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Ryou checked his emails one last time before logging into The World. He had been messaging the one behind Endrance’s character for a while now, and he decided that perhaps it was time to meet with him. Of course, one should never meet someone that they meet online in person, but the correspondence gave him many reasons to be somewhat concerned about him.Whoever was playing Endrance was a shut-in in his twenties and living with his mom. He was vegetarian, arguably, and very clearly in love with Haseo…or the person behind Haseo—it was hard to tell sometimes. He wasn’t quite sure which one, but it was decided that Endrance was a guy that liked him more than anyone else. One time, he wondered if it was because he was a shut-in that he so easily became infatuated with people that showed him even the smallest amount of kindness. Still, it was kind of nice having a puppy follow him around while he played even if at times that puppy had something of a bloodlust for anyone that dared harm him.“Ugh, what am I thinking?” Ryou sighed, covering his eyes. He was already exhausted. “Maybe I can talk to him a little bit.”Whenever he logged into the game, he felt empowered. Haseo the Terror of Death. He hadn’t been searching for PKs to PKK for a while, but the title stuck to him like an old-fashioned stamp. Similarly, before he was dethroned, Endrance was the Emperor of the Demon Tournament. There was also Matsu—Crimson something-or-other. Well, he used to be that PKer until he threw away that life. But Endrance was still a prominent figure in The World, and if he weren’t so focused on Haseo, he would have noticed all the female characters that fawned over him and all the male characters that wanted his special “skill” which was really his Avatar.Now that he was in the game, he underwent his metamorphosis into his character. He was Haseo now, and he had to find Endrance. He opened his Party Menu and invited him to go on an adventure with him.“[Wait for me…Haseo…]” Endrance’s message replied. In a few seconds, the man in amethyst appeared in a portal of light. “I’m here…”“I can see that,” Haseo said. “Anyway, I’ve got something I want to talk to you about. Let’s head to Ɵ Competing Maiden’s Two Wings and talk there.”“Whatever you wish, Haseo…” Endrance smiled. “Will it just be the two of us?”“Y-Yeah…”Haseo felt somewhat nervous about asking him to come with him alone. They warped to the Area, which was a hazy canyon-type filled with high-leveled monsters. The goal was to secure the treasure in the Beast Temple, but they didn’t have to complete the objective. Additionally, as the case with field-like Areas, Haseo was allowed to use his bike. He started it up and sat as close as he could to the front so Endrance could also fit on it. He was a skinny man, so it wasn’t like either was cramped up.“I always enjoy riding with you, Haseo…” Endrance dreamily told him. “I could but fall asleep as the wind carries my hair and your back gives me support.”“No amount of flowery speech could make that any less weird,” Haseo sighed more to himself than to his ally. He ordered him to hang on tight; the bike had been equipped with the best gear to go as fast as the game parameters allowed it.They raced past the monsters until they arrived at the still-sealed Beasts Temple’s entrance. Haseo and Endrance dismounted the bike, and after it was put away in some cockamamie game mechanic, Haseo took a breath. It wasn’t in his character to be nervous, but then, his character was an extension of himself.“Haseo…? What’s wrong…?” Endrance asked him. “Oh, are you writing a private message? Though, I should wonder why when we came all the way out here away from everyone else. The Area Menu did not show other PCs here.”“I’m…not writing a message. I wanted to ask you something.”Haseo couldn’t look him in his one uncovered eye no matter how much like a ruby it resembled.“D-Did I do something wrong…? Please forgive me! Surely, I’ve said too much in my emails to you…”“It’s not that, either! Just give me a second!” Haseo composed himself. “You know how we told each other where we live, and we could meet up at any time?”“I…I do recall that exchange…” Endrance said thoughtfully. “Was there something specific?”“I want to meet with you in real life.”Endrance at first couldn’t believe him. Haseo had been somewhat distant through their interactions, but there were times—specifically in the emails—that he was kinder and sincere. The attitude problem that the Terror of Death seemed to have was a ploy.“Do you…really want to?” he asked. “If so, I’m willing to meet with you.” He blushed a little. “I…will email you…”They warped back to Dol Dona before logging out. No more words had been exchanged.Ryou leaned back from the screen. He asked him, and Endrance agreed. The first ping of the email sounded, and he cautiously opened it. He read aloud:“‘Haseo…I want you to know how happy I am that you really want to meet with me…I apologize if my appearance strikes you differently from my character. Regardless of what happens, I want you to know that this is the second happiest day of my life, and that I’m simply bursting right now…Where shall we meet? What shall we do?’”Ryou was very surprised that he was this elated to be meeting him. He responded to him:“‘I’m glad that you’re so happy about this. Sorry if it makes you uncomfortable. Um, let’s meet at a café. I know a place. I can send you the address.’”After pasting the name and address of the café at the end of the message, he sent the email and waited.