By the time that Ryouta, Cassandra, Eva, and Azalabulia made it back to the manor, it was already dark outside and they found themselves frequently yawning. They weren’t even able to find it in themselves to be hungry despite none of them having eaten for quite a while, so Ryouta texted the others back at the manor to let them know not to save any food for them or anything like that. They just wanted to get into bed as soon as they got back. And, as the reply to his messages would prove, the others felt the same way. Even Serra, who already took a nap, was supposedly exhausted and ready to sleep even more.

Not even Eva was awake enough to actually try theorycrafting the most optimal sleeping arrangement for everybody. In fact, after arriving back at the manor and going through the second wave of introductions, group hugs, and Azalabulia’s crying, everybody was ready to jump into bed.

Serra was the first back into bed after everybody switched over to their nightwear. And, because she was too sleepy to care about not being selfish, she claimed the middle of the bed. Eva was next and climbed into bed next to where Serra was, and Serra—not caring about whether or not this was new to Eva—rolled over to cling onto her. With Serra on one of Eva’s sides, Cassandra claimed the opposing side and cuddled up to Eva as if it was perfectly natural to do so. This left Eva in a stunned state unable to properly process everything that just happened, and suddenly she found herself much more awake.

Then there was Alice. Alice was more than happy to climb onto the bed and hog most of the pillows for herself, practically building a barrier of those soft, oversized pillows all around her on Cassandra’s free side. She reassured them that she would be fine without any particular cuddling partner as she missed her pillows and looked forward to reuniting with them. And, to be fair, none of them could blame her for that. They were the highest quality, softest, fluffiest pillows that any of them had ever experienced before. They didn’t even know such pillows were possible!

So, with Alice and her pillows, then with Serra, Cassandra, and Eva all together, that left only Ryouta and Azalabulia.

Ryouta climbed into bed first.

“I – I… think I need a drink for this,” Azalabulia whispered, not wanting to disturb the others as she stood at the edge of the bed.

“Just treat it like you would in the game and it’ll be no big deal,” Ryouta whispered in return. Though, even he felt a bit flustered by the idea of sleeping with her given that he felt so much smaller than her in real life. He wasn’t exactly sure how cuddling with her would work given that he was usually the big spoon, and usually the big spoon was – well, bigger.

Azalabulia nodded, gathered her nerves, and took a deep breath before slowly hand shakily climbing into the bed. She found herself right next to Ryouta now. “Now… now what?”

“We cuddle.”

“But… how?”

“I – I uh… can try being the big spoon? Just—”

Azalabulia shook her head. “I – I can! I… want to… try. If – if that’s okay…”

Ryouta wanted to tease her about how cute she was without the confidence that came from roleplay in-game, but he didn’t want to ruin the mood. Especially if she was offering to take the lead in cuddling. Besides, being the little spoon to her did sound kind of nice even if it wasn’t something he was used to. “Alright.” He nodded. “Then… I’ll leave it to you.” With that, he rolled onto his other side so that he would be facing Serra, allowing Azalabulia to approach him from behind and hesitantly reach out toward him.

It took her a few moments but, once she managed to actually touch him, it became easy. Azalabulia held onto him and, rather than pull him close like he kind of expected her to, brought herself up against his back. Though, all he really felt against his back was her chest. Aside from that, there wasn’t much cuddling going on since she only put one arm around him. “Is this… is this fine?” she asked.

He would have preferred a bit more contact, but with the size of her chest in the way, he couldn’t really expect that from her. “Yeah. See? You’re a pro cuddler.”

“I know I’m not… but thank you for trying to make me feel better about it. Maybe… next night, after I’m used to it, it’ll be easier.”

“I’m sure the others will be happy to give you all the cuddling experience in the world once they’re actually awake.”

“I’m… looking forward to it. Also, umm – I guess I should… say… I – I love you.”

Ryouta couldn’t hold it back any longer. “You’re seriously cute. I love the contrast of your real personality against your roleplaying one.” He didn’t hear any response from her, but he did feel her tighten her arm around him a little bit. “And I love you too.” That made the very same arm relax.

Admittedly, it was a little awkward between them due to the barely-able-to-be-called-a-cuddle cuddling and her nervous personality without explosions to hide behind, but the two did fall asleep together and managed to peacefully rest through the night as did everybody else on the bed.

