F(r)iends.

It took a couple minutes before people began to move from their positions. As the first people began to move, the others soon followed and within moments, the entire gathering of people began talking among themselves. The collective talking slowly escalated into shouting as more and more people began to shout over other people's conversations.

"LAURA!!"

Laura and I turn our heads towards the shout on our left. Pushing through the crowd is a group of 3 girls one of whom I recognize. Seeing the girl's approach, Laura's reserved attitude does a complete 180 and she rushes up to them and throws herself on them.

"Hey, you are all here as well? I'm happy to see all my friends again!!" says Laura with a big smile.

"I'm glad I get to see you as well. When we were brought here, I tried finding you but then all of that happened and I couldn't try to find you. That's why I told you that being too smart was bad for you. If you weren't in the enriched class, then you would have been with us and we could have hugged away our fears," said a short girl with red hair and while hugging Laura with a gentle smile on her face.

"I was fine Rufina. Although I was scared at first, I had someone help me with keeping calm, so I ended up not worried at all." [Laura]

"And was the person you mentioned that boy behind you?" said Rufina.

Rufina looks back and forth between Laura and I before giving us both a sadistic smile.

Uh oh, she's going to say something bad…

"Oh? Laura, you work awfully fast. I thought I told you not to get a boyfriend before me, yet you went and picked up a nice looking one didn't you. Using that crazy situation in your advantage is playing nasty. I bet you played damsel in distress and hopped into his arms screaming "oh please save me Sir," which ended up stirring up his protective desires and with him falling in love with you in the heat of the moment." [Rufina]

"Tsk tsk tsk, you should know relationships that are built on that don't last long. An amateur mistake my dear friend. This one won't count even if…" [Rufina]

The other two begin to laugh hysterically as Rufina's teasing makes Laura's face more and more red. Having enough of the teasing, Laura shouts at Rufina with her face flushed from embarrassment.

"RUFINA! we are not like that at all. If you continue harassing me, I'll never give you hugs ever again!" [Laura]

How is that a deterrent!?!? Usually its "I'll never talk to you again!!!" or something like that right?

While thinking that, I look over at Rufina who looks as if she's lost all life. Her eyes, devoid of the energy they held earlier, are now unmoving. Grabbing Laura, she says,

"Laura, I'm sorry! I just couldn't help it when I saw you with backpack guy over there. Please don't take away my hugging privileges. Please, anything but that." [Rufina]

Sobbing into Laura's arms, Rufina continues pleading with Laura.

That Deterrent works?!?! I guess I should probably introduce myself, so no one gets their hugging privileges revoked if it is that much of a big deal.

I walk towards Laura's group of friends and introduce myself.

"Hello, my name is Shine Okamoto, not "backpack boy". I'm in the same class as Miss Silva. I should mention that we are not in a relationship whatsoever. We only helped each other when we got summoned here. It's a pleasure to meet you three." [Shin]

"Oh? Didn't I meet you somewhere? Oh, I saw you before my class started right?" [Unknown]

" Sir Shin, you have already met her?' [Laura]

" Yes, we've met briefly. I believe it was when she assaulted me and ran off to class." [Shin]

As I finish my little joke, an intimidating red aura begins rolling through the crowd. I turn towards Laura and her smile she had earlier has disappeared completely. Replacing it is a fake smile hiding an angry expression. Even I take a step back from the intensity of her expression. It reminds me of a cross between Ms. Garcia and an angry form of the Giant God.

Before I can tell Laura that it was a joke, she slowly approaches her friend while keeping her demonic expression.

"Hmm… could you please give me an explanation for that? What did he mean assaulted, Sandra?" [Laura]

"N-no. I never assaulted him I swear! He's lying." [Sandra]

I know that I'm fanning the flames, but let's consider this payback for teasing Laura.

"Am I lying when I say that you almost broke my nose and then rushed off?" [Shin]

"Well, that is true but…" [Sandra]

"Hmm… but what? Did you not just admit to assaulting Sir Shin? Now, now, I wonder what I should do about this..." [Laura]

I think I better clear this up before Laura gets a little too into it.

"Miss Silva, it wasn't as serious as I made it out to be. I was careless when opening the gym door and got hit by accident. I was just trying to tease her a bit so please let her off this time." [Shin]

"Okay, if you say it wasn't a big deal then it probably wasn't." [Laura]

As quickly as the dangerous aura appeared, it disappears at the same pace when I finish my explanation. Laura's smile also returns to her more natural one.

As Laura calms down, Sandra and the other two breathe a sigh of relief and seem to release all of the tension in their body as they collapse onto the ground.

"haah, Laura, you've changed. You were never this scary before." [Sandra]

"She probably got defensive because her boyfr…" [Rufina]

A look from Laura quickly convinces her to not finish her sentence.

I should probably change the topic.

"Miss Silva, you still haven't introduced all of your friends. I know the names of Miss Sandra and Miss Rufina, yet I do not know the name of your remaining friend. What would your name be Miss?" [Shin]

"Umm… My name is Linda." [Linda]

"I see, well nice to meet you, Miss Linda." [Shin]

"Sorry, she doesn't talk much and is quite shy around people she doesn't know." [Rufina]

"no..fa..." [Laura]

"Did you say something Miss Silva?" [Shin]

"I Said it's no fair! Why do you use their first names but use my last name? I've known you longer." [Laura]

Oh, that's true, I still do call her by her last name don't I.

