We were now inside the cafe. Everyone had bought something to eat or drink, and we were crowded around a table.

"This is good," commented Giselle. She was eating into a blueberry scone.

Sujin rolled his eyes. "If a place had bad food and drinks then it wouldn't be open."

"Of course it wouldn't!" Nova grinned at Sujin who eyed her curiously. She bit into a scone that she had bought alongside Giselle, saying, "The food here tastes amazing, Archie!"

I nodded. "It does. An old client of mine used to go here all the time. She's living in Zurich now though."

"Ooh, interesting," Calla whistled. She leaned over to my side and wiggled her eyebrows, continuing, "Please tell us more about her, Archie."

"She's just a client." I laughed. "She moved to Zurich because of personal reasons. I feel like it's rude of me to speak about her reasons specifically though, sorry."

"Yeah, that's fine!" the chess player exclaimed with a giggle. "What book did she write?"

"Oh!" I felt my face brightened. "She made Love and Justice."

"Oh wow!" Calla gasped. She threw her hands to the air. "Really, mate? I read that book last year! It's a really good book!"

"Yeah, I know right?" I felt a surge of confidence inside my body. My dimples were stuck in place. "She has a natural talent for writing. She told me she first started writing short stories when she was five, and now she's a full-time novelist!"

Calla's blond hair bounced to her movements. "And you're her editor! That's really amazing, Archie."

"Haha! Nothing of the like!" I cried out. "She had a natural talent for writing, and I'm just here to make sure she won't make any silly mistakes. She's the one who deserves all the credit, not me!"

"Really?" Aki looked at me suddenly. "Are you sure you wouldn't want to receive some credit?"

"Well…"

Honestly, I hated to think about that. Receiving credit was something I would appreciate, but I tended to try to stray away from that selfish idea and stayed as selfless as possible. I would love to be complimented here and there, but credit must be given to the authors. They were the ones who even created the story, and my belief stayed with 'I'm nothing but a mere editor, and they're the ones with the talent and ideas'.

Overall, I'm usually conflicted in that mindset.

"Supposedly. Maybe at times." I resorted to answering in a vague way. I smiled at Aki who shrugged and went back to eating her pastry.

"Let's arm wrestle!" Calla exclaimed suddenly. She was grinning at us. "Whoever beats me will be able to make me buy something from them here!"

Petra jumped off of her seat. She threw her arm down and pointed at the chess player. "I wanna try! I'm going to beat you!"

"Well!" Nova laughed. "There goes Petra's competitive spirit as always!"

Elijah smiled calmly. He directed his attention to the internet personality. "Petra, don't get too ahead of yourself."

"But I'll definitely win," the curly blonde whined, pouting.

Giselle yawned. She eyed us, having tilted her head. "I'm sorry, but what are we doing again?"

Sujin groaned. "You dozed off already?"

"Sorry," the doll maker grumbled. She resorted back to biting into her scone.

"Just don't cause a ruckus," I warned. I felt a sense of great chaos ahead of us. Nonetheless, I also noticed that some employees were eyeing us strangely. I had a feeling they might kick us out sooner or later.

What I said didn't stop Petra or Calla. The duo were both competitive, and so it should've been clear that they wouldn't back down from their claims. Calla positioned her arm on the table, Petra having followed suit. The duo stared down one another before clutching hands.

Nova was in the middle of the duo. She acted as the referee, exclaiming, "Alright, ready? Go!"

I watched the duo who began putting all their strength to their arms. Their faces turned red as they tried to battle for superiority. Calla moved her arm an inch closer down to the table, but Petra forced herself to keep steady. It was a close fight, definitely.

"Vote for someone!" Nova cried. She was clapping her hands together repeatedly. "I'm going to go for Calla!"

Elijah smiled calmly, saying, "I suppose I can cheer for Petra then."

"How about we cheer for none of them?" Sujin asked. He squinted at the arm wrestling contest in front of him.

I smiled at the group. I then turned to smile at the audience inside of the cafe. They were looking at us curiously. "Erm… Don't be too loud now, guys, please."

Aki crossed her arms and said, "Don't worry. We're not being too loud."

"Haha…"

As the Ultimate Cheerleader, Nova aroused us in excitement. We were unable to keep our eyes away from the arm wrestle even if we had wanted to. Petra and Calla were fighting for their very own pride and sanity. They were grinding their teeth. Their faces turned redder than before.

However, the tables had turned.

Petra suddenly switched the tables on Calla. She exclaimed excitedly and knocked Calla's arm to the surface of the table. She panted deeply. She had won.

"Hah!" Petra jumped up to her feet. She was grinning childishly. "I won!"

"Woo," Elijah whistled. He was chuckling from where he sat. "Good job out there, Petra."

The blonde began giggling to herself.

"Interesting," Giselle said and blinked before finishing her cup of frappuccino. "That was an interesting bout."

"You think?" Sujin asked. "Then again, people are so excited over the simplest of things."

Calla was about to speak, but her eyes caught attention to the door.

Someone had walked inside, and whoever that person was caught all of our attention.

The person who had walked into the cafe was a boy who looked intimidating at first glance. He was taller than your average person, more than six feet tall. If it wasn't his height that scared us, it was the muscles and broad shoulders he had. His skin was pale. His hair was dark brown and was cut in a crew cut, however his hair is wavy and a bit thick on top. His fierce, cold eyes were a pale green color.

The boy was wearing a dark brown leather wool lined jacket over a red muscle shirt. He was wearing black jeans that are held up by a red leather belt and his shoes were black heavy boots (and I admitted they looked like they had some faded blood stains on them). Other than that was the thick silver chain necklace that he wore around his neck.

He was intimidating, to put it in a few words.

