Chapter 7: A Red bellied Bird

I've been rummaging in this woodland area for 3 hours now, just to find the final materials required to make Yuuki and Aiko's birthday gift.

Both Yuuki and Aiko were born on May 23rd, meaning that they're twins, I never assumed that they're the same age since Aiko or Ran always acts a bit more mature compared to Yuuki and is clearly smarter than her.

I sighed and walked along the grassy labyrinth laid out in front of me.

This is going to be a chore, isn't it? I yawned during my train of thought.

The material I was looking for is the "Evergreen freesia," which is very hard to find since the information I was told is that they bloom for only 10 to 12 weeks. May is coming to an end, meaning I had to hurry, especially since the kind I'm looking for is the rarest.

I had been working on my tailoring skill all morning, as most of my inventory was full of white cloth.

"Perhaps it's time to give up," my voice began to dull.

Just when the feeling of giving in nearly overwhelmed me, I saw two flowers, both lilac, and turquoise.

That's them!

Rushing towards the two flowers my hand stretched out, I knelt, closed my eyes, and reached to pick them.

Only to touch something other than a flower stem, it sort of felt like skin almost, I grabbed at the sensation while my eyes were closed.

"Kyaa-!"

A sudden yelp made me open my eyes to see a girl who looked exactly my age. She wore a red cape and hood with a white frilly dress underneath, and the sun was shining down on her black hair, which made my eyes squint to notice the features on her face.

As a cloud blocked the sun's rays, I saw a flustered teenage girl staring right at me.

"Uh... Umm," I stopped myself from stuttering, "is there something I can help you with...?"

A loud clapping noise filled the air,

"Oww...! Why'd you do that!?"

"That's my line!" the girl yelled, "You never take a lady's hand without their permission, you dult!"

I was confused and shocked since I didn't even know this girl, yet she was rude to me.

A brief sigh left my mouth, and I picked the two freesias from the ground.

"H-Hey!"

Another sigh left my mouth.

"What?"

"Those are my flowers you have there. I saw them first!"

Goodness, could you stop shouting?

I shrugged and began walking back to Aiko and Yuuki's house.

"Hey moron, I'm talking to you!" She squealed.

"You snooze you lose, that's life!" I replied and waved, still finding my way out of the labyrinth.

Minutes later, the sun enveloped my tanned skin once more, and I left the woodlands.

There was still an annoying presence behind me, so I turned around.

"Could you stop following me, you're distracting my train of thought!" I snapped at the girl as we had both exited the forest.

My sudden change of mood made her jump stopping her attempts to get my attention.

Wondering why she was still following me, I turned around again and apologized then introduced myself.

"Damai?" She giggled, "That's a very creative name!" and laughter ensued.

I frowned at her poking fun at my name.

She later calmed down as we got into town, I began pondering on what type of gift should be made.

"Robin."

Huh?

I turned around and stood attention to the girl.

"That's my name, Robin," She smiled.

I looked at her dress and observed its design.

Looking closer, she wore frilly, a skirt with white and pink patterned lines. She also had a brown, buckled, leather belt with the same color palette around her waist.

I looked at the two flowers I held in my hand.

"Purple and blue," I said aloud.

"Huh?" The annoying girl waved her hands in my face, "Hello, earth to Damai."

I was too caught up in the clouds at this point.

"That's it!" I broke from the clouds and turned facing the girl. I held her hands to make a formal thank you.

"You're a genius!" I gleefully smiled.

"I-I am?"

"Yes!"

She seemed a bit flustered, and I let go.

"Well, I've gotta dash! I'll see you around, umm..." I scratched my head, "What was your name...?"

She sighed and pouted.

"Robin, it's Robin!" She repeated.

"See ya!" I was already halfway across the town.

"Hrmm..." I grumbled to myself for a while. The materials I had were enough to make my present for Aiko and Yuuki.

I was close to maxing out my tailoring skill already, so making dresses was like childs-play. But there was one thing from stopping me from giving the present.

I scratched my head, pacing around the room with two wrapped dresses in both of my arms. I don't know how long I've waited.

Thirty minutes? An hour?

When will they come back?

I sighed and mumbled something about the two of them being busy.

Placing the dresses on their signature chairs in their home, I logged out of Serene Garden.

"Who am I kidding?" I said to myself.

The space around me was empty and dead; this is what most of my eyes see for I was sat in the Medicuboid VR lobby.

"They probably have better things to do right now," my sigh was interrupted by a familiar, gentle thunder.

"Who's got better things to do?"

I looked up. It was Cambell.

He was in a lab-coat and had paler skin than usual.

Cam stretched his arms and looked at me through the other side of the Medicuboid chamber.

"You haven't answered my question," He uttered.

"Oh. It's nothing," I dismissed him, but that wasn't enough to shake Cambell off me.

"I said you hadn't answered my question."

With a long exasperated sigh, I answered Cambell.

"It's about the two girls I mentioned to you."

"Yuuki and Aiko?"

My head sprung up.

"How'd you know their names?" I asked.

He took a deep breath and explained something quite interesting.

"Yep. I don't leave any stone unturned when it comes to the Medicuboid project." Cam took another breath. "Yuuki Konno, I think that's her name anyway," My eyes widened, "Yeah, she's in the same situation as you, y'know, Medicuboid and all," Cambell yawned.

I stood up in my virtual room.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yep, she's the first tester of the Medicuboid."

Upon hearing this, I paced around the Medicuboid VR lobby for what seemed like 20 minutes muttering to myself.

She's just like me. She's just like me.

Words raced through my mind, then one sentence from Yuuki drowned out the sounds of the other thoughts.

"So... That means you're the same as me, right?"

I asked Cambell on what games Yuuki also played and loaded up Asuka Empire, with the words "Link Start!"