Book 5: Chapter 9: Patch 2.0:

“About time you’re back,” Cassiel says. “How’d it go?”

“They want some more time to think about it,” Fenrir answers, stepping off of The Shoebill and then helping Nell, Corwin, and Tabitha over onto the dock.

“Did they at least seem like they’re going to accept or not?”

“Well, King Cat is all for it. Rainbow Afro – I’m not sure if he actually feels threatened or not by it since he’s farther north than all of us are, but Marija—the leader of Spike Port—seemed to be leaning more toward helping us than not.”

“What was Rainbow Afro like?”

“Exactly as he sounds.”

“He had a rainbow afro? Seriously?”

“Cass, he had a rainbow everything. I wouldn’t be surprised if his cum is rainbow colored.”

“Gross. I don’t want to think about that.”

“So, you’re telling me that if my cum was rainbow colored, it would be gross?”

“It’s gross no matter what color it is.”

“The grotesqueness is part of the appeal!” Nell chimes in. “Being forced to swallow something so foul and bitter—”

“H-hey, I don’t force any of you to swallow anything,” Fenrir says.

“Shame.”

“You’re lucky Fen isn’t like one of my shithead exes. You’d get tired of him trying to force things on you real quick,” Cassiel says.

“I know, I know. Just let me fantasize. If you are allowed to fantasize about him becoming wolflike and pinning you against the ground, then I am allowed to fantasize about him forcing me to swallow his—”

“H-hey! At least I keep my fantasies in my head!”

“That is because your fantasies are much more realistic than mine, so you are allowed to actually act them out! How do you think I must feel that my fantasies are strictly for my thoughts?”

“I-it’s not like we do mine that often…”

“Oi,” Tabitha says. “Can ya at least wait until I’m out of earshot before talkin’ about your weird things?”

“Says the girl who was fawning over muscles the entire time,” Fenrir mumbles under his breath.

“Oi! I heard that, you dog!”

“You might have heard it, but you’re not denying it.”

“I – I ain’t goin’ to deny somethin’ that’s true. I’m no liar!”

“What’s going on?” Cassiel asks.

“Our little Tabitha has a crush,” Fenrir answers, causing Tabitha’s short twintails to fly up before she turns away with blushing cheeks.

“Seriously? Tabs?”

“Li-listen!” Tabitha shouts. “I was only lookin’! A girl is allowed to look every now and then.”

“I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with it. I’m just surprised. I didn’t really think you were into things like that, especially muscles.”

“Oi, what’s wrong with muscles?”

“Didn’t – didn’t you say you were… you know?”

“Into girls?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So… girls with muscles?”

“Yeah. Somethin’ weird about that?”

Cassiel looks Tabitha over. For somebody who is into girls with muscles, Tabitha looks like the exact opposite of what her type is. Short enough to pass as a child, cute and short twintails, no muscle anywhere on her despite how much she loves doing physical labor and swinging a giant hammer around, and just overall tiny in every single way.

Yet, she likes huge, buff women.

“H-how would it even work?” Cassiel asks.

“I – listen, all I was doin’ was lookin’. It ain’t like I want anythin’ to happen,” Tabitha says.

“Yeah, besides, seems like Tab’s crush has an eye for Nell,” Fenrir says, causing Tabitha’s twintails to hang like a couple of deflated balloons. “A-ah… sorry, Tabs.”

“Goodness, my hero, you must learn to be more tactful!” Nell says before turning her attention to Tabitha. “It is most alright, Tabitha. I have my hero, so I will be rooting for you! I can even help you if you would like me to.”

“I – I said I’m not wantin’ anythin’ to happen. I was seriously just enjoyin’ lookin’ at her. She – she didn’t seem interested in me at all either, so it ain’t a big deal,” Tabitha says.

“Alright, let’s not push her too much,” Cassiel says. “If she wants help then she’ll ask us for it.”

“Yeah. Sorry, Tabs,” Fenrir says. “Though, I do kinda feel bad for that engineering boy.”

“Engineerin’ boy?” Tabitha asks.

“Did you even notice that he exists?”

“Li-listen, I was distracted.”

