Light Within

To a new friendship~

"So, are you going to tell us about your new outfit or not?"

             Astral, Noir and Ritsu, surprisingly, have their snack time in the cafe."Shockingly, when you eat at this cafe, you will not gain any calories", stated Ritsu, when he is enjoying his first time eating cakes at the virtual cafe. Astral ignores Ritsu as she focused on Noir. Noir, still been playfully matchmaking between Astral and Ritsu, signature a heart sign to both of them. "Well, you tell me first. What happened back then to you lovely birds, when I'm dealing alone with the horrible monster?", teased Noir, with fake tears, but still smiling afterwards. Astral completely let out her tantrum when Noir is hesitantly bringing back the issue. "Nothing! We're just wandering around, just like you asked for", sulked Astral. Ritsu, doing 'zipping my mouth' gesture, indicating he does not want to involve between these two. Noir pats Astral's head softly when Astral is mopping and her head on the table. "Okay, okay~ I'm not going to ask again", convinced Noir. Astral slowly raises her head and smiles. 

             "So, Noir. About that equipment, are those loots from the boss?", asked Ritsu with his mouth fulls. Noir stands up from her booth and swirls around, to show her new outfit. "Well, do you like it? These beauties are Silky Coat, Aquae Rapier, Dancing Boots", Noir continued, "Though it looks more like a dancer's outfit to me, but hey, it worth it". Both Astral and Ritsu looks amazed, but Ritsu is more. He never thinks that he will meet with two people who already own a unique series of equipment. He always thought that only the high-levels players have higher chances to get these items, rather than new players. He wants to ask more, but considering how plain he looks like, he lets it slide. Noir notices the changes in Ritsu's face, asked him: "What's wrong, Ritsu? Is Astral already rejected you?". Ritsu choked when he heard the question from Noir. "Noir!", screamed Astral softly. Ritsu then confessed that he also wanted to have those unique series, like both of them, did. 

            "I always wanted to have those series too, since the first time I heard about it. It made me looks like I'm a noob player when I'm here with you guys". Noir laughed so hard until the tears came out. She replied: "Ritsu, you should know that both I and Astral are the noob players here. We didn't even follow the flow of the game". Astral nodded and joined her laugh. Seeing both of them laughing, Ritsu joins them as well.

"So, Ritsu, about the event, do you have any partner to form a duo party?", asked Astral since she genuinely thinks that both she and Noir will eventually form a party. Noir interrupted, "Well if you want, I can always find another player. You and Astral can make a party of two". Annoyed by Noir's tease, Astral ignores it. Suddenly, Astral is focusing on a guy who is watching over the notice board near the cafe's door. Noir noticed Astral's eyes focused somewhere else, also turn around to see at the thing that caught her attention. "Astral, you don't say you have another interest on another guy? Poor Ritsu", teased Noir, with a sad-looking face. "Shut up, Noir. I think I know that guy somewhere", replied Astral, coldly. When the guy finally turns around, Astral shouted, "Haiz! Hey Haiz, over here!".

 Haiz joins the gang, sitting beside Noir. "So, Haiz, Noir and Ritsu. Ritsu, Noir, this is Haiz", explained Astral. Haiz anxiously raised his hand to both Ritsu and Noir. He never had many conversations with many people, so he was quite shy and nervous about it. Ritsu notices that when Astral is speaking about Haiz, she smiles more and happy about it. So, during the conversation, he put his head low and only focusing on his plate. "Well, Haiz is my first online friend here. Oh, I forget! Haiz, let me add you". Astral sends a friend request to Haiz and waits for him to accept it. Noir sees the tense between Haiz, Ritsu and Astral, so she does her job to play with it. "So, Haiz, do you have any partner for the upcoming event?", asked Noir, to start some sparks into the atmosphere. Haiz startled, "N-not yet. I'm busy playing the game, and didn't realize about any notice from the developer". Ritsu gritted his teeth, feeling annoyed with his answer, replied: "Wow, too busy playing the game AND didn't realize the change in the game? How determined of you". Haiz, who did not realize that as an insult, just laughed it out, nervously. And Astral, who did not notice about the tense between of those two, comes out with an idea. "How about, if you two, partnered up for the event?", suggested Astral, with the smile on her face. Noir hold her laugh by hiding it behind her hands. "Yeah, you too, pfft, should be teaming up, pfft, together", stated Noir, while holding her laugh. Astral looks at Ritsu with her pleading eyes that said 'You have to, please~'. Ritsu cannot resist the eyes and feels that he is about to explode.

             "Yeah, that's settled then. I will team up with Noir, while Ritsu with Haiz", exclaimed Astral, joyfully. Noir pats Ritsu shoulder, whispering, "Goodluck~". Noir turns her attention to Haiz, and smiles wickedly, " Goodluck to you too, Haiz. We will be cheering for both of you~ I mean, Astral will". All of them accept each other as [Friends] now. "Oh by the way Ritsu, about that scrolls, you should have it. It will benefit you later in the game", said Astral, realizing about the scrolls earlier. Ritsu took the scroll out from his [Iventory] and put it on the table. "Can’t do. I don't have any skills related to these two", explained Ritsu. Noir studied the scrolls and understood his reasoning. "He is right. These skills, [Ruthless Strikes] and [Third Eye] need to have the related skills to learn them", explained Noir, while she still studying the conditions of the learning. "For [Ruthless Strikes], you need to have at least one Thief-related skills to get it works, but for the [Third Eye], I still can't get the condition", described Noir. Astral thought for a while and replied: "Oh, Haiz is a Thief-class, right? Ritsu can give this to him". Noir chuckled and handed the scrolls to Ritsu back. "Well, it is Ritsu's choice then, whether to keep or to give", teased Noir. Haiz looks nervously between Ritsu and Noir. He does not have an idea about what happened. Astral grabs Ritsu's arms and pleads for him to give the scroll to Haiz. Again, cannot resist the charm, Ritsu hands it over. "You better win this event with me later", threaten Ritsu. Haiz nodded furiously, like a puppy. Astral smiles as she finally has a great time when her friends. She felt like this group will be the most exciting fun group in the online game. 

"I love you guys."