wolfheartlog

“Do you know about the saying that a person who can tie a knot in a cherry stem is a good kisser?” Suguru picks up the cherry decorating his milkshake.

”...do you think about that every time you see a cherry? Because now I will,” says Kura with a dry laugh before sipping her milk tea shake.

The cafe they're in is quite popular for their various flavors of milkshake, and that's why Suguru asks her on a date to try them out. That's also why she can't look anywhere without seeing cherries and keep remembering the trivia that Suguru just drops onto her.

He dangles the red cherry with the long stem in front of Kura's face. “Wanna try?”

Oh, that face. That smile with just enough smug to provoke her combined with the half-closed eyelids. He rarely wears that face, but when he does, it looks really good on him.

Kura covers her mouth with her left hand out of instinct. What was she thinking? Her ears begin to heat up, and she decides to speak up to distract her mind.

“You believe in something like that?”

“True or not, aren't you curious about whether you can do it?” says Suguru, laughing.

Rolling her eyes in a joking manner, Kura grabs the cherry. He really knows how she works. “Just once.”

She separates the stem from the cherry carefully, and puts the cherry on beside her cup before biting on the stem, trying to remember the tutorial she once saw. Then she begins trying to do moves with her tongue, manipulating the stem as best as she can.

Suguru watches from his seat across the table with amusement. Though not as bad as Satoru, he really enjoys teasing Kura on small little things like these. He sips his dark chocolate milkshake.

After a full minute of trying, Kura suddenly stops.

“Ah.”

Suguru looks up from his drink, tilting his head. “Kura? Can you do it?”

“I-I…” her face looks a bit pale. Then she raises her voice in panic.

“I-I THINK I ACCIDENTALLY EAT THE STEM!” She looks at the stemless cherry in front of her with horror. “It just slipped from my tongue… and suddenly it's gone…”

“Pfft—”

“Su-gu-ru!” Kura pouts. “Are you laughing?”

“N-no, I'm… pfft—” Suguru tries to hold back his laugh with a smile but he eventually fails. He laughs quite loud for a few seconds before his voice is mostly stable again. “W-why can't I not laugh? I mean, you just swallowed the stem whole…”

“I said it was an accident!!” said Kura, banging her fist on the wooden table as softly as she could. She continues pouting. “How can people do it anyway… ugh, tying a knot with your tongue… how stupid…”

“Oh, Kura…” Suguru shakes his head. His girlfriend can be so cute sometimes.

He pulls out his phone and mutters to himself while chuckling. “Just wait until Satoru hears about thi—”

“NOOOO!! DON'T TELL HIM! HE'LL SAY I'M LAME!!”

Every lunchtime, Rin brings her homemade lunch in two bento boxes. One for her, and one for her boyfriend—Sano Manjiro.

She starts climbing the stairs to her school's rooftop, humming her fav song. They usually eat up there, because it's always empty. Rooftop is certainly a classic place to have lunch, but too bad at their school's rooftop the wind is quite strong.

But Rin doesn't mind. As long as she can eat in silence alongside Manjiro, she doesn't mind anything.

After arriving at the top of the stairs, she pushes open the rooftop door. Suddenly, a strong wind starts blowing and messing up her bangs. Rin tidies her hair up with a sigh before walking out to the rooftop.

She scans the quiet rooftop. Near the railing, Manjiro and Draken are talking at a low volume. Their faces look serious, so Rin can safely assume that they're talking about Touman.

“I'll just wait then,” Rin mutters to herself.

But just before she sits down on the rooftop's floor, Draken notices her presence.

“Oh.” Draken stops talking. “Your girlfriend is here.”

Rin can feel her ears getting hot. Well, Draken isn't wrong, but still… getting called like that by someone else… she shakes her head. Don't think about it too much.

Then Manjiro turns to face her, waving his right hand.

“Ah!” Manjiro smiles as a strong wind blows again, and everything seems to slow down around her. “Rin-chan!”

Rin slowly puts her right hand over where her heart is.