I saw Petra ducking her head down. She scooted closer to Elijah who eyed the new customer questionably. The internet personality poke her up for a second, having observed the boy again. "Who is he?"

Elijah shrugged. "Don't know. Maybe he's meeting a friend here?"

"Definitely a murderer. Maybe he's here to discuss murder," Sujin snorted with a joke. He was grinning at Petra who flinched at his words.

"You think?" Calla laughed. Her expression was immediately switched into a state of calmness. The chess player hopped off of her seat and approached the boy.

"Woah!" Nova's eyes widened. "Calla?"

Calla turned her lips into a smile. She was staring at the tall brunette. She held her hand out which caused her bracelets to make a small jingling noise. "Hello, you must be here to meet up with us, right? I'm assuming you're the Ultimate Butcher."

Aki frowned. "Butcher?"

"O-oh!" Nova threw her hands over her mouth. "No wonder his boots look like that! He's part of us!"

Giselle yawned and murmured, "Wait, really?"

The boy eyed Calla before his lips curved to a warm smile. He immediately grabbed ahold of her hand and shook it, greeting with a thick Russian accent, "H-hello! Yes, I'm the Ultimate Butcher. Uh, Konstantin Sokolov, n-nice to meet you!"

Calla nodded. "And I'm Calla Muldoon! Here, here, let's go over there. Nova and the others are right there."

The chess player led Konstantin over to the table. We all smiled and greeted him. We recognized that Konstantin was a friend of ours, and our fear died out quickly. We exchanged our names and warm welcomes before the conversation lost its formality.

"S-so the others aren't here yet?" Konstantin asked. He was looking around the table and mentally counting the people in his head.

"Not yet," I said, "Ryokichi is with Shizuna and Kudosu. The others should be getting here soon though."

The brunette smiled. "I see. W-well, I'm glad I wasn't the last one to be here then."

Giselle nodded her head. "I don't think anyone of us will judge you if you were to arrive late."

"Yes, t-that should be obvious," the butcher replied, "S-sorry about that."

"That's fine!" Nova clapped her hands. "Oh, right, and if you didn't know, I'm Nova!"

I followed forth, "And I'm Archie."

Everyone else introduced themselves to the butcher.

For starters, Konstantin was one of the last people to have joined the server. From what I've heard, he's been invited by Calla herself. Calla had reasoned that Konstantin was a nice person and wasn't always good with interacting with others, and so him being in our server was a way for him to "break the ice".

The first few days went well. Konstantin was shy and would only talk when someone mentioned him, but after those few days he became more open and was a regular to the server. He became particularly close to a few people as well, though he always tried to keep his relationships open and talk to everyone.

Overall, he was a sweet person. He would talk to support others and never keep someone in their lonesome. He would talk to a person no matter the time zone.

Nova smiled. "Anyways Konstantin, do you want to order a drink or snack? Do you have any money? I can buy some for you if you want!"

Konstantin smiled sheepishly. He shook his head and replied, "N-no, it's fine. You don't have to, Nova…"

The cheerleader shook her head, "No, no, you don't have to feel pressured! I don't mind paying for you if you don't have money! Don't worry."

Konstantin replied, "No. I-it's fine, thank you."

Calla immediately jumped over to the butcher's side. She sipped into her drink before asking, "What were you doing before coming here anyways, Kon?"

"Butchering some shit," Sujin snorted. "He was probably busy right before he had to go to the airport or something."

"That makes sense," Elijah said and nodded his head. "You do look a bit tired too, Kon. I'm guessing you were really busy, huh?"

Konstantin smiled slightly. "I was. An elderly couple r-requested me to prepare them s-some pork and c-chicken for an orphanage they run."

"Awww, really?" Calla's smile widened. "That's so sweet of them to do that! I'm guessing they were throwing a party or something?"

The brunette softened immediately after he heard what Calla said. There was genuine affection in his eyes as he said, "They were. It was for this kid's birthday. D-Dinara, was her name. I-I heard she's one of t-the recent kids w-who were brought to the o-orphanage. H-her birthday was only a few weeks after her transfer, s-so they want to t-throw a huge party for her."

"Awwww! Oh my gosh!" Calla was melting. "That is just too sweet."

I smiled. It was nice to hear what good deeds were happening around the world. When I heard what Konstantin said, I responded, "I'm glad the kids have caring people who look for them in the orphanage."

"Y-yeah," Konstantin mumbled.

The door opened again after a while passed. A tall boy (whom I assumed was over six feet tall) with brown messy hair and beady eyes walked into the cafe. He was wearing a brown outback hat over the messy hair and had a boomerang in his hands. His shirt was blue and under his cargo vest which matched with his cargo shorts and brown pointed shoes.

If I had to make an assumption, he looked like somebody who had just gone out from a safari or expedition. If not, then he was definitely outdoorsy.

However, having judged not his appearance, but now the boomerang in his hands, I instinctively knew who he was.

"Hello!" I greeted, calling the boy over from our table, "You're Oliver, right? Oliver Jones, the Ultimate Boomerang Specialist?"

The boy, Oliver, turned to my direction. A cocky grin escaped his lips and he flocked over to my direction.

"Yo!" He greeted. He bounced in his movement. He threw me and the others salutations, his hand showing forth that salute signal on the forehead. "I'm Oliver Jones, Boomerang Specialist! It's awesome to meet y'all."

His thick Australian accent stood out to me. It made me completely certain that he was apart of us, given the various voice chats we had during our time online.

"Hey! Nice to meet you!" Nova cried and bobbed her head. She scooted over to give Oliver a seat.

