Facing Oneself

By: NexusMHX

Chapter 8: What Race?

"... " Nexus feels a chill down his spine as he looks over the countertop to see Lisbeth and Silica. Lisbeth has quite the new fascination with Silica's cat ears since her race is Cait Sith. The two have been going on for at least five minutes now.

"Come on, Liz… Stop that." Silica begged earnestly from her friend's teasing.

"Why? It's not like they're going anywhere." Lisbeth said with a chuckle. The door opens revealing Kirito as he walks into the shop and sees the sorry sight that Silica was in.

"What… are you doing?" Kirito questions with concern.

"I was just seeing how good Silica's cat ears and tail felt. I especially like the ears. They're so soft and fuzzy." Lisbeth continues to rub Silica's cat ears before pinching slightly.

"No pinching!" Silica lets out with a loud voice from the sudden shock that coursed through her whole body. Nexus couldn't help it as he walks closer to the group.

"Liz… You know that Silica is quite sensitive there, right?" Nexus said simply looking at the expression that Silica was definitely troubled.

"Liz, you know you look like a dirty old man now, right?" Asuna comments.

"Dirty nothing! This is straight-up sexual harassment!" Silica's outburst was a definite shock to Nexus. In the years that he's known the girl, she was never known to be like this. He looks over to see Ren and Koharu who happened to hear the conversation.

"Ain't this something that should be blocked by the system?" Koharu asks as Yui pops up behind Asuna.

"Incorrect. These actions do not fall under the anti-harassment code as long as both players are female." Yui states with Silica letting out a groan in disdain.

"Oh, great…" Silica mutters to herself.

"They should really fix that… Who knows how many guys are gonna dress up as girls and sexually harass girls… Or be like Liz." Liz gives Ren a glare as the man simply shrugs. "I'd say the people should update the system."

"Oh never mind that. You guys should touch them. Then you'll know what I'm talking about." Lisbeth states pulling Asuna and Koharu over to Silica.

"Well, I have been curious how they feel…" Asuna looks hesitant at the fact.

"Are they really like cat ears?" Koharu's hand twitches as it slowly reaches out.

"Trust me, you don't want to miss out on this action." Asuna and Koharu each softly touch one of Silica's cat ears before rubbing softly.

"Wow! They feel just like real cat ears." Asuna said in shock and happiness at the same time.

"They're so soft. Just like real life." The girls all fawned over Silica as all the males simply just watched the scene with complete hesitation. Soon Leafa and the others entered to see what the commotion was all about.

"Really? You know, I've never touched a Cait Sith's ears myself." Leafa commented.

"Can I touch them too?" Philia asks looking at the cat ears. Silica at this point just given up with Lisbeth claps her hands.

"That's the spirit! All right everyone, form a line!" Lisbeth yells out.

"How did you get to be in charge of all of this?!" Ren exclaims looking at the scene.

"Wow, they really ARE soft and fluffy!" Leafa gave off a pleasant expression while rubbing the cat ears.

"I could get used to this…"

"Come on guys… Cut it out." Silica whispers quietly this time. Nexus looks over at Kirito who genuinely seemed curious by the cat ears. He looks back and forth before facepalming.

Lisbeth caught wind of it as he elbows Kirito's side. "You want to touch them too, don't you, Kirito?"

"Huh?! N-No I don't." Kirito was caught off guard as he slightly fumbled his words. "Besides, even if I did, it would violate the anti-harassment code."

"Correct. Silica could send you to jail with a single button press." Yui states. Nexus and Ren look over at Kirito before falling off their chairs laughing. They couldn't control themselves. They just laughed as Kirito slightly chuckles.

"I… I don't mind if you touch them, Kirito!" Silica exclaims that puts a halt onto Nexus and Ren's laughing fit.

"Of course you would… Wait. You don't?" Kirito questions as Silica softly nod.

"How very bold of you. Again." Lisbeth comments with a firm nod. "But, if she says it's okay, you might as well take advantage of it."

"Are you sure about this, Silica?" Kirito hesitantly walks over to Silica.

"Yes! Go ahead!" Kirito states.

"Okay, if you say so…" Kirito softly touches the cat ears before softly rubbing them. "Ooh, this IS nice. I don't think I've ever felt fur this soft. This feels really good."

"Um, Kirito? That kinda tickles." Silica states rather softly.

"Oh! Sorry. I didn-" Kirito didn't get to finish his sentence as the door slams open revealing the Sinon and Yuuki.

"We're back!" Yuuki shouts in excitement as she jumps and topples Nexus over with a bear hug.

"Welcome back. You guys have fun?" Nexus states as he looks at Sinon. Suddenly the air went chilly.

"It was fun! Sinon and I dealt with some stuff. Why? What's up…" Yuuki looks over to see Kirito had stopped rubbing Silica's cat ears.

"What's going on?" Sinon was internally questioning to see if her eyes were seeing things.

Kirito immediately pulls his arm back to get defensive. "This, uh, this isn't what it looks like…"

"Boy stop digging your own damn grave." Ren pulls himself back up to the seat.

"Why do you look like you've been caught red-handed at something?" Yuuki questions.

"Not you too, Yuuki!" Kirito yells out.

"Looks to me like you were sexually harassing a young girl." Sinon was rather blunt about it.

"It did look like that, didn't it?" Lisbeth states.

"Oi. Wasn't this all your idea in the first place?!" Kirito counters Liz. The door opens up again revealing Strea.

"You all look like you're having fun! Can I join?" Strea asks.

"Great, just what we needed…" Kirito whispers to himself. He then goes off on a ten-minute explanation of how all the blame should be put on Liz and that he was allowed consent for touching Silica's ears.

