Welcome to chapter 3 of this fic. So this chapter took longer to write than I had expected. The difficult part of this is trying to portray a significant amount of realism. I know SAO is an anime/manga/light novel and a lot of stuff that doesn't make any sense (Like how a widely popular VR game only has 10k players (Marketing failure)) but I don't want to make up stuff at my convenience. So I did a bit of research on ALS and also college art stuff. I don't expect my fic to be hyper-realistic though, and please don't expect that too.

There has been a surge in popularity when I posted the second chapter, which made me very happy and encouraged to write more. If you have some time, please put down a review or two with your thoughts on the story, and how you think I can improve it. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: All original SAO content belong to their respective owners

Chapter 3: Our Secret Cave

"Ah. Hirano-kun. You're here."

The professor addressed me, calling all attentions from the students body, as I shakily opened the door. At the expressions of the students, I can tell they are pretty surprised at my presence. And honestly, I am surprised at myself as well. This was a tutorial session, which was basically the time you put yourself in front of the canvas with your brush in your hand. To a person who struggled to put his shirts on himself, that seemed like an imaginary task, considering that job that require great details and precision.

"Am I late, professor?" I asked as I stumbled my cane into the room

"Practically no. We're just getting our feet warm. Have a seat."

I dragged my body to the nearest canvas. Each steps heavier than lasts. My hands gripped onto the canvas, as I tried to position my butt and legs so that it was right above the stool. Then, with a loud thud, I sat down, or rather fell on the stool butt first.

"Great." The professor said, as he clapped his hands together, seemingly in midst of his great speech when I came. "So I was just reminding you all what you all should already be expecting of yourself as you step into the realm of art. As you already know, to create a perfect work of art isn't about style. Of course, the style of a good work of art must appeal to the looker, but…"

And then was the talk of how art must have a message behind it that people would be unable to lift their gaze off of it. I get it. It must have some sort of charm to it. But if everybody knew how to solve that problem, life would be a lot easier.

After that, we were given something to draw. It was the usual bowl of fruit, a pear, a grapefruit, and a vine of grape. But this time, we were tasked to implement what he just said earlier in the lecture and make our own version of the fruit bowl. What we do was up to our creativity. Add a background, change the tone of the painting or even paint the fruit bowl entirely differently, anything to make the painting appeal to a common gallery goer.

Once the session started, everybody began paying attention on their own canvas. And so did I. For a few minutes, I stared at the bowl and began envisioning in my mind. Before me was a bowl of fruit. How can I change its realistic image? How to make something common into something original? I began to process the image, distorting it over and over again in my mind. It took probably five to seven minutes for that to be done.

Soon enough, after many forming and deforming, I had vaguely pictured what was the image that would appear on my canvas. Now comes the hard part: to actually put it into the canvas.

I picked up the pencil and began sketching the scene I envisioned. As my hands had weakened considerably, my fingers shaking as I held onto my pencil, I had to use my other hand to grip my wrist, keeping it steady. As a watercolor painter, I had to make sure the sketches were as light as possible, so that when I add the color on it, it would hide the pencil marks, or when I erase it, it would disappear without trace. And by light I meant barely even touching the canvas. And that required a really delicate hand, which I was trying my hardest to supplement.

Once the sketching was over, came the most gruesome part: coloring. The first and most detailed color would be the purplish hue of the grapes. It wasn't exactly purple. It was purple with a bit of red into it. The touch of red would have to be just right. Too much or too little and the color would change drastically. It had to be exact.

I picked up two tubes and began mixing it together. The palette was conveniently placed on a spire that was positioned right beside my right hand, so that I could adjust its angle according to what I need. It was all the teacher's effort to help me with my studies, and I was sort of grateful. But despite it, the fact that I was bogged down because of my degrading body was undeniable. The grip on my wrist tightened. I was very concerned about accidentally dropping too much on my palette, because it was a difficult task controlling my hand now. They would not comply to my command.

