With Em’s help, Ria had managed to make an incredibly adorable character. It was a petite girl with blonde hair and dragon-like features like horns and some scales. I remembered Em showing the race to me last time we were here, but for the love of the Goddess I couldn’t really recall the lore behind them. Nevertheless, Ria then started her adventure throughout the world, mainly by herself with some help from Em who had to help her with some of the controls. Apart from that, Ria was already sucked into the story and with Em’s headset was clearly very immersed in the game’s world. Karin in the meantime was talking over voice comms as well, as she had launched the game with her alternative character, so Ria could follow the story along with her friend.

With Ria distracted for a moment, Em bumped into me and whispered. “We still need to order her pc, you know?”

“I know.” I nodded and whispered back. “I would like to wait till I move, that won’t be too far away anyway. After the exams somewhere.”

“Well, I already made a list of parts, I saved it in my documents. So the only thing that’s left is ordering them.”

“I’d ask how expensive it is, but that doesn’t really matter anymore, now, does it?” I softly chuckled.

“It’s definitely high end.” Em replied. “Those parts will last a very long time, and as you said, money doesn’t really matter that much.” Em then looked over at the screen where Ria had just entered a city. “As such, I’ve also made a list for a new computer for you.”

“Oh.” I thought for a second, but it is true that we didn’t really talk about me as much as we did about Ria. “Thanks. I kinda forgot I needed a new one too.”

“You sure as hell don’t think Ria and I will be playing without you, right?”

“Hey, as long as you two are having fun, I’m having fun as well.”

“Rora… you should be a bit more selfish at times.”

“Could you repeat that once more, but into the microphone.” I did as if I was taking my phone out of my back pocket. “I just want to keep that as proof, just in case.”

Em rolled her eyes and softly punched me on my arm.

While Ria played the game some more, Em and I chose to read a little on her bed. We were quite aware of the sudden role reversal, with us reading for once while Ria and Karin do the more active activity. Albeit that I didn’t really go for ‘heavy’ literature as our girlfriend would normally go for. Mainly reading some of the magazines that Em had lying around about… just about anything really… The one in particular that I grabbed was talking about new developments in sporting attire. I did wonder how much of what was described in these magazines was true, though. -Could this new particular type of shoe really help you transfer more energy? Because I’m pretty sure that’s what all new sporting shoes say, don’t they?-

“Ah, you are reading that old magazine?” Em rolled over to look at me.

“Old? But this is all the newest sports gear this year, look, it says it right here on the cover.”

“It also says that it’s from three years ago.” Em smiled and tapped the cover with her finger.

“What?” I turned it around and went looking for the date. It was apparently a summer issue, indeed from three years ago. “What?” I repeated myself. “Why do you have a three-year-old magazine lying around?”

“Because I never bothered to get rid of them?” Em shrugged.

“Okay then, do you have the newest issue of this magazine lying around in that case? With the newest of newest of sporting gear innovations.”

“Nope.” Em chuckled.

“Wha-?”

“I’m pretty sure I just got that magazine from the waiting room of my physiotherapist from back when I sprained my ankle.”

“Aren’t you supposed to leave those there for others to read?”

“The doctor was just about to put down the newest issue so he said I could have this one. It’s not like I was that interested in it, but I felt it would be awkward to decline.”

“And now you have this sole issue of this magazine lying around?”

“Yep.” Em chuckled once more.

“Em… sometimes… you are such a derp… y’know?”

“Aren’t we all.” She smiled. “Here, wouldn’t you like this magazine better?” She rolled off her bed and quickly ran over to where her pile of magazines were. “Mom gave this to me not too long ago.” She pulled out an issue and then ran back over to me. She then offered it to me. It was a recent issue from Federal Topographic about historical artifacts that had been discovered from the seabeds.

“Oh, me likey.” I put the sports gear magazine aside and took the Federal Topographic out of her hands.

“Mom told me to keep this aside for when you came to visit again.”

“Very thoughtful of her to do so.”

“She’ll be happy to hear you liked it.”

“Mhmm.”

The two of us kept staring at one another. Em then leaned in to give me a kiss, which I was totally and completely fine with. But just as our lips were about to touch, Ria yelped. Scaring the bajeezus out of me and Em both. So much so that Em accidentally gave me a headbutt instead. Luckily for me, I’m a vampire, otherwise my nose would probably be bleeding quite profusely right now. Em also didn’t look like she got hurt.

