Koumori

She openly explained to me her reasoning and I could agree with most of her points. She put a lot of thought into it and she seemed happy with the decision. "Sounds like you thought about it a lot. You're right we could use more healers. But I think you may have reversed the reasoning a bit. Helping people should be one and getting money should round out the bottom of the pack. Just saying." I gave her a playful wink after taking a jab at her want to get rich quick. We walked through the city and ended up back at Manta's shop. As we approached I saw a fire appear in her eyes and smile. "No medic could save you if you dueled her. I'm serious, she is not low level." I could only tell her so many times. 

I was sleeping on a bench when Manta sent me a message. It sat unread for hours before I finally got to it. I awoke when some stupid Apple fell on my head from the tree above me and sent my eyes wide open. I groggily went through my menu when I saw a notification light up. I pulled up her message and didn't even register what it said until it looked up. It said I had until sundown to meet her and the sun was practically already there. I snapped out of my daze and jumped up from the bench. "Crap!" I bolted forward and started blowing through the town. I took as many main streets as possible so I would have a direct route but that turned out to not be such a good idea. I had to constantly apologize for knocking people over and stepping on dropped items. I turned to scream sorry to a guy I knocked down when I ran head first into a cart of watermelons. I flew through the stack and landed on the ground on the other side while the fruits split open from the impact. I waved to the NPC attendant as I got up and resumed my sprint. I made it to the gates just as the sun began scraping the ground, not literally of course, and busted out to the field. It dawned on me I had no idea where to meet her so I started looking around and immediately saw her right next to the gate. I tried to put on the brakes but I only ended up tumbling forward to the ground. "So I'm early right?"

I was a little surprised when Ryuma put his hand on my shoulder. He looked me dead in the eyes and told me his intentions. I wasn't expecting such a quick turn around. Still, I could tell he was serious. That was what he really wanted. I wondered what made him come out and say that though. I in turne put my hand on his shoulder and answered back. "And I'll be there to help you if you need it. We can conquer this game."

I continued to watch awkwardly and blush as Manta and Sousuke got comfortable with each other. They were looking at each other and fiddled around a lot so I figured they were figuring out to themselves what it was like in the reversed rolls. Sousuke turned to me and tried to apologize but I shot him down. "Yeah, you might get to learn more but I'm learning nothing!" I looked at him skeptically when he said he liked to wear girls clothes. "That might be a problem, this potion doesn't affect our minds so that's probably and issue." Sousuke then jumped up and did a little twirl in his skirt. He struck a pose when he was done and asked how he looked. I smiled devilishly and brushed my hair behind my left ear. "You're not too bad but I'm way cuter than you." I stood up and slowly walked over to Sousuke. I reached up my hand and slightly unzipped my best before I slowly and deliberately wrapper my arms around the female version of my friend. I brought my face extremely close to his and cocked my head to the side as I looked into his eyes. I was doing my best to be as seductive as possible. With a girls body I was moving in ways I would never had dared to before. If I was doing this for myself I would certainly have fallen for my charm. Wow that was a little to confusing. I ran my finger down Sousuke's chest and stopped on his breast. I brought my head in closer for a kiss but stopped just before our girl lips touched. I spoke softly to him, "Just kidding." I backed off of him and turned my attention to Manta, who was still seated. I quickly went over to her and reached my leg over her chair. I ended up sitting in her lap facing her. The fact that she was in the body of a boy didn't faze me as I ran my hands through her hair and brought my face closer to hers as well. I took my one hand away to lower my zipper even further although the effort was probably useless because I had no real cleavage anyway. I closed my eyes and started to do the same thing to her. I stopped once again and brought my face back and placed my finger on her nose. "Sorry not you either." When I actually started to look into her eyes it all hit me. My face filled up with red as I covered it with my hands. What was I doing? I let my apparently new feminine instincts get the best of me and I totally lost myself. I had gone completely insane and started seducing my friends. I quickly got off of her lap and went under the table and started to cry lightly. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's gotten into me. I didn't mean to do that." My other self was instantly replaced with my usual timid and she girl self. If I was going to be a girl for a little bit I didn't want to be one like that. My personal preference was cute girls over smoldering ones anyway. Jesus Christ what was I thinking to myself. Why was I even considering this? That whole time I wasn't thinking straight. All the confusion in my head was making me bounce all over the walls. I couldn't even have fun as a girl because I was too wrapped in my thoughts. What did I really want? "Hey *sniff* can I have a skirt too?"