"The reason I don't use their surnames is because I wasn't informed of their last names. And I'm sorry Miss Laura, I didn't realize that you preferred your first name." [Shin]

"One more time." [Laura]

"I'm sorry, what do you mean?" [Shin]

" Say my name one more time." [Laura]

"Miss Laura?" [Shin]

"Thank you, Sir Shin." [Laura]

"Umm… sure?" [Shin]

Laura's face has a slight pink tinge to it after I say her name. An Awkward silence passes over our group after that exchange. With no one knowing what to say next, we idly stand by waiting for someone to say something to clear the air. As if answering our prayers, a disturbance can be seen in the crowd ahead of us as students are pushed aside. As soon as the group gets within our sight, their eyes lock onto our gathering of people and they immediately walk towards us. Sensing the emotions in their gaze, the students between us and the group quickly get out of the way.

Hmm… This looks like trouble. I don't know what they want but by looking at their body language they don't seem to be here for a peaceful discussion.

As they get nearer, I slowly step in-between Laura and the approaching group while getting into a "ready stance" and subtly stretch and loosen my arms and legs. When the group reaches us, I can recognize what I believe is their leader. The group of boys, about 12 in number, surround us as if to limit our options of escape.

Looking at their stance, I can tell that they're not experienced in fights. Let's see where this goes before getting violent. Especially since I don't know what kind of skills they have.

After Emmaline left my soul, I spent some time and got to inspect some of my skills.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any test subjects to experiment with. I guess I'll try to see how effective that skill is. Finding out that chanting the name of the skill internally activated it without having to say it aloud really is useful in times like these.

Saying "Delusion" internally, I look at the boys surrounding us to see if I can really "See what I want to See."

Considering that this is a Lv. 1 skill, this information is pretty damn good.

Using my Skill at its current level, it looks like I can see peoples most dangerous Title. From the group of boys around me, their most dangerous Titles are:

- 1 Gladiator

- 2 Tanks

- 2 Elemental Mages

- 1 Sorcerer

- 1 Healer

- 2 Priests

- 2 Rangers

- 1 Star Paladin

I don't know if I can win this fight without relying on my real Titles and not the ones that I showed Laura. Depending on the situation, I might have to play passive. I should probably ask what they want though, on the off chance that they might not want anything with us.

Before I can ask them what their purpose is, Sandra steps forward and asks for me.

"Do you have some business with us? Why are you all approaching us with those kinds of looks?" [Sandra]

"Yeah, we do. We are here to correct your behaviour." [Grunt #1]

"You should know what you've done. You will pay for your transgressions against the Goddess." [Grunt #2]

"Yeah, I won't be paying for anything, so I guess I'll pass on that." [Sandra]

"Whether you except it or not, you will be punished." [Grunt#3]

"ENOUGH!" screams the man facing us.

"We came here to warn them, not spill blood at this time. The Grand Goddess wishes for us to succeed so we must not spoil her plans. However, I declare that she be ousted from our group and banned from joining our faction." [Leader]

What is going on? We've been here for maybe half an hour and there are already religious zealots and class factions?

"Sounds great to me, although I would love to kick your ass Parker, right here and now, I guess I should let you go." [Sandra]

You think that you could take me and my fellow Stars on in a fight is laughable in and of itself. You face greater numbers, and we should all be at the same familiarity with our Titles and skills. The math is pretty simple, or are you unable to compute numbers?" [Parker]

"Oh, I know about your numbers, I'm just saying that quality is greater than quantity. If you want to fight us, you will be fighting one with a Hero Title and another with the ArchMage title. Still want to fight?" [Sandra]

"Hero you say. That is indeed troublesome. Unfortunately, this fight is postponed. We cannot afford to kill a Hero and ruin the Grand Goddess's plans. We will be taking our leave. Praise the goddess for allowing you to obtain a title that prolongs your life. As for your prior threat, I am a Star Paladin with an arsenal of skills which would kill you without much effort." [Parker]

"We could still find out if you want, I wouldn't mind you being my first test subject to experiment on." [Sandra]

"Provoking me with those empty threats will not work. As a servant of the Grand Goddess, I am simply informing you to make sure you respect the Grand Goddess at all times. Then let us leave this conversation here. Now. Let us see what the Goddess has gifted us with in the Fortress. [Parker]

With that being said, Parker snaps his fingers and the group surrounding us turn around and follow him in the direction of the fort. Of course, not before giving us dirty looks and a spitting at our feet.

"What a nice guy that was." [Shin]

"He's an ass, always has been. Although he's been more and more unbearable since we've been transported here." [Sandra]

Did you know him before we got summoned Miss Sandra?" [Shin]

"We have history, let's keep it at that. Look, people are starting to head towards the Fortress. We might as well head on over as well." [Sandra]

Without giving anyone time to ask a question, Sandra begins following the crowd.

"Come one, lets go." [Sandra]

I guess she has things that she doesn't want to talk about. I might as well let her keep her secrets.

"Should we go as well, Miss Laura, ladies?" [Shin]

"Of course, Sir Shin, I'll follow behind you" [Laura]

"Yep" [Rufina]

*Nod* [Linda]

"Alright then, let us go see what is inside that fortress." [Shin]