Around noon, just before lunchtime, Eric was walking through the town square with his guitar case slung over his back, sporting a baseball cap and his glasses. He was dressed in a casual black t-shirt and jeans.

"Wow... so this is the town square. I finally made it out here... even though my plan was literally just about to look up computers online and order one," Eric thought to himself as he walked.

***

Back to earlier that morning, Eric had frozen up, not replying at all as the chat feed continuously scrolled upward. The five girls were firing off texts non-stop, their thumbs flying across their screens at lightning speed. Suddenly, "driiiing," Eric’s eyes went wide as a group video call request popped up. Just to be polite, Eric picked it up, only to be startled by the sight of six girls on his screen, including Emma.

Chloe had wavy blonde hair and blue eyes; Priya had shoulder-length wavy black hair, looking a bit more reserved and exotic with her tan skin; Monica had red hair with long, curled eyelashes; and Heidi had a gorgeous, sharp jawline framed by long brown hair.

But there was one girl who caught Eric completely off guard, someone who hadn’t typed a single word earlier. She had short blonde hair with bangs covering one side of her face, and a pretty intense collection of ear piercings.

Even so, not a single one of the five took a backseat to Emma in the looks department; in fact, almost all of them looked like they had just stepped off a magazine cover, depending on the magazine genre. Eric forced a smile as the six girls stared blankly at their respective screens.

"Um... hey. Nice to meet you guys," Eric said, raising a hand.

"Oh my gooood!"

Instantly, they all started talking over one another, creating a chaotic wall of sound where nothing was clear. Eric instinctively moved his smartphone a bit further away so he wouldn’t blow out his eardrums. Once the noise died down,

"Hey... Laura, why are you being so quiet?" Emma asked.

"Yeah... say something," Monica chimed in.

"Are you just starstruck by Eric?" Priya teased.

"Oh, come on... and here you were last night getting all mad because Emma was keeping Eric all to herself," Chloe added.

"Come on, introduce yourself, otherwise this whole conference call is pointless," Heidi threw in.

Eric could see the short-haired blonde girl whose bangs covered half her face staring blankly at her screen. It was obvious she was Laura. Seeing that Laura didn’t exactly seem thrilled about his presence in the group, Eric decided to speak up.

"Sorry if I intruded on your group chat. If you’re not comfortable with me being in here, I can totally leave, it’s fine," Eric said.

"Wh-What? No way! I’m the one who invited you, you can’t just leave whenever you want," Emma yelled, clearly annoyed.

"No one’s unhappy here, everyone’s thrilled. Right, girls?" Priya asked.

"Yeah, exactly... if anything, we’re the ones who are excited," Monica answered.

"Laura... say something," Heidi urged.

"Seriously... what’s the deal?" Chloe added.

"Uh... town square, 11:00 AM, okay... bye," Laura blurted out suddenly.

Before anyone could even respond, Laura abruptly hung up the conference call. The screen went completely dead, and a heavy silence fell over the remaining girls. Everyone stared at the black tile where Laura’s face had just been.

"Oh, man... sorry about that, Eric. She always gets like that when she’s shy," Emma apologized.

"Don’t worry about it, it’s fine," Eric replied with a smile.

"Alright then, let’s all meet up in the town square at 11:00, right by the park area," Monica said.

"Cool... I’m gonna go get ready now," Chloe said, ending her feed.

"Same here... see you guys in a bit," Priya added, immediately dropping out as well.

"Got it... time to get ready, bye bye," Heidi said.

"Wait, why is everyone just hanging up? Whatever, see you in a bit, Eric," Monica said, disconnecting her line too.

Finally, the chat was down to just Eric and Emma. A brief silence stretched between them, and Eric could see Emma looking a bit exhausted, shaking her head.

"Um... are you sure it’s okay for me to tag along?" Eric asked, just double-checking.

"Duh, that’s literally the whole point! We were actually planning to crash your place, but we were afraid of bothering you, haha," Emma joked.

"Alright... 11:00, then," Eric replied.

"Yep! See you soon. Once we’re there, we’ll call each other to figure out where exactly we are," Emma said.

The call ended. Eric set his smartphone down on the table, his heart pounding hard—not from nerves, but from the sheer shock of having six beautiful girls suddenly launch a surprise conference call on him.

"Man... I guess I really have to go. It’d be pretty rude to flake now," Eric thought, still feeling a bit hesitant about the whole thing.

But suddenly, "vwoong"—a holographic screen materialized right in front of his eyes. Eric immediately read the glowing text.