I smirked back at her when she started being snarky with me. "Why don't you test that theory. I'll just sit back and watch then." Instead of doing that, a Ebony resheathed her dagger and turned to go back to the city. I did the same and walked up beside her. In her face I could see that she was thinking hard about something. I was about to ask but she answered my question before I could get it out. I looked at her in surprise after hearing her say she wanted to be a healer. I had never met someone who wanted to do that. Quite frankly I wouldn't have expected it from her considering the way she had been acting. She seemed to me like an in your face type rather than a stay back and support type. But I wasn't about to tell her that. We could use great healers. "Really? Then I guess I may end up counting on you instead of the other way around." I said smiling as I started to walk with her. We headed back into town and began heading in deeper. "Say, what made you decide that?" I asked her, my curiously getting the better of me. 

This was the first time I ever ventured outside of the safe zone of floor two. Not because I couldn't handle it, I could, but because I never went to the second floor. I always thought of it as that awkward kid that sat in the back of the class or the red headed step child or the black sheep. It had that unfortunate scenerio of being squished between too much better floors so the amount of attention it got was abysmal. Nevertheless, I made trips every now and then to check things out so I decided to really commit. The floor consisted mostly of forest and flat topped mountains. I didn't have an actual goal like material hunting or anything so I was basically just wandering around. Eventually I felt like I had seen all I could looking around through the trees so I decided to get a different perspective. I took a running start and sprinted up the largest tree I could find. It was a pine. I got about midway up before I stopped and leaped out to one the branches. I pulled the needles aside and gazed out at the landscape. It was an amazing sight, almost as good as anywhere else in Aincrad or maybe better. Perhaps I had been wrong about the second floor. I remained in awe until I head rustling below me. I looked down to see what it was but I instantly lost my footing and slipped off the branch. I grunted as I fumbled through the tree, hitting plenty of branches on the way. I landed face first on the ground with the rest of my body practically in the air. After a second the rest of me caught up and I laid there without moving. "Stuck the landing. 10 out of 10." I slowly moved my arms forward and pushed myself up. When my head stopped spinning I could see the girl sitting in front of me. She looked really young, younger than anyone I had ever seen. I smiled at her as I sat up. "Sorry if I startled you.  Didn't mean to fall out like that."

"There's a very big difference between being serious and being taken seriously." I could understand the being serious part, as I didn't like it myself, but I didn't want people to think of me as a joke. He took a labored breath when I brought up what happened earlier. I took one too. "Yet to be seen." I shoved my bowl to the side as he took his last bite and dropped his leftover bone. He brought back up the honesty thing again and I smiled at the example. "Id rather find a way to have fun with that than tell the guy off right away." We stretched out as we let our meals settle. "I knew a guy who only chewed with his mouth open. I'm surprised I didn't punch him at least once. Anyway, thanks for the food."

