Author's Note: So, Allen Blaster gave me the idea to write something for this fandom. And, since I have some spare time thanks to Easter Break. I thought I'd write a nice one-shot. So, this is going to be a realistic modern setting, so more like Naofumi's world than Itsuki's and no powers or virtual reality games. Also, any and all anime/video game references here are literally slight changes on whatever I was listening to at that moment. Hopefully, it's not too bad!
Disclaimer: I do not own Rising of the Shield Hero, that honour solely belongs to Aneko Yusagi
—
Melromarc Cafe
Outside, the sky was just beginning to gain inklings of black as day turned to night. Streams of orange, pink, and yellow slowly faded as the moon rose above the various glimmering skyscrapers. Far away from the bustling city were various streets. Painfully average streets one would see in any other city in any other part of the country. However, on one certain street there stood a simple cafe made of bricks and stone. A sign that hung above read "Melromarc Cafe."
It didn't physically stand out compared to its neighbouring establishments. But, there was a warm, relaxing charm to the place. Its tables outside the entrance were clean and pristine with various couples chattering away. There was clear care taken to maintain the area. Inside, the lights flickered on as the staff prepared for their usual evening regulars.
"Hey, Naofumi!" A waiter loudly greeted with a raised hand as a young man with unruly black hair entered. The bell above the entrance chimed as he let the metal door close on its own.
"Hey, Erhard. How have you been?" Naofumi amiably greeted as he adjusted a large backpack on his shoulder. The plain grey accessory was stuffed with various books, more likely manga than college textbooks.
"Good, business has been booming lately! We're expecting a new wave of visitors with the school year ending soon!" Erhard exclaimed while Naofumi nodded.
"I'll have to start coming here earlier than, huh? Don't want to lose our spot." The young man noted with a frown. However, the older of the two merely laughed and clapped his back.
"I wouldn't worry about that, you're regulars! The table practically belongs to you four!" Erhard waved off with a grin.
"I guess…" Naofumi grumbled. "As long as she doesn't have anything to say about it. I bet she's bugging the old man to auction our spot off as we speak…" The young man snarked in his head before hoisting his bag up once more. "Anyways, I'm going to go wait for the others. I'll see you around." He stated as Erhard returned to his work wiping tables.
Naofumi quickly made his way over to a rounded table in the corner of the room. He dropped his backpack near the seat closest to the wall with a relieved sigh. Afterwards, he sat down in the cushy wooden chair while stretching his arms. The young man silently chuckled upon seeing that an old stain from their last meeting was still visible on the table's surface.
"It's going to be a while before he arrives, may as well do some reading…" Naofumi shrugged as he browsed a mini collection on his phone, pointedly neglecting the homework in his backpack.
"Yo! Naofumi!" An overly-cheerful voice shouted about thirty minutes later. Naofumi looked up from his phone to see another young man with long blonde hair enter the cafe. He adjusted a long red jacket while jogging over to him.
"Hey, Motoyasu." Naofumi half-heartedly greeted before looking back at his phone. The other male pouted.
"Oi! You could at least sound excited to see me!" Motoyasu complained as he took a seat across from him.
"Mhm, I'm just at a really good part right now and don't want to deal with your idiocy…" The brown-haired man deadpanned, to which the blonde gasped.
"Harsh, dude. Harsh." Motoyasu replied, leaning back in his seat.
"But true." Naofumi shot back without hesitation, causing the other man to twitch. "So, did you catch the new episode of 'No Heart No Truth' today?" He asked after putting his phone away. At his question, the blonde seemed to recover from his previous attack, perking up in the flick of a light.
"Yeah, I'm glad they fixed the animation. So much better than last week!" Motoyasu cheered. Before Naofumi could respond, a young woman exited from the backroom. Her hair was crimson red which complimented her emerald green eyes. Externally, she wore a serene smile. But, Naofumi knew that it was only a facade to hide the sadistic, wicked, HoRrIbLe, PiGhEaDeD, cHeAt she was.
He coughed, burying his hate.
"Hey, Malty!" Motoyasu happily waved at the girl, and Naofumi mentally glared at his friend.