When the morning came along, Ryouta could not have woken up in a better way. He felt warm, safe, and he was surrounded by extreme softness. He wasn’t sure why, though. He woke up to being cuddled before and he never felt as surrounded by soft warmth as he felt now. It wasn’t like the blankets were that special or anything, either. There was also the fact that the only one who he was cuddling with was Azalabulia and she was barely touching him last night.

That was when he opened his eyes and noticed just who it was that created the extreme sense of security, warmth, and softness that he felt.

Azalabulia. Sometime during the night, she must have completely wrapped herself around him. Given that she was taller than him by a good deal and just larger in general, she was able to thoroughly smother Ryouta with her body as the big spoon. The back of his head was pressed partially between her breasts, her arms and legs were wrapped around him, and she had a grip that was probably impossible to break out from without using great force and waking her up which was something that he didn’t want to do. The rest of his girlfriends were all still asleep as well. So, even though he wasn’t tired and doubted that he would be able to fall back asleep, Ryouta allowed himself to be used as Azalabulia’s teddy bear to cuddle with as the morning hours ticked away.

Looking around, he noticed that he wasn’t the only one stuck in such a comfortable position. Eva also seemed to be stuck with Cassandra and Serra both cuddling her from opposing sides. Then there was Alice who seemed to be more than happy with her abundance of pillows all around her.

There was a problem, though. After a few minutes of relaxing against Azalabulia… he discovered the issue with having his head smothered between her breasts. While yes, her chest was superior to pillows in nearly every single way possible, having his head stuck there left his neck in an extremely uncomfortable position. He was on his side with his neck just ever so slightly bent to be right between her breasts, and moving his neck to a more comfortable position was impossible without having forcibly push it down against her breasts. The only other option was to bend his neck forward to take his head away from her chest, but then he would have been stuck with his neck bent even more than it already was.

And as Azalabulia subconsciously pulled him even tighter against her… he found his neck getting bent forward anyways.

Was it really worth it? Was the comfort that she provided worth the pain that he knew he would feel later? Was his freedom worth interrupting her peaceful sleep when sleeping together for the first time in real life?

No, it was not. Besides, she had to return to Alaska once they were done with their meetup. While there were talks of everybody moving in together, there were not any solid plans yet. That meant Ryouta only had a limited time to enjoy Azalabulia’s real body with.

He was going to get his neck pain and he was going to enjoy it!

After a couple of hours, including a short span of time where Ryouta did manage to fall back asleep for just a little bit, the girls finally began to wake up. Serra was the first one. She rolled onto her opposite side so that she could face Ryouta and smiled as soon as she saw the position that he was in.

“Morning,” Ryouta silently mouthed to her.

Serra nodded and leaned forward to place a kiss on his lips before leaning back again and poking Azalabulia’s chest. Having her chest poked in her sleep made Azalabulia wrap her arms even more tightly around Ryouta, increasingly bending his neck as a result. Serra gave Ryouta a thumbs-up as she wished that she was the one in his position, not knowing the toll that it was taking on his neck.

That was when he heard the shouting.

“Cheatin’?! It ain’t my fault that ya don’t know the first thing about strategy!”

Ryouta heard a familiar, yet slightly difference, voice that sounded like it came from a young girl with a country accent.

“You can see the reflection in the vase!”

The other voice belonged to who sounded like a man around Ryouta’s age and was also familiar yet ever so slightly different.

There were only two people who those voices could belong to when he heard just how similar they were… but that couldn’t be, right? They were supposed to be picked up around noon!

“What time is it?” Ryouta mouthed to Serra.

Serra let out a sleepy yawn before climbing out of bed, grabbing her phone, and bringing it back over to Ryouta to show him the time on it.

It was already past noon.

They were late in waking up. Really, really late.

“Wake the others up,” Ryouta mouthed once more before gathering his resolve to wake up Azalabulia. Fortunately, that wouldn’t be too difficult. All he had to do was grab onto Azalabulia’s hands and give them a soft squeeze as he said, “Hey, it’s time to wake up.”

“Mm… but so soft,” Azalabulia practically moaned, squeezing Ryouta even tighter.