I somehow managed to not screw up with the mix. But then came the coloring. I dipped the brush into the color palette and made my first touch. It proved not as easy as it seemed. My grip must be maintained, or else my hand tremor would ruin the painting all over. The tip of the brush was slowly and carefully moved toward the canvas, with little shaking as it swept through a small small portion of the painting, leaving a elegant tint of purple on it. But once it was off, the shaking began, having been unnaturally restrained against its will.

"Fucking…"

I grabbed my finger of the brush hand with my other free hand. I know that I am cursing at myself, but it was frustrating. Once the tremor appeared to settle down, I went for it again. This time, the swipe would be a lot easier, since the area that I must color was larger. But this time, I got careless. The tremor suddenly erupted, and the paint on the brush was spilled on the canvas, where I did not want it to at all.

I almost break the brush in anger, but halted at the last moment. Nothing good would come out of my current emotions. I calmed myself down, breathing in and out a few times. It had happened so many times ever since, and the most frustrating part was that I was not capable of fixing it. There were no permanent solutions to this than gripping it. And it would only get worse from there.

I grabbed a piece of clothe and began cleaning up the spill I made. It went more than just rubbing it, but somehow I managed to wipe it away, with acceptable stains on it. It should be invisible once I add the intended color on it.

I went on like that for a few hours. Mid-way through, I could notice, one by one, my classmates filing out. They had already finished, but I didn't. Because of my goddamned shaky hand, I had to spend twice as long as those around me. Still, there were some who were nice that they gave me a pat or a few words of encouragement, seeing such difficulties I was going through. So it wasn't entirely that bad.

I managed to finish my piece of art long after everybody was gone. Surprisingly, the professor was patient enough to wait for me to get it done. Maybe it was his obligation to give everybody a feedback, and he did not take disability as a reason to leave it unfinished. In any cases, once I was done, he strolled over to me.

"Hmm…"

He looked at my work for a while. A brief description, I had turned the bowl of fruit into something more lively. Specifically a human face. The grape vine had been turned into hair, the grapefruit into the head, the pear into the nose. A slight touch of the brush polished the rest of the painting. With a quick glance, one could see the original bowl of fruit painting, but a closer look an the viewer would be able to recognize a human face in it.

The professor nodded, seemingly commending my creativity. But then his eyes seemed to slit into two needles. Covering his mouth with an index finger, he gave me his long awaited feedback

"Well, you do never fail to impress me with your artistic sense, despite several not so beautiful stains here and there, but I can always sympathize because of your current disease." That was what he said. "But I feel that you have forgotten the message of today's lecture. Because if there is really a message in your picture, I have yet to see them."

The comment shook me in realization.

"Uhh…"

What the hell was it that drove me to draw this painting in the first place? Was it because I want to tell him that plants are like human too, with different characteristics and traits. No that's too lame. What sort of noble message is that shit?

It was hard to admit, but I did not really have any idea of the message I was supposed to show him. And it was even harder to make up an excuse to get pass this one.

"I think I have forgotten your words about it…I'm sorry." I conceded.

"Well…" He exhaled. "You did manage to accomplish your work today. And with great determination. Therefore I'll give you a satisfactory result."

He headed for the notebook he had on his desk and wrote something, presumably my marks for this one.

"I understand that you are dealing with personal struggles, but please remember that you are a talented artist. And I mean it, wholeheartedly. Use it to its fullest, for however long you have left."

For what?

That was my immediate response. Of course, I did not say it out loud, since it would just be utterly rude. But yeah, for what? I had created many piece of arts but it remained to be just something cool to look at. Now that I only have approximately two years to live, can I possibly create something that could last for years and be elevated to a position in which it could inspire great things to the world? It would take a miracle for it to happen.

With that said, he closed the notebook and began to pack up. I followed his lead, packing my own stuff up, grabbed my walking cane, and left the room. The school day was over.

I glanced over the wall clock before I left. It was twelve fifty in the afternoon. I finished class pretty late, and I was starving. And I was in short of time. I had a schedule at 3 PM in ALO with Yuuki. So I was in a little hurry. I went down the college cafe, had a quick burger and cola, then I headed straight home.

