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2023-07-21
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2023-12-20
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Defense and Valentines

Summary:

Luckily for Sally, in this timeline the Sixth Stratum is delayed. Though, depending on how the Valentine's Update works out, she may be embarrassed enough that she would have preferred the haunted area...

Notes:

This is based *largely* on the ebook versions and terminology, though not entirely (in particular, Oboro and Syrup deserve to be called he, not it >:( ). Takes place after the fifth stratum launch, around where the canon sixth event takes place. The sixth event and sixth stratum release are butterflied away by the devs somehow getting approval from Legal to implement a Valentines Day themed skill system. Doesn't include any information past the current ebook and anime (8th event), so if one of the characters teased in the post credits scene of season 2 turns out to be, like, Kuromu's secret husband, then that's not true for this fic.

(Also many thanks both to my beta, lizardjay, and to another close friend of mine who got me into Bofuri <3)

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: Defense and New Update

Notes:

This is based *largely* on the ebook versions and terminology, though not entirely (in particular, Oboro and Syrup deserve to be called he, not it >:( ). Takes place after the fifth stratum launch, around where the canon sixth event takes place. The sixth event and sixth stratum release are butterflied away by the devs somehow getting approval from Legal to implement a Valentines Day themed skill system. Doesn't include any information past the current ebook and anime (8th event), so if one of the characters teased in the post credits scene of season 2 turns out to be, like, Kuromu's secret husband, then that's not true for this fic.

(Also many thanks both to my beta, lizardjay, and to another close friend of mine who got me into Bofuri <3)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

“It still feels odd to have a Valentines themed update coming out in late February…“

“Rumor has it they had trouble implementing some of the features, so they had to push it back.” Risa’s voice crackled a bit over the call—Kaede really needed to replace her phone one of these days. “But then they had to make sure the new ‘Relationship Skills’ were implemented with enough time for players to figure them out and level them up before the new map and challenges are added.”

“I guess so!” Kaede said before cheerfully adding, “Even if it’s not the next full Stratum or event, the ‘White Zone’ map and the challenges and activities they’ve teased sound fun, so that should make up for the devs being weird and still celebrating White Day separately.”

“Yeah…I don’t think I’ve gotten anything for White Day since someone decided that ghosts and skeletons being white meant clearance sale Halloween decorations would make a good joke gift,” Risa said, glaring.

“Heh-heh-heh, you were the one who started the prank war that year,” Kaede responded, giggling, “and I made sure to give you them at home so no one else saw you freak out.”

Risa sighed. “And I’m sure it was a complete coincidence that my mom just happened to have her phone handy to take pictures?” Getting her blush back under control, Risa changed the subject to ward off more teasing. “Anyway, at least they made it clear that the skills aren’t just for romantic stuff, so even ‘Maple' and 'Sally’ should be able to get some skills. Same for the rest of the guild, for that matter.”

Kaede hummed thoughtfully. “I wonder if there will be a mentor-type skill, for us and the twins…“

“There should be… heh-heh-heh, think I’ll get one for mentoring you?” Risa, of course, was just fine with starting up the teasing again if it wasn’t her being targeted.

“H-Hey now! We’re supposed to be talking about Maple Tree, not teasing Kaede!” Kaede said, spluttering as she searched for a way out of the line of fire. “Uhhh… oh! I meant to double check with you…that EULA that they added for the update process…is that normal?”

Risa shot Kaede a look that, even over a video call, clearly expressed her complete satisfaction at winning their latest battle of teasing and willpower. ”Well, it’s not… common, but it’s not unheard of. Sometimes game devs just don’t think to track certain actions or events until they realize they could be used for achievements or skill conditions, and then they’re kinda stuck. Either they disappoint players who have done those tasks many times over before the update, or they have to figure out a way to reward players retroactively. I think Nintendogs VR 4 was the first game to use the Memory Replay System, so by now it’s pretty mature tech.”