She still has a heart, right? So why did it stop beating when Manjiro looked at her? And why did his smile, which she usually only sees as a childish grin, blind her like the sun at that moment?

Rin takes a deep breath. It takes her a second or two before she regains her composure.

Now she should maybe walk forward and approach the person she was going to meet, but instead, her feet brought her walking backward, backward, and then she started to walk down the rooftop stairs in silence.

“Aah, Rin-chan! What are you doing?! Your boyfriend is here, you know~?”

“S-SHUT UP!” Rin yells, covering the bottom half of her face. She's been going out with him for some time now, but every time she sees his face her brain and heart stops working. What's wrong with her?!

Suddenly, loud footsteps echo behind her, followed by Draken yelling.

“Oi, Mikey! Don't run down the stairs!”

But Manjiro doesn't heed his friend's warning. He slides off the railing of the stairs, catching up with Rin's frantic footsteps in a flash.

Then, he jumps from the railing, and with a precise move, stops behind his girlfriend.

“Rin-chan!”

He loops his arms over Rin's shoulder and puts his head over her right shoulder.

“S-sano-san! What are you doing?! I almost fell!” Rin sputters.

Manjiro laughs, his laughs heat Rin's ears even more. “Don't worry, I'll catch you if that happens! Anyway, what's today's lunch?”

Puffing her cheeks, Rin answers in a whisper. “It's tamagoyaki…”

“Mm, I love your tamagoyaki!” says Manjiro. “Now, let’s go back to the roof and eat there.”

Rin sighs. There’s no winning over his boyfriend’s cute side…

“Okay, okay, whatever you say.” Rin grabs Manjiro’s right hand that’s perching on her shoulder. “Let me go first. I can’t walk upstairs like this.”

But Manjiro just laughs. “Nooooo way~ You’re going to carry me all the way up!”

“Sano-saaaan, I’m not as strong as Draken-kun!” says Rin, puffing her cheeks again.

“No is still no. You have to carry me!”

“UUUGH! DRAKEN-KUN! SANO-SAN IS TEASING ME AGAIN!” She yells up the stairs, hoping Draken would hear her.

Draken can only sigh when hearing that yell. Honestly, he's tired of the lovers' antics. But well—

He starts walking down the stairs, following the sound of Rin's yell and Manjiro's chuckle.

As long as they're happy.

Day 5 of YumeLokalWeek : Music

Kensuke Hibiki x Asano Kura

---

“Kensuke-kun.” Kura, the Go-Home Club leader, puts her hand to support her chin. “Don’t you want to try composing again?”

Kensuke averted her gaze and laughed. “Well, maybe after we go back to the real world.”

“Aaah, is that so…” Kura feels bad asking about it since she knows that Kensuke’s ability is not his, but Myu’s, and in real life, he can’t write songs by himself. Still, she wants him to know that she really enjoys the piece of him that’s conveyed through his first song that she hears—-Peter Pan Syndrome.

She laced her fingers together. “But, you know, I really like your song.”

Kensuke stops tapping on his phone and glances at the senior beside him.

Then Kura continues, “Mm, well, I know your songwriting ability comes from Myu, but the lyrics… I can feel that all of that comes from you,” she chuckles, “and I really like it.”

“Senpai…” he mumbles, putting his phone down.

A cold wind blows in from the open window, making the silence in the clubroom where there's no one else besides them feels even longer. And suddenly, Kura starts singing.

“I was not afraid of anything when I was a child. “ It starts as a mumble but after a few syllables, her voice becomes louder. “I believed that I was special,”

She continues, “With these hands of mine, as I desired, I will change the world…”

Just before she’s about to sing the next lyrics, Kensuke starts first.

“Stretch out your hands and grasp it,” hums Kensuke, “The one and only 'me'.”

At first, Kura feels surprised that Kensuke decides to sing along with her, but she happily sings along with him. “Let out your voice and praise the special 'me'...”

“Don't be afraid, come to my side,” as Kensuke sings that, he glances at Kura with a warm smile. “Love 'me', who is nobody.”

