Book 8: Chapter 14:

“Fe-Fen!” Azalabulia shouted as soon as she saw her lover arrive back at town alongside Mister Smiles, each of them with faces covered in bloodied bruises. She was more concerned about the fact that Fenrir looked so beat up than the fact that Mister Smiles wasn’t wearing her usual mask. “What happened? Do you need a healer?”

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” Fenrir answered. “We just decided to have a sparring session.”

Azalabulia looked at Mister Smiles, who nodded, and then looked back at Fenrir. Then she looked at Mister Smiles again. Then back at Fenrir. Something was off but she couldn’t quite figure out what it was. It was only when she looked at Mister Smiles again, staring at her face, that she realized what was going on.

“Hey,” Mister Smiles said.

Fenrir was happy to see that she was serious about trying harder to be more sociable, even if all she did was say a simple greeting.

“You… you’re… you’ve… been a woman this whole time?” Azalabulia asked.

“Yeah,” Mister Smiles answered.

“O-oh. Well… um… is there something else we should call you then?”

“That’s a good question,” Fenrir said. “All anybody knows you by is Mister Smiles. Got an actual name you’d like us to call you instead?”

Mister Smiles blushed just a tiny bit as she scratched her cheek to think about how to answer. “Ah guess that uh, Mary’s fine. Ah’m used ta bein’ called that.”

“Mary. Got it. That’ll be a lot easier than saying Mister Smiles all the time.”

“You… were talkin’ about me all the time?”

“Well, no, but—”

Mary went from looking worried to being talked about all the time to disappointed that she wasn’t actually being talked about all the time.

Fenrir realized that it was a lose-lose situation for her, so he changed the subject by returning his attention to Azalabulia. “Did you just get home?”

“It – it’s nice to meet you, Mary!” Azalabulia said before answering the question. “I did! I… should have been home an hour ago, but there were moose.”

“What do moose have to do with anything?”

“Well, they’re an endangered species now… not like there are many species that aren’t, and a small herd of them crossed in front of the road I take home. Then they were interested in my autocar, so they gathered all around it and wouldn’t get out of the way. Between having to stop for them and then being surrounded by them… all I could do was take video and pictures with my phone while waiting for them to go away.”

“Sounds like you might have some viral catches there. The internet loves animal stuff and it’s not every day that somebody gets surrounded by moose.”

“A-ah, well… I… wouldn’t mind sharing it with the Fiscord group, but… I’d be too embarrassed showing it to the public.”

“Were you scared and crying?”

Azalabulia pouted and puffed out her chest, almost shoving it into Fenrir considering her size. “Absolutely not! We-well… I might have cried a little bit… but it was from being happy! I wasn’t scared at all! I was just really happy to see them up close since they were all cute and friendly! And there were even some babies with them!”

“So, the reason you’re too embarrassed to publicly share the videos is because you were crying from happiness and probably making all sorts of adorable noises the entire time?”

Azalabulia realized she was caught and took a step back.

“You don’t have to act like it’s a secret considering that you were going to let us see the videos anyways.”

“I – I could mute the videos! But then you wouldn’t hear their moose noises…”

“You know, you could always let us see the videos and then share the pictures you posted. The internet would still love them. Though, if you really were being adorable during the videos, the internet would love them even more. Like that one old video of the girl crying because sloths.”

“I… know that video, and I don’t like that I can compare myself to it…”

“Does moose taste good?” Mary asked. “Always wanted ta try some.”

Azalabulia went from looking shy and embarrassed to shocked and horrified within a second. “How – how could you want to eat something so cute?! And they’re endangered! Hunting them isn’t even legal anymore!”

“Oh. Yeah, guess that’d be a problem.”

“I can’t believe you would even ask that in the first place…”

Azalabulia looked ready to cry which meant that Mary figured she was doing a horrible job of coming out from her shell. If her first attempt at properly talking to somebody other than Serra and Fenrir was going this poorly, wasn’t she just going to make everybody hate her?