The Memory Replay System combined the time dilation options that were used during many events with the same systems that let players control spells and abilities with more precision than kinetic and verbal control systems allowed. Depending on how many hours a player had spent in the game, they’d spend anywhere from a few minutes to two or three hours of real time sleeping in game while the system checked over their memories of gameplay and tallied up all the new event flags and conditions that had been added. Without that, you could only retroactively gain skills for which the game already tracked relevant information, like who you teamed up with for events or boss battles.

“Okay. Though I’m glad it lets us choose where and when to do that in game.” Kaede blushed slightly. “I know we’ll be asleep for it, but I still don’t think I’d like being all alone while they go through my brain like that…”

Risa struck an over-the-top confident pose. “Heh-heh-heh, don’t worry Kaede! Even asleep, Sally will be able to serve as a protective mentor for Maple!”

“RIIIISAAAA!!!”

 

 

Several hours of chatting and a break for dinner later, Sally and Maple materialized inside of Maple Tree’s Second Stratum guild house in a display of light. Kasumi was already asleep with a progress bar floating above her head when they reached the Sleepover Room (which Maple had bullied the rest of them into converting one of the storage rooms into months ago), so they quickly divided up their preparations. Sally made a quick lap of the building to check if any of the other members were there—they weren’t, though Kuromu was marked as online—while Maple wrote up a message for Kasumi and anyone else that came by while they were out. Oboro and Syrup had the most important job: deciding which of the bunk beds they wanted to use.

A few minutes later, Maple pouted down at Syrup as the little turtle resisted—for the first time!—her psychokinesis skill, instead burrowing under Sally’s covers in the bottom bunk. Sally opened her mouth to add some teasing to her smug look, only to be interrupted as Oboro jumped off her head to keep Maple company. A few minutes after that, the girls finished making faces and sticking their tongues out at each other. Instead, they settled down, each pulling up the Memory Replay System prompt and hitting confirm.

Flashes of memory streamed through their thoughts, from nearly a year of playing New World Online. Snippets and scenes of time spent playing together were joined by interactions with their guild, and even with their friends and rivals in other guilds…

 

 

Sally woke up to an unusual sight: a type of notification she’d never seen before.

Notification limit reached. See [Log] in menu for details.

“Morning, sleepy head.” Sally looked away from the notification to find Iz sipping tea near the door. “You just missed Kasumi; she forgot to use the bathroom before doing this, so she had to log out and take care of that.”

“Oh, were you waiting for us to finish before you took your turn with the MRS?” Sally said while she carefully placed the still sleeping Syrup on top of Maple and gave some scritches to Oboro—who was awake, but far too comfortable to get up it seemed. “Maple started playing before me, but she shouldn’t have too much more playtime than me, so she should be done soon.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” Iz said, “it’s not just based on how many hours you’ve spent, after all. I’ve got more playtime than Kuromu by a wide margin, but the system took almost as long to process his memories as it did mine. We both got it out of the way right after the update dropped.“

“Fair enough. Maple and I couldn’t get free until now, not when we had to plan for the worst and assume it’d take 3 hours. You get any good skills? My log is apparently full of notifications, but the organization is terrible,” Sally said, scrolling through list after list of truncated notifications. “Half of these look like debug info, and the rest have all the details hidden behind the ellipses.“

“Yeah, it’s pretty bad. It’s much easier to look at the Relationship Summary window for the other player in question, see?” Iz said, pulling up an information screen and turning it towards Sally.

Relationship Summary

Iz | Sally

Wise Senpai | Cute Kouhai

[See Relationship Path Levels]

[See Skills and Modifiers]

[See Condition and Event Tallies]

[Report Error]

“Senpai and Kouhai? Really?“ Sally scoffed.

“The summary titles are a bit odd at times,” Iz said, “but it seems like those are the defaults for players in the same guild that don’t meet any of the more specific relationship types—or I suppose ‘paths’—that they have defined.“

“Wait, but if this is based on the guild… I have more seniority than you, so I should be the Senpai!” Sally said, spluttering, “and w-wait, what’s this about wise and cute, huh?”

Iz giggled. “Luckily for me, the game goes off of age and playtime, since we both started before the Guild update… and it’s because I wisely made the rest of you cute outfits—I even got a skill that boosts the stats on any gear I make for someone marked as a ‘Muse’ for me.”

