Episode 10: The Grand City

"Mari? Can I come in?" I heard a voice outside my room followed by three knocks on my door. Quickly, I shoved the NerveGear I was holding underneath my bed and lay down like I wasn't using a death contraption to make friends online.

"Yes, auntie." I answered as soon as I was in a comfortable position. In a delicate fashion, my aunt entered my room wearing her white shoulder-less top. She was obviously heading out to meet her friends so it was a surprise that she was still here.

"I wanted to talk to you before I went out." She took her seat beside me on my bed as I sat up to face her. "Our shrine will be hosting the Summer Festival later this month. I understand that's right before you leave?"

'Ah… I almost forgot about that.' My thoughts recollected as I remembered the topic at hand. "Yeah…? What about it?"

"I was thinking we can double it as your farewell party! Invite your friends, lay out some food..." She continued to list the fun activities she had in mind which included booths as well as a big cake.

'I guess I could go out with a bang.' I nodded in agreement. "Sure, that sounds fun."

She immediately proceeded to hug the hell out of me. I could feel my face squeezing into her chest as I struggled to breathe.

"I'm going to miss you Mari… but I know you'll be okay. Try to make use of the time you have left." After one more squeeze, she finally let me go and exited my room. Hypocrite…

The whole thing was still sinking in. Before the summer started, my mom had apparently gotten promoted to the head manager of an office branch in Hokkaido. Since she would be earning more, she suggested that I stayed with her and continued my schooling there. Of course I took the offer, I barely saw her nowadays so I was excited to live with her. Unfortunately, that also meant leaving everything here behind. I had spent my entire life in my hometown up until now and for it to just disappear all of a sudden was a little saddening.

'I'll be fine. I hope.' Remembering what I was going to do, I grabbed my NerveGear from underneath the bed and held it in my hands. I caressed the smooth edges of the sophisticated machine had killed hundreds at one point.

"Leave everything behind, huh?" Without any other distractions, I plugged in and slid the device onto my head. I did want to enjoy the time I had left here but there was something else I wanted to do first.

Opening: Crossing Field by LiSA

"Welcome to Navea!" Arryn raised her arms while smiling widely. I gawked at all the tall castle-like buildings scattered around the area. The main hub hosted the most players and NPCs in the entire game. Although, it did not look like there were many players around to begin with.

"Where do you want to go first, Megu-chan?" The Duelist called me by the nick-name that she had insisted on giving me.

"Um… marketplace sounds interesting." I wanted to see what accessories I could add to my already too cute to be true avatar.

"Ooh, shopping. I like that." To my surprise, Arryn grabbed my hand and pulled me with her in a hurry. "Come on then!"

We sped past a few players, each having a unique look, as well as the NPCs, who had more generic looks. Arryn led me to the marketplace where there were different stalls selling all kinds of goodies. The stalls themselves were lined up like halls with different types of items being sold in each of them.

"Here, NPCs aren't the only merchants. Anyone can open up a store as long as they have the funds and the stock. They sell all kinds of things like weapons, items, and even mounts!" Arryn explained as a stall of flowers caught my eye. They were so pretty.

"Mounts?" I asked as I tuned back into our conversation.

She started walking backwards as she put her hands behind her back. "You know, something like horses or manticores."

"Manticores…?" A deadly lion with the wings of a dragon and a tail with poisonous spikes… wasn't riding one of those dangerous?

"Oh, you'll see." She giggled in glee as we continued down the stalls.

Since the place was more massive than what I had anticipated, we went window shopping all over the place. She was right, you could buy animals that were used to carry you across maps but they were hella expensive. I stopped at an accessory shop and was going down the store menu when I heard a loud gasp from Arryn.

"What is it?" I glanced at her menu. It was a green emerald necklace laced with gold that gave the user increased health and defense. "Woah… it matches your eyes."

"I know right!" She gave me a big smile for my compliment. "But… it's more for tank classes."

"Aw, that's too bad." If she bought it, it would just be a waste, considering her stats… is what I would say if I cared about that kind of thing in the first place. I usually just bought whatever looked nice in my eyes without caring about whether or not it was fit for a Sorcerer.

