As soon as he'd logged in, Toto got the message from Shishi, though he was reluctant to meet with him. What if he wanted to kick him out of the guild because of his attitude? What if he wanted to make up? He was split between the two as he entered Matoki and began making his way to the clock tower.

He stood at the base of it for a long time before he finally began climbing the stairs to the top. He could feel himself shaking more and more with every step he took. He wasn't sure it he could handle being kicked out of the guild - then again, perhaps Shishi could be reasoned with.

He reached the top finally and found himself staring at Shishi's back as the other gazed out at the town below. "I'm here," He announced finally, waiting for the bad news to hit him.

"Took you long enough." Shishi responded dryly as he'd seen the avatar when he'd been making his way towards the tower. He knew the other was nervous about the reason he'd messaged him so suddenly and out of the blue as well. Hopefully he wouldn't be for long.

Before Toto could say anything to his response, Shishi had turned around to face him and was holding his hands up in a calm down sort of way. "I didn't call you here to fight or anything..." He explained, a sigh leaving him. "I actually wanted to apologize for how I reacted the other day and... explain to you why I was like that. If you'll hear me out of course."

Toto's shoulders slumped in relief and he stepped closer, leaning on the opening of the window. He looked over Shishi, curious as to what he would say, but he certainly wanted to hear it and even apologize himself for his own behavior. "I'm listening," he replied simply, nodding for Shishi to continue. "You have my full attention."

Shishi heaved an inward sigh, relieved that Toto was willing to hear him out about his behaviour though, in all honesty, it seemed that the other was just as relieved about what he'd said. This was particularly surprising considering this fight had been awful and he'd been angry enough that first day that kicking Toto out of the guild wouldn't have made him feel the tiniest bit of regret.

Thankfully he hadn't, because not too long afterwards he'd gotten pissed at himself for even considering such a thing in the first place. 

"Well..." Shishi started, slightly fidgeting in place and keeping his eyes focused on the stone windowsill. "I... I guess I should explain about Jiji first off." He nodded, eyebrows furrowing, "You see, offline I've known her for a long time - we grew up together. We're very close and she knows me well, you see, so... that's why I acted like I did when you started treating her like she was... nothing and not appreciating her help. She's actually the reason I messaged you because she helped me realize why you were acting so pissed off that day." He explained, glancing out of the corner of his eyes at Toto.

At the new information, Toto's mind reeled. He'd thought they may have been close, but not the we-grew-up-together close. He instantly felt like the worst person ever - he'd treated someone who had been Shishi's friend growing up like complete crap all because he was jealous over a simple wording mistake. He looked down and nodded his head for Shishi to continue, clenching his fists out of Shishi's sight.

"Don't feel bad about it." Shishi said, as if knowing exactly what Toto's current thoughts were about, which he could really tell considering how the other was hanging his head. That was how Toto usually looked when he felt bad about something.

He smiled slightly, "I didn't expect you know about Jiji because I hardly ever tell you or any of others about my offline life. Just forget about it and if you really want to, you can make it up to her by buying her some joke armor. She collects it all the time." He chuckled, rolling his eyes upwards. 

Shaking his head then, Shishi pushed himself to get back on topic. "As I was saying... she made me realize my mistake that day - how I introduced you as a guild member but her as a friend." He murmured, frowning.

"I honestly didn't think it would be a big deal but it was and I apologize for it. I've never told any of you this, but I have a hard time opening up to people and that's why I started the guild in the first place. But... I realize that I'm still keeping everyone at distance." 

He looked at Toto, "It's not that I don't consider you a friend, To, I just have a hard time showing it and saying it. I'm a pabo, I guess." He chuckled softly.

Toto gave a small smile after listening to Shishi, a soft snicker leaving him before he turned to Shishi and nodded. "You are an idiot... but I think we're all allowed those moments, right?" He tilted his head some as he thought.

"And I think I had my own moment of stupidity too. Jiji was nice and I treated her badly; even worse, I showed my and decided to be a brat about it without giving it some good thought beforehand."

"I'm sorry about last week. I just... hope you know now that I'm your friend - everyone in the guild are our friends. We don't have to know everything going on in life offline, chances are we're probably not going to say a whole lot about it anyways - but it's good to have friends around that know when you've had a bad day so they can help make it better." He nodded his head gently.

Shishi offered Toto a smile, nodding, "I know now, of course. I just... I'm still getting used to the idea of it all. I'm slow when it comes to things like this. But thank you for understanding - it means a lot." He murmured, a faint pink hue to his cheeks now. He shook his head and patted Toto on the shoulder.