“…So the twins are going to be stuck being your dolls for dress-up again?” Sally said sardonically.

“Heh-heh-heh, not everyone has to be badgered to change up their looks, Sally,” Iz said, still giggling, “and don’t think I won’t send Maple after you to get you to try on some new cute clothes.”

“H-hey, speaking of Maple, I should…see what skills and bonuses we’ve got, right?” Sally said, hiding a blush, “So we’ll have to table this discussion for now, right? Heh…”

Iz’s eyes danced with amusement. “You won’t get to see the final numbers until she’s done too, but it should put up a preliminary summary, if you can get past the disclaimers about it not being finalized.“

“Well, let’s see what they’ve got with just my memories,” Sally muttered before turning towards the top bunk and selecting the ’View Relationship Summary’ button on Maple’s profile.

Note: This player has not completed their MRS session. This relationship summary is incomplete, and any information here is subject to change. Please refrain from reporting mistakes or misunderstandings until both relevant MRS datasets have been processed.

Relationship Summary
[Preliminary]

Sally | Maple

[Pending] | Beloved Wife

[See Relationship Path Levels]

[See Skills and Modifiers]

[See Condition and Event Tallies]

[Report Error]

 

.

.

.

 

“EHHH??????”

Notes:

I've seen and considered a lot of different interpretations for Sally and Maple's relationship--oblivious lesbians, unironically gals being pals, dating, mutually pining but also mutually useless lesbians, and more. So if you comment, I'd be interested in seeing what *you* think is the case, both in your headcanon and in the current point of the fic. After all, the tags just mean they *will* be in a relationship by the end, not whether they are yet. ;)

Hopefully will be able to get the next few chapters up before too long...i'm currently imagining 3 or 4 chapters total?

Chapter 2: Chatting and Betting Pools

Notes:

After thousands of years... and Ao3 eating my original authors note here... This, and the 'proper' 2nd chapter have both been sitting at like 80% done for far too long... This interlude chapter is dedicated to the 10th volume of the ebooks coming out (which i used to get back into the mindset of Bofuri after real life distracted me away from it) and to Zoe-Oneesama, who lizardjay and i commissioned some fun bofuri art from (one of which i'll be linking in the end note...)

The fun chatroom/forum/whatever bits at the end of episodes were originally much more fleshed out in the webnovel and ebook. I dont think the anime actually makes clear that its a consistent group of folk, including kuromu, doing the commentary there? So hopefully this makes sense and is enjoyable for those who only have seen the anime

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Earlier that day, before Sally and Maple logged in, in an online forum frequented by Maple Tree's less (in)famous Great Shielder...

758: Anonymous Mage

Hey all! Any cool relationship buffs out there?

759: Anonymous Archer

Haven’t had the time 

760: Anonymous Greatsworder

Same, I’m on call all week
can’t fit 2+ hours where I can’t be reached

761: Anonymous Mage

Dang that sucks
I’ve just got a few +3% here, +2% there
That kinda thing

762: Anonymous Archer

My sister’s team healer got a VI rank one
She said they got a new active skill
Wouldn’t tell me deets tho

763: Anonymous Greatsworder

What about you, Kuromu
Your guild always gets crazy shit lol

764: Anonymous Great Shielder

Heh

765: Anonymous Archer

Yeah dude Spill

766: Anonymous Great Shielder

Ok so 
Only me and Iz have been online for it

767: Anonymous Mage

Ohoho

768: Anonymous Great Shielder

And we got—ha!
You’ll like this one, Mage

769: Anonymous Mage

Did the game finally prove me right?

770: Anonymous Greatsworder

You still ship KuroIz???
We literally talk to hi*m all the time

771: Anonymous Great Shielder

Can’t tease me about your theory anymore

772: Anonymous Greatsworder

You can’t still be on this

773: Anonymous Great Shielder

Officially confirmed little brother to iz
If you won’t believe me
Will you believe the game?

774: Anonymous Mage

What!!!

