After going through more of his messages, Gray was down to his last two unread messages.
"How did I miss this one?" Gray said to himself, as he honestly never expected to hear from her. "Kelly Lagerty, I wonder what she wants."
Gray opened the message and read it to himself.
"Gray, first of all, congratulations on your team getting a highlight in the promotional video at launch again. I also hope you changed your team name even though I'm sure 'Enter Team Name Here' was unique."
Gray remembered when he had messed up on the team name and they had used the default entry of 'Enter Team Name Here' for a day or two.
Kelly's message continued.
"Second, I know a tournament is coming up and the military will allow their top teams to join to reward them. I would like to work together with your team for the 16 versus 16 tournament bracket. I would like to show the military that players will be fine without forcing them in to the military."
This alarmed Gray slightly since his team never went up against the military. Giacobbe, Gray later found out, ended up dropping out of the Military immediately after graduating from the Academy so he didn't really count.
Gray immediately replied to Kelly's message.
"Great to hear from you Kelly! Thanks, my team has worked hard and will continue to do so. We would love to work with your team, let me know when we can meet up!"
Gray sent the message as soon as it was done and realized he probably should've put some more thought into it. Not only had Gray forgot to ask his team if they wanted to work with Kelly's team, but he also forgot to consider how they would meet up if the main military base was located in what was once Western Germany.
"Eh, it'll work out somehow" Gray told himself.
The last message was from Verona. A wry smile appeared on Gray's face as he started to think maybe she really did want him. As usual, Gray's delusions were swept away once he started reading the message.
"Gray, I know you can get in touch with Gene, just let him know that I am sorry for not calling him back and I do want to see him again, but only because I believe it is disrespectful to say what I need to say in a message. If you could take me to see him in game, I would appreciate it."
Gray furrowed his brows and had a bad premonition about what Verona wanted to see Major Valen for, and why did she want him to help? Couldn't she just have messaged Major Valen to meet up directly?
"Well, she might have her reasons, I will try to help her out."
Gray sent Major Valen a message stating that Verona wanted to arrange to meet up and asked what time worked best for him. No less than 3 seconds after the message was sent did Gray receive a reply from Major Valen.
"Anytime! Anywhere!"
Gray felt a little pity for Major Valen as he seemed quite eager... actually he seemed a little too eager. He sent Major Valen another message that said he needed to relax as Verona seemed like the type to not like clingy and over eager men. Gray also sent a message to Verona that said nights and weekends work better for Gene (Major Valen), but he can be flexible if absolutely necessary.
Gray considered that a decent way to say that Major Valen was available anytime while still not sounding desperate.
Major Valen sent Gray a reply thanking him for his concern and he would try to relax.
10 minutes later, and 32 ignored messages from Major Valen that all simply said "Anything yet?", Gray finally got a reply from Verona.
"Thank you, I am at Laguna Base in game, it is a short trip North and West from that city we all met up in. I will send you my coordinates. You'll have to come get me as we were banned from renting vehicles for a month since they claim we stole a truck from the depot that night."
Gray laughed and couldn't wait to ask her about that since she didn't seem like someone that would make a mistake like that.
Looking at his GPS, Gray checked the distance to get from where he was to the coordinates Verona sent. "3 hour round trip... 6 total if she wants me to take her back to her base."
Considering how much driving he would have to do, Gray felt like he was truly getting the short end of the stick on this deal. Having Major Valen owe him a huge favor for doing it would be great though so Gray checked the time and saw it was almost noon.
"Well, I can tell the team we're taking a day off and that I have to head off base for a bit."
Verona and Gray arranged a time for Gray to pick up Verona at Laguna Base and then Gray informed Major Valen that Verona would come by their base mid-afternoon.
Gray got a quick meal, told his team they could do whatever for the day and that he had to do an errand for Major Valen, and then went to Major Valen's office to inform him that he was going to be on his way to pick up Verona.
Gray knocked on Major Valen's door but got no reply. He heard some music coming from the inside and smelled something kind of odd from inside. Pushing the door opened, Gray was immediately overwhelmed by the smell of so much cologne that he almost gagged.
In front of a mirror, Major Valen adjusted his tie. He was fully decked out in a dress suit and, from the smell that assaulted Gray, gallons of cologne. Soft music played was coming from Major Valen's desk and a box of a few unlit candles sat open, ready to be placed.
