Opening AN 1: You know, while I was writing this I was actually really happy. It felt really nice just having some heart to hearts instead of desperate, steel against steel.

Opening AN 2: I started looking over this this pretty late into the day. Then I started freaking out because it felt like I was missing several things. Remember that diatribe I put a chapter or two ago? About how it'll never be good enough until the exact moment before your deadline? Yeah, that feeling happened again.

I gently drifted to the side, skirting along the edge of the river before returning back to my spot in our wedge formation. Since the rest of our guild and our NPC allies were travelling through foot up the third floor tower, I, Dale, and Issin had been given the luxury of a mostly free morning. With the blessing of Agil's World Market and Orlando's Legend Braves, we were able to use three of the quest made gondolas without any fuss.

The two vessels from World Market were capable of carrying nine people, including the gondolier, while the Legend Braves' could carry only six. When I had questioned Agil why he had two of them, the man stated that after Nezha's stint on the second floor his own group was starting to take interest in directly trading items and services with other players. Offering the usage of their boats to places around the floor was but one of the things they had done while on the fourth.

"Hey, Little Miss!" Issin raised his voice, his grin lacking the strain that had been on everyone's face the previous evening. "I'm pretty sure you've traveled the world. Is this anything like actual boating in the real world?"

"Nope!" I shouted back. The need to raise our voices was the direct result of our speed. I couldn't make a proper guess, but it felt as if we were traveling at around 15 miles per hour or so. "We should actually be rowing and not just treating the oar like a control stick." I grinned and pushed down a bit more, breaking ahead a few feet before pulling back. "But I gotta say, I love how this handles!"

Vector had been the one in charge of commanding the black and brown 'Jackdaw' I was currently piloting, named so by Siegfried for a ship from another game. The axe and shield user had proudly made the controls 'inverted', keeping the usage fairly realistic. Unlike Dale's Pequod or Issin's Hringhorni, if I pushed right on the oar the ship would end up moving to the left and vice versa if I pushed left.

The brunet shook his head, fully aware that I had kept the settings the same. "You're a lunatic, Little Miss!" Issin pulled ahead as well, holding his pace for a few seconds before moving back to the distance we had been keeping.

I cackled, moving dangerously close to the Hringhorni. "So there's got to have been a race at some point, right? Either in the past or in the future?" I widened the gap slightly, a precautionary buffer while I motioned at our three ships with my free hand.

"Probably in the future," Dale called out. "I don't think the people on the front lines care much about slacking off and having fun."

"There's the entrance." I pointed out, navigating behind the two. "Dale, you mind if I head in first?" Permission granted, I led the three of us around the ring of water surrounding the third floor stairwell. "Morning Blossom Boating Services," I joked, pulling up along the shoreline. "Somebody request a ride?"

"That'd be us. Our group is called Fūrinkazan?" Klein grinned and waded into the water, pulling my gondola deeper onto land.

"And where would your destination be, Mr…"

"Tsuboi," My breathing hitched at the admission of his real name. "And a nice vacation spot. Maybe somewhere with water, boats, and lots of places to just relax and unwind."

"Well I have just the location in mind." I beamed, watching the four Tolbanians and three Forest Elves clamber on. "It's a lovely little place called Rovia. The western side is filled with lodgings, with places available for purchase in the north, while the eastern side has a recreational area in the north and markets to the south." Klein patted the side of my boat twice before slowly pushing it off, Yamaguchi holding a hand out to help him aboard.

"The entire place was built to accommodate the rivers in the area," I continued, maneuvering us out of the bay. "According to the locals, every few decades the waters recede and leave the land a barren wasteland. Lucky for you folk, you happened to arrive during the wet season." Asuka quietly shuffled closer to me, her face wide and eager for knowledge. "As such, the easiest ways out of the city is to the north and south, each by gondola. You could travel by foot of course through the western or eastern exits, but the path east has a large forest filled with bears and other animals that don't take kindly to intruders while the west has a long hike up and down a steep mountainside rumored to be plagued by monsters."

"What sort of goods would you say a travelling merchant might be able to find if they were visiting?" Asuka queried, pleased to be part of the bit.

"Hard to say," I admitted. "I imagine if you talked around you could find some blueprints and recipes. I'm just a simple gondolier though. Looking around for that sort of thing isn't something I do for fun." I pulled to the right, avoiding an outcropping in the center of the passage.

"This place is quite beautiful, isn't it, Lady Mitsui?"

The woman looked away and smiled at Asahi. "It is," she agreed. "The closest we have to such clear waters would be the river passing south of Tolbana and the tributaries from the rivers in the east before they turn into swamp land."

"Even then, it's more marshy than the clear waters here." Asahi said. The man quietly wrote down in one of his journals, a bottle of ink with a long neck secured between his legs. "The land is significantly less dense as well."

