As the three walked into the store, others stared at them. For some reason Haru took up a defensive position, shielding Ishmael behind him. She was too busy getting her bearings, as she tried to find the shoe section. She finally saw the sign and headed in that direction.

"I'll be in shoes."

"We'll be in the tent section." Sean saw that Haru wasn't sure about letting her wander off alone. Sean led him away. "Relax dude, she's fine. No one here is going to bother her, plus she's not helpless."

"Ha ha, yeah. Let's go, If we're going camping next weekend I need to upgrade some things."

Off the guys went to do some shopping together.

Ishmael tried on 6 pairs of shoes before finding a pair that were comfortable, she also wanted a new pair of everyday shoes, something that was nice enough to wear to work. Shoes acquired, she headed to the first aid section and picked up a few things, she already had a nice comprehensive kit at home. Ishmael now went to find the guys, stopping to get 3 canisters of fuel for the pocket stove.

Coming up on the guys, they were arguing once again. "What are you two fussing about now?!"

"Oh we got our asses handed to us last night on COD by a bunch of bastards cause there were only two of us playing."

"I see. Yup, you should have had me on your team!" She shook her finger at them. As Sean and Haru looked at each other.

"REMATCH!"

Ishmael gave a thumbs up. They checked out and made it to the car. On the way to Haru's to drop him off it was unanimously agreed that Friday after work, they would go camping. Thursday, Haru would spend the night at Sean's so they could all go through their gear together. Friday they could wear jeans to work so they would dress for camping and go straight to the site from work, stopping at a store for food.  For now, Sean would drop Haru off at home for him to put his stuff up. They would meet at Sean's in about 30 minutes where they would order in food and make the gaming infidels pay dearly.  

Pulling into their complex, Sean helped Ishmael carry all the bags she had to her apartment. As Ishmael put all the dry foods into the baskets, Sean sat at the table.

"Thanks sis."

"Of course, you're my big bro!"

"God I can't believe we're going camping together!"

"I do, I think Haru just needed to know that there was a possibility."

"I guess."

"Oh and just so you know, you two are sharing a tent."

"Great..."

"Just relax hon. You two will get along fine. Just don't try to rush anything or try to impress him!"

"Yeah, you're right. Wait why did you get so many freeze dried packs?"

"Seriously?"

"Oh yeah...be prepared for the worse, hope for the best." Sean relayed the saying Mr. Thompson was always telling them.

"You got plenty of food and stuff at your place?"

"No, we'll go back to Daiso soon. I'll stock up then."

"Okay. Hey what if this thing with you and Haru really starts to take off?"

"Good! I've been wanting something real and meaningful. What about you?"

"Huh?"

"Don't huh me...you know what I mean."

"Sean, I just got here. Besides, how many ambw couples have you seen since you've been here?"

"Hey, not everyone has been brainwashed into seeing you as just a fun time in bed sis. Some guys really are interested in dating black women because, if you haven't looked in the mirror lately, your beautiful Ishmael. Others can see that too in women of color. Not everyone buys into the stereotypes that's been portrayed by the media. So would you?"

"What? Date a Japanese guy? Yeah, if I felt he was sincere and they passed the '大哥 = {Dà Gē'/Big Brother} test."

"Oh of course, that's a must. And now there's two of us!"

"So it seems. My second day here and I've acquired another Asian brother."

They both shared a good laugh and an even better hug. Sean hoped she could find someone worthy of her cause she really was awesome and she deserved to find someone that would treat her like a Queen.

"Let's go! There are bodies waiting to hit the floor!" Ishmael had her game face on.

"Yeah, Haru will be here any minute."

"So how many were on the other team that kicked your butt?"

"5"

"5!?! 5 against 2 and you dweebs expected to win?! Lord have mercy!"

"Hey we were doing good...the first 10 minutes."

"Let's go!"

Walking up to Sean's place, Haru was already there, leaning against the door.

"You could have used your key." Sean gave him a look.

"Meh, I don't mind waiting for you two."

Walking into the apartment, they set up their gaming area. Haru had stopped on the way there and gotten them drinks and snacks.

"You guys want to get food now or later?" Ishmael was getting a little hungry and she knew they would be gaming till late even though it was a Sunday.

"Let's get food now and eat whenever we get hungry."

"Mn."

Haru and Sean wanted fried chicken, Ishmael wanted yakisoba. After finding a place that had both they placed their order and they all chipped in to pay.

"LET'S GET READY TO RUUUMMMBLLLE!!!!" 

Sean was eager to make them pay dearly for the severe beating they got last night.   Haru started up the Call of Duty game and got Ishmael added to there meager team.

"First! We need to edit our loadouts. Which one of you is the leader?" 

The guys looked at Ishmael perplexed.  "Edit our loadouts...?"

"Haru....don't tell me y'all just started the game and went at it? You need to prepare bruh!!!  No wonder y'all died!" 