775: Anonymous Greatsworder

Oh right 
it wasn’t just team and romance stuff was it

776: Anonymous Archer

Ha! You owe me 10k, Mage
Tho I didn’t expect brother

777: Anonymous Great Shielder

Same here
Makes sense tho I guess

778: Anonymous Archer

Then you have to have big brother for the rest
Of maple tree
Right?

779: Anonymous Greatsworder

Kuromu has total big bro energy, yeah

780: Anonymous Great Shielder

I said they hadn’t gotten their status up yet
But

781: Anonymous Archer

You’ve got the preliminary ones right?

782: Anonymous Great Shielder

I have the prelimin—yes, and at least tentatively its got
That for the twins. Got me as Maple’s mentor tho
Which. Feels a bit more than I deserve

783: Anonymous Greatsworder

Lolol

784: Anonymous Archer

Haha

785: Anonymous Greatsworder

Mentor?
More like voice of reason

786: Anonymous Mage

Futile* voice of reason you mean

787: Anonymous Great Shielder

Lol
Yeah, I just showed her some of the basics
I think I mentioned a while back
All that power
No foundation

788: Anonymous Greatsworder

And then you went and removed one of her only weak points
Can’t tell if that’s doing god’s work, or the devil

789: Anonymous Mage

You’ve seen maples forms, man. Its clearly both

790: Anonymous Archer

Anything special for brother status? 
Stat wise

791: Anonymous Great Shielder

No new abilities or anything
Some good stat boosts tho
Iz got stuff to boost her crafting
Can’t give deets of course

792: Anonymous Mage

And so maple tree’s arsenal gets even stronger…

793: Anonymous Spear Master

Hey all, just got done with my session, I miss any big Maple news

794: Anonymous Mage

Hey!

795: Anonymous Great Shielder

Nothing big
How you been?

796: Anonymous Greatsworder

Greetings!

797: Anonymous Archer

Our beloved Angel Demon hasn’t done her session yet
Kuromu said the game has him as her mentor pending it tho

798: Anonymous Greatsworder

Kuromu's session put Mage's side ship out of its misery
Kuromu was assigned brother at session, lolol

799: Anonymous Spear Master

Busy :(
Free for rest of the week tho!
Ah, mentor Kuromu doing the most difficult task
Teaching maple how to do normal human things
Sometimes :V

800: Anonymous Archer

Also the easiest task: proving mage wrong :-P
(<3 u mage)

801: Anonymous Great Shielder

Hey, maple can be normal
Just not for. You know. Skills. Combat.

802: Anonymous Archer

Besides we all know Kuromu was lost to the crazy a while ago
Unique series
Unkillable

803: Anonymous Spear Master

Somehow a heavy hitter as a greatshield…
And not with lasers and shit

804: Anonymous Mage

Wish *i* could get infected by the maple tree
Been bashing my head against that one Cenote Serpent quest for weeks
Speaking of…bbiab when I die again

805: Anonymous Spear Master

GL

806: Anonymous Greatsworder

Gl!

807: Anonymous Great Shielder

Gl!
I think I lost and healed something like 10 lives worth
Beating that one

808: Anonymous Archer

It was 13.
I did the highlight reel for that stream, remember

809: Anonymous Spear Master

I never caught that one…
Slowly catching up on your VODs though
Need to stream more if even I have time to start keeping up

810: Anonymous Great Shielder

Yeah
Winter break wasn’t much of a break for me

811: Anonymous Greatsworder

You mentioned some volunteer stuff yeah
Like I said earlier
Major big bro energy

812: Anonymous Great Shielder

Well we’ll see how it shakes out
Speaking of, sally and maple just logged in

813: Anonymous Archer

!

814: Anonymous Greatsworder

Woo!

815: Anonymous Spear Master

Oh shit!!

816: Anonymous Archer

Maple lore approaches…

817: Anonymous Spear Master

NWO sunk Mage’s extra ship…but its gotta confirm the True Ship right?
Is it time for the SS Salaple to make a public appearance..

