[SP- F1] Making Ends Meet

[Jomei 0]

It was another eventful day for Jomei in The Starting City. He had just arrived back in town from training in the fields; killing mobs and gathering materials for quests. He wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead as he looked up at the beating hot sun. "Huh.. its amazing how the seasons work even in this world.." He smiled and continued to walk into the town. He decided the first thing he should do is hydrate himself. He lifted his finger and poked the air in front of him, the box that was his Hud came to be, and he scrolled through his items to find the water bottles he started with. After contemplating it for a second, he closed his inventory without taking out the water. He felt rather than use the water he may need in the field, he would just go to his usual pub and have a drink.. maybe even a pint. With that in mind, Jomei started to walk happily to the tavern.

[Jomei 0]

When he arrived at the bar, he greeted the usuals that he sees there, as well as the bartender.

"Well hey there!" The NPC behind the bar was a younger female, rather than the older gentleman who runs the pub at night. "What can I get for you?" she said with a smile.

"Give me one of your finest ales" He said, sounding excited to be quenching his thirst with such a fine drink.

The NPC nodded, and a tall pint of a light amber liquid, very little foam at the top, appeared in front of him in a frosty mug.

He chuckled. "Good on ya!" He said to the girl as he passed her 2 col for the drink.

- 2 col

 

He took a long sip of his drink, and placed it back down with a loud, satisfied sigh.

"Doesn't matter how many floors I make it to, I will always make sure to come back here!" He said with a laugh.

"Best ale in Aincard."

[Jomei 0]

While sitting and enjoying his drink, Jomei thought he heard a familiar voice. It was strange. He made frequent trips to this tavern, so all of the voices were familiar to him.. But this voice was new. He had not heard it in this pub before, in fact, he hadn't heart the voice in a long time. Curious to see who the voice was coming from, he turned in his seat, while sipping from his ale, to look down the bar at the far side, where there was a familiar girl ordering drinks.

His eyes widened as he choked on his ale, spilling some of it on his pants. 

At the other end of the bar, sat a girl, who had to have been about the same age as Jomei. She had long brown hair, most of it was pushed out of her face, except for a few stray bangs. Her skin was tanned, and had freckles across her nose. And those bright blue eyes.

He knew without a doubt that it was Reina, the girl who had crushed his heart 4 years ago.

What is she doing here? Since when did she even play these types of games..?! He thought to himself. 

He had to get out of there. He didn't know what would happen if she approached him, so he shot down the rest of his ale and quickly made a mad dash for the door. 

[Jomei 0]

He made his way through the crowd, ducking behind the other patrons in the bar, trying to hide himself while trying not to look suspicious as well. 

Good, I should be in the clear. 

He looked back one more time, to make sure nobody was watching him. When he saw that no one was looking, he quickly made it to the door.

He let out a small sigh of relief, and opened the door to run out. 

To his surprise, he ran into a larger man, not much taller than Jomei, but much more built all around. 

"Gah! o'Im sorry sir" he said, holding his nose which he smashed on the bone between the man's large chest muscles.

The large man grunted, annoyed. "You better watch where you're going next time, punk."

Jomei froze. Of all people to run into.. it had to be him. He figured, if she was in this world.. he most likely was right there with her. 

He opened his eyes to look at the large man. He had black hair, spiked up in the front and short on the sides. a thin beard covered most of his chin and upper lip. A scar under his eye left little to the imagination that this man had been in a lot of fights before. 

((Just imagine the guy in the picture bulkier))

It was, of course, Yahiko.. The guy who Reina was cheating on Jomei with.. The guy who crush Jomei's spirit, and body, all those years ago.

Ah, damn it all.. Jomei thought to himself..

[Jomei 0]

Jomei looked up at the man, who was about 4 inches taller than him, and about 70 lbs heavier. 

The man looked back down at him with a face of annoyance, but it didnt look like he recognized him. 

Good, Jomei thought, maybe I can still make it out of this without any confrontations.

