Misa

Feeling the soft flesh on my stomach, and having my back and legs lifted by the skinny arms, my pride was shattered.

'Didn't Bayyan say he would catch me?! Why am I in the arms of a girl?!'

With my honor already tarnished, Sarah delivered the final blow, "You really are light, Miren."

Her words triggered my swift escape from her embrace, and I got down on the ground.

Then, a loud voice entered our ears, "Oh, you made it? I was just starting to think that maybe it was a bit too mean to expose you to a mutant during your first dive!"

Our teacher was here, wearing a bright smile, walking toward us.

"Good job, you guys! There are not a lot of students who can keep their calm in a situation like this. Now, let's go out. You have almost used up your two hours anyway, and this was the real reason for your dive. To practice dealing with the unexpected."

'So it was like that after all...'

Quickly making our way to the portal, we exited the dungeon having passed Mike's little test.

"Now, the next group will be James, Arthur, and Suzuka!"

Thus, the two other groups did their dives, and also managed to solve the issue with the planted mutant goblin.

****

Sitting at a bar in the city, we were celebrating our first successful dive. Me, Sarah, James, and Brad held up our glasses.

*"Cheers!"*

Taking a sip of my, now standard, glass of whiskey, I had some mixed feelings.

Although I was happy that we had a successful dive, I didn't actually fight at all. On top of that, I got saved by the girl sitting beside me.

'And tomorrow, I'm supposed to duel Suzuka... Fuck...'

James took a sip of his cider, and spoke, "It was really fun! I have always wondered what a dungeon would be like. It's just a shame that the monsters were so weak..."

'Isn't it you being way too strong?'

Sarah also seemed to be of the same opinion, although her words were also infused with admiration,

"You are just strong James! You are probably one of the strongest freshmen in the history of the academy!"

With dreamy eyes, she appeared to have locked on to her prey once more. This time, we were sitting in a more traditional bar, surrounded by some soft lounge music and no dance floor.

Brad was also chugging some beer, and with wandering eyes, he was also looking for someone to spend the night with.

'I guess it is to be expected, they are just teenagers after all.'

Even though I had spent a night with the lovely Misa the week before, it couldn't be said that I was actively searching for anyone. That's not to say I wouldn't accept if I got the chance.

Suddenly, I got a message on my DAD from the gorilla,

*Your duel will be canceled because Suzuka and Akane have to go home for the weekend.*

"I'm free!"

Unable to contain my happiness, I accidentally shouted out loud, making my friends all stare at me. The golden boy's brows lifted a bit, "Free from what?"

"Um... Free from some stuff of the orphanage."

Knowing they would most likely hold their tongues if I mentioned my past, I let out a quick lie.

The atmosphere got a bit heavier, but James tried to diffuse the tension, "Oh, is that so... That's great. Let's order some shots to celebrate!"

'Didn't he dislike drinking?'

Like this, we kept drinking, talking, and laughing, with Brad still on the lookout and Sarah trying to get closer to James, but to no avail.

That's when I got another message on my DAD, this time from Misa,

*Hi! Are you going out tonight? Me and Kim were just about to hit the town so I thought maybe we could meet up!*

A bit surprised at the sudden message, as I had thought it would just be a one-time thing, I happily replied, *I am already out with some friends. We are at "The Harpy" right now. Do come by if you want.*

I couldn't call myself a man if I rejected a sweet girl, now could I? For politeness' sake, I told my friends about the situation,

"Guys, two of my friends are coming here in a bit. It's fine right?"

All three looked astonished, barely able to even imagine the possibility that I had other friends.

Sarah even looked as if she would burst out in tears of happiness.

'You realize I'm sitting here drinking with you guys right?'

"Of course it's fine!"

A happy James responded to my statement, and not before long the two girls had arrived.

"Oh, Miren!"

Misa was wearing a tight blue top, almost looking as if her chest was about to burst out, with her dark brown hair flowing down. Paired with some tight-fitting black jeans, she looked absolutely stunning in my eyes.

Misa was just 24 years old, thus it was not all that weird for us to socialize with her, even more in this world where age didn't matter much.

With her sweet face, curvy and tall body, and beautiful blue eyes, she was very much aligned with my personal preferences.