“‘This sounds positively marvelously! I’m so excited, Haseo! When shall we go?’”“‘I’m free tomorrow.’”“‘Alright, Haseo…I’ll see you tomorrow…’”Tomorrow came by fast, and Ryou made his way to the café. The establishment served both meat and vegetarian options, so he thought it would be appropriate. It was also popular enough, not that he didn’t trust Endrance. He took a seat near the window with a small cup of water. Time passed, but no one approached the table looking for him. Would he even know? He took a napkin and wrote “HASEO” on it. Sure, his hair was the same greyish-white color, but it wasn’t a guarantee that it was a good indicator.A few more minutes passed. Ryou wondered if maybe Endrance couldn’t force himself out of his house. He continued to wait. The endless possible reasons why his friend wasn’t there played in his head like a marathon of television shows.“Um…excuse me…” a quiet muffled voice uttered. Ryou snapped back to reality, looking at a very tall and relatively thin figure. His head was wrapped with a scarf and a hat. His form was padded with a semi-thick jacket. There was a piece of silver hair that peeked through the scarf and hat. His amber eye was peering at him. “Are you…Haseo…?”“Endrance?” Ryou mentioned.“U-Uh…huh…”The man took a seat across from Ryou, setting his bag in the seat next to him. He sat stiffly.“So…what’s your name?” Ryou asked in an effort to make conversation.“M-Mine? Um…K-Kaoru…”“Huh, how interesting. Your name means ‘fragrance’, like the roses. I know I said it before, but your character has a lot of them on his outfit.”Kaoru simply nodded. His eye kept shifting around at all the people around them. A waitress approached the table the two were seating at, and after she took Ryou’s order, she looked at Kaoru positively confused by the layers he was wearing. He was indoors...in summer. The waitress waited for his order, growing more and more wary of him the longer he took.“He’ll just have a salad,” Ryou said. The waitress took the order down then disappeared to the kitchen. Ryou waited until he was sure she wouldn’t be back then asked his friend, “I knew you were a shut-in, but I didn’t think it was this bad. Come to think of it, why are you wearing all of that stuff? Hiding from someone?”Kaoru shifted in his chair. He only wanted Haseo to see him, and he confided that, in a way, he was hiding. Ryou thought for a bit. Maybe it would be better to just eat and go somewhere a little more private. Or could they order the food to go? Ryou stood up to go get the waitress.“W-Wait, Haseo!” Kaoru blurted before putting his hand over his mouth. “I’m sorry...for being so odd...I don’t mean to ruin this meeting…”“We can take the food somewhere else. It’s no big deal.”“But you waited...for so long...for me…”“It’s fine. Besides, my legs are stiff anyway.”Ryou went to the counter to ask that their food was put into little boxes, much to the annoyance of the cooks and waitress. He didn’t bother with them. He collected Kaoru from the table, and the two made their way to a small park near the café. They didn’t have anything to sit on, but due to his guilt for being such an inconvenience, Kaoru picked a shaded area under a tree with a comfortable patch of grass. Ryou unpacked the food.While Kaoru had gotten a salad, Ryou had absentmindedly ordered a burger. Just before he took a bite of his sandwich, he realized that Kaoru might be put off by it. He glanced at him, the single amber eye peeking through the scarf and hat.“I forgot, you don’t like the smell of meat,” Ryou sheepishly said.“I-It’s okay…I was just thinking…” Kaoru gently said. “Maybe I could learn to enjoy the smell of…meat…” He stared down at his salad. “It…would make it easier…to be with you…” He set his salad aside, then slowly and elegantly, he unwrapped the scarf and took off his hat. The face underneath the articles was almost identical to Endrance’s face. The silvery blue locks were shoulder-length instead of down to his waist and much messier, as if he had forgotten to brush his hair. He took off the jacket, and he was wearing a loose white quarter-sleeved shirt. A second amber eye watched Ryou through the long side-swept bang.“You really look like Endrance,” Ryou gaped.“Our characters hold a piece of our identity, so it would only make sense if the most important part of us was the same. Am…I just as beautiful as…I hoped you would have liked?”Ryou had to turn his face away before Kaoru could see how red it had become. They were out in public—two guys having something of a picnic—well, one guy and one angelic figure that looked so much like doll.