What Gold Couldn’t Buy: The Guild of Scraps Finds Its Place
After the chase, Sora went back to find Airi, but she was nowhere to be seen—not in the bathrooms, not at the drink stand, nowhere.
“I guess… she left. She’ll probably scold me later at school,” Sora thought, picturing Airi punishing him in some dark, twisted classroom.
With nothing else to do, Sora decided to return to where he had left the girls. He had been away from them for too long, and they could be in danger.
However, in the distance, in a completely different place from where he had escaped from Mochi and Shiori, he ended up finding a surprise.
"Is that... Airi?" Sora asked, squinting his eyes.
In a corner where there was a claw machine with plush prizes, he found not one, not two of the girls, but all four of them gathered in the same place.
Upon seeing the four girls united, Sora froze completely. He wasn't sure what could happen if those four girls were in the same place.
At the center of that scene, the machine was war loot.
“Your behavior is completely unacceptable for an employee!” Airi snapped, arms crossed and eyes blazing. She stood before the cow mascot, which seemed to tremble with rage. “These two students spent a ridiculous amount on this machine, and instead of helping them, you mocked them!”
“Moo! It’s not my fault those idiots can’t manage their money!” the cow snapped, her distorted voice hiding Mika’s identity but not her attitude. “It’s not my problem they’re not good enough!”
Airi flushed with anger. She didn’t know who was inside the suit, but her fury had no effect on them.
Meanwhile, a couple of meters to the left, the real world seemed not to exist for the other two girls.
“Shiori… this evil machine won’t let us win…” Mochi muttered, her eyes on the verge of tears. “My cleric prayers aren’t working. We need more gold!”
“Negative, cleric. This machine has a safeguard against high-level players,” Shiori said, adjusting her glasses as they seemed to glow. “I’ve analyzed its pattern. If we combine our strength, we might beat it.”
“Are you suggesting we hit the machine?” Airi cut in, turning to them without taking her eyes off the cow. “That’s vandalism! You’ll disgrace the school!”
Sora sighed upon hearing those words. It was time to be the guild leader and restore order.
“Don’t worry, Airi, I heard you…” Sora said, walking over with his shoulders slumped.
Before Sora could say anything else, both girls pounced on him, knocking him to the ground—Mochi clinging to his neck and Shiori hugging his legs like an anchor.
"TAAAAANK!" Shiori shouted, completely forgetting her mission with the machine.
"HONEY!" Mochi exclaimed, with tears of frustration in her eyes.
"You disappeared for so long!" Mochi protested, throwing a tantrum as she buried her face in Sora's shoulder. "We wanted to win this stupid slime plushie to give you as a reward, and the system humiliated us!"
"Mochi is right..." Shiori murmured from the ground without letting go of Sora. "My precision stats dropped to zero because you weren't there to give us support... You're an irresponsible leader!"
Sora, still on the ground, just looked at the sky begging for mercy. "Forgive me, girls. I had an unexpected special event I had to resolve before returning," Sora tried to explain, while Airi approached with rage.
"Yamamoto! Get up and restore order!" Airi exclaimed, though inside she felt a sense of relief seeing him safe after disappearing minutes earlier. She crouched down and, with authority, began peeling the girls off. "Let go of this idiot! You're in a public place; you're going to get us all kicked out of the park!"
While Airi helped Sora stand up and dust himself off, the cow mascot stayed observing the scene. Mika, from inside the suit, watched how Airi scolded Sora while fixing his clothes, and how Shiori and Mochi kept pouting around him.
She no longer saw those girls as before. She saw a team that, despite being broken, functioned.
"Moooo..." the cow let out a sound that this time wasn't of rage, but a sound that seemed almost amused. "I guess after all... they don't seem like such bad people..."
Airi turned instantly, surprised by the change in tone.
"Did you say something, Miss Cow?" Airi asked, squinting her eyes.
“I told you to get lost! The park is closing soon, and I don’t want to see you here another second!” Mika shouted, walking away and giving a quick hand gesture that only Sora understood as a goodbye.
And so, the sun began to set, reflecting an orange sky that could remind one of the sunsets in Frontier Online.
"Well... I think it's time to head back," Sora said, looking at his watch. He only had a few coins left in his pocket, but his happiness and the girls'was at maximum.
"But... the prize!" Mochi shouted while looking sadly at the machine that had easily defeated the mage and the cleric.
"That's the least important thing, Mochi." Sora placed a hand on her head and then on Shiori's, giving them a gentle caress. "What matters is that we survived the raid and had fun like never before. Tomorrow is school, and we need to prepare for what's coming."
Both girls couldn't help but blush at Sora's touch.
Airi walked a bit ahead, leading the exit as always, but every now and then she looked back to make sure the trio was following her.
However, she couldn't hide a happy face because of the events they both had shared.
The walk to the bus was peaceful; Shiori fell asleep on Sora's shoulder almost as soon as the return trip began, and Mochi followed halfway through while humming a song.
However, Airi had to get off the bus before reaching the trio's destination. But not before saying goodbye to Sora, this time with a smile he had never seen before.
The day at Dream World had ended. The Daruma was broken, the savings were gone, but Sora knew that this moment of his real life had been the best of all.
Perhaps... having company like theirs wasn't so bad after all.