"What about you three?" I asked the elves. "You ever been in this region before?"

"This region was too far west for me to have ever been here." Iseyer leaned over the edge, letting one of his gloved hands drift along in the waters. "And as far as I know, Private Alduin and Private Heivaar were assigned to our location in the Lostlorn Forest as soon as they finished their training." The elven sergeant looked at me, his eyes carrying the breadth of his next statement. "They've essentially lived half their lives there."

I glanced at his companions. The two had been silent and nearly unresponsive since the massacre at the Fallen dungeon. The only way to get them to respond to anything was to yell at them like a drill instructor, and even then Iseyer was the only one who could consistently get them to do as told. "Rovia will be a nice change of pace. There isn't exactly much to do without a boat or walking, but for the most part it's peaceful."

"Earlier you mentioned monsters. Exactly what sort are there?" Yamaguchi looked away from the handle of his sword, the sheathed tip digging into the deck.

"Standard animals of various sizes in the forest, aquatic crabs and cephalopods in the rivers," Seeing their confused faces, I gave a quick and simplified explanation of the animals. "If you travel on foot you might come across land capable fish soldiers called Sahuagin, but beyond that this region is mostly unexplored."

I glanced over at the Hringhorni. Resting at the stern with a joyful expression sat Haru, the man seeming as if the events from yesterday had never occurred. "Though considering who we are and how much time we're going to end up spending here, that's probably going to change."

"If you find anything tasty, make sure to save me some, okay?" Asuka giggled, bringing a hand to her mouth. "And on that note, next time you swing by Tolbana can you bring a couple bottles of wine from my study? The drinks they had in Zumfut were okay, but ours are just so much better."

"I'm pretty sure they're only better because that's what you've grown up with, Lady Mitsui." Asahi stoppered the bottle and began stowing his materials away. "I'm sure if you spent some time getting used to the drinks elsewhere they would gain the same appeal."

"You should talk to my guild leader about it. I'm not exactly much for alcoholic drinks, but Klein's made it his goal to try every single drink available from every region." I snickered. "I'm willing to bet he keeps a journal about it the exact same way Choryu tries to keep a record of all the monsters we come across." I took a deep breath, raising my voice. "Isn't that right, Klein?!"

"I deny anything that woman says!" He yelled from the front, shaken from his thoughts.

"Told you." A wave of chuckles spread among my boat. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we will be arriving at our destination shortly. Please remain seated until we come to a full stop, and to make sure you have all your belongings. From all our staff here at Morning Blossom Boating Services, we express our deepest thanks and hope you choose us again."

As we neared the chalk white city of Rovia, Mitsui and Asahi stood up, making it to the front of the ship before I calmly chided them for their actions. I couldn't fault their reaction though. It wasn't exactly a shining white fortress in the midst of evil and corruption, but the color of the stones was quite the contrast in comparison to the more moderate earthen tones of the surrounding land.

"Klein, think you can make a short jump?" I eased up on the speed and knelt down, picking up a prepared length of rope. "You don't need to worry about tying it. Just loop the noose around the mooring and the system will take care of the rest." I scanned the waterways, careful not to crash into the NPC run gondolas ferrying players and other scripted NPC's around. After a few short minutes, I found one in the northwestern district. It was fairly far from the teleport gate as well as the lodgings on this floor, but as I had no desire to play musical boats it was the best we had.

Klein hopped off the Jackdaw, the boat rocking slightly from the motion. "We're meeting up at the central plaza, right?" The near red head caught the rope, tapping it to the anchor point once and letting the game functions secure it.

"That's the plan," I confirmed, motioning happily for our NPC companions to exit. "It's not as if you can't travel around the entire place on foot," I remarked, having pointed out the tall, arched bridges connecting each section, "but gondola is just so much easier, especially if you don't have a map of the area like we do."

With a single questioning sound from Asuka, I made copies of the fourth floor, handing them out to each of the NPC's. "I feel kind of bad for the Ol'dekhaan though, having to wear those cloaks every time they want to travel through the cities." My head lolled to the side, shame washing over my face when I remembered that Rhaan had ended up losing his bird to Harak'thaar's attacks during the fight.

"It's not entirely the worst," Tsuboi said. "They have to be mindful about not speaking their native language, but they get a kick out of seeing the different lifestyles."

"When did this happen?" I asked, using the role of tour guide to force the images out of my head.

"Back on the second floor when we escorted them through Marome to make our way to the tower. Unlike most of the stuff you're handling, the Ol'dekhaan seem to want nothing more than fight." He nudged me, grinning with mirth. "You sure you don't want to swap out with somebody from our group?"

