Rapid Fate Online Chapter 26: Team Up

“What did you think of the house?” Butterfli3 asked as the two of you walked back to the teleportation site after saying goodbye to Asuna and Kirito.

“It’s lovely but EXPENSIVE!” you said with a grimace as you walked beside him.

He chuckled. “I actually have enough to buy it…,” he stated calmly, remaining a little silent for a bit as he collected his next sentence. “Would…would you, maybe, like to live there with me?”

You looked at him. He was seriously contemplating making that a home for the two of you.

“Umm, Butterfli3, I’ve been thinking…” you said as you looked back down the boardwalk.

His face fell.

“We’re in a bit of an odd situation..” you started, “I really really like you and we’ve kissed and stuff already but we’re not officially anything yet…”

“We can change that if you like? It would be an honour to be your boyfriend.” he said with a smile.

“Umm, well, I’d like that too, but where does that leave us in real life? Like, would it be weird that we’re dating in here but we don’t even know each other in real life??”

He fell silent, contemplating what to say to that. He was still really nervous about you knowing him in real life. He was worried you wouldn’t accept the real him.

“I…O/N… what if I’m not who you thought you knew… in real life?” he asked quietly.

“I could ask you the same question of me too.” you replied.

“But I know that this part of you- in game, is still a part of your real personality, so it’s not a problem for me.”

“And then that’s my answer to your question.” you replied gently, with a smile.

“Can I have a week or so to gather the courage to tell you about myself in real life?” he asked shyly.

“Sure, Butterfli3, but just the fact that you’re willing to take such a big step tells me how committed you are to us, so I’m not worried.”

“I really really like you, O/N,” he said bashfully as he reached for your hand and held it as you both stepped up onto the teleportation stand.

“I like you a lot too, Butterfli3,” you replied with a smile as you both evaporated and transported back to Dawn City and your shop.

………………………………

Over the next 2 days in game you both worked in the shop, stealing kisses and holding hands whenever there weren’t any customers- which was becoming less common as word spread quickly that there was a merchant shop on level one that was selling a heap of rare items.

Butterfli3 was still thinking about whether or not he was going to reveal himself to you before making anything official and he knew his one week time limit was rapidly coming to an end.

Back in real life, you continued to watch Tamaki for signs that you could link him with

Butterfli3 but there wasn’t much to go off and you two would only talk very briefly because he was so shy.

Then one day, it happened. Friday morning, last day of the school week, the teacher sprung a surprise on the class.

“We’re going to have a class exercise today!” he announced excitedly. “This exercise is going to assess your collective efforts at taking on a villain. The villain will be played by none other than Gang Orca!”

Half the class gasped and the other half cheered. You were in the ‘gasped’ half.

“Gang Orca?! Playing a villain! Holy hell?! How are we supposed to bring HIM down?!”

Gang Orca was a giant of a hero, standing at 202cm tall (over 6 ft tall) and currently ranked number 11 on the hero chart and number 3 on ‘heroes that look like villains’ chart.

“I guess as a class we could take him on but we would need to strategize.”

The teacher talked about how each of you would be marked based on how you performed individually in the test, as well as how you performed as a team- ultimately giving you two marks at the end of the test.

“We will give you time to strategize before the test commences,” he added, “so talk now and the test will begin in a half hour.”

The teacher left the room and everyone looked around at each other, trying to figure out the best plan of attack.

“Ok!” Mirio said, standing up and assuming the leadership role, “game plans! What are some ideas we have?”

He walked to the front of the room and picked up a whiteboard marker, holding it up to the whiteboard and waiting for people to start throwing ideas.

You furrowed your brows and thought about everyone’s quirks and where they would be most useful.

Some students started outlining Gang Orca’s weaknesses and pointing out how to exploit them, while others talked about who should be in the front line attacks.

You got up from your seat and walked closer to the board, studying the things that were already written up there and Tamaki came up beside you, obviously wanting to get a better look as well.

“We need tankers up front, people to take Gang Orca’s aggro,” you muttered to yourself.

“I agree,” Tamaki replied softly.

Your head snapped towards him and you stared but he was too busy in his own head that he didn’t realized he had just responded to your gaming terms.

“Can you tank, Tamaki?” You asked, wanting to see if he continued to answer without thinking.

“Yes, I can, my quirk makes for a good distraction,” he added as he pondered how best to apply his skill.

“True,” you said, “you have a large AoE.”

He nodded, still deep in thought.

“Ok, he’s definitely a gamer, do these terms apply to RFO though? or are they from any RPG?” you thought.

“Mirio,” you called. “Let’s have groups. People up front who can either take Gang Orca on or distract him; then the next group who deal out the damage; and then a third group who are back up- who can switch in and help wherever they see their quirk is needed.

“Good, Y/N!” Mirio praised. “Ok, groups!”

He spent some time organizing similar or synergistic quirks into groups then it came down to you.

“Uhh.. Y/N, you’re a bit of an anomaly? Where would you like to go? You have the most versatile quirk- being able to switch places with anyone. Maybe you can confuse Gang Orca by constantly switching with him just before he’s about to take someone out?”

“That could work?” you replied thoughtfully, “but that would also confuse all of you guys too and I might end up getting seriously hurt if I switch him out just as one of you are about to activate your quirk…”

Mirio thought for a bit. “That’s true. Well what if you paired up with someone and you and them worked as a team so you can move them to better attack positions with your quirk?”

“Oh! Yes, that’s perfect!” you said happily, “in that case, I pick Tamaki.” You added, looking at him as he stood beside you.

“M-me?!” he stammered, his cheeks and tips of ears immediately going red as his lips began to tremble.

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Rapid Fate Online Chapter 27: Exposed >>>