I headed straight for my bedroom as soon as I got home. Picking up my Amusphere, my battered, confined body went into hibernation. And, for the next few hours, I am free.

I arrived at my own private house in Alfheim, deep in Sylph territory, in my white-haired lightning fast avatar. I did a brief check of my gear. Saber, check. Armor, check. Potions, check. I was ready to go.

Vanara waterfall was in sight in just ten minutes of flight. I had heard about the location before, but I had never been there personally. And from the eyes of someone who had been there for the first time ever, I had to scavenge to majestically describe the beauty of the fall it was. Water fell from a height that soared higher than any real life waterfall could reach. The volume of water was so huge that it was comparable to a great great wall of white that covered the entire border point. And when that massive body of water hit the deck, the bottom of the trip was covered in tiny drops of cold liquid that formed a big cloud of mist. It had caught me right at the heart of it, that I wished to capture that image in my drawings but unfortunately, there was not a drawing feature in this game.

I got close to the fall, the pressure and temperature began to send me away, turning me almost weightless. It was truly a magnificent, and very real, feeling. Honestly, whoever managed to create this world, he was truly a marvelous mind.

I stopped to remember what Yuuki said to me the day before. She told me to just come here and wait. She would find me. Has she even arrived yet?

"Oii…Hirano-san." Suddenly, someone called me from behind. Her voice was a little grumpy. "You're late."

I turned around several times, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. It was very familiar.

Suddenly, Yuuki appeared right below me, from bottom up, right in front of my face. Really close. Shocked, I stumbled back, as she put her two hands on her hips.

"I told you not to be late." She rebuked me

"What? 5 minutes cannot be considered late. Nor in this situation." I countered, perceiving her tone to be genuine and serious.

"Not for me, who hates wasting a single minute in my life."

You are already wasting every minutes with that twenty-four hours login…

"I don't consider that as being a reasonable excuse to condemn me. But fine, I apologize for my tardiness." I sounded annoyed, in which Yuuki seemed to take that to her pleasure.

"Nah, I was just teasing you. You're too serious." That frown earlier all vanished as she grinned.

"I don't think I can joke or take jokes so openly with a girl I just meet the day before."

I mean I can make jokes fine but to someone like her. It's common sense, really.

"Then you know you can. I have no qualms about telling jokes to a stranger, yet alone you. Life would be a series of tragedy if it isn't funny." She replied, philosophically.

"Yeah sure," I said, unenthusiastic. "So where is this cave that you mentioned?"

"Over there." She pointed at the waterfall. In particular, somewhere in the middle. But I see nothing.

"You mean there is some sort of secret cave there?" I asked as she nodded confirmingly.

"Yup. Follow me and I'll show you the way." She told me and flew right at where I pointed. Or so.

"Now where exactly is it?" She scratched her head a bit as I neared the waterfall. Being the first time getting close to it, the scenic was breathtaking. I could feel those droplets dripping into my white-hair. The coolness of each felt so good.

"Ah, there it is!" Yuuki dove toward…something like a branch or wooden stick that protruded unnaturally out of the waterfall. Then, she charged straight towards the waterfall and disappeared.

"So that is the cave entrance. Hmm. Nice concealment."

I remembered vividly where Yuuki came through that entrance, so I flew straight into that spot as well. I passed through the great wall of water and before me was the cave that Yuuki told me. My first great impression of this place was that it was wet, humid and narrow. It made sense because the cave's entrance was the falling water, and the water would leak through the entrance and into the cave itself, creating a mini river stream. And it was so claustrophobic that for a man of my size, I had to bend down a little bit. Yuuki was significantly shorter, so she had no problem fitting in.

Seeing I have gotten in, Yuuki led me through the cave, following that mini river stream, which went steeply down for about a few dozen meters. The rocky rough and wet surface made me cautious upon walking. Soon, the stream ended suddenly at a hole leading down to presumably an extended part of the cave.

