Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

My name is Rin Yuuki, And this is the best day of my Life.

I was running past the many villagers and adventurers on this sprawling town this one sunny day not out of fear or tension but from excitement!

Today was the day that the highly anticipated Openworld VR MMO Surivival Game has finally released and the best part was that it has Dinosaurs!!!

“I might have to tell them I’m a bit late today.”

My sheer excitement for this day was uncontainable, I was at one of the many, MANY starter towns that the game had, and why is that? Is because the game has a massive openworld for players across the globe to start.

“They should be outside the town for us to meetup.”

I had a meetup with my friends whom were as excited for the game as I was! This game allowed us to travel vast biomes, go on adventures both chill and life threatening and we get to have pvp, build our home little settlements and even form clans together!

“Hey, You guys!! Im finally here, thanks for waiting.”

I was out of breath from all the running as the starter towns themselves were quite large since the game was one global server it would be understandable if the towns each player start on would be the size of New York city as the game’s economy is both ran by it’s own players and npcs.

“Took you long enough, alright let's sit down at the side of the gate while We wait for Rin’s Stamina to recover.”

A girl with Velvet pink hair, beautiful lavender eyes and clad in the same basic gear as I did suggested to our team to wait just a bit more before our adventure started. She was a rather popular person in our friend group of 4. Her name is Sakura, Haruka and the name she chose for herself in-game was Hakura.

“Hahaha! Thanks, I would just be a burden to you guys if We started exploring while my Stamina ran out.”

“Aww! But i dont wanna wait anymore! Buuutttt I guess it Can’t be helped…”

A short girl with deep amber hair, red velvet eyes and a strikingly noticeable bright red rabbit ear ribbon complained but quickly accepted our happenstance. Her name was Kasumi, Kana and her in-game name was Amber.

“And there she goes with being childish again…”

Kana’s older brother chimed in poking fun at her behavior, His name is Senko, Kasumi and his in-game name was and I quote: “FlamePlayzAi.”

Our clan only had 4 members which were the number of people in our friend group. For 5 minutes of resting and catching up before our game session started we were looking at the map trying to check for valuable resources we can farm and secure before nightfall which was when predators start hunting.

Rin Yuuki:

Game Name: Ryuki
Age 17
Level: 01
Hp: 800
Atk 300
Def: 260
Speed: 120

Sakura, Haruka:

Game Name: Hakura
Age: 18
Level: 01
Hp: 760
Atk: 280
Def: 250
Speed: 130

Kasumi, Kana:

Game Name: Amber
Age: 16
Level: 01
Hp: 740
Atk: 260
Def: 260
Speed: 150

Senko, Kasumi:

Game name: FlameplayzAI
Age: 19
level: 01
Hp: 820
Atk: 320
Def: 240
Speed: 200

Our Big game plan was to hunt down an Allosaurus!

Chapter Text

We were resting at the side of the town’s gate huddled around 15 meters from the actual gate to avoid getting in the way of the other players that were entering and leaving.

“So first order of business, Do you guys actually think hunting down an allosaurus wouldn’t just waste our time?” Hakura questioned Senko’s motivation to hunt down an allosaurus.

“Well it shouldn’t be that hard if all of us ganged up on it four to one- OUCH!!!” Senko proudly announced only to get pinched in the ear by Amber.

“What is your problem!!??”

“Are you drunk even in game!? You mean to tell us that you planned for us 4 to hunt down a large carnivore with our beginner gear!?”

Amber was pulling hard on her brother’s ear scolding him for wanting us to get reckless on this mission.

“Alright how about this, what if for now we grind out the low level mobs to at least try to gain levels up to 8 to 12, because I heard the lowest levels that allosaurus can be is around level 15 to 18.”

I chimed in to stop the siblings from fighting and causing a commotion in town.

“Ugh! Fineeeee I guess it can’t be helped…” Senko whined and accepted the plan instead.

It was settled, We mapped out the beginner area and started heading out the stone bridge that connects the beginner town to the wild areas. The town was isolated from the wild areas via a large blue moat which makes the beginner town very relaxing and soothing.

While walking the stone bridge together as a group I couldn’t help but appreciate the games cell shaded artstyle, the sun was shining very brightly illuminating the road ahead of us, the game’s landscapes was simply gorgeous to look at….

It took roughly 3 minutes to pass the bridge and left the town’s safezone barrier, and before we knew it we were at a lush green fields where dinosaurs grazed.

“Woah~ there so many wildlife and the fields are so beautiful!” Hakura was amazed by the leve of graphics and fidelity the game shown.

“Look over there! So many dinosaurs!” Amber was admiring the dinosaurs while me and Senko looked at each other trying to scout the area around us.

The dinosaurs in this area seemed to be the sauropods: Apatosaurus, Camarosaurus, brontosaurus, the stegosaurs: Lexovisaurus and stegosaurus and even some iguanodons and stegoceras while pretosaurs and birds soared from the skies down to the land.

I noticed that the sauropods were grazing from trees and some were taking a swim, the stegosaurs seem to be minding their business while stegoceras were headbutting fighting for dominance.

“Do you think We should’ve done this alone? Hakura and amber might get scared if we encounter a carnivore Y’know” Senko sent me a private message

“I can’t exactly comment on that, because we all bought the game together so it’s only fair for us to all experience it together” was my response.

“How about this You cover my sister’s back while I cover Hakura”

Senko suggested and I sent him a thumbs up emoji.

“Alright for now~ let’s look for the easiest dinosaurs to take down as a group, preferably something us 4 can gang up on.” I announced to my team.

“Agreed.” Hakura and Senko said while amber nodded.

“Everyone use the area scan feature so we know what creatures are nearby.” Hakura suggested

We all activated the scan feature and saw that the low level dinosaurs we can fight on our own or as a group were Heterodontosaurs and Hypsilophodont.

“Alright let’s deduce which specific one we should hunt down.” Senko suggested.”

“We can hunt down the Pisanosaurus, Heterodontosaurus, and Echinodon although it wont give much exp for groups because they are too tiny, but We can try our shot on Hypsilophodon, Dryosaurus and Thescelosaurus or even the parkosaurus.”

Those dinosaurs were the size of large dogs or monkeys which would let us gang up on some of them one at a time. Their mouths resembled bills and beaks so We still had to watch out…

Dryosaurus was a herbivore that lived in the Jurassic period and inhabited North America. Its fossils have been found in places such as South Dakota, Colorado and North Rhine-Westphalia. Dryosaurus earned its name from the oak shaped teeth of its mouth, a marked characteristic of herbivorous dinosaurs that fed on lush vegetation. It also featured a beak at the front of the mouth which would have been used for cropping off parts of plants.

Parksosaurus is usually treated as a hypsilophodont dinosaur, and as with others of its kind, swift speed and agility were key to the survival of the individual.

With this in mind, the larger predators of the time such as large tyrannosaurs like adult Albertosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex probably did not even bother with smaller dinosaurs like Parksosaurus. However, troodonts, such as the Troodon genus itself would themselves have been swift and deadly, and certainly capable of taking down a Parksosaurus, especially from an ambush.

“Raise your hand if you vote dryosaurus and keep them to your side if you vote parkosaurus.” Senko proudly announced while raising his hand and only I seem to want to fight Dryosaurus….

“Tough Crowd.” I joked.

“I guess were splitting up huh?”

“Yeah…” Senko agreed.

“For now let’d meet up at this dead log, Mark it on your maps so we dont get lost.”

We then split up in pairs and started tracking the dryosaurus and parkosaurus respectively.

Chapter Text

The four of us have separated into groups of 2. Hakura and Amber chose parkosaurus while Senko and I chose Dryosaurus.

We were currently at “Gentle Expanse,” which was grassland outside our unnamed starter town, because the devs of Kyoryu Online decided to let the game’s players do the naming of the many towns they may start in which was absolutely genius on their end.

“The dryosaurs in this area are ranging from level 2 to level 12, so we would need to lure one of them in so we can have the high ground” Senko said while we were walking towards one of the many dryosaurus in the area.

“I get what you mean, dryosaurus are fairly large so we really need to take one out at a time, Anyway what weapon did you choose at the avatar creation? I picked a sword, and for my range weapon I picked a pistol.”

“Oh that, well I chose a staff for my melee weapon and a Long bow for my ranged weapon.”

“I see.”

Senko scratched his butt while we walked to a fairly large rock to hide from the dryosaurus herd.

“So whats our plan?” I asked with my arms crossed.

“You know those Hypsilophodont bait from the town’s marketplace? I bought a few of them with Amber before meeting up with Hakura outside of town, We lure one away then jump it!”

“I get the idea of your plan but you do know dryosaurus is way bigger than us right? We’re not exactly professional at this so We need to lure it in an area where it wouldn’t have an advantage of running.” I expressed my doubts towards Senko.

“How about the riverbank, surely it would be muddy enough so we can knock it down and go for the kill.” He confidently proclaimed.

“Alright I’ll just follow your lead then boss.”

We shook hands and then checked the beastiary.

While looking through the mobs beastiary section it said that no dinosaur will be fully defensive or would passively let others kill them, some will fight back, others have defensive poisons, spikes, smells, features, run away fast.

As far as I know dryosaurus are dinosaurs that acted as the herd’s look out for carnivores then run away fast while the larger herd members fight for survival.

“Do you think it will work?” I wondered loudly

“It will work, Trust me bro I’m a pro!”

“I now wish I had sided with Hakura and Amber.” I smirked sadly

The way Senko confidently said to trust him made me even more worried. Whenever I was in co-op with this guy We always lose due to him not explaining the plan to the team.

