Twins

Lockheart and Daemon stood around the wheat fields, waiting for the others. Nyaru was lying on the wheat, waving her hands. The sun was reflecting in Daemon’s eye. He yawned, covering his eyes with his hand, and looking at Lockheart.

“Why are we meeting so early?”

“Because Haruto wanted it that way.”

“And why do we just obey him?”

“You could talk to him if you had a problem.”

Daemon stopped talking. Wheat swayed with a slight wind, and Nyaru stood up. Daemon replied with his head down:

“I can’t. Extroverts like these always ridicule neets like me .”

Lockheart looked at the insecure expression on Daemon’s face and took a deep breath:

“Look, Haruto is even being nice to you. Why don’t you just conform to him? It hasn’t even been a day yet and you already have wrong assumptions.”

Daemon sighed and didn't reply.

They both heard the teleport crystal up close. Lockheart stopped speaking:

“Oh! I think they’re here!”

Then she started running towards the sound. Daemon followed her desperately from behind.

“I... uh, never mind.”

Then he strolled towards the others. Rem, Ren, and Lockheart were sitting on the floor, talking. Haruto was watching them from afar and smiling, then when he saw Daemon and waved at him:

“Takashi! We’re here, come on!”

Daemon came over and sat next to Lockheart while Ren was glaring at him. Ren made a “Hmph!” sound and then continued to talk to the others.

Haruto raised both of his hands and clapped for attention:

“Focus here, everyone!”

Everyone stopped talking and turned to Haruto. Haruto smiled confidently and continued:

“First, 4 more people joined Zenith yesterday. This is a nice improvement over the first day. But there are many more people applying to other guilds. And I exactly know the reason why.”

Haruto opened his menu and clicked on Guild from there:

[Guild Zenith:

Members: 10/50

Level: 1 (Guild Badges: 54/10,000)]

"The reason people go to other Guilds is that they have more Guild Badges. So when people saw they're closer to leveling up, they apply those guilds. So right now we're going to complete events where we can earn Badges."

Haruto coughed and continued:

“Rem, Ren, and Daemon! You will clear the spirit creatures on Level 5 and search for chests. I, Lockheart, and Nyaru will also teleport to the Guild Mansion and plant something in the garden.”

Ren clenched her fist and raised her hand:

"Can't me and my sister come with you?"

Daemon looked at her in shock as listening to what she was saying. "Did I do something wrong?" he thought.

Ren continued:

"Come on, Haruto, we know each other, don't just hurt my feelings..."

Rem waited for confirmation from Haruto, then turned to the Daemon. Daemon smiled awkwardly, trying to hide his feelings:

"A-ah, I see! It's okay Haruto, the two sisters can come with you. You're all friends after all..."

The smile on Haruto's face disappeared in an instant, and he frowned:

"Ren, I'm sorry, but I won't do such a thing. What you're doing is really disrespectful to Takashi. We need to act on our logic rather than our emotions in this world, or we won't survive."

Daemon was taken aback. For the first time in his life, a "leader" in society was defending him. Haruto continued:

“Takashi is a blademaster, you two are soulmages. What you have to do is get behind him and protect him as he moves between the platforms. And, Takashi can't go alone either, because there are defensive tank creatures on this floor as well. If the ranged enemies attack him from behind, he's done. So stay together, stay behind Takashi and use your basic attacks. Understood?"

Angrily, Ren kicked the grass, then turned to Haruto:

"Fine, jeez!"

Rem was unresponsive, only turning to the Daemon and shaking his head:

"Try not to kill us okay?"

Rem gave Daemon a cold smile, then she turned her head.

Lockheart came to support the Daemon and leaned close to his ear:

"Hey, try to fit in for now. They'll get used to you eventually. Okay?"

Ren clenched her fist even tighter and shouted:

"AH, ENOUGH ALREADY!"

Lockheart quickly said one last thing:

"We'll talk about it when the evening after events are over, okay? I have to go now!"

"O-ok..."

Lockheart ran back to Haruto and Nyaru while Daemon watched him from afar.

——————————————————————————————

Rem, Ren, and Daemon were walking on the circle platforms on Floor 5. Daemon was yawning, while Rem and Ren were whispering to each other. Daemon felt uncomfortable, so he started walking faster to avoid their whispers. As Daemon reached the edge of the Circle platform, he saw another platform attached to it with a white marble staircase. This platform looked different than others.

This platform's ground was made of red marble and was square. In the middle of the platform, 3 Olympic torches were burning with blue fire, and there was a red circle between the torches.

Daemon inspected the platform for a few more seconds, then signaled the others to come:

"Come, I think I found something!"

Ren and Rem ran towards Daemon's side and stood opposite the white staircase. Rem shook his head.

"This is what we're looking for, Ren."

Ren shrugged.

"Maybe Daemon is lying. Look, there are only 3 torches on the platform across from us. Haruto told us to find chests."

Rem looked at Daemon in confusion. He scratched his head, thought for a few seconds, and then thought of the Cave Dungeons:

"I think it will be like on Floor 3 again."

"Huh?"

"I mean, we're going to drop our teleport crystals into the red ring and the creatures will appear. When we kill all the creatures, chest and our teleport crystals will appear."

Daemon climbed the white stairs and jumped to the red platform. He came near the torches and placed the teleport crystal inside the red circle.

Rem silently walked up to him and did the same.

Ren continued to stand below, trembling.

Daemon crossed his arms and looked at Ren, afraid to say anything. After some time, Rem called out to her:

"Sis, come on! What are you waiting for?"

"DO YOU REALLY TRUST THIS FOREIGNER!"

Daemon watched in shock as Ren clenched her fist and continued to glare at Daemon:

"He's trying to take Lockheart away from us! Don't you understand? I'm sure everyone is taking advantage of that girl here too, just like in real life!"

Rem gave her sister a disdainful look:

"Sister... you're overreacting."

Daemon was thoroughly confused. He raised his eyebrow and asked:

"Ren, the hell are you talking about? I and Lockheart are just friends. And Lockheart did nothing to me. Is there something I should know?"

Ren hesitated for a moment. Seeing the confusion on Daemon's face, she walked fastly towards the red platform and hurled his crystal at the red circle:

"Just forget what I said!"

Everyone's crystals disappeared in an instant. The white marble staircase attached to the red platform shattered into the void below. Everyone took up their weapons and got ready to fight.