"You get some strange idea sometimes, don't you, Silica?" Sinon states.

"You never did stuff like this when we were working together in Aincrad…" Nexus sighs.

"Come to think of it, Sinon's a Cait Sith too. Why don't you try touching her ears, Kirito?" Nexus snorted as he heard the statement. Almost everyone knew the answer to that.

"Kirito, so help me, I will press this button the instant your fingers touch my ears." Sinon readjusts herself. "If I were you, I'd think long and hard about whether touching my ears is worth a trip to jail."

"You're… not messing around. Are you?" Kirito's eyes trail behind Sinon.

"Haha, too bad, Kirito! Guess I'll just have to see what Sinon's ears are like for you then! Here I come, Sinon!" Strea reaches over to grab Sinon's ears.

"Wait. Stop. Don't come any clo- " Sinon lets out a mini shriek the moment her sensitive ears were grabbed by Strea.

"Wow, this fur feels great! I could rub it all day long!" Strea's face showed her happiness from simply rubbing Sinon's ears.

"That's enough… Get off will you." Sinon yells, her body is like a statue as she could barely move.

"Aw, come on, just a bit more. I haven't had my fill yet!"

"Just how much longer are you planning on doing that? Hey! Don't turn my ears inside out!" The scene sent a shiver down Nexus's spine. Just Strea rubbing out Sinon's ears took about another ten minutes. Strea looked like she had the time of her life while Sinon looked extremely exhausted.

"Hey. Ren. Nexus. Why don't you guys try rubbing them a little? I'm sure it'll be fine." Koharu asks. Ren gulps as he looks over at Sinon who gives him a death glare.

"I'm fine. Thanks." Ren hesitantly states.

"No thanks… I know how it feels from their perspective." Nexus lets out a grunt, rubbing his face. He looks up around the room with a confused stare.

"What did you mean by, from their perspective?" Lisbeth asks.

"Hold on a second. What's your race, Nexus?" Kirito asks. Nexus quickly stands up, definitely not liking all the attention that he was getting. Ren simply reached out and pinched a part of Nexus's hair. A massive shock went through Nexus's body as he immediately kicks Ren into a wall.

"Don't grab my ears so rough like that! They're sen...sitive." Nexus looks back at everyone with a fearful look in his eye. The group got closer as they examined Nexus's hair to see two ears twitching.

"He's a cait sith?! How have we not noticed this?" Leafa questions.

"Hold on? Why did you choose Cait Sith? Wait hold on. You don't have a fetish for that, right?" Sinon states.

"Nonono. Stop. I had my own fun with all this…" Nexus states which confused everyone. "So basically, I spun a wheel and I got Cait Sith as a random."

"Huh. Now I heard a rumor… That male Cait Sith are supposed to have softer ears." Yuuki states with all the girls having their eyes towards Nexus.

"N-Now. Hold on. Don't get all rash and all that." Nexus falls onto his butt before slowly walking crawling back into a wall. "Wait! Stop! NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOO!"

"May God have mercy on his soul…" Kirito and Agil say to each other.

Thirty minutes as passed as Nexus plops onto the ground completely drained. The once hidden tail that he kept under his clothes was now out and about. Though he kinda dropped to match with how exhausted he was feeling.

"Why… am I… too nice?" Nexus's words were to himself. His whole body was twitching. He slowly raises his body to the counter as Agil simply passes him a cup. Nexus simply drinks it as it gave off a refreshing feeling before turning around to see a bunch of the girls having cat ears on their heads. "I want to make a new character now…"

"Ah come on. Don't be like that!" Yuuki jumps next to Nexus with the fake cat ears. Nexus gives Yuuki a blank expression when suddenly gets a sudden idea. She opens her menu and goes through the equipment page. After a bit, she finds what she's looking for and equips it to her face.

Yuuki with her cat ears on her head now had glasses with thins lens. Everyone was silent with Nexus simply coughs, covering his mouth and gives Yuuki a thumbs up.

"Thank you lord… For the blessings that you have given to me today after such hardships." Nexus says with a sigh.

'He has a glasses fetish?' Everyone thinks at the same time. Then everyone looks at Sinon.

"Sinonon wears glasses in real life. Does tha-"

"Stop! STOP! You're insinuating something that I'm not liking!" Nexus said to defend himself.

"Are you sure about that? I could talk about your other MMO characters." Yuuki gives off a devlish look as Nexus falls onto his hands and knees.

"Please… anything but that." Nexus pleads. He takes a moment before standing up. "Breaking off from all of THAT jazz. How about we talk about why we're even here in the first place?"

"Trying to change the subject, eh?" Ren comments with a sly smile.

"You wanna go, Ren? I'll put your butt in place if that's how this is gonna work." Nexus points at Ren.

"... Nah. Let's move on."

"That's what I thought…"

"Glasses fetish."

"THAT'S IT! You're dead!" Nexus jumps at Ren with the two brawling at the corner.

"And here I thought that those two were the more mature guys in the group." Lisbeth comments.

"They are… Just not all that much better." Sinon says as the girls agree before looking at Agil.

"Agil is the best guy in the group."

"WE'RE RIGHT HERE!" The other guys yell out.

Wassup my homies! This is NexusMHX here with another episode of Facing Oneself! This is a filler episode cause I'm going to put this project on Hiatus. I wanted to finish the weapon dimension arc before I put this on Hiatus but I found bigger priorties in other projects that I wanted to do. So I thought I would leave this on a pretty big note when it comes to this fanfiction. So until next time! Stay Classy!