Sorry for the late chapter, but things got a little out of control. I had to write the chapter around 3 times from scratch before I remotely was happy with it. This is just a little filler, before starting the next part of the story in the next chapter.
Hope you enjoy reading it
Level 7 a brief respite
"You call that a swing? Don't make me laugh." retorted Buzz as he parried the sword strike aimed at him with frightening ease. With a simple push, he sent his attacker stumbling back until with a quick movement of his spear he tripped them."Come on! I know you can do it better than this. Or little old me too much for you?" he goaded them with a cocky smirk.
Natsu sat before him, panting. He wasn't wearing his armor, only simple clothes but he was clutching his sword in his hand and glaring up at the older man
"Shut up! " he panted. If for nothing else, training sessions with Buzz served him in opening up and become less unsure about giving voice to his opinions. He also learned quite a few curse words from Buzz.
It was the middle of February now and a lot happened since the new year started. The Assault team kept up an almost ridiculous pace following the 5th floor, placing the current Frontline on the 17th floor. Thanks to their rapid progress more and more people joined them along with the constantly expanding merchant class supporting them.
Of course, there were downsides to that. Most of the 'late arrivals' joined the three major guilds, causing the forming hierarchy among the guilds to cement. Though their guild had a larger voice than their size would suggest, thanks to Natsu's fame as the Orange Blaze and their almost constant presence in boss battles. Also, their increased numbers meant that the fight for farming spots became even more vicious. It wasn't really surprising to have the Al's or the Dragons hogging a whole dungeon for themselves, citing the need to train in the new recruits.
That was not the only change. Starting from the 6th floor a new type of enemies started to appear, the humanoid types. Skeletons, lizards, and other beastmen, all with various weapons and more and more commonly, sword skills. They, unfortunately, lost a few unfortunate players who couldn't adapt well enough to the change in fighting styles.
That was the main reason Natsu started to have duels frequently with Buzz and also Ken, Basil, and Wedge when they could find the time. Ever since he first played, Natsu was able to predict the enemy's movements, countering them even before the system initiated an attack. His instincts and ease in a fight were what made him one of the well-known cleaners, that and his reckless actions. With humanoid enemies, he could still read them, but things became trickier. Their moves were more complicated, they were also faster and though he knew how to counter them, his body was a second slower in following his commands.
Not to mention their humanoid appearance and humanlike reactions made it harder for him to deliver the killing strike. Slowly, but surely he was able to get where he could safely deal with these new monsters without needing any help. Still, they kept up the sparring sessions to keep their skills sharp and try out new combos in a safe environment. Not to mention Buzz's constant criticism helped get rid of any bad habits they picked up.
"That's it for today. Come on, let's go home, I'm starving." commented Buzz, his spear resting on his shoulders, seeing how tired Natsu was. It was no surprise they were out here in the fields fighting monsters and each other for at least five hours.
As they began to walk in the direction of this floor's, the 13th's main town they encountered another pair. Ken and Wedge looking just as worn out as Natsu felt, tiredly raising their hands in greeting.
"How did things go?" asked Natsu curiously when they reached them.
"It went well." answered Ken with a confident smile, causing Wedge to snort in amusement.
"Well is not the word I would use. Kid's a natural with that katana. Reckon, he could easily stand up to the black swordsman or our very own Orange Blaze." he joked, throwing an arm around both Ken and Natsu.
The 9th and 10th floors theme was centered around feudal Japan and it was reflected on their enemies. Most of their enemies wielded katanas, wakizashis, naginatas, and nodachis, giving credence to what Kirito said back on the 1st floor, about fighting enemies using the same skills that Illfang used.
It wasn't until the 14th floor that they learned that completing a difficult and long quest, allowed a player to unlock the katana skill tree and allow wielding katanas. There was an uproar from a few idiots, asking why didn't the beta testers told them about this, but it was quickly shot down since they also didn't know it beforehand. After all, the betas information stopped after the 11th floor, since in the two-month-long beta period, they only beat the 10th boss and barely scouted out the 11th. And only then it was a select few of the betas, like Buzz, Kirito, or Argo who was able to survey the 11th floor properly, before the real game.
As soon as they learned about this quest, Ken begged them to do it, though there was not much convincing needed with Natsu and Basil. Buzz and Agil agreed after a little convincing with Biggs joining the trio to keep them safe. Even Lisbeth accompanied them, saying that she needed to level herself to be able to work her blacksmith skills further, and she would rather go with friends than total strangers. In the end, with five of them, it taken four days to clear the quest, gathering a lot of exp on the side because of so many hunting missions, before in the end, Ken needed to face a high level named monster, the elder lizard samurai alone, to earn the skill.