Oliver sat down next to the cheerleader with ease. He confidently grinned at us all, observing us from face to face. He then said, "Alright, I need to know all of your names, if you don't mind!"

We introduced ourselves once again. I laughed to myself. I already knew we would have to do this for a few more times.

Speaking about Oliver, he was also one of the last people who joined the server. He joined after a few people, namely Elijah and Ryokichi, had invited him. He easily fitted into the server. He had a humor and personality that attracted us to him, and we had the atmosphere that attracted him to us. He was just a positive ray of energy for our group.

"So anyways Oliver, tell us more about you," Elijah said. He was content from just speaking to Oliver. I assumed it was because of their similar nationalities. "How did you take up being a boomerang specialist?"

Oliver laughed. "Easy! I just follow in my dad's footsteps! I mean, I'm better than him, but y'know! Gotta go back to your roots."

Elijah was amused, snickering, "Pfft, true."

The boomerang specialist's eyes widened. He shot an excited and haughty look at us, asking (although it sounded like he was going to do it anyways if we were to say no), "Ooh, anyways, wanna hear a joke?"

Aki groaned, "Oliver, please."

Sujin's answer was an obvious snort of, "Hell no."

Oliver cleared his throat. He was ignoring the duo's responses and instead asked, "Why do kangaroos hate rainy days?"

Giselle eyed the messy-haired boy curiously, saying albeit in a lazy manner, "Why…?"

"Because their children play inside!"

I knew better than to say anything. I was silent and allowed everyone to voice my own thoughts. Better to not entertain or bemuse Oliver than to voice my own opinion compared to others', or so I believed.

"Why is it always the bad ones he tells?" Aki murmured to herself. She was shaking her head.

Petra sighed, "We need Zenjiro here, pronto."

"Someone just kill me already," Sujin groaned.

"Interesting," Giselle said, yawning.

"Mhm, very!" Nova laughed. She nodded her head and told Oliver, "You really do like telling jokes, don't you? Maybe you should take some lessons from Zenjiro!"

"Nah, don't need to." Oliver chuckled, haughty. "I'm good enough with what I have."

Sujin rolled his eyes. "Sure you are."

Calla twisted her locks of blond hair, eased with the atmosphere the group held within them. She went on to say, "I'm glad you're here nonetheless, Oliver!"

The messy-haired boy laughed. "Aren't you all?"

Before we were able to say anything more, the door opened another time. This time, however, revealed three teenagers who walked into the cafe.

The first person who walked into the cafe was a boy. From first glance I noticed that the boy had a young and childlike appearance, though I concluded that based on how short he was. His big eyes are blue and his hair was a mint green color that reached down to his neck. I noticed that his bangs were long and covered most of his left eye.

Other than that, the boy was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and teal overall pocket shorts that reached down to his knee with shoulder straps over his shoulders. Over his white shirt was a short-sleeved black hoodie jacket that covered some of what I mentioned beforehand. The jacket had paint splattered all over, and at the bottom I noticed he was wearing mismatched sneakers. For accessories he was wearing piercings on his ears, a necklace with an engraving around his neck, black fingerless gloves, and a black and turquoise colored baseball cap that was worn backwards on his head.

My first thought was to label the boy as a childish type. I was silently deducing who exactly this boy was from everyone else.

The next person to come in was a girl with dark blonde hair that was wavy and reached at the end of her waist. It was fashioned into a low hanging ponytail a dark brown hair tied with a scrunchie around her ponytail with a purple sunflower with yellow middle on the front, also two wavy bangs framing the sides of her face. Her eyes were dark purple, however what was more noticeable was the bags underneath. Other than that, she had fair white skin and was taller than the boy by a couple amount of inches. She was slender, however I noticed there were calluses on her palms.

Clothing wise, the girl was wearing a light purple straight cap top with a poetic quote written in black lettering. I realized what the quote meant immediately since as an editor I do have pride in my knowledge of novels- it was a quote from Edgar Allen Poe. Over that shirt was a light brown cape jacket that was left opened. On the bottom she was wearing a purple and yellow patterned round skirt that ended at her knees, and dark brown sneakers with white lacings and white ankle socks on the bottom. Accessory wise, she was wearing a silver necklace with a gold pen shaped pendant, a brown strap wristwatch on her left wrist, a silver charm bracelet on her right.

She was most likely someone who was an avid reader. I judged this from the Edgar Allen Poe quote on her shirt, however I also made an assumption that she was someone who used her hands a lot. Judging from the calluses on her palms, maybe she was a writer.

The last person who walked into the room was another girl. She was slim with angelic glowing white and pink blushed skin. Her auburn hair was long and silky, however what I noticed most was the two brides on her head that were styled like hearts and continued to tie into her mermaid braids. Her side bangs were curled, almost like a hoop, and I noticed that a strand of hair laid in front of her face. Her eyes are alluringly narrow and was an amethyst color.

If the boy and girl's previous designs weren't deemed as fashionable, I can tell for sure that this girl's would be labelled as so. She was wearing black shades under those amethyst eyes, body entirely covered in gold accents and chains. She was even wearing phi gold rose earrings to top off her appearance. Her shirt was beige and was under a burgundy blazer that had grid and math symbols, yellow ruffles acting as her cuffs. She was also wearing another shirt which was beige and buttoned with an orange ribbon to be seen. Her skirt was brown tulip with the second layer a pastel yellow pleated look (added with burgundy math symbols). Finally, on the bottom were her dark leather burgundy wedge boots.

From appearance alone, I safely concluded that this girl fitted the picture of a mature and wise figure. If not for her slim figure, then I concluded this from how extravagant her clothes were.

"Oh, hey there!" Elijah called out. He waved his hands that caused the trio to look over to the table. "You guys are here for the gathering too, right?"

