"Aqua, dinner was absolutely delicious! You really outdid yourself!" Luna commented pleasantly from her seat at the kitchen table as dinner wrapped up, having been invited over by Sena since the former prosecutor was pulling a double shift to deal with some paperwork at the guild. "And thank you for inviting me as well, it was very thoughtful!"

"No problem, girl! I figured you could go for a nice home-cooked meal instead of eating guild food for the sixth time this week," Aqua said with a slightly tipsy smile after taking a sip of her third glass of wine. "Of course, it was also a great opportunity for me to receive praise for my cooking. A goddess like me deserves all the love in the world, Ain't that right, Kazzy~?"

"Of course you do, Aqua." Kazuma chuckled from across the room, dropping off a small stack of plates for Megumin and Darkness, who were the designated dishwashers that evening. "You really did do great tonight, though! That soup you made was amazing."

"I must admit, it was quite filling. You really outdid yourself this time," Wolbach hummed with a relaxed smile as she closed her eyes and leaned back a little in her seat. "But really, must you be so blunt in regards to people singing your praises? I understand where you're coming from, don't get me wrong, but at least try to be subtle about it. Like yours truly."

"Gods will be gods. Who would have guessed you'd be so desperate for validation." Megumin snarked from the sink, smirking evilly as she continued to finish up her pile of dishes. "I mean, I only look for praise after my Explosions, but those are magnificent shows of power that I think are deserving of such."

"Come now, Megumin. Please don't bully Aqua and Wolbach like that. They cannot help that it's in their nature to seek praise," Darkness insisted as she helped her dry the dishes and place them back in their respective cabinets. "It is how gods and goddesses receive their powers after all, through faith and admiration in their follower base. In fact, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a lack of followers how gods 'die'? I've heard rumors but nothing concrete."

"Unfortunately, those rumors are quite correct. If a god or goddess has no followers, they will simply cease to be." Wolbach confirmed with a grim expression, crossing her arms as she leaned forward and sat up straight. "It's one of the few but noteworthy amicable conversations I've had with Serena regarding her goddess, Regina, and whether she should gather more followers."

"Oh yeah…Regina," Aqua hummed with a neutral expression as she stared idly into her wine glass. "Never talked much, but I remember her always being so paranoid and on edge about popping out of existence should something happen to Serena. We gods like to tease and steal a few followers from each other, but when one of us only has a limited number to their name, it's kind of an unspoken rule to leave them alone and let them try to convert more to their religion. Pissing contests are one thing, but if it leads to our equivalent of death, then it's hands off."

"Nice to know you guys have your limits. Wasn't entirely sure you had any." Kazuma remarked with a small smile, placing a hand on Aqua's shoulder as he strode back over, hoping to ease the tension of the current topic. "I'm sure Serena will branch out eventually, and if she doesn't...well, Regina's in good hands regardless, right?"

"Hmm…I suppose you're right," Aqua agreed with a small nod before noticing a thoughtful Luna passively observing and shooting her a sly grin. "How's it feel to be one of few mortals to get this kind of inside scoop from the gods? Pretty neat, huh?"

"Admittedly, it's not a conversation I could have ever expected to be privy to. It's definitely intriguing, admit that much." Luna confessed with a chuckle, genuinely still grappling with the fact that she not only knew three gods, but was friendly with all of them. "It's honestly fascinating to speak to litteral legends one on one."

"Eh, the novelty wears thin after a while, trust me," Kazuma deadpanned. He didn't maintain his flat expression for very long, however, as a smirk started to crack when he heard his water goddess girlfriend sharply gasp in offense. "Alright, I'm gonna go game for a few hours. Or until the sun rises. Whichever comes first. You ladies have fun without me!"

"Will do, Kazzy. You have fun too!" Aqua hummed, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek before he departed, shaking her head in apparent exasperation. "He really loves that computer of his. I mean, I get it, I've plugged in and played just as much since Chris gave it to him, but since the incident I've been trying to cut back a little."

"Incident?" Luna questioned with a quirked brow. "Dare I ask what happened? I still don't know much about computers or video games, so I'm not sure if it's something I should be worried about for myself."

"Oh, it wasn't a technological mishap. I suppose you could say it was more of an...unfortunate chemical reaction." Darkness remarked, cheeks slightly flushed in actual embarrassment for a change as she turned to face Luna, elaborating further. "To be more specific, Kazuma invited us to play a few games with him once. He referred to it as 'co-op mode' I believe. It...didn't pan out so well."