Fortunately for Mary, her mind was simply overreacting.

“Fen!” Azalabulia shouted, pointing a dramatic finger at him. “Are there any moose nearby?”

“Maybe if we go farther up the coast?” Fenrir answered. “I know it’s a pretty cold place up where the rainbow lovers are. They even get some icebergs floating down near them every now and then from what I’ve heard.”

“Good. We’ll hunt there.”

Mary raised her eyebrows and sounded confused as she asked, “I thought you were against that?”

“I am, in real life. That is why we must find moose for you to taste in this world so that you aren’t tempted to try eating them in the real world! Bahamut’s flames will scorch them on the spot so that they even come precooked! Fen! What’s the fastest way to get up there?”

“The Shoebill,” Fenrir answered. “Need a lift? I wouldn’t mind taking you up there right now. Besides, I’m curious about what it’s like up there.”

Azalabulia, with her hands curled into balls and held in front of her, nodded.

“Are ya sure that’s alright?” Mary asked. “Ah – ah don’t want ta be a bother. It’s fine if ah don’t get to find out how it—”

“This is too important!” Azalabulia declared. “The reason those moose surrounded me today… it must have been a sign! They were letting me know that something like this would happen!” Striking a dramatic pose, Azalabulia held onto her hat with one hand while holding her other arm out toward Mary. “For the sake of real moose around the world, we shall go and burn virtual moose with Bahamut’s flames!”

“Makes sense to me,” Fenrir said. “I’ll go get The Shoebill ready. Meet me over there in around… ten minutes.”

Azalabulia and Mary nodded, the former much more energetic than the latter who still seemed a bit confused about how suddenly all of this was happening. And with that, Azalabulia went into a lecture about how Mary was absolutely never allowed to hunt moose in real life, but that she would be glad to help her hunt anything in-game if it meant protecting the same creatures from her in the real world.

A certain dog-eared individual popped out from behind the wall of one of the newly constructed houses as Fenrir walked over to where The Shoebill was docked.

“Have fun getting punched in the face over and over again, onii-wan?” Saya asked with a smug, knowing smile.

“Have fun feeling everything that I felt?” Fenrir asked in response, wearing the same smug, knowing smile that she wore.

“Sh-shut up. Gosh… what a weirdo, actually getting excited by being beat up by a girl.”

“Gosh, what a weirdo, actually being in my head and getting excited because I was getting excited.”

“That’s not my fault! It’s not like I can help it! I’m forced to feel everything you feel, thank you very much!”

“I actually feel kind of guilty when you put it that way.”

“Hmph. We-well… it’s not like I dislike it or anything… wa-wait! Onii-wan! Why’d you get down on your hands and knees?!”

“To praise you for the tsundere fanservice.”

“Get – get up! People are looking! They’re going to think you’re some kind of weirdo!”

“Everybody here already knows I’m a weirdo.”

“That doesn’t matter! Even if you don’t feel any shame, I still do!”

Fenrir raised his arms over his head before lowering them back to the ground in repeated motions. “All hail Pupaya, goddess of the tsundere fanservice.”

“Oh my – that’s it. I give up. I don’t know who you are. I’ll just walk away now and pretend you don’t exist, that you never existed, and that you never will exist.”

Just as Saya actually turned around and began to walk away, Fenrir jumped up and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “What’s wrong? You only want me to tease you in private instead of in public?”

It was time for Saya’s ultimate attack. Tilting her head to the bottom left… she suddenly jerked it in the opposite direction to swing one of her twin tails directly into Fenrir’s face! “Hmph!”

As for Fenrir, his hands came to rest over her abdomen, refusing to let go of his embarrassed assistant. To everybody around, they looked like a playful couple, especially with how he was holding her. “That shouldn’t have been as exciting as it was.”

“Seriously, onii-wan? Being slapped in the face with hair by a girl pretending to be your imouto is enough to make you horny?”

