Chapter 9

— Kakuei —

The brown-haired girl twiddled with her thumbs nervously. Even with her mechanical facemask, I could see her sported red blush and nervous sweat dripping down her forehead.

"I…I-I wanted to thank you!" She declared and bowed at a 90-degree angle, completely taking me off guard as I rushed to stop her.

"No need for that Momonga!" I quickly grabbed her shoulder, pulled her up, and froze once I did. Our faces were mere inches apart, and though our facemasks separated them, I could still feel her breath brush against me. Her eyes shaky as her face grew even redder.

Both of us quickly pulled away, with Momonga looking, turning around altogether to hide her face from my view.

"I-I mean it, though."

I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms over my chest. "I still don't know what I did to deserve such thanks."

"Everything." She said softly. "Ever since I met you, Touch Me, and Ulbert, my life has completely changed."

I scratched my cheek. "I don't know how meeting you could cause something like that. I mean, I guess I could understand if it changed negatively; we're pretty fucking annoying."

She giggled at that before facing me and shaking her head.

"Yeah, you guys were back then." She admitted, which earned a bark of laughter from me. There was the Momonga I had come to know. "But…" She looked down to the ground, a soft, genuine smile tugging at her lips. "You were my friends, and you still are."

"Always." I nodded with a smile of my own.

"It's more than that thought." She continued. "You're all more than that to me. After we met and formed a party, Yggdrasil became the light in my life. I went to work and struggled through each day to come online and play with all of you. Creating our clan and later our guild, diving into dungeons and grinding…It was all so much fun! Every day I play with you is always one of the greatest days of my life."

I was stunned by her words. Not necessarily by all she was saying, but the fact she was saying it. Everyone who played Yggdrasil, no matter who they were, wanted to escape from their cruel reality and play some games with their friends.

I was no different; everyone in the Guild subscribed to the same reasoning. But for Momonga to tell me all of this now…don't tell me-

"Momonga, you're not planning on leaving the guild, right?!" I asked, stepping closer to her.

"Oh, no!" She quickly waved her hands in front of her. "Never, I would never want to leave."

"Then why?" Why was she telling me all this if she didn't want to leave the Guild?

"Well…it's j-just." The brown-haired girl started twiddling her thumbs once again. "You've all made my life worth living…but you, Kakuei…You've made my life worth loving."

My eyes widened; the true meaning behind this talk just now filled my mind and slapped me in the face.

"...Momonga."

She looked away again. I could see the sweat dripping down her brow, and after several moments of silence, she gave herself a slight encouraging nod and took a step forward; now we were only a foot apart.

I looked down at her, and she struggled to make eye contact.

"I-I know we just met for the first time in p-person, but we've known each other for so long. For so long, y-you've helped, cared for, and defended me…"

"Momonga, I just did what any reasonable person should have done," I explained. More than anything, I was trying to give her an out. I cared about Momonga a lot, but I had offered her a place and protected her because of the kind of girl she was.

I didn't feel like I deserved her feelings.

But she shook her head. "That's the thing though… Nobody else tried as hard as you… for my sake."

She took another cautious step forward, and now we were inches away.

Momonga had feelings for me; more than that, she knew that I was just doing those things to do them, not for any specific reason.

I reached out to her, placing a hand on her shoulder as she looked up at me before pulling her into a hug. She stiffened in my embrace for a moment before relaxing, her hands on my chest as I held her tightly.

"I understand, Momonga."

I had to admit she was warm. I liked holding her like this, and even though we had just met for the first time, I had this feeling in my heart to take her lips. To claim her as mine.

If she was offering herself to me, shouldn't I take advantage of that?

I pulled away slightly and looked down at her.

"We should head inside, don't you think?"

Momonga paused at my question for a moment before nodding. A smile reached her eyes as we started heading back inside. She was noticeably closer to me before we entered and checked in, and I made sure to walk her to her room before we said a very awkward good night to one another.

I had built a friendship with Momonga over several years, and I had no intention of throwing it away just to get my dick wet.

No, we'd do this the right way.

We'd take it slow.

— The Next Day —

"Doing things outside sucks. Let's hop on Yggdrasil." Pero frowned as we walked down the street. It was everyone's last night here. HeroHero, Tabula, and a few others had work tomorrow, so we had to cut things short.

Which sucked, but it's a shit world, and life sucks.

"Then what would be the point of meeting up," Buku asked, kicking her brother in his shin.

"Argh! Damn it, Buku, you gotta admit, it's boring!"

"I'm having the time of my life!" Touch Me cheered, pumping a fist in the air. It was honestly hilarious to see he was just as optimistic in real life as he was in the game.

Touch Me and Ulbert had come to pick us up, wearing their mechanical face masks/air filters, and they planned to take us over to Touch Me's place for a while.

The walker was relatively dull. Not many people come outside, after all, with the world dying. Honestly, this entire atmosphere was a severe mood kill.

This world was proof of just how far Humanity can fall.

We made it to Touch Me's house and marveled at the sight.

"Dude, you have a fucking mansion?!"