"And don't worry so much about Ji, okay? She told me herself that she had a lot of fun with us and was looking forward to the next time. It might be fun to pit you two in a sparring match together sometime - it would be interesting to see who comes out the winner." He smirked, the look bordering on devilish.

Toto gave a smirk, clanking his gauntlets together and then fist pumping the air. "I'll win for sure, you can count on that," He beamed then and sat on the ledge of the window, gazing at Shishi.

"Hey, why don't we go and look at the tournaments... I remember there was a bulletin posted on the forums about a tag-team tournament sometime soon. We should sign up for it, if you're up for the challenge that is," Toto hummed the last part nonchalantly, inwardly snickering because he knew exactly how Shishi would react.

"Yah! What is that supposed to mean, you punk?" Shishi huffed, mocking annoyance as he nudged Toto. "I'm always up for the challenge or did you forget what my hobbies consisted of before I made the guild?" He questioned, popping the younger slightly on the head.

"Some fan you are... how can you even ask me that?" He grumbled to himself, crossing his arms over his chest. Two could play that game.

Toto snorted and stood, crossing his arms behind his head. "Well I know I'm your number one fan because I also know that your hobbies haven't changed one bit. You're still into tournaments you just don't enter them much anymore because you have yet to experience a challenge like they once were."

"If they didn't all attack with the same method then it would be more challenging." Shishi nodded sagely. He smiled one-sidedly at Toto then, "If I didn't know any better, To, I would think you followed me when I check the boards for tournaments. Not that it matters much anyway because I'm not about to deny I love competing - especially not to my number one fan." He patted Toto on the shoulder.

"Let's go check out the boards. Perhaps they'll have something there worth looking at. I await the day I have a competitor that will actually give me a decent match." He smirked, eyes flashing almost hungrily at the idea.

Toto slowly began walking down the stairs only to turn and give Shishi a smirk. "And what if one day that was me?" Before he could answer however, Toto continued walking, smiling triumphantly to himself. One day he would definitely be on the level to challenge Shishi to a match - it'd always been his dream to battle against his idol in one-on-one battle.

Shishi raised an eyebrow at the question, honestly surprised because Toto had never once, in all the time they'd known one another, voiced that he might've wanted to battle against him. Toto was already quite a formidable foe as it was and with a little bit of leveling he could rival Shishi on his level. Toto might just be the fight he was looking for after all.

He smiled to himself with that thought in mind and followed after Toto, murmuring, "I may just have to take you up on that offer." He kept his voice soft enough that the other couldn't hear it, however, and instead ruffled Toto's hair when he reached him.

"Come on you brat, we need to get you acquainted with how real men fight." He smirked, ignoring the other's protests as he led the way to the tournament boards.

Alrighty! I promised I'd answer some questions/comments~ So here goes!

1) Yongguk and Yongnam -- As it's recently been revealed, Yongguk and his brother are not living together. I won't go into much detail on that, but it'll be explained in detail later, but it plays a very big role in why Yongguk is like he is.

2) Yongguk's identity -- I have to say, a lot of you are very excited to see Junhong's reaction to finding out his idol online is his crush in real life! I'm very happy :D Sadly, he won't be revealed until much, much later. Several chapters more to go before then -- we do promise that it's worth it though~

3) Swedish word -- Okay, I have to say we're not Swedish. Our name for this story was originally just Matoki, which we found very boring. So instead we went onto this website and scoured the different words and meanings for something that made sense. Smultronstället fit with the meaning of Matoki Online to the six boys -- it's their special place for solace and relaxation; free of worry or stress (or... is it?)

4) Poster -- I'm not sure if some of you have noticed or not, but the poster has gone through a couple of revamps, mostly because of my sister and I being indecisive or because of the quality of the pictures. Right now, the poster will be staying the same. Annnnd for the background? Yes, it's Mac Anu! It's a special place for me because it's my favorite root town from the .hack series~

5) Hyosung's age and noona -- Regarding her age, we've left her without an age because we don't want to confuse anyone or get confused ourselves -- as with the other teachers, they have no set age. Now, as for noona -- with her status and obviously older age compared to the students, Hyosung seems to be one to prefer being called noona over something else, yes? Hence -- noona.

6) Jaebum -- Okay, I feel really bad that I didn't clarify this earlier, but Jaebum (Jongup's older brother) is Jay Park. We noticed in a few pictures that Jongup and Jay have similar structures in their faces, now you may or may not see it personally, but we did.

Annnnnnd that has been Smultronstället's Q&A -- if you have any other questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments and I'll answer them in the next chapter!! \0