CHAPTER 414: ARC 6, CHAPTER 30: NERDS UNITE

"Jotou...? Like, Jotou Howllett? No, there’s no way it’s you," he shook his head and kept looking around uncomfortably. His voice then went lower yet a little more nasally, "You’re all dead, like...

Okay, who’s doing some illusion or enchantment, fess up. You can’t play me," he said more comedically.

"Dude, I’m not an illusion, it’s literally me," Jotou got closer.

Ben took a step back, his armour clanking as he reached for his sword, "Okay, this is getting less funny, let’s call off the pranks, haha, we all had a good laugh."

"There’s not a joke going on here genius," Fumeko uttered.

"I’m not doing any illusions. If you’re actually Ben, then that’s the real Jotou," the raven-haired elf stated.

He ignored the other two, "Nah, w-what, you expect me to believe you’re some beautiful blonde woman, come on."

Jotou raised a brow and spoke a little softer, "You expect me to believe you’re some six and a half feet tall knight going by the name Scorching Inferno?"

He nodded his head around, "Touché."

"Crispy I’m serious, it’s me," Jotou reached out her hand, almost like she was prompting something.

...

The armoured gloved reached out and slapped her hand.

Jotou promptly moved her hand back and made a fist.

"Ain’t no way," slowly he did the same and bumped fists.

Jotou gave a one-shouldered shrug, "It’s not much of a handshake,"

"But it’s somethin’," Ben finished her words.

"Excuse me, pardon, sorry," the twin brother interrupted in between the two, "What’s happening here, feel like we’re missing a lot of context?"

"Uh, yeah," Ben moved his head to meet his gaze. "Yeah, a lot." He looked at the golden blonde. "Why’re you..."

Jotou’s lips were pursed, her eyes a little narrowed. A sudden ease took over her heart and sent a warm sensation across her skin—her eyes welled up. Moving her mouth, she managed to get out, "A beer?"

The red helmet tilted, "Thought you hated beer."

"Still do," she forced a smile.

_

"You two’ll have some peace for the hour, I already paid off the barkeep to make sure nobody interrupts you. We’ll keep an eye and introduce ourselves to those two first," Hotaru told Jotou and Ben.

The two sat on barstools in a secluded corner of the tavern, rope strung across to indicate no one should approach them. A mug of frosty beer each and the chatter of people all over, giving a hundred glances at the two.

Hotaru turned away and headed for the table where the rest of both parties sat. "Thank you," Jotou uttered before the redhead walked too far.

The wolf-girl’s ear flickered... and she curved her face around to meet the blonde’s gaze, "You’re welcome." Then she walked away.

A little corner of Jotou’s lip rose, eyes darting away in a bit of joy. She finally looked up to face her friend, "What’s with the armour?"

"I don’t wanna take it off. Especially not in public ya know," he gripped the handle of his mug.

Jotou ignored her mug of beer. "So. How come? You never thought to, I don’t know, write a letter?"

"I mean I heard of the Thundering Blade or whatever, thought it was just some lore in the world and he was just existing. I didn’t exactly check the papers I guess, so I didn’t see what the name was," he shakily justified as he lifted the visor of his helmet slightly.

"Okay, fine, what about the Last Stand? Surely you heard about Trailon being defeated?"

"Well yeah, that was kinda big newsy enough that it got here," there was a slight scar on his chin and thin lips that drank the beer.

"So you would’ve at least heard about Daiyu then, her name’s actually plastered all over that."

"Wait, Daiyu’s here!?"

Annoyance flashed across the blonde’s eyes as she leaned on the table, "What the hell have you been doing man, what’s going on? Daiyu’s the damn princess of Cravolta."

He almost spat out his beer. An uncontrollable chuckle escaped his lips, "You’re capping, that’s the stupidest thing you’ve said you shapeshifter, now I know for sure you ain’t real."

Jotou’s brows knitted, "Shapeshift- You still think I’m not real!?"

"Hey, hey, shhh, don’t make a scene," Ben sighed. "I’ve got a reputation to keep around here."

