💫 𝔼𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕤: 𝔸 𝕊𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕕 ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖 | 𝕋𝕖𝕟𝕫𝕒𝕚 & 𝔹𝕒𝕜𝕒 💫

[Tenzai]

ʟɪꜰᴇ ɪᴛꜱᴇʟꜰ ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏꜱᴛ ᴡᴏɴᴅᴇʀꜰᴜʟ ᴀᴅᴠᴇɴᴛᴜʀᴇ, ᴀɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴘᴀʀᴛ ɪɴ ɪᴛ ʏᴏᴜʀꜱᴇʟꜰ.
- ʜᴀɴꜱ ᴄʜʀɪꜱᴛɪᴀɴ ᴀɴᴅᴇʀꜱᴇɴ​

---

Every story comes to an end, sooner or later. . .

ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: ɢᴀᴍᴇ ᴏᴠᴇʀ | ʟᴏꜰɪ ʟɪᴀ
↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺​

"You've been nothing but perfect to me, darling. Be mine. I won't accept anyone else." A vampiric prince stood at the other end of her screen with arms extended, revealing the feelings once hidden within the depths of his frigid, undead heart for his protagonist lover. He was one of the many romanceable candidates in the Otome game Eternal Lovers: A Thirst for Passion; The final game released in the series before the gaming company that made them went bankrupt. While they held many talented writers and artists within their ranks, what the company and its series lacked was a consistent identity and niche. Their aims were too broad. Its settings across the game series were all over the place, contrasting greatly from one sequel to another.

For a couple games, their creative lead would focus on historical romances in feudal times between samurai and knights before suddenly shifting over to a sci-fi space odyssey with mecha pilots and futuristic magical girls. With other games in the series, they explored worlds of fantasy through magical academies or dungeons populated with mystical and monstrous races. Other times, they even experimented with realistic worlds set in modern times in both war and peace. To consider their flagship series, Eternal Lovers, all the same canon timeline was to give it directors too much credit.

While innovative for its time with its introduction of unique RPG mechanics, NPC interactions, and life-sim systems, it was still a simple premise underneath all the added elaborate layers of complexity: The protagonist was given choices to improve herself and further her relationships with different characters with the single goal of choosing your own happy ending. While in pursuit of this goal, challenges and antagonists would end up getting in the protagonist's way, usually leading them to suffer from a bad end as a result. The games were not kind to its villains. It was as if the story writers wanted to subconsciously let the player know that some characters were unworthy of a happy ending.

However, with time, competition, and a lack of creative direction, opinion of the series had become negative once the market was flooded with competitors. Demand had dropped when combined with an economic crisis that struck the real world. As a result, the canonic storyline that once was considered the golden standard of Otome games had finally come to an end. Within the final games of the series, they capitalized on whatever interest and fanfare they had left through leeching cash grab systems that took away from the game: Gachas and overpriced DLCs which sealed the fate of the characters that lived in their world. There was no true ending for them left. There was no more life for them to live. Their stories had come to a premature ending from a deadly combination of corporate greed, creative stagnation, and real-world economic affliction. Many among them were never meant to find happiness. The unfair gods that commanded the fate of the real world have dictated it so.

---

But where one story ends, another begins.

​

Darkness combined with the sounds of keyboard clicks to break up the nothingness. "Hello? Is this thing working? Can you hear me?" A familiar voice had rung through the room. It was a character from the Eternal Lovers Series that made an appearance in every game; The goddess of rebirth and new beginnings, Moira. Usually she played a major role at the beginning of the games, introducing the character, the world, and the setting to the player. Oftentimes, she would also make a reappearance at the end of those same games as well: Offering a player a chance at rebirth with the skills and items of the life before as a form of "New Game+".
As she checked the quality of her mic to ensure it was functioning properly, she accidentally increased the sensitivity to deafening levels. "IS IT BETTER NOW?" Thankfully, whatever she was using had auto-adjusted itself back to regular audio levels, notifying her that her mic was receiving her input. "Oops. Sorry about that, soul number. . . Fourteen thousand and seventeen. . . I think?" Moira wiped her exhausted eyes, before popping the tab of another can filled with a divine energy drink. "Ugh. . . Just one more to go before I could clock out. Thank god." She forgot her mic was still on, taking a swig of her can.

