"Heeeey! Would you look who's here! Mark, right? Nice to meet cha!" Rita happily greeted Mark after we went to pick her up.

"Oh yeah, nice to meet you too Rita." Mark smiled back.

"I've heard a LOT about you from my friend. She really likes to talk about you, sometimes I get bored of it, hahaha." Rita laughed, she was an explosive extrovert, so it put Mark, an obvious introvert, slightly nervous.

"I-It's that so?" Mark laughed a bit.

"Oh! And who's here? Elena's friend Anna And, huh?" Rita already knew Anna for a while now, and so Elena, who greeted her. But then she realized there was a big, pricy-looking car here, and a beautiful blonde girl greeted her.

"It is nice to meet you Lady Rita!" Elisa greeted her with a heartwarming smile.

"Oh my who is she?!" Asked Rita. "You're so cute!"

"She's my friend my new friend. We meet up at high school She offered me EXP potions." Elena resumed it all up very quickly.

"Huh?" Rita seemed confused.

"Yeah it is quite the way to make a friend When I heard it myself, I was a bit surprised too." I laughed a bit.

"W-Well nice to meet you as well Elisa. I hope we can get along!" Rita said with a smile. She was around my age yet still acted with the same personality she had so many years ago, like a teenager girl.

"S-Sure!." Elisa smiled back, even Elisa who was already an extrovert felt slightly surprised by an even stronger one I guess there's power levels even between extroverts.

With Rita on the limousine, we got going. I gave Elisa's driver the google map coordinates of my parents' house and he quickly set off there, I did the same with Mark who was on his own car, and we made our way back to my childhood's home.

Because Baie-Saint-Paul in Quebec was already a city near the countryside, my parents' house wasn't more than just a few hours of travel. We arrived at the outer part of the city, which had developed a lot in the last ten years, growing up to five times its original size back in 2020s. This whole city used to be a small countryside town already, but as it expanded, it became more like a normal city in the center of Canada.

Nonetheless, this is perhaps one of the most peaceful places in the world even after its expansion. It is no joke that Canadian people are often calmer and better mannered, which makes things easier overall. People in the countryside is slightly rowdy but just as nice. Coming to my old childhood town, where I was raised until going to be big city's high school, filled me with tons of nostalgic memories.

Because I wanted to talk privately with Mark, I ended coming on his own car, sitting at his side.

"Elayne, about what happened last night If possible, I would prefer if we keep it a secret from the rest of people, even our own families, if possible." Mark said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I've already told Rita to shut her mouth. Honestly I was going to keep it a secret but she was the one talking all the time about stuff She's still a kid even after all these years." I giggled a bit.

"Usually we are quite different from our game personas, but she's just like inside the game, huh?" Mark laughed a bit, finding his new friend quite amusing.

"Yep! And she's just as pretty, isn't she?" I winked back.

"Hey, are you trying to get some sort of response out of me about that?" He laughed. "I am well aware she's married and with kids."

"Hehe, I know, I was just teasing you a bit. We've been slightly tense" I sighed.

"Yeah Well, it's a lot to process and everything." Mark said, looking into the endless green horizon of the countryside.

"That's right" I sighed, patting his shoulder. "Thank you for being with me through all of that, and even now It means a lot to me."

Mark looked back at me with a bit of surprise, his handsome face quickly growing redder, so cute.

"I-Is that so" He said while looking elsewhere, avoiding making eye contact out of embarrassment. "Well, now that the game's reality. I suppose the role I had back then still applies here, no? I am your guardian, Elayne. So I'll stay at your side and protect you and help you in anything you need."

"Aww, so corny" I giggled.

"C-Come on, you made me say that!" He laughed back.

"Though this is where I would say the line "I can protect myself" I kind of like having people I can rely on. The world's changing a lot, even now. What happened with the Demon King and everything I don't think we'll ever go back to the good ol' days again I'm glad I've got Rita, Lily, and you to share these secrets." I sighed.

"Yeah, we've got one another. Though I am not really as friends with them as I am with you, after everything we've shared in-game, I suppose I've formed a bond with them as well." Mark sighed. "So how's Lily? Is she your age too?"

"Oh, Lily?! No, she's like over fifty!" I laughed.

"Eh? Really?" He asked in surprise. "I couldn't tell"

"She really likes her avatar though; she's probably playing right now. I wasn't able to invite her, she said she didn't wanted to bother me She's quite nice, but often thinks lowly of herself, she lacks self-esteem I guess." I sighed.

"Oh" Mark sighed. "Kinda like us, huh? we're like a club of low self-esteem people. Rita's the weirdo, hahaha."

"Yeah! She always stands up like a sore thumb between us!" I giggled. "But she's nice too"

"I can tell, if she's your best friend, she must be someone worth keeping around." Mark said.

"Hm, yeah She was always there for me, always She's my bestie." I smiled back, looking at Rita in the other car talking non-stop with the girls about any gossip she had heard around the streets. Everyone aside from Elisa were bored of her endless chatter.

She really never changes, huh?