Author’s Corner: HELLO HELLO! AND LET THE WRITINGS BEING! LONG AUTHOR NOTE TODAY!

ANYWAY, first off, today starts the 5 IO marathons chap, where I’ll only write IO for the following days. It does NOT means that I will release a chapter a day, but that I’ll only write IO until we reach chapter 100. As I said previously, I planned on a couple of bonuses for this that I’ll tell about soon.

ALSO, before we begin, for those who read any of my other two works, this is old news, for those who didn’t, this is new. I started a Wordpress blog for myself where I plan on posting old/less important works on. This is so I don’t clutter RRL too much with stories. The stories there have a much lower priority, and the may be dropped a lot easier than what would happen with my stories in here, so you have been warned. Otherwise, you can go and give it a look to see if anything you find is interesting. (and boost my views in the meantime xD)

MY NEW WORDPRESS!

ALSO(2), I’m announcing the start of the next Q&A that will happen AFTER the 100th chapter. Same rules as previously: 2 questions per reader, any question can go to any character, no spoilers asked. I could go for either the same style as the previous one, or a more direct one, where there’s question and answer only. This will depend on the amount of questions I’ll have.

ALSO(3), One last surprise on the end of this chapter, I’ll make a page with all of them after the 100th chapter so we can have them all gathered, but for now, each chapter will have 4 of them.

Have a good read!

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“Haah? Brazilian greeting?” Kotetsu asked as he munched on lord whi... On his sandwich.

“Exactly.” I said with a nod while I stole a bite from Yuu’s sandwich and put it back on her plate. “Here in Brazil, we of the middle class sit around a table like this one we are and share embarrassing stories about ourselves.” I said while trying to play the same trick I played on Yuu’s father.

“Strange, I never heard about it…?” Kotetsu said with a frown while looking at us strangely. I simply nodded to him while putting up my most convincing serious look.

“It’s not that impressive. It’s more of a regional tradition nowadays anyway.” I sighed as if I was annoyed by that fact while putting Yuu’s sandwich back into her plate, receiving a cute pout in response.

Hearing my words, Kotetsu put on a proud smirk and stared down at me for a moment as if he understood where I was going with this. Turning towards the girl who sat on my side and stole a conflicted glance towards my sandwich, he asked.

“Yuu, is what he said true?” He asked, and she flinched for a moment before stealing a glance at me.

For a moment I saw her hesitating, while all I could do was also look at her and silently plea so that she would follow me up on the joke. On a second though, it might not have been a good idea to steal her sandwich. While thinking so, I took a sip of the juice I had bought for myself.

“Hmm… What Shi…” Yuu started before stopping suddenly. Turning to her confused and watching as she taking a deep breath and looking like she was trying to gather resolve. Raising an eyebrow to her, she finally put on a determined look and said. “What Richa… Rich… Ri-kun said is true.” Her face blushed slightly as the words came out, but…

Oh god, I think I might have gone crazy. Or at the very least I reached a brand new tier of madness and now I’m starting to hear things that simply makes no sense. Taking another sip of the juice in my hands and putting on my face a satisfied grin as I complimented myself on my keen observation ability, I noticed as Kotetsu widened his eyes in surprise before looking at me with a mix of surprise and apology.

“Well... I’ll be damned…” He scratched his head awkwardly while thinking. “If Yuu said so, then that must be iit.”

“Yup.” I nodded in agreement. “Since that’s the case, why not let me start it then?” As I made my words, I quickly straightened my back up again and put on a serious face, while watching as Yuu’s hands slowly drifted towards the sandwich in my plate as she tried, and cutely failed in being sneaky. “As I already said, my name is Richard Hadaway, and the truth is that I have no idea how to actually tie my sneakers, and simply leave them as is for wearing.”

“…Are you serious? Twenty one years old and you don’t know how to tie your shoes?”

“Not exactly tying my shoes, I can improvise that…” I said while frowning. “I can’t make those pretty lasso-y things that people do.”

“Eeeh? Shi… R-Ri-kun, is that true?” Hmm? Is my condition that bad?

“Well, yeah.” I said with a shrug. “My parents tried teaching me but it never stuck as a kid, and although I could look at how to do it on the internet, I’m too lazy for that.”

“Boy, I have no idea what to tell to you after hearing that.” Kotetsu said while shaking his head.

