Suzume's face was on fire.

  This was not a metaphor. She was genuinely concerned that if someone held a thermometer to her cheeks right now, it would shatter from the heat, and then she'd have to explain to a medical professional that she'd died of embarrassment, which wasn't even a real cause of death but might become one after today.

  The reason for this was simple.

  She was sitting on Kasumi's lap.

  Emiko's car was not designed to fit six people comfortably. It was barely designed to fit four people comfortably. But an emergency call had come in about three low-level Players trapped in a destabilized portal in Nerima, and there hadn't been time to coordinate multiple vehicles. So here they were, crammed together like sardines in a very expensive can, speeding toward what was technically their first official rescue mission as a legitimate guild.

  To Suzume's right, Hikari sat with her back straight and her expression perfectly composed, which would have been impressive if Honoka wasn't perched on her own lap, fidgeting nervously and apologizing every thirty seconds for breathing too loud. Rina was pressed against the door on the far end, somehow taking up less space than seemed physically possible, her eyes fixed on the window like she was calculating the survival odds of jumping out at highway speeds.

  Takeo had claimed the passenger seat up front, the smug bastard. He'd gotten there first. Now Suzume was stuck back here, trying very hard not to think about the warm thighs underneath her, or the arm that Kasumi had casually draped around her waist, or the fact that every time the car turned, she had to grab onto something to stay balanced and that something kept being Kasumi's knee.

  "So," Takeo said, twisting around in his seat to face the back with that easy grin of his. "What's the plan? What are we gonna do when we get there?"

  Suzume opened her mouth to respond.

  Kasumi poked her side.

  Suzume flinched so hard she nearly headbutted the car ceiling, and the noise that came out of her mouth was something between a squeak and a yelp that she would deny making until her dying day.

  "Yeah, Suzu-chan," Kasumi murmured, her breath warm against Suzume's ear. "What are we gonna do?"

  [I'm going to kill her. I'm going to kill her and no jury in the world would convict me because they'd take one look at this situation and understand.]

  "T-The dungeon," Suzume managed, her voice cracking embarrassingly on the first syllable. She cleared her throat and tried again. "The dungeon is a D-rank that destabilized to C-rank. Three new Players went in yesterday for a routine clear, but the portal fluctuated before they could extract. Our job is simple: get in, find them, get them out."

  "And if we run into monsters?" Takeo asked.

  "Uh, since this is your trial, I want you and Hikari to do most of the fighting. Honoka heals anyone who's injured. Rina helps me out with anything I need. I coordinate." Suzume was proud of how professional that sounded, right up until Kasumi pulled her slightly closer and her brain temporarily forgot how words worked. "K-Kasumi handles anything above our pay grade. She's our insurance policy."

  Kasumi's chin came to rest on Suzume's shoulder, casual as anything, like she wasn't actively destroying Suzume's ability to function. Her arms wrapped around Suzu's midsection.

  "Yeah, I just do whateeeeever Suzu-chan tells me to," she said, and the way she said it made Suzume want to open the car door and roll out onto the highway regardless of the consequences.

  Emiko's voice came from the driver's seat, dry and unimpressed.

  "Five minutes out."

  Suzume had never been more grateful for anything in her entire life.

  ---

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  The portal hung in the air behind a convenience store, shimmering and unstable. A bored-looking officer waved them through when Emiko flashed their guild credentials.

  "Holy shit, you people actually came?"

  "Of course we did," Suzume replied. "Wait out here, we've got this covered."

  Suzume gathered her team, did a final equipment check, and stepped through the portal first.

  The dungeon was all stone corridors and glowing crystals, cool and damp and smelling faintly of moss. Standard stuff. The others followed through one by one, weapons ready.

  [Detect Life.]

  Three signatures, clustered together about two hundred meters northeast. Faint but present.

  "Got them," Suzume said. "This way."

  They moved through the corridors in a loose formation. Suzume checked on Takeo, who looked calm enough, if a bit fidgety. Fidgety was fine. Fidgety was definitely not the most nervous anyone had been on these missions.

  The first monsters appeared about fifty meters in. C-rank Tunnel Crawlers, three of them. Each one was about the size of a large dog, with way too many legs and mandibles that looked like they could shear through bone without much trouble.

