[ToxicShadow]

How long had it been since "the game," was no longer just a game...?

There were a number of heroes that had already completely forgotten how many days it had been, and there were some that just could not be bothered to remember for one reason or another. Perhaps, they just did not want to think about it.

Wakizashi, as he'd ended up being called in this world, was one of the folks that didn't really care about the former reality. That was, for him, this was his reality now.

[ToxicShadow]

This was the world in which he was living his life. Thus, he would live, without being hindered too much but thoughts of his previous reality. As there was currently know known way to return to his former world, there was no sense in dwelling on that fact and becoming miserable. If he ever wanted to return, if it ever became a possibility, than he needed to live here and now. And, one day, it was possible that he'd get there.

[ToxicShadow]

Besides, if he were within his former reality, the person walking beside him now wouldn't even exist.

It wasn't that she was a romantic partner, or anything like that, but she was... a friend. Friendship was, as odd as it may have sounded, not really something he was permitted to have in his past life. Servants, underlings, allies, yes, but not really friends. He didn't even have much of a family, given that his family were his superiors, for the time being.

[ToxicShadow]

Could you even be lovers with something that had started out as nothing more than a program? Just a bit of crappy code that was designed and written up to simply to be a healing bot character for an actual player?

Wakizashi hadn't put that much thought into it, in all honesty, since he didn't look at her that way, but it was, perhaps, a question that one person or another would ask, at some point in time.

[ToxicShadow]

As it was, only a select few were aware that Kokoro wasn't a typical hero, as in, a hero that was previously a human player that got seemingly pulled into the game. Most that encountered her just thought that she was a little bit unusual or, perhaps, just a little too into acting out her role, given that one of her most common greetings was, "Do you require healing?"

She could hold conversations well enough, but that was still considered a bit odd.

[ToxicShadow]

"... Sir?" Koko called out quietly for the fourth time, staring at the person walking beside her whom was dressed up, as one or another might say, similar to a pirate. To be honest, she wasn't really sure what pirate's attire looked like, but took everyone else's word for it, and assumed it looked like the clothes that he wore. That was the only reference she had.

Whatever had been preoccupying his mind was shoved away when Wakizashi finally heard her calling out to him.

[ToxicShadow]

Though he never slowed in his steps, he glanced over at her. "What is it?"

"Didn't we not only come out here for information, but also groceries?" Koko questioned. She was quite certain that their task at hand involved both things, although Sir had been entirely focused on gathering information, seeming to completely forget that they also needed to secure provisions for everyone of their group.

As things were, they were walking right by all of the food stalls in the market street.

[ToxicShadow]

She hadn't quite stopped walking, but she was slowing her pace down, and without much realizing it, Wakizashi started matching her pace automatically. "Oh, yeah, that's right," he answered her very clearly. Normally, he might have just left it at, "oh yeah," but answering things properly seemed to make things a little bit easier for her to understand. Or, at least, understand quickly. Since she was once just a program, it was sometimes a little more difficult for her to pick up on the nuances of conversations and the likes.

[ToxicShadow]

It was only a matter of hours after all of the once human players had somehow appeared within the world of the game as their avatars that first, horrible day, to realize they felt hunger, same as their previous reality. And, if they did not eat, it would grow worse, more painful, they'd grow weak, all of it. They would have all symptoms of starvation if they did not eat, even in these new forms in this new world.

[ToxicShadow]

And no one risked letting it go beyond that. It was easily speculated that they could die if they did not fulfill that bodily need, and no one actually wanted to find out if it was true or not. Or, at least, no one was willing to suffer and sacrifice themselves to find out.

While it had now been discovered that death did not mean in the end in this world, the heroes would still resurrect at a shine or could be revived by hero magic, death was still not in any way pleasant.

[ToxicShadow]

Of course death was painful. That was to be expected. Just like in their former reality, they felt pain, just the same. Getting attacked by monsters or PKs didn't just lower one's hit points (their health bars), but it actually hurt. It was serious motivation to become more skilled, to take less hits.

"Well, everyone is waiting," the girl pointed out, after the one beside her said nothing else nor made any movements to actually go look at the stalls around them.

[ToxicShadow]

In her case, when she felt hunger for the very firs time, she had absolutely no idea what was wrong. All things considered, suddenly being aware of everything, of herself, of her surroundings, her body, other people, everything, was hard enough to take. It was a miraculous and exciting, but also very, very frightening. At first, she felt lost, and sort of just wandered around aimlessly in the city streets, while she witnessed many others shouting, crying, and just freaking out.

[ToxicShadow]

Kokoro had been confused and curious, more than afraid.

But when hunger finally set in, it took her awhile to realize it was her, that it wasn't some sort of outside thing. And, out of the human players, she waited much longer before finally eating something. She only got the idea when she started to feel different. Her stomach in pain, her body felt weak and trembled, her head felt like it was spinning.

But she saw others eating.

[ToxicShadow]

Now, it was against her rules to spend any copper, silver or gold pieces, any currency, and anything like food, so she wasn't even sure what to do at first. She was only really supposed to buy things like mana potions and health potions, and maybe herbs and the likes; all things that related to her role as a healer. But, in the end, she went against the usual, broke the rules, and used the money on something she wanted.

[ToxicShadow]

Turns out, food was something she now needed, as she soon found out. Eating for the first time was strange. Tasting anything for the first time was strange. But it was wonderful, and not just because the food filled her stomach and made the pain, weakness, and dizziness go away.

"Any ideas on what we should get to eat?" she questioned, as she began to consider their options. She wasn't all too picky, given that food was still a pretty new and surprising thing to her.