The soft noise of water dripping down from the stone brick ceiling hitting a small puddle on the stone brick floor. Which starkly opposed the gangly figure draped in bright white-giled silk robes, the man was tall, his skin was like shrink wrap around his skeleton, his hair was like the night sky, pure black, with sprinkling of white, then his eyes they were a golden color but…something was off with his pupils they were not the standard orbs, but instead a slit, much like a cat.
"I would have hoped his Majesty would have prepared a better place for the heroes," The gaunt man said, brushing off a little dribble of water.
"It's to soothe them into this world, Father Tera." another man answered, the best way to describe him would be "Ordinary" or "Default"
"Yes, Yes, Sai, but doesn't the scripture say they should know our world?" the now named Tera said with his face straight almost bored as he stared down at the other man.
"Well, still best to try and not overwhelm them," Sai said with a quivering smile while wringing out his hands.
"Please, you're making the heroes sound human," Father Tera said with a frown plastered on his face as his eyes settled onto a glare.
"Of course not Father,"
"Good, now, where to next?"
"R-Right over here Father," Sai waved Father Tera over, trying his best to avoid the larger puddles.
The soft click of Tera's heels echoed in the dank room.
"Hphm if not for the heroes, then at least for me, you should have cleaned this place,"
"My apologies, this was quite a sudden development from His Highness, we're grateful that we could find such willing participants as quickly as we did," Sai said wiping the light gathering of sweat in his brow.
"Yes, I am thankful, for his Holiness alerting me to this development, or else I would have never heard of it,"
"Well, we can't cause a mad spree from the peasants because we let loose this information," Sai said with a thin smirk.
"Yes, yes, I can't imagine what the beasts would have done if they heard our plans, they might have even tried to taint the heroes," Tera said, opening and closing his hands.
"Of course, that was another issue…" Sai said, nodding along.
"Ah, this must be the room?" Tera said with a wide smile.
This room was a wide circular room with plenty of torches lining the wall and a magic circle lining the floor drawn in white chalk.
"Indeed my son," A gravelly voice said with a clap.
"F-Father?" Tera said, quickly getting on his knee at the sight of the old man in a similar outfit to him, only with a much larger hate evocative of the Catholic Pope.
"Stand Kitanai, soon you'll be much higher than me," he said with a thin smile.
"Y-Yes, Father," Kitananai Tera said slowly, making sure to wipe away any filth that touched his outfit.
"If you don't mind me asking your Holiness, what are you doing in this unpleasant place?" Kitanai asked.
With a soft smile the old man placed a hand on the taller boy.
"Why, to give my blessings to the future heroes of course," he then made a soft motion towards one of the countless robed men with his hand.
Quickly one came forward with a small wooden bowl which if peered into revealed a pitch black viscous substance, much like ink but with the viscosity of honey.
"Is that-?" Kitanai began only for The Pope to raise his hand and shake his head.
"Oh! No, No, of course not, very similar but it's not the same," he said, keeping his smile as he dipped his fingers into the liquid.
"Stand still child," he muttered as he raised his fingers covered in liquid up to the taller, and more youthful boy's head.
In a few quick and effortless strokes covered Kitanai's face with symbols.
"There, Spear Hero, you are finished," The Pope said with a clap, and a quick dunk of his fingers into a nearby puddle.
"I-Is that it?" Kitanai asked, raising a finger up to his face only to stop before he touched.
"Hmm, just a pumping full of magic in a large magic circle, and your vessel will be used," The Pope said with a small smile, patting Kitanai's shoulder.
"What a fascinating place! I can just feel the magic condensing here!" Suddenly a new voice broke out, this was higher pitch, with such energy that Kitanai has ever felt.
Turning his head, his eyes met with the young man.
This man seemed to be the same age, on the shorter end, his hair was wild and red like a forest fire, his face was pale as the moon, with a littering of freckles, his eyes were a vibrant gray, like that of a stone.
"Ah, you must be the Bow Hero, what is your name again?" Kitanai asked with a smile.
"Hmm? Oh! I am Aka Yuri, it's very nice to meet you both," the smaller boy said, his smile seeming ready to be torn off his face.
