Chapter 10: Opening Pandora's Box
"Okay… So what are we gonna do now?" I slowly get up.
"Well you passed the test right? So you are technically my bodyguard right now." Vert gets up from her chair as well.
"Um…"
"However, I think it should be your decision. Am I right?" Vert looks at me. "So let me ask again. Would you be my bodyguard?"
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I sigh. "Sure…"
"I see... Then I'm sorry for troubling yo-… What!?" Vert has a surprised look on her face. "Is my ears deceiving me? For a moment there I think I heard you say sure." Seems like my answer didn't process in her head.
"Your ears aren't deceiving you."
"Then…"
"Yes… I'll become your bodyguard." Vert's face lights up. "Woah wait up a second. I will accept only under one condition."
"I see…" She covers her chest with her arm. "Then… My body is ready…" She says with a shy tone.
*Smack*
My hand connected with my face, making an audible noise. "No it's not that Vert…" I hold up one finger. "The condition is that I want you to expect nothing of me."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"Even though I'm now technically a bodyguard, I'm not confident in my own abilities in protecting someone. So I won't be making any promises in the protecting department."
"Don't worry you'll gain more experience over time. Then when you hit a certain level, you'll evolve into a beautiful Nirizard." Vert's eyes are sparkling.
*Chop*
"Um... No…" I karate chop her in the head, bringing her out of that weird fantasy.
If that happens, make sure to hit the B button… Or the B key at least…
"Ow! You're so mean Nirito." She pouts and puts a hand on her head.
"Sorry I'm not a Pokimon..." I say with a blank face.
"But one day… Through the power of plot convenience! We will transform you into one fine Nirizard!"
*Chop*
"Please no human experimentation… I prefer not to be strapped to a table and injected with strange chemicals and… Wow… That is kinda dark…"
"Muuuuuu…" She has one of those cartoonish bumps on her head.
"So do you agree to my condition?" I ready my hand for another karate chop.
She immediately straightens up. "Yes!"
After our little agreement, the repair crew started filing in. We decided to head out of the sparring room so we won't be a bother to the them. Vert more so because she is the goddess and she has 'two major distractions' with her.
"Oh yeah. Can we head to the medical room? I need some painkillers. My back is starting to hurt." I ask.
Vert giggles. "You sound like an old man Nirito."
My right eye twitches. "Hey now… I got launched back first into a wall by Neptune's Blaze Break attack. I'm lucky that I even survived that."
"Speaking of which… How did you manage to survive her attacks in goddess form? No human can withstand such power from a goddess." She is starting to get suspicious.
"Hmm…" I put a hand under my chin. "I guess you could say it was milk. Trust me it does wonders to your bones."
"Hm?" She stares at me. "First, you manage to out speed a Fenrir. Second, you basically healed a severe Fenrir wound to the back over one night. She narrows her eyes and gets closer to me. "Suspicious…"
*Stare*
"Haha… No wonder I'm having back pains. I guess I haven't fully healed yet. Hahaha…"
*Stare*
"Um… I'm not sure if this means anything, but…" I show her my ID.
"A top guild member eh?" She backs off. "Well I guess I can leave it at that for today." She turns around. "Shall we head to the medical room? I'll lead the way."
"Sure." We both started walking down the hallway.
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"Hey Nirito. I have a question for you." Vert says while were still walking.
"You've been asking a lot of questions today. This is also is the second day since we met. I think you're kinda getting a bit too close to comfort."
"Well I got to learn who's protecting me. Am I right? Also, we are practically friends right now. I don't see any problem."
I'm pretty sure employers usually do background checks before they hire someone. So 'professional…' of a goddess.
I sigh. "Ask away."
"What made you change your decision?"
"Hmmmm…" I put my hand under my chin. "I guess I'm a bit interested."
"What do you mean?" She has a question mark above her head.
"What I'm trying to say is…" I get close to Vert. "I find you very interesting."
She blushes an interesting shade of red and quickly turns her head away. She speeds up and puts a bit of distance between us. "Smooth…" She says softly, but audible enough for me to hear.
"I do try sometimes." I smirk. We continue our walk in silence.
Sorry Vert… I can't let you know my main reason... Not yet anyway…
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"We're here." Vert points to a door on the right. We both head inside.
"Pretty spacious in here…" I walk towards a medicine cabinet.
*Clink* *Clink* *Clink*
"There it is." I reach towards a bottle of painkillers. I take a pill out.
*Gulp*
"There we go! I feel better already! Hey Ve-" I feel a warmth envelope my arm. "Vert!?"
"Ni-ri-to-kun~" Vert starts pulling my arm.
Kun?
"Hey! Where are we going!?" I offer a bit of resistance.
"To my 'special' place~" Vert playfully says.
"…" I stop my resistance and let her drag me to wherever her 'special' place is.
Could it be? No… It's not 'that.' From the aura I got around her, I got a feeling it's more of a revenge play from my earlier tease.
At the end of our walk, me more being dragged than walking. We are met with a door at the end of the hallway with a sign that says 'Vert's Room.'
Of course…
*Click*
The room like every other room is pretty big in size. The first thing that caught my attention was the overwhelming amount of anime merchandise everywhere. The walls were filled with tons of poster, but most of them were of the yaoi genre. What caught my attention was the anime figurines of characters I recognized. She has her computer setup on the other side with the consoles connected to it. Her bed is on the side of the room and on it was a… Nepgear body pillow…
I'm not even gonna ask…
While I was staring in amazement, I didn't notice Vert heads over to the closet. I think after a few minutes she came back with something behind her back.