"Ben... I swear to hell..."

"Listen, there’s a hundred different creatures every month, I don’t know if one’s a psychic or can be an advanced mimic or you’re just a figment of my imagination and I’m losing it," he shrugged.

Jotou glared and very quietly pronounced, "If I was a shapeshifter or your imagination, why the fuck would I show up to you looking like this? I only realized it was you after you said something no one in this world would’ve said.

If I was psychic, I would’ve been on your case long before. I have a whole party and a whole reputation across the world. Use your brain for two damn seconds or I’m gonna become the monster you seem to think I am," her eyes sparked.

...

"Overdramatic..." Ben placed his thumbs under his helmet and lifted it off. "There’s no mistaking that look either... It’s definitely you..." He had a squarish face with a short beard and short hair, all of it black except that it was brown at the ends—his eyes a light grey.

Jotou breathed in relief.

"It’s funny. You look way different, but I still weirdly kinda see ’you’," he replied.

"Probs something scientific behind it I’m sure."

"Yeah probably. So you were being serious with Daiyu being a princess?"

"It’s wild, I know; you can take my beer I don’t want it," she pushed the mug forward. She glanced at him, taking in the details of his face, "You’ve just been here, all this time?"

"It’s a big place," he shrugged. "Didn’t need to go far, it was like a monster of the week thing, with an overarching anime arc. And now you’re here like a special crossover episode, it’s fucking epiiiicc!" he raised his mug in joy.

"Could’ve read the papers at least."

"Hey wait, so," he slammed his beer down. "Everyone’s here then? All of us got isekai’d at once after that crash? Dude, that’s so cool!!!"

Jotou squinted, "Crispy, we died."

"So? Life was shit man, this is way better!"

"Well, better is relative..."

"What, you wanna go back to our old lives?" Ben raised his brows.

Jotou winced, "Not necessarily anymore, but I just don’t think of it as that black and white... How d’you wake up? After crashing I mean."

"Eh, the details are all over and epic, lot to talk about," a wide grin painted itself across his face as he cleared his throat. "After the crash, I woke up against a building and I leapt up onto my feet.

There were people around, guild workers and medics and boy were they shocked! They all came up to me and swooned, they were all over me man—woman, whatever you are at this point—but they were like I was a legendary survivor.

Took me back to the guild and I was set. I knew what to do immediately," he spoke of his tale with wild gestures of his arms and loud proclamations, "Sign up for the guild, scope out the land and start my epic adventure—classic formula.

I tried to find my types at the start to join my party, the ladies I’d romance, maybe a harem, but my adventures were too dangerous for them so they left scared. Made sure not to tell anyone my name, so I called myself the Blazing Inferno~

It had a few changes, but it stuck with the end of the quest I was on. I thought it was a demon king scenario, but it wasn’t really, apparently it was more of a political war thing going on all over the world.

Eh, I prefer the classics, but there were still dungeons and monsters- Don’t touch slimes, made that mistake. You know, monster girls would’ve been a nicer setting, but hey at least there’s demi-humans and elves and stuffs."

"Part-humans," the blonde corrected with her brows somewhat knitted.

"Oh yeah, they’re a bit touchy about it. Great they have lore though, might be a plot point for us at some point. But anyway, you’re here! It’s not gonna be singleplayer no more, well, I guess it hasn’t been, we just needed a map to track us lol.

And Daiyu’s here too? Fucking yes! This is great! Where’s Ramond and Kaleb? Oh man, we can go on a full ass RPG together, it’d be sick!"

"Haven’t found them yet," her eyes darted to one side. "Was hoping me and Daiyu being big names would at least help you guys get to us. We waited for months in Cravolta really, hoping one of you’d show up."

Ben frowned and his shoulders dropped. "Aw man, that sucks." Then he smiled and bolstered his posture, "But you found me. That’s the next step of the quest. We need to find Ramond and Kaleb so we can reunite!"

"It’s not that easy. I don’t think rushing to it has any purpose at the moment. Plus, I’m glad I found you, but I do have other stuff going on here, with a case, the cult. It’s been a whole thing."

