I did get it. In a roundabout way, Eiji was offering me to live upstairs with him. He had told me that he lived here on the way to the dojo on the way over from school. Genji had a wife and child in his home. They were not part of the ninja world, so he did not want Eiji with them. However, they were close and he gave Eiji a space to stay. The relationship they had was pretty deep. I wondered what the reason was for that. For some reason or another, Eiji did not want to say it directly. I was not expecting him to be such a softie. I smiled and said "I kind of do need a space to stay. Can I live upstairs with you? It would be great." He nodded and said "Of course. You're one of us now." I learned that the twins also lived there. While Genji was an attentive master and guardian of the kids that came here, he was not so naive as to make the upstairs accommodations co-ed. Especially with kunoichi being in the mix. The one rule Genji had was that there were no females allowed. He was not that stupid. Allowing that to happen would be tantamount to hosting a brothel. I was fine. I was a guy like them.
Genji looked at each of us and said "Alright brats, I'm going. You know the deal. Don't cause a scene. Open up the dojo before you leave for school." He then turned and left us alone for the night. Genji was the real leader of the group and it showed. "Alright newbie. We have to get another cot out for you. While we're doing that, you can get the food ready." he said. That was fine with me. I went to the canteen area and found some easy canned food. "I hope they like ravioli." I said to myself as I put them on the small stove. The 3 came down around the time I was ready to plate the ravioli. There was some soda in the fridge. I poured everyone a glass. I knew the food was not a real source of sustenance. Because of that, I never like eating much in VR. No one questioned me about it as they were scarfing down as much as they possibly could. Hikaru and Hibiki were both looking at me. One was simply smiling and positive. The other was doing the opposite. I looked at the smiling Hibiki first. "Hey, Hibiki. I see you peeking. How's it going?" I asked. He just said "I'm going to thank you for today."
Hearing that, both Eiji and Hikaru turned to look at him. "Take it easy with Shiro, okay!? He's a ladies man." Eiji said. I did not know what that was supposed to mean. He was probably referencing an inside joke that they had. If I was supposed to be concerned, I did not see it. Hibiki did not seem deterred at all. "I'll figure that out for myself though. Not everyone is as strong as you." he teased. Hikaru said "Stop! Shiro is not going to be your partner for long. He's a shinobi. We're kunoichi. Besides, he was the one that allowed you to get so hurt in the first place." he complained. Hibiki shook his head. He argued "It's better that we branch out anyway. Keeps us on our toes and expands the skill set." That made Hikaru just stew into his ravioli. I finished eating and put the dishes in the sink. I was going to leave when Eiji stopped me. "Shiro, I don't know who the fuck raised you, but you're in our house now! Get your ass back there and wash your dishes." I looked at him and nodded. Washing a single plate and cup was not hard at all. I did it and went back to the table. The others were finishing.
I was waiting for them to finish washing and drying their plates together. When they were done, they walked to the door and looked at me. "You can't go to sleep on a full stomach. That's how you get fat." Eiji said. "We do some light exercises and stretches before bed." Hibiki added before they left. Hikaru turned back as they continued. It was clear he disapproved of me. "You coming or what?" he asked. I got up and followed them to the mats. Doing the exercise was not hard and after it was over, they led me to where the cots were. Each of us had a cot to our own. We were lined in a row. Eiji was furthest from the door. Then was Hibiki and Hikaru. I was closest to the door and the sheets were the cleanest of the bunch. Lights went out and Eiji got into his bed. We settled in and said goodnight to one another. I was not going to sleep here or anything though. It just was not something that I was really feeling at the moment. You technically could do it, but it could be damaging to your mental health if you made it a habit. This world was not that different from real life. I was not really at ease here.