"Ah! Here you are." She searched through her pile of scattered soul reports atop her desk, picking out the next life she thought was the right one. "Your soul has been selected to be reborn into a new world. Ooo, exciting~" Despite her best attempts to hide her exhaustion, it was as bright as day. The supposed excitement was a tired addition at this point, given the fact that its the fourteenth thousandth or so time she faked the process today. "Once we're done here, you'll wake up in the world of Ferris. A wondrous land of magic and science!" Ferris was the universe in which the Eternal Lovers series of games took place. It was one of the very few constants shared between games.

"Umm. . . " The tired goddess flipped through more paperwork. "In a small floating island village that houses the magical academy of Alesia. Would you look at that? It has a nice err. . . View of the ocean!" Her presentation was much sloppier than it was in game. "While I would usually list a bunch of perks you could choose before I send you off, unfortunately, the other souls have chosen everything else. But! There is one more! Your memories!" She chimed, choosing the easiest blessing to bestow upon her arrival. "All that you've learned in this past life, you will take with you into this new one and-"

Her alarm clock rang. It was time to clock out.​

With the new budget cuts affecting her company hours, Moira knew she wasn't going to be paid overtime. There was little point in extending her introduction into the new world if she wasn't going to be paid for it. Immediately once she heard the blaring of the alarm, she slammed her drink down, pressed snooze on the alarm clock, and rushed her spiel. "You're free to become whatever you like and make your dreams a reality." No one was going to separate her from doing what she wanted on her time off, not even the souls of the recently departed. "AHEM." She followed her words with a deep breath before finishing up with her disclaimer.

"The reincarnation department of heaven is not liable for any crimes or damages you commit in the new world. Nor is it or its related entities responsible for any physical, mental, spiritual, magical, social, economical, sexual, or relational damage to you. By agreeing to becoming reincarnated, you consent yourself and your own wellbeing to whatever fate you have decided upon. . . " She droned one for another few minutes, bringing up every edge-case imaginable and unimaginable, before finally ending with another deep breath. "With all the boring, legal jargon out of the way. Good luck! May the goddess of luck bless your new life. . ."

"And I wish you nothing but the best on your next adventure."​

The application was complete. Her introduction, while short, was said and done. All she needed now was to send her to her next destination. With exhaustion on her mind and her bed so tempting, she hit the enter key on her keyboard, sending the final soul on her way. Though, once she closed her laptop, she noticed a book sitting behind her screen. Her face paled upon her realization, before she shook away her anxiety. It was the manual to the new world and how to interact with its many systems. Inside the book held information about the cultures and species which dwelled within and how to interact with them.

". . . Ah shit. . . I forgot to give her the manual."

"Eh. She looked smart enough. She'll figure it out, right?"​

---

One new voice mail.
ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: ʙᴇɴᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀꜱᴋ | ᴘᴇʀꜱᴏɴᴀ 5 ᴏꜱᴛ
↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺​

"Hey mom. I just wanted to check in with you." Tsuna's voice had stirred his mother from her slumber. "The academy has been great! I've just enrolled in my new classes but I might need a few thousand more credits for the Fall Semester. Don't worry too hard about me though. I'll be able to take care of you once I graduate. So hold in there a little longer, okay? I'll be there soon. Love you mom. Thanks for everything." Her phone's screen faded back into black as she opened her eyes to the cold world again. Bandages had covered her hands from the job a night before. While her magical adversary might have been much younger than her, there was a distinct gap between their magical abilities. Her foe's "love" was powerful; Dangerous to the mother who owed a debt to the wrong people. Her son needed the money but her bar struggled to make ends meet.