After connecting all the available controllers to their ports and grabbing three chairs from the kitchen for his girlfriends, Kazuma plopped himself into his swivel chair (or "throne" as he sometimes likes to call it much to the others' chagrin) right in the middle and handed Aqua, Megumin, and Darkness their controllers. Wolbach, meanwhile, opted to idly observe the group from behind, an all-knowing smirk already rising as she had a funny feeling how tonight's session was going to end.

"Alright, so I know you guys can get a little…intense when competing in a board game," Kazuma started carefully, thinking his words over before saying them. "But let's see if cooperating in a video game is any better. I'm sure Chris gave me insurance on this thing should something get broken, so I'm prepared for the worst regardless."

"I gotta admit, I'm kinda excited to see what you have cooked up for us!" Megumin chirped, fiddling with her controller excitedly as she waited for the others to get their bearings. "I never really thought about what'd it be like to play these kinds of games with you guys! I think it'll be fun!"

"Trust me, you girls are gonna love it! I was something of a gamer myself back up in Heaven during my off times. Just let me carry you all to victory and spoil me rotten afterwards, 'kay?" Aqua commented cheekily, legs swinging as though she were a giddy child about to be rewarded.

"I'm glad to see we're all going into this with our heads held high." Darkness chimed in with a smile, before turning to Kazuma and nodding in an almost giddy fashion. Seemed like the current enthusiasm was dangerously infectious. "I do believe we should get under way! Send us in, Kazuma!"

With what he liked to believe was a dashing wink (it seemed effective enough on the crusader anyway), Kazuma popped in the disc of yet another of his favorite games: Hoop 2, the sequel to Hoop: Evolved Combat. After giving the girls a brief rundown of the events of the first game and watching the intro cinematic, Kazuma selected co-op mode for the main campaign and booted them into the first level.

"Alright, so everyone just follow my lead, this first level starts off nice and slow. It's basically a tour and a tutorial all in one." Kazuma explained, moving his Master Commander along idly through each section of the beginning area with the girls trotting along around him. "I don't think we'll all have to do the shields part, but just in case, don't wander too far."

"I don't think I'll ever get over how surreal of an experience playing this is," Megumin breathed out, subconsciously moving her Master Commander clone to the bridge's windows to gaze out in space. "It's almost beyond a Crimson Demon's wildest dreams…"

"These visuals are impressive! I can see why you enjoy these games so much, Kazuma." Darkness added on, her own clone stumbling around from corner to corner in the lab, taking in every small detail of the room with a bright smile. "The level of detail is astounding…"

"Alright, alright, when you're finished gawking at all the rivets in the wall, meet me in the elevator so we can trigger the next cutscene and get into the action," Kazuma snarked lightly as he moved his character in the right direction. "Aqua…would you leave that soldier alone already? He's clearly not amused."

"What are you talking about? I think he's having a great time." Aqua snarked, crouching up and down atop the tutorial marine's head as he stood stock still, waiting for all players to enter the nearby elevator. "Heh, I forgot how fun it is to mess with these guys. Early Hoop NPCs are pretty basic, so you can just do stuff like this with no consequence."

"It's only been a few minutes in and I can already tell this is going to be a disaster," Wolbach commented from behind with a shake of her head, bending over to pick up Chomusuke and cradle her as she watched the others' buffoonery. "It's almost hard to believe it was you four who took out half of the Devil King's generals. I can't tell if that says more about us or you, though."

"Ha, ha. Very funny, Wol...though I'd personally like to think it's a healthy mix of both." Kazuma quipped as Aqua finally stopped goofing around with the soldier and entered the elevator as well, cracking a smile as their characters all rose up to the next area of the level. "If you guys liked the detail before, this next part is gonna really knock your socks off."

Just as soon as the words left Kazuma's mouth, the elevator rose through a clear glass tube, giving everybody watching an amazing view of the fictional Earth and all the space stations and ships orbiting around it. To Kazuma and Aqua, it was alright, nothing they haven't already been accustomed to. But for Megumin, Darkness, and even Wolbach to an extent? It was nothing short of a phenomenal sight of epic proportions.

It almost made them understand why their boyfriend once chose to live his social life through video games. Keyword being almost. They'd much rather have Kazuma be active in his community like he was now. But still, for a moment, they could start to see things from his old NEET perspective.

"Wow...that's so freaking cool!" Megumin cheered as she steered her clone around the main platform, with her and Darkness once again taking in every possible sight as the tram that carries them to the end of the first level pulled up. "This game is the coolest! We should have tried this together a while ago!"

