Translation:

Daijoubu – (It's) alright
Hontou –'It's true' or 'is it true?' depending on whether it's a statement or question


A/N: I'm grateful for Kenata, who has been reviewing faithfully. But I do wish others would as well. I suppose that's one of the main grouses as a fanfiction author. I'm hoping that as the story continues, it will gain the interest of more people who will (hopefully) review. I'm really just curious as to how many people actually like this fic.

Or maybe no one else is reading this? #shock# I sincerely hope not. But to those of you who are reading and enjoying this but not reviewing, thanks as well for supporting me (albeit quietly). Do keep reading, even if you don't review.


Chapter 4: Spoils of the Battle

"Where are we?" asked Fuji, as he stared at his surroundings. They were standing by a clear, blue lake in a large field. Beautiful, sweet smelling flowers were blooming all around the lake.

"This is one time where I don't have an answer," replied Inui. His gaze shifted downwards. He was wearing dark blue robes that draped over his tall body and covered even his feet. The robes were glittering but it didn't seem like it was covered with glitter dust or anything of the sort but of something... magical? Inui shook his head. That's not right. Magic doesn't exist.

"Something wrong Inui?" inquired Fuji, who noticed the bespectacled boy shake his head. His jaw sunk open involuntarily when he saw a glimpse of the other boy, but he caught himself and closed it just as quickly. "That's uh, a very interesting ensemble you have there."

"Yes, indeed," frowned Inui. "And I cannot fathom why I would be wearing this in any situation. So I must deduce that I am dreaming. Now, how do I wake myself up?"

Fuji blinked. Then he reached his hand out and pinched Inui. Hard.

Inui yelped. "What did you do that for?"

"You said you were dreaming. So I thought I'd pinch you to help wake you up." Fuji answered, smiling.

"Although I do see the connection between testing to see if one is dreaming and pinching, I don't see the need for you to pinch that hard," grumbled Inui, who was rubbing his arm.

"My bad," Fuji replied, looking a bit too pleased with himself.


"There's a pouch here," noted Ryoma. He picked it up and studied it for a while. It was a glossy, pearl white colour and had a golden string to secure its contents.

Momoshiro peered at the pouch. "It came after the battle was over. I say it must be something that chicken dropped."

"Why would a chicken carry a pouch?" Ryoma inquired, puzzled.

"These are spoils of a battle. In games like this, you have to fight monsters and when you kill them, you get items as a reward. It's all part of the game."

"Oh," said Ryoma, who didn't want to ask anymore questions, because it was just not his style. He frowned for a bit. He wasn't sure if he liked this place. He missed tennis, in which he could understand better and was always quick to pick up on what was going on. But then again, battling that chicken had been fun…

"There're some items here too. I'm not sure what they're for, but we should keep them in case they come in handy. We might even be able to sell them for some cash," Momoshiro grinned as he put them in the pouch.

A blue panel popped up. On it was written:

'You received a Chicken Beak and 2 Feathers'

"Do you think there're even other people here?" asked Ryoma, forgetting about his resolve to not ask anymore questions. "It looks pretty deserted."

"Daijoubu, daijoubu. In all games there are definitely people to talk to. If we walk longer, we may reach a town! Heck, there may even be a castle and a princess who needs saving!" said Momoshiro, who was getting excited again.

Ryoma didn't know what to say of that princess bit, but if ever the time came he would let Momo-sempai do all the saving and just stand back and watch the scene unfold.

The two boys traveled further west away from the sun (or at least what they think was west, assuming it was morning just as it had been in the real world). They had many more battles and their health bar, which Momoshiro had figured out a way to switch on so that they would show up in front of their chests along with their names, decreased slowly. Luckily, they found some blue potions dropped by other monsters which could increase their health points if they drank it. The problem was, thanks to their past experiences with Inui's assortment of juices, neither of them were too eager to go first.

"You drink it first, Echizen."

"Yada. You drink it Momo-sempai."

Momoshiro looked suspiciously at the vial in his hand. It was a dark shade of blue and reminded him too much of Inui's Aozu (blue vinegar).

"Maybe we should drink this later," Ryoma suggested.

"But our health bars are red. If we don't take any of these soon we may just end up dead," Momoshiro put bluntly.

"What happens when we die here?" Ryoma couldn't help but ask.

"Hmm. I don't think we'll die exactly, but I'm not really sure I want to find out," answered Momoshiro truthfully.

Ryoma sighed. "I guess we'll have to take this then. Let's both go at the count of three. One, two, three."

The two of them shut their eyes before downing their vials in one go.

"Hey, that wasn't so bad. It was quite nice actually. Refreshing and kind of sweet," declared Momoshiro.

"I guess it's alright. It reminds me of Ponta," Ryoma stared longingly at the last remaining vial.