"Hello? Earth to Nirito. You there?" She waves a hand in front of me. The other one still behind her back.
"Huh? What's wrong?"
She smiles. "How's my 'special' place?"
"It's like an otaku's paradise."
"Hm? You aren't bothered by my posters?" She asks.
"Not really."
"Don't tell me! You are a yaoi fan as well!" She has that sparkle in her eye. "What's your favorite type of characters!? Naked male butlers?"
"Um… No it's not that…" I immediately shut her down. "I used to live with a friend who has a slight interest in that stuff."
How nostalgic… It just feels like yesterday when I bought Aya her first poster. However, the stares I got from people wasn't so much fun…
"I see…" She looks disheartened.
"By the way. What are you hiding behind your back?" I poke at the piece of cloth sticking out.
"Oh yeah." She readies the thing behind her back. "Well since you are working as my bodyguard and your clothes are torn to shreds. I dug around and found the 'perfect' uniform for you to wear." She shows what's behind her back. "Ta da!"
"Um…" She is showing me right now is a butler uniform. However, the only thing there is the pants and bowtie. "I'm pretty sure I don't need to ask this, but… Where is everything else!?"
"What are you talking about?" She tilts her head. "This is whole outfit right here. So? What do you think?"
"Haha… No." I say in a cold voice.
"My, my Nirito… It seems like you don't know the true value of this uniform."
"Value?"
"As you can see this isn't no ordinary uniform. It's an enchanted butler outfit with enhanced defense and strength."
That sounds like a load of bull. Even if it's true, I won't wear it. Just like my current clothes, I don't want my pride to be in tatters.
"No." I say with a bit more emphasis. "Thanks for the suggestion, but I prefer to buy my own outfit."
"Muuuuuuu… Fine…" She is once again disheartened, but it looks like there some fire in her eyes. "Mark my words Nirito! One day you will wear this! And you'll like it!" She disappears into her closet.
I smirk. "Good luck with that!"
Vert's POV
"Hmhmhm… Someday Nirito, I will make you wear it…" I put the butler outfit in the corner of the closet where my "Four Goddesses Online" cosplay outfits are.
I come out of the room and see Nirito looking intensely at the figurines on my shelf. Then suddenly I remembered something very important that Maria told me back at chapter 4. "Hey Nirito!"
I can't believe I forgot this important request!
"Hm?" He turns to me. "What is it? Don't tell it's about 'that outfit' again."
"No! Not that!" I walk to where he is. "Say… Do you know someone by the name of Maria?"
His eyes widen. "Marie? Yeah I know her. Have you two met before?"
Marie? Nickname probably.
"Yeah… During the Fenrir quest, she asked me to find you and make sure you're ok. Well from the looks of it… I say it's more or less."
"I see…" He smirks and whispers something that I didn't hear. "I guess checking in with her is the first thing on my list."
I smile. "Sounds good. You can do that when you transport your stuff over"
"Yeah…" He turns to face the door. "Wait… What?"
"Oh yeah I didn't tell you." I clear my throat. "Well since you are my bodyguard. You are required to stay at the Basilicom. It says on your contract."
"I don't remember signing any contract." He has a confused look on his face. It looks cute that I want to tease him right now, but it serious time right now. So I'll probably save it for later.
Besides I still have to get my revenge for what he said to me earlier.
"I find you very interesting."
I blush at hearing that phrase again in my head. I shake my head. "D-Don't worry I'll let you sign it later. Let's say it's not ready yet."
"I see." He nods his head a couple of times. "I guess it can't be helped. I'll move in like you told me to, but you got to help me move and pack. I want to try to get this done today."
"Huh!? Are you asking me, your goddess, your boss, your master to help you move? I'd rather stay here and play video games for the rest of the day."
"I guess I have to play this card huh…" He takes something out of his pocket. The object is rather big to fit in his pocket.
I wonder if it's one of those black hole pockets like in games.
"Is that!?" I recognize the logo on that disc box. "Zenoblade Chronicles Z!"
"Yep. If you help me out, then I'll let you play this with me as a celebration for our hard work."
"That's dirty Nirito… Trying to bribe your goddess… And your boss at that." I cross my arms.
"Well it's working isn't it?" He smirks.
"Yes it is! Let's go! The sooner we start, the sooner we finish!" I grab his wrist and pull him with me.
"Haha… This trick always works with her when I need her to do something…" Nirito has a melancholy smile.
I wonder who 'her' is. Nirito talks about that person a lot, but doesn't say who 'she' is. Could she be a sibling? A friend? Or perhaps… A lover?
Nirito interrupts my thinking. "I've never really thought about it before, but I guess you could say this is the start of a new life. My life has quickly changed over the past two days since meeting you Vert."
"Yeah it has… So how does your new life feel?"
"It feels like I had opened Pandora's Box."
"What makes you say that Nirito?"
"I just got a feeling that we'll encounter many problems in the future."
I giggle a bit. "Yeah… Seems like things will become more interesting from now on."
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A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry about not updating for the past two weeks. Been busy with life right now. Hopefully things will start to slow down and I can start to update weekly again. However, if I need to take a break from the story to complete some life related things, I'll update my main page if I'm on like a hiatus or a story planning period. On a good note... We finally hit chapter 10! Hitting chapter 10 has also marked the end of what you can say is the prologue. You could say the story truly begins now. As always thank you for reading!