Chapter Text
~In the internet café~
“Rinko, I don’t understand this dumb menu, I’ve already pressed what class I want to be but it’s not letting me play!” Arisa pouted at the computer screen in front of her.
Rinko appeared behind Arisa and giggled gently, “You didn’t type in a username, that’s why,” Rinko smiled sweetly.
“O-Oh, well they should have made that clearer then!” Arisa puffed out her cheeks before typing ‘Bonsailover’ into the username space to which Rinko chuckled. Arisa’s face turned red as she looked away from Rinko, “What? I didn’t know what else to put is all!”
“I think it’s really cute!” Rinko replied as she reached over Arisa and changed the server, “Okay! You’re all set, are you sure you want to be a healer?”
“I find it the most fitting seeing as though I’m always cleaning up after Kasumi and Tae’s mess,” Arisa replied, rolling her eyes.
Rinko smiled and walked back to her computer; adding Arisa to her party she began typing in their party chat “Ready to play NFO? (* ^ ω ^) Follow me!”
~ POV: In-game characters~
Arisa was shocked at how stunning everything seemed to look, the grass was so vibrant, and the starting area looked like somewhere she wouldn’t actually mind living. Delicate looking cottages were surrounded by an array of flowers. Beautiful deep blues and purples with speckles of pink seemed to be the most common type of flowers in this area, although she was unable to identify any of the species of flowers. For a moment, she was awe-struck and slightly envious that she couldn’t plant the same flowers that sprung up here around the clubhouse.
She turned around and instantly spotted Rinko, her light purple attire stood out from the majority of the low-level characters in the area.
“Arisa! ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ if you pick up one of the plants over there, you can use them to craft potions!” Rinko informed her as she walked over to the flowers.
Arisa followed suit and crafted a potion almost instantly with the flowers she had just been admiring a few seconds ago.
“ヽ(o＾▽＾o)ノ Wow Arisa you’re quick at picking things up!” Rinko said as she jumped up and down in celebration.
“Ah, it’s easy enough to understand, who could possibly be confused over this?” Arisa replied.
“The game has recently updated and the quests for beginners have been changed since I started. I’m sure it’ll be no problem though so, let’s go get the first quest!” Rinko began walking away. Arisa followed, soaking up the scenery. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves of the nearby trees and carried the most refreshing smell of the outdoors along with it.
Rinko stopped in front of a rather charismatic woman and proceeded to turn to Arisa, “Here it begins! (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ”
Set out on their quest to help stop the nearby monsters from ruining the food supplies, Rinko and Arisa wandered into the forest just north of the starting village. The grass grew taller and thicker as they ventured deeper into the forest, the canopy overhead blocked out the sunlight and the girls found themselves moving slower as to not disturb any monsters that were sleeping amongst the grass. After around 10 minutes, Rinko spotted a group of monsters circling a large stash of food.
“That must be them! Σ(°△°|||)” Rinko moved closer to the monsters and hid behind a tree trunk as she scoped out the situation.
“So what do we do now?” Arisa asked, following Rinko’s example.
“I’ll attack, and you need to make sure my health stays green by casting spells or using the potions you made earlier. It shouldn’t be too difficult as I’m a high level. Let’s try our best! (*＾ω＾)人(＾ω＾*)” Rinko smiled.
The monsters were almost spherical and didn’t seem to look very threatening. They had incredibly large, round eyes coupled with a permanent tiny smile. Arisa had a difficult time trying to hide a smile at how cute they appeared to be. One of the monsters spotted Rinko moving in closer as it bounced around the pile of food and alerted the rest of its group, before spitting what appeared to be a form of acidic slime in Rinko’s direction. Rinko dodged and the grass where she had just been stood a few seconds earlier bubbled away, leaving a dark, burnt patch behind. Arisa’s smile dropped, and she prepared her healing spells in case one of them managed to land a hit on Rinko next time.
Rinko uttered some words that didn’t sound like any language Arisa had heard before and as she was trying to figure out what Rinko had said, a ball of fire shot out from the end of Rinko’s staff and obliterated one of the monsters instantly. Arisa’s jaw dropped open as Rinko turned around and held her thumb up at Arisa.
At that moment, however, one of the monsters launched itself at Rinko and knocked her to the floor. As Arisa watched Rinko smash heavily into the ground she noticed her health drop a few points and decided to cast the healing spell, just to be safe. A wave of light green magic sprung from her wand directly to Rinko, the scent of flowers filled the air and with that, Rinko’s health was restored.
“Oh, this is child’s play!” Arisa grinned triumphantly.
“Thank you, Arisa! ヽ(>∀<☆)ノYou’ve really got the hang of NFO!” Rinko said excitedly as she stood back up.
As Rinko was finishing off the enemies one by one, a crashing sound echoed from behind them. Arisa quickly turned around to see a lumbering beast making its way over to the two of them; instincts kicking in, she began to run towards Rinko.
“Uh, Rinko! I feel like this monster is way too strong for me to handle!” Arisa shouted as she reached her magical companion.
