Purrcy looked at her code one last time. One last time she looked at what it was supposed to effect, then very carefully told it to run - "casting the spell". She held her breath. Since learning that she could affect this world through coding, she'd not tried this level of magic. She'd written plenty of hard things, tested erasing small things, edits that were for the greater good, but nothing as big as trying to change another Adventurer's Class and sub-class, then prevent them from ever being able to have those Classes again. She'd finally tracked down how her own Class had changed. Having a close example had been helpful and put her on the right path. She'd used that as her base. Either change on it's own would be difficult, so she was doing them in series.
To find the code that already did what you wanted to do was like finding a scroll or spellbook. You might modify it, but it gave you a more firm basis to work on, and if you were fortunate you got bonuses to your own spell so that it cost less and worked better on the other end. With both of her code pieces based on such, it was her hope it would work. Especially since, technically, she shouldn't be able to do it.
In her tentative work in the code realm, she was always mindful that the Superuser had ultimate write changes and she was a peon that might get fired for trying out the wrong kind of code experience. Everything that modified another user was suspect. Everything that modified high level pieces of data even more so. To date, Class changes and data locks had only ever been accomplished by the "world" they were in. This would be the test to see if they were natural phenomena she, and therefore other Programmers, was allowed to touch, or if they were reserved.
She carefully watched the 'inner space' of the 'computer'. It was hard to describe. It was like watching a monitor inside her mind, except it was 3-D, and was a landscape of images that computer technicians talked about all the time - cables, threads, nodes, rings, mirrors, packets. Pointers were really rather like pointers and when you "opened" them, they showed you their contents. If it was a trap, it did something horrible like swallowed your mind and you were stuck until you figured out how to code your way out, if you could. Otherwise you waited for the mage who'd written it to come and release you...assuming he was nice enough to. You learned fast to use shields, mirrors, wrapper code to take the damage, and similar constructs so that it wasn't the real you that took the damage or got trapped.
Her first of the two spells reached the target and began to work on the Plague Master's data. She crouched down behind her shields, watching through five mirror sites. Maybe they would absorb the damage or hide her, or maybe not. She watched the sub-class "Hacker" disappear, to be replaced with "Farmer", each glowing letter appearing one at a time until it was in place. There was the glow of the "save" function. She winced. Nothing happened. The sub-class stayed "Farmer". As the next line of code began, she took a careful breath. She could edit sub-classes.
Now the Class field was glowing and slowly the word "Programmer" faded from view. The sense of nothingness was almost depressing, even though it was temporary. She hadn't felt it herself when it had happened to her...she hadn't even known it was happening until a notice window popped up to inform her of the change after it had happened. She hadn't included that in her code. She didn't know if would happen automatically. One by one, the letters of the replacement Class appeared. "P-e-r-s-o-n o-f t-h-e L-a-n-d". The "save" function made it glow again, then the spell reached the pause. She held still, barely breathing.
She had Shiroe and Rudy to thank for the Class idea. Any Adventurer Class would have kept the Plague Master too strong. With his sub-class, he would at least be able to make a living doing something useful with himself. ...It was also her experiment to see if the reverse from what Shiroe had done could be done. Theoretically it was possible since the former had been. In the long run she wanted to know if the man would begin to age. She'd set a thin data thread on him that would continuously send her information on where he was, any changes to his health status...and if it became a data point, his changing age. This was such a rare opportunity, she hadn't been able to pass it up.
She sat quietly in the code world in her 'couch' (without a real body one didn't really sit, she just preferred couches, so that's how she thought of it). When nothing more happened after ten minutes, except the expected drain on her MP, she took a breath and told the next piece of the spell to run.
She watched the code open with the first line. Each spell actually ran quickly in the real world, a few seconds for most of them. Programmers saw in microseconds. Hackers in milliseconds. It was the only way to counter incoming spells, or save yourself from unexpected traps. The brain naturally works in nanoseconds, so it balanced out...somehow...was all she'd been able to figure out. The lock for the "Hacker" sub-class ran...and failed. Just a glow, then a fizzle. She winced, waiting for a rebound, but none came. Rather, an "empty set" was returned. She frowned. The code continued on to the lock for the Class "Programmer". Again it failed with the same failure. "Empty set". The code ended and for quite some time her inner world was still. Finally she sent a simple read on his data options. There were no Adventurer Classes available, and no Adventurer sub-classes. Only Person of the Land options.
Purrcy stared at them in surprise, though...perhaps...she shouldn't be. If she'd changed his Class to Person of the Land, then the data pointed to that cascaded down from that Class would be what was now available. She did a read on what his status screen looked like. In the program realm, it read like any other Person of the Land's data and data options available. Looking closer at what would be seen by an Adventurer, it would be the same as they would see of any Person of the Land as well. His name and "Farmer". He...would see nothing. Purrcy's ears wiggled, almost in consternation. They would have to make sure he knew he was a farmer before they let him go or he would starve to death. ...He might anyway if he refused to act like one. Well.