“We need to be able to get it close enough to sink in the riverbank mud in order to slow down it’s mobility.” I suggested

“Yes I know that.”

We then threw 3 pieces of the bait near the dryosaurus herd from behind the rock we were behind of hoping one of the juveniles will fall for the bait.

It took around 4 seconds before one of the younger dryosaurus noticed the baits and ate them.

“This is it.”

I attached a silencer on my pistol then slowly approached the dryosaurus from behind but maintaining a distance while Senko climbed on top of the large rock.

Senko threw more near the riverbank and the lone hypsilodont fell for it. That was our chance to attack!

Senko shot an arrow from his longbow and pierced the dryosaurus knee’s causing it to panic while I immediately fired 3 rounds from my pistol, 2 of which shot it’s arm and hip while the last one missed.

“This is it!” Senko shouted while preparing to fire a second arrow while I charged at the staggered dinosaur and tackled it knocking one of it’s leg down the river bank sinking to the mud while trying to pin it down for Senko to keep shooting with arrows.

The Dryosaurus was struggling hard, it was trying to shake me off while trying to scratch me chipping down my health.

“Hurry up and shoot it!” I screamed trying to maintain it from escaping while keeping it down the water.

“Keep it still! If I accidentally shoot you it will escape!”

Senko struggled to aim due to both me and the Dryosaurus struggling.

The bipedal lizard kept scratching and kicking on my body which was not only slowly lowering my healthpoints but also chipping down my armor’s durability. I couldn’t let that happen!

“I’m not letting you escape!”

I took out my short sword and started slashing on it’s already injured hip and knee cap causing it to bleed harder and making it’s good leg sink in deeper!

“There’s your opening!” I shouted at Senko

“Thanks for the wait!”

He shot the arrow directly on it’s eyeball killing it instantly and the dinosaur’s corpse collapse on the river bank

“What took you so long?”

My Healthpoints was lower than 220 and my stamina was just gone, my basic gear was torn apart… I basically sank down when the Dryosaurus died.

“I didn’t want to accidentally kill you, and let it escape.”

“Yeah thanks…”

We heard a small chime which alerted us saying that we gained 3 levels, we were now level 4 and our stats increased by a good portion.

Rin Yuuki:

Game name: Ryuki
Age: 17
Level: 04
Hp: 820
Atk: 280
Def: 265
Speed: 155

Senko Kasumi:

Game name: FlamePlayzAi
Age: 19
Level: 04
Hp: 850
Atk: 330
Def: 245
Speed: 210

We both also got 15 skill points total from the level up which we could use to raise our stats by 1 point per skill point used.

“Looks like we both got leveled up from the kill.” Senko mentioned.

“Yes that’s good and all but let’s prepare to bring this guy back to town, I need new gear and something good to eat.”

I was very salty at my appearance after this first hunt.

“Alright, let’s call Hakura and Amber to our location and just rest up for a bit after we get the guy out of the riverbed.”

We sent Hakura and Amber the message of our kill and asked them to borrow a wagon and 4 sets of ropes.

I picked myself up and helped Senko drag out the lizard off the river bed before it drifted away.

We then waited what felt like 20 minutes when We saw Hakura and Amber about 22 feet away with the wagon and 4 ropes.

“Hakura! Amber! Over here!!” We stood up and waved at the 2 young lass.

While the 2 walked towards us we saw 12 Agilisaurus strapped to their Wagon, Agilisaurus were a smaller Hypsilophodont than Dryosaurus which meant hunting them were much easier.

“Looks like you ladies been busy!” Senko praised the girl’s hunt of 6 Agilisaurus each only to get ignored as the 2 girls were concerned about my torn up gear and near non existent health.

“Holy shit what happened to you?” Hakura was surprised

“Did that thing cause it?” Amber was equally flabbergasted.

“Yes because Senko Couldn’t aim for shit.” I complained while removing my destroyed gear. I’ll have these salvaged and replaced later.

“Hehe! Alright let’s get this guy to that wagon.” Senko laughed before getting to business.

We each tied a rope on each of it’s limb and got it on the wagon.

“Alright Senko let’s get our bounty to town-”

I suggested to assist only for both of the girls to push me onto the wagon and insisted that I let them do the work which took 12 minutes of bickering.

“So did you gals also gained levels?” Senko asked while he was pulling on one side and Hakura and amber pulled on the opposite.

“Yes we’re now level 8!” Amber smugly joked.

“The agilisaurus yielded a decent amount of exp whenever they are killed.” Hakura happily gloated.

Kana Kasumi:

Game name: Amber
Age: 16
Level: 08
Hp: 780
Atk: 280
Def: 270
Speed: 170

Sakura, Haruka:

Game name: Hakura
Age: 18
Level: 08
Hp: 810
Atk: 280
Def: 278
Speed: 160

It seems like hunting an allosaurus will take more than a week…

Chapter Text

“It seemed like the sun was about to start going down soon” I pointed out to my team.

“Well we did took a while hunting our bounties.” Hakura followed up.

“Yeah and we really stalled fighting the dryosaurus…” Senko threw his 2 cents in the conversation.

I was sitting in the wagon with the dryosaurus and agilisaurus corpse we hunted.

Due to how much my health dropped during the encounter with the dryosaurus, I was essentially a sitting duck but fortunately my teammates didn’t wanted to burden me further.

“Are you guys gonna be able to pull the cart all the way across the stone bridge all the way to town? My health is no longer low, it’s about 60% replenished so i can help with tugging the wagon…”

“Sure, It’s less work for me!” Amber enthusiastically cheered.

“Aight scooch over to Senko and let me pull that side.”

“Huh why?” Amber questioned my motives.

“Because Senko is the physically strongest and you’re the physically weakest among us” Hakura joked!

“Wh-What!? NO FAIR! I’m the strongest here! B-But I guess it can’t be helped then…” Amber whined before moving to Senko’s side and I dropped down from the side and helped Hakura’s side.

I activated my User interface to check up on my armor’s durability to show the team that my beginner armor was lower than 40% and that my heathpoints was just barely 64% of my max healthpoints.

“The dryosaurus really did a number on my healthpoints and armor durability…”

“So does this mean you will be having it be repaired or replaced back in town?” Amber curiously asked.

“I do plan to do that exactly, I’ll have it be salvaged and use abot 15% of our bounty’s profits for reinforced leather or something similar.” I sighed annoyed.

“Well then, how about We split in 2 groups once we get to town!” Hakura spoke up.

“Hm?” I was confused.

“Alright har me out, Senko and Amber will submit our bounty to the hunter’s guild and then they will meet up with us at the armory and we shall all split the bounty’s rewards 25% each!”

“Sounds good to me, but why split up when we can go for the bounty’s rewards first?”

“Who knows~ It would just be more fun for us that way!”

Hakura gave me a wink and smirk and which I just rolled my eyes on much to her annoyance.

It took us around 25 minutes to go from the riverbank all the way to the town’s gate and another 15 minutes to actually cross the bridge because our “Bounty” was so heavy that it dragged us down so bad that we even had to start having Amber swat away the flies and mosquitos while the 3 of us kept dragging the wagon to the bridge and across it into the city’s safezone.

“That should not have taken us nearly an hour!”

We were extremely tired and parked the wagon outside the town walls and sat down completely down for the count.

“Does anyone have any drinks on you right now?” Senko whined.

“It’s back in the apartment we stayed in! I didn’t know this was gonna drain us completely, just bear with it a little more, or we can just buy some from the nearby shops inside the town!” Hakura followed up on Senko’s request.

“That’s alright let’s just get our bounty submitted so we can get rewarded and lay down in the inn so we can safely log out of this tiresome game…” Senko quickly got up

“Right.” Amber followed and dragged both me and Hakura off the side.

“Log out that soon? You guys aren’t staying for the event later, where the players declares the town’s name!” Hakura questioned.

“It’s fine, both of us are completely drained from this misadventure, so You guys enjoy the festivities.” Senko seemed completely out of it while Amber was just ready to sleep her heart out.

“Alright leave the festivities attendance to us!” I happily said

Instead of going with Hakura’s plan from earlier we instead submitted the bounty as a group to which we split the bounty’s reward of “180,000 worth Goru” which was this game’s currency to 45,000 equally between us 4.

“I guess our total bounty reward wasn’t as big as expected, but it’s not like we can just complain since were rookies…” Senko melancholically sighed.

“It’s fine once we get our allosaurus we will be rich!” I cheered.

“Right!”

We then accompanied Senko and Amber back to the inn we were staying in to see them off, after that, Hakura and I will be alone, attending the name ceremony of the town later.

Chapter Text

The 4 of us were at a Tavern/Inn called “The Thick Panther,” We accompanied Senko and Amber to their room which was labeled 203

The room was very warm and cozy, the woodwork and craftsmanship of the furnitures was aesthetically pleasing in warm shades of red and brown.

“So this is where We’ll See you off for now?” Hakura asked Amber and Senko.

“Yeah the hunting trip was really tiring for Me~~” Amber was down for the count on the bed.

“Yeah, the thought of Ryuki dying nearly gave me a heart attack and I felt like dying.” Senko whined, only to get smacked by both Hakura and Amber.

“Pffttt~” I nearly broke down laughing.

“Anyway enjoy the festival you 2, Let’s meet up in game again tomorrow!” Senko broke his joker mood.

“Yeah we’ll make sure to buy a souvenir!” I happily said back.

“Amber, don’t let Senko overdrink his cheap booze.” Hakura Said jokingly.