"No thanks. Besides, I'm Contracted with Mitsui." And now Iseyer, I added mentally. "The only way I can actually raise my Contract skill is by completing what she asks or fighting alongside her." I spun around a took a few steps backwards, just long enough to give an apologetic smile to the lady in question.

"Fair point. But you really should look into working with them. Tuukaan keeps mentioning how he wants to fight by your side." The redheaded male paused, staring at me questioningly. "Speaking of that, didn't you throw him off the top of his post the first time we met him?"

I winced, sensing several gazes focus on my head. "Can we not talk about that anymore?" I pleaded. "And besides, we made amends." I looked to the side, distinctly recalling how awkward (and slow) the conversation with the leader of the ranged squadron was.

"You seem to lead quite the interesting life, Miss Asasaki."

I grumbled at Iseyer's words, slouching for a fraction of a second. "You have no idea." With partially forced cheer, "So what's on the list today, Fearless Leader? I don't know about you, but after yesterday I think a day of relaxation would be just what the doctor prescribed."

"While I think we'd all agree with that statement, Asasaki, I doubt everybody could handle sitting around and doing nothing. I'm sure we're all going to end up doing something, even if it means just walking into that forest east of here and relaxing a little or heading back to the lower floors and helping out some of the newbies."

I twirled around instinctively, explaining the term and emphasizing both its connotations and the difference between the nearly indistinguishable variant of 'noobie'. "I think I might head down to the second floor and hang out with those Fukasawa kids- Ah, I mean," I laughed awkwardly, realizing my faux pas. "Sorry, I don't know if they'll take offense to me sharing that information, but they haven't exactly given me any other way to refer to them."

"It should be fine. I'll just have to keep that in mind." Tsuboi shook his head, taking my act of walking along the handrail of the bridge in stride. "You should probably message them though. They might be farther north than you're expecting. They're kids after all. I doubt they really know how to hold back."

"Like you and your drinking?" I quipped.

"Hey, it's not like it actually gets me drunk," he returned. I took that moment to explain to Iseyer and his two underlings the difference between the alcohol from our realm versus the alcohol from here. "Does it really bother you?" He asked hesitantly.

"Just a little. If only because I worry the habit might easily transfer once we get out of here." Like so many times before, I forcefully crushed the idle question of whether or not beating Aincrad would be the death of Asuka and the others. "But if you're a good boy and keep it to a glass or two during meals like you've been doing, I think you should be fine. You're drinking it for the taste after all, not in the vain hope that it'll actually get you drunk, right?"

"Yeah," he responded after a moment.

Spinning around the last few steps, I collapsed in a heap, my back resting against one of the four obelisks situated around the active gate. "Looks like we're first." I pulled over my interface, composing a message to Keita and Ducker. "If they're too far north, I won't head after them, Mitsui. I know you're probably eager to get started on networking with the people here, so I'll stick close to the teleport gates in case you need me. Just flag me up if you need to, alright? Same for you, Sergeant Iseyer." The two nodded, Asuka's cheer making her seem much more like the young adult she appeared instead of the late twenty year old she actually was.

"I swear you fetishize efficiency or something, Little Miss." Issin plopped down beside me, Harry and Haru slowly following after him. "If you bothered to look around a little more you'd have found a better parking just to the south of here. It's right alongside the main channel too."

Asuka stepped away from her conversation with Tsuboi, cocking her head to the side. "In her defense, we did end up having enough time to talk and look around at the northwestern district."

"Yeah, that's fair, I suppose." Issin leaned back, bracing himself on his hands. "You know Argo's guide book for this floor did make mention of how there's a handful of quests in the regions to the east and west. If we really wanted to take our time and just relax here, we could pack a camping set or two with everybody else bringing along sleeping bags."

"Would that be fair to the the others though?" Harry motioned towards the Tolbanians and elves. "If we start travelling on foot, we wouldn't be able to help them out as easily. And even if we did complete all of their requests, who knows how long it would take for us to complete everything in the area. In case you forgot, we did spend nearly a whole extra month in the Black Iron Kingdom just taking care of everything."

"It was a lot of travelling and back and forth though," I interrupted. "Plus, we did learn a lot about the region and it was great practice for us to actually become a team." I followed Asahi's pointer finger, the scholar excitedly jotting down something regarding the clothing of one of the locals.

"If you guys need some time to recover, I wouldn't mind staying here. Asasaki?" Asuka turned her attention onto me. "Alongside those bottles, could you pick up my chess set? It's located in the bottom-most shelf of my study." The woman undid one of her buttons, searching around the inside of her vest. "Here." she handed over a palm sized piece of metal. It was almost the same as the one Ferghus had given us, though instead of silver lacework it was done with a strikingly gold alloy.

"This should calm down the guards there and let you in without any trouble." She raised an admonishing finger, suddenly reminding me that she was indeed the leader of a merchant guild and not just a bubbly adult who never truly grew up. "I better get that back! That's one of the last remnants of my heritage, so take care of it!"