“Arisa, you’re going to need to really focus on my health with this monster, but I know we can do it as long as we work together!” Rinko smiled before stepping forward, almost acting as a line of defence for Arisa.
Tufts of red fur sprouted from random areas on the beast’s body, its skin looked rough and slightly jagged. Lengthy, sharp teeth protruded from its mouth and a trail of thick salvia hung visibly, somehow managing to stay intact despite the beast’s heavy movements. As it lumbered closer towards them, Arisa noticed that it was dragging a heavy looking wooden club by its side, which was when the height of the creature really began to sink in. As the creature reached its destination in front of Rinko, it grunted, towering above her.
Rinko wasted no time as she began casting spells, like before, balls of fire shot out of her staff at an incredible speed, hitting the monster directly in the chest. Yet this time, it seemed to make no impact whatsoever. Arisa began to sweat and made sure to not let the scene before her distract her attention from Rinko’s health. It was almost like watching an intricate dance, the way in which Rinko delicately dodged attacks and the beast followed her footsteps as it swung its club furiously around. Rinko was patient and fired shots of fire at the monster when she had an opening. Choosing to focus on defence, Rinko kept her guard up but despite her attempts at wearing the creature down, its pace didn’t seem to slow down.
Then in a flash, Rinko disappeared.
“Ehh? Where did she go?!” Arisa shouted as she frantically looked around.
All of a sudden, the creature was locked in place as a ring of fire arose around it, the flames licking angrily at its skin as it attempted to fight its way out of them. The smell of burnt hair clogged the air and made Arisa gag.
Rinko appeared next to Arisa, covered in dirt, soot and bruises that had already begun to form from all the dodging that had resulted in Rinko coming into contact with the floor. Arisa gave Rinko a potion in silence as she tried to figure out what she had just seen.
“It was a spell to make me invisible, don’t worry! We aren’t done yet though!” Rinko said once she saw the confused look on Arisa’s face, “NFO lets you change classes and I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t necessary but if you could switch to a bard then you could power my attacks up and we could take this monster out!”
“A bard? On it!” Arisa quickly replied, sparing no time to ask questions.
In a swirl of purple light, Arisa’s outfit changed from flowing long robes into colourfully patterned leggings and a short dress accompanied with puffy sleeves and a ridiculous hat.
“Are you kidding me? What is this outfit?” Arisa groaned before remembering the dire situation they were in. She made direct eye contact with Rinko ahead of her and nodded firmly.
“Time to whoop some gross monster butt!” Arisa shouted.
A harp appeared in front of her, floating as a soft purple aura pulsed around it. She quickly grabbed it and strummed, somehow instantly knowing which notes to play. Her voice amplified by her new class almost fired out from her mouth as she began to sing, a powerful sensation forming in her lungs. Never before had she felt this depth of emotion and so she decided to lean into it, feeling the energy of her voice flow through her, creating a link with Rinko’s magic.
Rinko breathed in deeply, filling up with rejuvenated energy. Opening her eyes, she smiled confidently and searched deep inside herself for the power she needed to defeat this monster once and for all. The spell burst forth from her lips with an intensity she didn’t know was even possible as she pointed her staff towards the monster. As her powers were strengthened by her link with Arisa, an inferno covered the beast in its entirety.
Shrieks rippled through the air as the monster came crashing to the ground and with that Rinko and Arisa fell to the ground with relief.
Back in the peaceful village, Arisa and Rinko returned to the lady who had given them the quest and handed it in.
“Well done, you have helped this village immensely. We are forever in your gratitude. Here is a reward for your troubles,” she said as she handed a healing potion to Rinko and Arisa.
Arisa blinked a couple of times before turning to Rinko, “A healing potion? That’s all we get for all the trouble we just went through?!”
Rinko burst into laughter, “Well, this is the beginner’s mission. The high-level beast wasn’t supposed to be there after all.”
“Well they should fix the damn game then, unbelievable,” Arisa began muttering to herself as she walked away from the lady.
Looking around at the happy faces of the villagers and the now plentiful amount of food circulating the village, Arisa smiled.
“I guess it was worth it anyway, huh?” she whispered to herself.
“It sure was (≧◡≦) so did you have fun?” Rinko asked as she appeared from behind Arisa.
“Rinko! You have GOT to stop doing that!” Arisa screamed as a deep crimson blush spread across her cheeks, “I suppose I did, I don’t really care either way though… I mean we got what we needed to do done, so…”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it! NFO is my favourite game to play, it always cheers me up when I need to recharge from Roselia’s lives and practices!” Rinko smiled.
~Back in the Internet café~
The girls stood in front of the exit and thanked the staff; opening the door the blistering heat of the summer day washed over them and they stopped dead in their tracks.
“It’s too hot out here, I’m afraid I’ll get a headache,” Rinko sighed. Arisa looked over at her and held her head up high.
“Humans were not built for such heat, for the sake of our health, I propose we go back inside and play some more NFO, what do you say?” Arisa smiled, and with that, the girls turned back around and found their seats once more to continue their online adventures.