I Died and Was Reincarnated as a Goth Femboy

Their driver took them to the nearest coastal city, a bustling port town smelling of salt and fish. There, they rented the only available underwater gear: bulky, old-fashioned diving suits with large, spherical helmets that looked utterly ridiculous.

"I'm not wearing this!" Kenjiro protested, holding up the heavy suit. "It'll completely ruin the aesthetic of my bunny suit!"

"It is either this or you drown, my lady," Gluteus stated with grave seriousness.

With a frustrated groan, Kenjiro squeezed into the suit and they chartered a boat to the coordinates of the Whispering Deeps. One by one, they jumped overboard, descending into the cold, dark abyss. After what felt like an eternity, a light appeared below them. It was the Sunken City of Azerikor, a breathtaking metropolis of glowing white stone, perfectly preserved at the bottom of the ocean. A massive, shimmering dome of magical energy protected it, holding the crushing weight of the sea at bay.

The great gates of the city were already ajar, clear signs of a recent, forceful entry scarring the pearlescent stone. Inside, the city was pristine and silent, but the path was littered with discarded items—empty potion vials, coins, and other minor loot.

DragonSlayer69's eyes lit up. "Today is our lucky day, free loot!" he cheered, greedily scooping up the abandoned treasures.

Kenjiro whirled on him, his voice echoing in his helmet. "You dumbass, that's not the hour to loot!"

Following the trail deeper into the silent city, they finally reached a grand, ornate building that could only be the central palace. Inside, they found them. In a vast throne room coated in a layer of magical frost, Taguro's party was frozen solid from their legs to their chests.

Taguro, however, still managed a cheerful smile. "Hey Bombom, good time don't see you~ help us?" he called out, his voice slightly muffled by the ice. "My butt is getting frozen."

Seated upon a throne of pure, crystalline ice was a woman of ethereal beauty. Her skin was pale blue, her hair like spun snow, and her eyes held the cold, sharp light of a winter star. This was the Ice Queen, and she was clearly annoyed. She spoke, her voice like the cracking of a glacier, in a language none of them could understand.

Kenjiro looked at the elf girl. "Lyrielle, can you translate?"

Lyrielle nodded, stepping cautiously closer to the throne. "She's saying we are invading her territory," she translated, her own breath turning to mist in the frigid air. "She's the guardian of the pearl."

"Tell her we just want the pearl to find the other half of the 03 guy," Kenjiro instructed.

Lyrielle relayed the message. The Queen replied, her expression unchanging. Lyrielle's face fell. "No," she translated softly. "The pearl will not release him. He's already dead."

The words hit Kenjiro like a physical blow. Dead? All this way, all this effort, for a dead end? "What?!" he yelled, his frustration boiling over. "We spend time doing this useless thing!" He stomped his feet, his tantrum echoing through the icy hall. "I'M GOING TO GET OUT OF THE CELL!"

The Queen watched his outburst with a flicker of something that might have been amusement. She spoke again, her tone final.

Lyrielle translated once more. "I'm going to give you a replica of the pearl," she said. "It will be sufficient for your quest."

A perfect, icy copy of a luminous pearl materialized in the air, floating on a small cushion of frost into Kenjiro's waiting hands. As he took it, the ice encasing Taguro's party shattered, freeing them. The Ice Queen then waved a dismissive hand, and a powerful, freezing wind blasted through the room, pushing both parties out of the throne room and slamming the great doors shut behind them.

The great doors of the throne room slammed shut, leaving the two parties in the cold, silent hall of the sunken palace. The icy wind died down, replaced by a tense, awkward silence.

Taguro, shivering as the last of the frost melted from his clothes, broke the silence. He rushed over to Kenjiro, his green eyes wide with a familiar, unnerving admiration.

"Bombom! You were amazing! And you got the pearl!" he cheered, completely ignoring the fact that his own party had been turned into popsicles. "We should totally team up! Our combined power would be unstoppable!"

Kenjiro clutched the icy replica of the pearl protectively to his chest. He looked from Taguro's eager face to his own party, then back again. A slow, defiant smirk spread across his lips.

"No way, copycat," he scoffed, puffing out his chest. "This is my quest. You had your chance and you blew it. Find your own."

"But... but we're your biggest fans!" one of Taguro's party members whined.

As Kenjiro held the pearl, a strange warmth began to emanate from it, melting the frost on its surface. It pulsed with a soft, silvery light, the glow intensifying until it projected a shimmering image into the air before him. Everyone saw the light, but only Kenjiro could see the vision held within.

The silent, watery world of the sunken city vanished, replaced by a vast, sun-scorched desert under a merciless, white-hot sky. In the distance, a colossal obsidian pyramid rose from the dunes, its black surface seeming to drink the very light of the sun. The vision zoomed in, carrying him to the pyramid's peak. There, a figure was chained, bound in fetters of pure, golden light. The figure looked up, and Kenjiro's breath caught in his throat. It was a face identical to 03's, but his eyes were the color of blue sky, and they were filled with an ancient, soul-crushing despair.

The vision shattered, and Kenjiro stumbled backward, gasping, the image burned into his mind.

"He's not dead," he whispered, his voice trembling with a strange new emotion.

"What? Who's not dead?" Taguro demanded, rushing forward. "What did you see? Tell us!"

Fueled by pure, instinctual rivalry, Kenjiro quickly shoved the now-dormant pearl replica down the front of his armored bunny suit, hiding it from view.

"None of your business," he declared, his voice regaining its usual tsundere bravado. He turned to his party. "We're leaving."

"Hey! You can't just leave!" Taguro protested.

Kenjiro ignored him, leading his team in a full sprint back toward the city gates. Taguro, after a moment of shocked disbelief, rallied his own party. "After them!"

What followed was a chaotic, ridiculous race through the silent, beautiful streets of Azerikor. Kaito used his foxy agility to trip up Taguro's tank. DragonSlayer69 got into a pointless shoving match with his counterpart from the other team. Gluteus simply acted as a moving wall, blocking the path whenever he could.

They scrambled back into their bulky diving suits and began the long, slow ascent, leaving a fuming Taguro and his team behind on the ocean floor.

Back at the guild hall, Kenjiro gathered his party in the privacy of his suite. He was still panting, his heart hammering in his chest, but his eyes shone with a new, clear purpose.

"The Ice Queen lied," he announced, pulling the pearl from his suit. "He's alive. I saw him. He's trapped in a black pyramid in the middle of a desert."

"The Great Sand Sea," Lyrielle whispered, her eyes wide. "It is a dangerous and largely uncharted territory."

"Then that's where we're going," Kenjiro said, his voice steady. He looked down at the pearl in his hand. He was still annoyed. He was still confused by the ache in his chest. But for the first time, this wasn't about revenge, or money, or showing off for a priestess. This was about the man with the golden eyes, trapped and alone at the top of that pyramid.

He had to find him. And he would be damned if he let a simp in a matching skirt get there first.