Petra's eyes widened. She looked at Elijah and asked, "You're sure they're here for us?"

"Yeah," the piercer answered, "Given how we all described ourselves, I have a feeling I know who they are… er, if at least one of them."

I laughed. I understood what Elijah meant. I stood up from my seat and waved to the trio.

The trio murmured to one another, but walked over towards the others and I.

"Yo," the first of the group greeted. It was the boy. He was chewing gum, as I noticed he was blowing it into a bubble and popping it. "The name's Ryokichi Kuroshita, but call if Kichi if you want."

"Aah, I see." Aki sipped slowly into her mug. "You're the one who doesn't want to reveal your talent."

"Yeah," Ryokichi answered bluntly. "Got a problem with that?"

The judge shook her head, saying, "No, just noting."

Oliver jumped up from his seat and immediately reached a hand out to the mint green-haired boy. "What's up! Nice to finally meet you!"

Ryokichi shook hands with the boomerang specialist. He was looking at the boomerang in Oliver's hands. "I'm guessing you're Oliver? Cool. Nice to meet you."

The boomerang specialist laughed loudly and cried, "Yup! Same with you, dude!"

Ryokichi chuckled. He was now engaged in small talk with Oliver.

Ryokichi was one of the first people who joined the server. He had appeared just before I had appeared, and so Nova loved to consider Ryokichi as my "grandpa" of sorts. That does make sense though. Ryokichi was always the laidback one in the server. He listened patiently to what someone had to say and always provided input to a question or issue. He was someone whom others respected despite not always being on most of the time (Nova said that Ryokichi was more of an outdoor person).

I stood up from my seat to meet the two girls' faces. I held my hand out and eyed the closest one to my face. She was the one who was wearing the Edgar Allen Poe shirt. "Hello, my name is Archie, and you are?"

The dark blonde-haired girl bowed her head down politely, answering, "Shizuna Hitokokaji, Ultimate Ghostwriter… is that all you want?"

I dropped my hand, a bit awkward from how Shizuna didn't take it. I nodded my head. "It's very nice to meet you."

Shizuna sighed to herself, playing with her cape jacket. She looked left and right before turning back to me. "... I'll go order hot cocoa if you don't mind."

"Uh, yeah."

I watched Shizuna who left the table to stay behind the line. She was currently looking through the menu, eyes squinted.

Shizuna was one of the first people who joined the server, if not after a few others after Nova and Calla. She was a regular at the server and found peace within this server. She was comfortable in the server and always vented out her feelings towards what happened in her life, always looking for feedback from people such as Aki and Giselle. She wasn't someone who necessarily desired positivity and found the constant happiness from a few people tiresome, but she respected it.

I knew that Shizuna wasn't a bad person. I had a few private talks with her as well regarding her passion for reading and desire to publicize books, and I could tell that she was a kind person. I assumed, right now, that she was just shy to talk to us. Talking online is different than talking in real life after all.

My focus now turned to the last of the trio. I threw on a quick, friendly smile and placed my hand out. "If you didn't already hear, I'm Archie. It's nice to meet-"

I didn't have the time to finish my sentence. I suddenly found myself thrown into a warm embrace.

"It is a pleasure to see you!" the auburn girl greeted. Her embrace around me was tight. "My name is Kudosu Kudou, and I am the Ultimate Actuary if you didn't know."

She released her embrace around me as I chuckled. I was staring at the actuary with a warm smile. "That's nice to know."

Kudosu nodded her head. She turned to the others and opened her arms out, ready to throw everyone else into a hug.

Nova jumped out of her seat and literally squealed. "Aww, that's so sweet of you! Nice to meet you Kudosu!"

Most of the people in our group were more than willing to embrace Kudosu. Nova and Calla were especially excited and touched to have the actuary hug them, and a few others such as Konstantin or Giselle were hesitant, but embraced her. Ryokichi rejected her attempt because she had already hugged him, and Sujin was more than willing to reject her completely and bluntly.

I noticed that once Aki introduced herself to Kudosu, the actuary literally clung onto her like glue. This affectionate gesture had baffled the judge, but Aki slowly became more willing to have those arms around her.

Kudosu and Aki were the closest to one another. The moment they met each other online they became inseparable. It was strange to even say that. I remembered how Aki was always the person who would calm arguments and keep the server steady while Kudosu was the opposite (which is why, I had to admit, her appearance had surprised me. I never expected her to look so mature).

Kudosu was a troll, and that definition had fitted her entire persona to a T. She would never let Petra take a break whenever she bested her in a game, and she especially had great enjoyment in torturing Sujin by always mocking him with continuous spams of emojis or yelling. She was the type who would cause discord among the group, and was proud of it.

That was why it was strange to see Aki, someone who hated disturbance, and Kudosu, the epitome of disturbance, to be close to one another.

Maybe they ended up becoming close after messaging each other privately or something?

Elijah crossed his arms and looked at Kudosu, saying, "I'm surprised you're wearing something like that. Isn't your outfit a bit too gaudy?"

Kudosu's eyes widened. She immediately sulked. "I knew I should've gone for the leopard print instead…"

"Ouch!" The piercer winced as Petra jabbed in the thigh. "Sorry. I was just asking… ow…"

Konstantin laughed nervously, scratching his head. "Er… I think i-it looks n-n-nice on you, Kudosu…"

"Oh, is that so?" The auburn-haired girl was shocked. She slowly looked at the butcher and exclaimed, "That is very kind of you!"

The butcher blushed instantaneously. He looked away from the girl.

"I'm back."

