A Gentle Giant finds Friends

It was a normal day in the guild hall of Unchained Soul, one that wouldn't be considered normal anywhere else due to its members. Kurogane was walking towards the dining hall for breakfast and then he came across one of his guildmates, Atsuko. "Um...Good morning Atsuko?" Kurogane said with a nervous smile. It was quite clear that Atsuko was trying to hold back from punching Kurogane because of her androphobia but to no avail...

"Kyaaa!" She exclaimed before punching him square in the gut with full force before running away. She was able to apologize though as she did. This was considered completely normal here. Usually, it'd be either Eugene Woodland or Kurogane himself that would take the blows from this girl. Knowing that she didn't mean to do it out of malice, Kurogane continued on to the dining room peacefully, albeit with some pain in his abdomen. It made him wonder how she got so strong as Kurogane had gone through tons of training and would normally not be affected by a normal punch. He entered the room to see Mune and Eriko already chatting and seemingly having already finished breakfast.

"Ah, good morning Kurogane-san." Eriko said while hand signing before bringing out to him a plate of bacon, eggs, and other such breakfast foods. Mune waved a hand in greeting as well. For once, he wasn't wearing the bandages that he usually had on but didn't really need. He didn't have any injuries nor was his face that ugly, it was actually quite handsome, that he needed bandages around his head but for some reason he usually had them on.

"Good morning Eriko, Mune." Kurogane said politely as he began to dig into his food. As always, the food made by Eriko tasted great. It was then they heard they heard tired sounds coming from the hallway.

"Good morning." Another member of the guild as well as the strategist, Ren said with a tired voice as he dragged himself to the table looking almost like a zombie albeit with a bit more color with the bags under his eyes.

"Ren, were you staying up all night doing research again?" Kurogane asked with concern in his voice as Eriko brought Ren breakfast and a large cup of coffee.

"No, video games." Ren replied simply as he put sugar in his already sweetened coffee and drank down the whole thing in one gulp.

"You shouldn't be playing that much video games, especially at night." Mune said, lecturing the slightly younger man who still acted like a teenager sometimes.

"With all the work I have to do around here, how else am I supposed to keep up with the other players?" Ren said weakly in response as Eriko refilled his coffee.

"Even if you fell behind, wouldn't you be able to catch up in no time flat with your gaming skill anyway?" Eugene said, coming out of nowhere and already sitting next to Kurogane with a plate of breakfast in front of him.

"...."

"Ahhhhh!" Everyone else shouted in shock as they did not notice him at all. Ren actually accidentally spilled his piping hot coffee on his shirt, causing him to scream even more from getting burned until Mune used his Temperature Magic to cool him down.

"Where the heck did you come from!?! How long have you been here!?!" Ren exclaimed, now fully awake.

"I've been here the whole time." Eugene said simply. "When I came down here, Mune and Eriko were already at the table eating breakfast so I greeted them and sat down. Eriko then reflexively handed me a plate of breakfast. Later on, Kurogane came in and sat next to me and then you came down looking all tired."

How are we not used to this yet? Everyone else thought in their heads, wondering how he kept walking around them without them noticing. In Eriko's case, she was wondering how she was able to give Eugene a plate of food without noticing him. It scared her a little. He really was deserving of his alias, "The Ghost Dragon Slayer". This was another thing that was (sort of) considered normal in this guild.

"Looks like you're causing a ruckus as usual." Said a young woman with long blue hair entering the room with a small smile. This was Shana, the guild's sniper.

"I didn't really do anything here." Eugene said in defense. In a way, he was right so Shana couldn't do much else but sigh at this as she sat down to breakfast.

"Good morning!!" An energetic voice came from the hall and a pink haired young woman entered the room full of energy. This was Sakura, the guild's second in command.

"So we got missions today?" Shana asked as she put a forkful of eggs into her mouth. She asked this because Sakura would normally come into the dining hall at the side of the guild master Ryuunosuke, whom she was obviously infatuated with but this time, she came alone.

"Aw, Why are you acting so cold Shana-chan?" Sakura said with a pout before brightening up again. "Indeed, we have some missions today." She said as she passed out the assignments for each person except for Eriko as she did not usually do any combat. Sakura also passed one to Atsuko whom was hiding behind the corner. Thanks to her training with Eugene and Kurogane, Atsuko can now be within 5 feet of a male without having the urge to hit them. "Ah, and Eriko-chan? Would you mind going grocery shopping today? It seems we're starting to run low."

"Of course, I'd be happy to!" Eriko said happily as she hand signed. She was always eager to help in whatever way she could since she was well aware of how dangerous the missions the others were going on were. She wanted to lessen their burdens even if by only a little bit.

"Don't worry Mune, my mission is in the same town as the one I'm sure Eriko is thinking of shopping in." Kurogane said to assure Mune who was quite protective of her. "I'll be within range to help her if necessary."

"Fine, stay safe Eriko." Mune said before getting up, wrapping the bandages around his head and set out to leave from the Dokodemo Door.

"Of course! Have a safe mission!" Eriko said happily as she waved him goodbye.

"I wish Ryu-chan and I would also act as lovey dovey." Sakura said with another pout.

"Try actually getting him to fall in love with you first." Eugene said with a teasing grin as he and Shana left next.

"Now then, let's get going." Kurogane said to Eriko as he set the coordinates on the Dokodemo Door. After it activated, the two of them went through and walked into a town. "I'll be going on my mission then. Let's meet back here after we're both done." He said to Eriko who nodded in response and the two went their separate ways, Kurogane going to take down a dark guild on hi own and Eriko who was going grocery shopping.