"Vaitz! There you are" came a voice from the inside, the voice Jomei had recognized earlier. "I was wondering when you'd get he- oh who's this?"

He froze. Still facing towards the other man, who was once known as Yahiko, but assumed his "in-game" name was Vaitz.

"No idea" Yahiko said as he pushed Jomei out of the way, which span him around to face the two. His eyes met Reina, and she looked back at him. There was no escaping it now. She had recognized him. "..Nick?" ...

He sneered and looked away from her "Reina.." He said sounding like he did not want to speak to her in the slightest.

He was really worried at how this was going to play out. 

[Jomei 0]

"Well, its Naru now." The girl said with a snarky smirk, crossing her arms. "You?"

Jomei looked back at him with annoyance in his eyes, "Im honestly surprised you care.. Its Jomei"

For a moment, Reina's face filled with guilt. Then she trued to play it off, a sweat drop running down her cheek, and a nervous smile. "C-Come on Ni-Jomei.. Lets not let our past get to us.  We are all stuck here now, lets just let it go and be friends." Her voice sounded like she was trying to not care. To try and make it seem like she forgot about everything so easily. That she wasn't actually filled with guilt. 

Jomei didn't pick up on this however. He simply turned around from the two, and started walking the other way, toward the City circle. "Whatever, just stay out of my life, will you?" He had never wanted to be so cold to someone. Especially someone who he was once so close to. But she had hurt him in the past, badly. He may not love her anymore like he once did, but he wasn't going to forget about how cold and heartless she was. He figured he could live life with the two of them running around in the game, he would just have to steer clear of them, just as he did during the last 4 years.

[Jomei 0]

He tried to walk away as quickly as he could. Just walk away from this, think of this as the final closure. You told her what you wanted to tell her.

As Jomei continued to walk away, Reina looked down at her hand that Jomei ignored. She lowered it slowly, as the look of extreme guilt filled her face again, and her eyes began to water as tears formed. Yahiko looked down at her as her expression changed. He clenched his fist and grit his teeth. I knew it....she feels bad for him.. She regrets what she did... she still cares for him.. he thought to himself. His head shot up, with rage in his eyes, and stared straight at Jomei. Feeling threatened by his presence, he followed Jomei, picking up the pace so he could catch him quickly. 

It took a moment for Reina to realize that Yahiko had walked on ahead, chasing Jomei. "Yahiko? What are you..." She started to jog to catch up to him, before he did anything drastic. 

[Jomei 0]

Jomei had not gotten very far before he heard the pounding of large boots about 15 feet behind him. He continued walking, despite the sound of the footsteps coming to a halt. Seconds later, a small box popped up in front of Jomei, taking him by surprise.

Yahiko has challenged you to a duel, do you accept?

       O Yes          O No

Type of Duel:

       O First Strike

     O Half Loss

      O Total Loss

 

 

Jomei turned around to look at Yahiko, who was standing there, just staring at Jomei with his large bastard sword drawn. The message box span around to follow Jomei's front.

Reina finally caught up to the two "Vaitz, what are you doing?!" 

Without breaking eye contact with Jomei, Yahiko said to her "Settling this."

Jomei subtly cocked his head to the side, and raised an eyebrow. He didn't think that he did anything. Was he really that angry that he bumped into him?

Reina grabbed onto his arm, tears in his eyes. "This is ridiculous, don't you think you settled enough with him with what you did those years ago? You have nothing to worry about... I'm you-." She said to him, as she tried to hug his arm.

Yahiko then jerked his arm, pushing Reina off of him and knocking her down onto the ground. She sat there, with tears in her eyes.

He finally turned to look at her."This isn't about you. This is for my own. Between me and him"

By the time he turned back to face Jomei, the countdown had already started to start the duel. He had chosen the half loss duel type.
"Haven't your parents ever taught you its not nice to push a girl?" Jomei said, his eyes hidden under the shadow of his hair.