Shizuna came back after a few minutes with hot cocoa in hand. She was pleased with her order. It was obvious since I noticed the subtle smile on her lips as she sipped into her drink. I was a bit saddened that she was sitting away from us, but I really didn't want to bother her. I'm sure she didn't want to be bothered as well.

"How many people are left?" I asked. I decided to see who else we were missing, or, at least how many people were left before we could officially start our get-together.

Nova frowned. She had to stand up from her seat and count. "Er… One… two… Uhh, I think… Oh! Got it! Five people left!"

"Not bad," Sujin sneered, "I thought there would be more people late."

The cheerleader laughed at this, throwing an arm around the vet who was now flustered. "You're such a grumpy cat~ Don't worry, don't worry! They'll be here soon, so don't be so impatient!"

Sujin's face turned red. "I-I'm not! You're imagining things!"

Petra stretched her arms out and yawned. "Erm… maybe we should hold another arm wrestling contest…?"

Kudosu's eyes widened. "'Another'? You held one without me?"

I laughed nervously, "Uh, how about we not…?"

Ryokichi shrugged as Oliver murmured something to him. The untitled ultimate chuckled and replied, "I mean, I think it's good entertainment here."

"Let's do it!" Calla cried and threw her arms out. "I'm ready for another round!"

I noticed that Shizuna looked displeased with this commotion, eyes glaring daggers at us (or me, I wouldn't know. Maybe she thought that I would stop them).

Before anyone had a chance to initiate the match, the door opened again.

The person who came into the cafe was a boy with scruffy blond hair and large green eyes. He was slightly tanned and retained a slim figure despite the obvious muscle on his body. Anyways, his scruffy blond hair was tied into a short ponytail and his face was sharp. To me, he was someone who looked professional and mature.

However, what the boy was wearing gave a different story. His clothing was reminiscent of a delinquent. He was wearing a black sleeveless shirt with red slash designs, then his lower half containing white jeans and black boots. There were accessories on him that included a red and white jacket that was tied around his waist, and two piercings only on his right ear. His attire, in contrast to his appearance, made me think of him as a delinquent.

His appearance (nonetheless slightly tall figure) intimidated a lot of the customers inside of the room. He was observing the cafe for a while before his attention turned to us. Suddenly, that frown and sharp expression of his turned into a bright happy smile.

"Hey!" He cried out, dashing over to our table. He was waving his hands around. "I'm guessing you guys are here for the real life gathering, right?"

Nova smiled and replied with a chirpy, "Yup! Welcome!"

"Nice!" The blonde pumped his fists into his stomach. "My name's Saburo Kurosawa, Ultimate Interrogator at your service! What's up!"

"Oh! Saburo!" Nova's eyes widened. Her pink hair bounced in place as she stood up to shake his hands. "It's nice to meet you!"

Saburo nodded. "Yep, nice to meet you too! I see we're in some old-fashioned cafe here. Cozy and all that sort of thing."

"I like how the cafe's mainly filled with us in here," Oliver joked, poking at Saburo who smiled at him.

Saburo was one of the people who came after I joined. He joined for the sole purpose of wanting to befriend us and interact with people positively, and after a few hours talking to us (especially to Nova, who, in my opinion, was always a great host) he was content staying with us. He stayed on the server to befriend us and keep the atmosphere positive.

We all introduced ourselves with the investigator.

"Wow, it's nice to meet you all!" the blonde exclaimed, completely excited. "Did you guys all bought something already? I forgot to bring my wallet, ha…"

"Are you serious?" Ryokichi's eyes widened. "Dude, are you on drugs or something?"

"Of course not!" Saburo cried. He crossed his arms and continued, "I was planning to get money from my bank account, so I didn't bring any physical money with me."

Oliver laughed and pulled back his messy locks of brown hair. "It's cool, it's cool! I'll tip ya!"

Saburo frowned. "No way."

"Yes way!" the boomerang specialist called back, his grin wide. He winked at the blonde and reached into his pocket. He took out his leather wallet and waved it at Saburo. "I'll treat you."

Saburo shook his head. "Nah, I really don't need it! I'm not that thirsty anyways."

Oliver sighed, asking, "Why are you so reluctant, bro? It's just a few dollars, right?"

"How about I buy some with him then?"

Oliver and Saburo looked at one another. They were baffled. They wondered who had spoke before they looked back, seeing a foreign face in front of them. They jumped.

"Woah!" the boomerang specialist cried out. "Do we know you, man?"

The person who had startled the duo was a boy with a pale complexion and thin figure. He had brown hair that is in a side part and clean features which I can describe as fitting for someone who was a "pretty boy". What didn't help was that the boy was wearing a sharp black suit with a white under shirt and a gold-colored tie. After that, he was also wearing black Oxfords.

The brunette laughed as he noticed the bewilderment on Oliver and Saburo's faces. "Sorry about that," he apologized, "I didn't mean to startle you."

"Naaah…" Oliver scratched his head. "No worries."

"I'm guessing you're part of us?" Saburo asked. He was observing the boy's attire.

"Y-Yeah!" The brunette's eyes lit up instantly. He shifted his attention to where I and the others were, head bowed. "It is a pleasure to meet you all, you are in the presence of the one named Zenjiro Oshiro. I am the Ultimate Stand-Up Comedian."

"Oooh, so you're Zenjiro!" Oliver immediately jumped at the introduction. His smile was wide and his hands were thrown to the air. "Nice to meet you dude!"

Zenjiro smiled. "And who are you, may I ask?"

The boy took out his boomerang and pointed it at the comedian. "Oliver, boomerang specialist at your hand!"

"Oh, I see!" the comedian cried, voice loud for all of us to hear. "It is nice to finally meet you!"

Saburo laughed as he joined the duo in cheering.

