Ryou hummed as he walked into the kitchen. His humming died down when he saw his mother and father sitting at the kitchen table. They both seemed to be waiting for him, which was never ever a good sign.

They both had a rigid posture about them, his mother twisted her hands together, while his father tapped at the table. This told Ryou all he needed. This conversation wasn't going to be a fun one. So, he did what any rational soon to be eighteen year old would do in his shoes. He turned around preparing to just leave before they actually started talking.

"Ryou, wait!" His mother immediately called him back. His shoulders slumped and he sighed before turning right back around.

"What's up?" He inquired as he walked into the kitchen once again. He pulled up a chair and sat down in front of his mother and father.

"We need to have a serious discussion, Ryou." His father spoke firmly and he leaned back in his seat just a bit. This caused Ryou to also lean back in his own seat. He put both of his hands in his lap.

"Very well, what about?"

"Well… we felt we've been more than fair here. So, we want to know how much longer you are planning on staying in a relationship with Yuuichi?"

"..." Ryou was too stunned to speak at first. His jaw dropped as his brain tried to process what his father just asked. "Well… I wasn't planning on breaking up with him anytime soon. If anything, I was aiming for our relationship to continue…" Was the only thing his mind could think to say at that moment.

His father gave a bit of a scowl. "Ryou, you have to start thinking of your future here."

"Okay-" Ryou, being the natural smartass he was, shut his eyes. "I see my future. Yuuichi is in it."

His father gave his own sigh. "Stop with the attitude. Please."

Ryou reopened his eyes. "Well, what do you want me to say? I've been with Yuuichi for a year now. So, it only stands that I want to continue this relationship and what it entails for the future."

"Sweetie…" His mother spoke softly towards his father. It almost sounded like a warning. Like she wanted Ryou's father to remain quiet. Well, he didn't.

"Very well. If that's how you feel then I think it's high time we met Yuuichi." His father then stood like their conversation was over.

Oh, it was far from over now.

"Excuse me?" Ryou inquired as he glared at his father.

"What don't you understand? If you care for this boy as much as you've been claiming then you can invite him over for dinner. It's high time your mother and I met this boy for ourselves. After all, you met his family."

"I only met his family because we were all in the hospital visiting his comatose body, dad. We never had a proper dinner with the family."

"Well then. That's about to change isn't it?"

Ryou narrowed his eyes as he looked at his father. "What are you trying to prove exactly? Huh?" He challenged.

"That this stranger that you met online is not fit for you."

"Okay, then I'll ask this. If it were a girl. If it were say…Chigusa, or even Shino, Would you be trying to prove anything, old man?"

There was silence and that told Ryou all he needed to know.

"That's bullshit, and you know it!" Ryou slammed his fist down on the table in justified anger.

"Ryou." His mother jumped up. "We only want whats best for you. And Yuuichi might not be it-"

"-Because he's a guy, right?" More silence. Ryou threw his hands up in the air at this. "Unbelievable. Absolutely Unbelievable! You are both just…so unbelievable! No, I'm not bringing Yuuichi here just to get accosted by the two of you! God!" With those last words Ryou stormed out of the kitchen.

"...Well that could have gone better…" Ryou heard his mother say right before he vanished into his bedroom. He snapped the door shut for good measure, letting them know that he was upset and that it was their fault.

Now he was counting down the days to when he could see Yuuichi again. "Five more days… hell, at this point I might just stay in Sendai longer just to piss them off." He growled as he slumped face down on his bed.

Ryou stayed like that for several long seconds until his computer pinged suddenly. This made his head lift up at the sound of a new email. "Alright…" He sat up. Honestly, after that conversation with his parents, some distraction would be nice.

So, Ryou crawled out of bed and walked to his desk. There he sat down and grabbed his M2D and put it on over his face. Once everything booted up, he immediately scrolled all the way to his emails where a new one was waiting for him.

From: Gaspard

To: Haseo

Subject: A new quest!

Haseo! Did you see that theres a new quest regarding the snowy area! It's from Bikman! I was hoping maybe you, Silabus, and I could do it together!