"Of course, it's nice to meet you as well," they both shared pleasantries.
"The magic here is incredible, oh! Is this what I think it is?" Before long Aki quickly ran off to the summoning circle investigating plenty of runes and other oddities.
"Bahaha! What a curious fella, huh, Kitanai?" The pope had a large, grandfatherly smile etched across his face.
"Indeed, Father," Kitanai nodded, before stroking his chin.
"It seems we are just missing one,"
"My apologies, it seems I have arrived late," a deep empty voice came forth behind the holy duo.
Turning around Kitanai was met with someone of slightly lower stature than him, but his age seemed that of 2 to 3 years his junior.
This fellow had pitch black shaggy hair, his blue eyes had no shine in them. It reminded Kitanai of desperate men, those that turn to church to find any meaning in their lives…but his eyes…they were different yet the same.
Staring into them made a chill go up Kitanai's spine making him quickly turn away.
"Not at all, may I ask for your name? The Pope asked.
"Kumori," The boy said flatly.
"Great Kumori, are you ready to become a hero?" The Pope asked.
"Yes,"
…
"Good, good,"
"Ahem, Aka, can you come here?" The Pope called.
Looking over, Aka acted as if he was deaf as he continued to examine the magical circle.
"Boy! His Holiness called for you!" Kitanai yelled at the red haired boy.
Snapping his head, he quickly looked at the group, before rubbing the back of his head.
"Heh, my apologies, such interesting things of note, it gets my scholarly instincts tingling,"
Kitanai shook his head with a glare towards the boy.
Pretty quickly The Pope applied the same inky goo onto the others, declaring their new status.
"There, Sword hero-" before The Pope could finish a loud high-pitched, ear shattering scream echoing down cavern halls.
"Wha-What was that?" Aka yelled slightly, shaking.
"Ah, I was wondering when it would arrive," The Pope said, clasping his chin.
"It?" Aka quickly asked.
"Why, we're missing one aren't we?" The Pope asked with a chuckle.
"You don't mean?" Kitanai began.
"Yes, indeed we must summon it before those heathen attempt to,"
"Hurry up!" A low voice yelled before another ear shattering scream came bellowing, it was like a tiny monster crawled into their ears and began having a rampage, only interrupted by occasional coughing.
It soon stopped giving a respite to their ears, the group of heroes to be, wanted to say something but almost as if their throats were silenced as well their mouths didn't open.
As they tried to force their throats to make a noise a small form flopped onto one of the large puddles.
"What are you doing!?" The low voice yelled, as the owner came through the doorway.
It was a stout knight with a bright red feather atop his helmet, which quickly made his rank quite clear.
"Get up you worthless beast!" The man yelled as he came storming over to the fallen form which the heroes could instantly make out to be a small raccoon demi-human.
The small girl deftly tried pushing herself up, her now wet tangled mess of brown hair sticking to her face, her matted tail was in a similar situation, half way through she began to cough before she collapsed back into the puddle.
"Dammit! I said, "Get up!" The head knight yelled as his armored foot stomped on her back eliciting another scream.
Kitanai with a small smirk on his face looked at his fellow heroes.
Kumori, had a blank, almost bored expression as he stared at a nearby wall.
While Aka, tightened his fist into a ball and seemed ready to interfere.
"Ahem, Head knight, we do need it alive, so could you stop drowning it?" The Pope called out before Aka could move.
"Huh? I'm not drowning it!" The stout man yelled his armored foot blatantly on the back of the demi-human's head making her face entirely in the muddy puddle.
The Pope simply gave a stare.
The knight let out a huff and grabbed the scruff of the demi-human and plopped it in front of The Pope.
"Do ya stuff, so I can get the hell outta this creepy ass place," the knight huffed.
The demi-human's lifeless pink eyes were clouded, as if nothing behind them no goal, no wish, nothing but barely surviving, Kitanai was always great at reading people just from their eyes, it saddened him to say but he seen people with the same eyes, those same hopeless eyes that made Kumori's eyes seem full of life and dreams, but as he stared at the girl coughing up the putrid brown water, he felt nothing but joy at those lifeless eyes.