I raised my hands in surrender. "Don't worry. This'll stay in my inventory the entire time. Nobody but me will be able to touch it."

"Good." She smiled. "Oh, Takeshi!" Beaming, the woman hopped over to the still armored Yamaguchi, patting his arm excitedly as she talked.

Issin suddenly leaned forward, scrutinizing the duo. "Harry, call me crazy, but imagine that scene, only blonde."

"No, I see it too." Harry shook his head. "Though if we're being honest, I think the red hair suits her. It's not quite pink, but it's close enough."

"What does pink have anything to do with it?" I asked.

In unison, "Pink is the color of pain." Issin took over, "In anime and some games, the things that are colored pink are the ones that deliver pain but not enough to be deadly. Often it comes from somebody that you expect to be sweet and charming, and they usually end up as a love interest and so the pain is always fairly unexpected for the protagonists."

I stared at the two, blinking rapidly. "I think the right word here would be 'Otaku', wouldn't it?"

"Oi, oi, oi!" Issin gawked at me, his features changing from utter shock to affrontement. "We totally get out of our house! That's why we find someplace to meet up every few months and play board games instead of just staying online."

I snickered, eyes straying away from our group. "So where's Captain Ahab and his fearless crew?" Realizing that neither of the two companions recognized the reference, "The crew in charge of the whaling ship 'Pequod'?"

"Last I saw of them," Haru spoke up from my left, perched on the last step of the teleport gate, "the goblins were dragging them over to the stalls in the south western district. Tarthuul's a fan of looking at all the clothing and jewelry, though considering how often we have to keep asking him for things that used to be in our inventory, I'm pretty sure he's only looking for a good hit and not just being excited at everything." He glanced to the side, his face falling in dismay.

"Which means they're going to take a good hour or two." Issin jumped up and stretched out his arms. "I suggest we get started on whatever it is we want to do. Asasaki, you mind if I follow you around for the day?"

"Um, sure." I blinked and rose, making my way over to the two redheads. "Klein, I think it'd be for the best if we went our separate ways for now." Seeing his worried face, I frantically waved my hands. "I mean we should start taking care of everything! Apparently the Ol'dekhaan are dragging Dale, Kuni, and Dynamm around the markets. If they're anything like you and Ha- Choryu were saying, that should take a good hour or two before they see everything."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good estimate." Klein clapped his hands loudly, incidentally grabbing the attention of everybody in the plaza. "Okay, guys, it is currently 8:14 in the morning! Dale and his group are probably going to be busy until 10:30 at the latest, so we might as well get started on everything we were planning for the day."

With a gaiety that seemed more real than artificial, the leader of Fūrinkazan began pointing from group to group. Asuka and Asahi, with Yamaguchi and Hibiki acting as their guards, would look for whoever constituted as the leaders in the region, trying to work out any sort of plans or recipes in exchange for whatever they could provide. Sergeant Iseyer and his still insensate men would join the Ol'dekhaan in the uncreatively named «Bear Forest» when they finally came back, while Klein and Haru would end up exploring the fifth floor and gathering some information for when we finally got up there. Meanwhile Issin would be shadowing me for the day, for reasons I figured would make themselves known eventually.

"Right then. Guess we're off." I leaned forward as I started walking backwards, waving with both hands. It was an odd habit that I ended up picking up after hanging around Satoru's younger sister whenever we had to house her while their parents were out and about. At this point I felt obligated to keeping the trait, if at the very least to hold on to the memories as long as possible.

"Take care you two," Klein said, "and try not to cause any problems for the lower levels, alright?"

"I'll make sure to keep her in line, you guys have fun on the fifth!" Haru waved back at Issin, my last sight before I stepped through the portal being the spear user's eager form spinning around and leaping after me.

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I instinctively walked towards the veranda, staring out at the clay tiled rooftops of Tolbana spread out before me, vibrantly reflecting a liveliness that could only have been the result of hope and new beginnings. With graceful movements influenced by my emptied mind, I stepped onto the flat topped railing, the wind caressing my body.

For being such an egotistical madman, Kayaba sure knew how to make his worlds.

A small part of me quietly brought up the idea that he hadn't made this world all on his own. That it would have been impossible; the world of SAO wasn't an independently developed game after all. It was the creation of the Argus corporation.

"Hey, uh, Asasaki?"

I turned my head slightly, keeping the sight of the first floor Tower looming over the Forsaken Forest centered in my vision. "Mm?"

"Any particular reason you're standing up there?" Issin stared at me, a wary grin on his face.

"Habits, I suppose," I said simply. "Every single time I came up to Mitsui's place, I'd leave by jumping off here." I pointed down, signaling a flat rooftop several stories down.