"Ugh. . . Fuck." She lifted her head off the bar counter, grabbing her phone before stretching her limbs to wake herself up. Her muscles were sore and her head was throbbing, but that didn't stop her from remembering her responsibilities. She needed to restock the bar for the next shift. Even if it wasn't popular, it had a few kind regulars that visited often enough to drive her legs forward.

The ginger-haired woman stood up with renewed strength, grabbing her phone and keys to head out. However, before she took more than a few steps forward, she felt the door stop sooner than she expected. On the other side was an unconscious brunette; A girl she had never seen before. Her blue dress suggested she was a well-off local, though it was odd to find someone like her on this side of the island. "Hey. . . Hey, wake up." She shook the prone woman's arm to no avail. "Of course, I gotta deal with this first thing in the morning." She sighed, taking a deep breath before pulling her in to avoid others from getting the wrong idea.

Once the unconscious woman came to, she saw a glass of water sitting on the counter in front of her. The air was warm, being moved around by the ceiling fans above. She was in a lonely bar; A familiar scene from one of her games long ago. "Oh, finally. You're awake." Footsteps sounded from behind the counter, introducing the woman that brought her in. In front of her stood the ginger-haired antagonist: Ember. "How are you feeling? You're not coughing or sneezing, so I don't think you're sick. Get drunk in the morning?" Ember cleaned a glass with a rag, scanning her new guest for signs of injury. "I don't know who or what left you at the front of my door, but thank the heavens it was me who found you rather than anyone else. Can't trust the vampires around here. That's for sure."

Instead of introducing herself as she did in game however, there was something distinctly different about her. She was far kinder than she appeared to be when around the magical protagonist. "If you're feeling hungry, I might not have a lot around to make you something but I could scramble an egg. I actually bumped into you while getting more food. I have water and a few drinks if you're thirsty but. . . I'd avoid the alcohol if I were you. I wouldn't want you falling unconscious again." She chuckled, offering a gentle, motherly smile to ease the mood.

"I'm Ember by the way. What's your name?"​

 

[Tenzai]

꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎
"We'll be off then!"

"Take care, have fun, and make sure you don't come back sick!"
꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎​

Ember waved goodbye back, smiling upon hearing the door close. Despite her son's anxieties of the potential risks that hiring someone from outside could bring, the mother couldn't help but feel like she made the right choice. Haruka was like the daughter she never had but always wanted; A lost soul who now had a home to call her own. 'I wonder what type of dinner she'd be interested in.' She scratched her chin, opening the menu. It wasn't an expansive list, but it offered more than enough choice for her newest recruit to be content. Given her reaction to the simple scrambled eggs she made for breakfast to boost her stamina, it was likely that she'd offer the same response at the minimum for any dish she could make. "Well, I don't think there's anything wrong with surprising them." Without any other customers inside to worry herself about, she got to work preparing the ingredients for the two to have something delicious prepared when they returned.

Outside, the two girls were met with a cool breeze that pierced the heat of the warm day from the floating coastline. Above, different sky dragons had made their presence known, flocking around the island as though they were seagulls seeking an easy snack. "Oh yeah, you said you were new to being around here. Let me show you the way." Taking her hand, the vampire walked towards the sidewalk, letting Shock lead her through the holo-leash connected from his collar to her wrist. As they made their way around, other passerby waved at the cute duo, immediately recognizing the vampire pilot being walked by her dog. She was a frequent enough sight to have garnered a reputation among the locals as a friendly face that helped out where she could.

"Hmm... I know its going to sound weird, but I'm actually into gaming! I let Shock sit in my lap to see what's going on the screen while I play!" Thinking about what she said earlier about the various board games she brought up, all Shade could do was ponder on what poker, mahjong, and consoles meant, though she did have a lot of experience with chess. "If not for him, I don't think I'd be even half as impressive as the others claim I am." Chuckling, she faced the source of her sound to figure out where to speak, only to feel her dog turn swiftly, suggesting a corner was coming up ahead. Carefully following the sounds of his four small paws, she recognized the number of turns as they neared the marketplace. "If you'd like, I wouldn't mind playing with you sometime when you get time off! With Spring Break coming up and no one to take to the dance, I'll have a lot of time to spend!"

꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎
Shibuya Street.

A market street full of digital screens showing various sales and inventories meant for purchase.
꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎
ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: ʀᴏᴜxʟꜱ ᴋᴀᴀʀᴅ ꜱʜᴏᴘ ʜɪᴘ ꜱʜᴏᴘ | ᴅᴇʟᴛᴀʀᴜɴᴇ ᴏꜱᴛ
↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺
꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎​

Upon hearing the familiar sound of sliding doors opening for her, Shade realized they finally made it to the local shopping mall. It was a massive structure that took residence across an entire street standing four floors in height. As soon as they passed underneath the motion sensor, a chime played for the both of them. [Welcome to Shibuya Street, Shade. The shopping-street mall that could cater to all your needs. ] Immediately upon entering, they were met with the sound of mall music as well as a cool breeze from the indoor air conditioning meant to relieve them from the heat outside. Inside held several stores from the various city corporations, each with stock from display of weapons to armors, clothing, general goods, and everything in between. In between the larger stores interestingly enough were local mom and pops-type shops, each still being run by organic species instead of the robots that often worked customer service for major corporations. "After you~"

Letting Haruka explore the commercial world with her eyes, Shade's boots had come to a stop once she found her favorite clothing store. Within were several outfits on display, interestingly sold as an entire ensemble rather than separate pieces. Accessories however appeared to be sold individually, giving everyone personal accents while maintaining the visual aesthetic that the clothing's designers had wished for them. "Hey Haruka! Over here!" She waved in the wrong direction while Shock browsed the windows with his eyes, taking photos for later. "I think this place would be a great start!"

"Oh Shade! Welcome back! Is this your friend?" Finding a familiar face in a sea of passing customers, the spidergirl cashier waved the two girls over using one of her spider legs hanging from her back. "Umbra! This is my friend, Haruka. She just came from another world. Can you help her find something nice?" The spider nodded, immediately getting to work by inspecting the human with all eight of her eyes from various angles. A seamstress by trade, she had the levels in her skill to make the most of her species' advantage, scratching her chin upon finishing up her internal measurements. "Hmmm... Judging from her size, I think I have just the thing. Come over here." Gesturing over towards a rack of gothic dresses holding several colors, Haruka was given a display of different lower level pieces of equipment within her level bracket, all able to be equipped granting different distinct advantages.

"Oooo! These all would look lovely on you Haruka!" Looking over the list, several dresses had a magical affinity, offering faster learning speeds and greater potency towards the different elements. Upon closer inspection, a screen displayed in front of her with the price as well as the name of the outfit. [Magic initiate.] was displayed across the cute dresses that had skirts that dropped towards knee height. Accompanied with boots, ropes that could be tightened to ensure a better fit, and a pouch wrapped around its shoulder meant to hold magical components and ingredients, it was a complete ensemble made for those attending the academy in mind. Listed underneath each held another trait that seemed to be shared across all the outfits called [Academy uniform.]

Beside the magic initiate robes sat outfits that held a witch hat labeled under [Witch novice.] and others called [Summoner novice.], each offering bonuses to alchemy and summoning specifically. "I think, with your stats, you should be able to equip any of them." Interestingly, as Shade inspected the clothes from different angles, upon backing up into a set of clothes that were far beyond even her level, she felt a static shock that sent her back. "Eee! Ouch!" Falling over, a bit of steam escaped from the part of her body where she accidentally touched the equipment. "I'm fine, I promise. Ugh..." A chuckle was heard from behind her back. "Oh Shade. Some things about you never change." The seamstress held more outfits in hand, wearing a smile on her face as she sat more clothes on the rack where the mage initiate, witch novice, and summoner novice gear was held.

