We arrived at Floor 2, Our characters materialized from the ground up as we looked around at the town. Kamdet City The town was called, It did really look more like a city rather than a town as I explored it thoroughly. “Oh Hey Kirin!!” A voice shouted from behind me as I turned around to see it was Rina.

“Oh hey Rina, how are you?”

I told her as she smiled and said “I’m doing great! I heard that you lead the second group”. I looked away a bit, awkward about it still stuttering “Y-yeah, who would have thought” trying to laugh it off like how I usually did with Toru. Rina kept her smile as she held onto my wrist, I looked down at her hand and asked “Is there something I should know?” confused as she had blanked out for a second and letting go of my wrist. “E-Eh?! I-I mean yeah, There's a restaurant just over there” she pointed out as I turned my attention to the restaurant, “Oh, yeah you're right” I said as I felt a menacing glare from somewhere.

“I should have told you this earlier but there are guilds starting to form around here”

Rina said as she pointed to a group that was nearby, I looked over to see a group of four. They were all heavily decked out in red and white armor, most of them wore white while one of them wore the opposite, wearing red. “He seems to be the leader I’m guessing…” I thought to myself as the group walked past us, The mysterious man in red knight armor had passed me and we both gave each other a glare before we continued on with what we were doing.

“I don’t like the look he has…”

I thought as I felt a chill down my spine, I then walked over to the restaurant with Rina following shortly after. Toru was nearby, the person who gave Kirin the menacing glare as she was leaning on a pillar and thought to herself “Who’s that woman…” as she gripped onto her jacket.

We walked into the restaurant as I was amazed at the amount of detail the inside was, “Woah…” I said as I looked over and saw The Tavern Owner (Who is definitely not Agil) back on floor one running the place. “Hey, you’re the Tavern owner!” I said as he looked over and chuckled saying “Well if it isn’t Kirin! The man who commanded the second group of the front liners!” as I was beginning to get a little annoyed by it. “Y-Yeah sure, anyways, What are you doing here? Don’t you have a Tavern to run?” I said to him as he replied “Nah, since the second floor opened most players moved up here, I need something else rather than a Tavern to run”.

I smiled as I fist bumped him saying “Don’t screw it up man, Goodluck on the restaurant!” as he replied “Don’t mess up at the fields man! Come anytime to get food!” as I left the restaurant.

I looked at Rina who was still following behind me and I asked her “Is something on your mind?” as she blinked and looked at me with a confused face, saying “Did you say something Kirin?” as I sighed. “Rina if there’s something you need to say just spit it out alright?” I told her in the nicest way possible as she looked and smiled, nodding and hugged me.

My brain shut down for a second as I looked at her hugging me, she seemed genuinely in bliss as her face had lit up a little red a bit. I felt like I was being stared at from a distance and daggers being stabbed into my back for this as I heard footsteps coming our way. I turned around as Rina looked over confused and saw Toru running our way.

“Toru?”

I said as she ran over and swept Rina off to the side saying “Me and her are gonna talk okay! Be back in a bit!” as I understood her broken English a bit as I put a thumbs up. “Hey Who are-” Rina said as Toru covered her mouth and spoke in fluent Japanese to Rina,

“Listen here… If you wanna get close to him, you’re gonna have to get past me, And if you don’t get past me you’re not gonna get even close to him… got it..?”

Rina’s fear shot up to a maximum as she nodded repeatedly, scared for her life as Toru then told her in broken English “Okay, You and me walk back, act like we were having a friendly chat, ok Rina?”. Rina shedded some tears from her fear as she didn’t even tell Toru her name, Toru then added on “My name is Toru, remember that…” as Toru uncovers her mouth and walks back to me with Rina.

I was waiting by the Restaurant still as I saw Toru and Rina walking back, noticing that Toru was in a really happy mood and Rina’s mood seemed like it was shot down. “What happened?” I asked as Toru immediately replied “Nothing! We had a friendly talk, right?” as Toru had an innocent smile with a menacing aura behind it. Toru looked at Rina as Rina clenched her hands into a fist and ran out towards Darkwood Forest, in tears.

“Rina, wait!”

I shouted as I ran after her, Toru looked as she realized what she messed up on her little threat towards Rina. I kept running as I ran into the middle of Darkwood forest, looking around and shouting her name, “Rina!! Where are you!!” as I kept looking around. “Why would she blitz off like that..” I thought as I heard sobbing nearby, “Rina? Rina!!” I shouted as I ran towards the sobbing sounds, ending up at a tree.

“Go away…”

Rina said as she was sitting and had her face buried into her knees, I stood there and said “What did Toru say?” as Rina replied “I…I don’t think…you’ll understand..” as she began wiping her tears. “It’s okay Rina.. What did she tell you?” I told her to try to sympathize with Rina and calm her down. She then told me about her “conversation” with Toru as I was a bit dumbfounded at the idea that she’d use a verbal threat.