"Come on, there must be something here. Maybe you can find something to impress the boys." She said with a slight wink, referring to my all-male friends I met online.

"I don't think I want to impress them…" Besides, my character was cute enough as is. Any who said otherwise would get a fireball to the face. We began strolling down another part of the market again when a soft glint caught my eye. In the distance, a tall tower which reached into the clouds was standing ominously over all of us and casted quite a large shadow.

"Hey, Arryn? What's that?" I pointed towards the mysterious structure. Her green eyes followed my finger as she was caught in awe.

"Oh, not much is known about it. Most people call it the Sky Tower." She said as she admired the tower's humongous presence. "It's apparently some dungeon that hasn't been opened yet."

"What? Why?" I pondered over the fact that there was a dungeon that was still closed off to players.

"No one knows. Since launch, people have been trying to get in, they even resorted to scaling the walls but none of their attempts succeeded." Arryn stepped up beside me to nudge me a little. "What do you think is at the top, Megumi?"

"I don't know. The rarest item in the game, probably. Something like a sword that can kill with one hit or a pair of wings that can let you fly around to your heart's content!" I said as I let my imagination run wild with my extensive knowledge of fantasy story ideas.

Arryn merely chuckled at my ideas. "Hopefully one day we'll know. It'll probably be opened in a future update. And when that time comes…"

Stepping forward, she turned around in an elegant manner and held up a finger directly pointed at me. "We'll be the first players to clear that tower."

"I hope." I smiled as my eyes returned to the tower.

'The first players, huh? That didn't sound too bad.'

After buying a few items, including a cute violet flower to add on my left ear, Arryn took me to visit her guild. Large wooden doors as tall as a flagpole opened before us while loud creaks resonated within the stone walls of the large hall. In the middle was a long table like the ones you saw in Harry Potter. Candles littered the walls while golden chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Banners were also placed around the walls with the symbol of a blue and black sword and shield. Around the room, different players were scattered while some were walking back and forth between different doorways. Overall, this place seemed busier than Navea itself.

"This is the headquarters of our guild." Arryn explained as she walked me into the great big room. The medieval design continued into the interior. "We're known as the Cobalt Rangers."

I stared around at all the blue colors laid out before me. It seemed as if it was their central decoration hue. "Blue motif, huh? I'm guessing Jayce is the guild leader?"

"The three of us are actually." From one of the doorways came Kage, the big Ravager class player who was wearing the same black garb he wore when we fought the pirates. He crossed his arms and grinned at me. "Hello again, Little One."

"Don't call me that!" I shouted with a flustered face as Arryn laughed at the two of us.

"Don't take it personally. I'm sure you're taller than him in real life." She mentioned as I raised an eyebrow in disbelief until the Ravager retaliated.

"Arryn!" Apparently I wasn't the only one with a height complex. "Anyway, what brings you two to the guild base?"

"Just showing her around. Is Jayce here?" Arryn asked as Kage shook his head.

"No but he'll be back shortly." He turned to me which really emphasized the height difference between us two. "Come, I can guide you through the halls."

"Uh… sure. Why not?" I had no reason to reject his kindness.

Kage took us through the same doorway he came out of. It led to a staircase which then led to the second floor of the building. We walked past different bedrooms which decorations varied from room to room.

"How many people do you have in your guild?" I asked. I had seen a lot of players walking back and forth within these halls so I wondered how many people they actually had.

"Over a hundred by now, right Kage?" Arryn responded as the Ravager nodded.

That number was unbelievable to me. "One hundred?! How the heck do you guys manage a hundred players?!"

"We don't. You see, the Cobalt Rangers guild is an open guild, meaning anyone can join in. Everyone is free to do whatever they want and even take in benefits from the guild as long as they provide gold and other useful things to help us run the place, of course." Arryn stopped us at one of the bigger rooms. Inside was an assortment of weapons and accessories that ranged from common loot to some of the rarest items I had ever seen. "We have our own blacksmith here who makes our weapons. People from the guild can purchase rare items at a lower price or even just take one out for a spin and return it later."