Ryou hummed as he thought about it. A new quest sounded like fun actually and he certainly wouldn't mind doing a quest with Silabus and Gaspard…. But why'd it have to be Bikman! Haseo just finished doing errands for them. Not only that but Bikman was acting weird last time. Like Silabus was freaking them out.

To be fair… There was something off about Silabus last time they spoke. Something Ryou couldn't quite place. He knew he was looking right at Silabus but at the same time…Silabus didn't look like himself. It's very difficult to explain or to even try to make sense of.

"..." Ryou sighed. "If Silabus is online, I'll consider doing this quest even if means… having to do errands for Bikman again…" His eyes rolled into the back of his head. Still, this could be fun. This should be the first snowy area any of them had been in.

Given if the other two haven't gone to one without him that is.

Ryou exited out of his emails swiftly after that and looked at the new community post just to get the new! Icon to go away, but surprisingly, he found the post to be interesting to read.

COMMUNITY FOURM

User: Anonymous

Subject: MY CHARACTER IS GONE!

I don't know what happened but I'm freaking out, guys! I was playing with my friend when they PK'd me completely out of the blue! I'm not even sure how or when it happened, next thing I know I was booted out of The world and my character! My beloved Lei Lei! They were DELETED! I want my character back! This isn't funny! I already tried emailing CC corp but they say there's nothing they can do!

USER: NAOO replied:

Lei Lei? Like the chaotic PK Lei Lei? THAT Lei Lei? Ha! Sounds like all that PKing caught up to you! Just deserved in my opinion!

USER: Pen-Pen replied:

Right?! RIGHT?! Thank gods it seems CC corp might be FINALLY doing something about these chaotic PK's! Lets hope Greedy Cervantes is next! Maybe we can finally play this game in peace without having to look over our shoulders!

USER: Train dog replied:

Oh no! Not my precious Lei Lei! It's such a shame! Still, isn't it a little weird that CC corp would just delete her character out of the blue without even a warning that they were going to do so? Lei Lei? What happened before you were PK'd by your 'friend'? And what friend was it?

USER: Anonymous replied:

It was Pokotan if you can believe it! The brat got me when my back was turned to her! Next thing I knew my character was down! Before I could do anything I heard this noise and she, Pokotan, she…did something I just don't know what. That was when I was booted from the game and my character was deleted! You've got to help me get my character back please! I've worked hard and it's all gone!

'Chaotic PK's attacking each other? That's just odd…' Ryou thought as he exited out of the forum. 'I hate to say it. I'm with Train Dog here. CC corp wouldn't delete a character without a proper warning first and foremost. Even Sakaki was properly warned by Pi that they could delete his character if it came to it… I don't know… it just feels weird.'

Ryou scrunched his face up before eventually just shrugging. 'I don't know and it's really not my problem.' He settled on thinking. 'One less Chaotic PK to deal with, in my mind.'

So, with that, slightly heartless, thought Ryou finally logged into The World.

Haseo looked around where he logged in last. After Silabus had to abruptly leave. Haseo had went leveling up with Endrance and Atoli. So, that left him in the Netslum. With a hum, he brought up his friends list and immediately felt a little better.

Gaspard and Silabus were both online. "Okay, I get the hint." He smiled and quickly invited both of them into his party.

Silabus sent a message!

Of course! Just give me a minute and I'll be there!

Gaspard sent a message!

I'm coming! Don't leave without me!

Silabus was there in a heartbeat, despite his message. Haseo turned to look at him and he instantly relaxed. 'Silabus looks just fine today.' He thought. Nothing seemed out of place like it had a few days prior. Silabus looked at him with the exact same gaze and also seemed to relax just the same.

"Hey!" Silabus greeted him as he ran up to Haseo.

"Hey, yourself. How was work?"

Silabus tilted his head for a moment before shrugging. "It was… actually. I do have something to tell you about work. Nothing bad, it's exciting!" He had stars in his eyes as he excitedly spoke to Haseo. "But…uh… later! Okay?"

'Right don't mix online and offline.'

"Of course." Haseo smiled. It was right as he finished saying that did Gaspard warp in.

"Hey guys!" Came Gaspard's cry as the little beast came running up to them full speed.