She made sure there weren't loose ends, checked on her data threads that were of highest importance, saw there was still no contact yet for the thread carefully making its way to his plague code supplier, and slowly backed out of the inner realm and back into her own body, checking her own stats on the way out. She stopped and stared at her banner, then shook her head and continued on, a wry grin on her face.
-:-:-:-:-
On Nyanta's lap, in the sun so they both were looking like they'd been taken over by sun sleep, there was sudden motion. It happened occasionally, but was usually just an irritated flick of an ear or twitch of the tip of her tail. The former, Nyanta had been learning, meant she'd found something in the research or creation of a spell that annoyed her. The latter that she was worried, or was satisfied. To tell the difference, he could look at her whiskers. Slightly down was worried, slightly raised was satisfied. This time, though, it wasn't minor and it was enough to wake him up and put a paw gently on her back. The ears were twisting and turning - both of them. Two seconds later she was slowly cracking her eyes open.
It usually took her a while to readjust to the outer or real world when she'd been in deep. He'd already understood that this was when she was most vulnerable. No longer in the coding realm, not yet in the real one...basically defenseless in both for the nearly two minutes it took her to recover. She was like a newborn kitten. Not able to see or hear other than variations of bright light and indistinguishable sounds. He pet her slowly, letting her know he was there and still watching over her. As he waited, he checked her MP and HP levels. They looked about like what she'd expected. She'd want to sleep and recover, but it wasn't bad. She also didn't have any negative status effects listed. Whatever had disturbed her it hadn't been painful failure. Then he smiled.
When he looked down at her, she was smiling back up at him. "Congratulations," he said to her, "mew've earned meowr new title."
She wrinkled her nose at him. "Well, I guess I'm happy I was able to be obedient to your request, but really. If all I'm going to get from this world for World-class magic is titles, I think my next major code will be to write my own title...or give myself a better reward."
Nyanta looked at her a bit confused. "Don't the titles give mew useful bonuses? They should."
Purrcy looked at him with the feline equivalent of a raised eyebrow. After a bit she allowed, "Next time I'm in there researching I'll go find out. If not, I'm seriously going to do something about it. I mean, really, "Justice of the East"? Who wants that kind of responsibility and obvious kill factor? May as well have "Queen of the World" pasted over my head."
Nyanta patted her head. Purrcy shook her head down to her shoulders. "Carry me down to Shiroe, please. I need to talk to him before I fall asleep. The results were rather interesting." She might have asked because she was being snobbish and royal - sometimes he wasn't sure - but really it was more likely because she was down to about a twentieth of her HP. That was enough to be alive, but not much else. Nyanta would be more worried for her, but Tetora was watching over her in the internal coding realm, and he himself was watching over her here.
Nyanta picked her up and stood, stretching his legs as he did. "Serera-chan, will mew come meet us in the main room of Log Horizon's hall?" He called her on the chat line naturally - by just thinking of her and picturing what she looked like and feeling the expectation of her hearing him. That was another thing he, and several others of the guild, had picked up watching Purrcy. Now that she'd taught them what a natural Adventurer was, they'd been learning by watching her be the example of one.
"O-of course, Nyanta-san!" Serera's cheerfully obedient voice promptly answered him. He knew she was next door helping to clean up the derelict apartment building. Not only did Crescent Moon have more magicians and guild members than Log Horizon, Shiroe had been right. Marielle had such a following that many people not in the guild had been showing up to help get the place livable. They expected to have the cleaning done by the end of the day and all of the construction by the end of the day after...which would mean another half day of cleaning the construction dust, but the move would be completed in total easily before the one week mark.
Nyanta had already spoken to Serera while Purrcy was working. Tetora needed to be 'inside the computer' until Purrcy was out of danger, but he was the only Cleric Log Horizon had. Marielle was a Cleric of the same level as Tetora, and also next door, but as the Guildmistress in Charge, she was very busy with the move. Nyanta had asked Serera to come and give Purrcy enough of a healing that Tetora could be released from the position of inner guard. Then he would be able to be the healer to get her up to full. It wasn't necessary for Purrcy to sleep so much any more, now that she didn't have the HP drain on her and she had guildmates and friends around her. She was just in the habit as a solo player.
When they arrived at the bottom of the stairs. Minori was just letting Serera in through the front door. "Serera-chan, thank mew for coming. We won't keep mew long."
"I'm happy to come and help, Nyanta-san," her happy tempo always lifted those who heard her voice. Purrcy twisted happy ears at her, but stayed low in Nyanta's arms, not moving much.