“Why not start your own story then?” I taunted him, making the modern-looking old man flinch for a moment before nodding.

“Ugh… I’m Setsuna Kotetsu. And my favorite ring-tone is the one I recorded of Yuu calling me when she was younger.” As he said that, he pulled out his cellphone and fiddled around with it for a moment before putting up the ringtone.

“Jii-chan! Jii-chan! Jii-chan! Miite!” I heard a young girl’s voice echoing from the cellphone. It sounded both extremely cute and childish, while also sounding ridiculously familiar.

With the corner of my eyes I saw as a redder than tomato Yuu was frozen while nibbling my sandwich in revenge. She slowly lowered the sandwich back to my plate and took a deep and long breath before looking up towards her grandfather.

“Ojii-sama. Baka!” She said shortly with a cold tone.

However, the impact was a bit more than what I expected, because soon after Kotetsu took a long sigh and fell face-first into the table, sobbing sounds coming from him. Blinking surprised, I stared at him for a moment while trying to understand what happened for a moment, and when I leaned in closer, I heard him sobbing.

With my rather lacking Japanese grammar, I could somehow make up a couple of words of what he was saying, and amongst them was the word happy… I think. I might be sorely mistaken.

While looking confused to him, I sent a glance towards Yuu, who had an embarrassed look while crossing her arms and looking away with puffed cheeks.

“Okay… I’m lost.” I gave up while throwing my hands to the air and leaning back on my chair while stealing Yuu’s sandwich again. What? Hers is better than mine!

“It’s… it’s the first time my granddaughter got mad at me!” Kotetsu said with an emotional tone. “I never thought I would live to see the day where it would happen!”

As he said that, tears feel from his face as he made a “guts” pose, putting his closed fists near his chest in commemoration. Laughing wryly at the situation, I looked away for a moment while remembering Hanbei’s talk about Yuu being a too-perfect of a girl back at home.

Well, they did throw a party when Yuu said she wanted to buy a video-game, so I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised that something like this happens. Shaking my head, by the time I looked back to the old man in front of me, he had seemingly recovered, because he stared at me with a look of determination.

"Okay Boy. If you are the one who made our little princess be like this, I couldn't care less wether you have talent or not, but I’m going to take you in as my student without a second thought!" He said excited, but...

"Nah, I’ll pass." I denied immediately.

Kotetsu froze for a moment while he sported an approving look in his face. But after tilting his head in confusion for a moment as he tried to process my words. Taking another sip of my juice, I counted up to ten before an actual reaction occurred.

"Eh?" He looked at me in sheer confusion.

"Too tiresome, requires a lot of dedication and time, of which both I lack." I mean, yeah, I did spend most of my time recently playing IO nonstop, but that's only because it was a long holiday. Tomorrow hell will come back for me. Of which I mean classes. "Besides, I don't really have much intention of starting martial arts again."

"Huh? Again?" Yuu asked confused. "Shi... R-Ri-kun did marti..."

"STOOOP!" I said dramatically, making her and Kotetsu jump in surprise. "Okay, Yuu. Who the hell is Ri-kun?"

I asked after hearing it for the third time today. And yes, I KNOW it's me, but it's still too strange to have her suddenly start calling me that instead of Shishou. Seriously, it's feels to strange having her call me that!

"A-ano..." Yuu said embarrassed while putting some distance and looking away. "Bu-but... You two are my Shishous..."

When she said that, I hit my fist in my hand and nodded understanding. I finally understood! Basically, since he was the one who taught her martial arts, it made him her first shishou. Should she call either one of us by shishou, we might get confused, so she started calling me by my name!

She's such a considerate girl that she even deserves a petting!

While I started rubbing her head gently, enjoying the silky feeling running between my fingers, I turned back to Kotetsu and said:

"You see, when I was younger, I trained Judo. Which is similar to Jiu-jitsu if I’m not wrong." I said while stopping to think for a moment, but deciding to not worry about it since Kotetsu probably knew more about it than me, I decided to go on. "Anyway, I practiced it for some time until I ended up dropping." I shrugged.

"Ooh, is that so?" He asked surprised while looking at me from head to toes. "What belt did you achieve while practicing it?"

"Second belt!" I said proudly.

"THATS BARELY ANYTHING!" He made one of the famous tsukkomy.