"I know you love your Ponta and all, but we need to save that for an emergency. You don't want to risk dying do you?" said Momoshiro firmly. He was being quite responsible for once.

"Cheh," came Ryoma's only reply.


Back in Atobe's mansion, the race had ended. Ohtori Choutarou had won by default after Kabaji tripped over Shishido and Hiyoshi when he was returning with ore-sama's drink. Gakuto had left after throwing a tantrum and Oshitari although being the cause of that by cutting in front of Gakuto's racecar was still too far behind (he just cut the person in last place, for goodness sake, you can't expect him to win). Jiroh had wandered off and Kabaji was of course, busy getting Atobe's drink, which he unfortunately spilt most of it on Shishido while tripping.

Shishido had given Kabaji a dirty look before walking off to change his clothes. Atobe was not happy either, because his drink was gone. He ordered Kabaji to get another one for him.

"And don't spill it this time," he snapped.

"Usu," replied Kabaji, unfazed.

"Hmm. I wonder where Jiroh went," Oshitari said, after they had been done playing.

"He probably found some other place to sleep in," snorted Hiyoshi.

"Gakuto, do you want to come with me to look for him?" Oshitari asked.

Gakuto glared at him. "Why should I go anywhere with a rude, line-cutting person like you?" he demanded.

"You're not still mad at me are you? It was part of the game. You have to cut in front of other people to win. In fact, if you had continued playing, I'm sure you would have managed to cut in front of all of us and win," said Oshitari.

Gakuto pondered his statement for a moment. "You're right. I would have won such an easy game anyway."

"Let's go, then," smiled Oshitari.


Ryoma and Momoshiro were staring at a treasure chest. Actually, two treasure chests.

"It's really odd how monsters manage to carry these around," Ryoma pointed out.

"Like I said, it's part of the game. You don't question stuff like this. Yosh, I'm going to open this one up now," and he did so, drawing out something heavy. He grunted as he struggled to pull it out.

"A wheelbarrow?" asked Momoshiro in disbelief. "What do we need a wheelbarrow for? I'm not lugging this around."

"Maybe we can put in the pouch," Ryoma suggested.

Momoshiro raised his eyebrow. In that instant, the pouch grew bigger and bigger until it was able to fit the whole wheelbarrow in it. Momoshiro whistled. "Looks like you were right Echizen. You're learning things pretty fast. Looks like there's hope for you after all."

Echizen merely tipped his cap lower. The pouch shrunk back to it's original size at the same time a message came up:

'You received a Wheelbarrow'

Ryoma turned to the unopened chest. "I'm opening this one then," he declared.

"Mrppgh. Empph."

"What was that?" asked Momoshiro.

"It sounds like it's coming from the treasure chest," Ryoma eyed it warily. "It's not like there's a monster in there or anything right?"

"Although that could happen, there is a very low percentage of it happening this early in the game."

"You're starting to sound like Inui sempai."

The treasure chest answered with a "Erghhhhh! Mrrrphh!" and several knocking sounds.

"Hmm. Well, here goes," said Ryoma, lifting the lid. The 'thing' inside it sprang out so fast it knocked both Ryoma and Momoshiro causing them to topple backwards.

"NYA!!! I'm free! Ah, it's you ochibi! And Momo too! Thank you for saving me!" cried Eiji as he gave Ryoma, who was the nearest, a tight hug. "I was so scared! I thought I was drugged and kidnapped or locked away never to be seen ever again!" The poor boy was almost in tears.

"Eiji-sempai, it's alright. You're safe now," Momoshiro said gently.

Eiji sniffed. He was really glad to be out of that box or whatever it was. He relaxed his grip on Ryoma who was previously semi-suffocating. To his credit, he did not complain even once about being glomped. He knew his sempai was upset.

Momoshiro continued, "In fact, you're not just safe, you're in a real video game! Imagine that, you're actually inside a video game! See, there's armour and swords and monsters and a theme song and–"

Eiji's eyes widened then turned sparkly. "Hontou? Wah! I can't believe it! We're in a video game! Yayyyy!!!"

A familiar blue box popped up again:

'You received a Kikumaru Eiji'

None of the boys seemed to notice, however. Ryoma was simply smiling at his two sempais, who were jumping up and down in excitement. "Mada mada dane," he said softly.


A/N: I was just typing out this chapter and it all tumbled out. I'm happy that this fic is going smoothly. My chapters aren't quite as long as I want them to be. I thought this was long but it only turned out to be slightly longer than the previous chapter. Which was slightly longer than the chapter before that. And the one before that.

I wonder if this is a trend? Maybe by the end of this fic, I'll have super long chapters. I hope not. #Eyes long A/N both at the top and bottom# I type too much.