A computer station stood in one corner, while in the opposite corner resided her VR gaming pod—a specialized curved chair with all the necessary gear to suck her into the virtual world, and hanging screens to allow her any out-of-game prompts, from selecting a game to managing business tools.
Mercedes powered on the chair before sitting down in the pod. The touchscreen display allowed her to set up Lusara Fates as her desired game and pull up her friends’ list. No surprise, Shira was on, using her elementalist class, a natural magic user class focusing on elemental abilities like fire and water, and summoning temporary living elements to aid her. Mercedes wasn’t sure if she was running as a healer or a DPS, damage per second, as she could swing either way in her PvP matches.
Jasper and Zach, two of her guildmates and good friends, were also logged in. The former using his rogue class, a stealthy melee DPS class good for high damage but extremely low defense, and the latter using his warrior class, a heavy armor melee class built for either tanking, high defense and lower offense, or DPS, above average defense and high offense.
Takashi’s profile picture popped up when she selected his name, and her heart skipped a beat. Short ebon hair, dark captivating eyes, strong jaw, and light tan skin, showing his mixed racial heritage.
Takashi had told her once how his parents met. His father, Brazilian-born, stateside raised, had flown over to Japan for a seminar on Lusara Fates. His mother had been working the check-in table, and then wrecked him in a PvP match. He asked her to dinner and the rest was history.
Mercedes smiled. The story was cute, and reminded her of how her parents met, though it was at a car show instead.
The game profile indicated Takashi had chosen his sorcerer class, an arcane spell caster DPS class, and, not surprisingly, showed him located in his shop.
She preselected her ranger class, a ranged DPS class that utilized pet companions to aid them, so she wouldn’t get stuck in a longer-loading screen inside the game, and relaxed to allow the neuron equipment to do their job. Her eyes grew heavy soon after, and her consciousness shifted.
Takashi scoured over ledger notes trying to find where he’d messed up his calculations. Player-to-player direct exchange? No. He’d overcounted funds for some supplies, and now struggled to fix the error. Currency exchange rate? No…
Songbirds that had taken up residence in his shop chirped away their late-morning song. On a standard stressful day of fund checking, he’d find it annoying, but today, it helped drown out the non-stop chatter of his younger sister, Mia.
Takashi sighed when his sister continued to nag him. “Mi-chan, please, I’m trying to fix a fund issue. If I don’t, I can’t finish making plans to come back home for a visit.”
Mia, taking the avatar of a young human that looked close to herself in real life, crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks. “Well I’m trying to tell you something important. Okaasan wants to know when you’re coming home, preferably for good because we all miss you, and if you’re finally bringing a girl home with you.”
He hung his head with a sigh. “Once I get this financial issue over with, I’ll be able to answer the first part of the question. The second, I don’t know, and the third… I don’t know, either. I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“What about that girl you’re always talking about?” Mia cocked her head to the side. “What was her name? You said she was named after an old car.”
“Mercedes.” Her name tingled his lips. “Her name is Mercedes, and she and I are only friends.”
His sister’s brow crinkled. “Why? You talk about her more than you did Emi. That means you like her more than Emi right?”
Takashi’s lips spread into a line. Emi had been the last woman he dated, but their relationship ended over two years ago. The two had met because of his other sister, Rei. He and Emi tried to make it work, but they hadn’t been as compatible has they hoped, and mutually agreed to end their relationship. Rei didn’t believe him and it put a strain on their kinship, since she had tried so hard to get the two together. But he had no other way to convince her of the truth.
As for Mercedes… Mia wasn’t wrong. He did catch himself talking about her a lot to his family. He tried to dial himself back whenever he did, so he wouldn’t give his family the wrong impression. But over the last few months, he had done more trying to convince himself than his family.
Everything about the woman captivated him more than a friend should—her smile—her smell. Hearing her laugh or engage in deep and passionate conversations made his heart flutter. Even thinking her name sent his mind racing. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but she was a partial reason for him and Emi not working out. He couldn’t connect with her like he did Mercedes. But we’re just friends.
Boots clomped on the wooden floor and a sweet floral scent mixed with grease wafted into his nose. The one interesting and equally amazing thing the gaming pods did. It had the ability to simulate a person’s smell and transpose it into the game.
A familiar female voice made his heart skip. “Who do you talk about more than Emi?”
Takashi whirled around to find a raven-haired elf clad in green leathers leaning in the doorway of his office. A bow hung around her back and a quiver was strapped to her hips. An impressive-sized cougar sat next to her, its golden eyes locked onto him.
He pulled his own long black hair away from his face. “Hey, Mercedes. Playing your ranger today, huh?”
She smirked, her eyes dancing with amusement. “You forgot again, didn’t you?”
His brow furrowed. He’d been so focused on his ledgers he’d forgotten something… again. But what was it? His eyes widened with realization. Oh shit!
Before he could come up with a lame excuse he knew she wouldn’t buy, Mia saved him. “This is Mercedes?”
Takashi nodded, glad to change the topic for even a moment. “Yes, this is her.”
Mia tilted her head as she focused on Mercedes. “Do you have a picture of the real you attached to your profile?”