“I make sure to hit him if he overdrinks!”

We shared a laugh together before going to the front door and the siblings logged off the game, to which Me and Hakura closed the locked door so only they can open it from the inside.

The 2 of us were alone for now.

“So~ shall we have your beginer attire salvaged and replaced?” Hakura sweetly asked.

“Yep, Let’s enjoy the ceremony together too, but let’s also getb them both a souvenir!” I happily told Hakura as we both headed down the tavern’s inn and headed to the town’s market area.

The town was quite crowded with both players and npcs so the two of us stuck together quite closely at the town’s walls to which it had more wiggle room than the bussling streets infront of us.

The town was designed like a european medieval town where the streets are made of stones, the houses were very homey and cozy and the street lamps were that distinct shade of orange.

“Looks like getting to the blacksmith and armory might take us quite some time if the crowd doesn’t clear up anytime soon” I was very annoyed.

“Your right, we better wait this out a bit longer…” Hakura followed up on.

The 2 of us were alone, Hakura volunteered to accompany me to the blacksmith and armory to replace my old armor but due to the crowded area we couldn’t do much but wait together while watching the festivities.

45 minutes later while waiting it didn’t seem like the player and npcs that were crowding the place was gonna let up any time soon.

“Hey…” I muttered.

“Yes?” Hakura responded

“Thanks for waiting this out with me.”

“It’s no big deal, Amber was too tired and Senko is a lazy piece of shit, and I dont trust your bargaining skills to not get scammed in there.”

I cannot tell for the life of me if that was sarcasm or not. We continued to wait until something seemed to have caught Hakura’s eye from roughly 15-40 feet away…

“What’s wrong?”

“Ryuki, do you see those?”

“Yes I do…”

We were seeing players that ranged from level 4 all the way to levl 12 outside of the town’s safe zone with caged Coelophysis, gallimimus, neovenator, Riojasaurus, stegoceras, pachycepalosaurus, edmontonia, and Ornitholestes.

They were setting up camp 25 meters away from the town’s bridge and they were all dressed in shades of brown and green as if they were bandits.

“Are those poachers?” I wondered

“Those dinosaurs looked abused, harmed and starved. The game is less than a week old and there are already people playing around with the wildlife…” Hakura looked upset.

Hakura suddenly attempted to jump down from the town’s 25 feet tall wall down to the ground.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing!?” I yelled at her.

“I’am going to save them! What else is there to do!? Ignore it and keep waiting for the crowd to lower?” She snapped back.

“If you’re implying this was about My armor being salvaged it isn’t, I’m just concerned with your safety.”

“Don’t try to stop me from saving them!” She was about to jump but I stopped her by holding on to her hand.

“If you’re gonna do this then I’m coming too!” I immediately equipped my ragged armor and prepared to jump too.

“No you are staying right here, your armor won't last long against those players! I’m level 8 their numbers are lower than mine and there are only 2 players that’s level 9 and 12!”

“If that was the case then I’ll just loot the armor off those same bandits that you are trying to stop.”

“Sigh… Alright let’s do this together then, let’s cover each other's backs!” Hakura pumped herself up while I just gave a confident smile as we both leaped down the wall and prepared to run across the town’s bridge fully willing to miss out on the festival just to save the dinosaurs.

Chapter Text

Our Stats were roughly equal, I had the higher base hp stat while Hakura had the higher base speed and def stats, but the due to the heavily damaged conditions of my armor meant that I wouldn’t last that long against multiple players that were ranging on the level 08 to level 12.

But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t at least be of help and support to Hakura during her self assigned mission.

Rin Yuuki:

Game name: Ryuki
Age: 17
Level: 04
Hp: 820
Atk: 280
Def: 265
Speed: 155

Sakura, Haruka:

Game name: Hakura
Age: 18
Level: 08
Hp: 810
Atk: 280
Def: 278
Speed: 160

We began to focus our energy to our legs went to a position from the bridge.

“Are You ready for this?” Hakura asked with determination in her eyes.

“Yes I’am!” I happily responded

“Try to keep up then!” Hakura smugly said before immediately sprinting which caught me off guard.

In a split second She had started sprinting from the town’s side of the long stone bridge towards the opposite wild area side of the bridge in order to stop the poachers that She wanted to bring to justice.

“Overconfident as ever!” I followed before sprinting too.

The walk from one end of the bridge to the other earlier took us roughly 3 minutes but that was when we were only level 1, We were now both level 04 and level 08 respectively which meant Hakura sprinted across the bridge in less than half of 3 minutes while It took me a bit after her time.

Hakura got to the end in a minute 10 seconds while it took me a minute 40

Why the sudden shift in ground covered? Due to our hunts from earlier our stats increased, but we also gotten skill points to manually buff up the stats we desired, I dumped up 12 of my skill points into speed while the remaining 3 to atk.

Rin Ryuuki:

Game name: Ryuki
Age: 17
Level: 04
Hp: 820
Atk: 283
Def: 265
Speed: 167

“Amber’s overconfidence really starting to spread to you huh?” I sighed completely drained while Hakura was only a bit ruffled.

“I guess she is a good influence then, Well then let’s ambush them and take them out one at a time unless you wanna go in guns blazing.” Hakura explained before loading up her revolver and preparing her rapier.

“Let’s do the stealth way, My armor is just about dead at this point.”

We started sneaking towards the camp, it was pitch black outside of town which meant we blended into the shadows.

“Put this on.” Hakura handed a kitsune mask before putting on her own kitsune mask

“Thank you.”

We’ve both concealed our identity with the kitsune mask and was now 18 meters away from the camp’s edge. We both went to a prone position and hid under the long grass and slowly crawled to the camp’s border, split up when we were 9 meters close and scouted around to see the dinosaurs they have hostage.

“How did players that ranged from level 8 to 12 captured these much dinosaurs, game is barely 2 weeks old.” I sent Hakura an in game text

“Well the game has released late for us by 2 weeks, it already released for the european and north american region by 3 weeks in advanced. So it’s likely some groups of players are already mid to high level and started poaching groups.” She replied.

What she said was true, Kyoryu online released late in asia region and was early in european and american regions. The game only had 1 large shared server, so it wasn’t unlikely to see mid to high level players, the only real difference was the isles we spawned in.

I then attached some leaves, grass and flowers all across my “damaged” armor in order to blend in further and to have even a little more defense between me and whatever weapon they had.

“Ready when you are.” I sent another message.

“Look to your right, their should be a tree 12 meters away.” Hakura responded.

I saw her at the tree doing the same thing I did and fahsioned up some light armor made of plants and vegetations.

“I’ll snipe that level 8 player from this tree, you go pull his corpse deep in the long grass and get whatever armor or equipment you can get.” Hakura sent another message

“I’ll take you up on that offer.”

When a player dies in game, they lose 25% of any farmable resources they have, then their corpse drops dead on the ground, “Obviously,” there is then a 5 to 25 second window for other players to try loot what they can out of the dead players inventory before it all teleports away when the player respawn.

Naturally, We we’re gonna abuse that mechanic in order to give me a fighting edge over these poachers.

“I’m ready.”

An arrow is suddenly flew past my direction and immediately went through a level 9 player’s head whom was separated from the camp to organize his belongings.

That was my chance I made a light run towards the downed player, while the darkness and the vegetation clothing I had covered me as I dragged them into the long grass before I started looting their equipment.

He had a reinforced leather breastplate, knee pads, elbow pads hand guards that protected his arms, the material reminded me of crododile leather.

“I looted his armor” I sent another message to Hakura before unequipping my damaged armor and equipping the one I looted.

“Good work, Now let’s get to business.”

The camp had a large bonfire, and small lanterns as their only light sources meaning we can hide really well in the shade of darkness and flora.

There was a total of 17 players in this camp left, there were large carts carrying cages of the dinosaurs they captured and the members of the group seem to not be on the most friendly terms together, as it’s more like their just a group with common goals, like mercenaries.

“Ryuki, heres our options.” Hakura texted a few ways to do this.

The first one was to find a way to Distract, while we release the captured dinosaurs letting them cause chaos and carnage to their captors, the 2nd was stealthily kill them off one by one, the 3rd was go in guns blazing, which was the option I don’t want to do, the last one was stealthily kill off the poachers while also trying to release the captured dinosaurs.

“Option 4” I texted

“I’ll try to kill them off, you release the dinosaurs, there should be a key near their luggage.”

“We’re in this together, so dont carry the burden alone.” I responded

I loaded my silenced pistol and shot one of the poachers whom were talking together which was intentionally to get their attention as I dove into the long grass before firing at another poacher whom were with 2 others.

“There’s SOMEONE HERE!! SEARCH FOR THEM!!” Their head honcho shouted as he equipped a large claymore.

There were only 15 left, but now is the real challenge! The poachers geared up and started exploring the area while other scanned the area. Due to our flora and vegetation disguise, We blended right in even if noises could give us away.

There was about 4 men that came to the direction near me, however…

A fire cracker went off near the dinosaurs’ cage, specifically, the ones containing edmontonia, stegoceras, Neovenator, agitating the captured dinosaurs which took away the hunter’s attention away from me, that’s right Hakura took advantage of the opening I gave her to get these hunters to panic and scramble.

“Pretty ballsy move Hakura.”

I then shot off the locks from the neovenator, cages using my pistol causing them to break loose, Alerting the hunters as they broke free and were ready to feast.

Neovenator was a relative of Allosaurus, Mapusaurus, Carcharodontosarus and Giganotosaurus, It is one of the best known theropod dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous of Europe. It was about 7 to 8 meters long and around 10 meters tall or even higher.