“Haseo…? Oh, I’m sorry…we shouldn’t use our PC names…that would be strange…”Ryou composed himself. “Sorry, just that question caught me off-guard,” he told him. “You can call me Haseo if you want. I don’t care either way. It’s not like people are going to recognize us.” He looked at his burger, his mouth watering from the sight of it. “So…uh, did you want to try it?”Kaoru looked uncomfortably at it. The main reason he didn’t like meat was the smell of the blood. But the burger was cooked, and ground beef had very little blood in it. Ryou promised him that it was cooked through, and he watched him take it. Kaoru examined it then took a small bite of it.“It’s…good…” Kaoru mumbled in between his chews.“Do you want some of it?” Ryou offered.“N-No…it’s your meal after all…I want to see your face…when you take a bite of it…”“Really? My expression isn’t anything special, heh.”“Everything about you…is special, Haseo…”Kaoru smiled sweetly at him before eating his salad. His manners were of a princess, and again Ryou had to compose himself. There had to be something to talk about. He asked him why he had been wearing the scarf and hat even though it was so hot outside.“Do you…really want to know…?” Kaoru asked. “It’s…not a nice story…and…I love you so deeply, but…do you really want to listen…?”“It would help me get to know you better,” Ryou replied.Kaoru finished his salad with an uncomfortable expression. He looked around as if scouting for spies. The park was mostly empty, the scarce amount of people there paying no attention to them. Yet, the shy man still felt they were watching him.“I…” he started as he kept his eyes down. “I got bullied a lot…because I like boys…” He picked at his fingernails. “The other students in school would make fun of me for it, and they said that I was girly. In high school, I got threatened a few times…they would try to beat me up, but I managed to run away…”Ryou waited for him to continue, but when Kaoru simply looked up at him, he realized that was it. Aside from reaffirming that Kaoru—Endrance—loved him, Ryou’s heart sank hearing that he had been treated so badly. He was angered by that. After all, Endrance was remarkably strong and confident to the point of being too flamboyantly gaudy at times. Before he was dethroned, he was worshipped by other players. To learn that this iconic person had been beaten down by peers and, as a result, had become content with never going outside up until now. Was he really content, or had he just accepted that he had no place in the real world?“This explains a lot,” Ryou said aloud. “You almost never log off…and why you have your mom make sure you’re eating…and why you never go out…” He went on to include habits that he had no evidence for.Kaoru blushed after realizing just how ridiculous the list sounded. “But if I’m with you, Haseo…I can learn to enjoy the real world again…” Then he pulled back. “Even if you don’t feel the same way…I can live easier knowing we’re even just friends…after all, I don’t want to get you in trouble…” His eyes shifted around again, albeit more frantically this time.“Endrance!” Ryou suddenly blurted. He took up his hands, squeezing them tightly. “Ah—I mean, Kaoru!”“H-Haseo?”“I’m sorry I didn’t understand, and really I probably still don’t. I can’t just let you live like this, though. So…” Ryou grimaced yet seemed embarrassed. “I’ll take care of you.”“Take…care…?”“Just like how you saved me in the Holy Palace Tournament and the Sage Palace Tournament, I’ll save you from anyone that tries to hurt you! So you can go outside with everyone else again.”Suddenly, Kaoru’s eyes twinkled with admiration. His knight in shining armor acknowledged him! He slowly leaned in, which made Ryou nervous. Then Kaoru threw his arms around him and hugged him tightly. He showered him with grateful kisses on his cheek and rubbed his face against the crown of his head. After what felt like wringing his neck, Ryou tapped his arm to let him go.“My heart is so full right now, Haseo…! You cannot possibly know how happy I am!” Kaoru chimed.“Yeah…pretty sure…I do…” Ryou choked out. “We’ll have to keep it a secret, okay?”“O-Of course…! I can keep secrets…! I…can do anything if it’s for you…!”Kaoru held his hands to his chest, his eyes sparkling as he stared expectantly at Ryou. Clearly, he was head over heels for the young man, and while it worried Ryou in more ways than one, he was glad to see that the emotions his friend held were true to those of his PC in The World.“Haseo…Haseo…I…I don’t know…how to thank you…” Kaoru sniffled. “W-Why am I…tearing up…?” He wiped away the beads at the corners of his eyes.“A-Aren’t you overreacting now?” Ryou sheepishly asked him.Kaoru sniffled again before reaching for Ryou’s hand. He held the back of it to his cheek as a wave of calm overcame him. Ryou, still somewhat unnerved, gradually began to see just how much his promise meant to him.“H-Haseo…I just want you to know…that you’re welcomed to come to my house whenever you want…I…want to meet up more like this…” Kaoru told him. “I want to know everything about you…”“Um, you can come over whenever you like, too.” Ryou’s eyes softened as he watched him melt into bliss.Kaoru smiled sweetly. “I’ll say it again…I can do anything if it’s for you…I’ll go wherever you are.”