With a fluid motion The Pope pulled out a white cloth, and began to clean off the girl's face before painting her face.
"You're Holiness?" Kitanai raised his eyebrow.
"We must provide the minimum to the devil, why waste such a promising soul, when you can use a life already at the end of their rope, if you think about it, we're giving this beast a new lease on life!" The Pope said with a smile as he added the last drop of ink.
Naofumi Iwatani, stretched his long limbs with a yawn as he slowly got out of his bed.
Naofumi was a tall young man, shaggy black hair drooped down leaving a few bangs covering his clouded eyes.
"What a strange dream…" Naofumi muttered as he desperately tried to recollect his dream, but nothing came forth but the color green, the same vibrant green of his eyes.
"Whatever, if I can't remember what's the purpose in keeping it as a memory?" Naofumi muttered, before entering the restroom with a pair of clothes under his arm.
Naofumi soon exited the room after washing up, with another yawn, Naofumi picked up a few books.
"Let's see if they got anything new?" Naofumi muttered as we walked down the hallway he suddenly stopped on his journey down this hallway as he stared at a door.
With a smile, Naofumi lightly knocked on the door…'I can hear him doing something in there, so he probably doesn't want me to be a specter' Naofumi thought with a frown.
"I know those games can be addicting, but don't lock yourself up for the entire day," Naofumi yelled just loud enough to be heard, or he hoped so.
Rubbing his eyes once again, Naofumi continued his journey to the library, totally forgetting his weird dream.
After dropping his books into the drop off point Naofumi began his usual snooping around to try and find a new book.
"Tch these are all pretty repetitive, you've read one of them, you've read them all," he muttered as he put back a book on the second highest shelf with ease before his eyes scanned the many tomes.
'Ugh, last try before I move onto another genre,' Naofumi thought, pulling a rather hefty tome from the top shelf.
"The legend of the four weapons?" Naofumi muttered with a raised eyebrow.
"In this world waves crash upon reality besieging them with countless monsters, the people of this realm quickly delved into ways to help fight them, where they found it, a way to help fight against the waves, four legendary weapons, though for these weapons to be a used a most dreadful price was paid…" Naofumi raised an eyebrow.
"Welp this sounds like garbage, but eh, let's see if it goes anywhere,"
Quickly cracking open the dusty tome and flying through the pages, there was a mention of a spear, sword, bow, and finally shield.
'How is a shield considered a weapon!?' Naofumi thought with his eyebrow raised high.
After his momentary confusion Naofumi continued to skim through it before getting bored.
Naofumi tried to clamp the book shut, but it refused.
"What the-'' Naofumi began only too quickly for a light to blast froth from the tome, it was like heaven itself was right there in that book!
Almost as soon as it appeared it disappeared leaving Naofumi in the dark, the sensation was best described as ethereal.
To Naofumi it was like letting the waves of the ocean heave you up, and push you around, but there were no waves or comfort, only iky darkness.
'D-Did I go blind?' Naofumi briefly thought before thousands of new sensations blasted him.
It was akin stepping out of the ocean, and with it was a realization of how cold and wet you were.
Instantly Naofumi could feel his body begin to shake at the temperature, his hair wet and clinging to his cheek…though something felt wrong about that.
Then it hit him like a train, an indescribable pain erupted through Naofumi's body making him want to tear, rip off his flesh for a brief moment at respite but nothing came to release him, only more pain.
Then a voice that seemed it's damnedest to imitate nails on a chalkboard bombarded his mind, he could feel it speaking but the words felt meaningless and indecipherable.
Then…suddenly it stopped.
The only thing left of the pain was a stabbing sensation in his chest, the smell of brunt flesh…and of course the cold.
"Y-Yo, you okay?" Suddenly a low voice asked, breaking the welcoming silence.
His eyes moved before his lips, as they looked towards the origin only to find a giant skeletal man.
A feminine or perhaps young, high pitch scream came forth.
"Whoah, calm down," the skeleton man said, raising his hands into the air.
Naofumi closed his mouth, and at the same time the high pitch voice ended as well.
"What- who-" Naofumi stopped the voice, that young feminine voice, it was imitating him, and canceling out his own voice.
