Chapter Text
Scene 1 - Pre-separation
Soukoku was known as the fiercest duo in all of Liria for over 2 years. Let it be known that almost all of their deaths during that time could be attributed to one half of the team's obssession with "joining the afterlife" with his darling partner.
Dazai (as Shuuji) and Chuuya (as Arahabaki) on a dungeon crawling expedition, Dazai leading the way because he's the one with trap detection skills. Chuuya follows behind as Dazai leads them into a small, concealed room.
Moments after they step inside, the door slams shut.
Chuuya, running back to the door: The hell?
Dazai: 😏
Chuuya, with mounting dread: ...Shuuji?
Dazai: you ~ can't ~ do ~
Chuuya: No.
Dazai: a ~ dooouble ~ suicide
Chuuya: Shuuji, I swear to God...
Dazai, pointing a finger up at the ceiling: all ~ on ~ your ~ own
Chuuya, looking up to see the eight glowing red eyes of an Apex Broodmother staring down at them from the ceiling: ...
Dazai: it ~ takes ~ twooooo
Chuuya: I fucking hate you.
The broodmother drops down and slaughters them both, sending them to the deadzone where they wait out the respawn timer.
Scene 2 - Pre-separation
Dazai (as Shuuji) is running late for his and Chuuya's (as Arahabaki) daily playtime. As Chuuya waits just outside the Capital for Shuuji to show up, he notices a newbie about to die to some low level monsters. Having nothing better to do and feeling sorry for him, he goes over.
He takes out the monsters for the guy and gives him some advice about places that are better suited to his level. The guy thanks him profusely and as Shuuji finally shows up, Chuuya bids him farewell. Later, he receives a friend request and accepts it, thinking nothing of it.
Being on someone's list allows you to see their general location (the area they're in) and suddenly newbie guy just keeps showing up to talk to him whenever he and Shuuji are in the capital and it's a little annoying but Chuuya gets it. It's rough being new!
It lasts 3 days.
Chuuya: Uh.
Dazai: What is it?
Chuuya: Remember beastman noob that kept showing up?
Dazai: What about him?
Chuuya: Well, he just randomly unfriended me.
Dazai, scoffing: So what, don't tell me you liked that guy?
Chuuya: Well, no but... I wonder what happened...
Dazai: Nothing you can prove.
Chuuya: ...
Dazai: 😏
Scene 3: Pre-separation - the day Shuuji and Arahabaki claimed their home
Shuuji and Baki knew when the update that allowed players to build homes would drop and they'd been preparing for weeks. See, Shuuji had gone over the information multiple times and he knew there was a decent chance that there would be one fatal flaw in the system that would not be overlooked long, so they needed to move fast to secure their place at the top.
The way the update was set to work was that players could build homes in almost any location, provided the location met the requirements: enough space to actually build the home, not inside a town (although there were actually houses for players to buy in them) and most importantly, not a single enemy within a set radius. Said radius being fairly significant, it meant that players had to really work for it, but also that spawn rich areas where players usually farmed would remain free of houses since the respawn rate would make it physically impossible to meet the last requirement.
Shuuji was banking on the devs having too much trust into their system and their bad habit of pushing out content without having thoroughly tested all possibilities.
See, the elf had a plan.
He and Baki were going to build their home at the top of the highest peak in the whole of Liria. The upper half of Okochu Mountain was known for being a deadly area filled with creatures ranked A and S.
Now the thing about the creature system was that the higher the rank... the higher the respawn timer was as well. According to Shuuji's calculations, if they could slay every creature in the upper half of the mountain, starting with the S classes with longer timers, within 4 hours, it would actually be possible for them to meet the requirements for home building.
In preparation, they had gathered a ridiculous amount of gear and spells geared towards efficient mayhem as well as ways to flush out creatures such as the rock worms whom tended to remain hidden.
When the day came, they were ready, and they had a rather literal blast. The Game Master who came to see them when all was said and done, however, did not.
GM: You guys do realize you're going to have to move, right?
Shuuji: And why is that, exactly?
GM: You can't build your home at the top of Okochu Mountain.
Baki: Why? The system allows it.
GM: It's Okochu Mountain!
Shuuji: So glad we could establish that. Your point?
GM:... This is literally a quest location.
Baki: We're more than happy to accommodate questers who need to pass by.
Shuuji, nodding along: For a fee, of course.
Baki, glaring at his partner: That's not-
GM: Guys. No. You're moving and that's final.
Baki:...
Shuuji:...
GM:...
Shuuji throws his arm around Baki shoulders and pulls him in against his side, squinting at the Game Master.
Shuuji: This is because we're two men wanting to live together, isn't it?
Baki just stares at his friend in confusion.
GM: What?! NO!
Shuuji, raising a hand to Baki's face to turn it towards him: Can you believe we're being discriminated against? In this day and age?!
Baki: wha-
GM: THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH-
Shuuji, now holding his partner's face with both hands, puts their foreheads together and ominously says: Don't you worry my dear. They won't get away with this. We'll reach out to Every. Single. News. Site.