"Players can also team up with other guild members for high level quests. We've always got each other's backs." Kage continued the explanation of how their guild operated. I was honestly intrigued by all this.

Arryn then turned to me. "With all the tricking and exploitation we've done before, Jayce wanted to actually help people this time to make up for it. That's why we started this guild."

"Really?" I had to admit, I was a still a bit skeptical about all this but if they had managed to gather and help this many players, were they legitimate?

"Yeah, you're welcome to join too, you know." Kage's invitation caught me off guard. "You just have to enter your information on the guild board."

"I can join? What about the others?" I was still thinking about the guys who had accompanied me throughout my first week of playing this game.

"Of course." Arryn answered with an honest enough expression. "Although, I'm not sure Wairuzu will be fond of that idea. He doesn't seem to be the type to play well with others."

"I…" I did want to join… but I didn't want to join alone. "…I want to talk it over with the guys first. It'll be more fun if we're together, after all."

"I agree on that point." Arryn smiled as a notification popped up in front of her. She curiously selected the message and read it. "Oh! Jayce is back! Let's go greet him!"

"Hey!" Arryn waved happily at the blue Ronin who gladly waved back. We had met up back at the main hall after taking a quick tour around the premises. "Where'd you run off to this time?"

"Oh, you know, the usual boss farming." He replied as he showed us his status menu. He had managed to climb to level 80 which was quite the feat in my eyes. "I got you something by the way."

An item screen appeared in front of Arryn as she selected accept. "No way!"

"Huh?" I tilted my head in curiosity as I watched her navigate through the menu. A golden necklace with an emerald at its center suddenly formed around the green Duelist's neck. It looked like the same one we saw back at the marketplace but with different stats that better suited her class.

"You like it?" Jayce smiled with sincerity as Arryn jumped in joy. "An Ancient Guardian dropped it. It gives you a boost in attack and speed which should be right up your alley."

"I love it!" She immediately embraced him in a deep hug that even made me blush.

"Um…" I stood there trying to process the situation before the Ravager explained it to me.

"You know that they're dating right?" Kage asked me as I jumped in surprise/

"What?!" I reeled back, failing to keep my surprise to myself.

"Sorry…" Arryn laughed nervously while scratching the back of her head. "I guess I forgot to mention that, huh?"

'So she has someone like that…' Smiling, I nervously laughed. "No, I don't think so."

"Well, welcome to our guild, Megumi." Jayce said with open arms.

"Actually, Megu-chan hasn't decided to join us just yet." Arryn echoed the answer I had given them earlier.

"Oh, really? That's unfortunate." He rubbed the facial hair he hadn't on his chin in a bit of frustration. "Just know that our doors are always open to you."

"Thanks, Jayce…" I said with a slight smile. Before any of us could say another word, a group of five players burst into the hall, footsteps turning into loud stomps of clear anger. They all had the same blue color on each of their armors so I assumed they were guild members.

"Richter? Back so soon?" Jayce greeted them with another smile. "I thought you guys were staying in the marsh for the rest of the night."

One of the members, a man with heavy armor and a large sword on his back, stepped forward with his face clearly in a state of rage.

"Unfortunately, our hunt was cut short by some cheater. Chuu even had to get a new lance." He pointed at the Lancer class player with a shaved haircut.

"Cheater? Already?" Arryn asked with concern.

"His damage output was insane, man!" Another player with a weird cowboy hat and pistols strapped to his sides spoke up. "We lost most of the gold we gained from ambushing players."

"That's too bad…" Jayce sighed as he put his hands to his waist. "Just rest up, guys. You deserve it."

"H-hey, are you a new guild member?" A Bard came out from behind them holding his harp. He looked like he was quite nervous speaking to me. It reminded me a bit of Soran. "I'm Jean. Nice to meet you…"

"Um, I'm not actually a member just yet." I replied, although I was really interested to join.