"I am Motoyasu Kitamura! Or if you would like, you can also call me Big bro!" Despite his almost nefarious appearance Motoyasu had a wide smile that seemed ready to rip apart his gaunt face.
Well trying to collect his thoughts Naofumi spoke aloud his confusion.
"Big bro?" Though he looked like a giant his actual physical appearance is that much of a twenty to twenty five year old, though his thin body type makes him appear much older.
"Ahhhh! She is already calling me big bro!" His smile somehow wided even further as he clasped his hands together waving his body back and forth.
"She?" Naofumi muttered, still hearing that feminine voice imitating him…wait…it couldn't be right?
With his eyes wide as saucers he looked at his body.
He was met with an unhealthy pale torso draped over with a wet sack, that could scarcely be called a dress, his arms were so thin that if his original hands were to grab his arms they could easily fit with some spare room at the wrist were weird metal shackles.
On his shoulder there were long ropes of wet brown hair, then were the last two things that stood out to the once twenty year old man, the large patch of purpled skin which when briefly touching was still simmering which explained why the smell of burnt flesh hung in the air.
Then finally on his thin arm sat a metal shield, there little indents making a pattern that surrounded the pink-like orb in the center, when he stared at the orb Naofumi swore that it felt like it was staring back at him.
Breaking Naofumi out of his staring contest with the pink orb was a loud clap.
Quickly swerving his head over to the origin of the loud clap, Naofumi was smacked in the face with a wet rope of brown hair.
"Petuah" Naofumi quickly began spitting it out before his attention was back on the rather default looking man.
"His Royal Highness has sent me here to collect you four, and presents you to him, please follow me legendary heroes," the man said with a thin smile.
There was a lot in that sentence that confused him, so he went with the one he could instantly solve.
Turning his head back towards Motoyasu, Naofumi noticed the figures near Motoyasu, not only that but he noticed that Motoyasu, and the others had their own weapons as well.
Motoyasu had a long spear, a little longer than his already lanky form, with a striking yellow gem.
The one with the bow had a gem color gray, and the one with a sword had a blue gem inside.
"I-" Naofumi stopped hearing his new voice, it sounded nothing like him, this entire situation was driving him crazy, even worse as he knew this was reality as he could feel every little thing…and it wasn't like a dream or coma was just making him thinking he was feeling things, as he felt things which he knew never felt in his original life, though embarrassing he could how the wet sack interacted with his feminine parts.
'It's fine Naofumi, it's fine, once I bring up this issue whoever or whatever did this should be able to fix it, just have to be a bit patient, and it will be fixed.' Naofumi thought breathing in and out he spoke again
"I have a question,"
"His Highness will answer everything, now come along mighty heroes," the man said witj a smile.
Naofumi grit his teeth but began to do a little breathing exercise.
'It's fine, it's just going to be a few minutes before I get to my body, just have to deal with it for a little bit longer,' Naofumi thought, before once getting pulled out by a voice.
"Let me help you," Motoyasu said his grin he lightly wrapped his near-skeletal fingers around Naofumi tiny arm and pulled getting Naofumi on his two feet which did nothing to his current height issue, in fact it made it a bit worse with the realization that standing only made gain a few inches…that a discovery of a new organ.
Naofumi felt an odd billow of air at his bare legs and feet, another oddity that Naofumi pushed down but the billowing that's strange.
Turning his head so he can sorta see his back, Naofumi's eyes widened as he stared at it.
Flopping lazy back and forth dripping what Naofumi presumed to be the putrid water…was…a…"Tail!?" Naofumi muttered
"It's so cute too! You also got these adorable little things too!" Motoyasu yelled as his hands went to the top of Naofumi's head, and suddenly Naofumi felt this incredibly weird sensation, it was almost euphoric.
"H-Hey! Wha- Ah! Are you do- Ah! Ing!?" Naofumi yelled a red blush covering his face.
"Hehe, those cute little ears are too irresistible!" Motoyasu said letting go and patting Naofumi's head on the way to his waist.
"E-Ears?" Almost in response to that, Naofumi felt something flatten at the top of his head.