"But doesn't it hurt?" He asked, peering over the edge.

"Just a little. But I'm used to that pain now. Besides, between my own experience from taking the jump and my Acrobatics skill it's not like I'd die if the safe zone wasn't in place." My lip twitched into a smirk. "My health would probably be under 20%, but I'd be alive. I bet if I took a potion before falling I could even jump right into a fight without any problems."

"Could you uh, could you step down from there though? Preferably on this side?" Issin hesitantly reached towards me, his palm skywards. "You're forcing some bad memories from that first week back up."

With a quick apology, I hopped down, stretching my hands above my head before sitting down on one of the stone benches. "So it turns out those kids I was talking about are still in Marome."

"That's the village to the east of Urbus, right?"

I hummed in confirmation. "I dunno if it'd be worth our time to head over there, especially since Mitsui might end up completing her talks by the time we get over there. Hell, she might even be done by the time we get back to Black Iron City." I laid down on the bench, my right arm folded underneath my head.

Issin sat down by my feet, a leg dangling off the arm rest. "Hey, uh, Asasaki? Can I…" he frowned. "Can I ask you something?"

"Go for it." I dismissed all my idle thoughts, sensing he was going to ask me something important.

"How did it feel?"

"You're going to need to be more specific than that," I responded.

"How did it feel almost dying?" He clarified, staring at me like a lost child.

I took a few deep breaths through my nostrils, cursing my mind for how much time it was taking to respond. "Honestly, it didn't even bother me." I slowly raised a finger in a request for silence. "My health bar is just a number. A gauge for how reckless I can be." I sat up and patted the inside of my right forearm. "Between all the material collection I do on the lower floors for upgrades, the amount of monsters I regularly kite on my own whenever we're pulling mobs or need to buy some time, and the," I did a quick recount on my fingers, "some four or five times I've been stabbed through the stomach, I really don't care all that much anymore about being in the yellow or red."

I whipped a potion out, flipping it over and over through the air. "That being said, yesterday was far too close for comfort. Plus," I snatched the potion with a loud clasp, returning it to its pouch, "I can't exactly say I was fond of those weapons of his. Being turned into a shish kabob was just par for the course in regards to me versus unique monsters that have weapons; it was the sensation of being tased every other half second that really rattled me." I let out a short, helpless laugh, Issin's pained expression not being lost on me. "I'm damn lucky I did all those drills about taking imaginary blows or falls and whipping out a potion. If I didn't have that action ingrained into my mind I'm pretty sure you'd all be mourning me instead of singing praises about the Morning Blossom Boating Service."

"Don't." Issin looked away, his mouth pushed together tightly. "Don't talk about your potential death like it meant nothing. Please."

I sighed and shook my head. "Issin, I know it probably bothers you and everyone else-"

"Nobody else saw it."

My mouth stayed open, an ineloquent sound escaping.

"I was the only one who saw how close you were to dying. Everybody else was too focused on dealing with the Milites that just wouldn't stop showing up, and when I realized how low your health was I moved in front of Harry so he couldn't, couldn't see-" I stared at his arms. They were shaking. Shaking like a tree near the outskirts of a hurricane. Not bad enough that they were threatening to snap in half, but enough that you could tell something was on its way. Instinctively I sat on the back of the bench to reduce the disparity of our elevation, bearing the uncomfortable edge pressing into my posterior while I tried to comfort him within the bounds of a friend.

"I saw you." His hands clenched tightly, hidden behind his arms. I imagined that his knuckles were bone white, straining in place of his voice. "I saw you held in the air, his swords crackling with the same damn energy that kept stealing our life and healing his. I saw you grabbing at his blades like a hostage begging for mercy." He shut his eyes. "I saw your health bar nearly disappear. You must have been at 1% by the time you got that potion down your throat."

He look at me fiercely, eyes brimming with tears. "I thought we were about to lose you, Asasaki." He continued staring, facial muscles twitching back his continuance. "I thought we were about to lose our teacher. Our friend. The reason we don't mind doing all these quests and helping out on the front lines."

I could only stare, stunned by the revelation.

"We're all friends in here, Asasaki. The six of us? Klein, Harry, Dale, Dynamm, Kunimitzz, myself. We've been friends since our high school years. And aside from Harry and Dynamm because of school and his apprenticeship, all of us would have been totally fine just staying here." He turned back towards the city, blinking away the moisture. "They would have been annoyed for who knew how long at the fact that their chances of securing their future were completely destroyed by Kayaba, but since we were all together it would have been fine. We would have stayed together, doing whatever we wanted. Quests, exploring the land, picking up production skills, fighting monsters."