[Side Quest Triggered.]

[Objective One: Arrive fifteen minutes before 11:00 AM. Bring your guitar.]

[Reward: ???]

After finishing the prompt, Eric leaned back in his chair and glanced over at the guitar resting on the seat across from him.

"Well... I guess I have to go now since it’s a literal task. Alright... time to shower and get ready," Eric thought to himself.

***

Back to the present, Eric strolled casually through the bustling crowd of pedestrians. Plenty of people, men, women, young, old, and even kids, turned their heads to look at him, but he kept an entirely indifferent expression. Suddenly, he caught the distant sound of a violin and a keyboard weaving a melody together, growing louder and clearer with every step he took.

Ahead of him, a massive crowd had formed, captivated by the fast-paced, harmonious blend of the two instruments. Eric pushed his way through the onlookers and spotted a man playing the violin and a woman on the keyboard by the side of the street. They looked like buskers playing popular tunes to entertain the passersby. But before he could fully process the scene, his holographic screen snapped open.

[Objective One: Completed.]

[Objective Two: Join the two street musicians for a song and challenge them to a high-tempo instrumental duel.]

Seeing the text on his screen, Eric’s expression shifted instantly. He looked at the two buskers cheerfully performing a well-known, mainstream track. Despite the sudden prompt, he remained perfectly calm, his fingers even tapping against his jeans to the rhythm of the music.

Suddenly, he felt a dozen pairs of eyes lock onto him. When he glanced around, he realized the surrounding crowd was staring at him with friendly, smiling expressions, almost as if they were expecting something.

"Sigh... alright then," Eric thought to himself.

Without hesitating any further, Eric stepped out of the crowd and walked straight up to the two musicians. Noticing his approach, the duo stopped playing. Their eyes immediately landed on the guitar case slung across his back, and their faces lit up with smiles.

"Hey... do you mind if I jam with you guys?" Eric asked casually.

The violinist glanced over at the keyboardist. They exchanged a quick look before turning their attention back to Eric.

"What song do you want to play?" the man asked.

Eric paused to think as he unzipped his case and pulled out his guitar. Since his mental library of fast-paced tracks was still a bit limited, he settled on a high-tempo piece he used to listen to all the time. He looked up at the violinist and flashed a confident smile, gripping his fretboard.

"How about the theme song from that famous pirate movie? [Pirates of the Caribbean]," Eric suggested.

The man and woman grinned, nodding in instant agreement as they got into position. The woman kicked things off with the intro, followed closely by Eric providing the backing harmony, before the violinist soared in with the main lead.

Instantly, the track echoed through the town square with the sheer power of a live concert. The surrounding crowd stood frozen in awe, some even covering their mouths with wide, starstruck eyes. Quite a few people already had their smartphones out, recording the whole performance.

The violinist shot a playful, competitive smirk at Eric, digging into his bow and pumping up his volume with far more energy than before. Hearing the shift, Eric looked over at him and smiled. He instantly swapped from the backing harmony to the main lead, unleashing a burst of high-speed fingerpicking.

The violinist snapped his head toward Eric, visibly stunned for a split second, but when their eyes met, Eric just gave him a firm nod, signaling him to keep playing so the rhythm wouldn’t break. Eric’s fingers danced flawlessly across the strings, completely flipping the dynamic.

The violinist naturally transitioned into the backing harmony while Eric commanded the main melody, leaving the keyboardist slightly bewildered, though she skillfully kept the bright, driving rhythm alive. After trading bars back and forth through three full loops of the track, they brought the song to an explosive finish. A sudden, heavy silence fell over the square.

"Clap... clap."

A man standing right at the front began to clap, triggering an instant wave of thunderous applause from the entire crowd. The violinist immediately threw an arm around Eric’s shoulders, and together, they bowed to the audience.

"Man... you are incredible! I’m Billy, and this is Wendy. What’s your name?" Billy asked.

"Eric. Nice to meet you guys," Eric replied.

"Awesome. What do you say, one more time? Let’s try a different track," Billy invited.

"Sure... you call it," Eric answered cheerfully.

[Quest Completed.]

[Surprise Reward: Violin Skill (Max) and $20,000.00.]

The trio immediately dove into another collaboration. Caught up in the zone, Eric glanced back out at the crowd, but his eyes instantly went wide and his face fell. Standing right there in the front row, frozen like statues, were Emma, Priya, Chloe, Monica, Heidi, and Laura. They staring straight at him with absolute wonder in their eyes.

"Oh... shit. They’re already here," Eric thought to himself.