(sorry for the lameness, I'm at school

"When they punctuate their sentences by eating." I said sarcastically in response. I rolled my eyes when he said he could talks pictures of his food. "If you'd take out a camera I...and he took out a camera. Make sure you get its good side." I half paid attention as he tried to show me all the masterful pictures he had taken of cropped or landscapes and out of focus fishing conquests. When he got back to talking my attention returned. "You know it's a little hard to take you seriously when you go straight from talking about food blasphemy to reality altering conspiracies. May I suggest throwing in a buffer? Maybe something about that enemy you just killed?" I chuckled a bit when he reminded me of when we were all moved to hospitals in the real world. "That guy I moved into the fountain probably didn't like it too much." I guess the initial annoyance was wearing off and I was going back to normal. Either that or I was incapable of letting a grudge get in the way of my usual persona. If he made anymore moves that could change quickly though. I went back to slurping my food when he tried to explain the difference between deceit and manipulation. I rested my chopsticks on my empty bowl before offering my rebuttal. "Oh like how when you passed off what happened earlier as a misunderstanding?" I knew I was being unnecessarily adversarial but I didn't care. "I like to think that both are wrong so they don't need to be explained. I might not be open with people but I don't try and trick them one way or another." I couldn't figure out where our conversation was going at that point. It seemed like I was making veiled jabs at him. 

"No but if I have to talk id rather not just occasionally turn from my plate to give three word answers." Kalesh was still pushing the flirting. Whether he noticed it or not I couldn't tell but that's what I was seeing. I sat and listened with a skeptical face as he started mumbling about SAO conspiracy theories. I ate some more food before I answered. "Are you trying to freak me out by going all "your life is a lie" on me? Kayaba may be a lot of things but I don't think liar is one of them." He really wasn't afraid of what people thought of him. He continued to eat his food while making yet another comment about food. I snickered as I ate my own. "I think you might like eating just a little too much." It dawned on me that what we were doing seemed like classic guy talking to a girl he just walked up to. Was I really that easy? He tricked me into falling right into his game just by catching me off guard. "You know for someone who's so honest it seems like you can be pretty manipulative." Maybe that was how he landed a girlfriend. 

(hahaha senpai yes!)

I raised an eyebrow at Ryuma calling me senpai. No one in SAO had ever called me that before so it was a little strange. I didn't make a comment though in consideration of his feelings. "Right, yeah. Uhh, well I'm the one helping you out here so it's up to you!" Personally I'd rather talk. Hunting boars was useless and quick for me so there was no entertainment there. But what I wanted didn't really matter, I was trying to get Ryuma ready for combat and I had gone and made him depressed so what he said would go. 

We all sat back down and looked at each other in silence for awhile. Eventually Manta and Sousuke ordered food but I decided I wasn't hungry. There was too much going on for me to want to eat. Just when I thought things wouldn't get any weirder, Sousuke got up and sat himself down on Manta's lap. The role reversal was kinda funny. Change your gender and the roles completely switch too, huh? I just sat and watched for a second with my legs and hands crossed as Sousuke did his best to excite Manta. Strangely enough a started blushing and even felt jealous. I looked down to the side, my face still red, and said "I'm always the one left out. Can't you two tone it down just a little bit?" I scratched my arm as I leaned forward in my seat. After they were done eating I'd suggest we go somewhere else. 

I picked up the menu and looked it over in a quick glance. I called over the tender and ordered a pork udon and indicated the guy next to me would be paying. I smiled when he mentioned his girlfriend again. "Oh right I didn't catch that the first time." Sarcasm was a blessing and a curse. "Hey maybe she and I could take turns. You know like a tag team thing?" I offered lightheartedly. I couldn't tell why he was going around flirting while also pointing out that he was taken. What could possibly be behind that? If I had a girlfriend I wouldn't be going around making idol compliments to other girls. You're not really suppose to notice other people when you're seeing someone, or at least not supposed to admit it. After some silence and my food arrived he shifted the conversation to move. Smooth. "I like Japanese food pretty much. Sometimes I try other stuff." I took a bite/sip/slurp of my meal as the awkward silence crept in. I put down my chopsticks and turned to Kalresh. "Alright we're not gonna get anywhere talking about food. Idle conversation doesn't exactly encourage investment."