While it may have been easy to wake her up, actually getting her up and off of him was an entirely different problem. A problem that was quickly becoming more painful. That was why Ryouta had to, for the sake of his neck, thrust his head back even deeper between her breasts to straighten it out before trying to move his entire body away from her.

The battle was only just beginning! Azalabulia retaliated by groaning and wrapping her arms and legs around him as tightly as she could!

Ryouta’s back cracked from the excessive force used to snuggle him. He started to worry that he might just die if things continued as they were. All of those times where he saw men getting practically squeezed to death in manga and anime before by their love interests – he always thought they were unrealistic. But now? Now he knew. He now understood the raw, primal strength and ferocity of a woman who just wanted to snuggle. There was no escape. Only death awaited him.

But he refused, for he was the former leader of the Divine Brigade! The current leader of the Soaring Wolves! The slayer of giant zombie sea serpents! The winner of fishing tournaments! The uniter of waifus! The spreader of artificial intelligence! The sweater lover! If he died here, he would never be able to see sweaters ever again!

Ryouta summoned all of his remaining determination for a single attack! A single attempt to break free! With his arms pinned to his sides, he slid his hands behind him just enough so that he could reach her, sliding up underneath her shirt to grab onto her vulnerable sides!

Azalabulia’s eyes shot open as what sounded like a combination of laugh and gasp forced its way out from her mouth. And, out of instinct, she somehow managed to squeeze even harder.

Anybody who wasn’t already awake would surely wake up when they heard the consecutive cracking of Ryouta’s back. Fortunately, hearing that track finally got Azalabulia to let go of Ryouta so that she could immediately check on him. “I – I’m sorry! Are you alright?! I – I didn’t mean to—”

Ryouta was rolled onto his back as he stared up at the ceiling with an expression of… peace on his face. “I… I feel so much better now. I think you somehow removed back pain that I didn’t even realize I had. I don’t think my back has ever felt this relaxed before. It feels so nice that I can’t even f eel the pain in my neck anymore.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Cassandra said. “Can you still move?”

“I don’t know and I feel too relaxed to try.”

“Move.”

“But—”

“At least wiggle your fingers and toes or something.”

Ryouta commenced wiggling. Thankfully, his fingers and toes were, in fact, still capable of wiggling.

Cassandra sighed and pinched his arm which got him to yank it away from her, further confirming that he was fine. “Good. Now, come on and—”

“Seriously?! But there’s nothing behind me this time! How’d you win again?!” that familiar, male voice shouted once again.

More than just Ryouta heard it that time. This led to the rest of the group, Serra excluded, checking out what time it was only for them to notice that they were all late.

“Are they already here?” Eva asked. “But if we didn’t go pick them up…”

“Ah, my father most likely went to pick them up on his own!” Alice explained. “I doubt he wished to wake us up before our bodies were ready to on their own, and he would not have left them waiting at the airport!”

“You can go meet them. I’ll stay here,” Ryouta said, still relaxing with his now-ascended back.

Alas, it was not meant to be. Cassandra grabbed Ryouta by his wrists and pulled him up, forcing him to sit up as he pouted at her in response. “Are you… pouting?” she asked.

“What else would I be doing? Hmph. I don’t want to—”

Ryouta turned his neck just a tiny little bit.

And that tiny little bit was all that it took to paralyze him in pain.

“He-hey, are you alright?” Cassandra asked.

“My neck,” Ryouta whined as he slowly reached up to rub it. “I feel like I have the biggest pinch nerve to have ever existed inside of it. I… don’t think I’ll be able to move it from this position at all today.”

“At least straighten it out before you give up on moving it for the rest of the day.”

Ryouta turned his entire upper body to face Eva so that he wouldn’t need to move his neck. “Eva… you’re smart. Do you know how to fix this?”

“With time and suffering,” Eva answered.

Ryouta continued swiveling his upper body around until he faced Azalabulia. “Aza… you’re also smart. Do you know how to fix this?”

“I… don’t know. I’m sorry. What – what caused it?” Azalabulia asked.

Ryouta’s eyes looked down at her chest.

That was when Azalabulia put two and two together. She was the one not only responsible for cracking his back so much, but also for hurting his neck as she cuddled with him.

