21 Mii's Friends
A party approaches...
-Remain silent - 9
**-Ask their purpose - 28
-Leave and run away - 4
-Log out - 3
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AN: BTW, if 'Remain silent was chosen, I would have done a whole chapter with nothing but "..."s and then choose again XD But since it's not, let's move on.
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Feeling uncomfortable with the silence, Lucas asked.
"What do you want?"
"..."
However, despite asking, the swordswoman still continued to remain silent. Only staring at his face quietly.
Azrael coughed to get rid of the awkwardness and introduced themselves.
"A-ahem. Hi, I'm Azrael, leader of this party. This is Sword, Zest, and Layla. Sorry about her...Sword doesn't speak much. We just happened to see your fight with that horned bear and she might've been impressed so she came to you. Honestly, that was an awesome fight!"
"...I see. Thanks."
Lucas nodded simply, still confused with the current turn of events.
Why does he keep running to weird parties like that Kirito guy?
Although this one seems a bit...acceptable, they are still weird.
Suddenly, Zest walked around him while looking up and down.
"What's up with your equipment though? It seems too low level."
Lucas froze.
Is he supposed to say that he just doesn't have enough money to buy proper equipment?
...
"...I'm still grinding."
Grinding for gold coins...but that doesn't need to be said. They're just strangers anyway. No need to explain so much to them.
Zest and Azrael nodded in understanding.
"I see! In order to hone your skills, you purposely equipped low-level equipment and weapon! How amazing!"
Lucas was speechless.
Eh? No no no. I'm equipping low-level equipment because I'm poor.
...Forget it.
Lucas shook his head and started to disassemble the loots of the Vambrace Horned Bear.
Zest saw his actions and was even more impressed.
"Wow, such crude and fast dismantling! You must be quite rich if you think of this material as nothing huh? I get you, back then, I used to do the same on low-leveled mobs since I can't be bothered to dismantle them so perfectly all the time."
"..."
Well sorry for my crude way of dismantling!
Lucas didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Anyway, he just remained silent as he couldn't care less whether they misunderstood him or not.
Azrael then asked.
"Are you in a guild yet? Wanna join ours? It's quite popular you know!"
"Ah, sorry. I'm not interested in joining a guild for the moment."
Actually, Lucas was thinking that if he were to join a guild, it would be better to join an acquaintance's guild instead. For example, Mica.
So he wasn't interested in joining any other guilds with people he doesn't know.
Besides, it was better if he joins Mica since she's aware of his circumstances.
Joining other guilds will just be unnecessary trouble for him.
"I-I see...then how about you join our party?
"No thanks. I prefer to hunt on my own."
Lucas shook his head.
Anyway, he had already declined that Kirito group twice already, Lucas no longer cared about joining a party.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, an arm suddenly grabbed his clothes.
Looking back, it was that swordswoman Sword.
"Party."
"Huh?"
"Party."
"No, like I said, I don't wa-"
"Party."
"..."
Uwaah, this woman is being unreasonable!
Lucas sighed.
"Alright, let go of me."
Sword smiled slightly and let go.
However, her smile disappeared after hearing what Lucas said next.
"Log out."
"..."
Seeing Lucas disappear in a ball of light, everyone stared at the space where he once stood dumbfoundedly.
"He...did he just...log out? Just like that!?"
Zest was shocked!
Was he so against the idea of a party that he logged out directly!?
Azrael was also a bit confused.
"T-that seems to be the case..."
After a while, he sighed and shook his head.
Turning to the depressed Sword, he said.
"Alright, he doesn't seem to like joining other people. It was your fault for being too insistent about it too. Since you were being unreasonable, he also became unreasonable."
However, Sword didn't say anything to reply back to him.
Instead...
"...Log out."
"..."
Azrael and Zest looked at each other in silence.
Suddenly, there was another voice behind them.
"Log out..."
"Eh? Layla wai-"
Alas, it was already too late. Layla had also logged out.
In fact, she didn't know why she did that. But she wasn't in the mood to play right now. Since Sword already logged out, she also just logged out as well.
After logging out, the scene of Lucas fighting that horned bear with his fists still lingered in the minds of the two women...