"It was something for my brat years old self." A pain, I mean. Having to wake up earlier just to go practice was something I considered a pain. “Anyway, I don’t really have much of a need to start another martial arts anyway.”

“Boy! Do you have any idea how many people come to me asking to learn the Setsuna Style of long weapons?” Kotetsu asked me, but I simply shrugged. For a moment he stared at me at loss before shaking his head and sighing. “Oh, right. You have no idea how famous it is back in the japan.” He said as if he understood something. “Look boy, the number of trainees in the whole japan who uses the Setsuna style is no more than ten, but I have thousands of appli…”

“Don’t care.” I said briefly while biting Yuu’s sandwich… Or was it mine now that she took my old one? Did we just exchange sandwich while I wasn’t watching? “I don’t really have much motivation to learn how to wield a sword like that.”

“But… Then…” He stopped to think for a moment before putting up a triumphant smile. “If that was the case, then what about you asking for my granddaughter to teach you how to use that ridiculous sword? In the game?” He asked with a very good point, being honest.

“Okay… I’ll give you that point.” I said with a nod. “Learning would help me in using that sword better…” As I said that it was my turn to smile to him. “But… I only use it to hunt large monsters. Would your martial arts help me then?”

For a moment Kotetsu froze as he stopped to think about it. Putting on a serious expression, he seemed to be considering my words and, slowly, he started frowning before finally shaking his head.

“I don’t know. I didn’t get the chance to test it against monsters before.” But you did against humans, didn’t you? While holding back my snarky comment, he looked at me with fire in his eyes. “Also, your time problem would be solved if we did it in the game, correct?”

“Well…” I looked away seeing how I had no way to counter that argument, and nodding proudly, Kotetsu said.

“It’s a shame I won’t be able to drill it in your real body, but I guess training in there does have its advantages of putting on the reflexes on you.” As he said that he nodded. “Yooosh! We will start your training today!” He said as fire burned in his eyes.

Meanwhile Yuu and I simply kept sipping our respective juices while looking at the excited grandfather. To be honest, I didn’t quite expect him to be the hot-blooded type, but somehow it did fit him and his modern-looking imagery.

What? Why I’m so calm even though I got dragged into something I didn’t want? It’s simple. I never told him where I was, and even if Yuu end up telling him, by the time he got the money to reach us, we would have already taken the ship away from the city. Even considering the time it took me to deal with the spider in the cave, he still wouldn’t reach us in time.

As you can see, I’m not exactly dumb when it comes to negotiations.

Although I do have this nagging feeling that I might have started a brand new extreme sports. One where you must trick the most of a martial artist and see how much you can manage before he gets angry.

While having my silly thoughts, I glanced at Yuu, seeing how she looked down. And by that, I meant she looked downwards with a wry look in her face, not that she looked depressed or anything like that. It seems like she somehow got the idea of what I had in mind. It seems like I’m really starting to rub off on her.

“Gon.” I heard Cyg calling me through eh headphone. As I was slightly surprised, she quickly went on to say what she wanted. “Argento and Yami finished their negotiations. Want to hear the results?”

“…No, I’ll be home in just a moment.” I said while turning back to the old man. “Well, looks like time is up for our breakfast.” He looked at me for a moment before nodding, in his eyes I could already see that he was planning on what he would do once we met. “So… I did hear about it already, but let me confirm. You plan on staying at my home, don’t you?”

“Oh? Yes, yes. Easier to live in with the disciple after all!” he said with a proud smile.

Oooh boy. He’s so going to regret choosing my house tomorrow morning. While thinking so and smiling to him, I stood up while munching the remaining of Yuu’s sandwich and turning over the glass of juice. Yuu was a bit more of a slower eater, so she took the sandwich with her while we walked away. It was mildly un-ladylike, but somehow I couldn’t bring myself to dislike that. She blushed once she noticed that I was looking at her.

Kotetsu grabbed his travel bag and put it over his shoulder with scary ease seeing how big it was, but after a brief nod we made our way to the exit. Calling up a cab, we dumped the bag in the car’s trunk and got in the car.

But for some reason Yuu decided to stay away from me, leaving Kotetsu between us. I let out a long sigh while leaning against the cars window depressed. Just when I thought about how she was starting to calm down… I guess that suddenly calling me by my first name might have been a bit too much.

While sighing in my mind, a question came to me, so I turned towards Kotetsu and asked.