"Here it is. Down here. It is a pretty long hole, and it's quite high from the other side, so be sure to fly once you jump out of that hole." Yuuki said before jumping into it. The hole was quite large so it fits. I made it through the hole, activating my imaginary back muscles, spreading out four green Sylph wings as it magically slowed down my descent. It was weird how I did not even need to flap my wings to fly. I mean, my wings moved all the time, but for some ridiculous reasons, I did not have to move that much to sustain flight. In terms of realism, I'm pretty sure it didn't work that way. But in video games, who cares.

The inside cave was significantly larger than I thought it was. It felt more like a sanctuary instead. There was a huge gem in the center of the cave, shedding gentle and elegant blue lights for navigation. Water pouring from the top formed into yet another mini stream, magically running around the glowing gem and ran toward a small pond. But strange, I did not feel there are any sort of danger here. Was there any creature at all?

"Alright, so we're here," I said, as Yuuki looked distantly at the pond. "What's the thing that you said we can farm on?"

I paid attention to the gem instead, thinking it to be some sort of rare non-aggressive monster that we can kill repeatedly for the money, but no, Yuuki pointed at the pond instead, saying.

"There, in that pond. There are lots of fishes down there. Rare ones! You won't find them anywhere in Alfheim!"

I looked at the pond. "Really? That pond looked shallow I didn't think there would be any creatures down there."

"Na-ah. There's lots of creatures in fact. Lots of aggressive ones as well. The most notable being the Northern Piranhas, which could had a pretty solid selling price, despite the meat being utterly terrible, and a decent reward for each kills. And there's the Utmist Swordfish. Beautifully tasty, and can be used to craft swords."

"Hmm. Neat…"

Wait…

You don't say…

"Hold on, so you are suggesting that we are going to go fishing?"

"Yup!" She gave me a big grin.

Well…She did say that I need a lot of patience today. But out of all the possible scenario I imagined, this was not it.

"I don't have a fishing rod though," I said, to which Yuuki grinned again.

"Use your arm. Those piranhas love human flesh."

"I don't go here without medical insurance. So hand me your potions and I might, just might do that"

I started joking back to Yuuki, who laughed earnestly.

"I seriously can't counter that from you. Here." She said, opening her menu and dropped me a fishing rod. "It's my friend's, Siune, rod. I asked her permission yesterday, and she let me borrow it assuming that I return it to her unscathed."

I picked up the rod from her, thus assuming such responsibility.

"If you break it, I'll make you pay two times that rod," Yuuki stated as she gave me some baits as well. They were fresh raw meats and similar stuff.

"I'll remember, thanks."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Things went downhill for me a little quickly.

I was bored. By patience, I did think that I would have to spend long hours trying to slay weaker monsters, but it turned out to be just sitting there, wait for the fish to be extracted out of the water and kill it. It wasn't as common as I thought, but it was quite frequent. Still, it was not a task that I loved doing. I was not used to the life of an introvert. I was more of a fun-loving person, who wished only to do things that excited me or passionated me, so things like this quickly drained me of energies.

"So, Yuuki," I said, sitting right beside Yuuki, my rod resting on my thigh. "How do you figure this place out anyway? It is quite difficult to find that entrance under that heavy water curtain."

"Well…" Yuuki placed her hands on the back of her head as she leaned back against the rock. "I found this totally by accident. It was when my guild mates and I were testing our magic system. It was very early on in the game. One of my guild mate was knocked away into the waterfall. And coincidentally, he fell right where the cave was. And…"

"The rest is history?" I said. She nodded.

"Mhm. After our discovery, we decided to keep the information a secret to everyone. If they know, they're gonna flood this place." Yuuki continued, to which I gave a light smile.

"The tragedy of the commons…" I muttered.

"I'm sorry? What do you mean?" Yuuki asked, her head tilted a bit.

"Ah, it is an old economic problem." I explained. "It's basically the concept that a person would act for their own self-interests instead of for the common good. For example, the players here. If they know such a juicy place to farm their credits, they would flood this place. And once this place is flooded, other people would be afraid that they would not gain enough credits before all the fishes ran out, so they would push on and kill more fishes…"

"And in the end, everyone will depletes the area." Yuuki ended.