818: Anonymous Archer

With Mage busy dying
I have to argue for Unstoppable_Force_X_Immovable_Object for the shipname, on his behalf
Even as an anti shipper :-P

819: Anonymous Great Shielder

Not to burst your bubble(s)
But remember relationship deets
Are private
Both game wise and for me

820: Anonymous Archer

Damned ethics :(
Always ruining our nosiness
(Seriously tho I respect you for that shit)

821: Anonymous Greatsworder

(Big bro energy 100)

822: Anonymous Great Shielder

Haha
Thanks I think
Same as usual tho
If they don’t say or show me it
I’ll share my guesses 
If they do, I’ll share if they ok sharing

823: Anonymous Spear Master

*salute*
Still, fingers crossed

824: Anonymous Great Shielder

I mean hey, if *I’m* right, maybe the game
Will be the push they need to go from oblivious lesbians
To dating

825: Anonymous Greatsworder

I still say theres no way
We saw the highlight vids
I love the ‘useless lesbian’ trope
As much as anyone
But that rescue scene?
That was either totally platonic
Or it was knowingly girlfriend stuff
No way its oblivious romance

826: Anonymous Spear Master

Still say they’re just real fucking bad at hiding it

827: Anonymous Great Shielder

Well, we’ll see if anyone gets to win the betting pool today

828: Anonymous Spear Master

Soon ™

829: Anonymous Archer

With as much as those two seem to play?
No way its ‘soon’
Gonna be the full 3 hours I bet

830: Anonymous Mage

Oh shit I almost wish that serpent had killed me faster, we got sally lore coming???
(thank you Archer for the support while I was suffering)

831: Anonymous Great Shielder

Archer is right, I bet it’ll be a while
How bout this
I’ll do a quick stream
Can’t help Mage with the boss
But before the solo bit theres like 3 monster rooms
Right?

832: Anonymous Mage

Oh shit really?
Thanks dude!
I can get through those rooms
But not untouched

833: Anonymous Archer

Surprise Kuromu stream
AND maple tree lore afterwards?
Need a co com?

834: Anonymous Great Shielder

Sure, its been a while
Let me get everything set up

 

Notes:

That's right, our buddy Kuromu is (in my head canon) a streamer of whatever (probably vr based) twitch successor there is in the year 20XX. Let me know what you all think of the character traits i wrote for these 'anonymous' fellows; aside from Anonymous Archer being the one who seems most into 'deets' and pursuing information on stuff, i made basically any traits up :-P Which of them do *you* agree with in the shipping debates?

And as recompense for the delay--and for putting off you getting to see sally's reaction some more... >:) Mwahaha--enjoy this art of Kuromu that lizardjay and i commissioned from Zoe-Oneesama
Kuromu in a sheep costume!
Because Kuromu deserves to have his OWN cute sheep costume for the 3rd event, and he looks so sad in the anime when he doesn't get one! (And the ebooks just have him and kasumi already off in the field when Sally, Maple, and Kanade get their new clothes...and the twins aren't even in the guild yet, the anime changes that timeline around a lot to bring them in sooner)

Hopefully wont take anywhere near as long to get the next 'main' chapter out, its most of the way done *fingers crossed*

Chapter 3: Defense and Advice

Notes:

Well it didn't take *quite* as long this time :-P This chapter is dedicated to one of my best friends whose boyfriend just proposed to her literally the other day??? <3

That said, I rushed this out while sleepy because I didn't want to make you wait another day, so please tell me if anything looks off. I think i caught all the places where Ao3 just deleted random words or paragraphs when copying stuff over, but who knows at this point. In particular, let me know if the workskin stuff (the conversation and notification boxes) needs any work, cause i didn't have time to test it on other skins or devices. I don't need typo corrections for Iz's messages though, because 1. they are intentional errors and 2. its Kasumi's job to make fun of Iz for them :-P

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Iz rarely slept… and her real-world self didn’t do much better. She was used to her lack of anything even resembling a sleep schedule, however, and most days it didn’t hold her back. Today, however…

Today, Iz was working on a grand total of five hours of sleep in the past two days. Seven and change if you counted time spent sleeping in game—which Iz did, incidentally. She hadn’t commissioned a specially designed recliner (that would accommodate either playing normally or changing into a proper bed) for people to tell her it didn’t count if she slept in VR while lying down IRL, after all. This normally wouldn’t be a problem. She had taken on quests with less sleep. Even her choice to finish off the tea she’d made for Kasumi earlier instead of making coffee for herself wasn’t a deal breaker. She wasn’t entirely dependent on coffee to keep her edge, after all. Unfortunately, she had a far more fearsome challenge than normal on her hands. A hidden quest more difficult than any boss or dungeon.