Klein pouted for a while every time they crossed paths because they were able to beat the leader of fuurinkazan, who also went after the katana skills, by two days even though he roped Kirito into helping him. He probably would have finished faster if he didn't spend so long trying to convince the black swordsman to help.
"Let's go home." offered Ken with a smile, cutting off Natsu's thoughts. With a nod, the boy agreed and they began to walk into the town.
-0-
„Home sweet home." commented Buzz with a small smile as they arrived through the teleport gate.
After a while, they had enough of staying in inns on the current top floor and since their guild was already founded, they chose a guild building as their next objective. Surprisingly, the hardest part proved not to be the gathering of enough money, especially with the seven of them able to work in small groups and Argo's intel, but to agree what sort of base they would want. They debated for almost a whole day, from Wedge's idea of a feudal Japanese building on the 10th floor to Buzz's idea of a building styled after a military barrack they found on the 8th, or even Ken's absurd idea to rent a cave on the 5th floor. It did not help matters when they turned to Natsu to make a decision, who could only answer he would want a place where all of them could be happy and safe.
In the end, it took them exploring the at the time newly opened 12th floor to find the perfect building. The whole floor's theme was the Italian Renaissance, giving the whole floor a beautiful architecture. They found a small mansion, not so large that it would cost a fortune but enough to house all of them and have a few open rooms in case their group grew larger. It was modest, but still had a regal feeling to it. It also had a small ground to it with a beautiful garden, much to the joy of Biggs who began to tend to them in his free time.
The mansion of the Keepers of the Seven Rings or KSR for short, since Klein always complained to them that it was a mouthful, was located a little distance from the main city of the floor, Temere. It was a beautiful city, showing off the best of the Renaissance period, at least according to Buzz, who decided to lecture them about it, seeing that the 3 younger kids knew nothing about it. It was also easy to get lost in, evidenced by Natsu, who got lost 2 different times when he went to do a few errands in the city. Both times they needed to employ the services of the Rat to find him, much to Argo's amusement.
As they walked through the city many people greeted them or waved at them excitedly. After the new year and the long list of victories that quickly followed gave a lot of people hope, more and more people began to leave the city of beginning and try to discover the joys this world held. Most of them were far from being able to join the Assault team and many of them didn't even want to go near the frontlines, still, the appearance of 'mid-level' players caused even those lower-level floors that became abandoned after the frontline moved on, to once again became populated.
It was especially true for those floors where some of the larger or well-known guilds made their base. Like the 15th where the Kaiser Dragons ruled, the 7th where the Aincrad Liberation Force made their presence known, or surprisingly the 12th where their own guild chose to settle down. The 1st floor still housed a large part of the player base, partially because MMO Today even to this day was based on there.
For Natsu it was still surreal that so many people knew him, not to mention when he would meet players telling him he was their inspiration to be finally brave the dangers of this world. It placed a very heavy feeling on his shoulders. Sure, he was the guild's leader, at least on paper, but even when they turned to him to make a decision, in the end, they were still a team, where everyone's thoughts counted. But he being solely responsible to inspire people and keep that hope alive, it was very scary. Even so, it also gave him one other reason why not to give up.
"Hey Natsu, we arrived." he felt Wedge nudge his shoulder, an amused smile on his face. Looking up the brown-haired boy blushed a little, seeing them standing in front of the door to the mansion. Seems like he was so lost in thought, he didn't even notice them leaving town and walking up to the guild building.
"Welcome back, guys." Briggs greeted them with a soft voice as he appeared from behind the building. With them finally acquiring a base, they found themselves in a stable position that let them focus on other things than fighting and exploring dungeons. For example, Agil began to expend more and more time on leveling his merchant skills, leaving the frontline with a rising frequency. Basil took up the cooking skill, saying he always cooked for himself in the real world, and wanted to do something that reminded him of it. Contrary to his confidence, his first few experiments turned out to be terrible. Natsu didn't even know he could get a stomach ache in the virtual world.
Biggs also took up a hobby of his own, the gardening skill. It was a new skill that was discovered on the 15th floor, a plant-themed floor. Most of the players thought it was a completely useless skill, but for Biggs, it was the perfect one. Wedge told them, that his brother was always timid, despite his size and strength, and felt most home around plants. Natsu personally liked it, Biggs's little garden that began to slowly spread to most of the ground around their mansion made their home that much homier.