"Glad you're enjoying yourself so far. Now shush, we have another cutscene coming up before we get into our first firefight," Kazuma said before the elevator doors opened and another cinematic was triggered. Although, Aqua did chuckle loudly when the game tried to pretend that there was only one Master Commander attending an award ceremony instead of like four identical clones of him.

The girls stayed mostly quiet throughout the following cutscene, which switched between the ceremony on the human space station and the trial on the alien's main ship. Of course, Kazuma wasn't entirely surprised when in the aftermath of the latter scene, which resulted with the alien general being branded as punishment for his failure, Darkness seemed a bit more fidgety in her seat.

"Never change, Dark," Kazuma teased his semi-horny girlfriend with a shit-eating grin. "Never change…"

"I-I didn't say anything!" Darkness defended hastily, slightly flushed as Kazuma and the others chuckled over her current state. "I will behave, and maintain a modicum of self-control."

"That's all we can hope to ask of you," Aqua reassured with a small but understanding smile and nod. "Still, it's a funny coincidence, don't you think? That alien guy was like a holy warrior for his people, just like you. And he wore yellow armor as well. And he was put in a situation not out of place in that little notebook you write all your fantasies in."

"Hmm. I suppose you're right, yes. Life is full of little coincidences, isn't it?" Darkness mused, cracking a slight smile at the oddity of such an unexpected connection before shaking her head as the cutscene ended, launching them into the first proper level of the game. "Oh! Is the station under attack now?"

"Yup, it is. Follow me and grab some weapons down this hall," Kazuma ordered, his dormant gamer instincts from his old life reawakening as he led the girls and their Master Commander clones. "I'll give you a quick rundown on how to shoot, reload, and swap guns before the baddies start swarming in."

Leading them along the ammo crates and making sure everyone was armed to the teeth, he gave them a quick rundown as they bumbled over to the main room where the rest of the NPCs were gathered, awaiting the alien boarding party.

And…they died in the first wave.

Darkness was having difficulty adjusting to the FPS controls and missed most of her shots. Megumin found out how to operate a turret and while she did take immense, cathartic satisfaction in mowing down enemies, got too cocky and reckless since manning the turret made her an open target. Aqua, simply put, wasn't as skilled in the game as she was trying to lead on. Hoop 2 was significantly more demanding than, say, Bacman or Super Mia Sisters.

As for Kazuma, well, it had been a while since he last played this game, and he did set it at the second hardest difficulty since he figured Legendary would be too much for the girls. He was seriously considering setting it down to Easy if this was how things were going to play out for them.

That said, for their first and admittedly embarrassing failure, the girls didn't seem too upset. They were frustrated, obviously, as anyone would be, but they were still laughing and having a decent enough time. As such, Kazuma decided to let them have a second go at it before changing any settings.

"Okay, so that could've gone better," Kazuma sighed in half-frustration but mostly amusement. "Still, it's your first time, so I was expecting this. But you, Aqua. Whatever happened to all that talk about 'carrying the team', huh? I thought you were one of those gamer girls every shut-in otaku dreams about having."

"Yeah, well...I'm a little rusty, y'know?" Aqua huffed as she crossed her arms, before tacking on a later statement under her breath. "That, and I've never played the game on a higher difficulty than Normal, so…"

"Oh, this is better than any play I've seen," Wolbach commented cheekily with her other half now perched on her shoulder and snickering (to the best of her ability) at Aqua's poor performance. "I think I'm starting to see the appeal in these video games, Kazuma. No matter the genre, they always seem entertaining, intentionally or otherwise."

"Hey, you watch it. I doubt you've ever even played a video game." Aqua sniped with mild annoyance, before turning back to the screen and fiddling with her controller. "C'mon, Kazzy. Put us back in so I can show Wolbach a real entertaining show!"

With the go-ahead, Kazuma restarted the game from their last checkpoint before the enemies came busting in. To the girls' credit, they made much better progress this time…

That is to say, they made it past the first wave before dying to the second.

Darkness, still having troubles with the shooting mechanics, opted for the "spray-and-pray" tactic on the cannon fodder aliens, which admittedly wasn't that bad of an idea. Once the stronger aliens came in with recharging shields, however, it was less effective of a strategy, and she was out before long.

Megumin, discovering how to lob grenades, couldn't help herself from abusing them as much as she could by scavenging them off her fallen human comrades. This self-indulgent, carnal behavior of wanting to blow her enemies up, however, was what led to her death when a plasma bolt put her down after using up the last of her grenades.

As for Aqua…in a moment of heroic roleplay, she tried to avenge Megumin's character by throwing a grenade of her own, only for it to bounce off a corner and come back to her, blowing her own character up in a ridiculous display of ragdoll physics.