"Hello, Gaspard…" Silabus's voice was almost unusually calm as he looked at Gaspard. Silabus was now looking at Gaspard up and down, almost in the same fashion that Haseo had done to him the day prior. "How've you been?" Silabus then asked like nothing was wrong. Haseo shrugged it off as the two of them started to have a conversation with each other.

Haseo turned towards the chaos gate. After checking his inventory and determining that he was pretty well stocked up for the time being; Haseo got ready to warp out when he heard it. A low and almost threatening growl.

He, along with Silabus and Gaspard, turned.

"Arvix?" Silabus had inquired once they saw the growling was coming from Arvix, a dog AI, stood just a little ways away from them. His tv head that would usually show a smiley face was now supporting an angry face. And angry face highlighted by a red background.

Haseo looked towards Silabus. Silabus looked at him.

"=(" Arvix then started to stutter after sending that face to them. His screen glitched before he smacked his head against a nearby wall. "Woof! =)" and just like that Arvix was immediately back to normal. The dog turned his back to them and ran off towards the inner part of the Netslum.

"Wh…what just happened?" Haseo inquired as he put a hand on his hip.

"I don't know…I've never seen Arvix give an angry face before." Silabus hummed as he put one of his knuckles to his chin. "But…it's not the first time I've seen him stutter either and he usually smacks himself against the wall or the ground to correct it. So…maybe it was just a glitch in his code?"

"...Maybe. It seems plausible." Haseo agreed with a nod. The AI's around could be glitchy. So, it wasn't like Arvix just up and attacked them or threatened them. Maybe his code bugged out and the angry face was him telling them as such.

"That was… rather scary…" Gaspard whispered as he kept his eyes where Arvix had just been. A couple of AI's ran by the their party, but none of the AI paid any mind to them.

"Hm. I'm sure it's probably a one off thing. C'mon, let's get to Breg Epona." With that Haseo decided to not waste anymore time and swiftly warped away to Breg Epona, taking Silabus and Gaspard with him.

Once in Breg Epona the three of them relaxed just a little bit once they were around normal players again. It was unspoken for the three of them to just…not talk about what they just witnessed.

"I'm glad you've agreed to go on this quest! It looked really fun!" Gaspard spoke first as he had to jog to keep up with Haseo's running speed. Nothing new, but he sounded a little more out of breath than normal. Haseo didn't think too much about it.

"Yeah, I agree. I just wish it wasn't with Bikman… Oh well, beggars can't be choosers." Haseo sighed which caused Silabus to give a soft chuckle in response. Silabus lightly patted Haseo's shoulder.

"There, there. I'm sure it'll be a usual fetch quest for them." Silabus informed Haseo. Haseo looked at him and smiled.

"Yeah, I know."

The three of them made it to the quest shop only moments after that. Haseo accepted the only new quest available.

"Oh? You're accepting this quest? Alright, standby please." The NPC said as they waddled off to talk on a phone to the other NPC in question.

Haseo stood by with Gaspard and Silabus while they waited for Bikman to arrive.

"The Ice crown." Haseo hummed as he read off the name of the quest. "I have a feeling, I know what we're going to be looking for." He gave a little chuckle to which Silabus smiled at.

"Yeah, these quests can be predictable sometimes, still, I'm sure whatever they throw at us will be fun!" Silabus added.

To which Gaspard responded. "Yeah!"

Moments later Bikman suddenly arrived. "Hello, Hun!" Bikman cooed before running up to Haseo. Bikman then paused just a few feet away from them. Their eyes landed on Gaspard for a moment before they tensed and turned immediately to Haseo.

"So, you want to help me get my Ice crown? How nice!" Bikman continued to coo and continued. "What's the Ice crown you might be asking? It's a beautiful crown fit for a king! One of my own design! But it was stolen from me! Stolen by this giant ugly ice beast! Ohh!" Bikman whined before dramatically throwing their arm up and resting their wrist against the top of their forehead.

Silabus let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh he was trying to cover up. Silabus then straightened himself up when he was caught by both Haseo and Gaspard. When Gaspard had looked at him, Silabus only smiled wide and put his finger to his lips to silence his friend.

