Very good

"Stay here for a minute I have to print something." I go to my laptop and open the RealDreams homepage. There I search for a special document and print it out.

A few minutes later I go back to the dining room and hand Ikumi the piece of paper. "Put this in a pocket. If we ever split up, you'll be asked if you can go out alone. Through this document, I have certified that you can leave the house by 4 p.m."

"I need your permission to go out?" Ikumi asks, a bit angry.

"Unfortunately, this is a law. Characters are not allowed out of the house without the owners' consent. I guess it's supposed to be that way so you have less chance of running away."

Ikumi just wrinkles her nose. "Shall we go then?" she asks a bit snippily.

"Yeah sure." She gets up and we walk to the door together.

"See you this afternoon," I call through the house, but get no response. Thus, Ikumi and I walk out to my car.

We sit down in the car. "Why do you have such an old car anyway? As much as your villa must have cost, you should be able to afford a better car."

"I guess that's true" I laugh briefly as I pull out of the driveway. "I've only recently come into money, which is why I haven't gotten around to buying all sorts of things yet" I reply to Ikumi.

"Oh well" Ikumi just returns and leans back in her seat.

We drive for a few minutes until we arrive at a big mark. I park the car and we make our way to the market.

In front of us are dozens of stalls, which are grab divided into a few different areas.

We stand in front of the area that is intended for fruit and vegetable farmers, which is why fresh fruit and vegetables can be seen in all the stalls.

Ikumi is already looking around. "Feel free to look around and pick out the best things." Ikumi looks at me for a moment, says "ok" and walks through the rows.

I follow her and look around a bit as I do so. The stalls are mostly from local farmers who want to sell their harvests here.

The buyers are to a comparatively large extent restaurant owners and chefs of all kinds. It is only worthwhile for a few customers to shop here, as the prices are quite expensive if you only order small quantities.

We walk a little further and Ikumi picks up a few ingredients every now and then to examine them.

After we finally find a stall that meets her requirements, she negotiates with the vendor about the order quantities.

"Sir, does your character speak for you?" the vendor asks me. "Yes, she is my cook. She takes care of the ingredients. I'm here to sign the contract later" I return and the two negotiate the price.

After a few minutes I sign the contract and we have our fruit and vegetable vendor.

We continue to the meat area. Here Ikumi feels like she is in her element and looks at the ingredients even more skillfully than before.

After a few minutes I hear her call out "Erina?" I look up and see Erina Nakiri standing in front of us. "Ikumi?" she asks quietly.

Ikumi looks at her former friend and is clearly happy to see her. "You're here too?" she asks. Erina looks at me.

"Ikumi, this is not the Erina you know. I take it you work at a restaurant?"

"Yes I work at Saurou, the 5-star restaurant downtown" she replies. Then she looks at Ikumi. "Sorry, you probably haven't been here long, but I'm really not the Erina you know" Erina says to her.

Ikumi looks confused. "I have to get going again too, if I'm late I'll be punished." She says a quick goodbye and then continues walking.

Ikumi looks at me. "What did she mean to me that she's not the Erina I know?" she asks, confused.

"Well I explained to you that you are characters from series. Since several people want to have the same character, different worlds have to be used to statisfy the demand. That means there are several Erinas here, and also several Ikumis."

Ikumi looks confused and has to digest this for a while. So I look for a bench and get us something to eat from one of the stalls.