“What? It’s like an extreme dose of tsundere fanservice and that always excites me on its own.”

“You’re the worst.”

“In my defense, you slapped me knowing full well that I was going to enjoy it.”

“Sh-shut up. It’s not like I did it specifically because I knew you’d like it or anything. Hmph.”

“Having fun convincing everybody around that you’re just as weird as me?”

Saya froze for a few moments before saying, “If I jump up as hard as I can right now, I might be able to break your jaw.”

That was when Fenrir realized it was probably a good idea to let go of her and step back. “Anyways, want to go fishing and exploring with me? I’m taking Aza and Mary up north.”

“Mary? Who’s that?”

“You know, what information you’re allowed and not allowed to use from being in my head gets confusing.”

“Well, I’m allowed to tease you about feeling what you felt what fighting because that’s related to being a virtual assistant still. The other stuff isn’t related to assistant duties.”

“Knowing which direction I’m coming from so that you can hide behind a wall and jump out at me doesn’t count as breaking the rules of what you should be able to act off of?”

Saya looked away and scratched her cheek, clearly acting like a suspicious person who had something to hide. “That’s… that’s different.”

“Is it really though?”

“Listen! All that matters is that technically Kadi knows everything I do as I do it at any given time, so if there was ever a problem, she’d stop me before I could even do it. So, don’t ask questions and just take my word for it!”

“But if I never question anything you say, how am I going to tease you when you claim not to like something that I know you actually do like?”

“Then – then I guess you’ll never be able to tease me again! Hah!”

“You think that I won’t be able to tease you just because I can’t question you anymore?”

“O-onii-wan, what are you doing?”

Fenrir took a step toward Saya, causing her to take a step back. He continued approaching her until he had her back up against the wall of the nearest building. Before she could think of escaping by going to the sides, Fenrir placed each of his hands on the wall around her.

That was when he realized his mistake. “You know, kabedon really doesn’t work that well when the other person is way shorter.”

“He-hey… onii-wan, wanna back out to the lobby real quick?” Saya asked, looking up at him with nervous, but eager, eyes.

Fenrir wasn’t sure what she wanted to do in the lobby, but there was no way he could resist. “Sure. Just don’t let my avatar fall down and look stupid.”

Saya nodded. The next moment, Fenrir found himself in a virtual recreation of his real body.

As Ryouta, he now stood in front of Saya at a much more equal height with a generic wall behind her in an otherwise empty environment. He was still a bit taller than her, but he wasn’t too tall for what she clearly wanted.

“Looks like somebody got their hopes up before realizing I was too tall,” Ryouta teased.

“Sh-shut up,” Saya replied. “Just hurry up and do it already. It’s bad manners to keep a girl waiting!”

“Do what? This?” Ryouta thrust his right arm forward, planting his hand against the wall right next to her head before his left hand reached up to take gentle hold of her chin. “This what you were getting excited for?”

With burning cheeks, Saya struggled to look him in the eyes as she nodded.

“You’re so cute when you’re honest.”

“Sh-shut up. You can’t tease a girl about kabedon without actually doing it to her. That’s the law.”

“That’s a pretty weird law, but I’m not against it.”

“Hmph…”

“But you know, there’s another law that goes with it.”

“What?”

“Recipients of a kabedon must also be givers of it so that there’s an equal exchange.”

Saya rolled her eyes before snapping her fingers. In an instant, Ryouta became the one with his back to the wall as Saya stood in front of him. Only, she wasn’t just normal Saya. It was that aunt version of her from a long time ago. From too long ago. It was the older lady version of Saya who was bigger in every single department. And now, she placed her hand against the wall just like he did before placing a single finger underneath his chin to tilt his head back. “Is this what you were hoping for?” she asked. Even her voice was deeper as she stared directly into his eyes, her loose sweater hanging low enough in front of him to give him a teasing sight of the valley hidden behind it.

“Ye-yeah,” Ryouta answered. “This is pretty nice.”

