Songs in the Void: A Multiversal Score

Arifureta, Tortus, Underground Waterway.

After being flushed out of Miledi's Liberator Abode, Tatsuo, Sumire, Aletia, and Shea found themselves being washed away by a strong underground current. And because it happened so suddenly, both Aletia and Shea were having trouble holding their breaths, However, thanks to expecting what happened. Tatsuo and Sumire, on the other hand, took a deep breath before they were submerged by the flowing water in the abode. So, they were having a much easier time than the other two.

However, thanks to having to try and keep themselves oriented while flowing through the underground waterway, and not slamming into the walls of said waterway, they were all struggling. What made it even worse, because they could not speak, neither Tatsuo nor Sumire could give Aletia the suggestion to try and control the water with her magic to make the ride smoother.

'Even though we can't tell her about it, why the hell hasn't she thought of that on her own?' Tatsuo thought to himself. 'But at least the magic suppression doesn't affect us in here. So, if anything happens, I'll at least, be able to [Blink] next to anyone who is about to slam into a wall.'

At that moment, the current shifted Tatsuo around. When it did, he saw Shea holding her hands over her mouth, most likely to not let out the little bit of oxygen that was still in her lungs, and staring at a fish. However, this fish was not like any other fish. Instead, it was a monster. A monster fish with a human-like face. And the two were staring each other down like they were having a staring contest.

'Well, hell.' Tatsuo thought to himself while watching the two. '*Sigh* I guess I jinxed myself.'

At the same time, Tatsuo saw Shea's eyes widen as she let out the remaining air in her lungs. And the reason for that was because the fish monster had spoken to her telepathically, startling her to the point she gasped.

Shea than began to flail her arms and legs. But as time went by, the flailing grew weaker and weaker. And just when she thought she was about to pass out, Tatsuo [Blinked] in front of her. Then, he pressed his lips against hers, jolting her back into consciousness, as he slowly introduced air into her body. And despite the fact that they were being pushed through an underground waterway filled with cold water, Shea could feel her cheeks heating up.

{"Hmph! Kids these days…"} An unfamiliar middle-aged man's voice sounded in Tatsuo and Shea's minds. {"At least show some restraint when you're in front of other people, thank you."}

{"Dude, we can't breathe under water like you can."} Tatsuo's mental response was in an annoyed tone. {"So, because you spoke to her telepathically, you surprised her and just about killed this silly girl. And as for why I'm kissing her, it's not a kiss at all. I'm just trying to keep this Silly Rabbit alive."}

{"I see."} The fish monster replied, sounding a bit remorseful. {"Yeah, I kinda forgot. Don't see too many humans or beastmen down here. So, I thought you all were some kinda special beastmen that could live under water. Anyway, if you guys go left, you'll make it to the surface pretty soon. See ya."}

With that, the fish monster swam away, cutting off the telepathic connection as it went. Then, Tatsuo watched it disappear down the path to the right.

'That was Lehman, wasn't it' Tatsuo thought to himself. He then shook his head. 'Never mind, I can think about that later. Instead, I need to make sure we all end up going down the path on the left.'

And with that, Tatsuo, with Shea holding on to him and doing more than just accepting a little air from him, [Blinked] next to Sumire and Aletia in succession. Then, he [Blinked] into the left path that the fish monster, Lehman, pointed out as an apology.

Not long after that, the quartet found themselves rapidly ascending through the water. Then, they were shot out of the water and into the air by a high-pressure water spout from the center of a natural spring.

"Oh, my~. It's raining men. Mmm~." A flamboyant male-ish sounding voice said from below.

"Shit…" Tatsuo muttered to himself. "That was the whole reason I avoided going to Brooke Town before we hit the Labyrinth. But it looks like I ran into him… her anyway."

After muttering to himself, Tatsuo, with the girls still in his arms, [Blinked down to the ground. And when he suddenly appeared out of nowhere, he was standing right in front of a pretty girl appearing to be in her mid-teens with shoulder length green hair and brown eyes. However, instead of being startled, she was staring at him. Rather, she was staring at Shea, who was trying, and failing, to kiss him on the lips.

"Oh, my, so bold." The girl said in a fascinated tone while cupping her blushing cheeks in her hands. "To think they're acting like that in the middle of the day and in front of so many people. How shameless."

"*Sigh* I tried to give her oxygen while we were under water so that something like this wouldn't happen." Tatsuo grumbled while forcefully pulling Shea off of him.

Even so, Shea continued trying to find Tatsuo's lips, pushing her puckered lips in the direction from which she could hear his voice. Meanwhile, now free from Tatsuo's arms, Aletia, with a disgruntled expression on her face, leapt up and slammed her fist into the top of Shea's head.

*Bang!*

Shea immediately fell to the ground face first while holding the top of her head with a pained expression on her face.