"Exactly," I said. "Well, I know that the game environment would naturally spawn the fishes back, but you get the point."

"Haha, I know. Well, it may have been my selfish desire from the very beginning anyway. I just didn't want this place to be filled with too many players."

I looked at the purple-haired girl, curiously. When she said that, her voice seemed to lower and distant. The cheerfulness was still there, but it did not feel like the time she tricked me into eating that cake. It was…something else.

"But you told me, didn't you?" I said.

"M-hm…" Yuuki nodded awkwardly. A blush came across her face. "I-I mean, you're fine, right?"

"I'm just an average guy though."

"No, I don't think so." She said as she looked at me deeply in the eyes. "You're more than an average guy."

"How so?" I asked, genuinely curious. I didn't have much individuality. At least not what I have shown in front of her.

"You're…dependable…I think."

That left me in an even more confused state. Me? Dependable? I was relying on you the whole time.

"In a way, I just have the intuitive feeling that having you side by side, I wouldn't have to worry about being stabbed in the back with a blade."

"So I'm trustful, you say?" I corrected her.

"Hmm. I would still say dependable since unlike some teammates, you are actually capable. You aren't as strong as I do, as I observe, but you are at least able to help me in certain situations, like the time I got stuck with those zombie's hands."

She smiled as she finished. "So right at that moment when you saved me from those zombies, I had already had my intention. To see you not as a temporary ally, but a friend. I want to be friends with you."

A friend, huh?

I exhaled heavily but not noticeably.

Friends…How was it such a familiar thing?

"Amazing Hemera-kun! That gambit's complicated yet so effective. Do you mind if you and I play some more games? I wanna study those chess tactics you have."

Oh yeah…

"Hey, Ama-chan. We have to discuss the plans for our cultural festival."

"Oh crap, I almost forgot about it."

"That's fine that's fine! Let's go to the cafeteria for comfort. I'll buy you some lunch."

I had been there.

"Kohiruimaki-san."

I had once been so.

"Let's go enjoy the party!"

I raised one of my knees, resting my arms on it.

I had once been in Yuuki's position: actively making friends, socializing and enjoying the company of others. I found great energy while being around others. I really do. That was probably the reason why I did manage to enjoy the day with Yuuki yesterday, despite my consciousness didn't really say so. And yet…

"Mhm. I guess I am."

After that day, everything I once knew and loved was thrown away by my own hands, replaced by not just a shadow persona that I never would have imagine myself becoming, but a persona that had stuck on for over a year. And to be honest, I am still scared. I am scared of dying. Of my loved one who will be left with sadness that I am gone. Of the disease. Of the feeling that my emotions would get confined in my deteriorating body, with no way that those I loved could know what it is. Being a human, what's the point of living if you cannot express your love, your joy, your anger at someone else?

"You are quite a company yourself." I smiled.

But in the end, I guess I still loved being with others. My former self was still tapping me on my shoulder. Despite the pain of losing someone you love is still a huge deal to bear, I guess having connections like this would still be a good thing.

"Hehe." Only to be countered with an even bigger smile from this young Imp.

I hope so…

"Hey, your rod is twitching."

Yuuki said to me, as something was making a tremor down that pond. Another piranha?

I was thinking probably another small-sized fish had taken the bait when all of a sudden, the rod was violently pulled away right before my eyes. In a split second, from a sitting position, I jumped at the rod, grabbing onto it just in time before it got pulled underwater. But then the crisis was yet to come. The force pulling rod was so powerful that it was pulling me down as well.

"Oh no no no! Crap!"

The rock was slippery, so I was slowly sliding into the pond.

"Hirano-san!"

All of a sudden, a pair of arm suddenly grabbed around my waist. Quickly, the slide decelerated. Then something touched my back. Something soft was pressed onto my armor.

My body jerked to know that. Despite not knowing what exactly was going on, my cheeks went hot. I tried to put that aside for now. I had to save myself out of this mess. What sort of fish is this?!