Motoyasu simply nodded before speaking.
"It's strange huh? I can tell by your reaction back in the real world you were a human, it seems that everyone has turned into their video game character, I don't have strong evidence for the others but they way they seemed briefly surprised makes it suspect," Motoyasu said still with that smile before he started to walk.
"We better start walking or else we'll be too far behind the others," Motoyasu added.
'...turned into their video game character. What the hell did you mean by that? Actually wait so the other three are from Earth…but that implies that this isn't Earth- ugh this is hurting my brain. ' Naofumi thought as he ran after the fellow heroes, carefully avoiding the many puddles most of them Naofumi would bet would go up to his knees.
Finally the duo catched fully up to the rest of the group, when the stabbing pain in his chest that Naofumi has so far been ignoring suddenly exploded in pain.
Naofumi let loose a rough series of coughs each one making him feel like oxygen was a far away fantasy as he could barely inhale.
It was a few seconds later when it finally ended Naofumi instantly began inhaling as fast as his lungs could take in.
The pain in his chest now a dull throbbing, as Motoyasu walked over to him.
"Hey, do you need any help? I could carry you," He asked, his vibrant smile lessened.
"N-No, I am okay," Naofumi said, wiping away the light drool on his face.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, let's hurry up,"
Motoyasu was still staring at them…but nodded.
It didn't take much longer but the quintet were finally out of the dank cavern and were now in a much more clean place…which oddly made Naofumi feel more uncomfortable.
He could hear his wet feet slap against the polished stone flooring compared to the almost music-like chorus that the other fours shoes made…he also could feel his ears twist as he heard some really low voices speaking.
"Father, said I should go after the spear,"
"Tch that is out of your league and we both know it,"
"Shut up, it isn't that impossible, I just have-"
"You two, you need to start preparing their rooms I dare say,"
After that the voices were too far away to hear anything else.
After this small "encounter" Naofumi began noticing many other sorts of small talks which were behind them, it was nothing of note, Naofumi was just getting annoyed that no matter where he could someone speaking, especially since it was all inane nonsense that didn't help him at all.
"My dear heroes, I present to you, his Royal Highness," the guide suddenly stopped at a particularly large pair of doors, before grabbing the handle and pulling it open.
In front of them was an expansive room, and at the very back were three chairs, two of them were empty but one of them had an occupant.
The occupant was an old wrinkly man. His hair was silver and long, he wore multiple jewels and other accessories that screamed about his wealth, and atop his head was a golden crown.
The group shuffled in before standing in a horizontal line.
"I am King Aultcray Melromarc the thirty second, it a pleasure to meet you heroes, I am sure you have questions, but first let me explain our situation, this will give answers to plenty of your questions,"
With a clearing of his throat began,
"Our world in danger, a few months ago a devastating wave besmirched our world, summoning monsters killing hundreds, so we had to summon you heroes, part of this summoning process is temporary using a person of our world to house your souls,"
"So is there a way to return back to normal?" Naofumi asked.
"Now, heroes, can you please state your names, and original age?" Aultcray asked not even looking at Naofumi.
"Hey! King dude, didn't you hear the girl's question?" Motoyasu yelled.
"Ah, my apologies, I didn't hear her," Aultcray said with a strained smile.
"Is there any way to return back to normal?" Motoyasu repeated Naofumi's question.
"When you finish fighting the waves you will return to your world, and with it your body," Aultcray explained.
"So I am supposed to stay in this little girl's body!?" Naofumi yelled as the room suddenly felt like it was getting bigger as his fear came washing his form.
"Fortunately for you Sir. Shield Hero, you are currently in a demi-human's body, as they get levels the older they will become, so in a few levels you shall become the same age,"
"That's not the only issue! Why the hell am I a girl!?" Naofumi yelled, not to known to him his tail though wet still was poofed up, his ears were also flat.
The other heroes looked at him with a strange look, but still the king answered.
"It is a rather unfortunate circumstance, but we only had access to volunteers, as you might imagine not many want to use their body for an unknown person, we also didn't have enough time to find the peak of humanity," Aultcray explained before clearing his throat.
"Now, would you all say your names?"
