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“I’m so sorry about last night..!”

The morning of the second day at the vacation house.
After waking up, Kou decided to go on a short walk and opened her door…and right away Julia jumped in to apologize.

“Wait what…why?”
“I mean…everyone was working so hard to travel with me, and then I just fell asleep…”

She fidgeted with her hands, her eyes downcast as she apologized. And Kou remembered what happened the previous night.

…There was only the Howling Ogre Ridge and Schwarzwald left to go to their destination, when the young girl succumbed to drowsiness and their escort mission was cut short.
But neither Kou nor any of the others blamed her for that. If anything, they were proud of how diligent she had been until that point.
So Kou placed her hand on the head of the apologizing girl.

“Don’t worry about it, we all had a long day already, so we can just make up for it tonight, okay?”
“…O-Okay, thank you so much!”

Kou reassured her with a smile, and Julia bowed politely, also breaking into a smile.

“Also we’ll be having breakfast soon. You should go change real quick, and maybe take care of your bed hair too.”
“What?!”

When Kou pointed at the part of Julia’s hair, which was ruffled and sticking out, instead of being straight and silky like the day before, the young girl quickly covered it as her face went red.

*Oh god, why is she so adorable?*

Kou stood there, watching her with a warm gaze…until she noticed something else.

“By the way, did you have any trouble finding my room?”
“Ah, not at all! He showed me the way…”

Julia turned to the side, pointing with her gaze at the person standing next to her.
He was…just a bit taller than Kou, with black hair cut cleanly around the front and left long in the back, tied into a braid from his nape down. Age wise he was probably in middle school.

“And you are…”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Kazami Akito, the son of this vacation house’s managers.”

Beaming a friendly smile, he held out his hand for a handshake.
At first sight he appeared harmless, but that smile felt like it was there to hide whatever he was scheming in secret…

“…Wait, are you Shao?”
“Oh… Huh, that’s surprising. But yes, that’s me.”

His eyes widened for a moment, but then he regained his composure as he confirmed it.

“Hmmm, I always thought you were the same height as me in-game, but you’re surprisingly tall in real life.”
“Yes, I have a bratty face, so I always try to set my height as low as it can go in games. You can get pretty popular amongst older girls that way, you know?”
“Hahah…”

It was impossible to tell whether Shao, or rather, Akito was being serious or just joking about that, so Kou just laughed it off.

***

Sometime later, they were having breakfast in the living room.
The menu was cod meuniere with tomato sauce, consomme soup and salad, and freshly baked butter rolls from the kitchen’s oven.

“So you’re the princess everyone’s been talking about. I’m Kazami Akari, nice to meet you!”

A girl said that while placing her food next to where Hinagiku, Miyuki, and Julia were sitting. She was roughly as tall as Miyuki, and looked really similar to Akito, but she had a more loose pony tail.

“Ah…nice to meet you too.”
“My brother told me about you…do you mind if I sit next to you, Julia?!”
“Oh, umm…sure, go ahead.”

It really felt like that energetic girl was just overwhelming the more meek one, but Julia still kept smiling as Akari sat down next to her.
She had been a bit overwhelmed at first, but since Akari did not seem threatening at all, Julia was not opposed to being together either.

…Meanwhile Julia’s parents…

“Heheh, look Reiji, our daughter has found so many friends her own age.”
“Yes, I’m glad we decided to bring her along.”
“Mhm, me too…”

They were both giddy looking at the young girls eating together.

Next to the children’s table, there was a table for six, where Kou, Hijiri, Subaru, Kasumi…and Reo and Akito were sitting.

“Oh dear, I’m so sorry about my sister, she can be really pushy at times.”
“Ahahah…so that’s Mei over there?”
“Yes. And she’s just as loud here as in the game, right?”

All Kou could do was laugh awkwardly hearing Akito’s comment, as she cut off a piece of her cod meuniere (by the way, she has conquered white fish, as long as it is cooked) and brought it to her mouth.
The thin crust of flour fried in butter gave way, allowing the cod to almost melt in her mouth, which was perfectly complimented by the tomato sauce.
As the aftertaste of tomato still lingered in her mouth, she took a bite off a warm butter roll, relishing the taste as she looked around her.

“…To think that all three Demon Lords would end up meeting in real life.”
“And that all our parents would also be involved with Worldgate Online.”
“It really is a crazy coincidence…”
“Ahahah…”

Kou muttered that in deep thought, followed by Hijiri and Subaru’s comment, while Kasumi just chuckled nervously on the side.

“By the way, I wanted to ask you two.”
“Hmm?”
“Oh?”

Randomly Akito spoke to Kou and Reo.

“It seems you two are doing something fun, the forums were going crazy.”
“The forums..?”
“What do you mean?”

Hearing that, Kou and Reo just tilted their heads in confusion. Kou had made a conscious effort to ignore the forums, out of concern for her own mental wellbeing, while Reo simply did not have much interest on those types of anonymous message boards.

“…You two are the main representatives of the first server, you should try to put at least some effort into gathering information involving you. But oh well, I’m guessing you’ll continue escorting Julia soon?”
“Of course.”
“We’ll be hanging around here during the day, so it’ll only be later tonight…”
“I’m pretty much done helping my parents with what they need, so can I join you with my sister?”
“Of course, if that’s what you want.”

It took very little time for Shao to also offer his help.

“…And somehow now we have the three Demon Lords joining hands as bodyguards.”
“Julia…what a terrifying girl..!”

Subaru and Hijiri whispered to each other, while a distance away Julia happily munched on the salad’s cherry tomatoes, completely oblivious to the conversation happening a few paces away from her…