“What a perverted little rascal you are. Wanting to be pushed around by an older woman like this. Do you even know how obvious you are right now? You’re like a little kid.” She took her finger away from her chin to instead hook it onto the top of her sweater, tugging it down just a little bit more to give him an even clearer sight of her chest.

All Ryouta could do was gulp as he gave her full control. “You’re way too perfect at giving fanservice.”

“Am I? If I really wanted to give you fanservice, I’d do that thing out of that one hentai you love. I’d lift my sweater up and tuck you inside of it. Hmm… maybe I should do that after all? To reward you for being such a good boy.”

“I – I don’t know if my heart would be able to handle that.”

“In that case, I wonder how your heart would be able to handle this.”

While staying in front of him, giving him that teasing sight down her sweater, another Saya appeared by Fenrir’s side. This one looked just like her usual, little sister-like self. “Where do you think you’re looking, onii-wan?!” the second Saya said, wrapping her arms around a single arm of his. “I leave you alone for one second and you’re letting some old hag tease you… hmph!”

With a pouty frown, the older lady version of Saya wrapped her arms around Ryouta and pulled him closer, planting his face right against her chest. “Hmph. I was playing with him first. You can wait your turn. Besides, I’m sure he would much rather lose himself in me. I have much more to offer him, after all.”

“I-it’s not like being bigger than me makes you better than me! I can still do everything that you can do! Plus I’m totally cuter than you, and he’s a degenerate onii-wan who loves the cute appeal more than anything else!” The normal Saya pulled as hard as she could on Ryouta’s arm in an attempt to get him away from her larger and older self. “Isn’t that right, onii-wan? I’ll – I’ll even go woof and wan for you…”

“You think you’re the only one who can make those noises?” The older Saya took Ryouta’s face out from her chest to bring her lips right next to his ear. “Let me show you the power of a mature woman’s—”

Both versions of Saya merged into the same, normal appearance that stood in front of him. Stood in front of him in a normal way, too. No more teasing. “Wait! Onii-wan! You were supposed to meet the others! We can’t… onii-wan?”

When Saya looked up at Ryouta’s face, all she saw were his flushed cheeks and dizzy, spinning eyes to go with the stupid grin he wore.

“Crap… I might have given him too much fanservice. Well, I guess I know to never take it that far again the—”

Ryouta grabbed onto Saya’s shoulders as he stared directly into her eyes. “Please do,” he said, his voice steady and serious in tone.

“I – I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so serious before.”

“This is important, Saya. Also… how many copies of yourself can you make?”

“If I answer, will you go back and do what you’re supposed to be doing?”

“Yes.”

“Then… I don’t know, a few dozen thousand before your brain starts struggling?”

“A – a few… dozen… thousand?”

“Before you even think about asking, I’ll consider being up to four girls at once for you. Any more than that is too much and you’ll never be able to get anything done!”

A defeated sigh left Ryouta’s lips. “I know. Alright, you can put me back into Fenrir now.”

“O-onii-wan… I didn’t know you swung that way…”

Ryouta flicked Saya’s forehead which triggered her into sending him back in-game.

Fenrir was exactly where he left off, as was Saya. “Thanks, by the way,” he said. “But just so you know, I absolutely want a continuation of that little scene we had going someday.”

“I’ll consider it if you behave and don’t tease me too much,” Saya said with her arms crossed over her chest. “I hope you really appreciated that! Geez… it’s so embarrassing acting like that.”

“I do appreciate it. You’re the best.”

“And you’re still the worst.”

“I know.”

By the time that Fenrir made it over to The Shoebill with Saya, he saw that Azalabulia and Mary were both there wondering where he was. Of course, as soon as they saw the late arrivals who looked flustered and guilty, they had a good idea of what happened to have made them wait.

“Sorry about that,” Fenrir said while helping Saya board The Shoebill. He knew that she didn’t need help, but he still felt holding her as she crossed over was the right thing to do.