"Right, we haven't properly introduced ourselves." Richter cleared his throat after regaining his composure. "As you heard, I'm Richter the Crusader. Our Bard's Jean, Lancer Chuu, Gunslinger's Taito, and the silent Archer's Rai."

The Archer in question waved without a sound. I wondered if his silence was part of his roleplaying.

"They're the guild's top players. Besides us, of course." Jayce explained to me. "They mostly farm the PVP areas for player dropped loot."

"There's not that much players coming in these days, unfortunately. With the new VR games set to release soon, the player base is dwindling." Richter added as he let out a disappointing sigh.

"It is?" The game had only been released recently so I found it hard to believe that people were already sick of it.

"That's the unfortunate consequence when you release a broken game…" Jayce frowned as he spoke to the Crusader. "After establishing this guild, I've met some pretty decent people. It'd be a shame to see all of that go away."

"Anyway, I'm going to log out. Until next time, Jayce." Richter saluted before exiting the game. The rest of his team just proceeded to the blacksmith room to repair what equipment they had left.

"Everyone's already having a tough time here. Now we got cheaters?" The blue Ronin had an angry look on his face. In fact, I've never seen him look like this before. "This game's going downhill, Megumi. Without any administrative control, it won't be long before they're forced to shut it down."

"I really hope it doesn't come to that though." Arryn said with a saddened tone. "I actually like it here."

I glanced at everyone else who had the same sentiments. "Yeah... me too."

After my visit to Navea, I received a message from Wairuzu that he and the guys were hanging out in the Golden Coast Inn in Helonia Coast. We didn't have anything as elegant as a guild hall so we resorted to using the inn to hang out. It also gave us a chance to visit Mac and Selena from time to time; even if their dialogue never changed every time we greeted them. As I walked into the establishment, the guys were all sitting around the same round table we had been using for weeks.

"Hey guys!" I happily greeted them with a smile. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to be as cheerful as I was.

"Oh, hey Megumi. Nice flower." Daize was the only one who spoke up and noticed my new accessory while the rest of them sat in solemn silence.

"Thanks! Oh, you're the newcomer right?" I broke the silence by speaking to the new face I saw. He looked like he was a Wizard straight out of the fantasy movies my mom and I used to watch.

"Hey, I'm Orhaxum." The cyan haired player faintly greeted. He had a kind of dead look on his face while M was crossing his arms with a frustrated expression.

"Okay... clearly something happened while I was gone. What's up?" I received nothing but pure silence for a few seconds before Daize started laughing nervously.

"Well, you see…" He told me everything that had happened at the marsh. How they were almost wiped out by a party of players that sounded similar to the ones I had met earlier. How they were wiped out anyway by some mysterious player with a bunch of glowing weapons. "Luckily, Wairuzu survived so we got all our stuff back safely. The whole thing was just surreal."

"Speaking of Wairuzu, where is he?" I noticed that he was not in his usual seat with the rest of them.

"Brooding on the roof like a loser." M said with contempt.

"Hey! Don't start this again." The Archer stopped the Reaper as he explained to me the situation. "They had a little fight. I broke them up and-"

"You mean, I did?" Orhaxum interjected.

"Okay, WE did but that's not the point." Putting his hands on the table, Daize let out a loud sigh.

"What did you fight about?" I asked as I was concerned about them.

"Well…"

The menu blinked as I received the items I had lost from our journey to the marsh. I managed to get back some gold as well as the potions I used to buff my archery skills. Our Ronin had managed to pick up most of our important items and returned them safely. We decided that it would be best to have a drink at the usual inn and discuss what had happened.

"That was a mess…" Orhaxum leaned back on his chair while sipping a mug of whatever.

"At least we still got our items." I tried to be optimistic despite what the others felt about the situation.

"We still lost EXP." M reminded me. I didn't understand why he was mad about the EXP loss since the amount we lost was not that significant, however, that wasn't the main reason why he was angry. "Besides, you almost made me lose the most important item in the game!"

"Stop complaining. Who cares about your stupid hat?!" Wairuzu said with his usual annoyed tone. "You're the one who died first, anyway! Maybe you should reconsider your skills."