Kura’s heart skips a beat. She doesn’t think she ever sees her junior smiles like that before.

After their small singing session, Kensuke turns to face the club leader fully. “Senpai, has anyone told you that your voice is heavenly?”

“A-ah, um…” Kura faces away from Kensuke, her face heating up fast. “O-only you… just now, haha…”

“That’s not good, senpai!” he sounds concerned. “Should I tell you your voice is beautiful every day then?”

“NO NEED! I-it’s fine…”

“Okay~ If senpai says so~,” says Kensuke, giggling.

Kura looks out of the window in an attempt to cool her face down.

The clouds are white and plenty, there’s just enough sun and just enough cold wind to create the perfect weather. She wonders what the other nine club members who are currently going out to buy some food are thinking right now. Where are they now? And will they bring the bread she requested? A cold wind blows in again.

Today, the weather in Mobius is perfect. It always is. It’s what Myu is trying to achieve after all.

She sighs. But to her, nothing in this virtual world is real. And she can’t wait to get back to the real world.

Something still plagues her mind though. Something related to the glasses-wearing boy beside her.

“Kensuke-kun,” mumbles Kura. “Will you still be my friend even after we get out of here?”

“Eh? Of course!” answers Kensuke as fast as possible. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Then,” she turns to face him with the best smile she can do. The rays of sunlight coming through the window illuminated her eyes, making her features shine brighter.

“Once we get back,” says Kura, “will you promise me you’ll let me listen to your song? The one that you compose yourself?”

Kensuke forgot how to breathe for a second.

“...uh, what’s with the silence, Kensu—-”

Suddenly, Kensuke bolts up from his chair and grabs Kura’s hands. The chair he sat in before topples down with loud noise as he grips Kura’s hand tighter.

“Anything for my beloved senpai!” he beams with sparkles in his eyes. “For you, I will fight a thousand digiheads, beat all the musicians, and scour the entire Mobius for Myu!”

Kura let out a nervous laugh, trying to back away slowly. “M-maybe not that much is fine…”

“No! I insist! A senpai as cute as yourself deserves everything in this world! Virtual or not!”

“Kensuke-kun, please… calm down…”

Day 3 of YumeLokalWeek : Weather

Suna Rintarou x Asano Kura

---

“It’s not letting up…”

Kura puts her hand forward, catching the drops of water in her hand. Today it rained too. And the clouds only seem to get grayer every second, making her more skeptical that she can get home before it’s getting too late.

“You’re still here?”

The voice asking that question is familiar to her, so Kura faces the source of the sound.

Suna Rintarou, her… friend, is standing near the shoe boxes, god knows since when, with his bag on one shoulder and an umbrella on another.

“Ah, Suna-kun, I’m waiting for the rain to let up.” she put her right hand back to hold the box she’s carrying, shifting the ache on her left shoulder. “What about you?”

He walks beside Kura before opening his umbrella. “I was just about to go home.”

Kura feels slightly jealous that he has an umbrella.

“Is that so... “ she forces a smile. “I also wanna go home and catch up on the new episode of that crime drama, but I’m stuck here.”

“That’s too bad,” says Suna, eyes glanced over at the box Kura is holding. Realizing he’s looking at the box, Kura brings it up.

“And I’m carrying this french horn so I can’t really hold an umbrella even if I have one.” she laughs and shakes the holding case a bit. The metal french horn inside rattles.

In response, Suna just nods. He puts the umbrella over his head and starts to walk out of the school’s entrance. “Well, then, I’m going home first.”

“Be careful on the way home, Suna-kun,” says Kura half-heartedly as she watches Suna’s back.

If only she can go home too, she sighs. The umbrella Suna is holding looks enough for two people… but...

As if knowing she’s thinking about something related to him, Suna suddenly stops walking and turns around, staring back at her. “Mm, what is it?”

Kura averted Suna’s eyes for a while. Should she really be asking him about that? Is it polite to ask something like that?