“It umm, it was my fault,” Saya said to the women. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Azalabulia said. “It gave me more time to teach Mary.”

“I feel like ah’m in school again,” Mary said.

Fenrir crossed over and asked, “What’ve you been teaching her?”

“About coral reefs!” Azalabulia proudly answered.

“How’d you get to there from moose?”

“Well, we began talking about endangered species in general, then we moved onto extinct animals, and that reminded me of the reefs.”

“Ah wish I could see one,” Mary said. “Too bad they’re all… you know.”

Azalabulia sighed and slumped her shoulders. “If only we’d acted decades before we did. Well, let’s not focus on the depressing side of it too much. The good news is that we may see new reefs pop up in the future! It may take hundreds… or thousands… of years, but there’s still a chance!”

Fenrir blinked a few times. “I’ve never felt an atmosphere go from happy and exciting to gloomy and depressing so quickly before. I think I’m just going to go and focus on getting us moving.”

“I’ll help,” Saya said, sounding just as depressed as Fenrir did.

“Well, good news is that we’re all still alive,” Mary said. “At least we’ve got that goin’ for us, right?”

“Right!” Azalabulia said. “And that is why we must live peacefully with nature instead of hunting it!”

“But… huntin’ is fun and relaxin’.”

Azalabulia pouted. “Then do it in-game! There’s more to hunt and you don’t have to kill any real animals to do it!”

“But it ain’t really the same, ya know? It ain’t as meaningful.”

“It’s every bit as meaningful as the real thing if you let it be!”

As Azalabulia and Mary returned to the original source of their talks, Fenrir and Saya prepared The Shoebill’s sails and untied her from the dock.

“I didn’t know she was that big on the environment,” Saya said.

“Well, I can’t blame her,” Fenrir said. “We don’t have that many animals left in the wild, so I’d like to see them protected and safe instead of being hunted down because it’s fun. But at the same time… I mean, humans have been hunters for what, tens of thousands of years at least? It’s in our blood. I still like fishing for food and because it’s fun. And a challenge. There’s just something satisfying about earning the food yourself.”

“Couldn’t you grow your own food in a garden instead then?”

Yeah, that’s true. Actually… we do have a yard. I wonder if we should try growing some vegetables.”

“You should! That sounds like it could be fun. You can start a garden in real life, and I’ll start one here!”

“You sound pretty excited about that.”

“Sh-shush. I only want to do it at the same time so that I can grow even bigger and better vegetables than you to put you in your place.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

With The Shoebill prepared, Fenrir went back to the vessel’s wheel and called out, “Alright, we’re ready to go!”

Saya was the only one paying any attention since Azalabulia was already deep into a new, educational topic with Mary.

Most adults weren’t able to handle too much of the teacher side of Azalabulia’s personality, but Mary seemed to have no problem being lectured. If anything, she looked like she was enjoying the educating.

And now it was time for the group to set sail and head farther north than they had ever gone. Fortunately, there were some blankets below deck in case it got too cold. That was basically all he knew about the northern region of the coast – that it was really, really cold. Well, that and the fact that it occasionally had some icebergs drift by.

That was when he realized that he never heard about any major factions in the world’s most northern zone. He knew that, between the two continents, there was a large landmass to the north that was covered in snow and ice, but he never actually heard anything about it aside from that. Were there monsters there? Players living there? He could assume so, but he had zero actual knowledge about it. He couldn’t even remember any videos or screenshots of players checking the area out.

But before any grand ideas of adventure to explore the mysterious landmass came to mind, he figured that he could always just ask Eva about it later. She’d probably know something about it.

For now, he’d be content with finding out what the northern shore of their coast was like.

And even more importantly, he was excited to learn what kind of fish were up there. It seemed like fishing in arctic areas always had the biggest and deadliest game from the previous fishing games he’d played, so he was excited to see if the cold waters of Fantasy Tales Online would prove to be the same.