“You are so cute when you are flustered, Tabitha! I would love to see this flustered, feminine side of you more often,” Nell says.

“No.”

“Hey,” Cassiel says.

“Fiinnee,” Nell says and pouts.

“Anyways, it’s late and we did everything we needed to do for the day, so how about we go relax offline?” Fenrir asks.

“Sure. Serra is already off to play with the ferrets,” Cassiel says.

“Alright. Tabs, Corwin, see you tomorrow.”

“About time ya leave me alone,” Tabitha huffs.

“It was a pleasure working with you today, Fenrir,” Corwin says.

With that, Fenrir walks with his girlfriends over to the temporary house that has been set up with some makeshift beds inside of it. There are enough beds for each and every one of them to have their own, but sleeping in their own beds rarely ever happens. Instead, all of Fenrir’s girlfriends try squeezing into whatever bed he goes onto.

Azalabulia and Serra are already woken from virtual reality. Fenrir can tell that Azalabulia is the one who woke from virtual reality first seeing as how Serra is curled up to Azalabulia’s side with her legs and arms wrapped around her, and her head resting on top of Azalabulia’s chest.

Fenrir and Cassiel both feel jealous over Serra being so bold as to go and use Azalabulia’s soft body as a body pillow like that.

They want to do it, too.

They look at each other.

There is still one side of Azalabulia left open, and they have to get onto the bed together anyways. If they don’t all share the same bed then they know that Azalabulia will be jealous and Serra will get all huffy.

“Oh! My hero,” Nell says.

“Yeah?” Fenrir asks, looking over at Nell only to see her giggling with a hand over her mouth.

His ears twitch and he tilts his head since she doesn’t say anything else. He understands why once he looks back toward the bed.

Cassiel has gotten onto the bed on Azalabulia’s free side. She might not be cuddling up to Azalabulia yet, but she has successfully reserved the space.

“Us girlfriends must work together!” Nell announces.

Fenrir knows that he shouldn’t even be that jealous seeing as how he’s just going to wake from virtual reality and not get to enjoy cuddling up to Azalabulia in the first place, but he still wants to.

“I’ll admit defeat this time,” he says. “Besides, I got a better idea.”

Nell and Cassiel both watch him with interest as he walks over to the bed, skips the open spot behind Serra, and instead goes to the tiny spot that is nowhere near big enough for Fenrir to properly fit behind Cassiel.

“He-hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Cassiel asks.

“This,” he answers, climbing onto the bed right behind her.

He ends up pushing her even more onto Azalabulia, sandwiching her between them, and wraps his limbs around her much like how Serra is wrapped around Azalabulia’s other side.

“He-hey, what do you think you’re doing? There’s not enough space,” Cassiel says.

“That’s what she said,” Fenrir is quick to say.

Cassiel turns her head around to glare at him, but his eyes are already shut and he’s out of the game.

“Seriously,” Cassiel huffs, placing a kiss on his chin before turning back around to face Azalabulia as Nell climbs onto the other side of the bed.

There may be some debate between whether or not the “harem” is Serra’s or Fenrir’s, but right now, it looks as if Azalabulia is the queen of the harem as she has a boyfriend and girlfriend on one side, and two girlfriends on the other side.

One can only guess how flustered she might be the next time that she immerses into Fantasy Tales Online to find herself surrounded by her lovers as if they are members of her harem. Though, it would not be the first time, and it will surely not be the last time.

“Onii-wan,” Saya says, intercepting Fenrir before he is fully able to leave the game.

“Hey, Pupaya. What’s up?” he asks.

“Hmph! It’s Saya! Not Pupaya!”

“Alright, Sayaya.”

“Don’t mispronounce my name!”

“Sorry, I stuttered.”

“You can’t lie to me!”

“I stutt—”

“Onii-wan, I may get this reference and am willing to play along, but don’t you think you should get more original jokes instead of making references to anime all the time?”

“That hurts me. You didn’t even let me finish the reference.”

“I lied about being willing to play along.”

“Now who’s the one who’s lying?”

“I am. I just said that I am.”

“You’re cruel, Pupaya.”

Saya sighs and says, “Because you deserve it.”