"Haruka, right? Feel free to choose whatever you like. Since you came in with Shade, I'll even give you a discount. Her and I go wayyy back." Rubbing the part of her head where she landed upon standing back up, Shade sighed. "At least, the quest I took for you managed to bring me here. I can't imagine how I'd dress without you." Stretching her arms over her head, Shade turned back to Haruka. "Maybe I'll take you on a lower level one sometime. People often ask for help around here and its often the academy students who help out! Oh yeah! That being said." Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a wallet to grab her midnight black card.

꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎
"Consider this dress on me!"

"If Ember says you're trying to learn magic, then think of this as my way of helping a friend!"
꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎​

 

[Baka]

Valveuni - Kauan
↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺​

As Haruka and Shade started to walk towards the market with Shock the blue-eyed woman kept looking around her. There were so many things she had never seen in the game, let alone in her previous life. There were literal huge dragons soaring up the sky, which made her mouth open in awe, the air was much more clean and fresh when compared to the buzzling metropolis she was from, and compared to the suffocating atmosphere the concrete jungle she was from had the fantasy-world with it's cold breeze made her feel serene, and somewhat nostalgic. Both for this now very real virtual world she sank many many hours in as a child and teenager, and the general atmosphere that reminded her from all the summers she spent on countryside in her past life, surrounded by her family and the grandparents who had passed away many many years ago. This sense of nostalgia and the memories from the times when everything was so much more simple and stress-free, when the world was her oyster and all the possibilities and dreams seemed possible made her shed a single tear, that she quickly wiped off.

Without even realizing that she had sort-of drifted off to inside of her own head and memories the voice of the raven-haired woman brought her back. "Y... Yes!" she said as she took a few running steps to catch-up to her and walk next to her and her mechanic dog.

When the vampire mech-pilot mentioned gambling she felt the word resonate within her. While she never did partake any Pachinko-parlor-activities or played Mahjong-games where the real money was being betted she was extremely familiar with one sort of gambling, and that gambling was rolling gacha. Extremely slim odds, limited-time banners making you feel the FOMO-effect in full-swing, not getting enough free in-game currency to stay free-to-play if you wanted to get your waifu or husbando, and the pity-system being almost as cruel as the drop-rates she had spent a ridiculous sum of money rolling for her favorites and keeping her Eloverse-gacha collection as complete as she can. Haruka constantly kept thinking why she didn't just buy the physical merch or something, but the satisfaction she got when she finally saw that ultra-rare SSR-character getting pulled was unrivaled, and as a tried-and-true hardcore fan of the franchise she felt some sort of obligation to keep her collection as extensive as possible - both physical and digital-collections.

"I am not really a gambler myself... But there was one sort-of gambling-like activity I did in my country..." she tries to think how to explain the concept to the one she has been literally pulling from the banners in her past life. "There are these collectible cards you need to buy in packs with your money, but you never know what's inside these packs. They might be full of some common cards, but you might strike it big and get something really rare, which is worth the investment." the brunette explained using trading-cards as the allegory. After all they were cards, albeit digital ones, and you could get big bucks if you sold the account that had some rare character-cards. As for her claim to be not as amazing as people made her out to be she shook her head. "I think the fact that you are able to do these sort of things despite all the odds is really admirable, and sounds like you two make amazing team." she chcukles and smiles as they walk towards the market.


As for her suggestion to play games together when Shade's spring break comes she let's out a simple reply:

"I would love that."​

Accompanied by even bigger sunny smile she notices that they have arrived to a shopping mall.

꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎​

Cherry Pepsi - Saint Pepsi
↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺​

The sight of the futuristic, yet extremely familiar feeling shopping mall unfolded before her eyes she blinked a few times. Despite the series combining futuristic and fantasy-elements like it was nothing the clear inspiration from her everyday world in the world of escapism fantasy did give her a little whiplash, and the fact that it was named as 'Shibuya Street' didn't help this feeling at all. Usually the in-game shops were referred simply as 'shops' and they never really played any big role, outside of getting some gifts for your love-interest, with the exception of gacha-version where you could by all sorts of levelling-up items, better equipment and such from it, but since the button to access it was called just a 'Shop' she also just assumed it was cut-and-dry generic 'Shop'.