My classmates were stunned, most likely having expected my friends to be of, not only, a different gender, but also not being two beauties.

"So that's Misa..."

A mumbling Sarah looked at the beauty who she knew I had spent a night with earlier, seemingly having a hard time imagining it.

As the two beautiful girls sat down at our table, Brad took his shot, "So you are Miren's friends? I'm Brad, an elite student at Kirkegaard, and the strongest around!"

Not wanting the overbearing young man to ruin the mood, Sarah also introduced herself,

"I'm Sarah, a friend of Miren and, as we all here are, also a student at the academy. Nice to meet you!"

Having broken the verbal pounce of Brad, the introductions continued.

"Hi, I'm Misa. I work with Kim here at the department of justice. Nice to meet you!"

The other girl also introduced herself, "I'm Kim, and as Misa said, we work together."

Kim was wearing a white shirt and some blue jeans. Even though her curves weren't as prominent as Misa's, not to mention Sarah's, she had another kind of beauty. A more cool and somber look, with her short blonde hair complementing her mellow eyes.

After a round of introductions, there was one person who hadn't opened his mouth. James seemed to have been spellbound by Kim, watching her with a red face.

Brad brought him back to reality with a subtle nudge, and he spoke,

"Oh, I'm James! A pleasure to meet you!"

With the addition of the girls, our night went on.

"So Misa, how do you know Miren?

Sarah went on the offensive, seemingly wanting to reveal our connection in front of everyone.

Slightly blushing, Misa answered, "Oh, we are just friends... I think? We don't actually know each other all too well..."

'You think? Does she genuinely like me, not just regarding me as someone to have a bit of fun with?'

Feeling my chest is filled with an unknown feeling, I could feel my face heating up a bit.

Sarah pressed on, "Oh, friends huh... I see. Then how did you meet?"

Misas face reddened even more and while looking at me she spoke, "Mr. Borr is a good friend of ours. He invited us for drinks last weekend and happened to bring along Miren. So that's how we met..."

'Was she this shy of a girl? How brave must she have been to invite me to her place last time."

Even with her explanation, the tenacious girl wouldn't budge, "Oh, so that's all that happened?"

'That's enough...'

Thinking I had to end this horrible charade I spoke up, "Sarah stop. Do you want to know what happened? We drank the night away and then we went to Misa's apartment, where we had some great..."

"STOP!"

At this point, everyone was looking at me, and Sarah's face had gotten equally as red as Misa's, and she shouted at me to stop talking

"I get it, I'm sorry. I was being rude. I was just trying to tease you guys a bit..."

Accepting her apology, she responded, "It's fine. But please don't do that again, it's really embarrassing..."

James gave me a meaningful look as if saying, 'Did you guys really...', to which I only gave a slight nod.

From there on the night went a lot smoother, with Sarah and Misa talking, me sipping on my whiskey, and Brad trying to charm Kim.

Unfortunately for him, she had no interest. Instead, she was looking more toward James, who also shyly looked at her.

After some time, Sarah and Misa seemed to have bonded quite a bit, and they went to the ladies' room together.

James, Kim, and I were talking, with Brad having left the table in order to find someone else as the blonde woman didn't respond to his advances.

"So how do you know our teacher?"

"Me and Misa? Well, he is kind of like an uncle to us? He knows my father quite well, so he sometimes treats us to dinners or drinks."

'So he wasn't just another man like Brad then? I do remember that he didn't actually make any real advances towards them last week. Does that mean he invited them mostly for my sake?'

James's body appeared to relax a lot, most likely having assumed that she would have another relationship with Mike.

"Oh, so that's how it was!"

Giving him a seducing look, she commented, "You look awfully happy right now you know?"

A bit embarrassed by her straightforward way of pointing out the obvious, he let out an awkward laugh, "Haha, I guess so?"

"Are you guys having fun?"

Misa and Sarah had returned from their visit to the bathroom, and Misa, still standing, put her hand on my shoulder,

"I was thinking about heading home for the night, would you mind escorting me home?"

'How obvious...'

I answered without hesitation, "Of course not. Let's go."

Standing up, we gave our goodbyes to the rest of the group and headed toward her apartment.