“You know, I’m only in a masochistic mood some of the time. Not all of the time. You have to let me bully you.”

“It’s not bullying me if I let you do it!”

“Now you’re starting to sound like Nell wanting me to force things onto you.”

“It’s – it’s n-not like I want you to bully me or anything, ba-baka onii-wan.”

“You’re making it too easy now.”

“Are you going to bully me or not?!”

“It’s not bullying if you let me do it.”

“Now you’re starting to sound like Nell!”

“Who’s a good girl?”

“M—”

Saya’s eyes widen as she freezes, looking up at Fenrir. Such a simple question out of nowhere was able to get her virtual ears and tail wagging as if she’s some sort of degenerate into being asked if she’s a good girl! The fact that she wasn’t expecting it at all meant her guard was down and that she almost admitted to it, too.

“Y-you’re the worst, onii-wan… and why is your tail wagging?!”

“Listen. I’m still Fenrir right now which means I’m still part wolf, and that means that those words are going to have an effect on me even if they’re said by myself to somebody else.”

“Is this like when you tried rubbing your own belly?”

“Don’t make me try to rub your belly.”

Saya’s ears and tail shoot straight up as her face turns a bright shade of red. Even the bases of her ears are going red at this point. “D-d-don’t you dare even think about that, you perverted baka onii-wan!”

Fenrir thinks about it.

“I can read your thoughts! Stop thinking about it! It’s not allowed and I’m going to ban you from the game if you don’t stop!”

“You’re not allowed to ban me. You have no power here!”

“What did I say about the references?”

“Please, Pupaya.”

Saya turns around with her arms crossed over her chest so that she can ignore Fenrir… but she plays right into his trap.

Fenrir leaps forward, wraps his arms around her, and rubs her belly!

“Wh-wha?! H-hey! Sto-sto-op that! Y-you’re making me feel weird!” Saya whines out, but it doesn’t take long for those whines to turn into moans as her tail rapidly wags behind her.

“How are you feeling weird, Saya? Don’t you want me to bully you?”

“Y-you’re horrible! The worst!”

“Embrace it, Pupaya. Embrace the fact that you are a part of me which means that, if I were a girl, I would want to be treated like a dog.”

“Th-that’s not something anybody should ever admit!”

“Says the one who’s starting to shake her leg.”

“A-am not!” Saya whines out while shaking her right leg.

“Oh, yeah,” Fenrir pauses the shaking, “is there a reason why you brought me here instead of just letting me wake?”

“I – t-totally not!”

“Did you miss me or something?”

Saya’s ears perk up.

“You totally missed me, didn’t you?”

“Hmph.”

“I’ll pet your head if you admit it.”

“I—”

“You know you want to.”

Saya fidgets within his grasp, his hands still resting on her stomach as her tail wags against him and her ears twitch in silent need.

“O-only if you stop rubbing my belly, you weirdo onii-wan.”

“Deal,” he answers and pulls his hands away.

“Fine! I – it’s been a while since we’ve last met here.”

“So, you’ve missed me?”

“Do I have to say it?”

“Of course you do, Pupaya.”

Saya pouts and sighs before finally admitting it. “Fine. I – I missed you.”

“Good girl,” he tells her, getting a mixed reaction from her as she glares at him but her tail happily wags. Her glare does, however, soften as soon as he starts petting the space on top of her head between her canid ears. “See? That wasn’t so bad. All you had to do was admit it.”

“Baka.”

“Weeb.”

“Only because you’re a weeb! You bigger weeb! You biggest weeb! Perverted, weird, animal-ear-loving weeb!”

“That sounds about right.”

“At least deny it!”

“Why deny the truth? Besides, you’re in my head, so you know that I’d be lying even if I did try to deny it.”

“Hmph!”

“I wonder how many other players are as close to their virtual assistants as we are.”

“I-it’s not like we’re close or anything!”

“Always so tsundere.”

“Always so weird! A-and… only around two percent of players talk to their virtual assistants as much as you do…”

“Dang, so we’re only in the top two percent? We’ve got to try and figure out a way to get into the top percent then.”

“Th-that’d be way too much contact! I’d never want to be around you that much!”

“Wow, you’re really going full tsun right now, aren’t you?”

