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Rakuro Hizutome woke up to a rapid banging on his door. Isn't it the middle of the night? With a tired groan he opened his eyes and realized that the light of the sun shone through the blinds. Oh right, I spent the majority of the night dealing with that unique monster.
Weird, he thought as he tried to ignore the incessant banging. Who would strike his door with such ferocious intensity at the crack of dawn?
Shit, we were supposed to run practice matches today right? The troubled gamer shivered at the thought of the consequences for his dallying. The last time this happened he was basically extorted for information on Unique Scenarios. He hastily checked his phone only to realize that it was actually 2 hours before the meeting time.
He could only think of one person petty enough to do this, actually two people, but in the face of a gaming tournament he'd hope that Katzo was prioritizing his sleep. With a simple process of elimination that only left one option remaining.
It's definitely Pencilgon. He'd experienced enough play sessions with the model to know that she wouldn't stop harassing him until she achieved her goal. At this point he'd only slept for two hours, which wasn't ideal, but he didn't dwell in regret.
That unique boss was really fun! Knowing those devs, they'll have patched the reflection strat by my next play session. Three to me one to SLF, hopefully they don't buff the AI again. A grin appeared on his face as he imagined the upcoming challenges. I'm really looking forward to Ctarnidd.
Alas, duty calls, he slowly untangled himself from his bedsheets and approached the door.
"I'm up, I'm up." The banging was still uncomfortably loud, and the perpetrator didn't seem interested in casual conversation. Some would consider this auditory torture, but Sunraku had built up a resistance against such lofty tactics in Faerie Chronicle Online.
Sleep deprivation had dulled his awareness. In opening the door he realized his mistake. He was peering at his assailant right in the eyes. That haughty look, that crooked smirk; it was indeed the one and only Arthur Pencilgon AKA Towa Amane.
"What do you want, Pencil?" he said groggily while rubbing his eyes.
His clan leader peered at him with a piercing gaze that lingered longer than strictly necessary, then spoke. "Hey Sunraku, sleep well? Based on your prior track record I figured I'd take the chance to wake you up."
He sighed, "And you couldn't think of any other solution than banging on my door?"
Her grin intensified, and he already knew where this was going. "Why, I thought the matches were starting in 10 minutes. My apologies." She drawled teasingly, her expression the very antonym of sincere.
"Yeah right, you wouldn't waste your time to wake me up. In fact you'd probably complain about how that would 'ruin your beauty sleep' or convince Katzo to do it." She obviously has an ulterior motive.
"Well yeah, that's par for the course, isn't it" the woman exclaimed. "My time is valuable you know. It's hard to create a reasonable work-life balance."
He yawned. "Which raises the question of why you're even here. Don't get me wrong, I would jump at the opportunity to mess with you, but this seems a bit farfetched—even for you."
Her crimson orbs met his gaze and a moment passed, then another. Why the hell is she staring at me without saying anything! Did she figure out that I accidentally leaked a unique scenario to other players? That was far more likely than her prior excuse. Yep she's definitely figured it out! Sweat began to pour down his back when she finally broke eye contact and let out a breath.
"Well to be honest, yeah I was quite eager to mess with you", he raised an eyebrow and was about to speak. "But for the most part I just wanted to see your real face, and I figured it would be easier to catch you off guard when you were sleep deprived. Judging by the current situation you feel for it hook, line and sinker."
Yeah that made more sense. It's undoubtedly something she would do. Contrary to his expectation there had been neither laughing nor giggling. She still had that analytical look on her face, like she was seeing him for the first time. This was weird. He was expecting her to mock him, really that would have made him less uneasy. She was oddly quiet. Not a grin, not a snort, nothing. Just the penetrating gaze that threatened to dissect his entire being. He probably felt more comfortable facing Lycagon for the first time. He'd even go as far as to say that he'd rather face Wethermon solo. After around 30 seconds he steeled his resolve and decided that something needed to happen.
Guess I'll just ask. "Like what you see?" the gamer said in what was probably the most ironic tone a human could muster. Really, he expected a snappy comeback, a witty remark, quite literally anything else. He'd be less surprised if he woke up tomorrow to discover that all of the seven colossi had been slain by level 1 players. The event that was currently unfolding in front of him was so incredibly unlikely that he'd never be able to protest against the RNG Goddess with a good conscience again. Pencilgon... no. Amane Towa was blushing... and not just a tint of pink on her cheeks. To his abject horror her face matched the color of her eyes. Never in a thousand years did he think he'd see the person who tortured and took npcs hostage in Unite Rounds for fun blushing.
His astonishment didn't keep him stun-locked for long. As was tradition in their group, he tried to think of a way to get back at her for the untimely interruption of his sleep. He quickly came to a conclusion.
I can use this, but like any good boss fight this was about pattern recognition. He couldn't be sure that this wasn't a one time thing. Before she had a chance to get a hold of herself he made his next strike. The trash gamer lightly put his palm on her right shoulder and met her gaze. Sunraku knew he was an astute observer, but he didn't expect this maneuver to be so effective. Her receding blush quickly reemerged. It was impossible to contain his grin and the chuckles that came as a consequence.
This is a definite an advantage for any future endeavors. Amidst his laughter he asked a question "You okay Pencil? Based on your prior track record i figured I'd take the chance to check on you, we don't want you to get a heatstroke now do we." At this point her blush had mostly diminished. She grabbed his mask and quite forcibly put it on his face. This only served to amuse Sunraku further and his mocking laughter came out in full flare.
"Really, this is enough to do you in? You managed to keep your cool against a colossus but seeing my face is too much for you." He figured the coming sentence would be his undoing. However the only thing that the model managed to articulate was a simple "Shut up."
His clan leader gazed at him with eyes that promised pain "Sunraku, I swear if you tell Katzo about this I'll make you regret it." The idea of sharing his newfound knowledge with the pro gamer was as appealing as it was harrowing. He had no doubt that Pencil would keep her word, and he'd prefer to stay on her good side.
"Okay fine, I won't. As long as you banging on my door just to see my face doesn't become a regular occurrence."
Her blush returned briefly, and she let out a sigh, "Just don't be late to the practice matches. I'm sure you've noticed, but this is really important to Katzo and I know he would do the same thing for us, even if he'd probably refuse to admit it."
It seems like she's returned to her normal demeanor, bummer. "Yeah no sweat, I'll be there", he said while meeting her gaze. For some reason she looked at him with what could be considered a genuine smile.
He took off his mask and mirrored her expression "You know you don't have to scheme to see my face right? You can just ask." When her face lit up like a wildfire and she hastily closed the door he knew that it had been effective.
He also learned that he really liked that shade of red on her skin.