Meanwhile, Lucas left his apartment to buy some dinner.
Lucas stayed away from the fancy restaurants as he didn't want to repeat what happened before. Instead, he went to a nearby fastfood chain and simply ordered there.
He got his food and looked for a place to sit.
The fastfood chain he was in was quite popular and had two floors. Since the first floor seemed full, he held his tray and walked to the second floor.
Just as he was looking around for a free sit, he saw a familiar figure.
It was Mica. However, she wasn't alone as there seem to be several women with her as well.
When he saw her, she also saw him so she waved at him.
"Lucas! Here!"
"Mii? What's up?"
"Come, sit here with us."
Mica smiled while patting the empty chair beside her.
"But..."
"It's fine. This is our last day here. We'll all be leaving for Japan tomorrow since our business here has come to an end."
"I see."
Lucas nodded and sat beside her.
Just as he sat down, the red-haired beauty sitting across from him suddenly leaned on the table, looking at him closer.
"Mii darling~ who is this? Your man? How could you! I thought we were girlfriends!?"
Mica rolled her eyes and explained.
"He's a friend from childhood, stop fooling around Shiya."
"I don't believe you. He's definitely your boyfriend! I can't believe you now know how to hide boyfriends from us! Didn't we all pledge that we will all remain single forever!?"
"Right right! You should learn to share with the group!"
"Share your boyfriend with us!"
Lucas was speechless.
What is this? A package deal?
Date one get three more?
Lucas quickly shook his head.
What date, he's not even dating Mica...
However, it was a rare opportunity to make fun of Mica. The last time he fooled around with her was when they were kids and Lucas being a slightly naughty boy would often bully the little Mica back then.
Of course, his bullying was never excessive and he would always apologize after back then.
Lucas looked at Mica and said.
"I didn't know you came with a package. Should I reread our terms of agreement? Are you still hiding more girls for me?"
Mica was surprised at first but she smiled when she remembered their shenanigans back in the day.
"That's right, there's still my little sister back home included in the package."
"...You have a little sister now?"
"I have a cousin too if you want."
"How about a single aunt?"
"That will be an additional 100 USD."
"Deal!"
"..."
"..."
Soon after, the two of them broke into laughters while the other three girls were confused.
How come the Mica that they knew seemed to be...completely different from this person in front of them? Is she a clone? Maybe a secret twin!
Shiya looked at the two of them and asked.
"...Are you two really a couple?"
Lucas smiled and shook his head.
"No. Like she said, we're just childhood friends. My name's Lucas by the way."
"Shiya."
"Miya."
"Suya."
Lucas turned to Mica.
"How come you're name is so different from them? Look, they all have -ya at the end, only you are different. Ah, I get it. You're like the ugly duckling in the stories. The one difference from the pack."
"Who're you calling an ugly duckling! Also, take off that facemask of yours already. You look like a chuunibyou with that white hair and mask."
Lucas made a clutching action on his chest.
"It can't be helped. The dragon inside me is rampaging..."
"Ew, stop being so cringe."
"..."
Lucas paused.
...Alright, it does sound very cringy.
...But on the other hand, he really has that Dragon's Wrath skill that's causing him to lose control at times so...eh? Does this still make him a chuunibyou?
Mica rolled her eyes again.
"Alright, just take off your mask."
"But..."
"Actually, they have all been briefed about the WGO situation. While Chloe and Trask are here, we'll be in charge of the Japan region. Since they are all girls I trust, I referred them and their skills have also been unlocked."
Lucas was surprised.
He turned to the other girls who were similarly surprised that Mica had revealed it to Lucas.
However, it seems that Lucas is already aware of the situation.
Back then, they were completely shocked about it and it took some time for them to recover. It helped that Mica was the one to explain to them as they all trusted her.
Lucas looked around and saw there are a lot of people around them. Some also paying attention to their table since there are four beauties there.
"This isn't the place to talk about that. Anyway, if you trust them, then that's good. But I don't think it should be this lax regarding who's skills to unlock..."
Mica nodded.
"I agree as well. However, since this is a new division, we are still only relying on referrals from current members to expand a bit. But moving forward, there's going to be a systemized way of filtering and recruiting. I know you want to stay away from this Lucas, but you can only run from your destiny for so long."