“Hmph!”

“Alright, I’ll stop teasing you for now. Have you had enough of my attention for the moment?”

“I – I guess so. It’s not like I needed it or anything in the first place.”

“Says the girl who already admitted to missing me and intercepting me while trying to wake in order for me to give you attention.”

“I’m going to impale you even harder than Cass Cass did!”

“Ooh. It’s my first time hearing you say her name like that. Try saying the others.”

“Wh-why?”

“Just because.”

“Hmph… Serra Berra, Nell Nell, Azawaza.”

“Yep, yep,” Fenrir says, nodding his head. “They all sound adorable coming from you. Your voice is just great.”

“You’re so weird…”

“Alright, one last thing. You should be able to know the sound I’m thinking of, but you know that one anime tsunderes make whenever they’re surprised or confused by something? Where it’s really dramatic? Try making that sound.”

“Haahhh? Why would I want to make such a stupid sound for you?”

“I don’t know who does it better. You or Cass Cass. Then again, she hasn’t made that sound for me in forever. I’ll have to annoy her to do it.’

“You’re the worst, onii-wan.”

“I know.”

“Go away already.”

“Finish waking me whenever you’re ready.”

“Fine!”

“Any time now.”

“I will! I’ll send you back!”

“You’re really taking a while this time, aren’t you?”

“I—”

“Want another headpat first?”

Saya blushes and looks away. Her tail starts wagging again the moment that she feels Fenrir’s hand on top of her head. “I’ll give you some more next time. Promise.”

“Do you mean it?”

“You know I do.”

“Hmph!”

And with that, Fenrir finds himself as Ryouta once more staring up at the ceiling while lying in bed.

“That took you a while,” Cassandra says. “We were starting to think you ended up playing more.”

“Nah. But, can you come here real quick?” Ryouta asks.

Cassandra walks over to the bed and looks her boyfriend over with a curious expression. “What?”

Ryouta quickly jabs his fingers into her side, causing her to jump up and let out one of her signature squeaks.

Cassandra immediately goes on the counterattack by lightly smacking her hands against his arm as she pouts.

“It’s been too long since I’ve gotten that noise out of you, Cass Cass,” Ryouta says.

“You’re the worst!” Cassandra whines.

“Huh. You’re kind of like Saya’s big sister in a way. Bigger in a lot of ways.”

“Haaah? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re the best. That’s what it means.”

“I don’t understand you,” she says and crosses her arms over her chest.

“That’s alright.”

“Hmph. Come on, the others decided to watch a movie.”

“What kind?”

Cassandra looks away and answers, “H-horror.”

“Let me guess. Serra picked it?”

“Yeah.”

“And Alice probably saw some sort of grotesque monster or something on the cover and decided to watch it because of that?”

Cassandra sighs and nods.

“Are you going to cling to my arm with your boobs until it falls asleep again?”

“No-not if you tease me about it.”

“So, I’ll get to enjoy that fanservice as long as I don’t tease you about it?”

“Ye-yeah. I’m going to need to hold onto you to make it through it. S-so, it’s either you or Alice!”

“Why not Serra?”

“Because she’ll just grope me the whole time if I do that.”

“Wouldn’t getting groped distract you from how scary the movie is?”

“Yeah, and then how am I going to pay any attention to it?”

“So, you want to be scared?”

“I – I don’t know. But I might as well pay attention if I’m watching it! There’s no point in watching a movie with all of you if I’m not paying any attention to it…”

“You actually just like to be scared, don’t you? I guess that makes sense seeing as how you’re totally a maso—”

“Finish what you’re saying.”

“I – I would have if you didn’t say that, but I think it might be better if I don’t now.”

“Hmph. You better not.”

“Even if it’s true?”

“Especially because it’s true!”

“You’re great, Cass Cass. Anyways, have we got any snacks or drinks for the movie?”

“Alice ordered some.”

“She ordered some? Why order some when we can just go down to the store and get some?”

“Because she doesn’t see any point in doing anything herself thanks to having disposable income.”

“Well, she wanted to go to the store that one time with us.”

“She said she already got that experience out of her system.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah.”

“What’d she order?”