A teenage girl who, if Iz wasn’t missing the mark, was currently feeling insecure about her relationship. Iz grew both more certain of her hunch and more worried of how to deal with it as she watched Sally stare at an information screen. Her friend was redder than she’d ever seen her, blushing furiously as she read and reread the Relationship Summary for her and Maple.

‘Oh dear,’ Iz thought as she watched Sally try and fail to turn her sputtering into words. ‘Ok, Iz, you’ve just gotta… reassure a teenager about the validity of their relationship in the face of a contextless game mechanic… you got this!‘ Iz quickly but carefully set her cup down on the nearest nightstand. ‘Time to live up to that Wise Senpai title...hopefully.’

“Ah, Sally…” Iz said gently, “don’t worry much about the initial summary. The game is cautious enough about assigning familial relationships before having both sides do their assessment, I wouldn’t be surprised if romantic ones are outright locked until they have both players.”

That seemed to finally knock Sally out of her stupor, if not her confusion. “…H-huh?”

“I mentioned being done with my session before Kuromu, right? It took until he’d also finished before the game accepted that I’d decided he was my adorable little brother.” Iz winked, trying and failing to get a smile out of her still-red guildmate. “So I’m sure that when Maple wakes up the game will correct itself and that window will be calling you cute girlfriends or a battle couple or whatever terms the devs decided—”

“G-GIRLFRIENDS?!” Sally interrupted, wide-eyed.

Iz blinked, joining Sally in confusion. “…I know you haven’t really talked about it directly, but if you didn’t want me to know you were dating you probably shouldn’t have kept asking me for places to take Maple on dates…“

 “W-wait,” Sally said, “when did I ask you about date ideas??? W-we haven’t—I mean, we…but I d-don’t—”

Iz, hoping to avoid another bout of sputtering, cut her off. “Sally, just because you didn’t call your past ‘tourist spots’ the Starstruck Supper or the Burning Sunset doesn’t mean I can’t recognize the two most popular places for couples on the First Stratum. Far too many people have come into my shop wanting those little pearls or the weird bottled starlight put into their gear for me not to know.”

“…Those places are for dates?” Sally was getting more frantic, and didn’t even notice the flash of light and sound behind her. “B-but we…weren’t supposed to be a couple in game!”

There was a short pause, before a voice spoke up from the back of the room. “Uh. Am I interrupting something?”

Iz nearly missed the look of consternation on Sally’s face turn into that familiar—and almost frightening—look of focus. Iz did miss seeing her move; between one breath and the next, Sally was already across the room, barely catching herself before she attacked her friend.

“Ah,” Kasumi said, unfazed by the dagger an inch away from her neck. “It seems that I have chosen death, then.”

An awkward silence fell, before a white blur suddenly leapt over and curled up around Sally’s neck. Iz and Kasumi shared a fond look as Sally buried her face—and her thoughts—in Oboro’s fluff. Kasumi’s gaze flickered from Sally (who was sheepishly returning her dagger to its sheath) to the still-asleep Maple and finally back to Iz, before she silently mouthed, “Should I leave you to it, or…?”

In response, Iz opened up a chat window.

Conversation with [Kasumi]

I think it’ll be fine once she has a moment to breathe…
Something about the preview summary for her and Maple’s results freaked her out’
Or at least surprised her
Have you seen her that surprised befor

Oh. Concerning.
No.

And then when I ewnt to reassure her, she…apparently thought I didn’t know???

Not even when we fell into the Snail Dungeon.

That she and maple were dating, that’s
That is*

Wait.

