Yuji: “Eh? But… who holds the rank of leader now?”

Asura: “Me, but I name myself as a Vice Leader.”

Yuji: “Why?”

Asura: “No one can replace our one-and-only leader…”

Yuji: “Okay…”

Asura: “We used to be part of the frontline guilds… He sacrificed himself for me. After I assumed the leader role, we withdrew from the frontlines, we lost more than half of our members. We used to be one of the large guilds…”

Yuji: “Oh… okay…”

Asura: “I will never forget that day, we lost so many players… His last words…”

Yuji: “Didn’t know you guys went through so much…”

Asura: “We were too weak…”

Kotomi: “Don’t say that. This is why me and Yumiji is here, to pull you guys back up.”

Asura: “Thank you…”

Yuji: “Sorry for asking, didn’t know you guys went through so much.”

Asura: “It’s okay, you guys should know anyways.”

Yuji: “Okay, go rest up for the night.”

Asura: “Are we doing the same thing again tomorrow?”

Yuji: “We can rest tomorrow, you guys looked extremely exhausted.”

Asura: “No, we can still do it.”

Kotomi: “No rush… Since we are not doing frontline rushing anymore…”

Asura: “But…”

Yuji: “Rest up. You guys will go nowhere if you have inadequate rest.”

Asura: “Okay then…”

Yuji: “Both of us will leave for the day too, we need to do something.”

Asura: “Oh okay. A date?”

Kotomi: “N… No!” and blushes.

Asura: “Okay then…” and she smirks.

 

Me and Kotomi then entered our room.

Kotomi: “Where are we going tomorrow?”

Yuji: “A date.”

Kotomi: “Eh???”

Yuji: “Shhhh.”

Kotomi covers her mouth.

Yuji: “It’s been awhile since we had a proper date ever since this death game kicked off. Might as well we live the most out of the game.”

Kotomi: “Okay then… I assume you had it all planned out for tomorrow.”

Yuji: “Of course. Who do you think I am?”

Kotomi: “Someone I know?”

Yuji: “Okay.”

Kotomi winked: “Kidding.” and kisses Yuji in the cheek.

Yuji: “Okay, go to sleep, I will join you later.”

Kotomi: “Don’t stay up too late.” and I left our room.

I went to grab a cup of tea.

Katsu: “Eh? Still up?”

Yuji: “Yeah… I always need to grab a drink before I sleep. I drink quite a bit of alcohol in real life. Ever since I got stuck in this world, I drink tea as a replacement.”

Katsu: “Do you think your tea drinking habits will help you kick your alcohol habits in real life?”

Yuji: “Don’t think so, they taste so bland.”

Katsu: “It is a game…”

Yuji: “Yeah, can’t wait to go back to the real world to drink alcohol…”

Katsu: “That’s not healthy.”

Yuji: “But that’s how I escape from my problems…”

Katsu: “Does your wife know about this?”

Yuji: “No. We are dating long distance in real life.”

Katsu: “Eh? How long have the both of you dated?”

Yuji: “2 years.”

Katsu: “Ever met?”

Yuji: “Never, until this game started.”

Katsu: “You trust her so much?”

Yuji: “She’s the reason why I decide to fall in love again.”

Katsu: “Eh? Something happened in the past?”

Yuji: “Yeah, a lot of shit.”

Katsu: “Okay I see, not going to question it.”

Yuji: “Thanks… Now go rest, it’s getting late.”

Katsu: “Okay, good night.” and he walks up to the rooms. I finished my tea and went to bed.

 

I woke up the next morning and Kotomi isn’t next to me in bed. I exited the room and went downstairs.

Kotomi: “Good morning!”

Yuji: “Ah, good morning…”

Katsu: “Heard news that the frontlines just cleared the 40th floor.”

Yuji: “Already? They sure are fast…”

Katsu: “This guild… Knights of The Blood…”

Yuji: “Yeah?”

Katsu: “They are now the largest frontline guild. They control all the other frontline guilds too.”

Yuji: “That’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

Katsu: “But I think they will grow to a stage where 80% of the players are in the guild.”

Yuji: “Why are you worried?”

Katsu: “If they turn corrupt, it will have irreversible consequences.”

Yuji: “We’ll see what happens by then.”

Kotomi: “Ready to go?”

Yuji: “Yeah, let’s go.”

We left the guild building.

 

Kotomi: “Where are we going?”

Yuji: “Monument of Life. I want to see if anyone I know is in the game.”

Kotomi: “What if they are alive?”

Yuji: “Find them, have them to join the guild.”

Kotomi: “Then what if they are dead?”

Yuji: “Just going to say my prayers… Don’t worry, our date doesn’t just end there…”

Kotomi: “Okay…”

Yuji: “Let’s go.”

 

We then entered the Monument. I started searching for names.

Kotomi: “Found anyone?”

Yuji: “Found like…. 15names… and all of them are dead…”

Kotomi: “I’m sorry…”

Yuji: “What about you? Did you look for your friends?”

Kotomi: “I didn’t search.”

Yuji: “Go find their names.”

Kotomi: “I’m… scared.”

Yuji: “Don’t worry… I’m here.”

Kotomi: “Okay…” and she started searching. At the end of it, she found 5 friends and all of them are dead too. She broke down in front of the names. And both of us did our prayers.

 

Yuji: “Sorry for ruining the day for coming here. I was being very optimistic…”

Kotomi: “It’s okay, at least we know that they did play the game and did their part… Okay, change of topic! Where are we going next?”

Yuji: “Wanna do some quests? After that we end it with a dinner date.”

Kotomi: “Let’s not do quests for now. Let’s just relax at the 24th floor.”

Yuji: “Panareze? Why?”

Kotomi: “I like the scenery there, I just want to relax… Things have always been tense since we started playing this game.”

Yuji: “I think I have turned into a workaholic. I can’t sit still anymore…”

Kotomi: “Maybe a heart-to-heart talk too. I still have questions even though we date for 2 years.”

Yuji: “Okay then… Let’s go.”

 

We teleported to the 24th floor. We walked towards the lake.

Yuji: “This scenery…”

Kotomi: “I can never get over this place… It just feels… soothing.”

Yuji: “Yeah it does, I think all of the tension has got me working like crazy.”

Kotomi: “So the heart-to-heart talk… Why do you always like to drink tea at night? It’s a habit you picked up in real life and I am sure you definitely don’t drink tea at night in real life.”

Yuji: “I… I’m an alcoholic…”

Kotomi: “Eh?”

Yuji: “Life is a wreck for me… You don’t want to know…”

Kotomi: “Tell me… Tell me now!”