One of the neovenators roared as it pounced on 2 of the initially 4 hunters that were going toward me and chomped down on one their heads knocking away the other. While some of it’s brethren charged towards the main group of the poachers.

In a brief moment screams and bloodshed were heard as the Neovenators were now having a fight to the death with the hunters while I blew our cover by revealing myself and released the coelophysis and edmontonia which started causing even more commotion leading to a domino effect! 2 hunter’s left.

I then heard screams of bloody murder and fury as the poacher’s head honcho then man handled his last remaining man towards a group of neovenators, As he then ruthlessly crushed them by slamming his large claymore down on their body while the rest of the captured dinosaurs had now fled.

“So you’re the intruder, Did your parents not tell you to mind your business!?” the man shouted.

He was 6 foot tall and was level 15, his armor was made of the fur of what looked like a sabertooth cat and scales of allosaurus.

“Yes they did, I just couldn’t let bastards like you ran lose!” I snapped back before shooting 3 more rounds at him!

He immediately protected himself with his large claymore and dashed to my direction while I tried to keep firing to no avail, he slammed the blunt side of his large claymore on my body, I felt that the impact was barely mitigated by the armor I stole.

“Ryuki! Get out of there now!” Hakura shot multiple arrows at his direction, 3 pierced his back but he just tanked them like it was nothing.

“Damn… that was painful as hell…” I gasped for air as I shouted for Hakura to get out of here now.

I felt my ribs shatter as I was flung towards a tree and Immediately got back up and fired 2 more rounds, one of which shot his ear off.

“Tenacious little shit huh!?” He yelled pissed before throwing his claymore right at me which only barely missed my head, I couldn’t move and I had my back up against the wall.

“I’ll tell you what punk, I’ll spare you, but you will work for me from now on, My men are all back at the base because of your stunt.

“I…. Re…. Refuse!!!!” I tried to tackle him but to no avail…

“Time to die.” The bastard whispered to my ear as he just grabbed my shoulders and slammed me to the tree around 4 times, My health was now in the low red…

He was about to bash my head in but…. A hissing noise was suddenly around us.

He turned his head only to see a neovenator he seemingly killed got up and was now behind him, the dinosaur got up because Hakura treated it’s wound and gave it just enough time to got up and properly move.

“Look who’s out of options now!” I shouted and shot 2 rounds on his knees and abdoment causing him to drop me while the neovenator chomped down on his head!!!

The bastard then tried to push off the the reptile however, Hakura shot an arrow on his kneecaps which caused him to lose balance as the Large Theropod finished him off, by chomping down on his guts infront of me.

“Can you walk?” Hakura reached out her hand for me.

“I don’t know…” I reached for it as We slowly walked back from this ruined campsite towards the town…

We arrived at dawn and saw a large sign at the stone bridge saying

“Welcome to Gunnhildr town.”

“We missed the town naming festival…” I muttered while we crossed the bridge.

“It’s alright, what’s important was we helped out those dinosaurs…” Hakura replied…

The walk on the stone bridge took 10 minutes and we sat at the side of the gate again.

“Sorry for burdening you Ryuki…” Hakura said with some sadness in her eyes.

“It’s alright, just treat me to something delicious tomorrow.”

I guess the “Best” Day of my life was also the most traumatizing, but that didn’t matter, I had my Friend by my side through it all.

Chapter Text

I was sitting in my room watching a U-Tube video from my laptop when suddenly…

“Ring Ring” Senko, Kana and Haruka invited me to a video call.

“You 2 did WHAT!?!!?!?!?!?” Yelled by Kana from our video call.

“Let us explain…” Haruka tried to calm down the 2 through the screen.

Shortly after logging off the game, I was invited to a video call with Haruka, Senko and Kana but when Senko and Kana found out about the incident that Haruka and I got involved in, We were scolded into oblivion for attempting a suicide mission against players that were several levels stronger than Us 2 combined.

“What is there to explain?” I asked and raised an eyebrow.

“You left Me out of that mission!!” Senko shouted before being smacked by Kana using a broom which was a funny sight.

“You 2 could’’ve gotten hurt!! Next time, If you 2 do anything reckless You shall taste the divine punishment!” Threatened Kana.

“We’re sorry…” Haruka and I said in unison as when Kana says divine punishment she meant was forcing us to run a 500 meter sprint.

The thing was, without the cover of darkness and the illumination of moonlight we never would have survived the encounter and our inventory would have been looted as well lose 15% of our stuff, so they did have a good point.

“You made your point, so here’s the deal, before we attempt anything dangerous We’ll report to you 2 so you guys can join us, fair?” I questioned Kana.

“That’s fair.” Kana said and Senko nodded.

I haven’t touched Kyoryu Online for a 2 days after our initial gaming session, I was exhausted from the experience while my friends were all busy for a while, Senko was out shopping wine and alcohol, Haruka was having an outing with her “Girl friends,” while I got stuck babysitting Kana during her daily exercises because Haruka was not around for a while.

Chapter Text

After the exhaustive game session the 4 of us did when Kyoryu online released we barely touched the game for 2 days, I was currently “Babysitting” Kana, because her brother Senko weaseled out of accompanying her during her morning runs so He could spend some time in a “Cheap booze Exhibit” while Haruka was missing in action due to her outing and which I ended up as the extra body that Kana dragged along.

I was at the park watching over Kana’s morning jogging, it was 4:50 am and I felt so tired waking up so early.

“Sigh… Why did I let Senko convince me to join you…” I thought to myself while sitting on a bench waiting for Kana to finish her jog. And before I knew it she was aiming her phone at me trying to take a selfie together.

“Say Cheeeeeese~!!” Kana urged me to smile so she can start taking 30 different selfies of us together.

Kana had a fairly length light orange-blonde hair which were fashioned into side pony tails, she was wearing a pink tracksuit top which was given to her by Haruka during her birthday a while ago,

and navy blue shorts that reached just above her knees, white socks and lastly a pair of red and white running shoes.

“Can you STOP THAT!?” I yelled.

Unfortunately for her, I don’t enjoy taking selfies at all, let alone dozens upon dozens of them.

“Just smile!” She was aiming her phone at me from different angles.

“I refuse.” I covered my face with both my hands.

“Aww~ come on! Don’t be such a stinker!” She angrily pouted while trying to shake my hands of my face.

“Do you not have anything else better to do? It’s only 5:30 am!!!” I complained.

“Come on!! You wouldn’t let a young lady go out this early all on her lonesome now would you?” She tried to at cutely.

“The same young lady We’re talking about has also bench pressed 4 men twice her size during her martial arts lessons and also carried 3 people on her back while trekking through a steep hill!”

I retorted back as Kana was very capable of defending herself due to her martial arts experience and the time she carried Me, Haruka and Senko on a steep hill.

“Hehe~ no need for flattery~” She pridefully snickered.

“Anyway what’s the real reason we went out to the park this early, you clearly already finished your morning run 4x over already.”

“Well~~~ I don’t really like running all alone in the dark!” She shyly responded.

“Why? Are you afraid that a carnotaurus would jump out and ambush you?” I asked.

“*Gasp* How did you know!? Are you a psychic!? Can you read minds?? Come on tell me!!!!!!” She yelled curiously.

“What? No I just took a shot in the dark!”

“Liar!! I dare you to guess what im thinking about right now!”

She grabbed both my shoulders and shook me for roughly 5 minutes trying to get me to fess up.

“You’re thinking about how I’m guessing your every thought when your a very simple person to predict!”

“Wrong! I was thinking about those very delicious and long Chocolate Bananas in vanilla pudding!!!!”

“. . . . . .” I want to hit her so bad.

The sun was rising slowly and it’s no longer as dark out here in the park where I accompanied Kana.

“Hey, do you wanna grab breakfast together?” I suggested

“Oh sure! Let’s go to a nearby convenience store and eat there!”

Before I knew it she quickly grabbed my hand and started running as if I was barely weighing her down.

For what felt like 3 minutes, Kana was holding on to my hand, running at full speed while dragging me along the streets as if She wasn’t even carrying a second body along with her until we finally arrived at a convenience store called “Heru-Shiina.”

Chapter Text

We arrived at the Convenience store and the sun has finally risen.

“Hey Kana”

“Yes, what is it Rin?

“How the hell are you able to drag me around the streets so quickly with little effort?” I said while panting and catching my breath.

“I just exercise daily in the morning and night.”

“There’s gotta be a trick you’re doing.”

“A trick? Why would you think that Rin?”

“It’s because… never mind let’s just have breakfast.” I didn’t have a proper basis on how strong Kana is So I just left it at that.

“Oh okay then…”

“Just so you know, you’re paying for my breakfast since you dragged me along with you since I woke up!” I flaunted while opening the door.

“It’s alright I don’t mind treating you~”

“That was easier than I thought… what’s the catch?”

“Well~”

“You stole from Senko didn’t you?”

Kana only nodded in embarrassment.

We entered the “Konbini” or convenience store and started checking what food was available in the different aisles.

“I figured you’d say that Kana…”

“Pretty please don’t tell My older brother about this~”

“I see no reason to snitch on you, he did leave you alone today! So let us call it revenge hehe”

“**Gasp** Really!? Thank you! You’re the best!”

“Let’s just get something to eat already… I’m dying over here~”

“Aye aye, captain!” Kana saluted.

I was craving something that could fill me up for a while, it was now 6:15 am and I wasn’t gonna have an early lunch especially after this inhuman girl dragged me all the way here.

“What’cha looking at over there Yuuki?” Kana snuck up behind me.