And now she looked like she was about to cry. “I’m sorry!” She lunged forward, wrapping her arms around him to hug him as part of her apology. Also, out of habit, she pulled his head down against the top of her chest. That required bending his neck in the opposite direction from where it was bent.

To everybody other than Azalabulia and Serra, since Serra had no idea what was going on as she was busy getting dressed with her back turned to the rest of them, time moved in slow motion. Cassandra, Eva, and Alice knew that they were watching a disaster in the making. Ryouta knew that he was about to be the one in a disaster.

Untold eons passed within a second.

New universes were birthed and destroyed in how long it took for Azalabulia to pull his head to her bosom.

Then, Ryouta’s head made impact. It was a soft, bouncy impact.

It was also the kind of impact that, due to his neck bending to make it, caused his face to twist into an expression of cringing pain as an involuntary cry made sure that everybody in the manor knew something was wrong.

Ten minutes later, after everybody got dressed to be presentable enough to see the others, the door to Alice’s bedroom finally opened up so that they could leave. At the back of the group stood Azalabulia who was still sniffling and apologizing over and over again as Ryouta, who stood in front of her, kept his neck as straight as possible and refused to bend or twist it even a tiny bit.

Once they reached the top of the stairs, Alice carefully positioned her wheelchair on top of the secure lift that would carry her to the bottom of the stairs without ever having to get out of her chair. Before the bar could be lowered to help keep Alice safe in case she were to accidentally fall out of her chair somehow, Serra signed to her asking for a ride.

“Of course!” Alice replied, patting the top of her lap for Serra.

Serra gave the air a double fist pump before climbing on top of Alice’s lap.

“Seriously?” Cassandra asked. “Is that even safe? Aren’t those lifts only made for one person at a time?”

“They are only intended for a single person at a time, yes,” Alice answered. “However, for there to be an issue, our combined weight would have to be over the lift’s very tolerant limitations. You are not implying that our combined weight would be an issue, are you?”

Cassandra realized that she messed up the moment she heard Alice mention weight. “Nope.” It was a simple but effective answer.

“Good, thank you.” Alice smiled at Cassandra as the lift slowly took her down the stairs.

Normally, it would have been Ryouta to make such a mistake… but not this time. Cassandra realized she would have to take it easy on Ryouta the next time that he slipped up like that.

Once everybody was downstairs, they followed the sound of the arguing voices until they came to the lounge where two people sat across from each other around a table with a board game in front of them. It was a classical game – the one where a screen stood between them as they tried to sink each other’s battleship. Sitting on one side of the table was a girl wearing overalls with shaggy, strawberry blonde hair with an incredibly smug look on her face. Across from her was a tall man with red hair tied into a ponytail that reached down to the middle of his back. His expression was one of pure frustration as he debated on where he should try attacking next.

Then, when the man did commit to his attack, the girl opposing him crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back. “Miss,” she declared before going on the attack herself.

The final red peg was placed in the man’s battleship before he slumped forward with empty eyes. “This… this bratty little girl can’t be beaten… she’s cheating… she has to be cheating…”

“Or you’re just really bad at the game and can be read like a book,” the girl teased, even going so far as to give him a playful kick underneath the table.

“You sadistic little brat.”

“Oi, what’d I tell ya about callin’ me a brat?”

“I’ll stop calling you a brat when you stop looking like one.”

“Keep in mind that I’m the perfect height for punchin’ ya in the dick. You’re tall. I’m short. It’s almost like the universe wants me to do it. Ain’t that convenient?”

“I’m building a catapult to launch you into the ocean next time we’re immersed.”

“I’d like to see ya try. Ya won’t be able to build anythin’ before I build a cannon that fires ya to the opposite side of the world!”

“I’d like to see you try! And my bro will take my side once he learns that you’ve been cheating!”

“Ya mean he’ll take my side once that dog realizes you’re being a crybaby who can’t admit ya lost fair and square!”

“At this rate,” Ryouta spoke up, “I’ll by happy to shoot you both overboard.”

The players behind Rao and Tabitha both snapped out of their argument to look over at Ryouta, but only one of them actually ran over for a hug.

Rao wrapped his arms around Ryouta to pull him in for a hug and, once more, time slowed to a crawl for those who were aware of what was about to happen. “Bro! That glorified garden gnome has been cheating this entire time!”

