After thinking about it for a few moments, I looked back to Itsuki. I nodded, surprising Kureha.

"Yeah, I'd like to join Alphard." Kureha looked at me in shock.

"W-What? I was expecting you to decline!" I looked over to her.

"Do I really come off as that much of a solo player?" I asked, chuckling slightly at the end of my sentence. She nodded.

"Yeah! I got the impression that you didn't like to be in guilds after what happened to your last one, according to what you've said about it." I sighed, nodding my head.

"Yeah... You aren't wrong about that. But I think it's time I moved on. So yes, I would like to join Alphard." I spoke, looking back to Itsuki. Itsuki had a slight look of shock on his face.

"Honestly, I wasn't expecting you to agree. Very well then. Would you be joining as well, Kureha?" She shook her head.

"I'm going to have to decline." He nodded in understanding.

"That's alright. Here, I'll send you the squadron invite." Itsuki brought up a menu with a wave of his hand and with a couple taps, a pop up came into my view.

Squadron Leader Itsuki has invited you to join the Squadron Alphard.

Please press Accept or Decline.

Accept Decline

I stared at the menu. Do I really want to join Itsuki's squadron? My hand hovered over the Decline option for a moment, purely out of instinct, before I tapped the Accept button. A new message appeared on both Itsuki's and mine's screen.

Player (Y/N) has joined Alphard.

Itsuki looked back at me after closing the menu. He placed a hand out, indicating for me to grab it.

"Welcome to Alphard, (Y/N)." I took his hand. Taipan bowed to me.

"Welcome to Alphard." I nodded to him.

"Thanks." Some of the other members, my new squad members, came up to us.

"Hey, Itsuki, did we get a new member?" "Woah, are you really a girl?" At that question, an angry blush rose to my face.

"Of course I am! I'm not secretly a guy pretending to be a girl like in most games! I play avatars of my own gender." I huffed. Itsuki chuckled.

"Don't worry guys, I can confirm she's a girl." My eyes widened in confusion.

"Eh? H-How would you know that?" I asked, confused on how he would truly know that I was a female. He smirked playfully back at me.

"It's a secret." I huffed again.

"Or- you were just saying it because I had just confirmed my gender right before." I stated, placing my hands on my hips. Some of the other members began laughing at this. I looked around while smiling.

"This feels... good." I muttered, smiling softly to myself.

"I'm (Y/N), it's nice to meet you all. Let's all get along." I bowed, introducing myself to my new squad mates. After doing so, I received a round of "Welcomes!" from everyone that was present. I looked back over to Kureha, who seemed to be looking as though she was feeling left out.

"Hey, Kureha, wasn't there some things you wanted to go get from the shops?" Her eyes widened, having remembered that she did indeed want to get some things today.

"Oh! You're right. I just got so caught up in everything that I forgot. I-I guess I'll just go do that then." Crap, she took that the wrong way!

"I-I'll go with you! That's alright with you, Itsuki?" I asked. He chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, you don't have to ask me if you want to do things with your friends. That being said, let's add each other to our friends list. If you ever want to go out on a quest or a hunt, just send me a message." I nodded, sending Itsuki a friend invite. He accepted it immediately. I looked back to Kureha, who seemed to have a look of shock on her face for a moment, before returning to normal.

"I'll wait outside for you! You better not take too long, you hear me!" I giggled and nodded.

"Yep! Loud and clear!" She pulled Hikaru with her, who was struggling to stay. After I gave him a look saying it was alright, he went with her willingly. I turned back to Itsuki.

"Um, just let me know if we ever do anything squadron wise, okay?" I asked, tilting my head to the side. He chuckled and nodded.

"Of course. You let me know also if you ever want to go out on a hunt together. Preferably alone, but if you need to invite others, so be it." My eyes widened and an intense blush rose on my cheeks. Itsuki laughed at my reaction.

"Ha ha, I'm just kidding. You're reactions are just the best." I huffed, then sighed in relief.

"What am I supposed to expect when you say it so seriously like that?!" I yelled at him slightly. He chuckled.

"Sorry, but it's true. Anyways, you shouldn't keep your friend waiting much longer." I gasped and nodded.