"Hi, Biggs. How are the flowers?" he asked kindly, earning a big smile from Biggs.
"They are lovely as always." he said, proud for his garden."Training went well?"
"Could have gone worse." said Buzz with a small smirk as they walked to the front door, ignoring Natsu's indignant pout. Getting a compliment from him was harden than making Basil stop calling him Natsu-dono.
The five of them walked into the large hall, chatting with each other. Natsu couldn't help but be a bit awed, whenever they stepped into their mansion. The inside had a royal feeling to it, with a deep mahogany floor and overall 15th century decorations. Well, at least according to Basil, who seemed to be an expert on Italian mansions, he, on the other hand, all he could offer that it looked nice.
"Welcome back. Seems you guys managed to come back for lunch." Agil greeted them as he stepped into the foyer. Before he noticed them he was looking intently at something on his menu, but immediately dismissed it when they reached him.
"Of course. I'm famished." said Wedge with a big grin, patting his stomach fondly.
"Good idea then that Basil made more than enough for everyone." commented Agil as they walked in the direction of the dining room.
"How are things going with the merchant players?" asked curiously Natsu, since he knew the axe user was keeping his eye on the budding merchant community. On the way there, all of them stopped to unequip their armor in favor of casual wear.
"Same old, same old. Slowly but we are working out little problems, one at a time." explained Agil."Thankfully the past few months helped most of the people stabilize and find their place here in Aincrad. Looks like we will have a stable support behind us in no time." he said with a big smile, proud of the help he was able to offer to the players who ventured out of the starting city and tried to make something of themselves.
"Guess Lis will have a lot of competition before long." said Wedge, sending a teasing smile at Natsu who remained oblivious to it.
"Nah, I reckon we will remain Lis's faithful customers, right Natsu?" asked Ken, smiling widely as he realized where the older teen was going with this.
"Of course, Lis is the best." declared Natsu, not noticing the snickering coming from Wedge and Ken.
"Oh?" asked Buzz with a smirk, catching the snickering boys game."Don't let Argo hear you say that, she gets easily jealous.
"C-Cut that out." cried out Natsu with his cheeks red. Ever since the 5th floor's battle the others, save for Basil and Biggs took every opportunity to tease him about Argo and Lis. Argo was no better because she played along and even made things worse whenever she was in hearing distance.
The others laughed merrily at him, while they finally reached the dining room. Stepping in, they found Basil in the middle of setting up lunch.
"Natsu-dono, everyone! Welcome back." he greeted with a smile, looking like some kind of housewife while he wore a blue frilly apron that Natsu really didn't want to know how or why he acquired.
After they purchased the mansion, Basil showed a surprising interest in decorating the best way he could. When they weren't out the field exploring or training, he remained back here, to fuss over the house. For some reason, it was really important to him that the headquarters of the Keepers of the Seven Rings looked the best it could be.
While it was nice seeing Basil relaxing in his own way, Natsu ended up with the short end of the stick when in the first week of Basil learning to cook he had to try out every one of his creations. When he wanted help to taste what he cooked with the system's assistance before Natsu could realize it, suddenly everyone else found something to busy themselves. In the end, Basil looked at him with such puppy eyes that he couldn't help but agree. To this day, even when Basil became more than an average cook, he couldn't help but sometimes shiver at the sight of his cooking, remembering the first few abominations.
"Ittadakimasu!" called out each of them before digging in, some kind of stew that tasted a lot like beef to him. They ate in silence, nobody feeling like talking.
"Now that hit the spot." said Buzz with a pleased smile as he leaned back on his chair. Basil went to put away the dishes, while everyone else stayed in their seat to laze around a little.
Natsu closed his eyes, relaxing. It felt nice, just to stay here for a little while, to not worry about the next boss fight or about how much he needs to farm to level up. Nowadays most of the days were spent out on the field and even back home, he found he was unable to truly get his head out of that mindset.
"Why the long face, little boss?" asked Wedge when he noticed him frown.
Natsu hesitated a little before coming clean.
"It's just...We were never really able to relax. I mean Basil and Biggs have their hobbies, but most of us? Even when we 'relax' it still connected somehow with the frontline. It seriously bugs me that all we do is fight, fight and fight." he said gloomily. He didn't notice Agil and Buzz share a look silently but definitely heard when Buzz began to chuckle himself.
"What's so funny?" wondered Ken a little clueless.