That was when things started to get a bit more dicey, especially when Aqua caught Wolbach trying to hide her laughter and nearly bludgeoned the goddess with her controller right then and there. Darkness and Megumin weren't quite on that level yet, but it was clear they were getting frustrated, so Kazuma toned the difficulty down to Easy. Hopefully, that solved the problem.

He was half-right.

While the enemies AI had been dumb downed to hell and their HP lowered considerably, it still took at least two more tries for Kazuma's girlfriends to beat the waves of aliens boarding the ship. When they figured out that it was only just one boarding party they took out and that they were already crawling all around the station, they were disappointed that their moment of personal victory was snatched away uncaringly. Still, being the pro gamer of the group, Kazuma did his best to encourage them and led them throughout the rest of the level, silently wondering if having them play co-op was any better than having them compete in a competition.

Luckily, moving forward they were able to sporadically get through the level, with Kazuma surviving most encounters with the girls respawning after he cleared an area. However, the girls' frustration was mounting, with all three looking less and less happy by the second, getting angrier and angrier with every death.

"I can't believe I'm struggling on Easy difficulty," Megumin seethed through clenched teeth. "This is a disgrace – DARKNESS, YOU GOT IN THE WAY OF MY FUCKING SHOT!"

"That's not my fault! I'm struggling enough as is, Megumin, just use your eyes!" The crusader shot back with unexpected intensity, making Kazuma shift slightly in his seat as he moved just a little farther away as a precaution. "These damned aliens are impossible to kill in one go…"

"If you think the regular aliens are bad, just wait until we get to the levels with the zombie-aliens…" Aqua mumbled dejectedly as she failed to pay attention to where she was moving and fell off a balcony. "And I'm dead again…"

"Ah...maybe we should call it here, it doesn't seem like you guys are having fun." Kazuma suggested gingerly, preparing for just about any kind of reaction that such a suggestion could insight. "It's not a big deal, I promise!"

"NO!" Megumin and Darkness both cried in perfect unison. "WE HAVE TO BEAT THE FIRST LEVEL!"

"Okay, okay! We'll finish this first one!" Kazuma sputtered, hastily resuming the game and moving his character to a safe-ish location so the girls could respawn on repeat as they struggled. Eventually, he risked a glance at Aqua, and realized that the water goddess was now glaring daggers at Wolbach, who was still perched in the far corner of the room.

"I don't know what you're giving me that look for," Wolbach insisted cooly with her arms crossed and face written with smug condescension. "I haven't said a word."

"Maybe not yet, but I can feel it brewing." Aqua replied with a scowl, before standing and jabbing a finger in the direction of her fellow goddess, seemingly at her wits end. "And I'm warning you, Wolbach, if you open your mouth and say one more snotty thing, I will find ways to make you suffer accordingly."

The threat did little to shake up the dark goddess, instead just making her shake her head in amusement and making Aqua practically snarl like an animal.

Speaking of which, Darkness in particular snarled something nasty as she was in the middle of chasing down a recovering enemy intending on meleeing them to death.

"Motherfucker, get back here NOW…"

And just like that, it was as if the tension in the room had vanished, at least for the rest of the girls. Megumin, Aqua, Wolbach, and Kazuma all turned and gawked in disbelief over the words that just left the normally polite and courteous crusader's mouth. Maybe it really was time to turn the game off…

However, before Kazuma could so much as formulate the suggestion, Darkness' character turned the corner and, in a "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" moment, the enemy she'd been hunting down knocked over a crate, and the physics engine went nuts and set the collision object flying at her, killing her instantly.

The crusader stared at the screen, eyes wide and the wind knocked out of her sails. Everybody looked to her in equal parts fear and concern.

Then, involuntarily of course, Kazuma snorted over what he'd just bore witness to.

That was a grave mistake.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Darkness shouted, before lurching to her feet, reeling back her arm, and chucking her controller through the monitor...and embedding it into the wall behind it.

After taking a moment to catch her ragged breath, Darkness finally came to her senses and realized what exactly she had just done. She slowly looked at everybody else, who all stared back at her with wide eyes, and blushed like she never blushed before.

"Uh…I-I s-suppose I am going to be p-p-p-punished for this in some fashion, no? Heh, heh…" She chuckled lamely in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere.

By this point in the story, Darkness had sunk into an embarrassed heap at the table while Aqua took over explaining to the befuddled Luna. "After that, Kazzy called over Chris to discuss replacing the busted monitor, and we all agreed not to touch a co-op game again until we all get a hold on our anger."