Mercedes pursed her lips and gave Takashi a questioning glance. “I do. Why do you ask?”
Mia activated her menu screen and Takashi held up his hand. “Mia, this isn’t necessary. Please stop.”
His younger sister continued until she found Mercedes’ profile; he could see it on her prompt, though he didn’t need to see the profile picture to know what Mercedes looked like. Long golden hair, bright blue eyes, skin kissed by the California sun… He couldn’t get that image out of his mind even if he wanted to—and he didn’t.
Mia’s eyes widened and she gasped. “Niisan! You said she was pretty, but you didn’t say she was this gorgeous!”
Mercedes was taken aback by the compliment, and Takashi hid his face in his hand. Mia, you’re going to cause me so many issues.
“I’m telling Okaasan you’re going to bring her home for dinner when you visit next!”
“Mi-chan, no, don’t—”
She logged off before he could stop her. His face felt warm with embarrassment and he forced himself to meet Mercedes’ gaze, only to find her doubled over in a laughing fit. At least she’s amused and not angry. He should have expected as much from his friend, though. It took a lot for her to get angry with him, and this situation was equally comical and embarrassing.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry about that. Mia is a bit… eccentric.”
Mercedes collected herself and smiled. “Don’t worry about it. I pieced everything together just before she babbled about telling your mother and logging off.”
Takashi loved that Mercedes knew his family’s language. Well, one of them. She wasn’t fluent in Japanese, but knew enough that they could hold some basic conversations. It made it nice to also not have to explain why he used honorifics in his English, or accidentally code switched every now and then. He’d learned to keep the u
se around his American friends to a minimum, as not all of them understood. This included her, but occasionally he’d go back to his usual ways. A common mishap for those raised in bilingual homes, or in his case, trilingual, but she never minded, so that saved him.
“Though, I think I need some better clarification with her claim about you talking about me so much.” Her eyes twinkled.
He shrugged, trying to stay casual. “You just come up in conversation a lot since we spend a great deal of time together. I never thought I spoke about you more than Emi, but Mia thinks otherwise.”
Mercedes shrugged, accepting the answer. “Fair. Now, are we going to go quest, or did you forget again?”
Takashi avoided eye contact, his shoulders sagging. “I… I forgot, sorry. I made a mistake in my ledgers that’s had my focus all day.”
She frowned. “How bad?”
“Nothing so bad it’ll put me out of business or make me miss rent and food budget.” He smiled to reassure her, but it didn’t work. “I was going to use the extra money to go to a seminar stateside. I’d used the money originally for the seminar to book a surprise trip to see my family this weekend, thinking I’d have enough for the following weekend for the seminar. If I don’t figure this out, that won’t happen.”
Mercedes tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “I know you don’t like others touching your accounting books, but what if instead of doing the treasure hunt we planned, I help you find your mistake? A second pair of eyes can’t hurt.”
Her offer sent a rush of joy through him. While she was right about his protectiveness over his books, he knew her skill as a business owner herself could really help him. “I’d really like that. I owe you one.”
She chuckled, her eyes dancing as she approached his desk. “You sure do.”
Did her voice drop an octave? No. He had just imagined it. When she joined him by his side, he muttered an incantation and a yellow rose manifested in his fingers. Mercedes smiled when he handed it to her. I’m never going to get tired of that smile. Every time he gave her one, she’d give the same demure smile and look at the rose as if it were the most precious gift.
He showed her the ledger. Mercedes’ cougar yawned and relaxed in the middle of Takashi’s office.
“New pet?” he asked.
She nodded, not taking her eyes off his ledger tome. “Stabled Ak’shi and tamed Kumar a few days ago. He’s been real helpful.”
“You always come up with good names for your pets.”
She smiled at him, the lightness in her expression making his heart swell. “Thanks.”
She looked down at his numbers and he joined her. The two of them went over each line. Recent auctions, both for the in-game currency and world currency sections; direct trades with players; conversion rates from in-game to world—it didn’t matter if he’d gone over it already—the two went over it again just to be sure. But as they did, he found it harder to concentrate on the books rather than her distracting perfume. Every time he looked at her, he didn’t see her elf avatar. He saw blonde hair flowing over her shoulders and narrowed blue eyes determined to catch the mistake.
Her hair fell in front of her face as she turned to look at a different line, and he reached out and tucked the silky strands behind her ear. Mercedes looked at him and he smiled. He probably shouldn’t have done that, but she didn’t look to have minded.
The two of them made it down half a page when someone entered his office. He didn’t have a storefront. He didn’t like standing around waiting for players to potentially pop in looking for something, so he focused on auction buys and sells instead, mixed with a little direct player-to-player trades, and buys and sells. So only those looking for him specifically or were lost ever entered the building.
He looked up to find a curvaceous human woman with flaming red hair and revealing cloth robes. A stark contrast to her real self, Takashi would always be able to recognize this woman. “Hey, Emi.”
Mercedes looked up from her searching, her eyes pinning on his ex, but she didn’t say or do anything.