Gray face-palmed and was about to attempt and scold Major Valen like a puppy that had just dug out the kitchen trash and made a huge mess, but he figured that wouldn't help any.
Gray walked out of Major Valen's office and sent a call to Stacia; fortunately, she picked up fairly quick.
"Gray, what's going on?"
"Stacia, I need your help… well, to be more specific, Major Valen will need your help. Can you spare some time and come by his office?"
"Sure! Xyra, Yurika, and I were just about to go relax in the rec room, are they allowed to come?"
Gray thought about it for a moment and realized this would actually be beneficial for him to get the 3 girls involved, as it would clear up any misunderstanding that could happen if Yurika spotted Gray returning to the base with Verona.
"Yeah, sure! What is it that he needs?"
"He's going to meet up with Verona later casually, I'm about to leave to pick her up if that tells you anything. You'll understand what I need when you get here."
"…O-Ok…" Stacia said nervously.
"Thank you." Gray said then hung up with Stacia.
Gray walked back in to Major Valen's office and kicked the door hard enough so that Major Valen would notice him.
"Corporal! Perfect timing! How do I look?" Major Valen said while exuding a degree of confidence that could be considered admirable.
"Sir… I'm on my way to go pick up Verona, just wanted to inform you. Don't take it personally, sir, but I've sent for reinforcements. They will help you get ready!"
"Good! I wasn't sure how to style my hair and couldn't pick out a good bouquet of flowers on my own."
"Sir… just relax until they get here." Gray was pretty sure this man hadn't had any romantic relationships in a very long time, assuming he's even had some.
"Alright Corporal, I was getting a tad excited so I've been starting to feel light-headed anyways."
Gray didn't want to tell him that the light-headedness was from the buckets of cologne that almost smelled like old gasoline.
Gray walked out of Major Valen's office again to help clear his own head and saw Stacia, Yurika, and Xyra walking towards Major Valen's office.
"Hey! Why didn't you tell us old hard ass wanted help earlier? We would be happy to help him!" Yurika said happily.
"It's… it's not as simple as it seems…" Gray said smugly. "You'll know what I mean when you see him."
This caused all 3 girls to look at each other in a slightly confused manner and then approach the door.
"I need to go pick up Verona, thanks again girls!" Gray said quickly before Stacia opened the door to Major Valen's office.
Yurika then stood expectantly in front of Gray and she held out her hand. Gray reached out and gave her hand a squeeze before turning to leave.
"Wait! Where is it?" Yurika yelled at him.
"Where is what?" Gray said now confused.
"You know… a good morning… and now goodbye… kiss…" Yurika struggled to say 'kiss' which Gray found quite endearing. Yurika always seemed so unrestrained, but she was actually quite shy when it came to love and affection.
Gray pulled her towards him and they both closed their eyes as they met with a sweet kiss. Behind them both Xyra and Stacia were looking on with a touch of jealousy.
As soon as Gray left, Stacia sighed and said to Yurika "I want to find someone like that." with Xyra nodding in agreement.
"We can share him if you want" Yurika said teasingly.
Stacia and Xyra blushed a deep shade of red and Stacia said, "I don't mean him! I mean someone that I want to give my everything for."
"Oh! I'm sure you'll find someone, maybe even closer than you think." Yurika said with a smile.
Xyra whispered to Yurika "How would we share?"
Yurika patted Xyra on the cheek and said, "You're so precious!"
Stacia opened the door to Major Valen's office and all 3 girls were bombarded by the smell of cologne. All 3 girls frowned when they saw Major Valen styling his hair with a jar of hair gel in front of a mirror wearing a suit that could be taken to presidential ball. The soft music and candles that were now lit made the atmosphere very awkward for the girls.
"Thanks for helping me get ready Corporal Winchester, Corporal Oldland, and Corporal Erita."
"Erita?" both Yurika and Stacia said while looking at each other, then at Xyra.
"…family name…"
Stacia and Yurika nodded, they had never heard her last name before so it was just kind of weird hearing it for the first time.
The girls then turned their looks at Major Valen and Yurika stepped forward first "Sir, you need help, please don't resist… Xyra, lock the door."
Xyra slowly closed the door and locked it; Major Valen gulped as the girls eyed him judgingly.
"We'll try to be gentle." Yurika said sweetly.
For the first time in many years, Major Valen felt fear as the 3 lionesses surrounded him.