“So… Why exactly did Yuu turn out like that?” I asked the question that I had in my mind from the moment I found out Yuu was an actual sheltered princess of a kind.

“Oh… Well… You see…” Kotetsu started stammering as his eyes moved away. The excited look he had previously nowhere to be found. Approaching me, he whispered. “When Yuu was born, she got sick really easily, so my idiotic son kept on saying for her to train to be the heiress of the company or something like that, and for that she would need to be a good girl and grow up as a respectful lady. That way there wouldn’t be a need for Yuu to over-exert herself…”

Yuu? Sickly? Are you kidding me?

While stealing a glance towards the girl who, making me VERY proud, took out her portable console and was fiddling around with the game.

“I’m having a hard time believing that…” I said my honest feelings, making Kotetsu nod.

“Yeah. Not even one year later and the little weak princess was nowhere to be found.” Kotetsu said with a wry smile. “But, my son’s idiotic teachings ended up sticking to her, and she sincerely thought that she should grow up to be a respectable girl.” He stole a glance at Yuu, looking surprised before turning back. “Well, at the start it was really nice, because she was really dedicated and polite… But…”

“It overshot?”

“Yeah… She went a bit too much in the path of being a good girl.” Kotetsu agreed with a wry smile. “By the time we noticed it, she was already someone who would never put herself in front of anything else… She was always studying, either for school, martial arts or how to be a proper girl. It was to the point that she didn’t even leave the house except for school!”

I see… When I think about it, Yuu is a bit too ease to be led on by other people, and a bit too dedicated to it, so once she started on her path to becoming a good girl in her early ears, she ended up sticking to it even when there wasn’t a need anymore.

Well, not that I can talk much about not leaving the house except for school, though.

“Then, she met Mary?” I asked and the old man nodded.

“Yup. She met that little girl.” He agreed while putting on a wry smile. “From there she started to leave the house on her free time and sometimes even ask us about buying a thing or two for her. Though usually they were very simple things like books.” He said with a nostalgic tone. “Then, one day she came and asked us to buy a console! Can you believe how shocking that was?”

“Yeah… I’m starting to see it.” I said with a deep nod. “That must have been shocking at the very least”

“Shocking?” He asked before laughing loudly. “That’s not even the beginning. She was literally the only one who never once played a game! She barely knew how to use a computer for anything other than checking the news or reading emails!”

“Wow, even you?” I asked surprised.

“Not ‘even’ me. I’m the best, boy!” He said proudly while picking up his backpack and pulling out a portable console. “Shooters, racing, sports, strategy, dating sims! I know them all!” He said with a proud smirk.

I simply stared blankly at him for a couple of seconds before sighing and asking.

“Are you SURE you are an old man? I’m starting to have my doubts.”

“What? Just because my hair is grey I can’t have some fun?”

“I never said anything.” I said while rolling my eyes away and putting up a wry smile before stopping to think for a moment.

When we met back in the game, I remember him talking about things like weight of the blade and practical shapes and whatnots, something that was rather un-gamer like. Frowning while thinking about it, I looked back to the old man who was helping Yuu register herself as his friend in the console.

Debating whether I should ask about it or not, I finally sighed and made the question anyway. Hearing me, he gave a brief dry laugh before saying.

“Yeah, I somehow got really carried away with that game, and sometimes I would forget it’s not supposed to be the real world.” He explained to me. “So when you showed me that sword earlier, I kind of forgot to check the stats.”

“What, the newbie can’t even differentiate between reality and virtual reality?” I asked with a teasing tone. Not that I had the right to say anything to be honest, I more often than not would do something similar.

“Oooh… You dare call ME a newbie, you brat?” He asked with a surprisingly competitive tone. “I’ve been playing games before you were even born, you know?”

“Well, isn’t it about time for the old generation to leave and open space for the new ones, grandpa?” I said in the same tone.

As we both crossed our gazes like that, Yuu looked at us with a confused glance, but soon went back to enjoy herself with the game. She really gets carried away with what she does easily, doesn’t she?

After that, it didn’t really take long for us to reach our apartment, so taking Kotetsu’s travel bags, we quickly came in to the apartment, greeting the gatekeeper before we took the elevator to our floor.

Reaching the door of my apartment, before I even managed to touch the lock and open it, someone opened it and made way for us to come in. It was none other than Maya.