"Ren"
"Itsuki"
"Motoyasu"
At that point Naofumi was not listening anymore.
'I…am…stuck like this? That's not possible! It can't be, this has to be a nightmare, I-I wake up in a bit- I don't care if this feels real, it's just not possible this can't be real…but…what if it is? What can I do if it is? Then…I just need to deal with the waves. It will be over…these waves…I would just have to stay like this…for what a week? A month…it shouldn't be to bad, it will be over before I know it…it has to, this will be just a bad dream no matter what!'
"Hey! Naofumi we're heading out," Motoyasu's voice suddenly came forth.
"Huh?" Naofumi muttered, shaking his head trying to get back to reality.
With a clear head all four of them followed the bland looking man, they reached a large foyer connected to three hallways which the bland man explained led to their bedrooms.
"Naofumi, I think we have a few questions," the sword hero started as soon as the aid left.
"Huh?" Naofumi raised an eyebrow.
"How are you demi-human? And what was with the thing about you being a man?" Ren said.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Naofumi asked, his ears flat, his wet tail bristled.
"This is obviously Dimension Wave, and there is zero way to customize your character that much, so either you're a liar, admin or a cheater," Ren said, though his words sounded harsh…it was strange as very little emotion actually came out, he still talked in a rather monotone voice.
"Wait! What the hell do you mean Dimension Wave! This is clearly like Emerald Online"
"You're both wrong, it's like Brave Star Online," Itsuki interjected.
Naofumi's ears quickly reset to their standing position as his tail relaxed and started to sway back and forth.
"I've heard nothing about any one of those games," Naofumi added.
"What do you mean!? dimension Wave is the most popular VRMMO!" Ren said in a slightly louder voice.
"VRMMO?" The trio said near the same time.
"Yeah?" Ren asked, his eyebrows raised.
"You mean, VR, Virtual Reality?" Motoyasu asked.
"How else would you play a game?" Ren said with a sarcastic tone.
"It couldn't be…" Naofumi started his tiny hand stroking his round chin before he spoke.
"Can everyone say the current prime Minister?"
"Shigeno Ichifuji"
"Gotari Yawahara"
"Masato Yuda,"
"Enichu Kodaka"
All four shouted.
"Could it be?" Naofumi mumbled befofe firing question after question which once and a while interrupted by a cough.
"Geez so you're all from different universes?" Motoyasu said, shaking the back of his head,
"Hmm, so still the question remains," Ren interjected.
"I am going to assume, we all are our characters?" He continued, with everyone but Naofumi nodding.
"I am not, this isn't similar to any game I've heard or played," Naofumi said, barely getting his head wrapped around his body.
Ren's brow furrowed as he looked down at the raccoon girl.
"Still, we all look like the characters we played, and we all agree that in our games it's impossible to have your avatar changed that much," Ren pressed.
"Agreed," Itsuki nodded.
…Motoyasu seemed to be thinking before he grabbed the collars of the other two boys.
"Big Bro is gonna be right back!" Motoyasu yelled with as he exited the door, leaving Naofumi all alone, once more his extra body parts went into "defense mode"
"I am not a kid!" He yelled.
"I already feel like I am going to despise this body for the week or so I am in…" he muttered under his breath.
…
It was a few seconds later and the trio have not returned, when they left Naofumi could hear their footsteps walking away from the door before it got too quiet.
"He really didn't want me to hear…he's more aware of my capabilities than me…" Naofumi muttered before letting out a puff of air and began exploring the three rooms.
Each room seemed to be the exact same, with a bathroom to the right of each one, briefly stepping in when Naofumi stopped in his tracks.
On the other end of the bathroom was a small girl, her face was round, innocent and pale, with beautiful glowing green eyes framed perfectly by wet brown hair that seemed to imitate rope her small lithe frame was a covered by a brown sack that stopped at her thighs, low enough where she wasn't going to flash people but high enough where it didn't protect her legs from the cold weather.
Behind her legs was a swishing fluffy tail dripping water onto the stone floor behind her, to go with the tail were a pair of cute little ears.
In the center of the thin, malnourished chest was a dark purple patch of skin.
