Author's Note: I made some corrections here. There was originally going to be a reveal in this chapter, but I moved it to the next. Unfortunately, I missed a few. Thank you to the commenters who pointed it out. I'm still kicking myself for the error.

Chapter 5: The NPC Game

"Well, that's five geld wasted," Reona lamented, folding her arms as she looked at the pile of food that Carpenter was setting down. Even spread out a bit, it was still easily taller than she was.

Carpenter looked sheepish at the rebuke, ducking her head slightly, "Sorry, I guess I went overboard."

"It's fine." Izuku said, to both of them, "I'm sure you were hungry after a long day of picking apples."

"The game doesn't make you feel hungry, Hero." Reona huffed, "She's just a glutton–gah!"

Carpenter flicked the back of her head to cut her off, "I am not." She said defensively, and looked up at him, "I'm really not! It's just…" She bit her lip, "I was just hungry outside of game. I didn't get the chance to eat before I logged on."

Izuku looked down at Reona as she turned and glowered at Carpenter before blushing and looking away, "It's okay, I really don't mind. But I think you might have overdone it with Reona. You can feel pain in game, remember?"

Carpenter winced, "Sorry."

"Shouldn't you be apologizing to me?" Reona asked testily.

Carpenter just looked down at her, "Shouldn't you be apologizing to Hero for conning him into buying this game?"

"Hey," Reona placed her hands on her hips, "I run a shop. I need to make sales."

Izuku watched the escalating confrontation, noticing that Carpenter had subtly plucked a grape and looked ready to toss it. "C-can we not fight?" He stammered.

Carpenter glanced up at him, her face suddenly serious, "Sorry, but I want to make sure you know about this game. If you're not careful, it can destroy your console."

Reona folded her arms and Izuku quickly looked back at Carpenter, "He already knows."

"Only because I looked up before playing," He countered, trying not to sound too defensive.

"Oh." Carpenter blinked, "Then why are you playing?" The forwardness of the question caught up with her as she grew flustered, "You don't have to tell me, but there aren't many people who even play anymore…" She trailed off, glancing away.

Izuku scratched the back of his head, "Reona said she'd only give me a refund if I played it for a few hours." He finished, but he was already replaying her question in his head, "Wait, if you know this game is dangerous, why are you playing?"

A blush quickly covered her cheeks as she winced, but Reona spoke up before she could. "Isn't it obvious?" She took flight, moving to his shoulder and, more importantly, out of Carpenter's reach. Reona waved to the spread on the table, "She's here for the food."

Izuku blinked, looking at Carpenter, who looked like the blood had drained from her face. "But it's not real?"

"I did the same thing in college." Reona waved dismissively, "It made me feel more full even though all I'd eaten was cup noodles. Placebo effect or something."

Izuku blinked, looking back at Carpenter who suddenly didn't look hungry at all. "Maybe I should go." She murmured, "I can bring this with me, right?"

"W-wait!" Izuku stammered, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." He quickly glanced to his shoulder, "You shouldn't have told me that. It should have been her choice." His brow knit together as he looked at her, while paradoxically trying not to stare, "I want you to apologize."

Reona scoffed, "I was just getting back at her for hitting me–"

Izuku shook his head, cutting her off, "It wasn't for you to share. So I want you to apologize, now."

Reona placed her hands on her hips, "Or what?"

"Or…" Her question almost brought him up short, "Or I'll just sit her for the next few hours." He smirked at her confusion, "You only said I had to play for a few hours before I returned the game, you never said what I'd have to do."

It seemed to bring her up short and she sighed heavily, turning back to Carpenter, "Hero's right. I shouldn't have told him. I didn't think it was important…" She trailed off, waving the thought away, "Nevermind. What I meant was, I'm sorry."

Carpenter looked almost ready to leave for a moment before she fell back into her seat. "I… it's okay." She muttered.

Izuku let out a sigh of relief, "Can we talk about something else now?"

"I don't like this," Martin whispered, keeping an eye through the bush he and his sister were hiding behind.

"I know, but Hiro hasn't been acting like himself today, and I just want to make sure he's okay."

Martin nodded, "And I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact he wandered off with Carpenter?" He teased.

His sister cuffed him across the shoulder, face going red, "It's not like that!" She hissed, "I'm just trying to make sure he's okay."

Martin smirked, "By watching him from behind some bushes while he's on a date with a girl he just met. Yeah, that sounds reasonable."

"He is not on a date." Alicia said, a warning edge to her voice, "He just met her."

Martin rolled his eyes, "If you say so."

"I'm just worried about him." Alicia insisted, "He's been acting weird all day, but he meets Carpenter and suddenly settles down. I don't like it."

Martin frowned, "Do you think he's being affected by hero sickness?"

Alicia paled, and quickly shook her head, "No, it can't be. He probably just had a bad night." She couldn't quite hide her panic.