“Pizza, Chinese, and some alcohol.”

“How – where did she manage to order all of those from? Is there even a single place anywhere that sells all of those?”

“She ordered from three different places.”

“Ho-how much did it cost?”

“She told us not to worry about it.”

“That girl…”

“Yeah.”

“I wonder if ferrets are allowed to eat crusts.”

“Crusts?”

“Yeah, you know. From the pizza. It wouldn’t be fair if we ordered pizza and they didn’t get any of it.”

“They’re ferrets, Ryouta. They don’t need human food.”

“But wouldn’t you want human food if you were a ferret?”

“I’m not a ferret so I wouldn’t know.”

“Hmm.”

“H-hey, why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m imagining what a ferret monster girl would look like. I think you’d have to be taller and lankier for it to work, but the ears and tail would look great on you.”

“Wh-what do you mean by lankier? Are you—”

“I’m going to avoid this trope right now and say that I don’t think you’re fat, I didn’t mean to imply that you’re fat, and that I love your body exactly as it is.”

“Hm-hmph.”

“All I meant was that ferrets are really long and skinny, so you’d have to be really tall and really skinny. Like, underweight skinny.”

“D-do you like girls who are that skinny?”

“I like girls like you, Cass Cass.”

“Smart answer… dumbie.”

“So much fanservice in one conversation. How is my heart going to handle all of this?”

“Just get up. We have a movie to watch.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming.” Ryouta pauses for a moment. “That’s what she said.”

“Don’t ‘that’s what she said’ yourself.”

“But Serra wasn’t here for it.”

Cassandra sighs and walks out of the room.

Ryouta is the next one to sigh before he stretches and gets up off of his bed. He still hasn’t heard back from Aiko when he checks his phone, but he does know that she’s been in touch with Serra. He also knows that her condition is improving, but that’s all he knows about her. She has even been guarded about sharing information with Serra.

All he can hope for is that Aiko is telling the truth about her improvement and not lying to them.

But, instead of worrying about that since he knows that there isn’t anything more he can do without behaving like a borderline stalker like she was to him, he has a movie to watch with his girlfriends.

The doorbell rings just as he reaches the bottom of the steps.

“Either that was really fast or I spent more time with Saya than I thought,” Ryouta says, walking up to the door.

When he opens it… the unbelievableness that is Alice grows even more unbelievable.

Three different delivery drivers have arrived all at once and are standing in front of the door looking confused for various reasons.

One of these reasons is why are there three of them?

Another of the reasons is why do they each have so much food?

The last reason is who would order this much food from three different places?

The pizza deliverer has not one, not two, but three boxes of pizza in his arms with a couple of bottles of pop and two smaller boxes of breadsticks on top.

The Chinese deliverer has two large bags full to the brim with food, and the scent from it easily overwhelms the rest of the delivered food.

Finally, there is the man who is delivering alcohol, and Ryouta did not even know that an alcohol delivery service existed or was legal in the first place.

Cassandra is close enough to see the three men outside of the door, and her eyes go wide at the realization of just how much food there is.

“You – you ordered this much?” she asks Alice whom is sitting contently on the couch.

“Of course! There are four of us, so this should be enough to last us a day!” Alice answers.

“A day? There’s three weeks of food there!”

“Worry not, Cassandra. I am sure that we will go through all of the food without any waste!”

“It’s either going to be wasted or we’re going to die from living off of pizza, Chinese, and alcohol for three weeks.”

“You are so very dramatic.”

“I think we’ve broken you.”

“As much as I wish I was broken, what makes you think that?”

“You went from being all about healthy eating and home cooking and all of that to… this.”

“This is far more convenient, is it not? Besides, we can only be expected to cook ourselves so often without maids to assist us!”

“I’m going to have to start cooking more or else we’re all going to become giant balls rolling around the house.”

“I am already used to rolling to get around, so that does not sound too bad to me!”

“I—”

“Thanks,” Ryouta says.

The girls look over at Ryouta. He’s sweating and panting, but all of the ordered items have been brought inside and left on the kitchen counter.

“For the help,” he continues.

“S-sorry,” Cassandra says.