Serera looked at her as Nyanta asked, "Can mew cast your strongest healing spell on Purrcy, please?"
Serera's eyes got very large. "Miss Purrcy! Are you okay? That's horrible. Did someone do this to you?"
Purrcy purred a bit. "No, dear. I did it. To cast my magic, it costs high levels of HP in addition to the MP. I had several high level spells that I needed to spend the points on today. I'll be alright after resting enough."
"Oh, no! I'll heal you to my best. Just a second." Serera pulled out her wand and focused. A gold and pink glow surrounded Purrcy for a few seconds, then Serera checked her patient's status again. "That's better, though I'm not high enough level to heal you completely, I think."
Purrcy lifted her head and bowed to Serera, "No, that feels much better. Thank you so much. I'm sorry to interrupt your work."
"It was nothing," Serera said, blushing a pale pink, "I'm happy to help." She bobbed a bow to them both as Nyanta thanked her.
"Minorichi, I think mew could go and help Serera-chan if mew'd like," Nyanta said to the other young woman in the room. "Tetora-kun can be the ambassador now, I think."
"Okay," Minori said. "I'd be happy to be able to help over there, Serera. May I?"
"Yes, please do," her friend said.
As they happily left the guild house, Tetora sat up. He'd been lying on the couch while keeping track of Purrcy. "She's getting stronger," he said, referencing Serera. "I won't have to do as much work." Nyanta was already standing by Tetora. The younger mage pulled out his wand and cast his own high level spell, then layered another over top of it, then one more. "There, I think that should do it, and keep it going for a while. Congratulations, Purrcy. It's amazing to watch you work. It makes me impatient with my own low levels, but at the same time, more dedicated to working hard."
"As with all things, the efforts you put in now will determine how you develop in the future. Do enjoy this level, too. The higher you go, the more work you end up having. For some reason, more in this magic than almost any other, you get more challengers the higher up you go. As if you were an amazing fighter that everyone wants to cut their teeth on and test. It keeps the upper levels on their toes, I suppose, but I'd rather live in peace, really." Purrcy moved to escape Nyanta's arms and he let her go. She landed on the ground as large-cat and licked Tetora's face, making him flinch back and defend himself. Cat tongues were rough after all. "Thank you for the healing," she told him.
He fondly pet her. "My pleasure. I'll stay here and watch the door while I analyze what I just watched you do. Lying on the couch will get my MP back up, too."
"Lazy Lady," Nyanta teased Tetora, who stuck out his tongue at the cat-man. "But thank mew also," he added, his expression telling.
Tetora waved a dismissive hand and lay back down. "Don't worry quite so much, Old Man. She's been doing this a long time. It's pretty solid in there. I'll keep my eye on her anyway, but there isn't much I have to do except what I just did."
Purrcy transformed to felinoid and bent down to run her fingers through Tetora's pink hair and kiss his forehead. The visual made it a gesture of a mother to a daughter, but Tetora stared at her wide-eyed and blushed. There was a sudden glitter of silver over his head, contrasting with his pink hair and lighting his pale green eyes for just a moment. Purrcy smiled at him, then took Nyanta's arm and they walked towards Shiroe's office. As they closed the door behind them, they heard Tetora exclaim and call out a "thank you".
Nyanta raised an eyebrow at her. "I gave him a new shield, one to study that he'll be able to do for himself when he hits about level fifteen to twenty, depending on what path he takes between now and then. I think he's going to end up an analytic, he likes to study what I've done so much. He'll be strong in the end. It's a good thing, as long as he stays kind."
"Welcome, Purrcy," Shiroe called for her attention. "You're done then?"
"Yes, Shiroe. Sorry to interrupt, but I thought it would be best to let you know now and put this part behind us. ...Plus, I thought I was going to have to go take an immediate nap." She looked at her husband, "...but Nyanta had other thoughts about that. He seems to think I need to be up and working instead of wasting daylight."
"Mmm...," Nyanta said thoughtfully. "I have a thing I'd like mew to help me with next, if mew would."
Purrcy's tail stopped moving in surprise and she nodded. "If I can." Nyanta bowed his head in thanks.
Purrcy turned back to Shiroe, choosing to give her report standing. "All tasks related to dealing with the Plague Master have been completed successfully. I can edit sub-classes and Classes, without negative consequences or backlash." Shiroe's brow creased slightly in concern. Purrcy nodded. "It doesn't help our theory on the Superuser's existence. Nothing I did showed their hand at all, actually." Shiroe sighed and nodded his understanding. "I can do the reverse of what you did. He is now a Person of the Land with the skills of a farmer. But rather than having to lock him out of the Classes I didn't want him to have, that immediately reset his potentials to be exactly like what his new Class allows. He is, according to the computer, a Person of the Land. Just the same as Rudy is an Adventurer."
