"You’re Empress?"
Leo asked with bewildernt. He had briefly checked the leaderboards before and that na had been listed as 7th in the Level Departnt as well as a few other tabs. Was there soone else with a similar na? Maybe he had misread the leaderboard.
"Yeah. You got a problem with that?!"
She growled with a faint flush of her cheeks, clearly embarrassed with her own na. Seeing her fierce response, Leo could only put up his hands in surrender.
"Not at all. I am just surprised. You don’t really give vibes like that, that’s all."
Crystal turned her head away grumbling.
’That’s cause you are the only person I can relax around’
She didn’t have the courage to say that to him. In fact this was the first ti that she had smiled in a very long ti. So in her embarrassnt and desire to shift the topic away from herself, she turned back and asked
"So what’s your in-ga na? Perhaps we could party up and I can carry you~"
Leo let out a soft chuckle, covering his mouth with his hand before a mischievous glint flashed in his eyes.
"I think that would be a little hard to do honestly~"
"What’s so funny?! Do you think I’m ssing around? I could easily kick your butt!"
He arched an eyebrow as he put up his hood again, having just left the park with her, heading towards his ho.
"Oh really now? Care to bet on that~?"
He asked with a barely concealed smirk. This caused Crystal’s competitive spirit to burn as she imdiately replied
"Damn Straight! Now tell your Userna so I know who to trounce when I log back in!"
"Haha! Okay~! My na in the ga is the sa as reality. It’s Leo~"
Crystal’s feet ca to a halt as her mind shut down for a second.
"Ehh?!"
Leo tilted his head with a mischievous grin plastered on his face.
"So are you going to kick my butt huh?"
Crystal was mortified and aggrieved. She was talking as if she could beat him up with a re wave of her hand but who could have known she was boasting and bragging to the current Rank 1 Player?!
She imdiately wanted to run away but before she could, she found herself being grabbed by the back of her shirt, preventing her from getting away.
Crystal flailed slightly, her arms waving as she was caught like a misbehaving cat.
"Unhand , you traitor! You sandbagging jerk!"
she squeaked, her voice several octaves higher than usual as she tried to wriggle free.
Leo simply held her shirt’s collar between two fingers with an almost smug calmness.
"Traitor? Says the Empress who was just about to carry ~"
Her cheeks felt like they were on fire as Leo’s teasing struck ho
"Y-You didn’t say you were that Leo! I thought you were, like... so random noob who would be struggling to survive. I was gonna show you my greatness! Now I just wanna crawl in a hole and never co out!"
Leo let go of her collar with a soft flick, causing her to stumble forward a step as he chuckled under his breath.
"You know, I’m really tempted to quote you back to yourself for the rest of the night."
Crystal groaned, slapping both hands over her face. "Please don’t. I’ll explode. I’m already on emotional fire over here."
Leo gave a lopsided grin. "Nah, I think I’ll let you recover—for now. But I will rember that ’I could easily kick your butt’ line forever."
"I was trying to be cool! Do you know how rare that is for ?!" she wailed.
"And you were cool," he said with an amused glint. "In the sa way a kitten trying to pounce on a mirror is cool."
Crystal turned to him slowly, eyes narrow. "Leo."
"Yes?"
"I am going to log in, I am going to find you, and find so way to take you down and make you eat shit!"
Her cheeks were red as she pointed her finger at his nose, her pride taking over, refusing to let him have the last laugh. Finding out that he was at the top of the leaderboard was more motivation for her to fight even harder!
"Well I think I would prefer Luna’s cooking over shit~. You’re free to join us for a al next ti she cooks. She even picked up Cooking as a Lifestyle Profession."
He may not have noticed it but Crystal could tell that Leo was a lot more energetic and cheerful than the last ti she had seen him. While the revelation about the ga was a cause for concern, she found herself slightly grateful for it as it kept Leo in this world.
She stared at his cheerful expression for a long mont, lips twitching.
"...You’ve changed,"
she said softly, voice quieter now.
Leo blinked. The shift in her tone made his smile falter slightly.
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
His voice dropped an octave, a sign that he was more nervous than he was willing to let on. Crystal hesitated. Her expression was hard to read for a mont, like she was working through a dozen mories behind her eyes. Then she gave a crooked smile.
"I think... it’s nice to see you happy again."
Leo looked away, scratching the back of his head.
"I wouldn’t say happy,"
he murmured.
"But I’m surviving. Maybe thriving depending on the day and who you ask."
Crystal bumped her shoulder into his.
"Well, now that I know you’re that Leo, I guess I’ll have to train like hell if I ever want to impress you."
"You already did,"
he said, just loud enough for her to hear.
She blinked, cheeks warming again. But before she could say anything, Leo added in a sing-song voice,
"—with how confidently you made a fool of yourself~!"
"I take it back. I am going to explode. Right here."
"Please do not do that here Milady. It will sully your dignity—PFFT~!"
"I am going to kill you!"
"Hahaha~! Catch if you can!"
Soon enough, The two of them were running down the sidewalk as Crystal chased after a fleeing Leo, both of them having wide smiles on their faces.
Laughter echoed down the street, light and unrestrained, like a mory finally returning ho.
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