Michiyo looked up from his book at the sound of footsteps that halted abruptly. Kuro stood frozen in the doorway of the sitting room, staring at Michiyo like a deer in headlights. He looked like he’d just woken from sleep, his hair mussed and everything Adventurer about him discarded in favor of casual wear.

“Kuro-san?” Michiyo gently prompted while gesturing for Kuro to take a seat.

Kuro grimaced and ran a hand through his bright orange hair. “Sorry, didn’t mean to bother you… thought everyone would be asleep at this hour,” he said with a sigh, stepping into the room and dropping to sit in a nearby chair.

“You aren’t bothering me.” Michiyo watched Kuro fidget, restless and uncomfortable, and pointedly turned back to his book. “If I wanted to be alone, I would have remained in my personal room.”

(The privacy of her — his — room was… too tempting.)

(He couldn’t afford another breakdown, not now. Not with literal children looking up to him and the others.)

(People needed Michiyo’s assured calm, not Riko’s meekness and certainly not the identity crisis he — she? — could sense brewing.)

Michiyo bit the inside of his lip and turned the page of his book, trying to focus on the text and failing miserably. His mind kept circling back around to gnaw on the growing realization that he didn’t mind being Michiyo. The extra height was annoying and the fox traits were… something for sure, but the rest of it didn’t bother him.

(He was… pretty certain that wasn’t how it was supposed to work.)

(Shouldn’t he be disturbed by being a he instead of a she?)

Kuro sighed and Michiyo glanced up, arching an eyebrow at the teen.

“I just…” Kuro frowned and tucked his legs under him, looking at the floor between them. “I don’t know what to do…”

“Sometimes there is nothing you can do,” Michiyo said softly, feeling his ears flatten against the side of his head. Distress, a distant portion of his mind labeled the motion before he forced it silent. “For now, all we can do is focus on survival and on finding our place in this world.”

Kuro’s frown darkened and he ran a hand through his hair, fixing Michiyo with a considering look. “If this is Theldesia, our place is out there, killing monsters and defending the world. But my sisters…”

“Is it really?” Michiyo asked, tails twitching against his seat. “I suppose that is the purpose of the Chiming Bones, yes. But what about the production guilds or all the players who made their fortunes on the market?” He lifted a hand and turned it, examining the unfamiliar callouses covering his palm and fingers, legacy of skills Michiyo had earned through years of adventure and Riko had never used in her life. “In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if the production guilds became even more popular than before.”

“Why?”

He shrugged and held out his hand, palm towards Kuro. “What do you see?”

Kuro blinked. “A… hand? I guess your nails are sorta long, but… your hand looks human enough.”

Michiyo huffed in amusement and let his hand drop. “True, thankfully. Not sure I could deal with that being different alongside the ears and tails, but… no, that’s not my point.” He rubbed his fingers together to feel the unfamiliar callouses, then gestured to Kuro. “Your character is strong enough, look at your own hands and tell me what you see.”

“Callouses,” Kuro murmured almost immediately, his eyes narrowing as he looked back up at Michiyo. “That’s not surprising though. These are Adventurer bodies.”

“But are you an Adventurer?”

Kuro opened his mouth, hesitated, then slowly closed it, a furrow forming between his brows. He stared down at his hands and flexed his fingers, clearly turning Michiyo’s words over in his mind.

“Where do you draw the line between BlackKnight and you?” Michiyo asked the teen. “Kuro-san, we are Adventurers now and… and no one yet knows how far that extends. Our bodies know how to move, which implies that the skills and abilities of our characters remain but… we will no longer be distanced from the fight. We will be there, fighting for our lives against creatures we have never before encountered outside a game.”

“I… didn’t think of it like that. That battle will be real…”

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” he said kindly, setting his book on a nearby table and leaning forward in his seat. “I very much doubt you are the only one to overlook it, either. This first week will be the worst, while everyone tries to find the limits of their comfort and the opportunistic use this time to take advantage of everyone they can.”

“Do you… do the Chiming Bones intend to fight?” Kuro asked, looking up from his hands.