When they enter the building the whiplash came back in full force when the motion censor greeted Shade and made the woman from another world jump a little. The modern-looking building had familiar, and some not-so-familiar items and gear being sold based on her first lookover of the area. And she found herself looking over the displays, wondering near Shade and taking in the sights and seeing how many items she could recognize from the games. "This armor is familiar... I think it's the drop from that area near the beginning of the Eloverse-gacha... This sword you can give to your love-interest in the first mainline game... But it was not in the gacha... " she thinks to herself and once again manages to drift to her own world till Shade's voice snaps her out of it. "Right! Coming!" she says with a loud voice as she runs towards the two, and the shop her new friend recommends as a good starting point for their shopping-spree.

Inside a clothes-shop which also continued the theme of mixing modern, and even futuristic styles to a more traditional fantasy clothes they are almost immediately greeted by the Seamstress, who is a Spidergirl. While seeing her got a small reaction out of the Haruka she didn't want to seem rude and quickly steeled herself. "Remember! You're in some sort of version of Eternal Lovers... These things are something you are already familiar from the games." with this mindset she manages to hide the surprise of seeing a real-life spidergirl armed with multiple legs and eyes behind her smile.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Haruka. And I..." Haruka was about to start explaining her situation to Umbra, but as she immediately jumped to work taking her measurements and inspecting her she decided to leave it for now. She wanted to give her chance to focus, and she thought that over-explaining her situation might just be even more weird. So the brunette opted to just stay still, and wait excitedly what sort of attire is recommended for her. When asked to follow the Seamstress she nods, while letting her eyes wonder over all the cute gothic-style dresses and other clothes that they pass-by.

Groove Distric - Starjunk 95
↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺​

When offered the display she gives a small polite bow to Umbra and starts to look over the options. Many of them had stats displayed, which made it hard for her to really choose anything, since she wasn't even aware of her own stats and what would work for her. Only thing she knew was that she was basically a low-level noob in this game-world. On the other hand some clothes that looked really cute and frilly were something she could never see herself wearing. As someone whos wardrope consisted of suit for her work, and some t-shirts and sweatpants that she used to laze around in her rare days off the thought of wearing anything this cute and showy was a forgein idea to her. "These wouldn't look good on me." was the thought that went in her head as she scrolled over the options.

Shade then made her suggestion, and stat-wise they were something that would fit her perfectly. However the dress made her a bit unsure how it would look on on her. "The effects definitely would be handy for me..." she agrees with her as she thinks to if she should try them on or not. From the robes and hats that she saw with their unique bonues and classes the one she felt a pull towards was summoners hat with [Summoner novice.] when she saw these different attributed and skills thrown around a thought came to her head. And after the small comedic display of the vampire getting zapped by a high-level items and Haruka having a lighthearted little laughter at it she turns to Seamstress who mentions about her and Shades shared history and possible discount.

"Thank you so much." she says and gives her a little bow again, and then drops the question she wanted to ask "Are there any outfits that could give me boost on learning, as well as summoning-magic? I have not specialized in anything yet, but for some reason I feel that I want to give the summoning a shot..." she could not exactly put her finger around why the summoning was calling her name, but she had this vague feeling that it might be something she could get quite adept at. "I'm actually from far-away place where the magic is not commonplace so I'm not really sure how the different boosts and attributes work and synergize with one another." she admits and casually mentions her own circumstances and situation this way.

Now addressing the Shade she nods at her suggestion. "I would like to see what it's like in the dungeon, but I think I wil ltrain first before taking a step inside it. The thought of going into one admittedly scares me a little." she awkwardly laughs and rubs the back of her head.

As Shade pulls the black card from her wallet Haruka's eyes gleam. She was familiar of these sort of cards from her past life. "Really? You would do that to me?" she joyously says and hugs the vampire softly. "Thank you." she says. It's still hard to believe how helpful and supportive both of the supposed villains are towards her, and all the stimulating stuff she has witnessed made her give out the bigger reaction than she even realized.