  "Hikari, Takeo."

  They didn't need more instruction than that. Hikari raised her shield and drew the lead Crawler's attention while Takeo flanked right, his sword coming down hard enough to sever two of its legs in one swing. The thing shrieked and lunged at him, but Hikari was already there, her blade punching through its skull before it could close the distance.

  The other two Crawlers charged.

  Takeo met the first one head-on, using his weight to knock it off-balance before finishing it with a thrust to the thorax. Hikari dispatched the third with three precise movements, not a single motion wasted.

  "Not bad for my first day, yeah?" Takeo grinned, shaking ichor off his sword.

  "Less talking. More focus."

  "C'mon, that was at least a little cool."

  Hikari didn't respond, but she seemed amused.

  They pressed forward and found the trapped Players exactly where Suzume's skill had indicated, huddled in a small storage chamber. Two men and a woman, all of them sporting injuries. One of the men had a makeshift splint on his leg. The woman was pressing a bloodied cloth to her side, her face pale and drawn.

  "Oh thank god," the uninjured man breathed when he saw them. "We thought... we thought no one was coming."

  "We're here now," Suzume said. "Honoka."

  Honoka was already moving, kneeling beside the woman first. Her hands glowed soft white as the healing took hold, and Suzume watched the tension drain out of the woman's shoulders as the pain faded.

  "Can you walk?" Suzume asked the man with the splint.

  "Maybe? It's broken, I think."

  "Hm. I really wanna be quick about this, so we'll carry you to the exit for now, and Honoka, you can heal him up to full HP once we're out. Sound good?"

  "Yeah!" Honoka nodded.

  "Okay. Rina."

  Suzume nodded at Rina, and together they got him upright, his arms draped over their shoulders. He was heavier than he looked, but six months of carrying weighted mannequins up simulated cliffs hadn't been for nothing.

  [Escape Route.]

  The path back lit up in her mind. Clean exit. No monster spawns between here and the portal.

  "Move."

  The extraction went smoothly after that. Two more groups of Crawlers wandered into their path, but they got cut down before they could cause any real trouble. Soon enough, the portal came into view.

  "Go," Suzume ordered, and they filed through one by one.

  Rina went first with the injured man. After that, Honoka and the other two Players. Then Hikari. And then Takeo.

  Suzume turned to follow, but then Kasumi's voice stopped her.

  "Suzu."

  She turned back. Kasumi was standing a few feet away, looking off at something in the distance.

  "Yeah?" Suzume shuffled over toward her, looking in the same direction. "What's—"

  Kasumi turned toward her, grabbed her by the collar, and kissed her.

  Suzume's brain shut down. Not slowed, not stuttered. Just stopped entirely, like someone had yanked the power cord out of the wall. Every thought she'd ever had packed up and left, and all that remained was the warm pressure of Kasumi's lips against hers.

  This wasn't like kissing Yumi. That had been aggressive and competitive, fueled by alcohol and wounded pride. This was softer, though. More deliberate. Kasumi's hand came up to cup her jaw, tilting her head slightly, and Suzume just stood there like a mannequin, completely frozen, unable to do anything except experience the fact that this was happening.

  The kiss lasted maybe three seconds. It felt much, much longer than that.

  Kasumi pulled back, and her green eyes were bright, satisfied. She let out a small sigh that sounded almost relieved.

  "There," she said.

  And then Kasumi turned and walked through the portal without looking back.

  Suzume stood alone in the dungeon, her lips tingling, her face burning, her heart hammering so hard she could hear it in her ears.

  [What.]

  She touched her mouth.

  [What.]

  ---

  Suzume stumbled through the portal on autopilot, emerging into the afternoon sun to find her entire team waiting on the other side. The rescued Players were being looked over by Emiko. Takeo was talking animatedly at Hikari, who was nodding along with the patience of someone who had long since learned to tune out background noise.

  And Kasumi? Kasumi stood off to the side, arms crossed.

  Their eyes met.

  Kasumi smirked.

  Suzume's face, which had just barely started to cool down, burst into flames all over again.

  "G-Good work, everyone," she managed, her voice cracking on the last word. "Mission successful."

  No one mentioned the fact that she looked like a tomato with legs.

  Small mercies.