I watched with the others on this sight. I noticed that Nova was smiling at the scene ahead of her. The cheerleader was whispering to Calla who was giggling. They were more than happy to see online friends uniting in real life.

It was something I enjoyed seeing as well.

Anyways, Zenjiro was one of the people who came into the server before me. The moment he and I introduced ourselves I knew Zenjiro was a person with a sense of humor. He was the one who always made jokes and laughed with the others during calls. He was the type of person who would cheer up someone by just being there, and although he can be annoying to some people, he was always welcomed into the chat for how kind of a person he was.

"Anyhow, my good sir," Zenjiro motioned to Saburo, "Let us make haste and buy you a cup of coffee!"

"Woah, s-seriously?" Saburo was blushing and scratching his head. "Er… Fine. T-thanks man."

I watched Zenjiro leaving to buy a drink alongside Saburo and Oliver. Those three were close friends with one another, so I wasn't surprised to see them interacting with each other the moment they met in real life. They all had a sense of humor and extrovertedness that made them click.

"So, where's the hotel we're going to be staying at?" Ryokichi asked, looking at me.

I smiled. It wasn't a surprise that he was looking at me since I was the one who suggested us to meet here.

"Maybe it's nearby," Kudosu suggested. She was smiling at me.

"It is," I answered while chuckling. "It's called Hotel Paradise."

"Ooh, it sounds like a nice place." Calla leaned towards me. "Have you been there before?"

I laughed. "I haven't been there myself, but one of my clients did and he always told me positive stories about the place. The place has a lot of good food, room service… urm, just basically what you'd expect from a highly visited and top hotels in the nation."

"I love five-star hotels!" Nova clapped her hands. "I can't wait to go there and rest."

"Same," Konstantin commented shyly, "I-I can't wait."

A few minutes passed. Saburo and the others have ordered their drinks and came back to our table. The trio of best friends were now laughing and pulling stunts. They were joking with us to the point of making Nova choke on her drink and earning a snort from Aki and Shizuna.

About Shizuna, I had tried to call her over to sit closer to us, but she rejected me instantly. She wasn't one to speak to others. She was a shy and quiet person. I knew that she didn't mean any harm and probably enjoyed her quiet time more than being around a crowd, but I can't help but worry about her.

The door opened again and we immediately turned our heads over to check who it was.

The person who entered into the cafe was a pale, short girl with a pear-shaped figure, looking agile and averagely muscle toned to me in terms of body. She had an angular face with a pointy chin, upturned nose, peach colored lips, and faint brown freckles at her cheeks. Her eyes were light blue and doe-shaped which gave her an innocent and almost childish appearance. Though I'm not much of a makeup person, I could tell she was wearing mascara on her eyes (her eyes were behind brown rectangular-rimmed glasses though, but I was sure she had mascara on). Her hair was blonde and were hang in two loose pigtails that reached past her axilla. What accompanied this was her neatly cut fringe which hung to the right side of her face. The left side of her hair was clipped with a green snake hairclip, and her pigtails with two bobbles decorated with a small magenta flower.

Other than that, the girl was wearing a three quarter lengthed v-neck shirt which bore a pale pink and light gray horizontal striped pattern. Over that was a brown vest shirt which contained a cross stitch embroidery along the edges and sleeves that bore the central image of a green spotted snake. On her lower body, the girl was wearing a pair of khaki colored shorts with pockets and a brown leather belt. On her feet were pink socks decorated with fairies and white sneakers secured with green laces. Other than that, she was wearing her green earrings, a charm bracelet dangling from her wrist (which I recognized as mythological symbols), a silver locket etched in Greek symbols, and a silver brooch attached to her vest shirt in the shape of a flying Pegasus. Finally, she was also carrying a small brown leather satchel that had a metallic clasp.

However, the girl's clothing was not the thing that surprised me (and the others for that matter).

What surprised us was the animal that was around her neck.

The girl had a ball python wrapped comfortably around her neck. The python wasn't doing anything to garner suspicion or danger, however the looks on the customers' faces said the opposite.

"AAAH IT'S A SNAKE!"

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

The girl's doe eyes widened. Her face began to redden as she shook her hands about and bowed her head down. Before she could apologize however, she scared at least two or three customers away.

The door swished shut. Murmurs flew throughout the room.

"Why does she have a snake around her neck?" I heard Ryokichi asking us. He popped the bubble gum from his mouth right after asking.

"Hmph, pathetic." Sujin smirked dryly. "They can't even stand looking at something as cute as a snake- h-hey, Elijah, stop!"

Elijah was busy ruffling Sujin's hair and chuckling. "Of course you'd say that."

"I mean…" Giselle lazily looked ahead at the girl and her python. "Snakes are scary, I have to admit."

"I think it is a cute lil' critter though!" Oliver cried out. He looked exasperated at how the customers reacted. "How rude of them!"

"Well!" Zenjiro wagged his fingers to and fro. He was smiling at us easily. "Let's make some snake jokes as well as Monty Python does!"

"You dork," Saburo groaned and shoved the comedian lightly.

"U-uh…" The girl was looking around the cafe, lost. The python around her neck was sleeping peacefully. "Erm…"

"Er…" I turned to Nova. "Should we approach her? Maybe she's here to meet us."

"Right." Nova crossed her arms. "We should go and talk to her then!"

"Hey."

I turned around and found myself staring at the barista from the cash register. I immediately found myself sweating.

Oh shit.

"I'm sorry, but I would have to ask you all to leave. You're all causing a ruckus here and the manager is getting annoyed."

I nodded my head quickly. "Yes, yes, of course. Sorry about that."

The barista frowned. "Yes, so please tell everyone else and leave."