"It’ll be fine," Ben dismissed with a wave of his hand. "You can get back to it later once we find those two. Ramond and Kaleb are way more important than some world quest."

Jotou squinted at him, "I’m not even entertaining that. If Ramond and Kaleb are out there somewhere and haven’t come to Cravolta yet, they’ll be fine without us finding them for a while."

"Ah shit, Daiyu’s birthday went by didn’t it?"

"Did you hear what I said?"

"Yeah, I did," he faced her. "You’re telling me you got attached to your party and now don’t wanna leave them behind, I get it. But we’ve got people from another world who take priority, you’re telling me your new-

Damn, you sly dog, you gathered yourself a harem, no wonder you don’t wanna leave," Ben said as he looked over the blonde and saw her party at a table in the back conversing.

"I don’t have a harem, I’m only dating one person," Jotou’s brows knitted. "And no, I’m not prioritizing one over the other, I can care for everyone equally, but the truth is it’ll be a wild goose chase-"

"Which one are you dating? The redheaded wolf-girl, right? Good choice," he had still not looked at Jotou.

"Crispy..."

"She had sass when I was talking to her. The ears and tail are cute, the fangs too. Plus she’s thick all over, I mean, what are those like, D’s? Double D’s?"

"SLAM!" "Ben!" Jotou slammed her hand on the table and glared. Everyone in the vicinity turned to glance at the two. The blonde turned and put on a bright smile, "Sorry, was making a joke."

Slowly, the patrons went back to their business, their shifting glances constantly keeping an eye on the two. Jotou’s expression returned as she looked to her friend, "Don’t go saying those things. Also, her hearing is a lot better than you think."

"Oh... sorry. All I’m saying is, you sure got lucky with her," he gave a nod.

Jotou gazed at the table longingly, "Yeah... I know." She took a deep breath to steel herself, "Why’re you acting like some toxic macho man, this isn’t like you."

"What d’you mean? Look at me!" he spread his arms out wide and flexed his armour. "I’m this muscly tall guy women flock to. They never gave a chance to the fat hunk of lard; I didn’t look great either."

Jotou’s head fell to one side, "Great, you’re a nice guy."

His face contorted and he stopped flexing, "Oh come on, I’m not like that."

She pursed her lips and raised a brow, "Then what are you now, an ’alpha’?"

"That’s just cringe. Look, I’ve got fire magic to throw around and you can’t say I don’t look better now, so I gotta act like it, I’m flaming fucking hot. Same goes for you though, you’re a blonde bombshell and what kinda magic exactly?"

Jotou sighed, "Lightning, offensive and support."

"Dude! We’re almost matching. Offensive and healing; though I’m not good at the second part still. Anyways, do you go by like a different name now? Do you go by she or how d’you want me to address you I guess."

"I don’t know man, pick a lane and stick with it, whatever you’re comfortable with, I don’t really mind."

For a solid minute, Ben stared at the blonde. She rested her chin in her palm and slumped a little. Her eyes were half-open and her hair was a slight mess. He then smiled and said, "I still see my buddy."

Jotou glanced up through her lashes and flashed a tiny, bittersweet smirk.

The Inferno pushed Jotou’s mug back to her, making the blonde catch it in a reflex. He clinked his mug against hers, "To our reunion."

...

Jotou clinked back, "To our reunion."

He then raised his mug and glugged it down, while Jotou begrudgingly sipped at the rim of the glass. He slammed the mug down not even a few seconds after, the beer finished.

"I missed you..." the blonde pushed the mug away again.

A genuine smile could not be fought back as it grew on the man’s face. "Come on, we’ll bring the party to our parties." He got up and set his hand on her shoulder softly once before walking towards their parties.

Jotou tilted her head, watching him walk. She adjusted her bangs and sifted her fingers through her ponytail idly. ’Meeting him again’s been a rollercoaster... Sigh. It’s just Crispy. It’ll be fine, everything’ll be fine.’