“Donuts and coffee, But I’m also considering buying some instant ramen… how about you?”

“I bought Choco bananas!” She was holding a plastic bag of bananas dipped in chocolate and covered in sprinkles.

“You really love those huh?”

“Of course I do! Hehe~ Choco bananas are the best snack eve- Ouch!!!” I karate-chopped her on the head!

“We’re here to eat breakfast! Not have a sugar rush you dumb ass!”

“Fine then! What do you suggest I buy!?”

“Get a sandwich or salad for all I care, I’m not saying you can’t buy the choco bananas! Just get something that isn’t gonna kill you in 15 years!”

“Alright I’m sorry~” Her Bunny ears went down as if they were part of her head….

“Sigh…” I readjusted them back to normal.

“Um… Why’d you do that for?”

“Because I don’t like seeing you sad… It just doesn’t suit a troublemaker like you…”

“Oh MY~ do you have a crush on me Rin~?”

“Not really, But I wouldn’t mind going out together.”

“Hmmm! Does this not count as going out together?”

“You mean rushing in my house and dragging me out of bed to babysit you on your morning walk as a date? No, I don't.”

“Hmph! What a meanie!”

“Yes. I’am a meanie now get something to eat.”

“Oh alright.”

5 minutes later we met up at the cashier.

“So what’cha get Yuuki?”

“Took me a while but I decided to just buy a cup of coffee, a cup of miso soup, and some tamagoyaki, and you?”

“Aside from the choco bananas I bought some tempura and onigiri, and for a drink I just got some tea.”

“That is a pretty good spread we have. Do you wanna eat here or?”

“Let’s eat here so the food won't go bad okay?”

“Sure, let’s do that.”

We had breakfast together at the convenience store, Kana seemed to be really enjoying the idea of pairing “Choco bananas” with different types of snacks, I applauded her “creativity,” and well that's the nicest way I could put it without making her cry.

“Why does it feel like we're an old married couple?” I spoke out loud.

“Well~ Do you mind looking like an old married couple?”

“Hmm… I supposed not but that was just the vibe I got from this.”

After finishing our breakfast we headed back to the park, sat on a bench, and observed the birds flying by.

Chapter Text

Spending my entire morning with Kana has honestly reminded me of the times when we were in middle school, back then Senko was always with other boys while Haruka was Studying like always which meant it was always just us, You could say she was the person I was closest to in the group, Which then explains why I’m so tolerant of her and how she just drags me around all day.

Before We parted ways on the street she asked to always accompany her when We’re both free, I reluctantly agreed.

“Oh it’s finally time to log back in Kyoryu Online. I better enjoy my summer break with it.” My 2nd year of highschool has just recently ended.

The reason I mentioned this is that the devs of Kyoryu online specifically released the game during summer season which made it great for teens and gamers.

I put on the VR headset, lied on my bed and activated the device and then……

“Welcome, To Kyoryu Online player Ryuki.” said the game’s announcer as I logged in the starter town.

Once again I couldn’t help but appreciate the game’s wonderful cell-shaded art style.

“I wonder If Kana and the others have logged in today…”

I opened my friend’s list to see if they logged on into the server and unsurprisingly I was alone, they were probably all busy, Kana was likely resting after her daily exercise, and I wasn’t sure how long Haruka does shopping and knowing Senko he probably still drinking alcohol somewhere.

“Look’s like I’m alone today… Oh right I still haven’t replaced my old gear… I’m only using the one I got from the invasion that Hakura and I did.

I went to the town’s markets, sorted out my inventory and sold all the battle gear I had including the one I robbed, I was really planning to replace everything. I quickly got the reinforced leather leggings and tunic, both of which had some silver plating on the shoulders, elbows and knees.

I didn’t bother getting a helmet but I did get iron boots from what I was able to salvage, I had 45,000 goru which increased to 46,800 due to selling the scraps but after I replaced everything I had 27,300 remaining, replacing gear from scratch really wasn’t a good move but what choice did I have?

I once again went out the town’s gate and crossed the stone bridge this time in less than a minute.

“Record broken…”

My previous was 1 minute 40 seconds, now it was 40 seconds, I was able to shave an entire minute due to a level up I didn’t noticed during the attack on the camp Hakura and I did.

I somehow went from level 4 with stats like these;

Level: 04
Hp: 820
Atk: 280
Def: 265
Speed: 155

To level 12 with stats like these;

Level; 12
Hp:1,150
Atk: 520
Def: 350
Speed:300

Frankly… My stats were disgustingly bad, I didn’t really have access to any “Good” gear or weapons and I have yet to invest skill points, I need to be careful when I invest…

That made me wonder, what let’s a player level up in this game is it simply killing mobs and other players?
Doing quests? Getting new gear or something more vague…

“I wonder if the game had some kind of IV and EV system similar to a certain game where you trap animals into tiny balls and force them to fight their brethren.” I thought to myself while scanning the fields around me for dinosaurs I could hunt alone for bounty.

If there are any carnivorous dinosaurs that are decent for hunting at my level, then I would probably try to hunt as many as possible both for the Experience points, skill points and bounty rewards.

I started scanning the fields and noticed that there were coelophysis nearby…

Coelophysis was one of the first known dinosaurs dating all the way back from 190 to 216 million years ago in North america and africa, their fossils are found all over the world, and they were one of the most successful predators in their time.

Coelophysis was a slender theropod dinosaur, it’s leg bones were hollow which let them travel at 25mph, it was a nimble predator. They stand at around 1.8 meters or 5’10, however like most theropod it didn’t stood upright so despite the scary 5’10 height it would actually only reach half or slightly above my waist.

“I can definitely handle them…. Right? I mean it’s just a predator the size of a pitbull….”

Chapter Text

“I’m not confident about this….”

I finished scanning the map of the location of the Coelophysis group, there were 6 of them in total, and they were around the levels of 9 to 16 meanwhile I’m on level 12.

“Someone please convince me to not do this…” I thought while heading directly for the small group.

I picked up several sticks and pebbles on the way so that I didn’t have to aimlessly use my pistol and short sword. Why exactly did I pick pebbles and sticks? It’s because coelophysis was very slender with hollow limbs meaning blunt force weapons that do blunt force damage would be the best course of action to use against them, the second reason was because my short sword is a “slash” type weapon meanwhile my pistol or handgun is a “piercing” type weapon.

The other reason I picked up sticks is to craft a slingshot to fight at a ranged distance.

“There they are… I’m about to fucking die aren’t I?” I tried to be optimistic about fighting a group of overgrown featherless chickens the size of pitbulls.

I was finally far enough to them to where they couldn’t detect me while simultaneously close enough to do a surprise attack.

“. . . . .Go!” I immediately used a sling shot that shot off 4 pebbles that got the attention of the Coelophysis group, there were 6 of them and ranged from levels 9 to 16

2 of my pebbles missed and 2 hit, one struck a coelophysis on the neck the other on a leg, that was a good enough for me as the slender lizard things are now somewhat crippled from the initial attack!

“Now that’s what I’m talkin- gagh!”

I got hit from the side by a coelophsyis I wasn’t able to detect, apparently there was a 7th I missed.

“Stubborn little shits!”

I shot another pebble while I got knocked to my side but unfortunately It missed!

“Tch! Damn it!”

I fell on my butt with my back against a log, the same compy lunged at me but fortunately that was predictable, I took my pistol and fired directly at it’s head as I rolled out of the way and got back up immediately.

“Shit….”

I was already surrounded by 4 of the remaining 6 dinosaurs because the ones I struck on the initial attack was dead from the headshot while the other had it’s leg incapacitated. There was no other option other than fighting all of the remaining 4 head on!

“. . . . . . Go!”

I mustered my strength as one of the Coelophysis leaped at me, which got its neck slashed open by my short sword.

“3 More to g-”

I got interrupted by the remaining 3 which knocked me down face first.

“Now’s not the time for this!”

I strengthened my body and used my arms as a shield to guard my face as the last 3 leaped on me and started pecking and gnawing at my arms and abdomen which my reinforced leather armor was barely blocking.

“No!”

I tried to roll but the dinosaurs blocked the way and started trying to peck my eyes out. One of the dinosaurs suddenly started chirping loudly.

“Th-there calling for help!?”

I quickly checked my health points and I was at 48%, the leather armor was barely doing jack squat against 3 coelphysis!

I was In shock I couldn’t let these guys start calling for help so I mustered any strength I had to knock them off and got back up.

“That’s enough!”

I pulled my pisto and head shot one of the 3 coelophsyis which alerted the remaining 2.

“Damn… These guys are a pain…”

I prepared my short sword and pistol.

“No more games-”

A Utahraptor suddenly leaped above me and killed one of the coelophysis and mauled the other’s face off.

Utahraptor is a genus of large dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous period from around 135 to 130 million years ago in what is now the United States.

The Dinosaur has long been recognized as the world's largest dromeosaur. Utahraptor is the largest of all raptor dinosaurs. It is also the oldest of this family, living approximately 125 million years ago.

It was a heavily built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore. It contains a single species, Utahraptor ostrommaysi, which is the largest-known member of the family Dromaeosauridae, measuring about 5–5.5 metres (16–18 ft) long and weighing around 250–350 kilograms (550–770 lb).

“What the hell is a Utahraptor doing in the fields of a starter town?” I spoke out loud.

“Because it’s my personal tame!” Said someone from behind me.

I quickly turned around to face who this was.

“And Who are you supposed to be.” I questioned while holding my pistol but unaimed.

