Picking Up Girls With Game Exploits! (Yuri)

"Don't move, cutiepie~ You're gonna get squishy squish."

The pair of hands moving on my face was that of a woman, that I can be very certain. And a small one, around my height or even less, and this voice, a soft, cuteish and fluffy voice that carried quite the amount of killing intent.

"Mei." I whispered, recognizing Pearl's chaotic older twin sister.

She had channeled a lot of mana on her hands, and could, probably, explode my brains any second. Of course, I have ways to kill her before she does that, I'm a melee fighter after all.

"I don't have anything against you, even though you're technically a traitor, too." I told her, "So tell me where's your little brother is so I can give him a Columbian necktie,"

Before answering my, Mei skipped in front of me so that we'd face each other; she was wearing a high quality leather robe with thigh-high boots, that of very stereotypical wizard build, with a belt that held a variety of potions, she wield a fancy crystal-ball magic staff hanging off her back, one which I recognized that can create a huge debuff zone upon fusing enough mana into it.

A short woman with long, twirly brown hair and always a bright, energetic smile, the center of the room, even, opposite to her quiet and self-kept brother. Pearl, or Rapel, whoever the hell he's supposed to be.

"It's just a game, why do you have to be mad?" She pat me on the head, which required her to reach above hers.

"There you guys go again with your lame excuse of playstyle… You know, your selfishness is the sole reason why no one wants to invest into playing seriously anymore because you keep compromising other people's well being."

Mei giggled cutely to my answer, which shocked me.

"Well, what are you going to do?~" She said.

I unsheathed my new katana, only to feel the air tensed as at least 10 people scattered throughout the lounge of the brothel stood up at once.

"Come on now, get that frown off your face, you're so cute, Cory-hon, don't do that. Don't make us kill you here please, if you know Ann you know she'll prepared for this right, kichikichi you're so cute~" Mei raised her hands to my face and pulled two sides of my lips, forcing me to smile.

My instinct were to tilt my head over and bite the fucker's fingers off, but honestly, I like the way she was pinching my cheeks and smushing it around like I did with Eirlys' tits.

I sheathed my Katana back on my hips and held Mei's wrist, forcing her to stop rubbing. The tension in the room didn't die down, only worsen as I leaned into her ears.

"Listen to me you piece of shit, I don't know what you guys are doing, what you guys are planning to do, but you better not hurt Hailie or drag my precious little friend into your bullshit."

Mei didn't stop smiling, even when my voice trembled between fury and desperation.

Her fingers finally slipped away from my cheeks as I released my grip, but her posture stayed soft and playfully relaxed, like she wasn't standing in the middle of a brothel filled with high-level mercenaries ready to vaporize me on command.

"Cory-hon," she said, giggling under her breath in that airy, sparkly voice that felt like she should be hugging a stuffed rabbit instead of threatening to implode my skull, "You can be angry at him all you want, that's fine. But one thing you don't get to do is decide for Hailie, because, fun fact, we like her too, me personally? I love her, she's so, so, SOOOO adorable, have you ever hug her before?"

"Yeah! Plenty of times! IN REAL LIFE!" Is what I wanted to say, but Mei lifted a finger to my lips before any argument escaped.

"No one owns her." She gave my forehead a small tap, more affectionate than mocking. "You're scared she'll get wrapped up in things too dangerous for her, right? But she's a grown girl. She chooses who she wants to trust, of course, we'll have a three-way discussion about this if you think I'm being unfair, but from where I'm standing, she loves playing for fun and not achievement too, don't you think?"

The worst part was that I her logic was flawless.

When I opened my mouth again, the words collapsed on my tongue, thinning into air before taking shape, because she was right; painfully, humiliatingly right.

She must've noticed my silence.

"And that," Mei said softly, finally losing the teasing lilt in her tone, back to being an ADHD poster child by bopping her head left and right like there was music and not moanings, "is why she should choose for herself."

I hated how much it shut me up as I gripped my hand on the katana again, eyeing the room for how many mercenaries where here… But Mei clapped her hands once, and the sound was sharp enough to slap me awake.

"Alright, Cory-hon, here's what you're gonna do. Let's get you something to eat on the house, ya~? You're going to step outside, you're going to sit at one of the tables, order something nice… Let's see, maybe cactus juice, maybe tuna sandwich, whatever makes you less murder-happy. Then you're going to wait. Ann or Pearl will come online soon. They always do when things get noisy." Her smile widened into something bright and infuriating. "And when they come, we can talk."

I stared at her for a really, really, REALLY long while, the stare was long enough that the atmosphere thickened again, having the unseen mercenaries shifting like shadows preparing to pounce.

Eventually, with a half-growl and a half-sigh, I turned away.

"Fine," I muttered, dragging my pride like a dead body behind me. "But if Pearl shows his face, I'm taking it with me."

"Very cute, Cory, very sweet~ I hope you do, I hate how ugly my little brother can be too!" Mei chirped.

I marched out of the hidden lounge, through the kitchen, past the underpaid chefs, and stepped into Bastet's open-air seating front.

The warm desert wind brushed against my skin as it entered from the entrance, while the scent of spices and grilled meat floated in the air. An atmosphere designed to relax people while they eat, or before they enter the pleasure dome, especially to calm down someone who wanted to commit a homicide.

I dropped myself into a chair and ordered the first drink on the menu without looking, letting my head fall back as I exhaled all the leftover venom in my lungs.

I felt eyes on me.

Deliberate staring.

And that's when I noticed her… Well, 'noticed'' wasn't even the right word, she was impossible not to see.

At the table to my right, seated with the textbook posture of someone who could kill me with a dinner spoon if she wanted to, was a woman I initially mistook for an NPC warrior or named boss.

But the longer I stared and the longer we held each other's gaze, the colder the realization slid down my spine.

She wasn't an NPC… No, she was most definitely a player.

A very, very fashionable one.

Six-foot-two at least, with lightly tanned skin over an athletic build—lean muscle, long limbs, the kind of frame sculpted by melee combat training and probably a tragic number of crunches.

Her chest was modest, maybe just a bit larger than mine? Balanced proportionately enough that it gave her silhouette a symmetrical feel. She was in ehr late 20s, maybe early 30s, with a subtle resting bitch face that could probably peel bark off a tree.

Her hair was what caught me first: waist-length, jet black from the roots but fading to white a few inches below the shoulders, tied back into a single, long braid that swung behind her.

Her left eye was an icy blue so pale it almost glowed, while her right was a milky white, scarred by a jagged line that ran from the bridge of her nose all the way to her right temple.

Of course, scars are decorative in this game, but that still impressed me.

Barely any makeup, but her lips were painted in a ridiculously comical way with her top lip being purple and bottom being black.

She wore a leather bodysuit hugged tight to her figure, armored with plates across her lower legs, chest, and arms, especially with extra reinforcement covered her right arm, which meant she probably used it to block heavy strikes or redirect the trajectory of hits she didn't care to dodge.

That does sound… Familiar, extra paddings on the right arm used for parrying purposes huh.

And then there were the horns, two black horns that protruded left and right before curling upwards… A beastman race player, but what kind of animal I don't know.

"..." I stared for a second longer, the more I look at her, the more confused I am because she felt so familiar "Who the fuck are you?"