Mica spoke in a serious voice while munching on some fries.
Lucas looked down and frowned.
"Hey, that's my fries!"
"What's yours is mine. Stop being so fussy about it. Don't forget you still have my eraser from kindergarten. You borrowed it but never returned it!"
"Who cares about your eraser! That's not food!"
"Anyway, you should find some time to talk with Chloe and them."
"Now you're eating my burger!"
"I know right?"
"..."
Lucas sighed.
"Fine, fine. I'll go look for them...someday."
"Good! Also, my offer from before still stands. You can join my guild anytime."
Lucas nodded while casually taking her sandwich.
As for the other girls, they were all looking at each other in confusion.
So are they really dating or not???
Lucas took off his mask since the other girls are already aware of the situation in WGO.
When he opened his mouth, they saw a pair of canine fangs and were surprised.
"Huh? Your teeth..."
"Yeah, this was why I was wearing the mask...it was a good thing my character didn't have wolf ears or tail though."
"But...how? I mean, don't we only regain the skills?"
"That's the case for you guys. Well, it's a long story and this isn't the place to talk about it."
As they ate, the girls began to become more and more curious about Lucas.
Lucas also got to know them as well.
Shiya, the red-haired beauty, acts a bit tomboyish and is the liveliest one in their group.
Miya has short black hair and wore glasses. The classic glasses beauty. Mica said that she used to be their class representative back when they were in high school. She certainly does look the type.
Although serious, she still knows to be playful at times.
Then there's Suya who had long black hair tied to a bun behind her head. She's a huge fan of animes, mangas, and light novels. In fact, she also writes novels part-time and draws short mangas at times.
Out of all of them, she was the one who was the most excited when she heard about the situation with WGO before. She practically cried in happiness...
After eating, Shiya suddenly asked.
"Right, Lucas. How about you join us?"
"Hm? Where to?"
"We're gonna go clubbing next! It would be nice if we have a strong handsome man with us to protect us!"
Shiya said while hugging onto his arm.
Mica glared at her for doing that but didn't say anything.
"Don't you guys still have a flight tomorrow?"
"Our flight is in the afternoon. This is our last day so I wanna let loose!"
By letting loose...you mean getting drunk and scoring a hot guy to sleep with tonight?
Lucas had never been into clubs before and only know them from movies and such so he has likened it to a hunting ground for people who want to have a one-night stand.
Although not exactly wrong, most people clubbing are just people who wanna have fun and forget their worries for a bit.
Miya then spoke.
"We're just drinking for a bit. Shiya probably wants to party more but don't worry, she still knows how to hold back. We're still not too used to using our skills in real life so it would be reassuring to have you with us."
Lucas nodded.
He didn't really have a problem with it. Plus, he would be lying if he said that he wasn't interested in going.
"Alright. I'll come with."
"Good! Want to follow us back to our hotel? We need to get changed first."
Shiya asked.
Lucas looked at his own attire which was only a simple black hoodie and pants.
He doesn't really know if this was the proper attire to wear in a club.
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https://straw poll.com/eku8kk782
-Follow the girls to their hotel
-Return home to get changed
-Refuse and just wait at a meeting place
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Discord link that I keep forgetting to put: https://dis cord.gg/qCekbFf
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AN: Sorry for the delay, I was busy playing Marvel's Avengers game and also rewatching Agents of SHIELD. So we all know what that means...!
I means...
I...
Will finally stop writing!
...
...Okay, actually I'm just preparing to write a Marvel fanfic XD. I already have one but I'm thinking of rewriting it. If you're interested to look at it now, here is the link to my drive: Ultimate Marvel System (link in scribblehub)
I might not rewrite it, or I might rewrite it to remove the timeskip, or I might just write a completely different one.
Anyway, that's all. The poll for this chap is short since I wanna move on. I was gonna do the poll for whether to join or not but...well, I figured that it's gonna go on Yes anyway so might as well just do it like this.
Also, another poll. Purely to see your opinion but not how the story might go to.
Harem, or no harem!?
-Harem!
-No Harem!