"I bet given enough time, hell, probably even by now, Choryu would've accepted his fate of being stuck in here like us." Issin took a deep breath, holding it in for a few seconds before continuing. "But you weren't like us. You weren't here just for fun. You weren't here with anybody. You're from the States. You have a family. A family that's going to be missing you. A family that might not even know what's going on."

"The six of us? We might call or write our families from time to time, but for the most part? We live by ourselves, only hanging out with co-workers and each other." He raised a hand, cutting me off. "And I know you're older than us. But you still keep in touch with them to a level we could only hope for. That's why we don't mind pushing so hard. Doing your drills, doing your morning exercises, even if it's not to the level you originally asked of us." Issin stood and took a few steps forward before looking at me. "You were our reason for fighting. And you almost disappeared."

He ran a hand through his hair, eyes filled with grief. "What was I supposed to tell them if you died on me? Klein told me and Harry to go back you up, and you were a fraction of a second away from dying." He laughed brokenly. "I want to tell you to stop fighting. To put up your sword and promise me to never go out in the fields ever again. To stop being you and just let us protect you." His body shook in silence, a heart wrenching mixture of laughter and tears. "But that's just not you." He shook his head, smiling despite his internal anguish. "You're not a damsel in distress. You're not a little princess or a simple developer. You're the goddamn Demon Ninja. You get in there where everybody else would think thrice and still need a cash incentive."

He shook his head, wiping away the tears with a thumb. "I want to keep telling myself that my feelings for you are crazy. That it's just because you're the only woman I've actually interacted with since high school. But it's not. I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you, Asasaki. And I don't know if it's just me crushing on everything you seem to stand for or if it's actual love." He laughed neurotically, meeting my gaze. "But when I saw you in the air, and your arms stopped protesting?"

The spear user sagged slightly, a dull look entering his eyes. "Last night I kept cursing myself. I couldn't sleep. The moment I could have done anything to save you, my mind just shut down. When I should have done something, Yamaguchi was the one who ended up rescuing you." He smiled weakly, hands twitching as if trying to grab hold of something. "I didn't do anything," he breathed.

"I wish I could tell you I return your feelings, Issin." I glanced away for naught but a moment, demanding my body to look at him. "But I can't. And odds are, I probably won't. Not until we get out of here. And even then, it'd be something that would have to be worked on." I looked up, shading my eyes from the replica of the sun. "I have mental problems at the moment. My time in the military's left me scarred, and I was in the process of recovering when I got stuck in here." I looked back down. Wordlessly I sat properly in the center of the bench, patting the spot to my left.

"You know I've lost some seven or eight people at this point?" I said suddenly, kneading my unarmored navel. "There was the two people in my first squad. The first one was injured in a building and couldn't get out. The second one took point on my orders and activated a proximity mine on his way in. He died with a length of pipe through his stomach." I continued rubbing, idly wondering exactly what it was about the monsters here that made so many of them choose the same general region to gore me through.

"The third one was my superior sergeant. Lost a limb and a good portion of his legs while we were out on foot patrol. He died in my arms." I snorted. "Bastard even had the decency to talk me into giving him permission to rest, like I was welcoming him home."

I grabbed my hand, forcing it to cease its ministrations by massaging it. "After that, I lost four men under my command while we were out driving. This was when I requested a transfer to military police over in the middle east, by the way. We were making our way to another region when an IED got set off by their Humvee. We ended up in a firefight and it was only because we were part of a caravan that the other half of my squad survived." I closed my eyes, their names and faces flashing through my mind.

"And then in here," I let out a slow breath, methodically pulling open my inventory and manifesting the starter blade tucked away in an carved, ivory sheath. "In here, I lost the person who I was supposed to be taking care of while we were out farming monsters." I held the sword up, a somber smile forming at the replicated carvings he had hand drawn for the NPC to add.

"So I would love to be able to tell you I return your feelings, or that I'm willing to test things out and see where they go. But I can't. Because I'm just not ready." I tapped the interface for my immediate equipment, the weapon flashing out of existence and appearing on my back. "And I probably won't be ready. Not until long after we get out of here. For all intents and purposes, we're at war. It might not be with guns, it might not be with explosives, religion, ideologies, or even land. But we're at war. We're going to see things. We're going to have to do things. And until I can get away from it, I can't recover and be the person I need to- the person I'm supposed to be." I smiled forlornly, poking his arm until he turned to look at me. "But thank you for looking up to me. Thank you for making me your reason."

Issin let out a shaky breath. "You really know how to take care of your men, you know that?"

"I have to. If I don't, they won't have a reason to take care of me." I tapped the notification that popped up, reading through its contents. "Looks like Dale's going to be with us for the day. Something about wanting to gather materials for when he picks up the Cooking skill."

Issin laughed, taking another breath in an attempt to compose himself. "I'm not entirely sure if picking up Cooking would be the best idea."

