Level 004

“Yeah, absolutely not.”

Keith shot us down without even looking up from his screen.

My best friend’s curly black hair was squashed down by a pair of anime-girl-wrapped headphones, and a soft glow illuminated his dark skin as he sat a few inches away from his desktop monitor.

His bedroom was nothing short of a complete geek haven — a shrine that rivalled my own obsession, which, all things considered, was a pretty tough ask. Keith was a fan of anything and everything pop-culture, a proud otaku, and more than willing to sacrifice his studies to grind a few hours of an MMO late at night. Hell, if there was ever a time I couldn’t get to sleep in the early hours of the morning, I was practically guaranteed to find him online and able to talk.

His room was exactly as I remembered it from the last time I came over. Posters lined the walls, his shelves nearly overflowed with figurines, and his gaming PC shimmered in bright RGB colours. You wouldn’t think Keith was the king of nerds just from looking at him though — sure, he was a little on the skinny side, but he was also over six feet, so it kinda looks natural on him. 

Something I hate the most about society? The immediate assumptions we make about people based on their appearance. A tall black guy like Keith? Everyone assumed he played basketball, but as far as I knew, the only sport Keith could compete in was Professional Overnight Camping for a Release-Day Collector’s Edition.

“Told you he’d be too busy,” I sighed, ruffling my sister’s hair. “Looks like you’re stuck teaching me.”

“Oh, it’s not because I’m busy,” Keith said casually. “It’s because the last time I taught Remy how to play something, she ended up nuking my entire account — three years, up in flames, just like that!”

“Hey, that was an accident, and we promised to never speak about that again!!!”

I attacked Keith’s shoulders with tiny balled-up fists, while Jessie hung her head in shame.

“This is a lost cause,” she moaned, massaging her forehead. “Keith, please tell Remy to give up on this whole thing.”

“I’m not stupid enough to fight that war,” Keith laughed, still playing what appeared to be a semi-competitive shooter. One of his headphone cups hung off his ear, and he spared me a quick glance from the corner of his eye. “Remy’s stubbornness is about her only redeeming quality.”

Wow. Worst compliment ever.

If there was anyone that could get away with criticising me so openly without inciting my wrath, it was Keith. I’d known him for over a decade, and they say if you’ve been friends with someone for seven years, you’ll be friends with them for the rest of your life, so that was a good sign.

I think.

“Listen,” he said, throwing down his headphones (looked like his kill streak ended abruptly thanks to an oversized hamster-ball), “when it comes to teaching Remy anything, you just have to persist until she eventually gives up on her own.”

“Hey…”

“That could take the rest of summer vacation,” Jessie moaned, ignoring my protests. “Isn’t there anything I can do to make her quit faster?”

“I’m right here…”

“How about you pay a couple of smurfs to grief her until she cries?”

“If crying was all it took, I wouldn’t be here.”

“Seriously guys, right here…”

“Hmm okay, and why is it that she’s so obsessed with this game? Good anime adaptation? Cute gacha drops? Limited edition Pocky collaboration?”

“She’s got some ridiculously one-sided crush on the game’s virtual idol.”

“Still… still here…”

“Rough, that’s gonna be a hard one to break. Have you tried turning on a few VTuber streams? That ought to distract her long enough. Cute girls and all that.”

“I don’t know, I think she’s got the hots pretty bad—”

“SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!!!!!!!”

I grabbed Keith’s magical-girl body pillow and smacked them both in the head with about five pounds of (disturbingly sexualised) anime girl. 

I stood, panting for breath (yes, I’m that unfit), my cheeks burning red with shame, tears threatening to spill down my cheeks.

“You are both the WORST friends!”

“Hey, I’m your sister, I didn’t agree to friend—”

Magical Girl Hikari made a second-season debut on Jessie’s face, and my sister hit the floor, moaning and rubbing her head.

“Alright, alright,” Keith says, holding his hands up. “Put the pillow down and step away. Nobody needs to get hurt. Especially not Hikari, she’s expensive.”

Keith received a fluffy smack in the face for good measure, but by then I was too exhausted to continue and instead leaned against his bedroom door, using ‘Hikari’ to cushion my butt.

“Seriously, is it too much to ask for you to both help me out?!” I rubbed my eyes and took a deep breath. “I get it, I’m a pretty lost cause, okay? But that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up! I want to do this, I want to meet Beryl, and dammit, that’s exactly what I’m going to do! With my friends or without them!!”

Silence descended on the bedroom. Keith scratched the tiny amount of stubble growing on his cheeks and then laced his fingers together, the way he did when giving something serious consideration. Usually, that was deciding what to order at Starbucks (inevitably, something large and filled with more syrup than actual coffee).

“Okay,” he said finally. “Let’s do this.”

My mouth hung open, followed a moment later by a happy squeal that undoubtedly disturbed a few dolphins at Sea World.

“Really?!?! You’ll actually do it?!”

“Of course,” he said, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. “Hell, I haven’t given CraftQuest a try yet, so I may as well.”

He shrugged, as if to blow the whole thing off, but I knew that he had my back. We had been friends for a long time, through thick and thin, and I had a gut feeling that he’d never give up on me, or let me down. And he’d definitely never desert me when I needed him.

I eagerly turned to Jessie, who had since recovered from her magical-girl-induced injuries. 

I didn’t even need to ask the question.

“I guess if Keith is going to be helping as well…” she said, looking away.

She probably thought I didn’t notice the blush creeping across her cheeks. The only thing worse than her completely obvious crush on Keith was Keith’s complete obliviousness to the entire situation.

Being friends with someone since elementary school meant that Keith had been in Jessie’s life just as much as my own. The only difference was that I never saw Keith as anything except my friend — there was nothing romantic between us, primarily because he lacked several defining attributes I preferred in my chosen romantic gender. But for Jessie…well, let’s just say that her hormones had kicked in pretty strongly about two years ago, and ever since, she couldn’t be around Keith without blushing crimson.

But that was a problem I could deal with another day.

For now, I had a VRMMO to conquer, a beautiful idol to find, and a confession ready to tear its way out of my lovestruck heart.

“Okay!” I said, clapping my hands together. “When do we start?”