"Anyway, I want my crown back. It belongs to me and me alone!" Bikman continued unaware of what just happened. "Please, do whatever you can to get it back! But be warned! The ice monster will undoubtedly have the place trapped. You must be careful! On top of that, I see you guys have a shadow warlock with you…" Bikman did not make eye contact with Gaspard. "Whatever you do, do not use any sort of fire around the ice crown once it's in your possession for obvious reasons! You'll find my crown and the monster at Sigma Heaven's Snow Nightmare! Good luck, Hun!"

Bikman wasted no time turning tail and running away from them.

This just left the three of them once Bikman was gone.

"Don't use fire when it's in our possession… should be simple enough…" Gaspard muttered.

Haseo then spoke. "Hm… if It's alright with you, Gaspard. I'd like you to stick with healing today. It's not because of the fire thing, but if what Bikman said was true and there's going to be a lot of traps. I'd rather us have a healer."

"Oh yeah, good point, Haseo." Silabus quickly said.

"Healing…Okay! That sounds much easier! I'll do my best!" Gaspard proudly proclaimed.

"I know you will!" Silabus cheered Gaspard on. Gaspard smiled at Silabus though it was almost impossible to see, Haseo could see the faintest blush on Gaspard's already pink face.

Haseo only smiled and marched towards the warp gate.

It was when he was approaching the gate did someone call out-

"Hey! There you are!"

All three of them turned towards the female's voice.

There a woman dressed in a bright red kimono came running towards them.

"Oh!" Silabus made a face before turning to Haseo. "One second, okay?" He then jogged up to the woman.

Haseo felt his eyes narrow from where he stood near the chaos gate. He then found himself looking at this female character a little more closely.

Yes, she was wearing the red kimono that he noticed earlier, but now Haseo noticed how revealing it kind of was. Her breasts, which had to be as big as Pi's, were jutting out just barely able to to be concealed by the top of the kimono in question. The kimono only stopped just at this woman's thigh, similar to Atoli's own dress where she had black shorts covering what the dress, or kimono in this case, couldn't. She also wore similarly colored heeled boots that stopped just at her ankles. She had a big black tattoo on her left thigh. One of a wave starting at the top of her thigh and going down to her ankle.

When she and Silabus spoke, she reached behind her and grabbed on to her long silver colored ponytail. It had to be as long as Silabus's own ponytail. They both spoke and she laughed twisting the end of her ponytail around her index finger.

"...Who is that?" Gaspard asked rather suddenly; his tone sounding oddly different. It almost threw Haseo off for a second because Gaspard sounded serious.

"I have no clue." Haseo confessed as he looked back to Silabus and the girl.

"No way!" The girl suddenly exclaimed as she reached out and lightly struck Silabus's arm. Silabus laughed at this.

Still, Haseo just…couldn't stay still. He walked up to them after this happened. "Silabus… we're on a quest, remember." He reminded his boyfriend as he stood beside him.

"Oh! Right, sorry. Haseo, this is Rubybird! Rubybird this is-"

"Haseo! Third time arena winner the only person to ever do such a thing! Oh wow!" Rubybird breathed out like she was meeting a celebrity. "Wow! Wowowow!" Her breath shuttered. "Don't mind a simple harvest cleric such as myself."

"A harvest cleric, huh… how do you two know each other?" Haseo put his hands on his hips.

"Oh, I helped her learn the game. C'mon Haseo. It's like you don't even know me." Silabus gave a laugh.

"Oh, right…" Haseo huffed a little.

"Yeah! Best teacher ever!" Rubybird reached out and lightly tapped Silabus's arm…again.

"Heh…" Silabus gave another little laugh as he tried to subtly rub at his arm. He then smiled at Rubybird. "We should team up sometime!"

"Hhoooooo~" Was the sound Rubybird made as she blushed. "Y-Yeah! Totally! I promise you I'll be the best harvest cleric!" Rubybird excitedly clenched her fists as she smiled brightly at Silabus.

"..." Haseo said nothing for a moment. "Here." He then handed his member address out to Rubybird. "Any friend of Silabus is a friend of mine." He told her with a smile, though…it wasn't a genuine.

"..." Rubybird looked absolutely gobsmacked. "I-... hah…" She looked ready to faint. "Of course! I… Oh my gosh, I'm keeping you two from your quest… I have to go! I can't wait to tell my other friends!" Rubybird swiftly turned and ran like her life depended on it.