“You are a wonderful sight when you are sweating, my hero,” Alice says.

“I get that you two were busy talking and giving those guys a conversation to listen in on, but where’s Serra? What’s her excuse for not helping me?” Ryouta asks.

“Ah, that is a surprise! She is trying something out.”

“Trying something out?”

“You will – ah, here she is!”

Ryouta and Cassandra turn around to see Serra standing in one of the doorways.

Normally, Serra would be wearing shorts, jeans, and a t-shirt with some sort of graphic design on it to make her look more punk than she is. However… what she is now wearing is the exact opposite of punk.

What she is wearing is… a penguin kigurumi that looks a few sizes too large for her. The hood of a head has to be lifted up every few seconds to prevent it from sliding down and completely covering her face, her feet aren’t visible at all underneath the baggy legs pooling around them on the floor, and they can only tell where her arms are because they see her hands poking up against the fabric of the sleeves from within them. The sleeves are far too long for her arms.

Not only that, but despite it being fully zipped up from the front, her chest is almost exposed from how low it’s hanging on her. It looks like it was made for somebody like Azalabulia, the tallest and most clothes-filling out of all the girlfriends, rather than Serra!

But that doesn’t stop Serra from wearing a smug smile on her face.

“Hwuak,” Serra says, sounding like a duck.

This is when they realize that, unless she had seen a penguin at some point in-game, she has no idea what they actually sound like.

None of them have the heart to tell her that she sounded nothing like a penguin because of how cute she sounded.

Instead, they all give her one of her own signature thumbs-ups before taking whatever food and drinks they want for the movie.

Serra takes the most pizza, Ryouta takes a good balance between pizza and Chinese, and Alice and Cassandra take mainly Chinese. As for drinks, Ryouta takes the most while the rest—except for Cassandra—get enough to last them the movie.

It doesn’t take long for everybody to settle into their positions once the movie begins.

Serra, sitting between Ryouta and Alice, doesn’t do much aside from eating and drinking while watching the subtitled film on their large screen. Alice is quick to fantasize about all manners of lewd and horrifying scenarios involving herself and Ryouta as various types of monsters, and it takes more effort than any of them know for her to not interrupt the movie to talk about her fantasies.

Ryouta drinks just enough so that he won’t be scared at all and instead ends up giggling whenever any jump scares happen. As for Cassandra – well, she quickly loses her appetite and the ability to drink the pop that she poured for herself as soon as the movie gets suspenseful.

Which really only took it about five minutes.

From that point until the end of the movie, she doesn’t manage to eat nor drink anything else since her hands are too busy either resisting covering her eyes or clinging around Ryouta’s arm.

The fanservice ends up being even better than Ryouta was hoping for. Feeling Cassandra’s breasts pressing up against his arm is a great feeling, and sometimes Cassandra is even cute and scared enough to bury her face against his shoulder so that she can’t see what’s happening. Doing this gives her the best of both worlds: hiding her eyes while getting to stay clinging to Ryouta.

Not much changes throughout the course of the movie other than when Serra decides to, rather than eat and drink while watching, sprawl out across everybody’s laps. With her legs over Ryouta’s and Cassandra’s, her head rests on top of Alice’s soft lap.

Alice takes the opportunity, being unable to resist, to pull back Serra’s hood so that she may gently stroke the side of Serra’s head.

Serra ends up falling asleep before the movie is over.

Alice is the next one to fall asleep despite how excited her fantasies might be making her.

Cassandra is the third one to fall asleep. At this point, Ryouta is barely aware enough of his surroundings to realize that they have all fallen asleep, and he’s too sleepy and drunk to do anything about it, so he falls asleep as well.

Together, the four sleep together on the couch as the movie comes to an anticlimactic ending.

Needless to say, there is no way that they are going to manage to get through all of the food that Alice ordered.

The alcohol, on the other hand, has a much longer shelf life and will probably be the first thing gone despite not needing to be dealt with right away.

As for things that need to be dealt with, it will be time to head into the mountains where the supposed dragons are the next time that Ryouta and his girlfriends head in-game. After all, they are looking to get more allies than just the leaders of the other towns. What better way to combat enemies from the depths than with allies from the heights?