Shiroe's eyes widened and Nyanta stiffened slightly. "You mean...everything? It's gone? He can't access his information, or...anything?"
"Correct. I can read his data as a Programmer. Adventurers will see the typical Person of the Land minimal text. He will see nothing. We need to make sure D.D.D. tells him what he is now, so he knows how to stay alive into the future. I've put a tracer on him with a regular data feed. I want to know if he begins to age. Almost surely, since Rudy can resurrect, he can die."
It was a profound pronouncement. Not a single Adventurer knew how to live on this world as a Person of the Land, and not a single one of them could die. "If...if we go home...he'll have to stay?" Shiroe asked tentatively.
Purrcy paused. "I think that would be correct. However, I can change it again if necessary to let him go home. I did promise him that if he chose to learn to become wise and live peaceably, I'd let him return to doing just that. If he dies in the meantime, I'm afraid there isn't anything I can do, but if he can stay alive that long, he'll have time to learn his lessons properly. How you want to handle telling D.D.D., and exactly what, I'll leave it up to you, but at least make sure he understands that the punishment can be temporary if he's willing to work hard, and that he has to do something related to farming."
Purrcy paused, then sighed. "It was First World Class magic. My new title is 'Justice of the East', meaning I took the role of judge and executioner into my own hands, and I suspect now I'll be more of a target and have more work to do. I've put Caretaker as the main one, but I can't hide or erase it, so if a Hacker or Programmer is insistent, they'll find it in my data. I've got traps around my real data anyway, but...," she shrugged.
Shiroe sighed like she had and put his chin in his hand, his elbow resting on his desk. "May as well wear your crown and the Queen nametag."
Nyanta laughed. "That's what she said."
"I do hope you're getting something for it?" Shiroe asked.
"That's what Nyanta and I said also," she answered him. "I have no idea. I'll go in and look and see when I'm in there next time. I'll look at yours, too."
He nodded. "Thanks." He looked a bit morosely at Nyanta. "When are you going to get yours?"
Nyanta's whiskers twitched. "I'm not a magic user."
"You don't have to be for a title," Shiroe negated. "Shouji's earned one for being the First to discover the Mysteries, and I am quite certain a ninja we know is going for First with a Thousand Mysteries. If she makes it that high, she'll get one too, though how there could even be that many, I have no idea."
"Especially since the limit to any one thing in this world for Adventurers is one less than that," Purrcy commented. Then she stopped and put her hand to her forehead. "Right. She'll get it because she'll break that limit, just like we've broken limits to get ours." Then she smiled, "Well, more power to her then. I'd love to have more room than four pointers on my lists and nine-hundred-ninety-nine total items per slot." Shiroe and Nyanta laughed.
"Well, knowing Purrcy," Nyanta looked at her with whiskers upturned, "I'll have my title before too much longer, though...Consort to the Queen would be sufficient."
Purrcy blushed slightly and said, "Don't see if I won't write it in for you."
"After mew figure out what bonuses I get for it," Nyanta said warningly. "If mew're going to put me in that much danger, I'd better get some additional purrotections...like good luck, or decreased chances for people noticing the title or something like that. Otherwise I'll have as many challengers as mew will."
"You will anyway since you'll already be with me," she countered quickly.
Nyanta paused with his mouth open, then said, ruefully, "True."
Shiroe shook his head and waved dismissively at them. "I'll contact D.D.D. Go help Nyanta. Congratulations, Purrcy."
Purrcy jumped up on his desk, becoming kitten in the air, and batted at the hand that was waving. Shiroe smiled and rubbed her head. When he was done, she lept back off the desk, returning to felinoid on the fly and walked to the door, followed by Nyanta. "Thanks, Guildmaster Shiroe," she said.
"Tetora-kun's on duty," Nyanta said in closing to Shiroe. The guildmaster nodded, already moving on to his task. As Nyanta followed Purrcy back to the main room, he called, "Tetora-kun."
"Yeah?" Tetora tipped his head up backwards, chin pointing in the air, to look at Nyanta.
"I'm going to take Purrcy out to the suggested university building and grounds. She needs to pick out a location for the demos and training. Hold down the fort. Everyone else is over next door helping, nyan."
"Gotcha." He waved them out the door.
-:-:-:-:-
When Minori arrived at the new guild hall for Crescent Moon with Serera, it was a busy place full of happy noise and useful activity. Summoners had already come with water undines to clean the building of the millennia of moss, dirt, and other weather and animal life detritus that had overtaken the ancient apartment. Once that had been removed, then they'd been able to see what needed fixing. Everyone was now either practicing 'sending', if they were from Crescent Moon or Log Horizon, or carrying if they weren't, to remove the rubble that had been too heavy for the water to remove.