"Aw, Haseo, that was nice of you." Silabus smiled at him. "You didn't have to do that."

Honestly, Haseo had no idea why he did that to start with…well…he kind of knew why he did it. "Yeah… well, I wasn't aware you needed a harvest cleric…" He mumbled slightly and scratched at his cheek.

"Funny story about Rubybird, actually-" Silabus cut himself off almost completely when Gaspard walked up to them. Gaspard said nothing as he patiently waited. But there was something behind his big green eyes. Something that Haseo just couldn't quite place. It wasn't an emotion Haseo seen Gaspard have before and it was almost unnerving. Silabus gave a slight cough. "-She found me actually." Silabus settled on saying.

That was when Haseo got a sudden shortmail.

Silabus says:

I know her offline. She's a coworker. :) She found out who I was by my voice. Turns out my customer service voice is Silabus.

That didn't make Haseo relax. On some level he knew- oh how he knew- he was being silly, stupid, and acting like a child. Still, he didn't let these emotions show. Instead he just sighed. "Right. Let's get this quest over with. Yeah?"

"Right! Lead the way, Haseo!" Silabus encouraged.

The two of them walked to the Chaos gate and Silabus suddenly stopped and turned. "Gaspard?" He called to their friend and Haseo turned just the same. Gaspard was still standing where they previously were. His back to the two of them.

"..." There was a moment before he perked right back up. "Coming!" He called before turning and joining the two of them swiftly.

"Alright, lets get this quest done with." Haseo huffed before he warped them all away to Sigma Heaven's Snow Nightmare.

Haseo would be lying if he said he wasn't impressed with the snowy fields that CC corp implemented. This was the first time he went to one so far, he's been waiting to team up with Silabus to do so.

"I hope the snowy areas are here to stay." Silabus suddenly said as they took their first steps into the area. "They're so pretty…" He whispered and reached up to touch a falling snowflake. It vanished the moment it landed in Silabus's gloved hand.

Haseo felt himself relax a little. "Yeah… it's better than being in the actual snow, anyways." He told Silabus.

"Agreed!" Silabus laughed.

Haseo hummed and looked forward; there he could see several alters and monsters waiting to be attacked. "Alright, prepare yourselves and be careful. We don't know what kind of traps are waiting for us!"

"Right!" Both Gaspard and Silabus nodded. And with that the three of them ran ahead.

Haseo got ready to lead them into their first fight. He charged towards the monsters and already had his weapons out when-

"Gah!" Came Silabus's shocked cry.

Haseo and Gaspard both immediately skidded to a halt. Literally, the snow made them skid and nearly fall. By the time Haseo turned Silabus was gone. Instead there was only a hole in the ground. "Silabus!" Haseo charged over to the hole and stopped just before the edge.

Thankfully, the whole hadn't looked to be too large nor too deep. There Silabus sat rubbing his butt. "Ouch… Hey, Haseo, I think I figured out what his traps entail!" Silabus then called out as he looked up at Haseo and Gaspard alike.

"Are you okay?" Haseo called as he reached a hand out for Silabus to take. Silabus took it with ease. With the help of the wall they got up back to the surface.

"Fine, just lost a chunk of health."

"Repth!" Gaspard called to help replenish Silabus's missing health.

"Thank you."

"Alright…so there are holes in the ground and…" Haseo did a quick sweep around the area to see if he can find any telltale signs of these traps. "There!" He pointed off in the distance where a patch of snow was just a shade darker than the normal snow. "The snow is darker where the traps are set. So, just be careful from now on and look out. Okay?" He ordered.

"Got it!" Silabus grinned and so did Gaspard.

A shadow fell over Haseo and before he could stop it he was spotted by a group of Lava Dodo's. Only not really. They were just really close, they wouldn't spot him. Not with the Demon shoes he had on his character.

"Oh…" Haseo couldn't help but give a little smile as he brought his dual guns out. "So the fire warning wasn't just for Gaspard. Looks like we'll have to kill all of the fire monsters they have in the area before we get the crown-" Haseo turned expertly and fired at the first dodo triggering a battle.