"Easy for you to say with that overpowered ability of yours! I bet all you do is rely on it to get you out of any situation!" The Reaper lashed back.

"I…" Wairuzu clearly had no argument against that statement so he just stayed silent.

However, M didn't stop. "As I thought. Is that why you're the party leader? Because you think you're stronger than all of us? You haven't changed a bit, Takamura!"

"Okay, that's enough!" Orha slammed the end of his staff on the ground which, this time, ended in a loud bang. "You guys are way too noisy. If you're going to argue, please take this outside."

"Fine." Wairuzu stood up and walked towards the staircase leading up.

"Hey! Wairuzu, M didn't mean all that." I tried to call him back as I looked to my side and nudged Soran who was leaning on the table, staring at the ground. "Soran, back me up here."

Unfortunately, our valiant knight was not feeling his best after failing to protect one of our party members. I sighed as I sat back down. What we needed right now was a cute face and I was not talking about Soran.

"…and that's the gist of it." Daize said as he wrapped up his story.

"Did you just call me cute?" Normally, I would be flattered but this was Daize we were talking about.

"Just stating the facts, Megumi. Anyways, would you like a drink?" The Archer opened the menu and ordered another mug of unknown liquid. Almost immediately, a waitress dressed in a brown uniform delivered them to our table. "It's my treat since I got a boatload of cash from selling all the fish I caught."

"Oh, thank you..." I sat down and brought one of the mugs close to my lips. The drink itself tasted sweet while its texture was soft like ice cream. I didn't know if this was supposed to be beer since I didn't really have anything to compare it to. After my sip, I glanced at Soran who was looking more down than the rest.

"Hey, Soran? You okay?" No response from him at all.

"He'll be fine. He just needs to get it out of his system." Daize said with a nervous laugh. Despite his overbearing nature, I still had to admire him for trying to keep everyone in good spirits.

"Can you tell me what's wrong? I want to help." I tried my best to have a calming voice. Luckily, it seemed to have worked. He finally raised his head and looked me in the eyes.

"I… I don't know." His voice wavered with every word.

"He feels inadequate because he couldn't protect M." The Archer answered for him.

"Daize!" Soran blushed as his secret was revealed.

The Reaper clicked his tongue in frustration. "Seriously? How long are you going to beat yourself up for that? I told you I'm not holding anything against you. I know you did your best."

"See Soran? Everyone knows that you give it your all during a fight. One mistake won't define who you are, it strengthens you so next time you can do better." Inspirational book quotes don't fail me now!

"I... guess you're right, Megumi." He faintly smiled at me to my relief.

I then turned to the Reaper who still had beef with our Ronin. "And M? If you think Soran's doing his best, don't you think Wairuzu is too?"

"You don't know him like I do. You don't know the type of person he is in real life." He had a good argument there.

"Was. He's not like that anymore, M." Daize said with a serious face which was a first for me.

"How long are you going to keep defending him?!" This made M stand back up and raise his voice.

"I-I'm not…" The Archer sighed and then turned to me, handing over an extra mug filled with the same drink I had. "Listen, Megumi. Can you take this to Wairuzu? He hasn't had a drink yet. Tell him his old pal Daize thought of him."

"Wait, why me?" If anyone could talk some sense into him, wouldn't it be Daize? I wasn't as close to Wairuzu as he was, after all.

"Because you've proven to be a very good counsellor. Plus, let's face it, the last thing he needs right now is my stupid face." He chuckled a bit after making fun of himself. "Besides M would make a mess if I wasn't here to guard him."

"I think I know why Wairuzu finds you annoying now." The Reaper sat back in his seat with narrowed eyes.

Taking the drink from the Archer's hands, I had no choice but to nod. I was honestly just winging everything I said. Hopefully I could wing it again. I walked to the staircase going up. The second floor was more or less the same as the first only with less people.

'Where did they say he was? The roof?'

I struggled as my feet almost tipped over the edge. The drinks in my hand spilt a little as I inched my way over the roof and onto the other side where a certain orange haired Ronin sat, staring at the moon which was as bright and majestic as always.