"Fine, If you want to be so annoying about it." He didnt know why, but he was being cocky now. This was just getting Yahiko more and more angry.

He looked up and exposed one eye "Lets settle this, Yahiko."

The countdown had ended and the duel ring surrounded the two. Yahiko raised his large sword into the air, and yelled.

"You will call me Vaitz, you punk!"

Duel Start

Jomei: 15/15 [///////////////]

Vaitz: 17/17 [/////////////////]

[Jomei 0]

JOMEI

ID: 17606

BD: 10(+1) = 11 Critical hit!

DMG: 3 (+2) = 5 dmg

Jomei drew his sword and shield as the giant continued to pummel towards him. Yahiko had now grabbed his sword in both hands and was planning on ending this duel quickly. Luckily for Jomei, with such a big sword, he was pretty slow. As Yahiko swung his sword diagonally downward, hoping to slash Jomei from the shoulder down, Jomei dodged it to the side. When the sword connected with the ground, Jomei saw his big the sword was compared to him. He needed to make sure not to be hit by that, or else he would be in a world of pain. 

Jomei brought his focus back to Yahiko, who now left himself wide open. Jomei pulled his sword backwards, and slashed him across the chest, and then again in the opposite direction, making an X. Jomei pulled his sword back one more time. This time, it let off a bright orange light. 

"Hyaaah!" Jomei pierced his sword straight into the abdomen of the hulking man. Not enough to end the duel, but after a hit like that, it would not take much.

 

HP:

Jomei: 15/15 [///////////////]

 

Vaitz: 12/17 [////////////     ]

[Jomei 0]

YAHIKO

ID:17606

MD: 7(+1) = 8

DMG: 3(-1) = 2

Yahiko coughed up what would be blood, but was substituted with data of a similar color. He staggered back after the hit. A large, red X slashed into his body. "Damn you kid" he said as he metaphorically wiped blood away from his lip. He then picked up the large sword again. He took one large step towards Jomei and swung horizontally. Jomei threw up his shield, but was still knocked backwards from the force of the blow. Jomei fell to the ground, but his face was not that of pain, but was a sly grin.

"What're you laughing at?" Yahiko raged at Jomei. 

"Feel that heat? Thats the result of my Summertime Blaze!"

With that, Yahiko noticed his hands starting to burn. He dropped his sword because of the pain. 

DMG: 1 THRNS to Yahiko

 

HP:

Jomei: 13/15 [/////////////  ]

 

Vaitz: 11/17 [///////////      ]

[Jomei 0]

JOMEI

ID:17609

BD: 3(+1) = 4 Miss

 

Jomei jumped up from where he got knocked down. I need to finish this quicky, before he can get a clean strike on me with that sword.

He shifted his position, holding his sword above his head, when he charged again at Yahiko. As he closed in on his enemy, who at first was too preoccupied with his burning hands, he yelled "You're finished!" 

Just then, Yahiko grabbed his sword and blocked Jomei's attack with ease. W-What? He didn't even budge. 

Yahiko just chuckled, and he easily held off Jomei's attack, while Jomei struggled to push back Yahiko's blade. 

 

HP:

Jomei: 13/15 [/////////////  ]

 

Vaitz: 11/17 [///////////      ]

[Jomei 0]

YAHIKO

ID:17609

MD: 7(+1) = 8

DMG: 3 = 3 

 

As Yahiko locked blades with Jomei, he quickly spun around to kick Jomei in the gut, sending him sliding backwards. He had dropped his shield earlier when Yahiko knocked him over, so he did not have it to protect him from this attack. He huddled over, holding his stomach, trembling. "That was a.." He grunts "a cheap shot." 

Yahiko just laughed at Jomei's pain. "You're a moron if you really think you can beat me." He picked his sword back up in the right position, and held it at the ready to fight Jomei's next attack.