"Lets all do our best!" Silabus encouraged before he immediately rushed towards the second Lava Dodo with a devil sword attack.

Haseo glided around and away from the Lava dodo he was fighting and continued to ruthlessly shoot at it with his dual guns. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't been relying on his dual guns more heavily than his other weapons these days. The guns got him more rengekis and more rengekis meant easier leveling for everyone involved.

Speaking of which-

The familiar purple rings swung around the Lava Dodo he was working on and he took the opportunity to leap up and take his scythe out. "Rengeki! Lotus Flower!" He roared as he attacked.

"Good job, Haseo!" Silabus cheered as he blocked an attack from the Dodo he was fighting.

"..." Gaspard remained oddly quiet as he ran around to avoid getting hit. If Haseo wasn't so busy trying to windle the Lava Dodo's health down he'd ask Gaspard if he were alright, but as it stands he was too focused on the task at hand.

"Ogre sword!" Silabus yelled out as he attacked the Lava Dodo. It was in the middle of this attack did the Lava Dodo suddenly slam it's head directly into Silabus's side and slammed him into the barrier.

"Repth!" Gaspard then called out as he quickly tried to heal Silabus. Silabus got right back to his feet and resumed his attack on the bird.

Haseo managed to defeat his Lava Dodo only seconds later and ran to help Silabus.

The two of them knew how the other worked for almost two years now between the arena, and just leveling up, and now their dating, whenever it came to time team up almost nobody ever stood a chance. Silabus knew when to duck and weave whenever Haseo fired with his guns. Likewise, Haseo knew when to backup and get out of the way when Silabus would jump and use a skilled attack.

The thing was. During all of this, Gaspard was healing them, which was good, but, at the same time… he was also watching them fight intensely. Like it was the first time he's ever seen the two of them work together. He just looked so impressed. Haseo didn't know if he should be concerned or if this was just par for the course and he's never noticed before.

Thankfully, with the two of them, they got the last Lava dodo down and the battle was over.

Haseo looked at Gaspard and raised an eyebrow at the beast in question.

Gaspard only smiled. "That was amazing!"

Haseo was starting to get that same feeling he had just a couple of days prior. Like he was looking at Gaspard but he wasn't at the same time. That something was off.

"You did great too, Gaspard. You're really on top of healing today!" Silabus smiled at his best friend.

"Thank you!"

'Maybe I'm just paranoid…but something isn't adding up here. It's like with Silabus all over again…' Haseo kicked the chest open. He got a vigor crystal. He added it to his growing collection and moved on.

For the next hour and a half the three of them running around attacking and getting rid of all of the monsters as every monster in this area was a fire type. They had a few close calls with the the traps just as well.

It wasn't until they finished their last fight did a familiar face pop up-

"Haseo, is that Piros?" Silabus pointed towards a nearby warp gate. Where a character dressed in all gold armor stood.

"Yeeeep…" Haseo sighed as he put his hands on his hips. "I…I don't have the energy to deal with him right now. C'mon…lets see if we can avoid him." Haseo grabbed Silabus's hand and started to lead around Piros in an attempt not to be seen. Haseo knew from both Silabus and Gaspard that Silabus isn't a fan of Piros…mainly with how loud he could be but also the whole 'kissing people without consent' thing didn't sit well with Silabus.

Haseo agreed whole-heartedly. He didn't hate Piros and Haseo was sure Silabus didn't hate him either. It was just that Piros could be a bit much.

But then a strange thing happened. They lost Gaspard.

It was Silabus who noticed first. "Gaspard?" He called out in alarm as he looked around for his friend. Haseo also looked around, but neither of them could see the pink beast amongst the white snow behind them. Nor could they see his footprints. They also didn't see a hole in the ground indicating that he had fallen.

"..." Haseo gave a sigh of irritation. "He went to talk to Piros…didn't he?"

"...Most likely." Silabus sighed just the same.

"We have to get him, don't we?"

"Yep…"

Both of their shoulders slumped at this while they puffed out a sigh. "Alright, lets prepare ourselves." With that Haseo spun back around to where they last saw Piros.