By now Baki is just staring blankly at his friend. He's caught on to what he's trying to do, obviously, but it'll never wor-
GM, with a deep sigh: Look, just... let me talk to the admins, ok?
The Game Master leaves without letting either of them put another word in.
Baki: ... I want you to know that you're an idiot.
Shuuji: I don't think I should tolerate that kind of talk in a relationship.
Baki: We're not even-
Shuuji, pushing him away and posing dramatically: That's it! We're over, this is me breaking up with you!
Baki: 🤨
Scene 4 - Pre-separation: 3 weeks after scene 3
It's been 3 weeks since the Game Master told Shuuji and Baki that he would speak to the admins about their housing situation and they've yet to hear back. At this point, Arahabaki is cautiously optimistic that they'll get to keep the place. Shuuji, for his part, is confident that they will. They would have already heard back otherwise.
It's been really nice having this place so far. The view is incredible and the Elf absolutely loves how isolated the place is. He's never been much of a people person, preferring to be alone with his thoughts than be surrounded by people who are eventually going to leave anyway. There is one exception to that of course. Ever since he met Arahabaki over a year ago, he's been... changing. Interacting with others isn't quite so hard when his friend is around. He's still not a people person. Not by a long shot, but... he might just be a Baki person. And this? Having a place that's completely, entirely theirs, well, it makes his heart soar, if he's honest. The one thing he could do without is the occasional quester that comes in search of the Dragon Maiden, but what can you do.
Beyond the view and the company though, there is one thing about this place that truly satisfies Shuuji's admittedly large ego. They are literally on top of the world. It's only fitting that the greatest duo in all of Liria would live above everyone and everything else, where they belong.
As for Baki, well, he loves the place too and he doesn't mind the questers at all. In fact, he quite enjoys talking to them since the people who do that questline are usually experienced players with plenty of stories to tell. After 3 weeks of living here though, there is one thing he wishes would stop and that's Shuuji's gloating. He's so damn proud that they pulled one over the admins and he has not been quiet about it. The redhead is really starting to worry it'll get back to the powers that be and that they'll be forced to relocate after all.
When the emergency maintenance came a few days later, the Cambion's fears proved to be unfounded. What happened instead was, according to Shuuji, even worse.
~
Standing at the edge of the cliff, a Cambion and an Elf are staring off into the not so far distance at something that was most definitely not there the day before.
Shuuji: ... What the fuck is that?
Baki: ... Pretty sure that's a mountain.
Shuuji, glaring at his partner: I can see that Baki!
Baki: Well why did you ask?
Shuuji: I... whatever, let's go!
Baki: Where?
Shuuji: Where do you think?
Arahabaki sighs in resignation. This is going to be a long evening.
~
It takes almost 3 hours to reach the top of the new mountain and between all the monsters and the obnoxious amount of curious players present, Shuuji is about ready to throw himself off once they finally reach it.
Arahabaki expected his friend to start looking around for new quest triggers or items once they made it, but to his surprise, the first thing the Elf did was pull up his menu and then he just... kinda glared at it?
Baki: Shuuji...? What's wrong?
Shuuji, in a bone chilling tone: Baki.
Baki, carefully: ...yeah?
Shuuji: This mountain.
Arahabaki waits with bathed breath for his partner to reveal what great secret he's uncovered.
Shuuji, turning to look at his partner and fixing him with a grave, angry look : It's 21 centimeters higher than Okochu mountain.
Arahabaki tries. He really does. But in that instant, a laugh bubbles up and even as Shuuji glares at him, he's powerless to stop it, because his friend looks so damn offended by that.
Shuuji, seething: This is not funny! It's... it's abuse of power! Okochu Mountain has always been the tallest peak, they can't just change the whole lore of Liria out of pettiness, Baki!
Baki, doubled over and laughing hysterically: HA! P-pot... Kettle...
Shuuji, squinting: What's that supposed to mean?!
Baki, catching his breath: Nothing!
Shuuji:...
Baki: Come on Shuuji, let's just go home. It's just a couple centimeters. Size isn't everything, you know.
When Arahabaki said those words, he had no idea that years later, they would come back to haunt him.
~
Bonus scene
When the admins added the new mountain, they also made it the new location for the Dargon Maiden quest. Unfortunately, not every player realized this and those following outdated online guides rather than the in-game quest hints always found themselves atop the wrong mountain.
Player, talking to Arahabaki and Shuuji: Hey do you guys know where the Dragon Maiden is? I read she's supposed to be on the tallest peak of Liria but...
Baki, sympathetic because getting up here is really rough for people of this guy's level: Sorry man, bu-
Shuuji, blasting the player off the mountain with a wind spell and sending him to his death: Your Maiden is on another Mountain.
Baki, exasperated: ... Seriously?
Shuuji: What?
Baki: Was that necessary?
Shuuji, with a vindictive grin: Nope~