After realizing she just jumped to hug her new friend she blushes and backs off a little, and turning her attention to the Spidergirl Seamstress "S... So? If there are any possible clothes that could combine the traits I would love to try them." she then goes back to scroll the pad on her hand, and with a little hesitation shows the dress called [Magic initiate.] that the raven-haired woman recommended.

"And perhaps also this one..."​

 

[Tenzai]

꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎
ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ: ᴀʀᴏᴜɴᴅ | ʜᴏᴛʟɪɴᴇ ᴍɪᴀᴍɪ 2 ᴏꜱᴛ
↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺
꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎​

It was smiles like these that made the act of generosity feel worth it for Umbra. After making enough to get by, all else was nothing more than a distraction that kept her away from her true goal: To bring about memories through the use of her art. If she was able to make Haruka both beautiful and safe while helping bring out the best of her at the same time, every ounce of effort that she invested into her craft would have been worth it. "You're welcome, dear. Anything to help out someone I deem a friend."

"Are there any outfits that could give me boost on learning, as well as summoning-magic? I have not specialized in anything yet, but for some reason I feel that I want to give the summoning a shot..."

"Summoning? I suppose we could all use a friend to help us when we need a friend most." Umbra scratched her chin, turning her attention towards where Haruka browsed through last. "Hmm... And learning too? I think I could tailor something together. One moment." Behind her back, several legs had weaved a thread into the shape of an outfit that blended both the aesthetics of the summoner novice and the magic initiate gear in a way that seemed to have turned into its own style. Given the fact that she recognized the humble girl's dimensions, she was able to spin a dress that would fit perfectly to the girl that stood in front of her, bringing out her best features while masking all she believed would be a poor distraction.

"I'm actually from far-away place where the magic is not commonplace so I'm not really sure how the different boosts and attributes work and synergize with one another."

"Oh, that's terrible. A world without magic." The spider seemed genuinely surprised, though a part of her did understand what life was like for those who weren't as gifted. Many among the common folk had sought the use of clothes to aid them where they lacked and many of them would end up coming to her store to find their strength in her fabrics. "Well, I could always explain for you if you need a heads up." The vampire chimed in, adjusting her clothes after a momentary shock. Her clothes had offered her improvements in strength and strength based scaling as well as bonuses to perception that had allowed her to better overcome the weakness of being blind. "People who gatekeep knowledge get on my nerves." She rolled her eyes thinking of the snooty elite students of the academy, believing themselves greater than the ordinary people they were meant to one day protect.

"I would like to see what it's like in the dungeon, but I think I will train first before taking a step inside it. The thought of going into one admittedly scares me a little."

"Don't worry. You could rely on me. And besides, there's no better place to train than a low level dungeon!" Shade shot her a bright grin, proud at the opportunity to display herself to Haruka at her best. She wasn't just a knight by title. Her role was backed by her feats and her strength multiplied by her experience. As long as her enemy didn't include life or death against other people, she felt more than capable of helping Haruka find her strength. "You also got clothes from the best spider weaver in all of Ferris!"

The sudden compliment had caused umbra to momentarily pause in her dress' construction. "Oh, Shade. Please. You're flattering me." She covered her mouth and chuckled. "There are many more out there that would make my wares seem common, my master for example." Directing their attention towards a dress held behind a glass display, Umbra revealed to them the most expensive dress in her shop; A wedding dress given as a gift from her master to his favorite student. "One day, I plan on making clothes as high quality as his, but for now, until I get better materials and equipment, I'm content with what I have here." Upon finishing her sentence, the spider displayed a dress befitting that of a princess; One of the high tier dresses for early game on one of Haruka's favorite games in the E-Lovers series. "And I'm sure, this would be enough, yes?"

"Wow... Such a beautiful dress. Haruka, consider this one on me! If Ember says you're trying to learn magic, then think of this as my way of helping a friend!" With a student card in her hand with enough credits to afford a large home on the coast on their floating island, Shade handed it over to Umbra to check out the custom piece.

"Really? You would do that to me? Thank you."