“We should head back Rina, it’s going to get dark soon”

I told her as she sat there, I then walked around the tree and kneeled down to her. I put my hand out to her and said “C’mon, I can’t have you dying on me out here now can I?” as she looked at my hand with her tearful eyes, she wiped her tears that lifted up her glasses as she said “J-Just this once…” as she grabbed onto my hand and I lifted her back onto her feet.

We began walking towards Kamdet City as Rina looked at her hand holding mine, she smiled as she thought “His hand is very warm… I…I wonder if I can have someone like him… Hold my hand like this everyday…” as we kept walking. “Hey Rina..” I told her as she looked at me replying “Yeah Kirin? What is it?” as I sighed and told her “I think you should stay at Kamdet City for now, like how you were in the Town of Beginnings…” as silence filled the air.

“Alright…But can you promise me one thing..?”

Rina said as I stopped and looked at her, “What is-” as I was interrupted by Rina leaning in to kiss my cheek, My face flustered up red as she said “Visit me…every now and then… Okay?” as I put my hand on the cheek she kissed. “S-Sure…” I said in a low and flustered tone as we walked back to Kamdet City and nightfall approached.

The next day I was out at Darkwood Forest when I saw Sato walk by, “Oh hey Sato!” I said to him as he looked and waved at me. Sato and I began talking for a good while, in that conversation Sato explains about Tracers and Forest Mutants in the area. I tried asking him questions as Rina then came running to us. “Rina what’s wrong?” I asked as she said “The Restaurant…something’s happening in the restaurant!” as she was exhausted from running. “Thanks for telling us Rina,” Sato said as Sato and I both headed back to Kamdet City. We then arrived at the Restaurant as we saw a person in white and red threatening the Tavern Owner.

“I know you have it! Give it here now!!”

The person shouted as the Tavern Owner said towards said person “Listen here, I don’t have what you need alright. You’re causing a scene here, now get out…”. I then walked over and separated them saying “Hey cut it out you two!” as the person looked at me.

“Who in the hell are you!! How dare you touch me!!”

The person said as I caught into his voice that his voice was a bit rugged, sounding a bit scratchy but not too much. “Wait a minute, you’re the person who commanded the raid on the first floor boss!” The person said as I was annoyed by it, I then let go of his cloak as he said “The Knights of Blood Oath will hear about this, You would have been a worthy member too… Think about it Commander…” as he left the scene.

The Tavern Owner sighed in relief as I asked him “Are you okay?” as he said “I’m fine, he was just causing a scene in the restaurant. I have some information you should know about too.”. I looked over at him as he explained

“That man is named Kuradeel, he’s a member of this guild called the Knights of Blood Oath. Apparently he’s looking for this stone, I didn’t have it and that's how you found us here.”

I thought about it thinking “Knights of Blood Oath…” as I opened my eyes and snapped my fingers saying “oh! The guy that wore red and white right?” as they all looked at me. “Right?” I said again as if what I was saying was right. “I think so Kirin..” Sato tried to somewhat stay neutral in this situation as we were all confused at what we were talking about.

“Let’s put this talk away for now, don’t you guys have some things to do?”

The Tavern Owner said towards the group as we nodded a bit and all left out of the Restaurant. I walked out of the Restaurant as I heard some commotion, I turned my attention towards a small quarrel between Kirito and Asuna. “What’s going on with them over there?” I thought to myself as I turned my attention away and walked towards some houses.

“This floor sells houses..?”

I thought as I then heard a whistle behind me, I looked over and saw Toru standing there as she smiled and walked over. “Oh hey Toru” I said to her as she said “hey Kirin” as she looked at the houses.

“You’re buying houses?”

Toru said as I looked at the signs and tapped one of them, seeing the amount of COL needed for it. “No, I think i’m just looking around” I said to her as she suddenly grabbed my arm, saying to me in japanese “follow me Kirin!”. Toru then began running towards a forest nearby Darkwood Forest as I told her “What did you say?!?” as I can’t understand her japanese as well.

“Don’t worry about it!”

She shouted as she seemed genuinely happy as she led me to a beautiful oasis-like spot. “Woah.. This is…” I stuttered a bit to find words, amazed at the lake and the house. “This can be our house Kirin!” she said as I looked at her saying “our?” as I was confused at what she was implying, Toru stared at me as her brain had shut down for a second as her face poofed a little red.

“Is everything alright Toru?!”

I said as I saw her face turn red as she let go of my arm and waved her hands side to side frantically, “I-I-I mean your house!! I MEANT YOUR HOUSE!!!” she shouted as I was again confused at her situation. “Toru calm down” I said as I tapped the sign and checked the price of the house, As I thought the house was pretty expensive. But with the amount of money I had gotten from the floor boss and grinding with saving most of my money, I smiled a little bit.