Minori could see that was almost also done, and that the construction crews from the other larger guilds were present and at work on the stairs and other repairs. Since Shiroe had purchased Log Horizon's building, Michitaka and his crews had learned how to put in stairs expeditiously. Most of the larger guilds had moved out of the Guild Hall, keeping only offices there. To purchase a building cost a lot in down payment, but less in montly fees. Shiroe had also managed to convince the Round Table Council that the more zones of Akiba were purchased by the Adventurers to be their own, the safer they were as a whole. If a neighboring enemy purchased them, they could be out of a safe home to live in - locked out from even their own home town.
The Guild Hall itself had been purchased by Shiroe as his first move as Master Strategist, but he had turned it back over to the world and it was a free zone now. Everyone saw the value of that and slowly the Round Table Council was purchasing up the public zones of Akiba. When enough were purchased, Shiroe would write another of the scroll he had written before, and turn those parts of the city over to the world to be free zones as well. This part, where Log Horizon's guild hall was, was so far out from the main activities of the city, it was still mostly purchasable zone.
Minori was pretty certain that one of the reasons Shiroe wanted Crescent Moon, Marie, and the university out here was so that he had reason for the land around their own hall to not become enemy territory. Likely Shiroe had been thinking about this plan for some time - the plan to make his own home safe, like he was trying to make the expanded home of Akiba safe...and like the new home of all the Adventurers, Theldesia.
She really respected Shiroe. She had from when she'd first met him on line and he had been willing to show two completely new players the ropes of Elder Tales. That respect had only deepened since the catastrophe...until she'd discovered that she loved him. She'd comprehended that part of herself at the same time she'd seen how much Akatsuki loved him. It had been extremely bittersweet. As bittersweet as 80% cocoa chocolate. That had been over a year ago, and the pain was healing. She was settling back into a state where her respect for him and her joy at being able to be trained at his feet in becoming a Strategist were enough. That and Shiroe and Akatsuki hadn't done anything romantic. ...Until now.
She sighed as she followed Serera to the floor her friend had been working on, climbing up a temporary set of stairs and then a couple of ladders. Having Purrcy push Akatsuki into the final open admission to Shiroe had been a blow that she thought she was ready for, but it had still opened the old wound. She could see that there had been good reasons in the end, not just Purrcy trying to be helpfully meddlesome, but emotions being what they were, it was going to take time to heal again.
"Is everything okay?" Serera asked.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. It's just fine," Minori answered. This wasn't the time to get morose. Crescent Moon was in a good mood today. She put on a smile. "I'm glad we're going to get to be neighbors finally. You won't have to walk so far any more." She stopped, aghast. Serera's face had frozen.
Serera turned away suddenly. "Yeah, that's true isn't it?" The cheer was forced. Serera led her into a room that was empty and partially uncovered of rubble.
Minori stepped up to Serera and put her hand on her friend's arm. "Serera?" she called softly.
Serera turned back, her false smile still pasted on her face, but her eyes bright with unshed tears. "It will be fun won't it?"
Minori looked back soberly. "Serera...we all know this is difficult for you. ...It is for me, too."
Serera stopped, relief and confusion warring on her face. Minori looked around the room, then led Serera over to where there was clear space and they could sit leaning against the wall but not be interrupted from someone walking by out in the hallway.
"Serera...," Minori started hesitantly. "It's hard to love someone for a long time and have it be unrequited. ...I think you've been hoping that if enough time passed that Nyanta would begin to see you as a woman instead of a girl and return your love?"
Serera's face crumpled and tears slowly began to drip down her face. She nodded miserably. "I've always known he's older, and so I'd have to be an adult for him to look at me...and I guess I've never really thought he would...I just...wished it," she ended lamely.
Minori nodded. "And since we can't change what our hearts wished, it hurts when we can't have it."
Serera nodded, wiping her cheeks. "I - I was okay if it was just him watching over her, but...to have her say he was her hu-hus-" she broke down, sobbing, not even able to say the word.
Minori wrapped her arm around her friend's shoulders and comforted her. Her own pain had been similar. Fiery, the searing pain as deep as the hope and love had been - still was, though perhaps the year had made them just a little less so now. "Serera...I know it hurts a lot now, and I don't want to take that from you. It's your love and you should keep it your treasure. There's nothing wrong with you wanting to love Nyanta-san, nor even with holding your wish close to you. ...But, if it would help you...I can tell you that the pain lessens with time." Her heart clenched around her own pain. "It still comes and goes, but...we also have to treasure our own futures. There are still many happy memories waiting to be made, still times we can be warm, even if we have to wait patiently to get to them."
Serera was looking at Minori with wide eyes. "Minori," she whispered in awe, "do you...love...Mister Shiroe?"