"Yes-" I stopped and noticed the barista was looking at the lost girl. "Erm… her as well?"

The barista bobbed her head.

I nervously laughed. "Right…"

The barista left from the table and I tapped onto Nova's shoulder. "Hey, uh, we'll have to go out."

"Wait, really?" Nova's mouth fell agape. "Why?"

I sighed and said, "We're causing a ruckus. We should leave… and her as well."

Nova looked over at the blonde and scratched her head. "Alright then." She clapped her hands loudly and exclaimed, "Alright guys! Let's go outside!"

"Wait, outside?" Aki frowned as locks of red hair brushed against her face. "Why?"

The pink ponytailed girl shook her head. "Don't worry about it! Let's go out right now."

Despite the confusion and worry on everyone's faces, they heeded Nova's words and walked outside. I was happy that Oliver, Saburo, and Zenjiro were able to buy drinks before we were kicked out, though I had to admit I was a bit embarrassed that we were being kicked out.

I should've quieted them down before it was too late. Sigh…

I noticed the python and its owner looking around in bafflement. I remembered what the barista said and walked over to approach the blonde.

"Hello," I began, smiling. "Are you here for the meeting?"

"M-meeting?" The blonde breathed shakily. "Erm… are you from the Ultimates' server?"

"Ah, yeah." I held my hand out. "I'm Archie King, Ultimate Editor. Who are you?"

"Oh, A-Archie!" The girl cried out in shock, though it was more from delight than anything. She was smiling brightly and quickly shook hands with me. "Yes, erm, I'm Lissandra Castellanos, the Ultimate Mythologist. I-It's a huge pleasure to meet you!"

I could've guessed that it was Lissandra from what she was wearing, however my focus was mainly turned on her pet snake that I immediately recognized as Medusa. "I'm surprised you brought her with you. The flight attendants allowed it?"

Lissandra nodded her head joyfully and answered, "Yes, erm, I-I admit that I was a bit nervous during the flight because o-of that! T-They were so kind though, they even fed Medusa here! She's a friendly python a-after all, s-so i-it shouldn't really be a surprise to me that they liked her."

Lissandra, or Lisa for short (as some people, Nova and some others mainly, liked to call her), was one of the people who came into the server after me. Lissandra was a breath of fresh air to the server and was always friendly towards everyone. She was a bit shy, as to be expected, however it was already apparent to us that she was a lover of her talent. She would always incorporate talks about mythologies into her texts, though mainly it would arouse from her talking about Medusa. She was obviously close to Medusa, her pet python, and I've heard more than many times how Medusa was kinder than the 'python sent to kill Leto and her unborn twins Apollo and Artemis'.

"Erm, why is everyone l-leaving though?" Lissandra was pointing to everyone else who had just left the cafe. "D-did something happen? A-ah! Maybe they saw the soul of Thanatos here?"

"No… uh…" I sighed. "We just got kicked out."

"K-kicked out? Oh, was it my fault?" Lissandra's face became overwhelmed in pain and guilt. "I-I'm so sorry about that! I didn't think that Medusa would be s-seen as a hydra…"

"No, you're fine. We were a bit loud before you came in." I placed my hand on the mythologist's shoulder. "Let's go outside and get you acquaintance with the others then."

Lissandra heeded my words and we went outside, meeting the others who were talking just outside the door.

Zenjiro noticed us first. "Oh, you're back."

I nodded and nudged Lissandra to move towards the comedian.

"Hello there!" Zenjiro was officially the first person to greet Lissandra, his smile radianting. "My name is Zenjiro Oshiro, Ultimate Stand-Up Comedian. Who are you?"

The mythologist smiled shyly in return. "Erm, Lissandra, Ultimate Mythologist."

Lissandra introduced herself to the rest of the group, and they in return introduced themselves to her.

"Medusa looks so cool!" I heard Oliver exclaiming from a distance. I noticed that he and Lissandra were now talking to one another in a small conversation.

"The python looks quite interesting," Kudosu mused. She was moving her lips to Aki's ear, whispering something afterwards.

The redhead shrugged, answering out loud, "Depends on your image of a pet."

"I-I am really glad you all think of Medusa in such an enlightening way," Lissandra said, smiling at everyone. "Medusa is as sweet as the fairies."

Petra replied, "I'm glad she's not threatening us, at least."

"Why would she?" Sujin dryly remarked and rolled his eyes. "Lisa's not that stupid of a person to bring a violent python with her."

"Bringing a python could help scare some potential stalkers though," Ryokichi said and chuckled as he popped a bubble.

Giselle sweated. "Uh… no."

Konstantin awkwardly laughed. "I-I-I have to admit I was a bit afraid at first… b-but I'm glad she's so f-friendly."

"S-she is," the mythologist beamed, "Medusa's my closest friend, after all!"

"What about me though?"

Lissandra's doe-shaped eyes widened. Konstantin's eyes widened. Honestly, everyone's eyes widened at the unfamiliar (though it was strangely familiar) voice. We all looked ahead to find a boy walking over towards us.

The boy who was walking over towards us a slightly skinny boy with long, graceful limbs and a medium skin tone. The boy had black, chin-length wavy hair that was swept in a way that made it look intentional. His eyes, on the other hand, were dark brown with his brows being dark and bushy.

Clothing wise, the boy was wearing a dark blue sweater over a pale pink button-up shirt (or so I believed. He only had his collar and rolled up sleeves to look at). He was wearing a plum-colored tie and tight-fitting pants that are darker than his tie. At the bottom he wore brown dress shoes. For accessories he was wearing a DSLR camera hanging around his neck and a pocket-sized notebook in his hand.

Nova didn't need to ask who the person was. The pink-haired girl immediately rushed to the boy and threw her arms out for a hug, exclaiming, "Nice to meet you!"