Yeah, he hadn't even made it three steps back when he was grabbed by Silabus. He was then pushed against a barren tree. No chim chims came out, that's because in the snowy area's Chim chims hide in piles of snow, not in the dead trees. Still, Haseo only smirked.

"You know…we could give them a few minutes to talk. They are friends after all…" Silabus's face turned slightly pink as he winked at Haseo.

"Oh really?" Haseo smiled as he reached his arms around Silabus's neck. "Well…I don't think I mind too much if we take a quick breather before going after our little friend." Haseo smiled while he pulled Silabus down into a kiss.

It wasn't like actually kissing Yuuichi. Sadly. Still, it always gave Haseo a thrill. It almost felt like a power move and he just couldn't figure out why. That being said, it made Ryou yearn for Yuuichi more. To actually feel Yuuichi's lips on his.

They broke apart moments later and Silabus blushed while lightly placing his forehead on Haseo's. "Hmm…" Silabus happily hummed while shutting his eyes. "I was thinking. The hotel idea sounds perfectly fine to me." He admitted to Haseo in a soft whisper.

"Yeah, me too." Haseo nodded. "Looks like we'll have to go to 7-eleven after all, huh?"

Silabus blushed with a laugh while he let go of Haseo. "C'mon, lets go see what's keeping Gaspard."

They both walked away from the barren tree and being mindful of the traps surrounding them, they went where they last saw Piros. As they started to approach. Silabus spoke. He kept his voice low.

"Haseo?"

"Yeah?"

"...Does Gaspard look…off to you?" He whispered.

"Off?"

"Yeah…off. Like there's something different about him but-"

"-You just can't place it?"

"Yeah. Exactly."

"Truthfully, Silabus… I thought the same thing last time we got together. You looked off to me-"

"No way! You looked off to me." Silabus gasped.

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Silabus stopped and Haseo stopped with him. "What's going on? Are we going crazy?"

"I don't think so…" Haseo put both of his hands on his hips as he looked down at the ground. He then shook his head sternly.

"Maybe it's a weird glitch going around? I mean if you saw it and…and I saw it… then it has to be a glitch, right?" Silabus inquired softly.

'No. I've been through too much to think that…yet…I can't think of what it could actually be…'

"I don't want to say it's a glitch, Silabus. Because I can't justifiably say it is. But I can't say it's anything else either. The only thing I can say is that… let's just be cautious. Not of Gaspard, but lets make sure nothing bad is going to happen."

"Yeah… yeah. I agree…" Silabus nodded.

They left it at that and finally made their way up to Piros. Sure enough Gaspard had stopped to talk to his friend. But something was most definitely off.

Gaspard's posture almost seemed to have changed. He looked stiff, tense, and on edge as he spoke to Piros.

Honestly…the same could be said for Piros as well. They both looked like they were getting ready to fight one another. As the tension was growing between them. 'Huh?'

Silabus must have sensed the same thing and he did what he always does when it comes to Gaspard's safety. He immediately ran to his friend. "Gaspard!" Silabus chirped as he ran up to him. "We got worried! Don't run off like that!"

Haseo came sauntering up. He looked at Piros, and Haseo frowned the moment they locked eyes.

'Dammit, he looks off too!' Haseo noted. This immediately put Haseo on edge. He hated to admit it, but it left him grabbing at his guns. He didn't summon them, but he had them at the ready in case it came to that. "Piros, are you doing the quest as well?"

"Alone?" Silabus inquired just the same as Haseo. "That's really dangerous!"

"...I was just leaving." Piros admitted as he turned towards the warp gate. His usual vigor and hyper intensity almost seemed… nonexistent. It left Haseo and Silabus looking at each other before looking back at him.

"Is everything okay, Piros?" Silabus had been the one to ask.

Haseo's eyes went from Piros to Gaspard.

Gaspard had his arms crossed and his eyes closed.

'Had they fought?' Haseo could only think. Honestly, Haseo couldn't think of anything the two could have fought about. It was all just so strange.

"..." Piros looked down at Silabus from the corner of his red glasses. He then shut his eyes and stalked towards the gate. "Don't worry about it." And with that Piros warped away from them.

"..." The both of them looked towards Gaspard for answers.

"Did you two have a fight?" Silabus inquired softly as he looked at Gaspard.