"Heh, I'm not going to argue the semantics of what that meant." I scoffed at him as he tried to act like there was a difference that would somehow change the implication of what he said or meant. You could probably see a comical vein pop in my forehead when he rolled his eyes and suggested that he was right to assume I'd be into that. "No, but I think you'd be right in saying most men would not take kindly to that." He went on to try and explain something along the lines of society making unfair gender distinctions. They exist for a reason dude. "No I wouldn't. I would be offended if she followed that up by saying I'd look better in women's clothing. That's different." He put his hand to his face as he went on still, this time saying that thinking I was a girl would be more insulting. He'd normally be right about that at least. "Yeah well with the week I've been having that doesn't faze me anymore..." I said as I took my turn sighing and rolling my eyes. Finally he adjusted his attitude and suggest that he make it up to me by paying for a meal. Fine whatever I'll take free food. But I still needed to keep my eyes peeled. I still couldn't tell this guys intentions. "Fine but if you try to kiss me I'll stab you." That was more joke than threat. I obviously wouldn't stab him but I felt the need to throw something in. I wasn't myself if I couldn't mess around a bit. I looked over at him and saw the somewhat fake smile he was giving me. He must've been annoyed. What could he possibly be annoyed about? I was the one that was freaked out. 

Kalesh raised his hands in surrender as I held my grip on his shirt. I could see the surprise in his face at my reaction, clearly he hadn't been expecting it. He claimed diplomacy and told me he wasn't trying to insult me. "Like hell" I gritted at him instantly. How could he not have been insulting me? He still seemed apologetic though when continued about me being self conscious. I lighted shoved him back as I let go and sat down in my chair. I turned back to the counter and planed to ignore him. But then he said something else. I turned back to him in surprise. If I don't swing that way...so that was it. He wasn't insulting me he actually was flirting with me. Did that mean he batted for both teams? Well that still didn't make me less angry. "I was okay with it because I thought you thought I was a girl! What kinda person goes up to a guy and tells them they should wear eatings and a skirt?! And in case you haven't figured it out, no I don't swing that way." I couldn't believe the way that things had turned out. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine something like this would happen. Maybe if I haven't been going through all this girl stuff recently I would've known what was going on. But still thinking about what he said to me gave me the chills. Was that what everyone thought about me? Would I need to start wearing a sign for people to know I was a boy and most certainly not a cross dresser?

Manta I hate you. When I finished what could've been a good cover she opened her mouth and blew it once and for all. She told Sousuke that I was a boy and a cross dresser too. I would've been fine eventually with her telling him the truth but she went too far in the last part. I stood up from my chair and pointed at her. "I am not a cross dresser!" Jesus, what did she mean she'd keep supporting my hobby? What could she be thinking? But I had almost forgotten about Sousuke. I turned to see his reaction and I was surprised by what I saw. He ran over to me and hugged me while saying something about always knowing and protecting me. I looked down at him and all I could say was "Huh?" I really had no idea what he was talking about. What did he mean by that? With him distracted I looked over and mouthed the words "we're talking about what you said later" to her. 

"Right" I said plainly. I didn't particularly care to listen to his explanation. Why would I want to know why he thought I was cute? Gag me with a spoon. He took a pause to take a massive bite out of his goat, clearly not afraid to dig into food whenever he wanted. When he was ready to continue he apologized and said he wanted to make me even better. Yeesh it was a wonder if this guy picked up any girls like this. I truly felt sorry for them. "Well thanks for the advice, I guess." Then he gave me a smile that sent a chill down my spine. I knew something bad was coming. I was right, he winked at me after revealing he knew I was a boy all along. He really was toying with me. I knew I had been doing the same thing but that made me angry than I could've imagined. I stood up from my stool and grabbed the guy by the collar with both hands. I got right up and his face and said through gritted teeth "You bastard." 