The boy was more than willing to oblige. He embraced the cheerleader without fail and turned to the group. "Nice to meet you all! Know my name?"

Nova grinned and played along with the boy's game. "Yeah, try and guess who he is!"

I rolled my eyes to myself. There were only two people we had yet to meet, and this boy was one of the two. "You're Hugh Davies, the Ultimate Fashion Designer, right?"

"Ooh!" The boy, Hugh, clapped his hands together. "Ding ding ding! That's correct. You have an active brain there, Archie."

"Oh." I was pleasantly surprised to hear Hugh calling my name out so comfortably. "You know who I am?"

"Obviously." The black-haired boy gave out a hearty laugh while tapping his foot on the ground. "I was the one who made you wear that green turtleneck."

I laughed. "That's right. I'm surprised you remember that though. That was a few weeks ago."

"Oh, puh-lease." Hugh went over to throw an arm around my shoulder. "Why would I ever forget our conversations, Archie? Sweetheart, I would not forget the time you wanted to wear that tasteless sweatshirt of yours either."

"H-hey!" I felt my cheeks turning red. "It was a nice shade of pastel pink…"

Hugh shook his head. "With how brown your hair is, pastel pink does not compliment your hair as much as green does."

Nova giggled from where she stood. "Back to being our usual fashion designer, I see."

The raven released his arm around me and shook his head. "Sorry about that. Ahem, an official 'happy to meet you all' from me. Apologies."

Hugh went on to get himself acquaintance with the rest of the group. I particularly noticed that he was talking longer to Petra and Kudosu, and then I noticed that he was walking over to Shizuna.

Typical Hugh.

Hugh was one of the people who came onto the server before me. In fact, he came onto the server about a few days before I came on. He had messaged the server briefly from time to time, however within a month or so he began participating more. He was the one who would joke around with just about anyone and talk to anyone who was online, no matter who they were.

That was one of the reasons why I became closer to him than I was to about anyone else. He always messaged me privately after I had a short fallout between him and I. I expected him to ignore and hate me, but he messaged me daily. We created a bond after that and ever since then we considered ourselves to be close friends.

"Really?" I heard Hugh saying. His dark brown eyes were wide as Shizuna gave him a wry smile. "I thought…"

I was not able to hear much more of their conversation. Intead, I heard our last member greeting us with a wave.

"Yo."

Our last person was a girl. She had a slim build and lightly tanned skin. Her hair was a dark mahogany red color that gradually turned black at the ends and grew to the middle of her back. Her hair was slightly wavy and the bangs were pushed to the right side of her face. Her eyes were amber, however what struck me was that her right eye was a paler shade of amber. It was dull and I particularly noticed the scar cut vertically across from her eye.

Well, other than that, she was wearing a black sleeveless midriff top that said "Vintage" with an image of an old Italian motorbike on it. The top left her belly exposed and I noticed a skull belly button piercing. Over the top was a red, white, and black plaid long-sleeved shirt that was unbuttoned with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. On the bottom she was wearing dark brown short shorts with black tights underneath. Her shoes were black with white laces. For accessories the girl was wearing a pair of red headphones around her neck with a Grim Reaper necklace adorned with a striking red jewel. She also had a small crimson jewel nose piercing, two silver snakebite piercings, small silver and black ring piercings along her ears. Finally, she was wearing a black beanie and a skateboard that had a dark red underside with an image of the Grim Reaper's scythe on it.

That skateboard, however, was what the girl was currently riding on at the moment.

"Hey there!" Nova greeted. She was always the first one to greet and notice a passerby. "I'm guessing you're Reaper?"

"'Sup." Reaper gave the cheerleader a wry smile. "Why're we all outside? Did you guys get kicked out or something?"

Ryokichi chuckled and nodded, saying, "To put it bluntly, yes."

"Hey there." The redhead turned to Ryokichi. "Can I get some gum to eat?"

The mint-haired boy turned away. "Nope."

"Always like that." The girl laughed, amused. "Anyways, I need to formally introduce myself, right? I'm Reaper, Ultimate Skateboarder… that actually should've been obvious, huh? I'm the last person here from what it seems."

"Geez." Calla scratched her head awkwardly. "You're still not going to give us your real name, huh?"

Reaper shook her head, sadly saying, "No offense, but I rather not."

The first time we met Reaper, she insisted on only being called Reaper. She was one of the people who came after me and immediately created a bond with us. She was always the one who helped gave out advice and challenge the competitive people to a game. However, one day, when we revealed our names out to the public, she refused to be called anything except "Reaper". I know we could've easily searched her name up online since Ultimates were worldwide famous, but we had respect for Reaper and decided better against it. She probably didn't know that her name could've easily been searched up.

After Reaper had introduced herself to everyone, Nova clapped her hands together and called us out for attention.

"Alright! Now that we're all here, we can get going to the hotel now!" She then pointed at me. "Archie, lead the way!"

"Wait." Saburo stopped and turned to me. "You had someone call the flight attendants to bring our luggages there, right?"

"I did," I answered. "They all should be there."

Aki sighed. "They better be."

With everyone getting ready to move out, I led us all the way towards the hotel. I was excited for this whole fiasco to begin because I knew we would have fun getting to know each other and partying.

I had planned and reserved an entire place to ourselves tonight. For now, we'll most likely rest for a bit after we reached the hotel.

I can't wait.


A/N: Hello, I am here with a new chapter! I am sorry this took a long while to upload. I had a bit of issues a while ago and I had to solve them before finishing this chapter. Thankfully I'm here, haha. Hopefully this chapter will be enough to make up for how long it took for this story to update.