"Ow~! Why did you do that, Miss Aletia?" Shea asked in a whiny tone.

"Perverted Rabbit." Aletia said as she stepped between Tatsuo and Shea protectively. "Pay attention to where you are."

In actuality, Aletia was acting in jealousy. Despite having been together with Tatsuo longer than Shea, even she had only kissed him once. What made the new girl think she was entitled to that so early.

"But you didn't have to hit me." Shea said, finally noticing that they were not alone. And when she saw there were several humans nearby,, she quickly covered her neck, remembering what Tatsuo and Sumire said about an exotic, free rabbit beastman like her.

However, she was surprised to feel a soft leather choker with a diamond encrusted buckle wrapped snugly around her neck when her hands reached it. And despite not being the sharpest tool in the shed, she knew that was not there the last time she checked. So, she then turned and looked at Tatsuo with her eyes wide open in surprise.

In response, Tatsuo only winked and put a finger over his lips, signaling Shea to keep quiet about it. In reality, Tatsuo had made the choker while they were traveling through the Reisen Gorge before they found the Labyrinth. However, he did not want to deal with the emotional outburst and fight with Aletia giving the choker to Shea would bring. So, he held off. Though, he would have given it to her soon. Since he knew everyone would want to rest in a real bed after going through the torture chamber Miledi Reisen called a Labyrinth.

"Well, well, well, aren't you four delicious?" that same male-ish sounding voice said from not too far away.

Immediately after hearing the voice, Sumire, Aletia, and Shea turned their heads in its direction. Tatsuo, on the other hand, tried to make himself look a small as possible while hiding behind Sumire. He could feel the owner of the voice looking at him with a predatory gaze, and it was making him quite uncomfortable.

While Tatsuo was hiding, the others turned towards the voice. When they did, what they saw was a 6'6" tall mountain of muscle, bald on the top with long hair on the sides pulled into a tightly styled, complex braid with a cute pink ribbon tied around the end. This muscular mountain also wore make-up along with a goatee on their chin with extremely chiseled facial features a pink crop top that showed off their six pack abs and a matching skirt that came down to their knees.

"Uh… what?" Shea asked with confusion written all over her face.

"Is that… a man? Or a woman?" Aletia asked.

"Oh, Honey." The muscular hulk said in a coquettish tone. "Does that really matter? Whether I'm a man or a woman, I'm fabulous~."

"Well, I can't really argue with that." Sumire said with a grin. She then turned to look over her shoulder at Tatsuo. "What do you think, Tatsuo-Kun?"

In response, Tatsuo glared at Sumire, who was smiling with mirth. Then, he released a resigned sigh before standing to his full height. And when he did, he shuddered slightly when the hulk of a person's eyes fell on him with an unrestrained hunger.

"*Sigh* I guess you're right." Tatsuo replied. "As long as you're comfortable in your own skin, there's nothing wrong with how you identify yourself. Still, the way their looking at me makes me feel a little uncomfortable."

"Well, I'm sorry about that." The hulk said in a tone that was basically a purr. "But you're as close to perfection as I've ever seen. And… Mmm~… I'd love to be able to get my hands on you."

"Clarify." Aletia ordered as she once again stood in front of Tatsuo defensively.

"I think I can take care of that." The girl said, finally getting herself under control after seeing how Shea tried to kiss Tatsuo earlier. She then gestured to the hulk. "this is Crystabel. And he's Brooke Town's most famous tailor. Everyone loves his clothing. And he probably wants to make something for your boyfriend over there."

"Oh, Tatsuo, my boyfriend?" Shea asked, her cheeks cupped in her hands while her eyes took on a starry shine. "Is that how it looked~? Oh, my, what should I do~?"

"Perverted Rabbit." Aletia said disdainfully. Though, she did steal a few shy glances at Tatsuo, as well.

Sumire, on the other hand, only smiled back at Tatsuo before hugging him around the waist.

"I see." Sumire replied. "Then, Tatsuo has nothing to worry about, I guess."

"*Cough* Anyway, you said you were from Brooke, right?" Tatsuo asked. "How far away from town are we?"

"Oh, not too far." The girl replied, her eyes sparkling much more than they should as she continued. "And if you're looking for somewhere to stay, you can follow me. My family runs an inn. Oh, and I'm Sona Masaka, the daughter of the Masaka Inn's owners. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"That sounds wonderful." Sumire said with a smile. "It's been a long time since we've been able to sleep in a real bed."

"A bath would be nice, too." Tatsuo added.

Hearing Tatsuo mention a bath, Sona's eyes sparkled much more than they should, once again. Even so, she was happy to welcome some new business to her family's inn. And if she was lucky, she might even be able to catch a peak of how this group of people spent their free time.

"Hehehe." Sona giggled at the thoughts running through her imagination.

