[Vol. 4 pt. 1]

Appalachia’s Hope was a beacon of prosperity that nobody ever expected to happen. Not only was it built in the most impoverished region of the United States, lifting millions out of poverty to give them new lives and purpose, but it was the first city built in decades to serve as more than just an emergency relocation site.

Built across sprawling hills while incorporating the beautiful nature Appalachia was known for rather than clearing it out, Appalachia’s Hope was designed to be a city that proves humanity can truly coexist with nature moving forward. Even the trees and plants that were removed for cleared building spots were brought back by having gardens atop most buildings. The taller buildings of the city frequently had vegetation hanging off their sides as well to help make up for it.

And anything that wasn’t covered in vegetation was covered in solar panels to assist in powering the city. The city itself was designed to be incredibly energy efficient in the first place, so electricity generated from the solar panels were generally enough to power it on most days.

The industry of Appalachia, once known primarily for coal mining, now revolved around clean energy and building a future for all around the world to look forward to.

At least, that was what the informational pamphlet I was reading said while I enjoyed my pretzel bites.

They were really, really good pretzel bites. Seriously, the best pretzel bites I ever had. And the cheese to dip them in was amazing, too. Good old Wisconsin cheese. There was no cheese better than Wisconsin cheese. I wasn’t a big cheese person, but I knew that was a universal truth about cheese.

The girl who gave me the pretzel and cheese recognized me, too. I wondered if I’d be able to get the secret out of her for how to make them so good.

Now, I was never one to abuse my reputation and use it to get anything from anybody. Doing so would be unethical and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.

But.

That changed when it came to potentially discovering the recipe for the best, soft pretzels I had ever had in my entire life.

Yep. I couldn’t resist.

It was time to abuse my fame to seduce an innocent girl working at a restaurant in an airport so that I could get their pretzel recipe.

Only, just as I stood up with my horrible intentions, my phone buzzed.

It was Akorya. She messaged me over Fiscord letting me know that she just got off the plane and turned her phone back on.

I had no idea why it was such a common ritual to turn one’s phone off during flights. There were no instructions to nor any real reason to do so, but it was a very common practice all over the world. Even my mom turned her phone off every time we went on flights together. She could never explain to me why she did it, either. It was just tradition.

But more importantly, it meant that she landed.

I looked down at the table in front of me and felt an incredible sense of guilt as I realized just how much I actually ate while waiting. There were two empty cups that once held pretzel bites within them and three wrappers that previously held the softest, most delicious pretzels I ever had. And there were two little containers that used to hold cheese, but I wiped those pretzels against the containers until there wasn’t a single trace of the cheese left.

Those pretzels were too dangerous. If anything, I needed to not find out how to make them because I would stop everything else I was doing in life to do nothing but make more pretzels.

So, with a tear in my eye, I threw away my garbage and went to wait for Akorya.

Goodbye, airport pretzel place. Though our time together was short, I’m never going to forget about you.

I waited for Akorya at the baggage area. And I waited. And I waited. I felt like it really shouldn’t have taken her as long as it did for her to arrive, but I immediately recognized her when she came into sight.

It was still hard to believe just how different she was in real life from how she looked in-game.

Akorya, in-game, was a shorter girl who barely wore any clothes, had bright, orange-pink hair, and she gave herself a pretty standard hourglass figure. Not to mention that she had bat wings, fur-covered forearms and calves, a scorpion tail, and fluffy ears on top of her head.

Akorya in real life, however, was about as opposite as she could get from her in-game representation. For starters, she lacked the wings, tail, and ears, obviously. But that aside, she had long, straight, black hair that reached most of the way down her back. Her body was more lithe and taller, and she had very feminine facial features. She looked like the kind of girl who could practically pass for a princess. Either that, or she had the stereotypical look of a girl who belonged to incredibly wealthy parents and was raised to be a proper girl. The fact that she played piano helped that image.

Even the way that she walked was proper. She held her hands together in front of her, swiveling her head around to look for me as every single step she took was calculated and graceful.

She really was the exact opposite of how she was in-game.

Then, as soon as she spotted me, she smiled and waved before “rushing” over to me. “Rushing” as in walking slightly faster than before while making sure not to bump into anybody and being very careful with every step.

The way she moved was probably more surprising than the way she looked when comparing her to how she acted in-game.

“Mas—I mean, Damian!” Akorya said, her cheeks lighting up with blush after what she almost called me in public.

“What’s wrong? Go ahead and finish calling me what you were going to,” I teased.

Akorya shook her head. “That simply will not do. Perhaps later, but not here.”

“Is… is that really you?”

She tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“You’re just so… different. It’s hard to believe you’re the same person.”

“Oh? In that case, please, allow me.” Akorya came closer before leaning up on the tips of her toes to whisper into my ear, “Nyehehe. Do you believe me now, Master?” She lowered herself and took a step back immediately after, her cheeks an even brighter shade of red than before. “Also, you smell like cheese.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Good, of course!”

“Good. And I believe you.”

“I’m glad. Anyways… I know we agreed that Lily could have the first kiss since you two dated for longer, but can I steal the first hug? I—I really want to hug you right now.”

I opened up my arms for a hug and nodded. “Bring it in here, Akorya.”