"We were thinking just the same thing with Buzz. That's why we thought of a little activity to wind down for a while" explained Agil with a smile. That gathered the others' attention, even Basil's who only now stepped back."For the afternoon, there will be no training and absolutely no mention of the Assault Team. We are going swimming."
"Swimming? Where?" came from Ken who smiled in anticipation.
"You can swim in SAO? asked Wedge a little skeptical.
Natsu didn't say anything but bit his lip in worry. He didn't have anything against swimming except one thing: he couldn't swim for the life of him.
"We found a small lake in a secluded corner of the 14th floor. It's designated as a safe zone so there are no monsters. It's quite shallow so it's perfect for a nice relaxing afternoon." said Buzz with a smile before said smile turned just a touch wicked."And the best? We found it first and I talked with Argo, this information won't be available for a few days, so it will be completely ours for that time."
"Sound good. Let's go!" cheered Ken, who stood up ready to go. The others also cheered, ready for a nice, worry-free afternoon.
-0-
"Wow." Natsu couldn't help but be awed as they stepped out of the trees and saw the lake for the first time. He looked over the glistening water, the lake surrounded by the forest gave such a peaceful vibe that his tense shoulders instantly relaxed. The sounds of the forest and the monsters within quieted down to nothing as they stepped into the safe zone.
"Wow is right." commented Ken as he stepped next to him, a similar grin on his face."It's hard to believe there are so peaceful places in here after the pitfalls of the 8th floor." he joked, causing Basil to tremble a little as he remembered. Poor guy, for some reason he was always caught in traps like that. Be it the moles on the 5th dragging him down, falling to the pitfalls of the 8th floor, or being caught by a Venus flytrap the size of a house on the 15th floor.
"Let it go, Basil. Nothing will hurt you here." Natsu tried to calm down the clearly traumatized boy, with moderate success.
They quickly unequipped their weapons and gear, the path here was only relatively safe for them because of their high level, and changed into the swimming trunks Agil had the foresight to procure when the idea was first conceived. Natsu got an orange one, a none too subtle reminder to his nickname, while Ken had a light blue, Basil a dark blue, Buzz a simple black, Agil a green one, and Wedge and Biggs both had red trunks.
"Let's get the party started!" cried Wedge, with fist-pumping into the air, he was clearly the most enthusiastic about this.
"Count me out. I'm gonna lie down and anyone wakes me up, won't live to see tomorrow." said Buzz before walking away and finding a nice shaded area where he could rest.
"That's his way of saying to have fun and relax a little." translated Agil, seeing the worried look Natsu sent towards the spear user." Go on, have fun. I will wait for the others to arrive than join you."
"Others?" he looked up curiously, wondering who else will come.
"Geronimo!" Wedge cut both of them off as he ran past them yelling loudly, Biggs at his heels. As soon as they reached the edge of the water, the brothers dived into the water, resulting in an impressive splash, much to Buzz's annoyance.
"Looks like fun." commented Ken as he also went into the water, followed by Basil, though they refrained in jumping in.
After a few seconds, Wedge and Biggs resurfaced, both of them sending large, joy-filled grins.
"Man, this is almost better than the real thing. The water is just the right temperature. Come on slowpokes, I doubt we can even drown here." said Wedge before he lowered below the water to prove a point.
Natsu was about to tentatively approach the water when I familiar voice caught his attention.
"Did you guys have to start without us? That's so not fair." said Klein as he stepped out of the trees, the rest of his guild following behind him. The redhead sent Natsu a friendly wave when he noticed the young boy waving at them happily."Hey if it isn't our little celebrity." he teased him, earning a pout from the famous Orange Blaze.
"Cut it out, Klein." said back Natsu, though he didn't really mind, he got used to it. He turned to look at Agil curiously."Were you talking about Klein and Fuurinkazaan?"
The older man nodded before he greeted their friends.
"Yes, thought the more and merrier. And since we are so used to working with each other I thought why not? Is that a problem?"
"No, it's brilliant." answered Natsu with a brilliant smile, yelping when Klein gave him a one-armed hug which was a little awkward due to height difference.
"Of course it is brilliant. I would be very sad otherwise." He tousled the young boy's head, ignoring the grumbling coming from said boy, and released him, turning to Agil with a slightly serious expression. "I asked Kirito to join, but he refused. Said he would grind instead. Sometimes I think that fighting for his life counts as relaxing to that guy." he joked in the end, causing Agil to shook his head, a faint smile on his face.
"Sound like Kirito, all right."