I gave a gentle smile and stood. "In the end this is still a game based in reality. Whether or not he's taking the skill to try and recreate some semblance of his past or if it's just a way to kill time, who are we to judge? We can advise, but in the end it's still his own choice."

He nodded, manifesting his spear and bracing it on his shoulder. "Yeah, we all have our choices to make. Whether others like them or not, we just have to bear it and live on."

My expression became a little forced. "C'mon. He said he doesn't mind waiting for us in the fields outside Black Iron City while we collect some materials near Horunka. Plus, I've been meaning to visit Hilde. I think there's some materials she'd love to work with."

The twenty-one year old smiled, looking at me with an expression that made me want to take back every single one of my words and profess that I would gladly try to reciprocate his feelings. "Lead the way then, Little Miss."

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"You could have dodged," I commented. Behind me the rough stone of the second floor Tower dug into my hands, the sensation strikingly comforting in comparison to the phantom numbness that flared through my body every time the metal of the taurus' weapon caught the light.

"I'm leveling up my Battle Healing." Keita surged forward, his red and black staff blurring out in a quick series of glowing green strikes. The final attack pushed the minotaur back several feet.

I tutted, mentally critiquing his approach to the situation.

"Shouldn't you be helping me out?" He demanded, repaying an evaded vertical strike with a revolving chain of thrusts.

"You look like you have this covered. Besides, even a passing normal attack from me would shave away a good five percent or so from that thing." I patted the sheathed «Tormenting Reaver», the weapon having received an additional four out of an attempted five upgrades before our trip over.

"But what's the point of having singled me out from everybody else? Are you trying to get me Monster Killed?!" The leader of the Fukasawa children rolled his staff behind his neck, holding the pose for a brief moment before unleashing a near 360 azure strike into the humanoid bovine's knee.

"I'm just watching for now." I nodded approvingly. While I would never have made such a close counter unless to prove a point, that he was able to pull it off in the first place brought a small sense of pride to my heart.

"That's all you ever do!" The weapon glowed once again, Keita spinning the other way with another weak but multi-hitting string. "All you ever do for is is watch or stand to the side, taking kills or kiting monsters! I thought you were supposed to be teaching us, not playing chaperone!"

I shook my head and entered a stance, adjusting my follow through slightly so that the tip of my blade would knock away the Lesser Taurus Striker's axe instead of blinking me through it. "Funny. I distinctly remember talking to each of you back on the first floor about the different drills you needed to take in order to improve your combat abilities." I hefted my sword, impassionately watching the monster raise its axe once again. "Besides, why are you complaining? You get all the experience and cor from this situation, and I get any material drops that I might need."

My left hand blurred out, the system assisted deflection causing the massive hunk of metal to bury into the ground on my left. "Now come on, that thing's three more sword skills from dying." The brunet growled, moving out from my right and taking advantage of the opening I had provided. "How's things with your team?" I questioned.

"We're doing just fine." The teen huffed, sullenly looking through the pop up that had appeared.

"C'mon, Keita. I know you have a problem with me, but that doesn't mean you have to be an angsty teenager that I have to try and procure conversations from with all the tenderness and skill of a heart surgeon." I rolled my eyes, internally screaming about the irritations of adolescence. "Seriously, despite whatever grudges you have, whatever preconceived notions of superiority or whatever it is you think I'm trying to lord over you, I'm here to help."

"Ducker wants to take after you," he begrudgingly stated. "He doesn't talk about it, but whenever we're in a safe zone he runs off on his own and starts imitating all the things you've done. Attack an imaginary mob then retreating, running to the opposite side of the field and repeating the same action; it looks like he's just practicing jump stops but then he starts weaving around markers he placed on the floor. They look exactly like a group of monsters or allies fighting off their own battles."

I bit my lip, contemplating whether or not I should try to deter the dagger user. "It sounds like you don't approve."

"Ducker's our treasure hunter. That's what he's spec'd out for, even it he can't grind his lock picking abilities because there aren't any repeatable dungeons yet."

I laid a hand on his shoulder, gently pulling him back. "Keep talking. Take advantage of any openings I provide."

"You're too violent, Asasaki." I frowned, positioning so that «Pierce the Sun» would impact squarely onto the side of the taurus' hammer. "We're just teens, we shouldn't be fighting like this! Ducker shouldn't be wanting to learn how to make things to chase him around whenever he pleases! We should be having fun, studying, going out and playing games at the arcade, not, not this!"

I snapped out, right foot impacting ineffectively against against the humanoid's shin. "So what do you want me to do about it?" I retorted, driving my blade in and out through the beast's inner thighs before retreating to the other side.

"Stop hanging around us!" He yelled.