I was already in a standing position, thanks to Yuuki stabilizing me. I looked around my feet, searching for a dry and strong enough spot to plant my foot on, so that I did not slip and fell on my ass. All the while, I gripped my rod even tighter, and Yuuki's grip on me also tightened. Gradually, I managed to go from the position of being pulled to actually pulling this fish, or whatever creature was down there.

"Hey, Yuuki-kun. I don't think you mentioned this on the tour!" I cried out jokingly as I looked back at the young girl.

"I don't know either. Maybe a bonus!" She cried back, as we both giggled while straining our legs and arms like a rubber band.

"Ok, ok. I saw it now. In one go!" I yelled again once I saw the top of the creature popping out of the water. Holy crap. That thing is huge. Judging from the size of it, it may have been larger than both of us combined.

"One, two…" Yuuki gave us the cue,

"GO!" And off we go: pulling as hard as we can. The monster that we were doing our best to catch turned out to be a five meters long lobster, with five pairs of legs, the first pair being a huge sharp saw-like claw. On the forehead were two long antennas, dangling around. This monstrosity of a creature had just been pulled out of their lair forcefully. It's angry and dangerous.

Before me and Yuuki emerged: Amadan Homaridae. A long health bar also faded into the interface.

"Only one? This is gonna be easy." Yuuki chanted as she released me and unsheathed her newly obtained Obsidian Crusader. "Time to test this new blade."

"That claw's pretty deadly. We should avoid it. Cut off the other legs and he'll beg for our mercy." I said, releasing the rod, noticing how slim its legs are.

"Sounds like a plan." She gave me a thumbs-up as we both readied our weapons, raising it to our respective chest level.

"Go!" With a call, we both charged forward. Due to my incredibly high speed, I arrived there first. With my great momentum I built up, I slammed my blade horizontally into the second pair of legs. To my surprise, my blade only went halfway through the legs and got stuck in there. I tried to pull it out, but suddenly the lobster jerked its body violently, its claw moving around dangerously. I had to temporarily give up my saber and ducked. The claw swayed pass the position where my head was a second ago. Quickly, I ran to retrieve the blade, yanking it several times.

"The leg's stronger than I thought. I couldn't slice through his limbs!" I shouted out, dodging yet another jerk from the lobster.

"I can though!" Yuuki replied after slicing off cleanly the left leg of the lobster. "This blade is awesome!"

Seven hundred skill requirement for you.

"Ok, you take care of the limbs, I'll distract him!"

Without waiting for her response, I ran to the front of the lobster. Now waving and dancing in front of it wouldn't work, so I should attack it directly. Those two antennas looked like a juicy target.

With a slam of the claw, the lobster noticed my presence. I effectively dodged its slam and, before it could react, climbed onto one of the claw itself. From there I ran up to his head and slashed off one of its antennas. The lobster stood up furiously, throwing me slightly off-balance, seemingly very hurt from that attack. Though that did little to affect its HP, it appeared to be some sort of trigger that negatively affect this thing.

I could not reach to the other antenna since the lobster's skin was slippery and steep, I instead slid down the torso, landing right behind it. Yuuki had just finished cutting away half its walking limbs.

"It works! Great job Hirano-san!" She exclaimed.

"Keep it up!" I replied and sped back to the front. The pattern was pretty clear. The lobster would jerk when it did not see the enemy. It would slam or try to pinch its claws when it detects a hostile entity. I basically avoided all the pinch movements and waited for its slam. Once it did, I simply repeated the action: climbing up its claw to the head and sliced off the antenna. This would be its last one. And then I simply slid down the torso once the lobster stood up, though this time he could barely stand.

"Alright. Help me slice the other two on the other side!" Yuuki shouted as she ran to the said direction. The battle was pretty much over by this point. Yuuki had already amputated all of the legs on one side, leaving this lobster unable to stand properly, let alone move.