Then she thought again that well, he’s.. sort of her friend, isn’t he? Even though sometimes he likes to poke fun at her, and the other times he just silently glances at her, maybe she can consider him a friend. So Kura decides to say what’s been on her mind.

“I just thought you were going to offer to share an umbrella or something,” says Kura with a dry laugh, trying to make her words sound not too serious.

“...that, huh,” says Suna, looking up to the sky. He’s thinking again, she knows it from his expression.

When he glances back at Kura, she can see a twinkle in his eyes and a ghost grin on his deadpan face, “that can be arranged.”

After blinking in confusion for a few seconds, she sighs. God, he even pokes fun at her at times like this.

Usually, Suna likes to hear her asking for something politely—-which is something she already does on a daily basis anyway—-but in Suna’s case, it seems he derives some sort of weird joy from it, so she stops doing it altogether when it comes to interacting with him. But no matter, this time will be a one-time thing. She just needs to ask Suna to share his umbrella politely and she can get home drenched free.

“Suna-kun—-”

He shakes his head. “Nope, wrong name.”

...wrong name?

Does Suna have any other name than Suna Rintarou? Is he someone else in disguise or something? And she usually refers to him as Suna-kun, so she doesn’t know what’s wrong with it so suddenly.

“What’s the right name then?” Kura tilts her head a bit.

“Rintarou.”

“Rin…” Kura’s voice trails off as she realizes what Suna is asking for her.

He’s asking her to call him by his first name. And for someone too shy and reserved like Kura, that’s hard. Really hard.

“No way.”

Suna responds with his usual deadpan face, “but I thought you needed the umbrella.”

Well, he’s right. She needs it if she wants to not miss that newest episode (and also to not break her hand from carrying the heavy french horn case all the time until the rain stops). But… she closes her eyes, sighing through her gritted teeth. That’s too embarrassing.

“Don’t take too long. I need to go home myself.”

“Yes, I know…” Kura mumbles to herself, eyes still closed. Maybe just this time, she thinks. Maybe just this time she’ll swallow any embarrassment she feels and just… say it. Say her friend's name. It shouldn’t be that hard, isn’t it? It’s just saying a name after all.

Taking a deep breath, she starts talking. “R-rintarou-kun—-”

“Without the suffix.”

“R-rinta—-”

“Louder.”

“Aagh! Why do I have to do this!” Kura grumbles in frustration, keeping her head down. She’s never really close to any male students and calling one with his first name like this is a first for her. But she must push on. She holds her breath for a second and tries again.

“...Rintarou, will you... share your umbrella with me?” Those words come out a bit shaky and barely audible, but it seems Suna can hear them clearly because when she opens her eyes to take a peek, Kura can see the tall middle blocker nodding to himself.

But just when she’s about to let out a sigh of relief, Suna speaks up again.

“One more time.” And she swears she can hear him chuckling behind those words.

“N-no ‘one more time’!” Kura takes a step forward, feeling her face heats up even more every second. “I’ve asked politely, so just, please, share your umbrella with me!”

“Yes, yes, here you go~” With a small chuckle, he bends down, angling the umbrella so it can cover the short girl and the case she’s holding.

Kura steps under the umbrella, trying to fully get inside it but not getting too close to Suna. Because the closer she gets, the louder her heartbeat becomes. And she 100% doesn’t want him to know how much her heart is racing right now.

As they start walking, Kura feels a bit guilty for not thanking Suna. And maybe she needs to do it now, before the adrenaline rush from saying his first name disappears and she needs to face two embarrassing breakdowns.

While still trying to fight off the heat from her face, Kura mumbles, just loud enough for Suna to hear. “Thank you for the umbrella, um...” just one more time, she whispers to herself, “... Rintarou.”

For a second, a genuine smile appears on Suna’s face, before just as quickly being replaced by his usual deadpan face again.

“Mhm, you’re welcome, Kura.”

---

From a distance, Atsumu and Osamu look at the not couple walking out of school.

“So that’s why he wants my umbrella…” Atsumu mumbles to himself. That Suna can be so forward yet dances around what he wants at times. He said he’s serious about pursuing Kura but he likes to tease that poor girl who—-from what he knows—-doesn’t understand how love works.