"Hi, Motoyasu!" Malty smiled, coming over with a bubbly tone to her. "Naofumi." The redhead acknowledged with much less enthusiasm. She leaned against their table with her elbows pressing against the wood, Naofumi didn't miss the poisonous glare she sent his way. In turn, he stuck his tongue out at her. "Are you two waiting for Ren and Itsuki?" She asked with fake interest.
"Yup." Naofumi monotoned, popping the 'p' sound.
"Well, I hope you four have fun." Malty returned through gritted teeth. "I'm going to hang out with some friends, we're going to be at Faubrey's all night. Send me a text if you want to come join us later!" The redhead offered, staring solely at Motoyasu. Behind her back, Naofumi shook his head and mouthed 'no' at his friend.
"That's really nice of you, Malty! But, I don't know if we'll have time." The blonde frowned.
"What a shame…" Malty nodded, grabbing her chin in the process. "Maybe next week, the place will be packed so there might not be any room." She pondered, hiding a smirk behind her hand though sounding disappointed.
"We can just go to Siltvelt's. It's right across from here." Naofumi shot back with an eye roll while Motoyasu winced. Melromarc and Siltvelt had a known rivalry between them for decades. The youths had heard Malty's father, who owned the cafe and Siltvelt's owner had a fallout during their school years that was fuelling it. Though, they never knew for certain.
"You could." Malty mumbled before flipping her hair back. "Well, I'll be off now! Have a good night!" She parted with fake cheeriness.
"You too, Malty!" Motoyasu returned none the wiser, the simp. The blonde smiled before noticing the dark aura surrounding his friend. "Um… Naofumi? Something up with you or-" He tried to say before being interrupted.
"Motoyasu, I know what you're thinking. And don't. Just don't." Naofumi warned with narrowed eyes, waving his hands in an x-shape.
"What…?" The blonde tilted his head before realization dawned on his face. "Wait, is this about Malty? Dude, are you two still hung up over high school? That was years ago!" Motoyasu groaned.
"She's a manipulative cheat, was back then and still is. Nothing good will come out of dating her." Naofumi hissed across the table like they were handling state secrets. Though, it was really to ensure the girl's father wasn't listening. He was a genius when it came to business, but somehow turned blind when it came to his family. At least he didn't ban Naofumi from the cafe after his and Malty's… incident. He may not like her, but the cafe was genuinely pleasant to visit.
"Fine. Fine! I give! Let's talk about something else, dude. How's Raphtalia?" Motoyasu relented.
"Oh, she's good. We're planning to catch the premiere of the new 'Attack on Giant' movie next week. Not exactly a date though since she's bringing Filo and I'm bringing my brother." Naofumi explained with a small smile. He'd been afraid he'd never love again after Malty. But, Raphtalia had been a light in the dark. The key to unlocking him from his cage of solitude.
"I could've sold those extra tickets, you know?" Motoyasu frowned.
"My brother would've thrown a fit if I gave them up. Deal with it." Naofumi smirked with a shrug.
—
Naofumi met Motoyasu during middle school. They didn't share any classes together since they were one year apart, but they connected in the school's anime club. Mainly because they were the only two to like the 'Orc Slayer' anime. Anyways, Motoyasu had already visited Melromarc Cafe before and had dragged Naofumi to it a few weeks after they became friends. It wasn't long until the duo were regulars.
They met Itsuki and Ren during high school. Aultcray had started a small competition for a popular video game at the time, which had attracted many new faces to the cafe. Motoyasu thought he and Naofumi had the competition in the bag since they'd been grinding the game since it came out. However, during the competition finals, they'd faced Itsuki and Ren.
*Flashback*
"It's just two middle schoolers, there's no way we're losing!" Motoyasu cheered as they waited for the finals to begin. The blonde held a large energy drink in his hand as he and Naofumi conversed. Though, the latter privately thought it made his friend too much like a hyperactive monkey.
"Two middle schoolers who beat half the competition on their own. Don't get carried away." Naofumi warned as they walked to the computers Aultcray had set up. He didn't like how their opponents were evilly smirking.
"Don't be a downer, dude!" Motoyasu waved off as the game began.
They lost that game.
And the next.
And… the next.