Klein and his party walked a little ways away to change, while the others were already playing in the water. Natsu turned to Agil about to ask him if any others were coming when a body collided with him, a familiar weight settling on him as an arm circled around his neck and he felt the back of his head pushed into a very feminine body.
"I get to see my Na-kun shirtless and for free. Argo likes this." a voice purred in his ear, causing him to blush and start squirming. Argo always loved to tease him, but it was getting old and a little uncomfortable. He stepped out of her arms, shoulders squared, and turned around, ready to once in his life be a man and tell her what he was thinking.
"Cut it out Argo, it's-" whatever resolve he had died as he noticed that the infamous rat wasn't wearing her signature cloak. Instead, she stood beside him, posing in a modest yellow two-piece swimsuit, a sly smile on his feat. Natsu certainly felt his face was melting as he gaped at her before he realized what he was seeing and quickly covered his eyes. "W-w-what are you wearing?" he stuttered out. Argo giggled in response.
"It's a swimsuit, what else? Do you like it, Na-kun?" she asked, causing him to stammer helplessly. In the background, he heard Klein whistle before grunting as if he was hit. He also tried to say something but his voice was muffled and soon he was dragged away by his friends.
"Leave him alone, Argo!" Asuna came into the rescue, much to Natsu's relief. "Really, your need to always tease him whenever you see him is beyond me." she said as she and Lis stepped into view. They wore one-piece swimsuits, white and pink respectively, but both of them looked a little uncomfortable, something he could easily relate to. Also, since they didn't constantly tease him like Argo tended to, it was easier to not get flustered around them.
After the battle on the 5th floor, Asuna sort of took him as her unofficial little brother. She was always scolding him whenever she heard he did anything remotely dangerous or reckless, telling him he should better take care of himself. Still, it felt nice that she was worried about him. That he had someone he could turn to with almost anything, she always took the time to talk or at least message him if there was anything wrong. She was also his shield if Argo's and the others' teasing became too much. He never had an older sibling and before the game, he never even had friends, used to stay on his own. Despite all the pain Sword Art Online caused, he was thankful to meet these wonderful people.
"Oh, should I focus on Ki-bou instead?" the Rat asked with a cheeky grin, causing Asuna to splutter in embarrassment before she began arguing with Argo.
Lisbeth stepped away from the two of them, next to Natsu, looking a lot more comfortable now that most of the attention was on the two girls.
"It's nice that you guys could come." the young boy sent her a wide smile, after finally calming down and she gave one in return."I don't think there were so many of us in one place without the threat of a boss since the party following the 5th-floor battle."
"Yeah, it helps to relax with friends. Have to appreciate the little things." said Lis, before going to Asuna and gently dragging her away to the water."Come on, let's enjoy the water."
"The last one in has to pay for dinner for a whole week." shouted Klein as he raced past Natsu, his friends in hot pursuit, yelling to him indignantly. They jumped into the water with a large splash, waking the napping Buzz in the process, making him curse at them.
"Language! There are kids present." told him Agil, though he was smirking as he walked to the edge of the lake as well. He looked back at Natsu who kept his distance from the water."What's wrong?"
Natsu hesitated a little, looking down, finding a little rock before him very interesting. He mumbled softly, prompting Agil to raise an eyebrow.
"I couldn't hear you."
"I can't swim." Natsu admitted not meeting the older man's eyes. Before any of them could continue, Argo suddenly appeared next to him, grabbed his wrist, and began to drag him to the water, a little ways away from the others. "W-What are you doing?" he spluttered out as he eyed the approaching body of water with apprehension.
"I'm teaching you how to swim." she said simply, not turning back towards him, but steadily leading him forward.
"But why?" he couldn't help but ask. Argo stopped, facing him with a gentle smile on her, for once not teasing him. Natsu found himself thinking that she had a nice smile.
"Because it's no fun if not everyone has fun. And we need every little moment of happiness to be able to move forward." her smile turned a little mischievous, reminding him that he was indeed talking to Argo."Not to mention, there is bound to be a floor where most or all of the floor is covered by water. By learning to swim now, you won't have to embarrass yourself by trying to learn then. Or I could always mysteriously find a few embarrassing pictures..." she left the sentence unfinished, letting his mind fill in the blanks. Shivering slightly, Natsu was not sure that the devil horns he saw on her head were his imagination or the real thing.
"Okay." There was no real choice for him, except to agree.
-0-
"See, you're learning." cheered Argo, while Natsu struggled to swim properly.