Minori paused, then nodded soberly back. "Yes, Serera, I do." Serera closed her open mouth and gulped. "This hasn't been any easier for me, because the very first night she pushed Akatsuki into confessing openly to him. I'd gotten used to the way it was, and," her own tears threatened, "to have it finally happen...even when I've been trying to prepare myself for over a year...," she took a breath, forcing it past the lump in her chest, "it's still really, really hard," she whispered.
Serera put her arm around Minori and held her too. "I - I don't know how you've done it, living in the same place as them this whole time. That has been very brave of you," Serera admitted. "I've been thinking I don't know how to do it just living next door."
"It was painful, but I learned to treasure the times I did have with him, until I could appreciate the times we were all together. ...Eventually, I came to appreciate that Akatsuki was protecting him, and by letting her do that not just for her, but for me, too, I was able to forgive her for loving him, too." She knew she looked miserable, and not calm about it. "I'll have to do it again - I am doing it again. Because it's worth it. Every time the pain comes back, I have to breathe through it and find the good again and forgive again, but each time it gets a little easier. It doesn't take quite as long. ...I suspect if they were to get married it would hurt the worst, though, but I hope I can forgive then, too," she looked at Serera in the eyes earnestly, "because I also love the happy memories we're making together. I'm so fortunate to get to learn from the greatest Strategist ever. I'm so proud to be able to say I'm his apprentice." Her tears began to drip. "It really, really hurts - that my wish to have him love me can't come true, but it's my love. I don't have to give that up. And I don't have to give up the happiness either."
Serera let Minori cry, completely understanding her need and her pain. Her own tears dripped occasionally as well as she contemplated her own love and her own pain and how she might continue to move forward. As Minori calmed down, Serera said, "Thank you, Minori, for telling me those things. They give me hope. I'll keep trying - keep moving forward." She bit her lip. "Is - is Miss Purrcy good to him? Good for him?"
Minori smiled through her wet face. "Yes, Serera. Nyanta-san is happy. ...She is good for him, and to him. Please come and see for yourself when you can. Neither of them will send you away. They'll let you come and continue to make your own happy memories with him."
Serera was thoughtful, then she nodded a little sadly. "Yes, that's what they did when I first met her. It was like she was just part of the kitchen, just like he is, and they both let me be...also." Her final tears fell as she had to let go of her wish ever coming true. When she recovered, the two friends rose and finished cleaning the room out, keeping each other company until they were ready to face the world again.
-:-:-:-:-
Nyanta looked at the calico felinoid woman walking next to him. She had her eyes half closed and her nose pointed into the breeze, the wind blowing her whiskers back, her ears turned slightly away from center. She was sniffing the smells of the open city. Here, in this part of Akiba the smells were that of the abandoned ruins - moss, trees, hidden flowers, little animals and insects that scurried in the undergrowth. The tang of the automobiles, commuter trains, and concrete were long gone from this world if they'd even ever existed. He remembered those smells. This hadn't been his home city. He'd come here to Akiba from Susukino because his home on Earth was Sapporo, not Tokyo. But the smells were the same regardless. Likely they would have been the same in her own home town. The smells of living things was one of the things they'd found new in this place - one of many.
Nyanta was finding a new thing in himself, particularly as he looked at Purrcy, another new thing in his life. Hope. ...Nine days. He'd only known her barely over a week. ...It felt like months, hours. He'd spent two and a half days, while she'd sat on his lap mostly unmoving because she was working internally, with only sleep and his thoughts to keep him busy. That was normal. His thoughts had been new, yet familiar. He'd thought similar things the first time, when he'd been considering asking his wife on Earth to marry him.
Nyanta sighed softly and looked away from Purrcy. That part was hard still. It wasn't like they could ship divorce papers home - not that he would have. It wasn't like he felt dead either, even if the family there might think he was. That not knowing was the hardest part, of course. It paralyzed almost every Adventurer who had a past they were protecting. They couldn't move forward unless their past was open, like Naotsugu and Marielle's were. When those two married here, they could go home, find each other, register their marriage and continue on. Probably only a third of Adventurers could do that...maybe half, but most of them were high school students and younger.
It was made harder by the fact they'd been here two years already. If they considered it, "game time" would only be two months on Earth. That wasn't much time to have passed at all. It was hard to wait years, but when they thought of it that way, they weren't ready to give up yet. It would be nearly a quarter-century of time passing here before the Adventurers would begin to despair ever going home, and another quarter-century before they gave up and began to think about living a 'normal' life on this planet. If they couldn't get home in two years of Earth time, they would assume Earth had given up on them. If they couldn't get home in four, they would also give up. Fifty years was a long time to live with only hope, after all. There was a possibility that it would be a minority that would wait that long, in the end. Humans had to keep moving forward where they were.