Behind me was a boy that stood about 5’7, He had blonde hair, a crop top with brown overcoat, white pants, black shoes and a cowboy hat. Accompanying him were 3 more utahraptors and a girl with elf ears, she had dark tanned skin, silver hair, red eyes, large breasts and was dressed as a maid.

“. . . . .” I didn’t know how to handle this group.

“Call Me, Diego…. I’m from the Enrico Clan” His voice was very flamboyant and elegant like a desperate prince needing attention from mommy and daddy.

“My name is Ryuki, and whose that person next to you?” I

Something in my gut told me that this man wasn’t someone that I should be trusting…

“Oh her~? Well she's my secretary!”

I noticed their personal levels were level 19 while the utahraptors they brought with them were in the level 20s, there was no way this guy was a normal player!

[author] I don't own the illustrations [/author]

Chapter Text

     There was a sense of bloodlust coming off of this man, it’s like he didn’t save me from the Coelophysis out of the goodness of his heart, I can feel something sinister is coming from him.

“Low-level players like ourselves shouldn’t have tames on the categories of Utahraptors. There’s was definitely something off with you.” I called him out.

His blue eyes had a glint of cold aloof, it didn’t seem like my words even fazed him, could it be that he had heard these before?

“Answer Me. Most low-level players shouldn’t even be capable of having “Elite carnivores” for tames this early, the game is barely a few months or 2 old.”

“Big words coming from a low-life such as yourself~!”

“Low life? I see, you’re one of those people with a superiority complex to match his own ego.

“You can say that filthy worm, but I’ll have you know you’re under no basis to start interrogating me like I owe you rent!”

“Tch….” He was correct about that.

To my surprise he just smirked, one of the only other ideas I have about him is he could be someone that has spent a lot of money on the game’s in-app purchases, but that strictly didn’t make sense, before I met up with my friends during the release I first checked out what in-app purchases this game had!

Most of the many in-app purchases are just extra loot, such as materials that are easily farmable by grinding long enough, in-game currency, and building materials, nothing in the shop even hinted about! Not to mention that there are monthly limits to purchases, a player can only purchase around 10x a month and all material categories share that limitation.

“Ah! It seems like you have no more things to tell, I’ll see you later filthy low-life!”

“The Hell did you call me!?” I prepared my short sword to fight.

The last idea I have of this guy is he is simply part of a clan that already has good tames, or that he originated from a different server such as Usa region but moved over to this area’s region.

What I’m trying to say is that the game released early in the USA and European servers but late in Asia region meaning those other regions had a headstart due to the game only having 1 server.

“How brave of you to raise a sword at the person who saved your life, well I can easily revoke that safety I brought upon ya! Come face your demise!”

“Uh- First off you look like a cowboy yet you’re talking like royalty! Could it be that you’re compensating for  something you’re highness?”

“How dare you speak to master like that!?” The elf chick snapped.

“What are you gonna do about it then? Kill me? Bring it on!” I responded.

The tension has really started escalating, I’am in no condition to even check my stats! The utahraptors had all started hissing at me as if they were preparing to gang up on me all at once!

“Ahahaha! What a jokester you are! I hate clowns!” He immediately pulled out 2 revolvers and started firing.

I knew he had guns so I anticipated it and started rushing at his direction and slashing at the bullets he fired.

“Not bad for a low life!” He turned his back from me.

“Die!” I yelled.

He let himself open, that was my shot! I bridged the distance between us, And as I was about to stab the back of his head. However, a sudden rush of paralyzing pain struck me.

“Hah!” The elf chick jumped in front of the bastard and kicked me right at the gut causing me to break my momentum, and fall backward head first on the ground.

I quickly rolled to the side and got up but…

“I’m not done ye-”

One of the Utahraptors leaped on top of me, dug its sharp hooked claw into my guts, and started mauling my head!

“Ugggghh…!!!”

“Take what you deserve you ant! That’s what you deserved for releasing my test subjects!” Diego shouted while doing a flamboyant pose.

It was extremely sudden, I was feeling an excruciating pain in my head and guts for what felt like an eternity! Its sharp teeth dug into my cranium until……

My vision went dark and… “A You died screen” appeared in front of me and asked if I wanted to respawn.

“Yes.”

I was back at the inn’s room that Senko, Kana, and Haruka rented. I started breathing heavily, that mauling I got from that dinosaur was extremely painful, like 2 cement doors closing in on your ball sack…. My vision also felt blurry and all I remembered was that man’s face.

“Wait! My Inventory!”

I felt my mind spinning but I immediately went and clumsily opened up and checked my stuff. I somehow only lost half my food, and several farmable materials like wood, and water, and lastly my “Reinforced leather” was 80% dead.

“Well, that sucked.” I sighed before I started talking to myself as I remembered what that man told me while I was dying.

Diego said that this was my punishment for releasing his test subjects!

“Could it be… He was allied with the group of poachers that Haruka and I sabotaged!?”

“What are you doing here talking to yourself?” Senko’s voice was suddenly heard.

“Huh?” was all I could say because I felt very lightheaded from the experience.

I turned around to see that Senko, Haruka, and Kana had all just logged in the game and appeared in the room with me.

“You’re all here… Good.” I muttered.

“Is something wrong Yuuki?” Kana went close to me and put her hands on my shoulders.

She had concern in her eyes and was talking softly.

“It’s nothing Kana, Hey Haruka.”

“Yes, what’s wrong?”

“Those poachers we sabotaged… I think I just met their “true” boss.

Her eyes widened and the look in her eyes turned to seriousness.

“What happened!? Tell me!” She started interrogating me.

“You see… I was hunting coelophysis earlier, I ended up getting swarmed when that guy’s utahraptor saved me.”

“A Utahraptor!?” all 3 of them shouted.

“Yeah, I confronted him about how he had multiple of them along with a personal dark elf chick bodyguard.

“Is she hot? Gagh!” Senko questioned before being smacked by Kana.

“Yes, She was very ho-” Haruka smacked my head.

“Back to the point” Haruka smiled with murder in her eyes.

“Y-yes ma’m… well Eventully…”

I told them everything I knew and the look in their eyes got more concerned with each word I said.

“Yuuki…” Senko muttered while forming a fist.

I couldn’t help but be wary of the atmosphere in the room all 3 of them looked enraged and distressed.

“All of you go cool down, I started the confrontation first, and suffered for it.” I sternly told them.

“That’s not what we’re angry about!” Kana yelled.

“...”

“We’re angry because that bastard went and killed you as if you were nothing but a bunch of worms inside dirt!” Haruka snapped with tears in her eyes..

“I’m fine okay. Just cool down for a while, then all of us are going out to explore okay?” I patted Haruka on the head.

“Yuuki look at me!” Senko voice broked.

“What is it brother?”

“All 4 of us. We’re gonna pay that son of a bitch back tenfold!

“Heh, I’ll take you up for that offer.”

Knowing how much they cared for me is a confidence boost, the 4 of us always had each other’s back ever since we were little, we always gave each other a hard time but we never abandoned each other and being reassured of that was relieving.

Chapter Text

10 minutes later, It semed like the tension in the room has slowly started to cool down. Senko was on a bed sorting his inventory, Haruka was looking out the window and Kana was adjusting her Avatar’s bunny ear colors and pattern trying to look cute.

“It seems they finally cooled down.” I thought to myself while sitting in the corner.

The lost I had today was big, a lot of items from my inventory was looted after I died, I lost half of my goru, stacks of food I prepared in advance and raw materials I could’ve used for upgrades.

As much as I wanted to keep sulking in my defeat, that would just waste me and my friends’ time.

“All of you get ready.” I commanded.

“Hm?” Kana looked up.

“Yes buddy?” Senko turned his ui off.

“What’s wrong Yuuki?” Haruka questioned me.

“I’m done sulking, let’s head out of town, I need another armor repair and let’s go explore the wilderness.” I got up, stretched and got out from the corner and started walking to the door.

All 3 of them smiled, gave me a knowing nod as we checked out of the inn and went to town to repair my gear in town.

“It feels nostalgic…” I mentioned

“How come?” Haruka asked while Senko and Kana looked at me.

“You see, the last time us 3 all walked together aside from when the game came out, was during the mountain hiking trip We did last Christmas.”

“You mean the time, all 3 of you collapsed for being weak!? And I carried everyone up and down the mountain- Agghh!!!” Kana joked smugly before Senko hit the back of her head.

“Don’t ruin the moment sis.” Senko smacked the back of Kana’s head.

“Is there ever a moment where those 2 not fight?” Haruka asked.

“Nope, and I would like for it to stay that way.”

I had my “reinforded leather” gear repaired from the blacksmith, and We quickly crossed the town’s stone bridge and headed into the wilderness. This time, Instead of heading to “Gentle expanse” like the first time, We instead walked further down the trails and went to a nearby fields called “Meadow Mosaic”

Despite being directly next “Gentle Expanse,” “Meadow Mosaic” Is actually quite far from the expanse by around 2.5 Kilometers, Yes our group walked the whole distance.

We entertained ourselves by taking pictures of the landscapes and dinosaurs on the trails, some included the sauropods; Apatosaurus, Massopondylus, and Barapasaurus which were grazing on trees and branches, other dinosaurs were Ceratopsians: that included the dinosaurs; Pachyrhinosaurus and Centrosaurus and lastly a flock of ostrich-like dinosaurs called Gallimimus that ran past us.

We even started catching some fish and crabs on the nearby rivers, picked some fruits from the trees and started racing each other, It was almost like we were back in gradeschool. This was definitely a mini field trip.