 

HP:

Jomei: 10/15 [//////////     ]

 

Vaitz: 11/17 [///////////      ]

[Jomei 0]

JOMEI

ID: 17610

BD: 8(+1) = 9

DMG: 3

 

Jomei shook off the pain and readjusted himself. If he really caused that much damage to me without even hitting me directly with his sword, then I really am in trouble. He picked his shield up off the ground, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He settled down into his fighting pose. He held his shield in front of him with his elbow bent, and he held his sword even with his head, the blade pointing directly at his target. He let out his breath and opened his eyes. 

He felt as if everything went in slow motion.

He took off, running forward toward Yahiko, who had the grin of someone who knew he was going to win. 

Yahiko brought his sword back, judging from where he held it, he was going to go for the killing blow, technically, at Jomei's neck. 

Despite initially being intimidated by the size of the sword and the size of Yahiko for that matter, Jomei stayed focused and continued his charge.

As he ran forward, Jomei's sword started to glow a fiery orange. The light grew even more to look like sunlight on a solid gold bar. 

As the large sword swung towards his neck, Jomei crouched, ducking under the sword and knocking it upward with his shield.

He opened Yahiko right up.

Jomei then drove his rapier forward with a barrage of pierces. A 6 hit combo.

 

The two stood there, silent. Before Yahiko dropped his sword to the ground, and fell to his knees.

Jomei closed his eyes, and sheathed his sword, letting out a sigh of relief.

 

Above the dueling ring, in large letters, read.

Winner

JOMEI

[Jomei 0]

Jomei opened his eyes again to the sound of cheering and clapping. He was surprised. He was so focused on the duel, that he did not realize that they had drawn quite a crowd of onlookers. He smiled nervously and scratched the back of his head, as he let out a light chuckle. He looked over to see Reina, who had started to make her way toward the two combatants. Before she could reach them, Jomei walked up to Yahiko and put out his hand to help him up. Yahiko slowly looked up, his eyes still hidden in shadows. 

He saw a sincere smile on Jomei's face. "That was quite a fight, I gotta hand it to you, I thought you had me for sure. Good on ya!" 

Yahiko just knocked Jomei's hand out of the way weakly, and stood up.

As his chest passed in front of Jomei's, he noticed all of the wounds he had made during the battle. From the large X crossing his entire body, to the 6.. or maybe 7 puncture points across his body. Then he looked down at himself, and saw the exact opposite. No cuts on his body at all. He felt like he was getting stronger, that maybe he was going to make it out of this game after all.

"Well" Jomei addressed both Reina and Yahiko, "I think this fight settled a lot for me as well." 

He smiled at the two and turned around and began to walk away, he waved to them while walking. 

[Jomei 0]

Reina let out a soft smile as Jomei talked to them. It made her happy that his attitude had changed towards them. 

She looked down at the ground, the look of guilt covered her face again, she looked up again.She whispered, "Nick Im..."

He had already started to walk away. She figured it must have been for the best.

"Come on Vaitz, lets go." Reina decided it was time to leave, especially to get Yahiko away from this place. She was scared of what he was thinking or how he felt. The last time he had lost a duel, he went berserk.

Before she could grab his hand, Yahiko had already taken off, running towards Jomei. 

Reina gasped in terror. She had no idea what he was going to do. She knew that he couldn't kill Jomei in the city, that he could only knock his HP down so far. Was he going to drag him out to the fields and do it? She had no idea. And that terrified her.

"Jomei!" She cried out as Yahiko went to strike at him.

[Jomei 0]

Yahiko stood up, defeated. How could he lose to this kid. The same kid that put up no fight against him four years ago. Why now was he humiliated in front of this large crowd. He had never fallen lower in his life. All sound was drowned out from Yahiko's mind, as he began to get angry. He saw the look on Reina's face as Jomei spoke to them, and when he started to walk away. Those were the faces of the old Reina. Yahiko was sure now that Reina still cared deeply for Jomei. This sent him into a blind rage. He began to breathe heavily. 

He lifted his head to meet the back of Jomei's head with his eyes.