Nyanta sighed and reached out to grab Purrcy's hand. How could he be so impatient, when he thought of things in terms of time like that? Only three-quarters of a day of Earth time had passed since she had passed by him on her way up to the treetop. He pulled Purrcy to him and held her for a long moment. She was surprised at first, but then held still and let him, gently putting her free arm around his closer shoulder. No. He finally realized what it was. It was the difference between him and the average Adventurer. He'd had to live life as if each day was his last before coming here. Now that he had a companion again, that mindset had returned forcefully. He didn't want to waste the days, the hours. He wasn't going to die here...but they might go home...and he'd never see her again if they did. He didn't want to waste these precious hours.
It helped to recognize what it was. He took a breath and relaxed. "Sorry. Thank mew."
"No. I understand," she said kindly as he pulled back. She put her hand on his cheek and looked into his eyes. "Sometimes this place grabs us and twists us when we least expect it. It helps to have another one present who understands we are strangers in a stranger world."
He held the hand that was on his cheek and turned to kiss it, then released it and moved to start them walking again, but he continued to hold onto the hand he'd taken at the first. He'd already pointed out the warehouse they were planning to purchase for the university, and she'd selected where she wanted to teach and to host the demonstration. Now they were just walking together, because he wanted to - because he had things he wanted to talk to her about from his long thinking.
"Did you live in Tokyo, Nyanta?" she asked him now.
He looked around. "Briefly. I came to University here, thinking it would be a good experience...and I suppose it was, but when I graduated I went back home. Sapporo was home and there were many good things there: my parents and siblings; my fiancée who welcomed me home with open arms." He looked at her, but her eyes were as calm and kind as his own heart felt. "I was able to grow up and decide what I really wanted in life during that time. It was a good thing, but I wasn't cut out to be a mega-city boy. Going home was calming and a good decision."
Purrcy nodded. "I went away for school also, but returned home after. Sometimes I think I settled before really figuring out what I wanted, but at the time, it seemed like everything in life was very fulfilling." She laughed cynically at herself a little. "I know life gets hard for everyone. I knew it probably would for me eventually...I think we just can't know in what way it will, or even exactly how we'll react when it happens." She looked away. "Sometimes it's hard to be an emotional woman with such a logical brain. Just because I was feeling trapped, unhappy, and unfulfilled, that didn't mean I could just walk away. To do that was just completely illogical. Being a single parent sucks, big time. Even if you aren't happy, that's temporary. Single parenthood isn't, once you've chosen it. Hang on long enough and you'll eventually relearn to be happy where you are."
She looked back at him. "At least...that's how my logical reasoning went. Love's a choice and action that comes out of you. It's not an emotion someone else stuffs you with. Just like we can't read another person's mind, make their decisions for them, or make them change, we can't make them love us in the ways we need to be loved. I can only do what I can do. If that's be patient with myself until I figure out how to love again, I can at least choose that. Choose to stay, choose to keep going forward until the emotions catch up again." She looked very sad. "Except I was also choosing to run away, while being physically present. It wasn't kind, and it wasn't showing love. I'm not sure it really was any better since it was just as selfish."
He stopped her and looked at her. "Mew have a very good grasp of most of that. For all I rarely ever counseled my clients to leave, and worked with them to get them to find ways to return to that state of being able to recommit again, there are times where it doesn't work."
She nodded. "When the other party can't change, or refuses to." Nyanta nodded. She bit her lip, "I understand that for situations that are dangerous, but when they're just...annoying, it doesn't seem like it should be used as a cop-out."
"How do mew tell the difference?" Nyanta said quietly.
Purrcy shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted quietly. "I saw a lot of examples in my life of couples that stayed together, but if you got to know them, they were just unhappy together. They lived with it, for whatever reasons. It was sad to see my own life becoming like that. Since we never grow up really, we never really grow out of the need for that kind of twenty-something romantic love." She pulled him to begin walking again, needed motion while she talked. "I heard of other couples who worked through those times and came out even more in love on the other side and it was my hope on the hardest days. But we couldn't ever seem to agree on when or who to go to for help to get over it. And when we tried to talk there was too much defensiveness, or denial that change was needed."
He could see the pain in her, like he had seen in others he'd counseled. If they were there, he could fix her relationship, if her husband was willing. But as she said, he'd have to be willing. Willing to admit he was half the problem, willing to not be defensive, willing to change. Since he wasn't there, Nyanta couldn't say if it would work out or not. But...they'd almost passed the amount of time that most relationships could be fixed in. There was a time limit, he'd discovered in his practice. Once it was past, then the couple was stuck in the examples she'd seen. Married and unhappy for the rest of the time they were, or divorced and outcast.
"Ah!" she turned to him, worried by his silence. "I'm sorry. It isn't like you should have to be my therapist just because you are one. Nothing can be done with just one party, after all." She looked down then turned away again. "You know, for all I've said it at the negotiation, you're free to go if you want. Maybe in fifty years, one hundred, if we really become real, I'll come back and see if you're interested still, if you haven't found someone better. I'm pretty broken after all."