Martin bit his own lip. It happened sometimes. A person suddenly acting weird, talking about adventure, casually discussing egress as if it wasn't a crime. It hadn't happened in a long time, but there was always the chance. And with his name, he'd almost been begging to get hit with it.

"Let's just… watch, okay?"

Alicia nodded, steeling herself as Hero and Carpenter started talking with a massive pile of food between them. They were still too far away to hear, but they could clearly watch the byplay as it played out. It was almost reassuring at first glance, but the longer he watched, the more Martin's heart began to sink. There was something… wrong. The conversation was too stilted, it was like they were talking or being talked to by someone who wasn't there.

He felt Alicia's fingers squeezing his shoulders and knew that she'd spotted it too. Silently, he swore to himself that they'd clear things up, help Hero through this, and get him back on track before anyone else even realized it. Yeah. Yeah, he'd be able to do it.

His best friend's life depended on it.

Thankfully, after the apology, things settled down and they actually ate. The food was just as impressive as the first apple had been, and Izuku boggled at the programming necessary to bring the tastes and textures of foods into a game like this. He wasn't even sure how someone could program taste, but they had. Maybe one of the programmers had a quirk that allowed them to digitize sensations? He couldn't conceive of anything else, other than perhaps some sort of brain scan going on while someone ate real food to have it recorded–

"I never considered that," Carpenter said, cutting off his train of thought as he caught both girls staring at him.

Oh, he'd been mumbling, hadn't he?

He blushed, "I-I was just impressed, that's all." He murmured nervously.

Reona smirked from beside the grape and small sliver of cheese that Carpenter had deigned to give her, "Told you it's number one in realism."

Izuku waited a beat, waiting to be told he was weird or stupid or creepy, but both girls went back to eating. It was almost unnerving how they treated his little ramble. "Uh… yeah." He agreed lamely and tucked into a sandwich he'd cobbled together.

"Hey, Hero!" He almost jumped out of his skin, whirling as Martin and Alicia approached, with wide smiles on their faces. There was… something off. What, he couldn't be sure, but the smiles looked forced, like when some of Kacchan's friends met him for a 'friendly chat'. He swallowed involuntarily.

"Looks like you got quite the spread." Martin towered over him, "Mind if we join you?"

Carpenter shot him a look, but Izuku cringed, "S-sure?"

They sat down on either side of him, all smiles as they left him feeling cramped between them. "So what were you two talking about?" He asked, a little too casually.

Carpenter's face flashed a warning look and Reona perked up, dropping her food and taking flight. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and he was filled with the familiar sense of urgency that struck whenever things were going wrong. He swallowed, "W-we were just talking about how good the food tasted."

"Oh?" Alicia asked, her smile too wide to be real or even comfortable, "Nothing else?"

Reona floated right up to his face, arms waving for him to stop, "They think you developed hero sickness!" He blinked, catching sight of Carpenter giving a slight nod behind her before she moved to take up the conversation.

"Don't talk, just listen. Your NPC friends are afraid you're going crazy and will start spouting off about being a hero and leaving town." He struggled to resist the urge to respond when she put her hand up, "Leaving town is a crime in Ted unless you complete a few quest lines. They'll get in trouble too if they aren't careful."

"You okay there buddy?" Martin asked, "You're looking a little pale."

"H-huh?" He asked, turning his head to look at his 'best friend'.

"I was just asking if you're feeling alright. It's just that you've been acting funny all day, we just wanted to make sure you haven't been having any weird thoughts." The forced smile was still there, but it was almost desperate.

He blinked, staring at him. Martin was worried about him. An NPC in a game was worried about him. He shot a quick glance at Alicia, who was also focused on him. They were waiting with bated breath.

His mind raced, wondering about all the programming that went into making them. Were they really concerned about him? Martin had gone out of his way to catch him as he fell, and they'd more or less listened to whatever he had to say earlier. If they weren't procedurally generated, they probably did think he was going nuts.

"I think I've just been having an off day." He admitted, scratching the back of his head, "Maybe we should go back to the farm after we finish lunch? I'm sure there's still more to do."

"Oh yes," Alicia said quickly, relief spreading over her face, "there's plenty to do at the farm."

"That's the spirit," Martin said, slapping him on the back. It wasn't even to send him sprawling either. "I'm glad you're building a real work ethic, Hero."

Izuku nodded, NPCs or not he was glad to see them relieved, "We should go get something to eat then."

"Uh–" Martin pointed at the food piled up before them, "I figured that was going to be for us too."

Carpenter's eyes widened in alarm, and Izuku bit his lip, "Mind sharing a bit more?"

Author's Notes: Things should speed up a bit after this, but yeah, Kawami Quest is just riddled with pit traps for the uninitiated. And Izuku will soon be learning about those. Probably during some off-screen menial labor. Thanks for reading!