He didn't know how he was going to do it.

He didn't know where he was going to do it.

He didn't care about the consequences.

He was going to kill him.

 

He took off running after Jomei. He left his sword laying on the ground back where the duel was held. He was going to beat Jomei down to a pulp. Drag his unconscious body out into the fields. And finish him off.

[Jomei 0]

As Jomei walked away, he thought about how he felt truly free from the burden that he carried for the past 4 years. He looked up at the sky and smiled. He could finally move on.

Little did he know, moving on should have been the least of his worried, as Yahiko was charging at Jomei with the intent to murder him.

Jomei was so focused on his thoughts, that he did not even hear the pounding footsteps closing in on him.

"Jomei!"

The sound of fear in Reina's voice was all he needed to hear to understand what was about to happen.

All in one motion, Jomei swung his hang to his shield,

grabbing the handle that was pressing against his back,

and thrusted the shield upward.

A loud gong noise filled the circle when Jomei made contact. He had struck Yahiko directly in the jaw.

Yahiko fell backwards and slammed his head into the ground, knocking him unconscious.

[Jomei 0]

Jomei finally turned around and looked at the body on the floor.

He stepped back, nervous "Wha? I didnt mean to kill him! Please tell me he isn't dead!" 

After freaking out for a moment, Reina reassured him with a hand on his shoulder. "Relax. You just knocked him out cold, he's still alive..."

Jomei sighed a sigh of relief. "Good. I would have hated to be branded as a Pker"

Reina looked down at the unconscious Yahiko "He was going to kill you.."

"Lucky for me, he didn't" Jomei said with a slight chuckle. 

She continued, as if he hadn't said anything. "..and you still spared him, even tried to be friendly with him."

Jomei let out a sigh before speaking, "I could never wish that upon anyone, even him. Especially in here. All of us are stuck here together, so we might as well work together to clear the game and go back home."

[Jomei 0]

Reina looked towards Jomei with slight tears in her eyes.

Jomei stretched his arms up and yawned. "Well, its been a really long day for me, I think I should turn in for the night."

He looked back to the unconscious body on the ground. "You should probably get him out of here, calm him down when he wakes up."

"I don't care about him." Reina said suddenly. Jomei merely looked at her, confused. 

She sighed. "I never wanted any of this. Not just this fight, but the other fight as well."

Reina rubbed her arm behind her back. "He was the type of guy that, no matter who I ended up with, I would always end up back with him." She let out a pathetic excuse for a laugh "Perfect example of the girl always going for the bad guy."

Jomei had crossed his arms and was listening to her.

"But the reason he showed so much hostility towards you, and why I ended up being so...cruel.. to you.. was because you were the one guy I still cared about, despite Vai-.. Yahiko taking me back."

Jomei's eyes widened. Oh boy.. He thought to himself.

[Jomei 0]

"Honestly, I started to get over it as well.. See Yahiko for the good in him."

by now the two were sitting on a short wall, not far from where the duel took place. 

They had dragged the limp body of the unconscious Yahiko nearby, and laid him down under a tree.

"Especially in here, when things first started, he liked playing the part of the hero most of the time, and it made me happy...

but recently that changed. He started getting much more violent and changing. It made me scared."

Her hands were clasped together, she clenched her hands together. Her eyes started to swell.

"And when he was going to kill you, I knew that the man that I was hoping Yahiko to become had died.. and I did not want that."

She shook her head to get rid of the idea of crying. "Where I'm trying to go with all of this, is that I'm sorry. For everything. I truly am.."

Jomei put his hand up to her before she could continue talking. She looked surprised. He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. 

"Thank you. That is all I needed to hear." He took his hand off of her shoulder and looked up towards the sky. "I forgive you."

A tear began to fall down her face. "I've been waiting to her that for the past 4 years." She leaned in towards him to kiss him on the cheek.

Before she could do so, Jomei placed the palm of his three fingers on her incoming lips. She opened her eyes and looked past his hand.