Setting The Stage (Reupload)

The name of Daichi's new guild rolled off his tongue but he still couldn't believe it. Not the fact he'd named his guild something so anomalous—no—it was because the realization of him leading a guild hadn't settled in yet. Just yesterday he slaved under the boot of a conniving cowboy, and through everything, the major result was Daichi stealing away Lone Star's cute Cleric. Now he waited to hear her response.

Sanae's azure eyes seemed to widen with stalwart approval, then she clasped her hands together. “Pearl’s Tears? I like it! Pretty but somber sounding in a good way."

Phew, glad she's into it. “Yeah. I went with that name because it’s a subtle nod to the USS Arizona—something my sister might think only I'd come up with."

“USS Arizona? You’re into old battleship stuff?”

“Yup, Kyouko reeled me in, so she knows way more than I do."

A passing carriage wagon on the street behind her strolled along, taking her attention for a moment before she turned back. “Neat! Where’s the ‘Tears’ part in our name coming from then?”

"Hmmm, do you mind a little history lesson first?"

"History? Not at all, go for it!" Sanae said with genuine enthusiasm. The thrill of being the student for once was likely not lost on her. "Oh, wait one second."

"What's up?"

She maneuvered her finger through the air as she interacted with her invisible Dominion Menu. A final tap sent a bell notification into Daichi's POV. "There! I just accepted your guild invitation! We're official!"

"Awesome! I'll check right now." He willed out his own Menu and tapped around until opening his Guild Hub tab. A small, virtual house manifested in front of him with see-through walls, allowing him to observe chibi versions of himself and Sanae giving each other a wholesome hug.

If that's not the cutest thing ever, I don't know what is. But the warm feeling of completing his first major task in Paradise seeped through him. Unlike Lone Star, Pearl's Tears was a surefire bet that he wouldn't need to gamble on. Even if it was just Sanae right now, her presence alone was all the motivation he needed to anticipate a hopeful future.

Daichi motioned for her to follow him underneath a cafe's awning for shade. Potted flowers around them gave off the proper vibe of a first date, but he shook the timid thought away. Instead, he started his explanation for Pearl's Tear's guild name.

"Okay so basically—the battleship Arizona is still leaking oil into the harbor it sank in, even over a century later. After a while, people started describing that oil leakage as Arizona’s 'tears' because of what happened to her."

"Oh wow. That's a little sad actually, but I see how the name fits."

"Yeah. It was a pretty rough war for everyone involved. But the 'Pearl' part of our name comes from—well—the harbor Arizona sank in. It's a good a sign as any for my sister to pick up on that I'm here, since she knows about my warship obsession, haha."

Sanae put on a thinking face and started tapping her chin. She seemed to be connecting dots in her mind, but about what?

"Wait, are you embarrassed about being a history nerd?" she giggled.

"N-No! Why would I be?"

"Hehe, I think it's kinda cute. Maybe Makoto should've called you the big brain one."

"I'm just full of useless trivia though," Daichi chuckled. He reached into his robe's pocket and fiddled with Makoto's Wombat. "That cowboy did help me meet you though, so I'll thank him for that much."

Both of them hid cute, blushing smiles as they avoided each other's eyes for a tad. It was an air of romantic tension, but Daichi continued the subject at hand. "That's the third reason I went with this guild name: I noticed how attached you were to your pearl pendant.”

She immediately flushed pink more than even before then clutched the pearl hanging around her neck. “D-Don’t be dumb. I told you I was fine with any guild name.”

“Maybe, yeah. But I still wanted you involved somehow, even if just a little.”

“This pearl . . .”

“Don’t worry. I won’t ask about your past unless you wanna talk about it.”

“It’s fine." She calmed herself. “I got this pendant from a friend I made when I came to Paradise. We lost track of each other a while ago, but I’d like to see her again someday.”

Hearing about her past before Lone Star was something that he was honestly curious to learn more about. “Oh? What was your friend's name?”

“Momoka," she said with a somewhat pained voice. "I’ll look into any leads on her while we’re searching for Kyouko, but my focus is still helping you find your sister!”

“I don’t mind some side stops if you wanna go somewhere specific.”

“It's okay. I’ll look for clues on whatever route we’re already on." She peeked towards the distant shopping district ahead. “Speaking of route, I think we should stop somewhere to draft a solid, long term plan.”

“I’m game. Where do you have in mind?”

"Mmm . . . Let's go look around!" She motioned for Daichi to follow her down one of Outset's major streets. They both traversed around Princess Dominion's roundabout and then ventured into an avenue that specialized in eateries.

Sanae pointed to a nearby tavern. “How about in there? Looks private enough.”

'If a girl asks to talk to you somewhere private, it should be obvious what her intentions are.' Daichi blushed inside, remembering last night's dream.