"Inheritance on my wife's side." Touch Me laughed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

It was no secret to anyone that Touch Me was rich. What surprised them was that even though he was rich, he wasted his money on a mansion. Living in anything beyond an apartment was a foreign thought to most people. Hell, I had gone through high school and got a job as a construction overseer, which was way more than most others managed.

They'd be lucky to get through Elementary school.

My parents were good to me, probably because everything was easy, even if I squandered my potential and didn't get a college scholarship.

Touch Me unlocked the door to his house, and we entered the hall. "Make yourselves at home."

It wasn't overly extravagant by my past world's standards. It'd probably go for a million USD, but likely no more than that.

A house that costs that much is a high-deluxe mansion to the average person.

Upon entering the common room, we saw a black-haired woman and a younger black-haired girl sitting by a TV. A kid's show was on, but they ignored it as they turned to us.

"Ara, you're back already, Dear?" Touch Me's wife, Suzume, held her head in her hand, looking more than a little amused.

"Yeah, and I brought my friends." Touch Me grinned, walking over to his woman and sharing a chaste kiss.

"That's great, I'll get started on dinner."

"Another great meal?! Hell yeah!" Pero pumped his fist into the air.

"Language, please." Suzume chastised, walking toward the kitchen. Buku chastised her brother about being so crass around a kid as we took our seats.

"Your wife is beautiful, Touch Me." Nishikienrai smiled at the police officer...

Touch Me gave a proud nod as he crossed his arms. "My childhood friend, and later, the love of my life."

"She's a lucky woman," I teased/complimented. Touch Me was a handsome man, after all, but his wife was gorgeous. Plus, she's rich.

Seriously, the guy lucked out.

"Mama says Papa got lucky…" Touch Me's daughter, Sayuri, tilted her head, pondering which was correct.

"I think we both got lucky!" Touch Me grinned, sitting beside his daughter and pulling her onto his lap. He gave her a long kiss on the back of her head.

"Uwah! Papa!" She giggled, kicking her legs lightly. "That tickles!"

"Of course it does, my little detective." Touch Me smiled, this time more warmly. "You remember Ulbert and Kakuei, don't you?"

"Umu!" She nodded, looking towards the guild.

"Hi, Kakuei-nii, Ulbert-nii!"

"It's nice to see you again, Sayuri." I stroked my chin, giving her a wacky smile, which she giggled at.

"Well, let's introduce you to the rest of my friends!" Touch Me got up, carrying her along with him.

"Yay!"

— The Next Day —

"It's been real." I smiled, looking at the gathered group of members in the hotel. "This was a good first guild meet-up. Hopefully, more people will come to the next one!"

"Agreed!" Touch Me cheered before turning to everyone. "If you ever need anything, don't be afraid to stop by!"

""Thanks, Touch Me."" Everyone said and bowed. He had been incredibly accommodating the entire time; he was a rare person.

A kind one. There aren't many of those nowadays.

"Then, I'll see you all in Yggdrasil!" I grinned, and once again, the guild cheered before everyone started to disperse to their various methods of travel. Ulbert hopped in Touch Me's car, and Pero and Buku hopped in Buku's car. And pretty much everyone else made their way to the train station.

Momonga was the only one who stayed behind with me.

After all, I had a truck and offered her a ride back to her place.

Funnily enough, she didn't live that far from me. About an hour away, and more than that, she lived between me and Touch Me, so I wouldn't need to go out of my way to bring her back home.

"Ready to go, Momonga?" I questioned under my mechanical facemask.

"Mhm!" She nodded, walking close to me as we made our way over to my truck. We hopped in, and we were out of there in moments, heading to her place.

The car ride would take just about five hours to get to her house, then another hour to get to mine, so it'd be a long drive.

As I drove, Momonga and I mainly talked about Yggdrasil, the applications of guild strategies, and World Items.

There were a lot of World Items, and our guild had a good amount of them-

But we needed more.

If we wanted to take on all of Seraphim and Asgard, we needed to stock up. And with us at around the halfway mark in Yggdrasil's life, I knew we had to put in all the stops to live better in the New World.

This means I had to become what I feared most-

A p2w player (Pay to Win).

Momonga had crinkled her nose in disgust when I confessed to her what needed to be done, but even she had to admit that if it was for the good of the guild, it needed to be done.

Within the guild, Touch Me was the only true p2w player, but even he didn't actually buy that much shit. And most of his items were earned, not bought.

There were a bunch of limited-time items he bought for the guild, though, and with Yggdrasil reaching its climax soon, the devs would release many limited-time items to maximize earnings.

That's when I needed to capitalize-

Even if it would put me in a worse spot financially.

It was okay; I had enough money to survive.

Sometime during the ride, Momonga had fallen asleep, and I was left to drive in complete silence.

There was a lot on my mind, but nothing more than her.

Dating Momonga…Megumi was never part of my plan. Hell, I hadn't even considered it until just recently. And now we were basically in an unofficial relationship.

I didn't know what to make of it.

I looked at her sleeping form, my eyes split between her and the road. She looked so peaceful right now. And I would be a fool if I said she wasn't good-looking.

I let out a quiet but content sigh.

It seems there is more in store for my future than just Yggdrasil and the New World-

Now I have someone I can rely on, someone I can trust, someone I can love.