After a short while of travelling we finally arrived at Meadow Mosaic.

“Here we are, alright what’s the game plan to hunt the “Herrerasaurus” Yuuki?” Senko crossed his arms.

“The P-Plan…?” I stuttered.

“Yeah, you are the leader here right?” Haruka twirled her hair.

“. . . . .” What do I say to that?

“What’s wrong?” Kana asked while latching on to my back.

“It’s nothing, just got lost in thought.” I muttered.

They were right, I was the one that initiated this new “Mission” that we’re taking part in. Meaning I had to take the calls to action starting this day onwards.

“Alright here’s the plan, If you checked our commission description it said that there seems to be an infestation of a rather small carnivore, the “Herrerasaurus.” I announced.

“This is definitely a step up from the dryosaurus and parkosaurus we hunted down a while ago.” Senko mentioned while reading the commission on his ui.

“I’m kinda feeling nervous about this Yuuki, are you sure we’re up for this?” Kana asked shyly.

“Yes, all of you are ready, We’re not gonna split up like last time this time we’re covering each other’s backs because this dinosaur wasn’t a joke whatsoever.

Herrerasaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur that originated from Late Triassic South America. One of the earliest dinosaurs that ever lived, it is discovered at the Ischigualasto formation. It stood at 3.6 feet, 14.8 feet in length and weighed 440.9lbs, This dinosaur was basically a large pitbull-sized turkey.

It was some of the earliest and one of the largest known carnivorous dinosaurs in it’s formation, dating back all the way to the Late Triassic period.

Herrerasaurus is a relatively medium-sized, stocky, and powerfully built carnivore, measuring around 4.5 meters in length and 200kg in weight. This dinosaur had a flexible jaw that allowed it to grip onto its prey. Based on its size, with a light frame that allow it to run very quickly and large, jagged teeth that help it to latch onto prey, Herrerasaurus likely hunted small and medium herbivores.

Fossil evidence suggests that this dinosaur was capable of digesting bone. Unlike the other species of small carnivores except for Compsognathus, Herrerasaurus locks its jaws on small prey and then uses its body momentum to wrestle it to the ground, essentially pinning and tiring them down.

Herrerasaurus is a relatively social dinosaur, preferring social groups of between one and five individuals, as well as a population of up to twenty two other dinosaurs.

“Yuuki, you didn’t purposely chose a hard bounty now did you?” Haruka asked.

“This bounty is rated as easy-medium, this difficulty should be decent for us since the Herrerasaurus levels were only around level 9-16 at the most.” I responded.

“I’ll be counting on you then Yuuki.” Haruka winked.

“Right, I’ll be sure to guide us to victory-” I responded until I saw Kana pouting at me with a red face.

“Hm…..” Kana seemed like she has something to say.

“What’s wrong Kana?” Haruka asked.

“Nothing. I’ll just be sure to hunt the most dinosaurs out of everyone here!” She announced proudly.

“How confident you are little sis.” Senko joked.

“What you say to me!?” Kana tried to hit Senko a few times to which everyone shared a laugh together.

Chapter Text

     A quick recap: Today we took a commission regarding an infestation so we headed to a nearby farm at “Meadow Mosaic,” We were clearing out an infestation of the theropod “herrerasaurus” which was causing trouble for the Coloradisarus, Archaeopteryx, microraptors, and the synapsids Placerias in the area.

Rin, Yuuki

Game name: Ryuki

Age: 17

Level; 16

Hp:2,050

Atk: 560

Def: 450

Speed:350

Haruka, Sakura

Game Name: Hakura

Age: 18

Level; 15

Hp:1,520

Atk: 600

Def: 400

Speed: 380

Kasumi, Kana

Game name: Amber

Age: 16

Level; 12

Hp: 1350

Atk: 322

Def: 365

Speed:290

Kasumi, Senko

Game name: X.V.X._.FlamePlayzAi._.X.V.X

Age: 19

Level;10

Hp:1,190

Atk: 350

Def: 310

Speed:320

Regarding our stats you could tell we gained a substantial amount of levels and stat increases, thats because we were preparing to essentially do a 5 v 40 which is a 1 v 10 for us each. Yes, that number may be completely unrealistic and very likely to be impossible but you also have to remember that I had to be able to fend off an entire group of coleophysis that were relative to my level while alone and I just barely got my butt saved.

So what we did was we hunted down some of the other nearby dinosaurs in the grassy fields such as gallimimus, ornitholestes, dryosaurus, and eoraptors during the walk to meadow mosaic in order to bump up our stats as much as we humanly could in the time it took us to get there, We had an entire wagon filled with what feels like a dozen or so of the dinosaurs mentioned just to prepare for the Herrerasaurus infestation.

“Yuuki what’s the plan?” Hakura asked preparing her weapons

“Alright, all of you listen up, Hakura and I grab the herrerasaurus attention and try to mow them down in the center of the farm’s fields so we can keep focusing, Meanwhile Senko and Kasumi take a prone or sniper position on those nearby trees, or hide in the crates, don’t forget to put a silencer on your musket rifles and pistols we bought from the gunsmith at the town. Both of you are to cover our backs and blindspots,” I explained to the 3.

“Seems fine with me, Just make sure to keep me safe okay?” Hakura expressed enthusiasm and winked.

“I’ll keep that in mind then.”

“I’m gonna stop you right there buddy, Why do I have to be stuck with the midget over there?” Senko smack-talked Kana.

“Hey! I should be the one that’s complaining! I don’t get to be part of the action because I’ll be trapped with you while Hakura gets to have Yuuki all to herself!”

“Sigh…. These 2 are gonna be the death of me.” I facepalmed.

“Both of you be quiet and listen, We can’t finish this commission if both of you keep bickering.” Hakura snapped at the 2.

“Fine… We’ll behave.” Senko reluctantly nodded.

“Now Kana do you-”

“No way! You already had him all to yourself when the game was released! It’s my turn to play the big hero and save him!”

“Oh Brother….” I facepalmed.

“Come on, Dont be mad It’s Yuuki’s call and he said you and Senko cover our backs!” Hakura Snapped “mildly annoyed.”

“You two already had a mini adventure together! It’s my turn now! You’re gonna side with me right Yuuki?” Kana snapped back and started tugging on my arm.

“Sigh....” I was holding in my annoyance on both of them.

Hakura didn’t seem to have expected Kana’s actions and grabbed my other arm to tug me back.

“He said, that You and your brother cover us! Now let go and give him back so we can start this commission already!” Hakura snapped back.

“Well Yuuki!?” Both girls glared at me angrily.

“You’re gonna pick me to join you down there right!? ” Hakura tried to maintain her cool.

“No! I’m way faster and stronger than her, I should join you there!” Kana fired back.

“Yuuki and I already have coordination when it comes to these kinds of mission!” Hakura fired back as well.

“I can carry him easily and run away with him if things get worrying!”

“I have the higher stats so I can help him better!”

I feel like these 2 are wasting the whole group’s time with these petty squabbles, I know I just got my butt whooped earlier but I’m not that defenseless for these 2 to start pitying me!

“A little help Senko.” I annoyedly said

“I got you pal.” Senko tried to pull Kana away but to no avail she shook him off rather quickly.

“...That’s It! I’m bringing Senko down there with me, both of you cover go cover us.” I broke free from both of the girl’s hands, grabbed Senko by his shoulder and dragged him down the path with me.

“Fine…..” The 2 girls went down the path opposite to us to cover our backs.

While making our way back down the pathway, both of us started scanning the area for nearby herrerasaurus.

“Dude, what just happened back there?” Senko nudged my elbow.

“Beats me, I think they were just too concerned about my safety or something… Even though I have the current highest stats and level.”

“Are you just flustered because they both started tugging you?”

“N-Not really…. I- I just didn’t want to waste our time… okay?”

“Whatever you say Ms lady’s man!”

“........ I don’t even like them though!” I annoyedly responded.

“Is that so? Then why are the sides of your ears turning red?”

“It’s a natural phenomenon if 2 cute girls suddenly grab you pal!”

“Well, who do those 2 not fit your type or?”

“I have my own type okay!”

“Really like what? “Oppai is truth” “Flat is justice?” “Medium is premium?” which one is it Senko stopped me from walking to continue this talk.

“What are you even talking about?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about!”

“Sigh…. I guess petite girls?”

“You seem unsure there!”

“Does it even matter?”

“I guess not.”

“Good, now keep walking.”

We continued walking down the path and the notification suddenly warned us that there are several dinosaurs nearby, although it didn’t tell us if they were carnivorous or not.

“Did we take the wrong turn or something? This place seems way too barren, and I’m not seeing any dinosaurs here.” Senko asked.

“I don't think so, the farm is in front of us but the herrerasaurus are nowhere to be seen and-” I responded before being stopped by Senko.

“Shush, the scanner detected them hiding in the woods, tell the girls we’re ready to start via text.”

I nodded and sent the message to Kana and Hakura that we’re already in the position to start so they better stop fighting.

As We slowly got nearer We brought out our swords and guns, Senko had a saber and a revolver this time, while I used my short sword and Pistol.

I think we were at 18 meters when we saw the first 8 herrerasarus in the distance, they were feeding on a few of the protoceratops carcasses.

“Get ready.” I immediately shot 3 times and killed 2 of them via headshot.

“Where’d you learn that?”

“When I hunted earlier, I practiced quick shooting, Now hurry up! They're coming here!”

“Ah right!”

Senko shot 2 incoming ones which made them collapse on the ground.

“Nice sho- Behind you!” I pulled him out of the way and slashed the theropod in the stomach.