"You told me you were from a faraway land. That your life there wasn't what you hoped for." For a moment, Shade's eyes had turned from happiness to sympathy. She cared deeply about the people she was going to serve, especially those that Ember had deemed a friend. "I would do more if you let me. This world might not be perfect, but its far from bad. There's good here. Good people. Good friends. Its those people that made me want to go to the academy in the first place. Friends like you that deserve better." She placed a hand on her shoulder, patting her before crossing both hands behind her back and leaning forward. "Besides, I'm sure you'd do the same for me too, wouldn't you?" Feeling her hug had made the vampire return it back with a smile. She was cool to the touch, though her acts carried with them emotional weight. "I want your new life here to be a good one."

"S... So? If there are any possible clothes that could combine the traits I would love to try them. And perhaps also this one..."

Umbra seemed quite amused at her desire to grab more. "Dear, the dress I made for you would serve well enough, though... If you are interested in adventuring, I wouldn't mind making you more sets like these once you outgrow this one." With the payment cleared, the spider seamstress rested the dress in Haruka's hands, content with knowing that her little gift was among the first she had received ever since coming to this new world. "Promise me you'll keep Shade safe when you two are out and about and I'll toss in something extra." She winked before turning back to her vampire friend. "If you do plan on heading out today, be sure that she gets a tome of some sort. No way to learn faster than to put what you read immediately into practice, no?"

Shade chuckled before presenting an older book from her bag: A vampiric grimoire. "I actually have just the thing in mind! At least, for now." Feeling around once her dog became distracted with the passersby walking outside the window, she placed her hand on Haruka's cheek before feeling down her shoulders to place the book atop her dress.

"This was my first spell book when I entered the academy. I took notes on every class and I think I have a few tabs there for low-level summoning spells." Believing she would get more out of the grimoire than she would, Shade refused to take it back. "Now, go ahead and get dressed! I can't wait to see what you look like with it on! The fitting rooms should be in the back! I'd show you where it is but uh... Shock, aha..." Hearing his bark, she wandered towards the window by feeling her way through the racks of clothes, leaving Haruka behind to her own devices for a moment so she could change.

---

By the time Haruka had managed to equip the dress, a character stat menu had appeared in front of her eyes once the final piece was donned on. On her sheet, there seemed to be a glowing set of words and numbers that seemed to have indicated what changed: [Haruka's Summoner Initiate - Equipped]. Bonuses were provided to her speed of picking up summoning based skills as well as the potency of them as well which read: [Summon Boost I, Magic Learning I]. Her Wisdom had also appeared to have improved, hinting that while training was one form of improving oneself, equipping better clothes and gear was another. Interestingly, underneath the social category held a few new names: [Ember - Bond Level: 1, Shade - Bond Level: 1, Umbra - Bond Level: 1]. Whatever this menu was, it appeared similar to the menu that would appear in game, as though the world had treated her as her own protagonist in an RPG rather than an odd visitor.

Upon finishing changing and returning back to Shade's side, she found the vampire and her dog looking through her phone, quietly muttering something to herself. Her mood had seemed to be different, as though something that came up was bothering her. "Tch. To think, they would resort to something like this." It was a scene from the game that she was featured in, one that preceded a duel where she was destined to lose due to her lack of levels against a more powerful opponent. "Shock, tell them I accept their terms to their duel. I won't let them ruin my life here." Sighing, once the dog had wagged its tail, notifying her that the order had been completed, it heard the sound of Haruka approaching, turning its head to make the vampire aware of how she looked in Umbra's dress.

"... Wow. Swear Umbra has a way with knowing what brings out the best from people." Without realizing it, a gentle blush had grown over the vampire's cheeks as she stared at the human in front of her. The colors matched with her hair and her generally appealing appearance made for a devastating combination to the vampire's expectations. She was beautiful. "T-turn around! I wanna see you both from the front and the back!" Clapping her hands as she saw the dress from every angle, she returned back to her ordinary smile, content with the knowledge that her purchase had led to a new side of her friend being brought out.