Or at least, that’s what I thought until that last outburst after you logged in

Wasn't she saying that—yes. That.
See, this is why I gave up on trying to figure them out.

Exactly. So now I’m not sure
If the game said they weren’t dating and they are…

Ah.
Or if they weren’t and it said they were.

Exactly. I think she’s calmed down a bit now, would you like to…?

No pressure, huh?
I’ll take over, yes.

Thank you. I need caffiene, and we all need snacks I thnk

On that note.
I couldn’t help but notice that you owe me more tea.

:P :P :P yes yes, tea 4 u, coffee for me, and…do you think teaor cocoa for the lovebird?
S*

Cocoa, I believe.
Now go make snacks and stop assaulting the very concepts of spelling and grammar.

o7

 

Luckily, Sally had calmed down enough that she didn’t jump when Kasumi cleared her throat. “So, I understand there is some issue with how the MRS defined your relationship with Maple. Would you like to discuss it?”

Sally fiddled with her scarf’s tail for a bit before muttering, “We weren’t even…couple-y online. How did you guys know?”

Kasumi ignored the choking sound coming from the hall leading to the kitchens. “Ah. Well, I wasn’t certain, but…well. To start, today’s note wasn’t the first message I’ve been left with this sort of image on it, to say the least,” Kasumi said, pulling out the note Maple had left for her, which prominently featured doodles of Maple and Sally’s heads…with a heart between them.

Sally just looked confused. “But that’s just how Maple’s been signing notes from the two of us since…I don’t know, middle school?”

Kasumi nodded. “Understandable, if it were the only thing. But have you also been going on dates and coming back home flushed and giddy multiple times a week since before you were officially together?”

“Okay, wait,” Sally said, “Iz said that too, but those weren’t dates! That was just. Sightseeing. Hanging out. Playing?”

Iz walked back in with a tray while Kasumi was still composing her response. “I’ve got drinks, snacks, and a question for you, Sally,” Iz said. “What exactly do you define as a date?”

Sally paused while collecting her cocoa (and the fruit gummies that Iz had brought for Oboro, of course) from the tray. “Huh? I mean. It’s a date. You dress up nice, you go pick K—them up, you get dinner, or lunch, and go see something. A movie, or a play, or—” Sally paused, blushing, before continuing, “well, last time we went to a convention, but they were showing an old movie Maple really wanted to see, and then—” Sally cut herself off as she noticed her friends’ expressions. “Hey! What’s so funny!?”

Iz coughed, visibly holding back giggles. “Sorry, sorry, it’s just…well, it’s adorable. You’re maybe half my age, and you and Maple are usually so casual and silly, but you’ve got such a stiff definition of a ‘proper date’, and—” Iz cleared her throat. ”Ah. To be clear, that’s not a problem or an insult. The thing that matters is that you and Maple enjoy yourselves and feel fulfilled. But, uh…”

Seeing that Iz was stumbling and that Sally was still trying to decide if she should be offended, Kasumi set her tea down and stepped in, saying, “It’s just that most people have much simpler standards for what constitutes an official ‘date’ than you two do. I think that, by that definition, my ex and I would have only been on a single date in all four years of college, on our first anniversary. Iz is correct, however, that what is important is that you and your partner are on the same page. You may decide to keep that definition, or expand it to consider your ‘sightseeing’ trips as dates, but either way you should decide together with Maple.”

Sally looked thoughtful as she passed Oboro another gummy. Glancing over at where Maple and Syrup were still sleeping, she took a deep breath and nodded purposefully, before saying, “Okay. Thanks. We’ll…talk about that later, over cocoa—speaking of, did you—”

“Remember Maple’s usual? Marshmallows, caramel, and Fourth Stratum Urn Scorpion Venom, just as she prefers,” Iz replied, turning one of the mugs on the tray around to show the ‘Maple Only!’ sticker on the front, complete with a purple skull label. “Though, speaking of, we’re running low. Next shopping trip you make down there, Kasumi, can you grind for some more? We both know you’ll end up needing to refill your wallet afterwards anyway.”  Taking a sip of her coffee while Sally grinned and Kasumi hid a blush, Iz decided it was time to get things back on track. “Ah, so—”

She was interrupted when notification windows appeared in front of each of them. They each had a stack of notifications, with Sally’s stack slightly larger. The windows were staggered so that it was clear there were multiple present, but only the top one was readable.