Emi waved. “Hey, Takashi. I don’t mean to interrupt, but I wanted to ask you something.”
“Sure thing.” He placed his hand on Mercedes’ back for a brief moment. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.”
He was keenly aware of Mercedes’ gaze following him. When he reached Emi, he stole a glance, but found Mercedes going over the books again. Maybe I imagined it.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt the two of you,” Emi said. “But I wasn’t sure if you’ve heard from Rei at all today. We were supposed to finalize some plans, and she hasn’t responded to me all day. It’s not like her.”
Takashi frowned. “That is strange for her. Unfortunately, I haven’t. We don’t talk much.”
Emi’s brow creased. “Is she still upset with you because of what happened with us?”
“What do you think?”
She sighed. “I’ll try to talk to her again about that. She really needs to let it go.”
He agreed. “Have you tried calling the landline? Mia was here not too long ago, so someone may be home to answer your question.”
Emi laughed. “That’s right. You’re one of the few families I know that has a landline anymore. I’ll give that a shot.” She peered around him at Mercedes. “Who’s that?”
Mercedes looked up just as he spoke. “That’s Mercedes.”
Emi’s eyes lit up. “You’re Mercedes?”
Mercedes smiled and approached, extending her hand. “That’s me. It’s nice to meet you finally. Takashi talks about you a lot.”
I do? Takashi knew he had when the two were together, but he didn’t think Emi came up all that much now.
Emi chuckled and shook Mercedes’ hand. “It’s nice to meet you as well. Takashi talks about you so much it felt weird to have not met you yet.”
Do I really talk about Mercedes that much?
Emi looked around. “Though to be fair, I don’t play this game often, so that may have something to with it.”
Mercedes laughed, but Takashi noticed it was at an unusual octave. This made him take a good look at her and see how tense her shoulders were. Does she feel uncomfortable around Emi? He never thought someone as confident as her could have such a reaction to meeting another person, especially Emi. She was harmless.
Emi found interest in the ledger books on the desk. “I know I said I didn’t want to disturb, but now I’m being a bit nosey. What are you two up to?”
Takashi went to explain, but Mercedes looked back at the desk and spoke, “Takashi messed up his accounting books. I’m giving him a hand to figure out where the mistake is.”
Takashi watched Emi cross her arms and her brow rise. “He’s letting you touch his ledgers?” She looked at him. “You didn’t even let me do that.”
A warm flush fell over his face. She wasn’t wrong. Mercedes was the only person he’d ever let touch his books. It wasn’t like he didn’t trust Emi near them, she was a respectable businesswoman, but he didn’t feel comfortable with her touching them. Mercedes didn’t give him that feeling.
He rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to figure out how to justify his actions. Emi grinned. “It’s no issue, though. I’m sure you have your reasons. I shouldn’t bother you anymore; I need to make a phone call anyway.” She waved goodbye and focused on Mercedes. “Again, it was nice meeting you. I hope we have the chance to meet again.”
Mercedes nodded with a smile and waved back, but didn’t say anything. This concerned Takashi. When he was sure Emi was gone, he spoke. “You okay, Mercedes?”
She went back to his desk. “Yeah, why?”
“I don’t know. You just seemed a bit uncomfortable talking to her.”
She shook her head. “No. I just didn’t know what to say. Sometimes tha
t happens to even me.”
“Okay.” He didn’t believe her. He knew her well enough to know, that wasn’t typical behavior from her. Takashi decided to drop it, though. He didn’t want to upset her.
The two of them went back to scouring his books. Minutes passed, or maybe it was hours. He wasn’t sure, but it was long enough to get Mercedes tapping her fingers on the desk. It wasn’t often he saw that habit come out. He also started to struggle to focus again with her standing so close.
The two finally gave up and Mercedes flopped down in his office chair. “Nothing looks wrong.”
Takashi scratched his head and then paced. “I’ve scoured this entire book today and I came to the same conclusion. But my most recent orders said otherwise.”
Mercedes held her hand up to her mouth as she thought for a moment. The way her face scrunched and she chewed her lip, she looked even cuter. She went to speak, when the clomping of heavy steel boots interrupted her. The two of them looked to the entrance of his office to see a human man with a dark complexion clad in plate armor stroll in.
The man’s eyes swept over to room and then landed on Takashi. “Takashi Moreno?”
He nodded. “That’s me.”
“My name is Game Master Ashton.”
Mercedes stood and Takashi and she exchanged worried glances before he addressed the game master. “How can I help you?”
“I don’t wish to alarm you, but I’m here to speak to you about some code tampering we’ve noticed with your business.” Code tampering? “Can you please tell me what you’ve been up to in the last six hours?”
Takashi gestured to his desk. “I’ve been going over my accounting, as I had a recent issue that shouldn’t have happened. I’m quite meticulous about what I record, and today I found myself several hundred dollars short after a recent transaction.”
The man nodded. “I see.”
Mercedes piped up. “Could this code tampering be the cause of it?”
The game master looked at her. “Who are you?”
Spellbinding His Ranger: A Sci-Fi Gamer Friends-to-Lovers Romance (Looking For Group Book 1) Page 2