“Welcome home, master. What would you like? A dinner? A bath? Or…” Well, how do I say it… For some reason Maya had put a full-blown maid outfit. Apron and frilly clothes too, and put on a shy expression while doing that cliché line.

Not that I wasn’t shocked, but I decided that getting caught up in her act would somehow mean that it was my loss, so before she could even finish her words, I quickly reacted.

“Idiot maid. It’s not even lunch time yet, and you come talking about dinner?” I said while taking out my jacket and throwing it at her in a way that would end up falling on her head. “Go wash my jacket while I show my new guest around.”

As I said that, I walked inside, ignoring the frozen maid who stood still in the doorway. Kotetsu laughed loudly at seeing the situation while Yuu seemed to hesitate for a moment before walking in.

Walking towards the living room, I saw as Mary sat on the couch while surfing around the channels on the TV. I made her a brief greeting while walking in, and she replied with a quick nod.

“Oh, Mary-chan!” Kotetsu said with a satisfied voice.

“Hello Master!” Mary replied with a cheerful tone.

WAIT A DAMNED SECOND!

Doing a full 180 degres spin, I turned back and looked towards Mary and then to Kotetsu.

“…Master?”

“Oh? Didn’t you know?” Kotetsu asked me surprised. “Mary is one of my disciples at the dojo!” He said satisfied.

I turned towards Mary with a shocked face, but she simply shrugged.

“I just began a couple of months ago. Not really worth mentioning.” She said embarrassed.

As my jacket hit my face dead on, thrown by an annoyed maid staring daggers at me, I simply sighed and shook my head.

“You guys make it REALLY difficult to forget that stereotype that all Japaneses practice martial arts, you know?” I said tired.

Everyone except Maya smiled wryly at those words.

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ATTENTION, the numbers are arbitrary and don’t have a direct relation to their In-game stats. They are more meant to show their way of fighting.

Name:Gondorrer Gravelheart (Wargon)Race&Class:Golem SkirmisherSignature MovesWeapon Cycle/ Roll/ Flash-bombs/ Trickster's tongueAttack:63Defense:84Magic:20 (0 in battle)M. Defense:75Speed:70Technique:50(83 against beasts)Sanity:???(Highly fluctuating values. Unmeasurable)Resistance to Fluffyness:- 100A green eyed Golem who likes to hunt large boss monsters for fun. Said to have a few screws lose, but can be surprisingly smart at times. Have a petting twitch towards fluffy things"I would call him an idiot, but he's too smart to be called that. I would call him smart, but he's too much of an idiot for that." - Red Hurricane

This one is an example. More below so it don’t get too long.

Spoiler :

Name:Yukihime Tatenaka (Yuu)Race&Class:Kitsune SorceressSignature MovesFrostfire spear/Frost emission: Weaponize/ Puppy eyesAttack:99Defense:79Magic:99M. Defense:83Speed:99Technique:100Sanity:90 (20 if drunk)Innocence99.9999Black kitsune magician who's surprisingly innocent and naive. Despite being a mage, she truly shines in the frontlines with her frost spears. She follows Wargon around since he is her teacher"The best spot to pet her is right behind the ears. Its extrea fluffy there, and she also really seems to like it!" - Wargon

Name:WallaceRace&Class:Human Dragon GeneralSignature MovesWall breaking death flicker/ Golem throwAttack:100+Defense:79Magic:???M. Defense:87Speed:100Technique:90Sanity:83Power level:OVER 9000! (Machine breaking noises)Perfectly normal old man who lived in one of the starters village. Nothing special about him besides being ridiculously overpowered and having a tendency to flicker people into walls."We were just like lovebirds when we first met! I didn't even need to use chloroform!!" -Sol

Name:Hanbei Tatenaka(Han-chan)Race&Class:(cat) Beastgirl WindseekerSignature MovesAir slash/????/Yuu nudge/Background blendAttack:55Defense:60Magic:73M. Defense:76Speed:87Technique:84Sanity:85Strike-zone:30-40Silver haired catgirl who have a striking resemblance to the anime character. Although she tends to blend with the background a bit too easily, she uses these chances to nudge her friend into taking the advance. Seems to hide a few secrets?"I'm negotiating with the author for a bit more of screen-time. Yuu tends to steal it too easily!" -Han-chan