“Did… did ya just call me a glorified garden gnome?” Tabitha asked.

Cassandra stepped in to put some distance between Rao and Ryouta, stopping the latter from being shaken during the hug, while Rao returned his attention to Tabitha. “I did, because that’s what you are!”

“Ya know what, Red, that one was actually pretty good, so I won’t even be mad.”

“Yeah, it was a pretty good one. I’m proud of myself for it.”

As Rao and Tabitha suddenly got along again, Eva tried to give Ryouta’s neck a massage without causing even more pain than he already felt. It didn’t help. The good news, though, was that his neck was going to get desensitized to pain at the rate things were going.

“Anyways,” Tabitha said to the group, “it’s about time you’re all awake. I’ve been kickin’ Red’s ass this entire time. Thought he was gonna start cryin’ if he had to lose any more.”

“I think it was jet lag,” Eva said. “Even I passed out and I usually have trouble sleeping if anything.”

“Same… I – I thought I would be too excited to sleep,” Azalabulia joined in. Of course, as soon as she realized what she was saying, she decided to prove that being the oldest one out of them was purely only in number rather than maturity as she blushed and looked away.

“By the way, bro,” Rao said. “You’re way shorter than I thought you’d be.”

“Not all of us can be the same height we are in-game, unfortunately,” Ryouta replied with a depressed sigh following.

“No big deal. I’d rather be your height. You know how annoying it is being tall in real life? Showers are too short, plane seats are a pain, there’s never enough room for my legs anywhere – trust me, if you were as tall as your avatar, you’d hate it and be begging to be shorter.”

“Then why’d you make yourself just as tall in-game?”

“Eh, only because I’m used to it already. I’d feel weird being shorter. Plus then I’d probably get jealous and not want to go back to being tall.”

“Being short’s the best,” Tabitha said, her arms crossed over her chest as she nodded. Aside from being a few inches taller and having more for her arms to cross over, she looked pretty similar to how she looked in Fantasy Tales Online. “It’s harder to get hit by stuff when you’re short. It makes ya less of a target. Being short and small in general makes it easier to get into all sorts of tight spots, too. Doin’ precise mechanical work is a pain when you’re so big that your hands can’t fit where they need to. Plus bein’ smaller means needin’ to eat less which means less time wasted on that and more time spent doin’ important stuff.”

“I feel like you’re just trying to list off every potential good thing about it to justify your height at this point,” Ryouta said.

“I ain’t tryin’ to justify anythin’. I take pride in my height! I’d be even shorter if I could be! That’s why I am in-game. Plus, my girl’s engine? I purposely designed her so that she’s nice and tight. Nobody with hands bigger than mine in-game will be able to do any work on her without completely takin’ her apart and rebuildin’ her.”

“You’re lucky that Serra’s distracted or that would have been the perfect ‘that’s what she said’ moment.”

“Huh? When?”

“The part about being nice and tight.”

Tabitha raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re still a dirty dog even if you’re short now.”

“I’m – I’m not that short. I’m average.”

“Keep on tellin’ yourself that.”

“For whatever it’s worth,” Cassandra spoke up, “I don’t want you to be any taller. It’s a pain kissing you in-game because of the height difference. We’re basically the same height in real life, so it’s perfect.”

“When you put it that way, you’re going to make me think that Tabs might actually have a good point about being short being the best,” Ryouta sighed. “Anyways, what should we call you two here?”

“Just stick with Tabs for me,” Tabitha said.

When everybody looked at Rao for his answer, he tapped on his chin and looked up at the ceiling. “Uhh… I’ve always thought it was kinda weird to be called my game names in real life. My real name is Kristoffer. You can call me Kris.”

“Kris. Sounds good,” Ryouta said. “And Tabs will still be Tabs.”

“Come on,” Kris said to Tabitha. “I said my real name.”

“What?” Tabitha asked. “Ya already know mine. Tabitha Strism. My family has a ton of pride in our name, so we’d never pretend to have another name.”

“Oh. You’re one of those weirdos who goes by their real name in games.”

“Oi. Keep in mind I ain’t the only one in this room like that. There’s nothin’ wrong with it, either.”