He greeted me again and continued explaining what he was saying about himself earlier. "Yeah, I guess I can understand that." His smile disappeared for a bit when he said he didn't want to lose friends down the road. The way he changed his attitude when he said it made me feel like that exact thing had happened to him. I wanted to know but I wasn't about to ask. I wasn't in a position to pry. His straightness was short lived as a smile crept across his face. I could tell instantly he was about to be fully honest. He winked at me when he said he had been flirting with me. I would say I was surprised but I wasn't, I had a feeling. He didn't seem to be a pathological liar so that statement threw sadistic prank out the window. I closed my eyes and smiled as I took another sip of my tea and finished it off. "Well maybe you shouldn't start off by telling the person things that would make the look better. Dontcha think?" I wasn't going to play it either way. I didn't want to actually flirt with him, for obvious reasons, and I didn't want to come clean because I could still see an opportunity to make it worse for him. Plus something told me he wouldn't believe me anyway. 

Completed 

Koumori +200 Col +1 SP

Vayrin +200 Col +1 SP

Kalesh laughed when I said I didn't know. For some reason he found my response amusing. When he stopped himself he told me that beauty was in the eye of the beholder, but he thought so. I really wasn't sure how to take that. As a guy I was insulted but he didn't know that. At least I didn't think he did. "Thanks, I think." We're both distracted when his food is brought to the table and our conversation was interrupted as he began to eat, which gave me time to think about things. Why was I doing this? I must've had some psychological reason making me do this that any normal person didn't have. I made a promise to myself that I'd find out what that was. He was interrupted from his feasting when I asked why he was saying all that stuff. I wanted to know what he actually thought about me but he gave me some crap about saying what was on his mind. To me that was dodging the question. Then he broke into a smile and asked me for my name. I didn't know why he added that second part. Whatever the reason, I thought it best to give him my name before he came up with something stupid. "It's Kou." Crap I'd gotten used to being called that. It was just a nickname so it wasn't a bad name, but it still wasn't my name. "Uh, Koumori." I looked at him that time and picked up my cup to take another sip. "You sure are a forward guy."

He smiled at me and my reaction. What I had said worked. Or maybe it didn't. What was I even trying to do? He kept going and said I'd look good with hair accessories or earings. I instinctively looked upward and brought my right hand up to touch my hair. "Accessories...earings..." Not even Manta or Sousuke had said something like that to me. The guy was seriously complementing me. Either that or he could see through me and was going through the most sadistic torture routine I had even seen. He shrugged his shoulders and took another sip as I sat there confused and feeling my hair. No self respecting dude would be caught dead with a hair clip, earings sure but not that. Still, I'd play bashful with him again. "I don't know. I've never really thought about it. That stuff probably doesn't really suit me." I took another sip of my drink too to try and get rid of the awkward air that was left. He then looked back to me again and made a suggestion that I had heard many times: I should wear a skirt. However he went on and explained for me why it would be stupid to wear one on that floor. I turned my whole body to face him and put my hands on my knees. I looked a little closer to his face as I spoke this time. "A skirt? Hey, why are you saying all these things to me? You just met me." It looks like I'd be adapting the bashful approach with this guy. Much different than I acted around Manta and Sousuke when I did this. 

(Haha good. Btw sorry for the delay)

Manta sat with me and I watched in surprise as she drank a potion of her own. She went through much the same transformation as Sousuke but she was left with short hair and a manly voice. It was the weirdest thing I had ever seen. "Wow" was all I could say to her. It was definitely weird. But I was drawn away from the new Manta when Sousuke seemed to put two and two together. I looked to see him sitting the same way I had with a "gears spinning" look oh his face. He must've realized what the potions did after Manta took hers. Sorry Sousuke, it's not gonna be that easy. This time instead of getting sad id get angry. "Sousuke! If you'd rather me be a guy just say it! I've been a girl this whole time! Can't you seriously not tell." I'd finish it off with sadness. "Idiot." 