He sighs. He just hopes Suna will sort things out sooner than later and he wouldn’t need to sacrifice his umbrella again.

“Hey, Samu, give me your umbrella.”

“No way.” his twin moves away from him, holding his own umbrella. “Why did you give your umbrella to him anyway?”

“It’s for the greater good!” Atsumu tries to reach the umbrella but fails. “So just give me it! You can go home without the umbrella, Samu!”

“Huh? Why me! This is my umbrella! You should be the one going home without it!”

And so the two continue to fight until a teacher who’s passing by scolds them for yelling loudly rather than going home.

Day 2 of YumeLokalWeek : Ring

---

“Doctor, I didn't realize you were already married!”

When Whislash finishes saying that, both SilverAsh who is talking with Cliffheart, his little sister, and Thorns, who is inspecting his blade for the upcoming maintenance, are frozen in place.

Did… did they hear right? Is the Doctor married already?

Doctor Althea herself responded with a nervous laugh. “...what do you mean?”

Whislash smiles. “Ah, don’t be coy. If I knew you're married, I wouldn't… well…” her eyes darted around for a second, searching for the right word. “But never mind! Who are you married to? And when did you marry?”

On the table he's sitting in, Thorns grips his blade tighter. Doctor… married...

When? Why? Since when? And why did he miss it? Unbeknownst to himself, Thorns scowls. He puts his blade away and focuses his gaze on the nearby Doctor and Whislash.

And why is he so frustrated by the fact that the Doctor is already married? She's already that age. He shouldn't be surprised if she's married. Besides, he only looks up to her. He just respected her. She's just his field commander and he's just her assistant.

Well, former assistant, because that mischievous child called Arene holds the position now.

There's nothing more beyond those things, right?

After mulling for a few seconds, he sighs. That might be a lie.

Meanwhile, just near the table Thorns is sitting in, Cliffheart is looking up at her brother who's closing his eyes in concentration.

“Brother, what is it?” Cliffheart tilts her head. It’s weird for her brother to suddenly space out like that.

“Please wait a minute, Ensia,” says Silverash.

There is one thought that is running through his mind right now. The same one that Whislash asked.

Who is her spouse? Who is the one brave and skilled enough to slip through and propose to her despite him staying by the Doctor's side as much as his job allows him to?

The thought of losing the Doctor, someone who he has treasured so much, to someone else... is… not good. It makes his heart ache.

Tired of his brother's silence, Cliffheart fidgets in her place. “If there's nothing more, I think I'll leave first, brother. I actually have an appointment with Ms. Dobermann after this.”

Silverash snaps back to reality and nods with a heavy heart. “I understand. I'll see you again later.”

“Okay then, bye brother!”

After Cliffheart leaves the room, Silverash turns his attention back to the Doctor who's still pestered by one of the newest members of Rhodes Island.

He even let a chance to talk to his little sister go because he's too preoccupied thinking about other things… he should get to the end of this quickly.

While Silverash is busy thinking of what he should do to find out who the Doctor's spouse is, Whislash is still asking her questions.

“Come on, Doctor,”

“Whislash please, I'm not married.”

“Don't lie to me, Doctor.” she laughs in a carefree manner. “Just tell me who's the lucky one.”

“No one? There's no 'the lucky one'…” still confused, Doctor Althea crosses her arms in front of her chest. And that's when both Silverash and Thorns realized the golden sparkle on her left ring finger.

A ring. A golden ring.

Thorns flinches. Seeing the golden color reminds him of an Operator… one rich enough, close enough to the Doctor to put it there… one of her former assistants too...

At the same time, Silverash thinks back to the skirmishes he's had with one particular Operator. Someone who he thinks is skilled enough to slip through and proposed to her when he wasn't looking.

And they lock eyes with each other, realizing they're thinking about each other and how their assumptions are wrong.