Ishmael couldn't believe it. She refused to help them until they edited their loadouts to assist them when they dropped into the area. Ishmael opted to bring up the rear. But before that, they had to do some test playing to get used to playing together.

"Okay, let's practice!"

They started a test game and immediately they got the teamwork thing down. Now was the moment of truth as Sean brought up the last game. He linked in with the same group that kicked their asses last time. Seeing how things were about to get serious, Ishmael had to get in the right mind set. She put in one of her earbuds as she needed the other ear for the headphone to hear her teammates and started her tunes.

Their objective was to be the last squad standing.

A trio wasn't uncommon but generally didn't last long. This would not be the cause. Ishmael was fairly quiet but deadly, surprising both Sean and Haru, especially Haru as she was ace with close combat and was like a ghost. Coming out of nowhere she was dropping opponents like bricks, until she scored a sniper rifle.

"Check it, 2 o'clock high. 3 snipes on the rooftop. Stay low, wait for my signal."

"Got it."

"Do your thing sis, those are the bastards from last nite.  Careful, their group has grown since last night."

The three of them cleared a nearby building, taking out an entire squad of noobs. Sean and Haru took up point as Ishmael single handedly cleared the top level, picking up more ammo. She let the guys know to come up and upgrade their gear.

"Ants at 3 and 9, advancing on the Queens tower." 

That meant that others were trying to take the building from them. Now that they had upgraded weaponary, Sean and Haru held the intruders off while Ishmael took point on the roof. Patiently waiting, she meticulously took out the 3 three opposing snipers.

"It's done. Time to make them pay."

The three of them exited the building with Ishmael quickly disappearing. Haru didn't see one from the opposing team camping to take him out but Ishmael did. She snuck up behind him, knife in hand and slit his throat, throwing his lifeless body out in the open.

"Whoa!! Thanks sis!"

Again she ducked around a corner and was gone. The guys came under heavy fire and were pinned down in a building.

"Stay here, I'll be right back." Ishmael crept out a back door and back tracked, taking out a small squad that was camping behind a vehicle. "Follow me."

Sean and Haru carefully back tracked out of the building. They finally caught up with Ishmael who had somehow commandeered a vehicle. Pedal to the metal they headed straight into enemy lines with Sean driving like a bat outta hell. Grenades and bullets were flying everywhere as they came under heavy fire. They needed a health pack but the only one was across a courtyard as Sean purposedly crashed the vehicle, providing some cover.

"Cover me!" 

Without giving the others time to respond, Ishmael took off across the courtyard, she was on her last life bars but she made it. Med pack in hand, she healed up and sniped a few of the enemies that were pinning them down. Quickly running back to the others she healed them up and they moved forward to take out the 'bastards'.  It was touch and go, with lots of profanity, yelling, sweating bullets and nail biting but they did it. As the last one fell the three of them cheered, hooped and hollered.

"You just got yo' ass kicked by a girl suckaaaahhhs!!"

The three erupted into laughter as others were either being good sports and cheering and laughing with them or cursing them. Ishmael was a pro at rubbing it in and didn't hold back when she got singled out. Her character said nothing about being female and that was the whole point.

"You guys fucking cheated!!"

"Bullshit! You go to hell, you go to hell and you die!!"

After 10 minutes of carrying on, they got out of the game.

"We did it!!" She jumped on both of them as she hugged them.

"God you were brutal sis!!" Sean was trying to calm down from his gamer high.

"I know!! Wahahahahaaa!" Sean and Ishmael held hands as they did a silly little dance, jumping around in circles.

"Haru? Are you still alive?" Ishmael was nudging him with her foot as he was sprawled out on the couch, limbs everywhere as the controller rested on his chest.

"I can't believe the three of us did it. We beat them!!"

"I'm hungry, let's eat and watch something on tv." Sean's stomach was never too far from his current train of thought. As Haru finished recuperating, Sean and Mel brought the food over to the coffee table along with drinks and napkins. They would just eat out of the containers.

"Let's watch One Punch!"

"Oh good idea Mel!" Sean found the remote and switched from game console to tv and brought up the anime series. Sitting around eating, they had all calmed down.

"So xiao mei mei, are you nervous for tomorrow?"

"No, I just hope Miko won't be an issue."

"She will be if she thinks you got the hots for Seo."

"Well, I don't, so she needs to leave me alone. What are the other guys like?"

Haru and Sean looked at each other and spoke in unison again.

"Stay away from Ito."

"Okay, You guys already to-"

They all sat and looked at each other as the power had suddenly went out.

[Ishmael]:  "What in the world?"

[Sean]:  "Not again?"

[Haru]:  "Right?"

"Wait, this has happened before?" Mel was a little worried as she got up to look outside the patio door to see how far the outage stretched. By the time she stepped out onto the small balcony, the lights came back on.