“You okay?” She asked.

“Yeah, y’know, vampire.” I replied.

“Right….” She then looked at Ria and so did I. Ria was looking back at us.

“What happened, Ria?” I asked.

“I… I died…”

“You did?” Em tilted her head and walked towards the computer. “How did that happen?”

“There was this cute monster and I wanted to look at it up close. I think I selected it.”

“Ah… your character must’ve auto-attacked it when you walked up to it.” Em said. “That happens when you’ve got it selected.”

“Was it a high level monster?” I asked again.

“Uh… let me see…” Em looked at the screen. “Looks like a giant frog. Level 15. So yeah… that’s probably why.”

“A giant frog? Didn’t you say it was cute?”

“But it is cute!” Ria protested. “Look at it.”

I looked at the screen to please my girlfriend and when I beheld the frog, I had to admit, it did look kinda cute. Instead of a normal giant frog who did froglike things, this frog was standing on its back feet, was holding a staff and had a beard. The cartoony look of it made its skin look a lot cuter, too. -I would not have thought I’d ever call a frog cute, but here I am.- “I suppose it’s not a horrible looking frog, this is true.”

“Rora, you can just admit he looks cute, you know!”

“Alright then.” I smiled. “Not as cute as you, though.” I then proceeded to give Ria a quick kiss on her cheek.

“Awhh!” Ria’s smile was so brilliant I almost had to put on sunglasses.

“Here, Ria, this is how you respawn, you just need to press this button.” Em showed Ria where to click to get her character to live yet again.

“Thank you!” Ria looked at the screen as Em pressed the button.

“Next time, don’t yell so suddenly if you die. I headbutted Auro because you scared the shit out of us.”

“Oh no!” Ria looked back at me. “It didn’t hurt, right, because of your powers?”

“Ah, yeah, I’m totally fine.” I smiled back. But in the corner of my eye, I could see Em just froze.

“Ria…” Em slowly started talking. “Are you in a chatroom with my sister…?” She then raised her hands to her ears and mimicked touching her headset.

“Uh ye-...” Ria’s eyes went wide and then she looked at me.

-Oh shit.-

“I would definitely not get hurt by something as silly as a headbutt.” I put on my best acting skills. “Besides, Em just graced me.”

The color had almost completely retreated out of Em’s cheeks. She was pale as hell. She quickly grabbed the headset’s cable and flipped the mute button, after which she ran towards the door. “I’ll be right back.” Em then left the room, presumably to run over to her sister’s bedroom.

“Did I screw it up?” Ria looked up at me, she looked like she was about to start crying.

“No, no, you didn’t.” I shook my head. “It’s fine. You didn’t explicitly say anything. We’ll be able to talk ourselves out of this.”

“Are you sure?” Ria took off the headset and gently placed it down on the desk. After which, she walked over to me. It was clear she needed a hug.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s gonna be fine.” I took her into my arms.

At that moment, Em walked back into the room and closed the door behind her again. Her face now looked pretty red, quite the contrast from mere seconds ago. She sighed a sigh of relief.

“What happened?” I asked. “Did you manage to fix things?”

“I didn’t need to.” Em leaned against the door and just let herself slide to the floor against it. “Apparently she just had to go to the bathroom, just before Ria managed to get killed. She was just heading back to her room when I walked up to her door. She did ask why I was coming to see her, though.”

“What did you say?”

“I had to think of something fast so I just asked for the location of an optional quest.”

“Pff, saved by the toilet.” I sighed as well.

“Em, you aren’t angry at me, right?” Ria shyly looked away from my chest, towards Em.

“Of course I’m not. We just need to be a bit more careful next time. The second close call in just as many days is not good for my heart.”

“Hey, at least you can’t really get a heart attack anymore.”

“If you weren’t hugging Ria right now, I would’ve thrown a pillow at you.” Em rolled her eyes, but then started to chuckle anyway.

“But yeah, you are right, we should pay more attention.” I then decided to hug Ria just a little bit tighter. “And if things go wrong, we still have each other.”

“That’s true.” Ria nodded and returned my hug.

-Although perhaps we should start thinking about when to include Karin into the web of secrets as well…-