"Shoot! You're right! Kureha will kill me both metaphorically and literally if I make her wait anymore!" I exclaimed and took off.

Itsuki watched the girl take off and out of the squadron base. His playful expression dropped when he turned to Taipan.

"I trust you already have the items?" Taipan nodded to the other male.

"Yes, sir. I trust you wish the packages to be sent to those two individuals from earlier?" Itsuki turned and began walking away.

"Of course. Make sure you get them back after they've been dealt with. I have a feeling that we'll need them again in the future." Itsuki replied.

"I'll get to it right away, sir." With that, Taipan was logging out. Itsuki gave fake smiles to his members as they all buzzed about having a new member. A female member at that. Itsuki shook the unsettling thoughts out of his head, reminding himself who all the members of Alphard were to him. All of them were the same. Their status to him unchanging. All except one.

"Alright then, just two things left to buy today!" Kureha exclaimed. After we left Alphard's base, Kureha had been dragging me around to the various shops she had wanted to visit. Hikaru looked at her list.

"Kureha, this item can only be purchased at the shop on the other side of the street!" She looked back at it and confirmed it.

"Oh man, you're right! Looks like it's... that one over there." She said, pointing to the shop on the other side of the street. Kureha looked back over to Hikaru.

"Hey, Rei, can I send you on a little errand for a little bit?" He nodded.

"Alright. We're going to go grab this item and you can go get this one." She stated, pointing at the second-to-last item she needed. She then looked back to me.

"You ready to go, (Y/N)?" I nodded. Hikaru then split off from us to get his item while we went across the street to go get our item. As we walked across the street to the store, Kureha spoke up.

"I really wasn't expecting you to have accepted Itsuki's proposal." She stated. I looked back over at her and nodded.

"Neither was I, to be honest." She raised a brow and stopped, turning to look at me.

"Really?" I nodded.

"Yeah. I've been avoiding guilds since what happened to my last one. I don't think any guild could replace what my old guild-mates and I had going on. But, I figured it was time to move on. Also, I thought you would have jumped at the chance to join Alphard?" I asked her. She looked at me in confusion.

"Eh? What makes you say that?" She questions.

"Well, I could have swore you had a crush on Itsuki. The last couple of times we'd spoken to him, you seemed to get flustered." Kureha's face became red after that.

"I-I guess you could say that. But it's more like having a crush on an idol or someone like that. I kind of like him, but not really in the way you were insisting I was." I let an 'oh' slip from my lips.

"I guess that makes sense." She nodded.

"Besides, he seems to be more interested in you than me. After all, he only invited me since I'm your friend. Not because he was really wanting me to join." I raised a brow.

"Interested in me? You've got to remember, he first approached us at the tournament because he recognized you. It's gotta mean something right?" Kureha didn't respond, instead she looked up at the store names.

"The store we wanted was over here, right?" We looked around, dropping the subject of Itsuki to look for the shop. I looked around.

"I don't see that store. Do you?" I asked her. She shook her head.

"Nope! It's on the next street from the looks of it." Kureha suddenly went silent. I looked back at her in confusion.

"Why'd you go quiet? Something wrong?" I asked. She gasped.

"Ohh. Oh yeah... Um..." I raised a brow.

"Everything okay?" I asked. She nodded.

"Yeah, sorry. By the way... I'm, im, going to be passing by your house. In real life, I mean. I've got something to do around there soon. So, you know, if you're not busy or anything... Maybe we could meet up in real life?" I nodded, smiling brightly at her.

"Yeah! That sounds like fun! Maybe I can get Asuna and the others to join us and we could all meet up together." Kureha nodded.

"I know we see each other all the time in-game, but it's been ages since we met up in real life, so... I thought I'd ask, is all." I chuckled.

"It sounds like fun. We'll have to plan for it." Right after I said that, Hikaru came rushing in our direction.

"Kureha! Master! Help!" I jumped in surprise.

"Woah? What's going on Hikaru, is everything okay?" I asked in concern. He hurried up to us.

"I spotted a suspicious-looking machine in front of the store! I took photos so you can see for yourself!" He exclaimed. Kureha tilted her head in confusion.