Thorns don't get along well with someone high and mighty like Silverash, and Silverash doesn't understand Thorns either. But they both know they're aiming for the same thing.

And in times like this, when they both see they might not get what they want, it's better to team up and see through the end on who managed to marry the Doctor aside from them.

While that happened, the Doctor herself is starting to get irritated by Whislash nagging. She just drops into the dorm because she heard both Thorns and Silverash are here and she wants to say hi, but somehow she ends up in a situation where Whislash assumes she's married...

The Doctor sighs. “Whislash, for the last time, why do you assume I'm married?”

Whislash shakes her head. “Doctor, you have a ring right there! Don't deny it!”

“This? This thing?” she points at it. “Why would this be considered a wedding ring?” The doctor takes it off and twists it around.

“Look, it’s an astronomical ring. Cool, huh?”

From the inside of the golden ring, there are three smaller rings that open up, each one smaller than the other. On those rings inscribed certain words and symbols.

“An… astronomical ring?”

Oblivious to the shock she gives everyone near her, she closes it before putting it back on. “I found it along with some of my other things the other day and I think it’s quite cool,” she laughs.

Silverash approaches the Doctor, his usual calm facade still adorns his face despite the condition of his heart. “My friend, you shouldn’t wear something that is not a wedding ring on the fourth finger of your left hand.”

“Ah, Silverash. Were you listening?” she lets out a nervous laugh. “And um, why is that?”

“That's a place to put a marriage ring.” Thorns pipes in, standing next to the warlord.

“Thorns? You were listening too?” asks the Doctor, sounding even more confused. “Why would you two listen to such an unimportant conversation…” she mumbles to herself. Then she let out a soft hum.

“But wait, marriage ring? There’s a tradition like that?” asks the Doctor.

And it all clicked in. They finally remembered about her amnesia.

Thorns let out a sigh, small enough for no one to notice. That takes more burden off his chest than he imagines. Maybe he was really lying to himself...

Silverash is also relieved. At least, when the time comes where he wants to put a real ring on the Doctor's finger, he only needs to get rid of one person.

“Ah, is that so…” says Whislash to herself. Rather than being disappointed, she sounds more relieved.

She then moves closer to the Doctor, faking a cough.“But you know Doctor, I'm still not marr—–”

“Might repeating that again?” Thorns shifts the blade that he slings over his shoulder. The smell of his toxin is still present on the blade, making Whislash nervous.

Silverash follows with a nod, tapping his cane on the floor a few times. “She might not have heard you.” his gaze is sharp, maybe even sharper than his pet eagle that she's seen a few times.

They both slowly move to stand behind the Doctor, creating a tall wall behind the short woman who's still trying to understand why they are fussing around over a ring and how fascinating a tradition of putting a wedding ring on a certain finger is.

Whislash smiles to herself. She knows when things are too tough and what kind of battle she can win. And against two powerhouse guards? There's no way.

“Nevermind,” she laughs, taking a few steps back.

“Okay…” Doctor Althea mumbles. “Um, well, I need to go sign some paper again so please excuse—–”

“I'll go with you, my friend.” Silverash cuts her off, his tail circling the Doctor's waist.

“No need,” Thorns steps closer to the Doctor, hands almost touching, gaze fixed on Silverash. “You're busy, so you should go back to whatever you're working on.”

The aura in the room gets colder. Whislash is thinking about getting out.

But the Doctor is just standing there, laughing silently. By now, this is just a daily occurrence to her. And this time, it sparked because of a ring.

A lone sniper Operator yawns.

He just drops by one of Rhodes Island laboratories to deliver breakfast to his friend who’s currently studying to pass the Medic Operator test.

“Well, after this I need to meet up for the restocking mission…” he mumbles to himself as the echoes of his steps are covered by the music coming out of the speakers lining the corridor.

He hums the song as he walks, closing his eyes and appreciating the violin playing in the background of the song.

Then a sharp smell hits his nose. He scrunches his nose and slowly opens his eyes, feeling a bit annoyed.

Not that far—but not that close either—to him is Operator Thorns, coming out from one of the laboratories with the smell of smoke sticking on his fried strands of hair.