The others were having fun and were laughing loudly just a few meters from them, but far enough so he could practice without a problem. At some point, Ken and Basil wondered over to help, but after the disaster that was Ken trying to teach Natsu to swim, Argo sent them away, leaving only two of them. Strangely enough, she teased him relatively little, at least compared to her usual self, and slowly but surely he was learning.
He got most of the stuff already, but he had a problem with putting it into practice. It was harder to move his body at once, his legs and arms separately than it looked like. Still, he tried and tried and Argo never looked like she was impatient by his slow progress.
"This is tiring." admitted Natsu as he stopped to take a breather, letting the water uphold his body. He was honestly thankful that he wasn't drowning anymore. The shallow water only reached to his chest-level, yet he almost drowned twice. Talk about embarrassing.
"You got the moves and you are improving." she swam next to him, her own moves looked much more different than the bizarre movements he produced."You are not supposed to be a pro at this after seeing it once. Got to practice and it will be only better with time." she chuckled, following his example and let the water carry her body. Whether it was intentional or not, she drifted close to Natsu."I mean, you can't expect to have the same natural grace that you have at fighting just yet. It would be cheating if you just picked up things effortlessly."
Natsu only frowned as a certain thought resurfaced, one he thought many times in the past months. And no matter how much he tried he couldn't ignore it.
"But I'm not like that." he whispered, not even meaning to utter the words that plagued him.
"What do you mean?"
"Fighting with a sword just comes as something natural to me...but it shouldn't. I am not graceful or anything like that. Outside I'm clumsy, as far from athletic as you can get. If I'm on a team on P.E. that team is doomed to lose. I'm unlucky and wimpy, not at all reliable. I always get Fs and Ds, I can't do anything right. It has gotten so bad that I was named Dame. Everyone calls me that. My teachers, my classmates, almost the whole town. Even my mother started to call me that." he tried to blink away the tears that gathered. It was so easy to forget about that part of him here. He was Natsu, the appointed leader of Keepers of Seven Rings, he was the Orange Blaze. He had so many friends, who supported him and helped him all the way. He didn't feel lonely, he felt accepted by his new family. But in the end, it didn't change a thing about him. "In the end, I am still Dame-Ts-" his words were cut off when out of nowhere someone smacked his head quite harshly, sending him below the water.
Spluttering in surprise he resurfaced, looking around only to meet the unamused eyes of Argo. The girl who he hardly has ever seen without a mischievous smile was glaring at him, arms crossed in front of her chest. From the corner of his eyes, he saw his hp gauge and shivered as he noticed he lost around 5 hp. Girls are scary.
"I don't want to hear you talking about you like that, ever again. You are not Dame." she jabbed her finger to his chest with each word, making him back down. He felt completely flat-footed by her reactions. No one ever reacted to him putting himself down. Only joined in."Do you think someone called Dame, could have scaled the colossus without falling down and save the lives of a lot of players? she asked him, looking even angrier.
"You never gonna let me live it down, are you?" he asked trying to break the sudden tension because a furious Argo scared him more than any boss he faced until now. At least against a boss, he had 47 other people around to help.
"You are someone amazing. When most people didn't even dare to take a step out of the safe zones, you were already fighting in the fields with Buzz and Agil. When others would cower in fear, you were already stepping forward, ready to meet any challenge that came your way. How many people have you helped? People follow you, Natsu. Ken, Basil, Wedge, Biggs, even Buzz, and Agil. Just because we are in here, the 'us' here are not any less than 'us' out here. You are not Dame, Natsu. You are amazing." she said, her angry expression slowly replaced by a soft smile.
Natus could only gape at her, no words coming from his mouth. He honestly felt touched by her words. Before the game started, even his mother began to give up on him. Oh, she loved him all the same, he knew it very well but didn't have high hopes that he would accomplish much. Nobody ever really said anything like that to him. There was nobody to support him for most of his life, all everyone talked about was how hopeless he was.
He felt a lot more alive, a lot more right here in this game than in the outside world, because he had friends who believed him. And it was hard for him to admit that to himself, but Argo's heartfelt words were able to convince him. He was more than Dame-Tsuna. He was Natsu, the swordsman.
"Thank you." he whispered, at last, trying to pour how thankful he was into his words.
Argo just continued to smile at him, before once again grabbing his wrist and dragging him towards the others.
"Come on, let's have some fun." she cheered, her smile once again mischievous. And no matter how much he was teased, Natsu could never tear off the huge smile from his face for the whole day.