Relationship Path Upgraded

Iz | Sally

Moral Support III (Iz -> Sally)

[Production Class]

[Effects]

  • +3% increase in effect to items used by [Iz] on [Sally]
  • +1.5% increase in effect to buffs used by [Iz] on [Sally]

[See Condition and Event Tallies]

[See Overall Relationship Summary]

There was a slight pause while they all read the first notification in their respective sets of windows. Sally broke the silence first, saying, “I hope they change it so these status updates have some more delay…it didn't interrupt our discussion, but it certainly didn’t wait for much of a pause…”

Iz chimed in. “True, but I think there’s something much more important.” Her eyes gleamed as she smirked at Sally. “The game clearly agrees that I deserve my title as Wise Senpai, giving me an extra rank in Moral Support!”

Kasumi cut in then, in hopes of preventing an argument. “I will say, I am a little concerned at how they’re scaling things.” She gestured, and the stack of notifications in front of her rotated around, showing Sally and Iz the second notification in her list.

Relationship Path Upgraded

Kasumi | Iz

Teamwork IV (Paired)

[Production Class]

[Effects]

  • +4% damage dealt when attacking targets that were recently attacked by [Iz], or which recently attacked [Iz].
  • -2% damage taken from targets that were recently attacked by [Iz], or which recently attacked [Iz].
  • Effects are doubled when in a 2-person party.

[See Condition and Event Tallies]

[See Overall Relationship Summary]

After a pause to let them finish reading, Kasumi continued. “I would indeed like to think that we work well together, both in combat and, it seems, in pep talks. However, I’m not sure that this conversation should have been enough to take us from level III to level IV.”

Iz waved off Kasumi’s concern, both literally and figuratively. “I went over our summary while you were, ahem, 'going potty' earlier," Iz said, grinning as Kasumi tried—and failed—to hide a slight blush at her wording, “and we were at ninety something percent progress on that one already. Good to know that both bowling explosives down into a guild’s hideout and teasing our juniors together count for the same skill, heh-heh-heh.”

Kasumi shot Iz a flat look, then flipped her notifications back towards herself. “Now, let’s see what else has upgraded,” Kasumi said as she closed the Teamwork window. “This one is—Oh! Maple’s done!”

By the time Kasumi had looked away from the notification, Sally had already eagerly made a full 180°, turning back towards the bunk bed at the end of the room. There, a bleary-eyed Maple sat on the top bunk, squinting at a notification window while cuddling a squirming turtle to her chest.

Sally opened her mouth to greet her girlfriend (‘I can call her that in game now too!!! Ahh!!!!’), only to be interrupted by the girl in question turning bright red and blurting out—

“EHHHH????”

Notes:

And so we've got an answer, straight from the ninja's mouth :-) We've also got another "Character ends the chapter by yelling EHHH???" which i hope to repeat one more time >:-) Next chapter should be an interlude of the devs arguing with each other over how to avoid their new cool update making Maple and co even MORE broken, and then after that Maple will Finally Awaken and we'll get to see how *she* responds to things.

I hope you enjoyed both Kasumi and Iz's nonsense and also their heartfelt advice??? This was supposed to be a shorter chapter, and/or have Maple wake up during it, but then Iz stopped me and said "No we need to give earnest romantic advice hold up" XD

Notes:

Oh right, i forgot to give some shoutouts:
Some of the idea for this fic came from Kuugenthefox's 'Social Skills' and Varewulf's 'Maple and Sally Adventures', though they took the concept in a much different direction that didn't mesh with my tastes as well--still, from what little i read of them, they seem to be good fics if they are in *your* wheelhouse. Symantra also has a fic with similar concepts, but i haven't had the time to read it, so i cannot say anything more of it :-P
As for general bofuri fic, momoxtoshiro, Tren, coffee_o, and SakuraBuzzLover87 all had very fun fluff fics imo :-)