"And what? Leave you all alone to die?!" I leapt into the air, rotating my body to land on the swinging weapon. "I already know you, Keita! I already trained you, I already learned a little about you kids!" I sprinted up the taurus' arm. Grabbing hold of a small patch of hair, the system and I drove the barbed length of metal through the beast's face repeatedly, the jack hammering strikes carving away swathes of its health bar with every stab.

The club leader glared at me, visually tracking me as I recovered from the sudden lack of support. "How about you stop fighting like that, for starters?"

I scoffed. "That? My strength stat is only at a 12. The only way I can actually deal any kind of significant damage is if I go for those sure hit critical zones or if my sword skills get lucky." I shook my head. "But fine. If it's seriously bothering you that much, I won't be as vicious."

"Thank you." Keita turned away from me, fiddling with his interface. "That one dropped a Scrap of Corinthian Leather." He initiated the trade, seemingly disgusted with even the third hand associations of dealing with me. "What do you even need that stuff for, anyway?" He asked, trailing behind.

"It's just one of the components I need to upgrade my armor." I patted my chestpiece, the metal resonating dully. "The other part is some metal fragments I need to get from the insectoid monsters in the caves around here and that's just for the base upgrades. If I really want to boost my chances of success as well as the upper limit of each stat increase, I need to toss in metal fragments from all the monsters I come across."

When we got back to the meeting place I stilled and licked the back of my teeth. I wasn't entirely jealous, but the fact remained that Sachi had completely thrown off the shy and embarrassed persona she carried around me, jubily chatting up the unbalanced Dale. "Keita, I'm asking you under the pretense of a friend. Sachi doesn't hate me, right? This is just an oddity?"

He said nothing for several moments. I couldn't tell whether or not he was purposely drawing out the silence in an attempt to make me uncomfortable or if he wasn't actually sure himself. "I'm pretty sure this is entirely because she has an older brother that's kind of as big as him. Not in the height department, but definitely in size."

I laughed awkwardly. It wouldn't be the first time I'd heard of somebody connecting with another due to passing familiarities. "That's good to hear."

"Keita!" Sachi turned towards us and waved with a free hand, beaming. "I finally did it! I took down a monster all on my own!"

I smiled softly, trying not to show my disappointment at not being greeted. Keita broke into a jog. A wide grin blossomed on his face as he stowed away his weapon, holding his arms out for an hug. "That's great, Sachi! I'm really proud of you!"

"It was really scary, but Dale and Ducker were standing right behind me in case I needed any help!" The girl giggled, looking at her leader joyously. The lone female of the Fukasawa kids pulled away and tittered off, excitedly pulling Ducker towards another taurus.

"Hello there, Mr. Dale," I joked, giving a short curtsey.

"Lady Asasaki, you needn't go that far. You are my superior, after all." The man smiled and gave a light bow in return, his two handed blade resting in its wooden sheath.

"Only because of knowledge. You're more experienced than me, in more ways than one." I tilted my head, amused by his response.

"Is this some kind of weird foreplay?" Keita cut in. "Because if it is I'm just going to step away and hang out with Issin." The teen gave me a nauseated look, a thumb jabbed towards the spear user in question.

Dale stared at me, blinking in confusion. "No, this is just us joking around." I shook my head, denying any sort of involvement with the teen's behavior. "I'm the one that taught them how to actually use their weapons. But I'm also the second lowest level player in our guild." I pursed my lips, looking at the player list for our guild. "How is Choryu lower than me anyway? I swear he goes out and fights more than me."

"It's because he spends most of that time building up his bestiary as well as voluntarily taking a hit to his experience intake whenever we go out. He says it's because he feels bad about staying back and taking pictures instead of fighting with everybody." Dale crossed his arm, head tilting slightly. "I think the fact that Asahi seems to have a constant stream of requests for monster information is helping him out a lot. Apparently the pseudo-quests aren't the greatest source of experience, but pretty much anything we gain from the Contract skill is because of things we normally do and just have to report."

"Bah, speak for yourself." I sighed dramatically. "All Mitsui has me doing is running around delivering things for her. Honestly, I'm half tempted to start charging her cor for my services." I cracked a grin, turning to look at the teen behind me. "Alrighty then, Kei! Enough of a break. Time we got back to it!"

He leaned forward, scowling. "You better help me out this time instead of just standing there and watching like you did the last three times!"

"Yeah, yeah. Now come on, go find something for us. I'll catch up to you in a sec." The teen marched off towards the corridor we had claimed for ourselves, his weapon slung over his shoulders. I turned and looked at back the junction. At the western end Issin was talking to Tetsuo and Sasamaru, slowly going through the motions of conjoined shield and spear formation that he'd been working on with Harry and Dynamm. "Nope, not even a flicker of anything," I whispered. A scream of self righteous rage pulled my attention back towards my assigned student. "Coming, coming!"

Next chapter should be up Nov 24-25