"You have no idea how hard it was to get up here." I said, noticing him flinch a little out of surprise. It wasn't easy climbing out a window with the two mugs in my hands.

"What are you doing here?" He asked without turning to look in my direction.

"Daize said you could use a drink." I held the mug out to him. Tilting his head a bit, he reluctantly accepted it and took a sip.

"Thanks." The Ronin relaxed his back and lay flat on the roof as I took my seat beside him. With my drink in my hands, we both stared at the moon for quite some time.

Not knowing how to start the conversation, I trailed off with my opening statement. "So anyway…"

"How was your date with Arryn?" He asked, all of a sudden.

"Huh? Oh, it wasn't a date but I had fun! We went to the market and picked some stuff up. I got this flower and… ah, that reminds me!" I swiped through my inventory to find the item I was looking for. "Here!"

"Hm?" Wairuzu accepted the trade request. "A necklace?"

It was indeed a necklace made out of a simple string tied around a crystal claw which gleamed the same orange as his color scheme. "Consider it as thanks for getting me back into this game."

"You don't need to thank me hones-" Wairuzu paused as he read the description. "This necklace gives me a plus in luck?"

"Yeah… I figured with all the bad luck you've been havi-" My voice came to a halt as the Ronin gave me another scary glare.

"Are you saying I have crap luck?" He asked as I scrambled my brain to think of a way to remedy the situation.

"I… uh-"

"Thanks." Silence fell between us as he equipped the necklace. It actually looked really good on him with the orange color matching his hair.

Wait. I almost forgot why I was here. "Hey, Wairuzu?"

It felt like he knew what I was going to ask as he tried to change the subject once again. "That flower also looks really cute on yo-"

"Will you stop dodging the question?!" I pouted even though I really wanted him to finish his sentence.

He chuckled a little bit before placing his mug down beside him and putting his arms behind his head. "I can't escape, can I?"

"I heard about what happened at the marsh. You used Enhance Mode again?" Beforehand, he had discussed with the rest of us that he would only use that ability in situations where we had no choice in order to avoid being unfair to other people and more importantly, to avoid getting too drained to play the game.

"Yup." He responded nonchalantly.

"Why?" I wanted to know why he had broken his promise. From what I was told, the guys could have managed without it.

Wairuzu thought back to the fight, his hands tensing up. "This one guy was getting on my nerves. All of them were."

"You know they're calling you a cheater now, right?" I relayed the information that I learned from the Cobalt Rangers to him.

Wairuzu raised his arm into the sky like he was grasping for something. "What's so bad about that? There aren't any admins here. The only one stronger than me is that Demon. If I can beat him, I can become the strongest player in the game."

I refused to believe he could be this selfish after everything we had been through. "Are you even listening to yourself…?"

His eyes widened as he realized what he said and dropped his arm to his side. "Megumi?"

"Yeah?" I answered softly.

"Do you think I'm a bad person?" He asked as his head turned to face mine.

"Why would I think that?" I asked before giving him a straightforward answer. Despite everything, Wairuzu clearly cared for his party members.

"I'm arrogant, bossy, selfish…" His voice trailed off as he turned back to face the moon. However, I couldn't stand to listen to him beat himself up anymore.

"M said I didn't know who you are in real life but Daize said you weren't that person anymore. If you don't mind… could you tell me what he meant by that?" I didn't know if it was okay for me to ask about that. A few seconds went by before I got my answer.

"I don't know if I want to talk about it." He gave me the usual answer he uses whenever we tried to pry into him.

"I understand…" It was frustrating but I had no choice but to respect his decision

A loud exhale came from his mouth as I shifted uneasily on the rooftop. He was so closed off from us…

"Not even a little?" I pushed a bit farther. Maybe I shouldn't have but I really wanted to know. I thought he would just shut up at that point but then he sighed.

"Fine, where do I start?"

Ending: Yume Sekai by Tomatsu Haruka

Next Episode: Memories of the Past