With a bright smile, Akorya hopped forward and wrapped her arms around me before burying her face against my chest, gently moving it from side to side against me. “Nyehehe… this is nice. I could get addicted to this. Actually, I think I’m already addicted. I guess that means I’ll never be able to let you go. I’ll be stuck to you forever.”

“Oh no, how horrible. This is truly the worst-case scenario.”

Akorya pulled her face back from me, but kept her arms around me right up until she saw her bags on the conveyor belt behind me. “Oh! Hang on!” She unwrapped her arms from me and I immediately missed them being there.

She might have been joking about getting addicted to hugging me, but I already felt addicted to hugging her.

I didn’t get to think about my new addiction for too long, though, because I noticed the absurd number of bags she had with her. There were five suitcases. Five. Full. Large. Suitcases.

“Akorya… we’re only spending a week here,” I said.

“I know, but I wanted to make sure to have enough outfits,” Akorya replied. “I brought enough for each morning, each evening, and each night. I also brought extra options in case I change my mind on one day’s outfit. Oh, and swimwear just in case we decide to go swimming at all. I also brought a couple of dresses in the event that we go dining anywhere fancy! Oh, and some sweaters in case it gets cold.”

“You… did you bring your entire wardrobe?”

“This is only… a ninth of it?”

“How is this only a ninth of it?”

“Because I only brought a ninth of it.”

“Akorya.”

“Yeah?”

“I love you, and I don’t mean to be nosy when I ask this, but… just how rich are you?”

“I’m not. I mean, my parents are wealthy, but they don’t really give me money or anything.”

“How are you not? How do you own so many clothes if you’re not? And you’re so… proper.”

“Oh. I just spend all my money on clothes, and all my favorite movies while growing up were about princesses and stuff, so I trained myself to act and dress as ladylike as I can.”

“That definitely doesn’t apply to how you act in-game.”

“I act that way in-game so that I don’t break the illusion I’ve crafted in the real world!”

“Fair enough. Anyways, it’s going to be a couple of hours before Lily’s flight lands. Do you… want to check out this pretzel place I found?”

“Nyehe. Is that where you got the cheese smell from?”

“It is.”

“Then let’s!”

As it would turn, while Akorya looked very thin—if anything, maybe a bit too thin, she was anything but a light eater. Or maybe it was just the pretzels? Regardless, she ended up eating a mountain of pretzels, and I ate even more pretzels because I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to eat more while I was there. Also, it would have been rude to let Akorya eat alone. Eating pretzels with her was the nice, respectful, proper thing to do.

We both struggled to get up when Lily messaged us to let us know that she landed.

“These pretzels… are dangerous,” Akorya said. “And that cheese… I would murder somebody for a lifetime supply of that cheese.”

I nodded and burped. “Same, Akorya. Same.”

“Hey… I don’t feel like walking after eating all that, and we would have to take all my suitcases with me… so why don’t you go grab Lily and bring her back here? Then… she can taste the pretzels, too. And it would only be the right thing to join her and eat some more ourselves… right?”

“We might need to change our hotel reservation for a room with three bathrooms, but I think you’re right.”

“Nyehe. Okay. Go get Lily.”

“Will do. Stay there, and don’t eat any more pretzels until I’m back.”

“I’ll try to be patient.”

With that, I went back to the luggage area to wait for Lily.

I ended up not needing to wait at all. As soon as I made it there, Lily spotted me, ran straight at me with her arms open, and nearly tackled me onto the ground as she cried before I even had a chance to really process what was happening.

All I could really do was wrap my arms around her to hug her back as her crying almost made me cry.

Her hands only left my back when she slid them up my front to place them against each of my cheeks, holding my head in place as she leaned up on the very tips of her toes to press her lips against mine.

Lily wasn’t wasting any time. That much was for sure.

The kiss lasted for a decent amount of time despite the bystanders watching us, too. The excitement of meeting me must have overridden any shyness I expected her to have.

Then, when she finally let our lips part, I got to hear her usual giggle that never failed to make me smile. “Ehehe… I finally got to kiss mon maître’s real lips. And… mon maître smells like cheese?”

“There’s a pretzel place I found,” I said.

“Oh! I love pretzels! Ah, where is Akorya?”

“At the pretzel place.”

“Then we should hurry and go there! Oh, my things.”

Lily stepped back which let me get a good look at her. She looked similar to how she did in-game, though she was just a tiny bit shorter and pudgier. But pudgier in a very cute way. Her cheeks were a bit more full and she had more to hug and squeeze which was something I absolutely wouldn’t complain about. Also, while Akorya might have filled her in-game avatar’s body out some more… Lily didn’t exaggerate anything as far as her body went. Well, her boobs were just a little bit bigger, but her thighs and ass were both even thicker in real life than they were in the game.

Between her and Akorya, I was an incredibly blessed man about to start praying to thank whichever god set me up with them.

“Here!” Lily said, now holding a single suitcase.

“Is that everything?” I asked.

Lily nodded. “A change of clothes for each day! I… thought of bringing clothes for the night, but… I assumed we would take such clothes off anyways, and bringing them would need more space, so I only brought this.”

“In other words, you’re expecting to have sex every single night.”

Lily’s cheeks finally turned red as she realized how many people were around us who just heard me ask her that. “M-mon maître!”

“You’re too cute, Lily. How was the flight?”

“It—it was fine. But please… do not embarrass me so much around others…”

“Alright, I’ll take it easy on you. Pretzel time?”

“Yes, please!”