Deciding to ignore the overly lascivious laughter from Sona, Tatsuo, Sumire, Aletia, and Shea introduced themselves. Then, they headed back to the town with Sona, Crystabel, and the group of adventurers who were tasked with escorting them while they were out of the town.

As Sona said, it did not take long for the group to arrive at the town. However, they had to make up a story when the gate guards asked to see everyone's IDs. While Tatsuo, Sumire, Sona, Crystabel, and the adventurers all had Status Plates, neither Aletia nor Shea did. Luckily, with the choker around Shea's neck, she could pass as a slave easily enough, so there was not much of an issue there. However, it took some convincing to get permission for Aletia to enter the town.

But they were successful in the end, claiming that while on their journey, Aletia lost her Status Plate. And since Sona, Crystabel, and the adventurers saw Tatsuo and the girls being shot out of the center of a spring, the story was believed without issue. In the end, they had to promise to go to the town's branch of the Adventurer's Guild to get a replacement by noon tomorrow, or they would have to ask Aletia to leave the town.

Shortly after that, Sona led Tatsuo, Sumire, Aletia, and Shea to her inn where the group book rooms for the night. However, despite booking a room for everyone, somehow, all the girls ended up sleeping in Tatsuo's room, crowding into one bed when it was time to sleep.

But after both Aletia and Shea fell asleep, Tatsuo and Sumire decided to let James know about their progress through the [Dimensional Chat].

{[Dimensional Chat]

Tatsuo (Admin): we finally cleared the second Labyrinth

Tatsuo (Admin): Now, we should only have two objectives left

James: Yeah, Killing the Demon in the Labyrinth and picking a new member to join the chat

Sumire: Speaking of that last one… Do you have any idea, James?

James: I kinda wanna add Shizuku

James: But leaving that vampire girl, Aletia here doesn't sound like a bad idea

Tatsuo (Admin): Yeah, if Ehit gets a hold of her, who knows what he'd be able to do

James: So, we should pick Aletia

James: I can come back to see Shizuku whenever I want

James: As a bonus, I can drive Amanogawa into madness, too

Tatsuo (Admin): We could come back to do something about Nakamura, too

Tatsuo (Admin): That chick is bat shit insane

James: Yeah, I can tell just how much she wants to kill me

James: Kaori and Shizuku, too

Tatsuo (Admin): Classic Yandere

James: Oh, I almost forgot

James: Aiko-Sensei is going to be sent to a town away from the capital to do something with their crops

James: And Sonobe, Sugawara, Miyazaki, Aikawa, Kawahara, Tamai, and Shimizu are going with her

James: Apparently, they wanna make sure that the overly attractive knights the church and the royal family are sending to protect her won't try anything funny}

In fact, Aiko, the social studies teacher for all the students who were transported into Tortus against their will, had not been idle during the time when everyone was adventuring in this new world. Instead, thanks to her Class, Agriculturalist, she has been kept away from the battlefield ever since she arrived in Tortus.

However, as she has been pushing back against the Holy Church and the Kingdom, not wanting her students to be drafted into a war that had nothing to do with them, both institutions assigned a number of "overly attractive knights" to be her bodyguards in an attempt to honey trap her into getting attached to either the kingdom or the church.

Unfortunately for them, there was something the knights they assigned to Aiko found absolutely captivating about her. And if Aiko were to ask, they would be happy to betray the kingdom or the church for her.

{[Dimensional Chat]

Tatsuo (Admin): Hmm?

Tatsuo (Admin): Is it that time already?

Tatsuo (Admin): I thought we were ahead of schedule

Sumire: What are you talking about, Tatsuo-Kun?

Tatsuo (Admin): Well, remember when I told you about the dragonman masochist?

Tatsuo (Admin): In the canon version of this world, that's where she shows up

James: Well, this isn't just a story

James: This world is as real as the worlds we live in

James: Anyway, I think I'm gonna go with them

James: Anything to get away from Amanogawa for awhile

Sumire: We can come to the town, too

Sumire: That way, you'll have a reason to start traveling with us

Tatsuo (Admin): Yeah, we've got at least one more stop to make before we meet up with the class again, anyway

Tatsuo (Admin): So, you'll get a little more time away from Amanogawa

James: Say less

James: We should be at Village of Ur in like 4 days

James: Can you make it by then?

Tatsuo (Admin): That shouldn't be a problem

Tatsuo (Admin): And it will blow your mind when you see our ride

Sumire: Yeah, it's much more comfortable than a carriage

James: Just about anything is more comfortable than a damn carriage

James: Especially with these shitty ass roads

James: Anyway, see you guys in Ur

Tatsuo (Admin): Yeah

Tatsuo (Admin): And watch out for Shimizu

Tatsuo (Admin): That dude is shady af

James: I'll keep that in mind

James: Anyway, I gotta pack

James: See ya}