For the next couple of minutes, we simply sever the remaining legs and then casually hit off his vulnerable body. The end was only a matter of time. Whilst Yuuki, again, did most of the damage, I was the one who got the reward from it, due to being the person to drain the last ounce of HP from him. Or basically I got the last-hit reward, which is pretty unfair. Seriously. The person who did ninety-nine percent of the work got nothing while the lazy dude who did nothing and sit back to get carried got the reward. That's a bad game design there. I am pretty sure that it had happened before. But here, it was fine, due to the fact that we were friends. And we would definitely gonna split that reward or find a way to deal with it.

"Whoo. Now, what do we have here?" I looked the item menu. Due to this being more like a mini-boss, there weren't any congratulatory messages like the last one. The item obtained would be sent directly to the item menu.

"Hmm…" Yuuki peeked at me from the side curiously.

Amadan Homaridae's Meat (x30)

Description: The king of all seafood. Tastes like a lobster: fatty, sweet and crunchy at the same time.

Tastes like a lobster…It's a lobster monster for fuck's sake…

With a click of a button, the meat materialized in front of me. Since the thing was five meters in length, the meat was not the whole lobster, like how I usually buy from the supermarket, but rather many many parts of the lobster being chopped into pieces. Each was as large as a real life lobster itself. Just taking one out and I could already smell the deliciousness in it already. I had cooked lobster before. I knew how good it was through the looks of it. The toughness of the meat, the juice within. Hell, it was worth drooling over it.

"Whooaaa…"

And someone apparently did. Not literally though.

"Looks like we hit a jackpot today!"

Well we did. I can say pretty much for sure that these worth a hefty amount of Yrds here. Or a hefty number of stomach.

"We have thirty of them. What do you wanna do with it?" I turned around and asked.

"It's worth selling, but it looks too delicious to be sold." She replied. I am not surprised.

"I agree. However, it would take us probably fifteen meals to finish all of them off. And according to what I know, this kind of things have an expiration date."

This is not what I wanted for realism RECT.

"Hmm…" Yuuki pondered for a while. "Ah. How about we hold a party?"

"With who? Your guild mates?" I asked

"Yup. The Sleeping Knights is our name. We have six members at the moment, including me, but some of the guys have a huge appetite, so we'll quickly deal with all of these." She replied, beaming cheerfully. "Also, this may be a good opportunity to introduce you to my friends. Hirano-san, do you have a guild at the moment?"

"Not really. No."

"Then would you like to join us? The Sleeping Knights?"

The proposal wasn't entirely unexpected, but it did give me a hard think. I was fine with being friends with this young girl, but her whole clan too? I was a little unprepared for such a thing. Should I go for it?

'You do realize this is the life you have chosen for yourself, don't you? Why are you turning back on it now?'

Yeah. But my old self was tapping me again on the shoulder. He was encouraging me to do that. For that small little connection that I desired for myself. For my life energy that I had left.

"Well, yeah. It seems kind of fun."

I did choose that life. But I could change it to however I like it. To however I need it.

"Great! There will be tons of fun ahead of us. And I'm glad you'll be joining us as well!" Yuuki excitedly stated, as she opened her menu and sent me a guild invite. I pressed accept invitation, and suddenly my menu had another addition: the guild bar. So I just joined a clan? Well, that was quick. Mentally quick.

The confirmation was transferred back to Yuuki, who gave perhaps one of the most beautiful and energetic smiles I had ever seen as she extended her hand for a shake.

"Hehe. You're one of us now. On behalf of Sleeping Knights, I warmly welcome you into the guild."

"Thanks," I said, a little awkward with the formality, but still returned the shake nonetheless. "So when do you want to host this party?"

"When the iron is still hot. This evening." She replied, still holding my hand.

"Hold on! You mean right now?"

"Yup! I have already messaged the others! Now come on, let's get out of here!"

"Wah!"

Just as she finished that, her purple Imp wings suddenly grew from her back. All of a sudden, she lifted me up into the air, flying away from the pond, back over to the glowing gem towards the hole we came on in hours ago.

And so I had become a guild member. Of a guild that looked very much like a normal friends gather-up place to a stranger like me. I didn't know at first, but eventually it all naturally reveal: the lives of these guildmates and mine.

There is a small but interesting detail in terms of Hirano's background that I have put in the chapter. I hope you can spot it.