impression in the game and in reality is completely different.”
“Hmm?”
Is that something to worry about? Given our usual fetish-leaning conversations, I’d believe it even if the person inside was a middle-aged man—oh, I see. They said they were a student, but maybe they’re actually a working adult.
“But the person inside is still Philia-san, right? Well, if it’s impossible, it’s fine.”
“Hmm, if we actually meet and you give me a weird look...”
“Haha, I won’t.”
“Well then okay... Wait, it spawned!”
“Oh?”
A giant turtle with an incredibly long neck popped up right in front of us. This guy’s shell was the drop we were after.
“Lightning Flash! Wait, gyaaa! It’s coming this way!”
“Hey, hey, don’t attack before I take the aggro!”
……………………
……
Philia-san started attacking as if she couldn't wait. I hurriedly followed up to stabilize the situation.
It was a scene we had repeated many times. This kind of predictable back-and-forth was incredibly fun. I was sure we could be good friends in reality too—that’s what I thought at the time.
I will upload one more chapter today.