Shangri-La Frontier: Phantom Player:

"Oh, uh, I apologise. I didn't recognise you for a moment." Ryuji let out a small chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just noticed you scrolling through the Shangri-La Frontier fandom, and I guess I sort of wandered over without thinking. "

Her gaze flicked back down to her phone before returning to Ryuji. "Oh? Yes, I do play this game every so often. It's quite interesting, isn't it? So many ways to play—practically no limits at all."

Something about her phrasing felt slightly off, laced with an almost sinister edge, but Ryuji shook it off, too caught up in the rare chance to talk to someone about the game. "It can be a pain in the ass too," he muttered under his breath, flashes of the server announcing his quest completion flickering through his mind like a bad dream.

"One of my in-game friends has a similar view to you," she responded, catching Ryuji's muttered words with ease, her laugh light and innocent—though something about it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"May I ask what you were reading through on the forums?" I asked. She stared at me curiously for a moment before lifting her phone and turning the screen towards me. In big, bold letters, the title read: Mystery of The Phantom: Kuro. The discussion was filled with people debating theories and asking questions all about Ryuji. 'I only beat it around an hour ago...' he thought tiredly.

Watching his expression shift from intrigue to slight irritation, a spark of curiosity ignited in Amane. "Is everything alright?" she pried, her tone soft yet probing. "You seemed a bit... bothered by the subject."

Waving his hand, he dismissed her concern. "Oh, nothing of the sort. I'm just shocked the story gained so much traction. It's only been—" He paused, briefly counting the hours. "Two hours?"

She stared at him, her gaze sharp, clearly not fully convinced by his explanation. "SLF has millions of players, and people were already having discussions about the 'Phantom.' So, honestly, I'm not surprised," she answered, calm and cool, her tone betraying nothing but certainty. Cherry blossoms drifted gently past her face in the soft breeze, adding an almost serene backdrop to the moment.

Already suspicious of the man before her, a small smile spread across her face—unnoticed by Ryuji. "So, you play the game, right? You should tell me your username." Her voice was calm and collected, framed by an innocent smile, but Ryuji immediately recognised the mischievous intent lurking beneath her words.

She was onto him.

"Oh, I think that's perfectly fine. You're a famous model, and you already have friends to play with. I wouldn't want to waste your time," Ryuji responded, trying to make her drop her attempts.

Amane shook her head with a soft smile, almost as if humouring him. "Nonsense. It's always good to stay connected to your fans," she replied, her voice calm and collected, her gaze steady as she held his attention.

"So..." She rummaged through the small bag resting on the bench next to her, pulling out a pen and a small notepad. She scribbled something onto it before speaking. "How about you take my username instead?" she asked politely, offering a torn page of the notepad to Ryuji with an almost effortless grace.

Exhaling in resignation, Ryuji reluctantly accepted it, his fingers brushing against the paper before shoving it into his pocket. "Next time I log on, I better see a friend request in my mail." Her voice dropped, taking on a much more sinister, almost threatening tone that caught Ryuji off guard.

"Yeah, sure..." he muttered, his voice betraying a hint of unease as he quickly averted his gaze.

"Oh, and before you go... may I have your name?" she asked, her tone casual but firm.

Ryuji's eyes widened. He had known her name since near the beginning of the conversation, but in the midst of it all, he had completely forgotten to introduce himself. "Oh right, I'm Ryuji, Ryuji Kurozawa."

At the mention of his last name, her eyes glimmered mischievously for a brief moment, but she said nothing of it.

"It's good to meet you, Kurozawa-kun."

Arthur Pencilgon

Logging into SLF, the very first thing she did was check my notification inbox. A grin spread across her face as she spotted the icon: One new notification. Without wasting a second, she dashed through the game UI, eager to check the username. To her astonishment, her suspicions were absolutely proven correct.

Friend Requests:

1- Kuro

"The Phantom in the flesh," she muttered to herself, hastily clicking the accept button.

She stared at his profile, her eyes widening in disbelief. "Completing a completely unheard of unique scenario involving Lycagon at level 64?" Her voice shook slightly as she spoke, the shock evident in the tremor of her words, as if she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing.

Her shock was understandable. Fighting Lycagon, on its own, was like trying to chase your own shadow—impossible. But a new unique scenario? That was like trying to climb a mountain with no summit.

She continued to browse through his profile, taking mental notes on his build. A samurai-assassin, of sorts, if she had to guess. The exact stats were hidden from view, leaving her to rely on his equipment to piece together what she could. She quickly closed the profile before moving to a different section of the in game UI. A group chat with only three people.

Two Idiots, One Beauty — the title of the group.

"Alright, you two are going to have to grind on your own. I found something interesting I want to follow up on." She sent the message with a single tap, not bothering to wait for a response. She already knew how Sunraku and Oikatso would react — nonstop nagging, as usual. She swiftly closed the group moving back to staring at Kuro's profile page, he was online right now. 

Being on her friend list meant she could track him — unless, of course, he was in a unique scenario. But that wasn't the case. His map icon blinked steadily as a small green dot, sitting innocently in the middle of the Rocky Wastes.

A mischievous grin spread across her face, the kind that hinted at something devious. A plot began to form in her mind, and she leaned forward slightly, her fingers hovering over the navigation. She quickly set her course for his location, the excitement of what was to come simmering beneath her cool exterior.

Extra:

Relaxing in bed after just getting home from the shops, Ryuji scrolled through his phone mindlessly. Until, a certain post caught his eye. 

The title?

Towa Amane Spotted With New Boyfriend!

Ryuji's eyes narrowed as he read through the post. "I was walking through my local park today when I spotted Towa Amane herself! Best part is, she was talking with a super cute guy! It was right at sunset, and the cherry blossoms fell perfectly. It was like a scene out of a romance anime!" 

He tried to comfort himself, telling himself it was only a coincidence. But as he scrolled down and saw the captioned image, his heart sank. There, in the photo, was Towa Amane, handing him a piece of paper while striking a perfect pose. The picture looked like a masterfully crafted painting, with Towa Amane, as usual, exuding beauty and grace—everything about it staged to perfection

"It just had to look exactly as they described it," he muttered under his breath, his gaze fixed on the post, where his own image was clearly visible. The flood of thousands of comments and likes kept pouring in, despite the post only being an hour old.

"Now I'm going to have Amane's fans hunting me down... and SLF players, too. What did I do to deserve this?!" He ran a hand through his hair in exasperation, feeling the weight of the unwanted attention bearing down on him.

"How did she even pose properly?!" he shouted in frustration, his mind racing. In his memories, all that had happened was he had simply taken her username for a game... "Why does it turn out like this?" he muttered, sinking into his bed, the weight of the bizarre situation settling on him