The guy took his hand back and explained what he wanted. He said he just wanted to talk but I didn't buy it. He was up to something I could feel it. He had some other reason for speaking to me. Kalesh laughed awkwardly and looked off to the side after he apologized and returned to his drink. He seemed to think about something for a little bit before he picked up his cup. He looked straight into it as he lifted it up and called me cute. If I were in a cartoon my jaw would've dropped to the floor. I didn't let it show on my face but that's what I was envisioning in my head. What I really did was momentarily freeze as I put down my own cup. He thought I was a girl too. I should've seen that coming it's been happening so much after all. And for some reason the frequency seemed to be increasing. Was there something different about me? There must've been because this time it didn't annoy me. My head must've still been confused from that potion that actually did turn me into a chick. However I still had to decide: tell the guy the truth or play on. I really wanted to finally correct someone after playing the part for so long but I couldn't. That joker side of me couldn't resist the opportunity to mess with someone so thoroughly. I turned my head towards the guy and looked towards the floor. I spoke to him shyly. "What? You really think so?" I didn't change my voice too much because it would be too obvious but there was more gentleness in it. I was sorry to think that I had mastered it by that point. What I was thinking long before was true: I really could switch it on and off. I just wondered how this guy would react to this new information. Maybe I made the wrong choice and the whole game would end up thinking I was a girl. 

(Koumori would've absolutely corrected you but it's way more fun for me to do this so sorry Koumori you get to be the butt of my jokes)

I could sense the guy next to me looking at me. He was examining me out of the corner of his eyes for quite some time. I wondered what he wanted. Finally he turned in his seat and introduced himself. I turned my head to look and saw him smiling with his hand outstretched. His name was Kalesh. He looked right at my eyes for a second before retreating his gaze elsewhere. What was wrong with him? Was there something on my face? Maybe I did something and I didn't notice. Either way, I didn't feel like shaking his hand but I wouldn't ignore him. "Hey" I said to him lightly as I took another sip. He continued to look at me after I said something so I decided I wanted to know what's up. "Can I help you?" I said in the same tone as before. 

I had never been to the seventh floor so I made a spur of the moment decision to check it out. I went through the teleport gate on floor one and emerged inside a giant underground cavern. I was amazed by what I saw. Massive stone structures collected in a giant opening lit by beautiful green crystals. I looked up at the ceiling and saw the light sparkle between the many glowing rocks and providing the only source of light for the subterranean city. Although I heard this was the inside of a mountain so maybe that wasn't the right word. I ventured into the city and viewed all the things it had to offer. Eventually I made my way into a tavern that caught my eye. When I walked inside I saw the roof was entirely glass and the building was lit only by the crystals on the ceiling hundreds of feet above. The cool green glow gave and interesting look to the place. I walked up to the counter and sat on one of the stools before ordering tea for myself. I had only just started drinking it when someone sat down next to me. I turned my eyes to examine the player and say a male with long red hair. He also seemed to be higher level than me. I turned my attention back to my drink and kept sipping. 

Sousuke recoiled back when I touched him. The horrible blush on his(her) face told me that he didn't find it pleasurable. He squeaked at me as I finally let go, asking why I did that. I looked down at the floor as I answered. "Yeah but they're still more girly than mine." I was really self conscious about it. Obviously I had never thought anything like that before so I didn't know what was up. I could only assume Sousuke was as confused as I was. Manta then told me that it only lasted for an hour. "Only an hour huh..." I said dejectedly. I think I was dissapointed. She also reassured me that I had always been cute and I blushed a deep red. Had I been waiting for someone to say that? No this potion was definitely messing with us. Maybe we were just so freaked that we were messing with our own heads. She said we'd just be hanging out and eating. I guess that was okay. But it was really hot in that tavern all of a sudden. "Isn't it really hot in here?" I brought up my menu and unequiped my sword and cost leaving me with my pants and vest. It definitely felt better to not have that heavy jacket on. "That's a little better." I sat back down in the chair with my hands between my crossed legs. It was actually a pretty comfortable position but it highlighted my embarrassment. I actually had the body of a girl then, even though my normal one apparently wasn't far off. It was weird to be sitting there like that. I kept noticing the rubbing of my modest chest against my shirt and had to readjust it. They are more sensitive than I would've thought. Girls must've had to deal with a lot. I noticed that Manta and Sousuke hadnt sat down yet and blushed again. "Don't just stare at me. Let's eat so we can get out of here."