I suddenly noticed a bunch of them were getting picked off from somewhere meaning the 2 girls were covering our back.

Senko and I stood back to back surrounded by the theropods We used each other as extra momentum to break free from the group and started slashing, and picking off at the lower level ones while avoiding the individuals with higher levels.

This cycle of picking off the low-level dinosaurs and tag teaming the mid-level ones proved useful because Kana and Hakura were able to chip away at the others which gave us our openings.

It lasted roughly 5 minutes of continuous fighting until it seemed like we had beaten all of them, the fields had several dead dinosaurs, Both Senko and I were at 45-59% hp as even though we coordinated together we weren’t perfect so we also sustained dmg from occasionally getting ambushed or overwhelmed.

“So far… th- this is too easy…” Senko panted as he decapitated the last herrerasaurus.

“You-You’re r-right about t-that so stay on guard.” I was equally panting from the exhaustion.

We saw Kana and Hakura waving at us from a distance as the 4 of us grouped up.

“So is that all of them?” Hakura questioned while reloading her rifle.

“That should be it, let’s gather the corpses, and bring them back to town.”

Both Senko and I were way too tired, while loading the carts with the bounties we had gotten we noticed that the sun was setting and it might start getting dark soon.

“Do you think it will be safe trying to bring back 2 wagons of these guys back to town,” Senko asked while exhausted

“That was what I was concerned about,” Kana answered.

“We don’t know what dinosaurs are near this route, so we have to play extra careful on getting back to town.

“Yuuki, Senko are you guys recovered enough? We need to move before night falls or the corpses attract carnivores.”

“Yeah just give us a moment.”

We made our way back to town while avoiding and fighting off dinosaurs that approached us, it took us what felt like 30 minutes to get back to town to turn in our bounties and gained a lot of “Goru.”

We headed back to the inn and entered our room.

“See you guys soon.”

All of us logged off for the day, we were very tired and the fields were very dangerous at night which made it mandatory for us to log off due to the increased chance of dying and losing our things.

Rin, Yuuki

Game name: Ryuki

Age: 17

Level; 21

Hp:2,050

Atk: 560

Def: 450

Speed:350

Haruka, Sakura

Game Name: Hakura

Age: 18

Level; 20

Hp:1,950

Atk: 650

Def: 480

Speed:510

Kasumi, Kana

Game name: Amber

Age: 16

Level; 13

Hp: 1550

Atk: 350

Def: 400

Speed: 390

Kasumi, Senko

Game name: X.V.X._.FlamePlayzAi._.X.V.X

Age: 19

Level;13

Hp:1,590

Atk: 420

Def: 340

Speed:325

Chapter Text

     Today was very tiring, not only did I had to hunt down coelophsyis, I got mauled to death by a group of utahraptors leading ass fart but I also had to do 2 vs 30 a group of Herrerasaurus.

What made kyoryu online unique is you are “unconcious” when you play the game, it essentially puts you to sleep when you play then your consciousness into the game, so even after playing you could be physically refreshed but mentally and emotional refresh is a different story.

I took the vr goggles off my head and I looked up at the bunk above my bed.

“Is she back already?” I thought to myself before getting off my side which was the bottom part.

“Finish playing Yuuki?” The girl on the top bunk asked.

“Yes sis.” I rubbed my face and drank some water.

This girl was Akane, You could call her my “sister?” “Adopted sister?” “cousin?” or “Step cousin.” She had Deep pink eyes, and long purple-black hair styled in a hime haircut, She is a very pretty girl.

“Do you mind if I try kyoryu online for a bit Yuuki?”

“Fine, just make your own account.” I was still very tired…

“Thanks buddy!” she got off the top bunk and took the goggles and console.

Akane was one of my childhood friends when I was a little kid, but due to losing her parents my family took her in, She is a brilliant girl and was very popular in our school. We always got along.

“Yuuki have you heard of the independent vtuber “Hikari Harmony?” She’s getting traction lately!” Akane was putting the goggles on.

“I heard of the name but I’m not really familiar with why?”

“She recently started her own gaming channel, and luckily enough, one of the games was kyoryu online!”

“So she streams both the game and her solo performances?”

“Correct! anyway see you later I’m off to play” she layed down the bed to start the console.

“Alright.”

I got on my desk, opened my laptop and looked up this “Hikari Harmony.” It looks like her avatar was a brunette similar to Haruka, but unlike her she has Green eyes and a petite figure, her avatar was very cute.

“I wonder if it’s even possible to meet a vtuber in real life?”

It looked like she was currently live streaming, so obviously I had to click on the stream. The girl was very cheerful, outgoing and friendly like Kana, but she seems to be more into singing, dancing, drawing and cooking as opposed to Kana who loves to Run miles, play a lot of drums, take 50 different selfies 50x in 50 different angles.

“Thank you for joining the stream everyone!” Hikari announced while she performed a very cute and funny dance using her avatar.

I continued watching the stream  when…

“Wah!”

“Did she just fell over and accidentally turn off the avatar!?”

I think I briefly saw her face when she fell down, she seemed to have Cerulean blue eyes and Slate gray hair and that’s all I could think off. The stream ended shortly after she fell down.

“...W-Why does she seem familiar?”

I think I saw her before at my school, but that can’t be it right?

Chapter Text

I was sitting in the middle of a class lecture, looking back. It has already been three months since the release of Kyoryu Online and the time I encountered Diego

I think that encounter left a sour taste to not just me but also my friends. I guess that was the reason barely any of us had touched the game or at least invited the other to play it with us.

A few of us still hung out together but it felt less lively than usual, Haruka has gotten busier with the school’s club lately and Kana has been active on sport activities, leaving it to just me and Senko to hang out with each other after school. It felt like both of them drifted apart.

It really sucked because the game has recently released the patch update version 1.1 last month, which came with a slew of several new features and game modes and us not being able to play together really killed the enjoyment of playing the game!

One of these new game modes are Paleon'line mode which lets players host public and private servers for completely FREE of charge by the developers themselves

Ever since Patch 1.1 came out. The Paleo'nline mode has allowed people to host their own private adventures with their friends and families, you could set the server to allow, Friends and Friends of Friends, it also has a whitelist and black list features for better privacy and safety.

The other way people had started using Paleo'nline I'd by hosting tournaments and mini games using the games Master mode which let's the players create custom maps for others to play and try out!

The other new big feature is the ability to store your trained / tamed dinosaur companions in capsules that lets them be place in a state of stasis, and immune to overworld hazards.

Some quality of life changes was the expansion of player inventory. A player's default inventory was 32 slots and most items can be stacked to 64 stacks. This could be expanded by another 64 slots that had a total of 96 slots

Now the inventory allows 96 default slots that can be expanded by 128 slots and stackable items could now be stacked up to 120 times. Lastly the Player bio was updates.

It was no longer:

Game name:

Age:

Level:

Hp:

Atk:

Def:

Speed:

It was now updated to

Game name:

Age:

Level:

Hp:

Atk:

Sp Atk:

Def:

Sp. Def:

Speed:

The game Also included extra stats that weren't really important in the early game but were important for the mid and late games, these many stats had included:

Crit Rate:

Crit DMG:

Crush DMG bonus:

Crush Resist:

Pierce DMG bonus:

Pierce Resist:

Slash DMG Bonus:

Slash Resist:

Luck:

Dexterity:

Evasion Rate:

Accuracy:

Lastly there were new stats that were now added with the new artifacts and relics within the game, these stats included

CC resist:

Healing bonus:

Breaking Bonus:

Overtime Bonus:

Fire Bonus:

Fire Res:

Water Bonus:

Water Res:

Ice Bonus:

Ice res:

Wind Bonus:

Wind res:

Plant Bonus:

Plant res:

Earth Bonus:

Earth res:

I really wished we could all hangout together again but school and activities had really gotten so intrusive to a point it was usually now only Me and Senko.

I had been thinking about whether I did anything wrong that day. Was it when I snapped at both Kana and Haruka when we were deciding on the dinosaur infestation commission?

That can't be it can it? They knew well that I was extremely tired so maybe it just left a bad taste to everyone.

Within the four of us our “hierarchy” was something like this: I'm a bit older than Kana but we were both freshmen since she entered school early due to not wanting to be left behind by me.

Senko should be our senpai because He is two years older, but the guy had a bad performance twice, and now he is currently a freshman like me and Kana.

Lastly Haruka is a sophomore and is a very popular girl at school, whenever she goes it was as if she was a magnet to all of the boys who were attending class.

Haruka absolutely is a very beautiful and elegant girl, which made me wonder how She and I became acquaintances in middle school and later became friends before I entered highschool.

She was also a top notcher in most of her classes and she even spent a lot of time in the library with her club back in those days so when She entered campus she was called “The goddess of wisdom” much to her dismay, she never really liked titles regarding hobbies and interests and I adore that about her.

Even though the four of us were close to each other, Haruka always had an aloof aura about her that somewhat puts distance between Us and her.

It was so noticeable that Kana, Senko and even my sister, Akane had all pointed this out, which made me wonder if Haruka is just putting up a graceful and cordial front to those she doesn't consider her “best” friends, even I couldn't answer if Haruka considers me a close friend…

If anything I should be grateful to her. When I finished middle school, Haruka was the one who convinced me to not give up and keep going, she even went so far as scolding me when I was being decisive on dropping out after middle school.

Looking back once again to all these things she did for me, Maybe I'm slowly growing attracted to her, thinking about Haruka really did made my heart race.

Well shit... Maybe I'am already In love with her.... And I'm just denying it.