Evening Game

“Chione!”

She called out once more and sprinted toward them. Ethan slid out of the way as she leaped toward Chione, bringing the girl into her arms.

“I thought you said you didn’t play!”

“I- I… think you’re asking the wrong person-”

“Impossible! I know my best friend!”

Chione looked at Ethan, her eyes pleading for help. He moved slightly further from them.

“Don’t involve me in your lover’s quarrel.”

“What- No!”

“So you love me?”

“No! I mean, yes! But not that way!”

Ethan chuckled after hearing how Chione unintentionally admitted that she knew who this person was. While she definitely changed some parts of her, her face and skin color remained unchanged. Her personality, in fact, was entirely the same.

Calista. Chione’s best friend, was also the girl that sat in front of her in class. She had light brown skin, and in real life, she had short black hair with red glasses. She didn’t wear any now, as glasses here worked no more than as accessories, and she also changed her hair, but almost everything else remained unchanged.

Ethan stepped further aside, not wanting to have any part in their conversation. He turned his back toward the two and continued walking.

“Is he your boyfriend?”

“Of course not!” ×2

Both Chione and Ethan said it at the same time.

“But you two-”

“He’s helping me with my training!”

Chione said, flustered. She started fidgeting awkwardly and hurried toward Ethan, catching up to him.

“Oh, we need to go now-”

She tried to pull up the kindest, most sincere smile she could pull, but her sentence was cut off by Calista jogging toward them.

“I’ll come.”

Ethan ignored those words and continued walking.

“Wait, why?”

Her tone had changed completely. She apparently noticed this and finally gave Calista a much sweeter smile, similar to her real-life self.

“Why, though? Aren’t you busy?”

Ethan noticed that she looked uncomfortable, although he wondered if Calista got the memo.

“I need to get some training as well. I messed up and ended up here.”

“Is that why you’re searching for help?”

“Yep. We invited you too, remember?”

Ethan didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but their voices were loud enough to reach his ear. He didn’t say anything, though. FireRock wanted nothing to do with these girls’ personal problems, after all.

“Yeah… I have some personal reasons.”

Bet.

It was pretty obvious by now. She not only lied to him about playing, but she also lied to her friends as well.

But why?

Why didn’t she change her appearance or name? Was it as simple as not knowing about it? That couldn’t be the reason, could it? Calista now stood right beside her, looking slightly different from her real self, thus she couldn’t possibly not know that she could change some of her features, right?

Ethan suddenly received a friend request.

“This you?”

He asked, pointing toward the screen that should be invisible from Calista’s perspective.

“BlackSwan24? Yeah.”

“Alright.”

He accepted the friend request and the following party join request. Calista’s username appeared under Chione’s in the left upper corner of his view. He swiped his hand across the horizon, sending a virtual signal that turned off the display.

“Why FireRock?”

Calista asked as they continued their walk into the Northern Forest.

“The game recommended it to me.”

“Ah, I see. It does sound nice.”

For a moment, Ethan thought about asking back out of politeness, but that wasn’t something FireRock would do.

“How about you, Chione? You went with your real name?”

“Yeah. What does BlackSwan mean?”

The way Chione immediately returned the question took Ethan by surprise, but he wasn’t supposed to ask about it.

“I saw some black swans two years ago, and I kinda fell in love with them. I mean, they look so graceful, you know?”

“Couldn’t deny that.”

Two years ago…

Ethan frowned, but since he walked in front of the two girls, his features were hidden from them. The mention of that reminded him of something he didn’t want to remember. He let out a silent sigh and walked faster, fast enough to distance himself from them but not fast enough to leave them behind.

Or so he thought.

“You’re walking a bit fast? Is something wrong?”

Calista walked beside him, with not the slightest problem of catching up.

“You’re an agility build?”

He asked.

“Maybe?”

Ethan stopped, ignoring Chione who had been left in the dust. He glanced at her, saw her jogging to get close, and brought his attention back to Calista who eyed him with an investigating gaze, her eyes going from his face down to his clothing.

“Let me see your equipment.”

The game didn’t allow a player to see someone else’s equipment, unless they shared the screen with them.

“Share screen?”

“Yes.”

Calista brought her finger on the empty space in front of her and started swiping, meanwhile, Chione finally caught up to them.

“I don’t know how you two walked that fast, but stop it.”

She complained in a weirdly nice and calm way, her face looking slightly tired. She stopped and took a breather before bringing her attention to the space in front of her. Since they were in the same party, if one member shared a screen, everyone else would automatically be able to see the screen as well. The owner could set it so that they targeted only a single person like when they were outside a party, but in this case, Calista didn’t change the setting.

“You’re an agility build with a single weapon.”

Ethan commented. The clothes Calista wore, her light blue t-shirt, black joggers and white trainers didn’t do much to weigh her down, nor did it have any protection capabilities.

“Give me access to your inventory.”

“There’s nothing inside, though.”

“That’s the point.”

A button on the right side of the window appeared. Ethan tapped it and his screen showed Calista’s empty inventory.

“You become faster the less you carry.”

It didn’t affect much, considering the large amount of inventory space a player was given, but comparing an empty player with someone like Ethan who carried a few of weapons, there bound to be some differences. Ethan looked at Chione. Chione tapped through her screen a couple of times, and a second window appeared in front of Ethan. Ethan closed Calista’s window and examined Chione’s.

“Default clothes and a whole lot of weapons.”

Ethan muttered. He then turned toward Calista.

“You want training, right? Help her carry some of her weapons.”

“Alright. Chione, let me carry them all.”

“Huh?”

Ethan went into the forest as the two started trading weapons. He cleared a path for them, cutting down virtual trees and bushes while removing some twigs and fallen branches. His eyes caught the sight of a monster. It didn’t notice him, its yellow body moving cautiously around the trees. A yellow lion, a monster in his quest list. A high-level monster, more fearsome and deadly compared to the yellow tigers he faced in the Southern Forest, literally the king of the Northern Forest.

He returned the hammer he was holding to his inventory and swapped it with a bow, his primary long-range weapon. He aimed the weapon at the animal. He released a shot, sending a single metal arrow streaking through the quiet air. It landed straight in its target’s stomach, causing it to violently hop and turn. It didn’t kill it, not that it was his intention anyway. The lion roared and leaped toward him, jumping and running across the forest, its speed more than enough to overwhelm a beginner. It leaped into the air, ready to pound at Ethan. An inexperienced player would be cowering in fear, but…

Ethan swiped his hand to the side. The system registered his will and his trusty, dark red double-edge spear appeared in his hand. He thrust it forward, sending it straight at the lion. The lion failed to respond, and he pushed the spear straight into its open mouth. He felt the lion’s momentum and weight pushing back on him, his agility-based build struggling to keep up the pressure. It pushed him a meter back, but he managed to keep himself from tumbling. He let the lion drop down to the ground, its body shattering into shards of white, floating before disappearing. A screen showed him the results of the battle.

“Woah…”

Chione and Calista stood not far behind him, their mouths agape.

“What was that?”