It didn't take a genius to figure out who this was…but Naofumi couldn't believe it.
Naofumi's bare feet slapped against the stone slowly before ramping up until he was nearly face to face with this little girl.
Slowly Naofumi raised his hand catching the metal shield on his, and the mystery girl.
Fingers met fingers, only separated by a thin layer of glass.
…this…really was him…he hated it, despised it, he would not accept it…he was still Naofumi Iwatani and nothing will change that even this terrible nightmare.
The dirty little hand raised off the now fingerprinted and filth covered glass to turn into a fist and hit the lying mirror in front of his eyes!
"Ow!" The mirror…was a lot stronger than him, this battle wasn't over…Naofumi was…just a strategic retreat he'll defeat it later.
Lightly griping his now red hand and trying to push back the pain Naofumi looked around the bathroom
…the damn sink was taller than him.
What Naofumi suspected to be the sink, was a few inches taller than him, he could stand on his tippy toes and might be able to stand above it but Naofumi refused to submit to this lying room, so with a huff Naofumi grabbed a nearby towel and returned to the foyer.
After a thorough pat down, Naofumi was finally dry, though certainly dirty, and Naofumi didn't see a way that was going to change…it wasn't because he was scared of seeing this fake body naked…it was just…he'd be too busy.
Suddenly Naofumi could hear the sound of people's shoes hitting the stone bricks.
"Hey! We're back! Sorry for taking so long, it's pretty late, we should head to bed," Motoyasu said entering the door with a smile.
"You're not gonna talk about what you guys said out there?" Naofumi asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh that! It was talking about our games. I doubt you wanted to hear that so I got these two outta here!" Motoyasu with a smile and a rub of the back of his head.
Naofumi could tell it was a lie, but he just nodded best not to try and push it, if it involved him they'd tell him.
Breaking the silence as the two of them stared, Motoyasu bent his knees to get to a more even playing field with Naofumi.
"Hey, I know it seems like you're in a pretty shity situation with you being a kid and all, but let me tell a little veteran knowledge," Motoyasu said with a thin playful smile as he leaned into where Naofumi's ear would have been only to shake his head and move closer to the little furry ones.
"There was this secret NPC, one of the few that could join your party, they were there to help players that preferred to go solo and all that, but this NPC was interesting they were a raccoon demi- just like you, normally you just had Humans with different classes for PC's so no one really knew how a demi would work for a party member, so most either never did her quest or didn't know about it- anyway wanna something interesting?" Motoyasu asked at a never low whisper.
"Demis have really good stats-for early to mid game- and they have a few pretty cool additions, as a raccoon based demi like her, I bet you're gonna have dark and light magic which is great for buffing and debuffing perfect for shielder like you plus there is some other neat stuff…and I wonder-" before Motoyasu could continue Itsuki walked over to the duo.
"Hey Motoyasu, issue, they only gave us three rooms" He said pointing at the hallways.
"Damn you're right…alright I'll take the couch, you guys can take the rooms," Motoyasu said, getting of his knees and flopping onto the couch.
"Are you sure?" Ren asked.
"It's fine, know how many times I slept on the couch?" Motoyasu asked, his signature smile wide on his face.
"Whatever dude, if you're volunteering then I shouldn't argue," Itsuki said with a shrug and started to walk to a room, quickly copied by Ren.
"Go on, you're gonna need all the sleep you can," Motoyasu said with a smile and a wave.
Naofumi gave him a nod and went to the only other room, funny enough the room where he took the towel.
"Fucking peice of shit! Ow!" Naofumi yelled out holding his tiny foot as he hopped around his room.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" He repeated the mantra for a few more seconds before letting out a huff of air as he stared back up at the bed he refused to give in!
Naofumi went to the other end of the room, ran and jumped grabbing tightly the blanket as he climbed his hand nearly slipping but finally he made it onto the bed where he quickly collapsed with a few coughs on the way down.
The bed was humongous, easily it could fit ten or so of him, Naofumi bet even in his actual body it would be about two or four of him.
"...really do hope this is a nightmare…" Naofumi muttered before crawling under the covers…when he finally fell asleep unbeknownst to him he was curled up like a dog under the blanket.