Upon logging in today, I felt nervous and slightly troubled. This time, oddly enough, it wasn’t Ryuu’s fault. People were staring at me, now that I’m wearing something that isn’t the starting Neetwear.

That’s right. I’m wearing the [Coat of many Colors] stealth cloak that I received from finishing the sap quest. But, it doesn’t look like how it did before I wore it. Instead, once I put it on, a window opened allowing me to edit the appearance of my current set of clothes.

I tweaked it here and there and found something that I thought fit nicely. After lengthening the shirt into a white one piece tied in the middle, I altered the appearance of the coat with its English coat-tails into a jade colored, scarf-like oriental overcoat.

The overall appearance was rather easy on the eyes, so I decided to keep it simple. I still have the Neetware leggings and shoes underneath, too, so it’s easy to move around in without worrying about the embarrassing incidents that might happen given a strong enough wind.

But, now that there are people staring at me, I think that maybe I should have waited until I’d left town before wearing it. People’s eyes light up strangely when they see me. A few people even looked like they were going to approach me. But each time, they would freeze and then leave after looking over my shoulder.

Speaking of which, every now and again, I feel a demonic presence behind me…but the only one there is Ryuu. He might be evil, but he’s no demon king. I’d instantly quit playing this game, if he were…On a side note, maybe I should invest in some salt.

The rewards for finishing the mission were quite generous, as I received enough experience to level up to level 18. That exp increase for each level is a real killer! Before I forget, I should note down to allocate those 16 unallocated points, though. Ah, but I shouldn’t waste them, either…I shall consider carefully where to place these points from now on, so that I can build up my game character properly.

Today is the day I promised to meet my younger cousin in-game. She’s usually not the gamer type, but by chance she saw a promotional trailer and was captured by the beautiful scenery. Now she wants to go on a tour and experience the in-game sceneries that are sure to be there.

If I were to describe her, she is a travel otaku.

No, I’m not talking about the overweight people obsessed with manga. She loves anything to do with travelling. Taking hikes through the woods, climbing mountains, exploring the fields of my grandparents’ rural farm…I can’t keep up with her energy.

But, if it’s a game, then stamina is not an issue! It’s okay!

Her family’s financial situation is too tight for real travel, though. Come to think of it, the financial situation was also too tight to purchase the game. How did she…ah, I remember. She mentioned something about winning some game system as a grand prize at the recent fair. Maybe that was it?

“I fail to see just why we are loitering around the town square when you could be out leveling right now.” Ryuu muttered.

I sent him a stare filled with my annoyance. If I could have sent him away to go loiter on his own, then I would have. To be honest, him saying something like that only makes me feel much more nervous. Now it’s completely his fault! If I ignore him, will this feeling of my guts twisting and wrenching go away?

A-anyways! She should be logging in any minute now!

I look around eagerly in the town square, trying to guess what race she would choose. But, I didn’t really have to bother worrying about accidentally missing her.

“Nee-san! It’s me, it’s me!” Someone hammered into me from the side. I winced at the small -1 I could see in the corner of my vision.

“You’re finally here! Can you tell me your in-game name?” I smiled, looking down upon a familiar red-head-er….ears? C-cute! How could my cousin look this cute as a fox beastgirl? And that fluffy tail! I WANT TO TOUCH IT.

“Uhuh! Call me Fern!” She grinned, twirling around. “Do you like it? I chose a beastgirl because they are supposed to have a heightened sense of sight and smell. But, I chose the randomizer so I didn’t know what kind I’d get.”

How is that random! It’s the exact same shade of red as her real hair! It’s perfection! To get perfection out of a randomizer is like having your room all cleaned up and your bed made without a single wrinkle right after a hurricane tore through it…wait. If mom was considered a hurricane…no no no! I’m going off track here!

I calmed myself down a bit. “It’s been a while, Fern! As you can see, my name is Jade.” I can’t take my eyes off that fluffy tail. I really want to hug it-I mean her. But, Fern doesn’t know that I like fluffy things. In fact, not many people outside of my family know that I like fluffy things, as it’s something I find slightly embarrassing…Or rather, I can’t let anyone know about it. It’s super embarrassing.

“Whoah! That’s a nice name! It really fits you too, with your long dark hair. It’s almost like you’re a perfect oriental princess.” Fern’s tail twitched excitedly as she bounced around me energetically.

My eyebrow twitched.

“Hey, how can you liken me to such things? Selfish, spend-happy cut-throats who run around causing chaos behind the scenes, happily laughing with their noses to the air, ignoring commoners as if they were nothing more than a nest of ants! At best, they’re happy little air-heads. At worst, they’re treacherous demons. And you just say that I’m like one of them?” I pinched Fern’s cheeks, widening her mouth.

“Ah wath wuong. Fuleez Furgib me!” She squealed. I let go, looking away to distract myself from her wildly-swinging tail. “Don’t forget it. Bloodlines can’t be helped, but words can be held.”

“Ouch! As expected, my older cousin is quite formidable.” Fern rubbed her cheek, a silly smile on her face.

“Pfft!” A sound came from behind us.

We both turned to look, but there was no one there. It was just Ryuu.

“*cough* Do you need something of this king?” Ryuu asked, in his narcissistic manner.

“Ne ne, do you know this person?” Fern asked, pulling on my sleeve and pointing in Ryuu’s direction. I turned and looked, but there was no one else except Ryuu in that direction.

“Whatever do you mean?” I asked.

“The handsome oriental guy with the long dark hair in the white clothes. You don’t see him?” I looked again. There was no one but Ryuu. I tilted my head to the side. Nope, there wasn’t anyone behind him either.

“I don’t kno-wait, you can see him!?” I asked, surprised, as I pointed at Ryuu.

“Am I not supposed to?” Fern asked, confused.

I looked at Ryuu, also confused.

“*cough* When we’ve been standing in the same spot for this long, there’s a provision in the system to make us visible.” Ryuu explained. “In cases of health problems such as heart attacks or seiures, we are also allowed to use the voice-chat to contact any close relatives who are inside the game, so that the person involved can receive swift medical treatment.”

Whoah. It sounded so professional! And it didn’t even have a hint of narcissism. I almost applauded, but stopped myself from doing something foolish.

“Saying stuff that I can’t understand! So? Who. Is. He?” Fern asked again, her tail charmingly flowing around her.

I sighed as I gave in to that fluffy tail-I mean to Fern. “His name is Ryuu. He is my-”

“Ah, is he one of your in-game friends? Nice to meet you, Ryuu! I’m Fern!” Fern interrupted, enthusiastically bouncing forward to shake hands, bringing that lovely tail away from me.

“Ah, likewise.” He replied, smiling at Fern, who started pestering him with questions. Her tail now seemed so very far away...

As I was watching then, he looked up at me and smirked triumphantly with his evil smile. AH! It’s the Demon Lord! And he’s captured Princess Fox-tail—I mean, he’s captured princess Fern! Ryuu! I will not forgive you!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Ryuu’s hand was forcibly shaken by a rather annoying little fox beastgirl, he was surprised when Jade began glaring at him. Thinking quickly, he realized that she wanted him to get along well with this younger cousin, he nodded politely and returned a small greetings.

Looking up, he smiled. Look, see? I’m getting along well with her! See?

But, strangely enough, Jade’s scowl only got deeper as she turned her head away angrily. Ryuu felt confused at the sudden cold treatment. Had he done something wrong?

End Login Diary Entry 7

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