Is My Sinister Mage Using a Nostalgia Attack?
After all, a Tank needs his Mage to... illuminate the dark areas, don't you think?" Shiori said while opening one of the energy drinks.
With Sora on the sofa about to collapse, only mochi and Shiori remained in combat.
"And what are you supposed to be doing in our private home, huh, Shiori?" mochi said in a threatening voice while staring fixedly at Shiori.
"We’re from the same school and, more importantly, neighbors in the same building. It’s normal for neighbors to get along… don’t you think, Sora?" That last line was directed more at Sora than at Mochi, but those words stirred something inside her.
"Sooooora..." Mochi turned slowly toward Sora.
For his part, Sora swore he could hear the sound of a safety switch breaking. Her eyes were two dark abysses. "So all this time... You've been cheating on me with this low-class Mage?!"
"Who are you calling low-class Mage?!" Shiori responded with a somewhat annoyed voice.
"Cheating on you?!" Sora replied, nervously waving his hands. "I didn't even know it was her until thirty seconds ago! She's my neighbor! The only things we share are the internet and a very thin wall!"
Shiori let out a stifled laugh, covering her mouth with her hand while her glasses gleamed with malice.
"Oh, Sora... don't be so modest," Shiori added, throwing more fuel on the fire. "Don't tell the female cleric about the nights we spent connected until dawn..."
"Wait wait, are you talking about that time we ran into each other at the building entrance when I went to buy food?!" Sora interrupted, waving his arms in fear of the misunderstanding this could generate.
"Oh... then don't tell her about that time in the past when we were farming rare materials. The frustration groans I heard from your character during the sessions were quite... suggestive..." Shiori said, bringing a finger to her mouth with a slight blush on her cheeks.
mochi froze in fear. The word "suggestive" bounced off the walls of the living room like a cursed echo. Her hands clenched into fists, and an invisible pressure began cracking the floor.
Or at least, that's what Sora felt.
"S-suggestive... groans?!" mochi tilted her head, and Sora could swear he heard the crack of her neck being wrung. "So... while I was praying for your buffs at the guild altar, you were having farming sessions with this woman of low magical level?!" mochi pointed toward Shiori's chest, which didn't have much to defend itself with.
"They were sounds of me pushing myself, Mochi!" Sora shouted, his face red. "The final boss of the Crystal Dungeon had an attack that drained all my stamina! Anyone would make noises if they lost 90% of their stamina in a second!"
Shiori let out a malicious little laugh, adjusting her glasses while looking Mochi up and down, deliberately stopping at her chest.
"Oh, my dear Cleric… you have so little faith in your Tank," Shiori said, walking toward Sora and lightly tracing a finger along his ear. "It's true they were just from the game, but… the way Aegis screamed my name when he needed a mana burst to finish the job… that can't be faked."
"Enough!" mochi shouted, stepping between them and gently pushing Shiori away. "I won't let you keep contaminating my husband's thoughts with your unappealing physique! If you're going to stay for dinner, it will be under my purification rules!"
Shiori shrugged, maintaining that cynical smile, immune to Mochi's provocations.
For his part, Sora closed his eyes for a moment, trying to ignore mochi's murderous aura. At the mention of the Crystal Dungeon, his mind inevitably traveled to those last days before the server shutdown...
[3 months before server shutdown - Inside the Crystal Dungeon]
Sora’s computer screen flashed red warnings.
"Aegis! Stop moving, you piece of junk!" Mage Zero’s voice came through the voice chat. "If you take one step back, the boss is going to erase us from the map!"
"Easy for you to say when you're more than fifty meters away!" Sora shouted, hitting the keyboard in frustration. On screen, his avatar was on its knees, holding a damaged shield. "I have 5% stamina left! Fire already, please!"
"Heh... what interesting sounds you make when you're under pressure, Tank," she mocked. In the game, Maga Zero's avatar, a figure in a purple robe with glowing eyes, began to float, surrounded by violet magic circles. "I wonder if in real life you're also like this when someone corners you..."
"Shut up already and cast the spell!" Sora exclaimed, letting out a groan from the effort as he slammed the keyboard.
"Whatever you say, my guardian," she whispered through the mic, just before a column of violet light devoured the entire screen. "Don't break yet, I want to see how much damage you can withstand for me... Final Spark!"
The explosion was so big that Sora's game froze for a few seconds. When the digital smoke dissipated, the boss was dead, but Aegis was lying on the ground, with broken equipment and no mana.
"Good job, Tank," Maga Zero said, walking toward his body lying in the game and sitting on his digital chest. "We should do this again... maybe on a more private server..."
Sora opened his eyes, returning to the present with a slightly flushed face, and the first thing he saw wasn’t an angry Mochi, but a completely defeated one.
"A-a... private... server...? Alone...? Without a cleric...?" Mochi babbled, moving weakly.
In a couple of seconds, absolute shame hit her. The strength in her legs disappeared completely. Instead of kneeling with dignity to pray for Sora, she collapsed on the floor with a vacant stare.
Shiori took advantage of mochi's moment of vulnerability, sliding across the sofa to get closer to Sora.
"Hey, Soooora.... It seems your support has disconnected, my Guardian," Shiori whispered, using that nickname with a softness that made Sora's skin crawl.
Sora tried to back away, but Shiori placed a hand on his shoulder, keeping him in place. Her gray eyes, behind the lenses of her glasses, gleamed with a sincerity Sora didn't expect to see in the girl who had just hacked his computer.
"You remember, don't you?" Shiori continued, lowering her voice so only he could hear. "That night in the Crystal Dungeon, after the server almost crashed from my explosion. You told me that, as long as you had your shield raised, nothing would touch me. You promised that if I was ever in danger in the real world... you would still be my Guardian... You remember it, right?"
Sora fell silent. The memories of that promise made in a private chat at 3:00 AM, when they were both tired and vulnerable, struck his chest. Back then, it seemed like just roleplay talk, but the way Shiori was looking at him now said that for her, it had been a binding contract.
"S-Shiori... That was a long time ago," Sora said, his voice faltering from nerves.
"But for me, it was yesterday," she replied, regaining her wicked smile in a fraction of a second. "And now that my Guardian has such a noisy female cleric, I’m worried he’ll forget to take care of his favorite Mage"
"This isn't fair, she's hitting me with nostalgia and seduction attacks at the same time... How am I supposed to free myself from this curse? And what did Shiori say to mochi to leave her like that? Please, someone save me from this chapter of my life!" Sora's thoughts screamed for help internally. He couldn't find a way to escape; he remembered making that promise, but what he didn't know was that promises on the internet don't always stay on the internet.
Without warning, mochi's mental block vanished. Her eyes regained their sparkle and focused directly on Sora, her "husband."
"INTRUSION ALERT!" mochi shouted, jumping at them and accidentally pushing Shiori with her chest, making her retreat a few centimeters while letting out a slight groan from that feminine attack. "I've detected unauthorized physical contact! Shiori Inoue, prepare to be purified by my staff!" Both Shiori and Sora grew worried hearing that; both thought she would pull out some kind of weapon, but what she actually pulled out was a large kitchen spoon.
mochi grabbed Sora by the hand and dragged him toward the kitchen, while Shiori was left alone, laughing softly as she adjusted her glasses. "Let's see if your dear cleric can surpass the flavor of a broken promise."