He was suddenly angry. He stopped her again, making her look at him. "Do mew want me or not?"
"I do," she said, looking him in the eye. "But the urgent necessity for it isn't present any more. I've only been around a little over a week, after all. Barely the blink of an eye to make a choice like that. If you want it, I'm giving you breathing and thinking room. Because...if I don't, I'll wonder if it was a forced response for the rest of the time we're together." His anger was gone, replaced by surprise. "I'd rather not make you have to be the one in the position I was in there."
His ears fell in sympathetic understanding. "How long have mew been considering it?" he asked her quietly.
Her eyes dropped. "I said it, didn't I? Since I saw you in the beginning, I desired it. The more I watched you in Susukino, I wanted the gentle care you offered to everyone, that I had been desperately missing and craving in my own life. I've been watching you here in town when I'm here both because I still crave it, and because I've been trying to figure out if it was a logical enough decision to talk to you, to try to bridge the language gap." She turned her head. "I'm afraid that not only was I using you to escape that part of town that day, I was also testing you."
An ear went down in embarrassment. "The way you teased me, and your eyes laughed at me, recognizing what was going on...," she sighed. "Well, to put it coarsely, it was even more of a turn on." The second ear went down in greater embarrassment and his own went up in surprise. "And...when you went to follow me and had to stop yourself...I almost went back right then. If the Wolf Pack hadn't decided right then to crowd in, I probably would have." Nyanta suddenly needed to swallow - hard.
"I followed you back to the guild house the next time, not letting you see me. I wanted to know where you lived and come talk to you there. The marketplace, where we were interrupted all the time, wasn't a good place to talk, and I didn't want the Wolf Pack to know, either. I wasn't sure what they'd do to you, since they kept chasing me all the time. That time wasn't a good time to talk either since the others arrived shortly after you did, before I could work up my courage to knock. ...That was last time I was in town. When the Wolf Pack chased me this time, I'd already programmed in your place as the next one to go to when I was in town again." Her ears twisted back and forth. "Only, that didn't happen the way I thought it would at all. ...I'm sorry."
Nyanta shook his head. "That couldn't be helped." He put his paw on the side of her head and lifted it to see her golden eyes again. "I'm glad mew came to me. I've been waiting for mew. Mew've made living worth it again. ...I watched mew in Susukino also." Purrcy's eyes went wide and her ear up in surprise.
"Mew're breathtaking, mew know that? I don't think there's anyone who can see mew and forget what mew look like. It's always been my regret that I didn't try to talk to mew the first time I saw mew. To watch a junior player stand up to Brigandia for the sake of other junior players and People of the Land... I wondered why they left mew alone instead of put mew on the ground like they did so many others when they were stood up to." Nyanta smiled. "I couldn't tell from the distance I was watching that it was because mew were giving them the mother look and scolding. I couldn't hear it, I just saw it and all I saw was courage. I wished to have that kind of courage. Not the courage of sword and level, but of an internal will."
His ear flicked in sorrowful embarrassment. "I was passing by when they were chasing mew off. I heard the commotion and went to see, but I was too late to help. All I could do was watch mew run off, leaving the memory of meowr courage. It was hard to not have mew come back, though at the same time I thought that if anyone could make it down here from there, it would be mew, and the longer there wasn't word, the more I could hope it was true. When it was Shiroe-ichi who came to rescue Serera-chan, I had more than one reason to come with him." He shivered as a tremor went through him and he leaned in close to her, touching foreheads. "To have mew come and flirt with me...I couldn't believe it, and I couldn't help myself. Mew didn't use me to get through the marketplace, or test me, not really. I was the one who followed mew." He kissed her again, the sweet fuzzy taste like a peach on the lips. Whispering he said, "Don't run away again. Two years was a long time to wait when I want to treasure every moment with mew. ...I haven't been waiting to go home and die. I've been waiting for mew to come so I can live."
Purrcy wrapped her arms around Nyanta's neck and kissed him, and he returned it. Feeling her body melt into his, feeling the soft fur on the back of her head as he held her, not wanting to let go, wanting this moment to be burned in his mind, like all the other moments that burned so brightly. They parted to breathe and he groomed her chin and then her jaw, then down her neck. She moaned, like she had before when he'd reached that point and he almost couldn't stop. That made him stop anyway, though. He wanted to know. To know what came after that. But it wasn't time. He lifted his head instead to her ear and breathed on it gently, making it flick in reaction, but he could feel her lose strength for just a moment and he switched to grooming under her ear, then around it. Each new little thing was a new thing to treasure. With his need to not waste even one moment he wanted to know them all right now. With hundreds of years before them, he could wait. Uncover them one by one, little by little.