'He thought the same thing I had.'

"Hm? Oh… It's nothing. Really!" Gaspard immediately bounced back to his usual cheery self. Only, Haseo, and Silabus for that matter, weren't buying it. He then started to walk away from them towards the boss fight. "I mean it, guys! What you saw was nothing! Piros and I were just having a conversation. He mentioned that he was feeling unwell and that he was going to lay down for a nap." Gaspard turned to them with a smile.

"Yeah but-" Silabus immediately tried to say what Haseo was thinking as well. 'You looked upset too.' but he never got that far as Gaspard suddenly fell through a trap with a cry.

"Gaspard!" Silabus ran for his friend with Haseo not too far behind him. "Are you alright?!" Silabus yelled and he, along with Haseo, both reached down for Gaspard to take their hands.

Gaspard took both hands and together they hoisted him back up to the surface.

"I told you to be careful." Haseo huffed a little once Gaspard had both of his feet on the ground.

"Right! Sorry, I wasn't paying attention!" Gaspard quickly apologized as he put both of his hands behind his back.

Haseo sighed and looked at Silabus. Silabus only shrugged lightly. "Alright, lets just fight this Ice Monster and get that crown back."

"Right!" Gaspard agreed and Silabus only nodded silently.

Haseo took off with Silabus right beside him.

While the two of them walked with each other they didn't notice Gaspard lagging behind. Nor did they notice him looking at his left hand which Haseo had grabbed. A deep crack webbing and trailing it's way down to his wrist.

They muttered softly to themselves as they tried to heal their cracked palm. "That was certainly interesting… a defense mechanism?" they had no idea in all honesty.

Their plan had worked for the most part. Say for the second mimic showing up suddenly. If They hadn't had intervened then no doubt their brother would have tried attacked. Unfortunately it had caused some suspicion amongst Haseo and Silabus no doubt. The two of them kept giving them odd looks the rest of the quest. But it didn't matter. They got what they wanted in the very end.

Just a snippet of code that didn't require data draining to get. This code was a test that They were working on and it worked! It worked with Gaspard first and foremost. They were able to mimic Gaspard, obviously, but with a simple touch he took the code he needed to pretend to be online and the invite worked. It also gave them something else. Gaspard's name. That's all they wanted.

They got the code he needed for Silabus when Silabus had grabbed his hand. But Haseo…

They looked at the crack in their palm again that was slowly healing. Haseo hadn't even realized that he had done it. It…it hurt when it happened but They did everything they could not to let it show. They knew if they let it show, if Haseo knew what happened, they'd be found out. The looks they received from Silabus and Haseo alike told them that much.

'Still, did you see the way they fought together? It was so cool!...'

They gave a dreamy sigh as they continued to try and heal their deep crack. 'That being said…is Haseo one of the people father is looking for? This isn't not normal. No normal player should have been able to do this to me. A deep crack for a little bit of code…'

They hoped Haseo wasn't someone with that special code their father was looking for because They wouldn't want to have to fight their brethren off any more than they already have. The other mimic earlier almost didn't believe them when They said they were going to data drain the both of them. It was a lie, They would never harm Silabus nor Haseo.

Never ever.

The last of their crack healed perfectly and they gave their hand a quick inspection. No permanent harm done by the looks of it. Which they were fairly happy about. Still, they couldn't leave today empty handed. It was time to PK and data drain.

And they already had the perfect target in mind.

"Haseo, can we talk?" Silabus inquired right before Haseo got ready to log off. The two of them stood in front of the Chaos gate in Breg Epona.

"Of course, what's up?" Haseo asked.

"...Remember when I told you when I was in a coma I could sometimes hear things mainly my sister, but I'd hear you on occasion?"

"Yeah?"

Silabus pulled his ponytail over his shoulder and lightly picked at the end of the swirl. "Well, this has been on my mind for a long while and…It's getting to the point that I really want to know. Especially with all this weird stuff happening. Haseo…what are the Epitaph users? I know you talked about them to me when I was asleep and…"

Haseo paused as he looked at Silabus. He then relaxed almost immediately. "I forgot I talked about that to you when you were asleep in all honesty… C'mon. Let's go somewhere private. I think it's high-time you learned the truth."