"What kind of strange machine? Let me see..." She looked at the photos and her eyes lit up in glee

"Ah, a capsule toy machine. Heh, that's a blast from the past. There used to be one in almost every shop." My own eyes widened at those memories from our childhood. Hikaru tilted his head in interest.

"Oh. Is that so?" She nodded. She then looked over at me.

"Yeah. In fact, you and I used to play with these all the time as kids! Remember that?" I smiled.

"Yeah, though that was the one thing I seemed to have no luck in." I complained. She bursted out into laughter at that.

"I'd almost forgotten all about it myself. Not that you could blame me if I had!" Hikaru tilted his head again, but in confusion this time.

"Are you referring to yourself and Master?" He asked. She nodded.

"I sure am! We played together all the time when we were younger. Our houses were really close to one another. We'd go around buying these little capsules to collect the toys inside. And you'd always get the really minor characters, wouldn't you, (Y/N)? Even though you had the best luck with everything else." I sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, why'd you have to bring that up again?" I mumbled. She laughed again, having remembered more of my embarrassing moments from those times.

"Sometimes, you'd be on the verge of tears over it." I gasped.

"Kureha!! Why'd you have to say that!" An embarrassed blush covered my face. Hikaru laughed.

"That sounds delightful! What would you do in that case?" I looked over at Hikaru in betrayal.

"Hikaru! You're supposed to be on my side!" I exclaimed. They ignored me, Kureha continuing to answer Hikaru's question.

"I'd agree to a trade for mine. What else was I supposed to do? I can still picture the grin on your snot-covered face!" I hid my face in embarrassment as Hikaru smiled in awe.

"It sounds like you were the best of friends!" Kureha swayed side to side.

"D-Does it?" Hikaru nodded.

"I would like to hear more stories from your past!" I calmed down and smiled at Hikaru.

"Heh, sure. Where do we even start?" I looked to Kureha.

"As if I remember any of them! Besides, we've got shopping to do! Come on, let's go!" Hikaru and I watched Kureha take off.

"Is everything okay...?" I looked over at Hikaru and shrugged.

"Come on, let's catch up to her before we lose her." After a few more hours of shopping, Kureha finally had gotten everything she needed.

"Alright, that ought to take care of today's shopping! I think it's about time we logged out for today." Hikaru stopped us before we could log out.

"Master, Kureha, may I ask one last thing before you go? It's about what you said earlier..." I looked over to Hikaru.

"You mean when we were kids?" He nodded. Kureha sighed.

"There's nothing more to tell. I told you, I've forgotten the rest." She stated. Hikaru nodded in understanding.

"I understand, but I really want to ask just one more teeny tiny little question! You were inseparable as children, correct?" He asked.

"W-Well, I don't know if I'd go that far, but..." Hikaru asked again.

"So what drove you apart? You mentioned that you've reconnected here in GGO." I sighed.

"Kureha had to move away." Hikaru looked to Kureha to see if it was true. She nodded.

"Yeah, we had to move away. There were a lot of reasons why... My parents' jobs, my sister's schooling... Not to mention the fact that we were only renting the house. Stuff like that." Hikaru tilted his head in surprise.

"You have a sister?" He asked.

"Yeah, a really smart one, too. Letting her focus more on school was one of the reasons we moved. You remember this old story, don't you, (Y/N)?" She asked me, looking over. I nodded.

"Of course I do. They practically called your sister a genius." Kureha's expression saddened.

"Even then I knew we had to move, and I still believe that now. But at the time, I was devastated. I was going to a scary new place and leaving my friends behind. I know in my head that it wasn't my sister's fault, and yet... Heh." Kureha chuckled sadly. Hikaru frowned at Kureha's sad expression.

"Is it still painful to think about?" Kureha laughed, seeming to be all better, but I know she's not.

"Hah, you wish! Come on, let's play with some capsule toys now that we've finished all the shopping!" Hikaru gasped in shock.

"W-Wait, what happened to logging out?" He asked in shock. Kureha chuckled.

"I changed my mind, obviously! It'll be a nice change of pace. You're in, right, (Y/N)?" I laughed and nodded.

"Of course!"

What's Ituski planning? You'll all probably find out in the next chapter... Maybe. More than likely though ;p