Megumin chimed in with only a slightly evil glint in her crimson eyes. "Oh, and before you ask…yes, Darkness did get punished for actions. Seriously, we already knew she was a screamer, but Kazuma really let her have at it later that night, if you know what I mean~"

"Well, that's certainly an...unorthodox method of punishment, I'll admit." Luna replied, flushing slightly over the implications before shaking her head and turning back to Aqua. "I assume everything is fixed then, and that Kazuma and Chris hammered out some kind of deal?"

"Yup! She was able to hook him with a new monitor in just a few days. Being her senior, I even stepped in for a bit just to help her convince some of the higher-ups upstairs to get us a replacement since the computer alone was already pushing it for a birthday present," Aqua answered smoothly, patting the trembling Darkness on the shoulder while taking another swig of her glass and sighing greatly. "Now it's like nothing ever happened!"

"Aside from how eternally mortified our mutual crusader friend has been whenever the subject comes up. That's a new constant." Wolbach commented from her seat, having finished her mug of tea during the story and smiling mischievously at the crestfallen knight on the other side of the table. "To be entirely fair, it was a spectacular display once the fear wore off."

"Bullies, all of you…" Darkness whimpered within her folded arms.

"Oh, like you aren't enjoying yourself. Don't play coy, Darkness." A fresh voice chimed in, prompting the girls to turn and face Sena, who'd just entered from the adjoining hallway after likely returning from work. "I assume I missed you all telling Luna about the Gaming Incident?"

"Yup! You just missed it, sorry Sena!" Aqua confirmed with a bright smile, a fairly funny contrast to just how miserable Darkness looked and sounded. "How was the guild hall? You're back earlier than we were expecting!"

"Busy as usual. But I've dealt with worse in my previous line of work," Sena answered diligently, an undertone of pride in her voice as she did so. "Was in and out with the paperwork before long. Did you save me any leftovers like I asked?"

"Uh-huh, right over here!" Megumin confirmed, gesturing to the bowl of soup nearby, along with the other portions of the meal that had been saved for the busy woman. "Now, back to the subject at hand: since we can't play co-op games without getting angry, Kazuma has been trying to find alternatives so we can still hang out while he games."

"I'm content with just watching him as he plays now," Darkness carefully admitted after finally pulling her head out of her arms to speak up. "Much like Yunyun, I think I enjoy games more for the story they're trying to tell rather than the gameplay. And with Kazuma taking the helm, at least progress will be made, unlike with me…"

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Darkness. It's not like any of us made much progress after the tutorial anyways." Aqua assured her teammate and friend, a relaxed smile resting on her face. "Sooner or later, we'll find a game we can all enjoy together without there being danger of anything getting smashed. It's inevitable!"

"Yeah, maybe we just need a game that's low-maintenance and doesn't get the blood boiling, y'know?" Megumin added while patting the crusader's back. "As long as it's something we can all enjoy together without wanting to wring each other's necks, I'm down for whatever really. Even if it doesn't have explosions in it."

"I can certainly concur with such a sentiment. Hopefully, we'll find something soon enough." Darkness agreed, her mood brightening slightly as she sat up again before turning to Luna. "I don't suppose you have any interest in giving such things a try, Luna? I can't recall whether you've ever used the computer before."

"No, I haven't. And to be honest, after hearing a horror story like that, I'm not sure if I even want to give it a try," Luna chuckled before standing up from her seat. "Perhaps if I'm feeling more daring, I'll give it a whirl. Until then, it's back to the salt mines for me. Tell Kazuma I said goodbye and that I'll have an open slot on Sunday for our first date night. A pleasant surprise for the both of us, I know."

"We'll pass it along. Best of luck at the hall, Luna! Bye!" Aqua replied, bidding the hard working woman farewell along with the rest of the girls as she departed, shaking her head in amusement as she did so. "Those two are moving along nicely. Think Kazzy is ready for his first date with her?"

"If he can handle having four girlfriends and four friends with benefits, I'm confident he's more than ready for one date with one girl," Sena remarked with a small smirk before moving to her reserved plate and sitting down. "I have to say, he's done quite the commendable job of balancing so many significant others at once. I'm fairly certain most men would crack under the weight of that kind of responsibility, but not him. Things that make you go, 'Hmm,' I suppose."

"Yeah, that's Kazuma for you. Definitely a real head-scratcher," Megumin snorted, prompting a wave of lighthearted laughter as all the girls present mulled over how utterly mind boggling their boyfriend could be sometimes. Not that they were complaining, of course.