"Eh!? What do you mean we only have enough money for one room!?"

"As I told you, the room rates are exceptionally high in this town due to the huge demand. Each room costs 60 gold per night."

"W-Well, what about some haggling? We only have 90 gold total..."

"I am sorry, this establishment does not budge on it's prices."

"Gaaaaahhhhhh!" Aki slammed his hand down on the reception desk not in anger, but in frustration. They had to buy something, as the NPC had locked Midorin in the sauna she'd oh-too-quickly rushed into. Until they paid him some money, he wouldn't let her out either. "Fine fine... We'll take one room."

"Thank you for your purchase. Your room has been allotted to you based on your dimensions, and will open to only someone with your dimensions. Your room is number 09." The NPC responded in a humanoid voice, however it's stiffness of speech gave away that it was a program rather than a person. Once he saw his cut of the room fee disappear from his reserves, the NPC reached over to the door, undid a physical lock, and opened the door. Instantly, a cherry red Midorin fell forward, just as she had in the forest earlier, panting.

"H-Heh... That... Was... Great..." She kept panting and breathing in between breaths, the heat obviously taken some kind of a toll.

"I think you overdid the sauna experience Midorin-chan..." Kame said, giggling.

"H-Hehh... We got our rooms?" Midorin asked, teetering side to side as if she had gotten up too quickly.

"Uh, actually, only one room." Katsu corrected her, before turning towards Aki. "So how is this going to work out Akihiko?"

"Well, if there are two bunkbeds, two of us can sleep on the floor." He reasoned, hoping that this hotel was made to accommodate large parties.

It wasn't.

The very moment that Aki opened the door, he groaned in disappointment. The room was small, with a single bed that could hardly fit Midorin, the smallest of the group. Before anyone could remark on it or start making negotiations on whom would have the privileged mattress, Midorin sprinted forward and jumped onto the bed. In a defensive manner, she stretched her tiny body so that there was hardly an inch available from every single direction.

"H-heh..." That final laugh was a mixture of exhaustion and mischievousness, and the other five stood in the doorway in a sort of disbelief.

"Did she..."

"She did..."

"Remind me why we keep her around?" Shou muttered, staring at her strewn out body in discontent.

"Because she's a better archer than you are." Haruka softly pushed him. "So the question is, why do we keep you around."

"Because..." Even though he knew Haruka was joking, he was still trying to figure out an answer to that question. "Because my shortness makes me cute and a possible subject of slash-fiction in my fellow party member's minds?"

The only response Shou got was two looks of disbelief from Katsu and Aki, while Haruka and Kame exchanged a glance.

"Slash... Fiction?" Aki repeated. A internet frequenter, he knew the term, I mean, who didn't? It was everywhere on the internet, as fangirls and guys alike taking their favorite characters and then boom, there'd be a relationship. He could understand why some would read said fiction, but imagining others imagining them in a relationship? Seemed like Shou had an incorrect perception of what goes on in others minds...

"Well... I could see you with Katsu, Shou." Kame said, giggling as she did earlier

"W-Wait, with me!?" Katsu looked at her as if she was even crazier. "Oi! Don't make me the subject of your fantasies Kame!"

"It's too late Katsu, once you're in, you're in." Haruka smirked. "There's no possible intervention at this point, she's far too gone to be saved."

"You too Haruka!? She's corrupted you to the point where you're familiar with this!?"

He retained this smug look, and seemed as if he was a master teaching an apprentice. "You see, I've been well aware of Kame's fantasies since the start of our group's adventure in the beta. Isn't that right, Kame?"

"Mhm!"

"You see, the average female mind possesses many many ships or pairings, whether the characters are living or fictional is beyond the point. Somewhere there is a pairing, though some have this form of sickness worse than others." No, scratch the master description. He was more of a doctor explaining a diagnosis to a patient. "Simply put, Kame's one of the world's worse sufferers, if you can believe it. You're forever doomed to be matched with someone Katsu, and at the moment, it's little Shou here." He gestured to the boy, who like Midorin, matched them in age but not in body. "And let's be honest, that's not a bad pairing."

"I'm done!" Katsu raised his arms in the air, as if to signal his surrender. "I will see you guys later, I need to take a walk to clear these images out of my head."

"Do you want me to come with you for protection, Katsu?" Aki asked, bemused by the situation.

"No! Don't! If you do that, she'll change the ship from Shou to Akihiko!" Haruka seemed truly frantic, as if he needed to protect the Shou/Katsu ship as it's captain.

"Ooh, what a nice suggestion Haruka-kun!" Kame said, causing Haruka to inhale dramatically. "But that ship wouldn't work, they're too alike."

"Hmm... I guess you're right.." He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, Katsu, what do you think?" Haruka looked over, only to see that their longswordsman had left the building. "Hmph."

(Why hello there! My name is Kanto, and I am the author of this piece here. Typically I insert little side notes like this before and/or after the chapter ends, yet for whatever reason I haven't placed a single one in yet until this point. But, since you've just finished the third chapter of my story, I feel an obligation to thank you for reading up to this point, and I hope that you continue to read on as I provide you chapters! ^-^)