Kira POV

Lucy, no, Tohka and I talked to each other for a while. She was a level 50 human. Her three classes were witch, warrior and berserker.

"So what do you want to do now?" I asked Tohka. She immediately hugged my hand and, with sparkling eyes she told me

"I want to go with you!" I paused. She looked downtrodden for a moment. I quickly gripped her hands. "Don't worry. You can follow me and my friends." She smiled and hugged me. I stumbled and fell down. Tohka fell on top of me, still hugging me.

She buried her head in my dire wolf fur coat, humming. Dylan widened his eyes and threw his hands up in the air. I, a martial artist, struggled to get out of her grip. Strong as I was, I could not get out; she was twenty levels higher than me and much stronger. I stretched my hand out to Dylan. "Help..." I wheezed.

Dylan glanced at me, and then turned to walk away. "No! Don't leave me! Heeelp! Heeelllp!"

Unfortunately, no-one heard my cries.

Two hours later....

Once Tohka finally let go of me, I breathed a sigh of relief. I stood up groaning; 'She has such savage strength.'

I took my mask and put it into my inventory. I also took my coat off. I was just wearing beginner clothing. Tohka was looking at me in a strange way. "What?" I asked her.

"You... You managed to go a hundred miles and reach level 30... In level 1 clothing???" I nodded. Her eyes grew resolute. "I have decided. Those clothes are not worthy of you." She startled me. "Therefore, we must buy you some worthy clothes!" She grabbed my hand a dragged me into the city.

"Wait what!"

She had a firm look on her face; I had never seen this type of face. I sighed and accepted my fate.

An hour later...

I was earing some food with Tohka in a restaurant. I was busy eating and Tohka was also eating. I had been dragged around various stores before my aggressive friend in front of me found some armour that suited both my fighting style and her fashion sense. It was dark leather armour that was form fitting. I had a pair of iron greaves and shin guards. I also got some sturdy walking boots. However, I particularly liked the greaves; instead of just stopping at my wrist, the metal continued to form three, jagged triangles that gave my punches that bit extra piercing power. The store owner also said that the eviscerated edges also helped when disembowelling someone or something. 'I would have to test that...'

Dylan had picked up both Yu and Mitsuki from the blacksmith. Yu had stayed true to the style I taught him but Mitsuki changed to a different weapon. It was a pike made entirety from one metal. Mitsuki named her new weapon 'Schneewalzer.' I told them to go train with their new weapons to get used to them. However, Mitsuki and Yu, however, were currently staring at us fervently. I could practically hear the 'jiiiiiiii' sound as they stared. They didn't want food; I had already offered them and they refused.

I put down my knife and fork. "That's it." I was fed up with their stares. "Why are you staring at us?" Tohka also perked up, curious. The siblings looked at each other before answering.

"Well, when we first met you, you were alone." I waited for them to continue. "Well, we thought you were a loner, so it's surprising that you have someone next to you."

"Aw come on! I have friends too! You just haven't met them!"

Mitsuki then timidly asked

"Were you not on a date?"

"!?"

I gaped in shock. Glancing at Tohka, I saw her face turn beet-red. I laughed nervously. Tohka stood up.

"Nonononononononono, our relationship isn't like that!" Tohka shouted. She sat down, still beet red from... Embarrassment? 'I guess it is amusing to tease her. She's quite cute when she is embarrassed.'

"So, uh guys and gals, do you wants to go dungeon crawling?" I asked them. We were walking to an inn. I had to log out and eat in real-life.

"Yes!" Tohka excitedly shouted. Dylan grunted, signalling his approval and the siblings merely nodded. We reached an inn.

Endless online was a little different from other virtual reality games in terms of logging off. Other games made the user disappear from the game, so there was no chance of the player getting robbed or killed whilst they were not logged on. However, if the player logged off in the midst of combat, they would be considered 'killed' and the repercussions would be as though they were actually killed. Endless online, on the other hand, was unique. When a player logged off and they were not in combat, their body would still remain and could not move, as though it was sleeping. Thus players could be killed when they were not logged on and so logging off in a safe place was the norm. An inn was such a place.

The inn Tohka selected was a large building. It looked quite old-fashioned but it did the job. It was painted entirely grey and it had a nice garden surrounded by a wall. Apparently many adventurers frequented it.

"One room, two beds please." I told the innkeeper. I looked back and checked on Tohka. She was slightly red.... Nevermind. She was incredibly red. Wait, is that drool at the edge of her lips!?!

She looked at me with a gaze I have never seen before. 'Damn those are getting frequent.' I suddenly shiver under stare, as though some predator was looking at me...

I looked away to the siblings and Dylan. "Two rooms. One for the pair here and another for that guy."

The innkeeper, calculated the amount of money we needed to pay him.

"Thirty silver for the night for each room." I reach to pay him fro all of us but was stopped by Dylan. "I'll pay for myself."

Shrugging I handed the innkeeper 60 silver. I got a good look at him. He was a kind-looking 40ish man. He had his light brown hair in a short military style haircut and he had round spectacles. He had blue eyes that sparkled with intelligence.

I was about to go when I heard a young, childish voice as well as the sound of paws scrapping against a wooden floor.

"Hello papa! Are these our new guests?" The dad looked at here affectionately.

"Yes. Now be a dear and show these kind people to their rooms." She nodded enthusiastically and turned to face us.

"Hello! My name is Nina Tucker and this is Alexander, my pet dog!" She pointed to the quite large white-furred dog beside her. Clearly he loved her more than anything else. 'They're probably inseparable...'

"Follow me and I shall show you to your rooms!" She shouted with resolution and proceeded to march to show us our rooms. The dog Alexander barked once and trotted after Nina.

We soon reached our rooms, but the room that I was in with Tohka was last. She opened the door and I peeked inside; it was a snazzy room, with two beds a meter apart and a small bathroom. Nodding, pleased with the room, I faced Nina.

"I forgot to introduce myself earlier." I held out my hand to Alexander and he sniffed it. "My name is Kira. I hope that we will be good guests."

"Oh. Don't worry. You and your girlfriend are good people. Alexander checked you and you passed his tes- miss your face is red. Do you have a fever?" I turned to look at Tohka and her beetroot face contrasted her purple hair.

"Haha. No little girl. Our relationship is nothing like that. We are merely friends, are we not?" I looked at Tohka. She nodded quickly, still with a red face. I spoke to Nina.

"Ah well. It has been a fun day but unfortunately Nina I am tired and I have to go to sleep. Thank you for the friendliness." I patted Alexander and walked inside the room. Lucy quickly followed suit.

Nina waved us a goodnight's sleep and Alexander barked and wagged his tail. "Night. Don't let the bed bugs bite."

I got into bed. Lucy did the same and she faced me. "See you tomorrow." I tell her as I log off.

Hello it's me-Tealover! I did this chapter to just introduce Lucy's character fully. I also found it funny thinking of ways to tease her.

But on a darker note, I just had to put the Full Metal Alchemist reference in there with the mention of hotels. Those of you who have seen the Tuckers, the next couple of chapters are for you. Good luck surviving the nostalgia...