The rickety, dimly-lit tavern was almost deserted. A lack of windows created dark corners, and Daichi with Sanae sat down at a table within one of those areas. She craned her neck around as if checking to see if anyone would listen in on them.

Guess that's why we're eating here instead of in that cafe. He watched her close her Cleric robe's collar around her neck, almost like a shady drug dealer would.

Soon, an NPC wearing an odd boar mask brought them over a spare candle with complimentary drinks. The duo ordered the cheapest meals available. As the server left, Sanae fiddled with her Menu and plopped out a small bag of gold coins.

“This is all the money I have," she said. Flickering light from the table candle cast an orange glow to her face. "Makoto set a high guild contribution requirement, so most of the gold we all earned went straight to Guild Funds.”

“Looks a good bit more than what I got at least.” Barely earned anything from the Raid.

Sanae chuckled. “I don’t mind supporting us financially, but we need to be careful with how we approach things if we're gonna travel across Paradise.”

“Can’t we just take quests from Guild Houses to earn extra gold?”

She shook her head. “Since our guild is brand new, we'll only get crappy quests with bad payouts. Not to mention, I don’t think you’d want to waste time doing quests when you could be searching for your sister.”

"Hmmm, good point." Though maybe just one quest as practice later on would be nice.

Sanae continued her explanations, covering topics like farming and the Faction system to earn money. But all came with drawbacks that made them unappealing in some way.

"Dang, guess that's all off the table then," he said. "Leveling up fast is more important than earning gold."

"We probably gotta strike a balance somewhere though." She took another sip of her drink, but with a coyer expression.

“If quests and Faction Gold aren't ideal though, what other options are left? Dungeons?”

“There's other things too, like Events and tournaments, but the best bet for us is just farming enemies as we go up north."

“As long as we don’t get too sidetracked, yeah, all good.”

Sanae nodded. “There's decent farms outside Outset and on our way to Trinket—speaking of Trinket, that’s the next thing I wanna discuss.” She poked at the air and a detailed, paper map of Paradise fell onto the table.

“Woah! What’s the point of my Menu’s blurred out map then?” he asked.

“Yours is more accurate as you unlock locations. Plus, physical versions cost a lot." She cringed a bit, like the prospect of spending money was painful. “Anyway, here’s my proposal . . .”

On the map, her fingers traced a zigzagging path that highlighted itself in pink energy, from Outset up northeast to Paradiso. “We could spend years searching every corner of Paradise, so I think we should prioritize the locations on this line first. The faster and higher north we go, the higher the odds of finding Kyouko. More importantly, this path also lets us check out the three major cities: Rapture, Heartland, and Everglowing.”

“Are those cities special?” He peered to examine them closer on her map.

“They’re the power centers of Paradise! Each one is just as populated as the capitol—if not more. By their sheer scale there’s a good chance Kyouko could be in any of them.”

Daichi slumped in his chair. “I'm not even sure how we’re gonna search for my sister in huge cities like that.”

“We can’t go door to door obviously, but until you unlock better summons, splitting up and asking around key points in town is the best we can do. As long as Kyouko hasn’t unlocked the skill that hides Playercard info, someone’s bound to have heard of her.”

Heard of her . . . Daichi remembered what Domination potentially said about Kyouko: that she was animal-like, that she might've distrusted both worlds, and that it’d be a relief if that wasn’t Kyouko he was referring to. A person could change over three years, but it didn't sound anything at all like Kyouko. Daichi trusted his gut and decided not to tell Sanae the information.

"Factoring breaks, we'll finish our trip in around eight months," she concluded. "If we still haven't found Kyouko by the time we reach Paradiso—the capitol—well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

The food arrived right on time. Two bowls of wild fruit with bread on the side. No meat.

Sanae rolled the map up and laid it aside. “W-We’re probably gonna be living modestly too. I have some fresh meals saved up, but we'll need to go shopping later."

Daichi’s stomach growled loudly. “I think I already miss your cooking. Hiro gave me one of your plates to eat yesterday.”

“Hohhh? I’m happy you liked it, but I don’t know how I feel about Hiro giving away food I made for him.” Her face puffed up.

“It does sound like him though.”

She threw a berry into her mouth. “Dat' dummy . . .”

Minutes passed and the two cleared out their meager meals. Sanae paid the tab then they left the tavern together, entering downtown again.

“Come on, there’s somewhere else we should check out,” she motioned with her head.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

Sanae walked ahead on the sidewalk while Daichi’s eyes darted around. He’d felt a strange sensation of being watched since leaving the tavern. But crowds pulsed everywhere, camouflaging any potential stalkers.

Must have been my imagination, he thought. But two hooded figures trailed right behind them.