Michiyo smiled at the stubborn spark in Kuro’s dark eyes, having a feeling what Kuro’s next question would be. “We’re planning to give it a try, at least. See how many of us can stomach combat. It will be harder to continue our specialization, considering the distances between many of the dungeons and Akiba, but… we don’t intend to give it up.”

“Take me with you,” Kuro said, hands clenching and shoulders drawing back. “I… I don’t want to just… just sit around. You took us in—”

“Because you needed a safe place,” Michiyo cut in, keeping his voice steady and even. “We didn’t take you in to get you into our debt or to hold it over your head. You and your friend and your sisters are welcome within our guild no matter what roles you choose to take.” Kuro opened his mouth to protest but held his silence when Michiyo raised a hand. “Kuro-san, I am not rejecting your offer or telling you no. I’m saying this is your choice and if you honestly, truly wish to see if being an Adventurer is for you, then yes, we will make room in our parties and bring you along.”

“Just like that..?” Kuro asked with suspicion. “Aren’t you supposed to tell me that I’m too young or something?”

“Are you?”

Kuro blinked and floundered for an answer, taken aback by the question.

Michiyo smiled sadly, wishing they weren’t in this situation, that Elder Tales could have remained just a game and conversations like this didn’t need to happen but…

But wishing would change nothing.

He knew Kuro’s type, bold and restless and implacable, and now that he’d seen the teen’s younger sisters—

(Kami, how young were they?)

(He almost didn’t want to know…)

—he knew where the drive came from.

(Riko’s meekness aside, she knew the urge to shield and protect, had stood and defended her brother’s right to follow his dreams.)

(What would he do now that she was here..?)

“You’re one of us and you want to try,” Michiyo settled on after it became clear Kuro couldn’t find an answer. “Would I rather you stay safe? Absolutely. But… Theldesia is not safe. Even the cities… we can’t guarantee that the protections will remain strong and active the entire time we are trapped here.”

“So, what, you take me out there and you hope I don’t have the stomach for it?”

Michiyo sat back, taking in the way Kuro’s shoulders were tensing up and his frown was growing larger. Trouble-maker, he decided, recognizing the look from the sort of people he’d stayed away from as a teen. His silence bothered the teen but Kuro refrained from acting, staring at him instead of threatening like so many others would.

Kuro could be grouchy and moody and over the top but what teen wasn’t? It was part of what made teens teens, and being a bit of a trouble-maker came part and parcel with that. Trying to discover who they were under all the expectations shoveled upon them necessitated a bit of trouble making, after all.

“No,” Michiyo said with finality, making his decision. “We take you out there and see how you feel about it. And if you decide to stick with it, we’ll figure out what our new party structure will look like, and if you don’t, we help you figure out what you do want to do. That’s what a guild does, Kuro-san, we help each other out.”

The tension drained from Kuro’s body at Michiyo’s words. “Thanks,” he murmured. “For all of this, I mean. None of you had to—”

“You’re our friend, and friends don’t leave each other out in the cold.” Michiyo rose from his seat and moved to Kuro’s side, resting a hand on the teen’s shoulder. “I’ll let Beryl know in the morning and we’ll go from there, okay?”

“Yeah, that’s… that’s fine,” Kuro said as he leaned briefly into Michiyo’s touch before straightening up with a yawn and scrubbing at his eyes. “I guess I’ll see you in the morning then.”

“You will,” Michiyo said warmly, giving Kuro’s shoulder a brief squeeze before stepping back to give the teen some space. “We’ll get through this together, Kuro-san, whatever comes.”

Kuro gave him a bemused look but nodded and rose, waving over his shoulder as he left the room.

Alone once more, Michiyo glanced down at his book and frowned. Reading no longer appealed to him, not after that conversation. He wanted… he wasn’t sure what he wanted, but reading an unfamiliar book in a familiar-unfamiliar room by himself was not it.

With a huff, he grabbed his book and left the sitting room. Varix would whine about being woken up, but the man wouldn’t turn him away. His friend’s company might just be what he needed.