The sun began to set as I clicked the blue button and looked at Toru, I then told Toru “I know we haven’t gotten to know each other that long..” as Toru looked at me and I had a genuine smile on my face. “But thank you for letting me stay by your side for this long..” I told her as the sun setted right behind me, Toru’s hand began to shake a bit as she covered her mouth with one eye and began to break down into tears. This was the first time I saw Toru break down right in-front of me, as I ran over to her and kneeled down.

“Is there something wrong Toru?”

I asked her as she quietly said “N-No… I-It’s just…” as she wrapped my arms around me and hugged me saying “It’s just… that I didn’t think I’d meet someone who can be such a gentle person at the core… but be so stoic on the outside…” as she smiled at him while wiping her tears. “C’mon, I’ll let you stay at my house newly bought house for now” I told her as she nodded and stood up, from the forest trees nearby, Rina was eavesdropping on both of them as a tear formed and rolled down her face, eventually leaving back to Kamdet City’s Inn.

I looked around in the building, seeing its interior and amazed at the amount of detail the interior goes through. Toru was just as amazed as I looked around the house, walking through the house and inspecting all parts of the house. I walked back to the living room and sat down on a comfy couch as Toru then said to me “Can I use your room to change Kirin?” as I nodded saying “help yourself out while you’re still here Toru”. She then headed off to change as I sat and began to relax a bit.

“Y’know… Maybe just maybe… being stuck here isn’t so bad after all… I mean, just look at the interior, the day and night cycles… It’s almost perfect for someone to live in…”

I thought as I heard footsteps walking out, I turned my attention as I saw Toru wearing a Skirt and a pink shirt as she had all of her battle armor off. I sat there staring at her awed at her appearance and was somewhat in a blissful state, she looked at me and said “Kirin, Earth to Kirin!” as I snapped out of it and looked at her confused.

“Are you not gonna change out of That?”

Toru asked as I looked at my clothes, “Oh right, sorry” I told her and got up, quickly walking to my room thinking to myself in a heightened mindset “DID SHE SEE THAT!!! OH GOD I HOPE SHE DIDN’T SEE THAT!!”.

I quickly changed out of my battle armor as there was a clothing rack in the closet, I racked my jacket and my sword in the closet. I walked out to the living room and sat down on a cushion away from Toru as we were awkwardly sitting and looking away from each other. The silence filled the air of the log cabin as I then said to break the silence “Toru… Can you cook?” as I looked at her.

Toru looked back at me as she said “I can cook, my skill is okay!” she said as she brought up her skill set, swiping right for me to see. I looked at her skillset as she had proficiency 5 in Melee, proficiency 4 in cooking, proficiency 4 in movement, and everything else was proficiency 1. I tried very hard to not judge her stats as I swiped left to bring the menu back to her.

“Would you like to see mine?”

I told Toru as she looked at me and her cheeks began to redden a bit, she nodded as I brought up my stats and swiped left to show her, She looked at my stats as they were proficiency 7 in 1h Sword, proficiency 2 in blacksmith, and proficiency 5 in movement, meanwhile everything else was in proficiency 1. I waited for her to swipe right to give my box back as I noticed she was taking a rather long time to swipe, I looked at her as she was just staring at my stats with a small smile and more reddened cheeks. I looked and looked away as I sighed with a small smile.

I then thought to myself “Yeah…Maybe getting stuck in here, in this world… can’t be that bad after all…” as she swiped right. I put my menu away as we both began talking for a good while. After Thirty minutes of talking, Toru then asked me “Is it alright if I can take a bath in your bathroom?” as I nodded. Toru got up and walked over to the restroom and saw how much space there was. “This bathroom looks amazing!!” She said in excitement, the tub itself looked more like a hot tub rather than a normal tub, Toru then unequipped all of her clothes and got into the bath.

She took her bath in a blissful moment as the walls of the bathroom were soundproof for maximum privacy for people in the bathroom. Toru sat in the tub and looked up at the ceiling, thinking about things as her mind drifted towards Kirin little by little as her face grew a little red again, covering her face and kicking the water a bit, “STOP IT STOP IT STOP ITTT!!” she thought as she was embarrassing herself. Meanwhile, I was sitting in the living room as I yawned a bit, laying down on the couch thinking to myself “I guess I'll close my eyes for a bit…” as I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Toru got out of the shower a few minutes later as she had dressed in new clothes and saw Kirin, sleeping soundfully on the couch. “Oh, He’s sleeping” She thought to herself as Toru walked over to him and sat near him. She then grabbed one of his arms and lifted him back into a sitting position, as the force of her pulling had made me lean onto her shoulder.

Toru blushed as she smiled and laid her head on mine, smiling as she also closed her eyes saying in Japanese “I want to stay by your side forever…Kirin…” before dozing off to sleep as well.