It was an outright slaughter. It was so humiliating that Naofumi thought it should've been illegal to beat someone so mercilessly. But, the two middle schoolers slashed their opponents to bits and burned the remains to ashes in that one hour. They may as well have been fighting sloths with how one-sided the fight was. He didn't know how sinister kids could be until he heard the two laughing as they died again and again.
How were they supposed to know the middle schoolers so happened to be tryhards?
Where Naofumi put in five hours of gameplay a day, they'd put in ten. If Motoyasu only got five hours of sleep, they'd only got two. One got the picture. Fortunately, the entire embarrassing debacle lead to the four becoming fast friends… After Itsuki and Ren gloated to their faces while claiming the cash prize. The moment was forever immortalized in the victory photo framed on the cafe wall. Itsuki and Ren's victorious grins right in front of Naofumi and Motoyasu's defeated grimaces.
*Flashback End*
"Oh, I think I see-Yup, that's them." Motoyasu noted a few minutes after Malty left. Naofumi turned to the window behind their table, the light of the room messing with his view. However, the brunette indeed saw the two high-schoolers in the distance. Itsuki still wore his school uniform since he'd had prep classes while Ren dressed casually. Though, the two's faces were obscured by the light of Itsuki's phone. The blonde seemed to be ranting about something to the black-haired boy.
"-It's not right! He did nothing wrong and yet he's the one being punished! It's blatant bias because he's male!" Itsuki was saying as they entered the cafe.
"Ah, politics again." Naofumi observed. Itsuki was the only one in their group to pay attention to that sort of affair. It probably had to do with the boy's near obsession with superheroes. "Look who made it." The brunette dryly commented as the two took their usual seats between them.
"It's not my fault I had to study for finals." Itsuki indignantly shot back.
"Ren came last week." Motoyasu chuckled.
"Ren doesn't have to apply to universities this year!" The younger blonde raged to their amusement.
"Sounds like a you problem." The black-haired boy cooly challenged while crossing his arms. Unfortunately for everyone but Itsuki, a blue-haired girl approached their table. Her pink tails bounced like a balloon behind her back.
"Hey, Melty." Naofumi greeted.
"Hello, guys. The usual?" The young girl politely asked. She was far younger, more serious, yet leagues more likeable than her older sister.
"Yeah, thanks." He nodded as the girl rushed to the counter. "Anyways, now that we're all here! Let's get started!" Naofumi announced while pulling out his papers. Suddenly, Motoyasu began wheezing. The blonde covered his mouth with his hands in a weak attempt to hide his chuckles. Every now and again, he'd glance at Itsuki before launching into another wave of laughs.
"What is it? Why's he laughing at me?" A puzzled Itsuki questioned, looking at his friends.
"Probably remembering where we left off." Naofumi stated as he stood his dungeon master screen up. Itsuki didn't trust the smile that was slowly growing on the usually stoic Naofumi's face. He turned to Ren with concern painted on his features.
"What did you guys do?" Itsuki interrogated while they got their character sheets and dice out.
"I didn't do anything." Ren replied with a straight face.
"Fine. What did they do?" The blonde grilled, slamming his palms on the table as Melty brought a plate of fries and drinks over.
"You'll see…" Ren vaguely supplied, hiding his own amusement.
"Ren!" Itsuki uselessly protested as Naofumi coughed to get their attention.
"Where we left off last week, the party was attempting to rescue the poor villager Itsuki from the clutches of the storm dragon! To do so, they recruited the help of a young, green-haired wizard named-" Naofumi had started to recount before being interrupted.
"YOU JERKS!" Itsuki screeched, his face turning red as he guessed what had happened.
The other three laughed at him for the rest of the session.
—
Author's Notes: So, basically, the four heroes are playing D&D! If you guys didn't get the end, I tried to imply they were making fun of Itsuki's crush/interest on Rishia. Furthermore, this one-shot I focused more on making fun little connections between this AU and canon. For example, they are having the adventure in 'Melromarc.' Aultcray is the 'King/Owner' of Melromarc, waves etc.
I'm a bit disappointed I couldn't stretch out the conversation more to tease about Itsuki's crush on Rishia or Ren's life in general. But, I couldn't include it all in one go without it sounding forced. So, I might expand this into a series of one-shots to go into that sort of stuff.
Anyways, I hope you guys liked my one-shot! Please tell me your thoughts and have a great day!