“Could you even imagine if she had a different name?” Ryouta asked. “I mean, come on. She’s Tabitha Strism. If she had a different name… that’d just be wrong. I can imagine all of us with different names except her.”

“Darn right! Ain’t no Tabitha Strism like Tabitha Strism. Or somethin’ like that. Oh, right. What about the deer boy?”

“He couldn’t make it, remember? Apparently the most intense phase of his program just started, so he’ll be busy studying law and all that for the next few months. I told him we could wait until after to celebrate here together, which I thought we were going to do… but he decided against it. So, Spencer couldn’t make it, and we probably won’t see much of him in-game for a while other than to come and hang out with us or to do something with Corwin.”

“Dang. I always have liked that deer. School is more important, though, so I can’t say I don’t understand. I’ll send him a message later wishin’ him good luck and all that.”

“He’d appreciate it. He’s been working even harder since Corwin and Saya became true AIs, so he needs all the encouragement that he can get. Though, I’m sure he’d ace it without us cheering him on. He’s crazy smart when he’s not acting like the only thing that exists in life is dick.”

“Heh. Ya sound like you’re reassurin’ yourself if anythin’. Worried about him?”

“Well, I mean… he’s one of my best friends, so yeah. I’d be worried about any of you even if I believe you’ll be fine.”

“Aw, shucks. Ya don’t have to go and say the quiet part out loud like that. You’re goin’ to make things all embarrassin’. Stick to being a degenerate dog who deserves gettin’ smacked around by my hammer.”

“Yeah bro,” Kris said. “Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate you worrying about us and all that, but—”

“Who said I was worried about you?” Ryouta asked. He didn’t expect Kris to actually look like he took the teasing question seriously.

“Be nice, my hero,” Alice said.

Cassandra agreed but, rather than say anything like Alice did, she elbowed Ryouta in the side.

Meanwhile, Kris looked genuinely sad. “Br-bro…”

“It was a joke! Just a joke,” Ryouta said. “I consider you one of my best friends, too. Don’t worry. I’ll worry about you when it comes to anything you want to achieve, too. And I’ll cheer you on.”

Kris raised an arm up to wipe across his face before saying, “I knew that. I was just messing with you.” He forced a laugh. “There’s no way you’d ever actually feel that way, right?”

“Right.” Ryouta almost felt like he was talking to a completely different person. Rao was nowhere near as… emotional as his player, Kris, apparently was. Not to mention that Kris never tried to basically tackle-hug Ryouta in-game, but that was the first thing he tried upon seeing him in real life. Ryouta was curious and wanted to ask about it, but it didn’t exactly seem like an appropriate thing to ask in front of everybody.

“You’re the best, bro. Oh, and Will said we could go fishing and all that once all of you got up.”

Ryouta might have still been concerned about Kris a little, but hearing about fishing did still manage to make his eyes light up with excitement.

“Give them a break,” Tabitha said. “They only just got out of bed. I doubt they’ll want to go out on a boat with an empty stomach.”

“Oh. Right. Yeah,” Kris said. “I’m pretty hungry, too.”

“Didn’t ya just eat like a whole meal a few minutes before they came down here?”

“Yeah, but I’m hungry again.”

“See?” Tabitha asked the group, pointing at Rao. “This is why bein’ short is better. Tall people eat too much.”

“I mean, you’re not wrong. We do. I wish I didn’t get as hungry as I get. You know the feeling, right?” Kris asked, looking at a certain member of the group standing opposite from him and Tabitha.

When they looked at who he was talking to, they saw that he had directed his question to Azalabulia.

“E-eh? I – I don’t eat all the time or anything like that,” Azalabulia said, her cheeks flushed red with color as she looked around the room as if trying to find a distraction. “I… only eat as much as I need to and… and I count my calories! And…”

“Kristoffer,” Alice said, “it is not very polite to question a woman when it comes to her eating routine.”

“But we’re both tall, so I thought she might eat as much as me,” Kris said. “Plus she—” And then he cut himself off. His own eyes widened upon realizing what he was about to say. If even if knew that he was about to say something massively inappropriate, then the rest could tell that it had to be bad.

Alice narrowed her eyes at him. “Smart decision.”

“Ye-yeah…”

While Ryouta’s neck might have faced repeated abuse that morning, at least Kris avoided earning abuse of his own.