He slows his walk and paces himself with the music playing to muffle the sounds of his footsteps so as not to scare Thorns. It's not a necessary thing since Thorns most likely wouldn't mind someone walking down the hallway, but he has done it too much on the battlefield and it has become a habit.

The sniper Operator focuses his sight on Thorns. His clothes are as disarranged, as per usual, he sighs to himself.

But before the sniper Operator can call out to Thorns and tell him to fix his clothes, he realizes that on the said Operator’s left shoulder and the lower part of his neck is a few really visible… bite marks.

He stops on his track, mind filled with a bunch of questions.

What? Why? How? Who?

“Thorns,” a feminine voice echoes, snapping the sniper Operator’s mind back to reality.

Doctor Althea is walking out of the same laboratory, wearing a white lab coat with a shirt and long skirt underneath it instead of her usual uniform and mask. Her hair is tied up in a ponytail and seems messier than the last time he saw her without her uniform. She also has a faint smell of burning coming from her too.

She holds up a hair tie and starts walking up to Thorns. “You forgot to tie your hair again.”

“I do?” Thorns reach up to touch the back of his hair before mumbling 'ah, I did.'

The doctor puts the hair tie on Thorns' hand. “You know, maybe next time I should help you put on your clothes.”

“Doctor, that's unnecessary—”

She cuts him off with a grin. “But it's more efficient that way, isn't it?”

He pauses for a second. “Well, if you say it like that…”

Oh. The sniper Operator gulps. His mind is starting to connect the dots and he's not sure he likes that.

He has been involved in the skirmish of Operator Thorns and Operator SilverAsh, and now, knowing this kind of information is just far far far too personal.

As Thorns ties his hair, Doctor glances over him and stops at his mess of clothes.

“Also,” Doctor sighs. “Your clothes.” she tugs on Thorns’ sleeves and straightens them.

“You shouldn’t be too careless,” she says as she turns to his outer clothes and pulls its collar so it covers his shoulders and part of his neck along with the marks that are there.

Thorns put his right hand over Doctor’s left. “Isn’t it fine?” he whispers. The tone of his voice is unusually softer than usual.

The doctor is stunned by his gaze for a few seconds before she shakes her head. “It’s not, Thorns,” she mumbles and takes a step back. “If Dr. Kal’tsit ever read that archive file or see these marks by herself, she will—”

She rolls her eyes to the right, and they meet the sniper Operator. They both freeze.

Crap.

Stumbling for words, the sniper Operator can only raise his left hand and say a greeting. “Oh, erm, good morning, Doctor.”

“Hey, good morning.” her smile doesn't look genuine, as always. “Are you heading to the training room?”

“No… I'm looking for my teammates. We have a mission today.”

“Ah, is that so,” she says, “you’re from OP A2, right?”

The sniper Operator nods. “Yes…”

On the inside, he’s panicking. What does she need that information for? What will she do?

“So you're the sniper with great stealth skill and incredible aim, right?” Doctor tries to smile. “Glad to see you here.”

The sniper Operator starts panicking more. Why does she suddenly praise him? What kind of thing will she do? And that 'glad to see you here' part is definitely not genuine.

She puts her hands inside her lab coat pockets. “Don't worry, I won't do anything that would affect your career here,” she chuckles. “I just find you familiar.”

It's just like she reads his mind. Has she run into this same problem before?

Thorns glance at the sniper Operator before looking back at the Doctor.

“As I said, I don't mind if others see them, Doctor.”

“But Dr. Kal'tsit will mind,” she says, “she already hates me when I don't have the way to control my urges, and if she knows what I do to get rid of it… yeah, I don't want to think about it.”

The sniper Operator is trying not to listen to that probably and most likely private conversation, but it's hard when they're the only people beside him in that whole hallway.

“If you're that concerned,” Thorns pauses for a few seconds, “then I'll try to clean up a bit.”

“Thank you,” says Doctor. “That's all for now.”

Thorns pull on his bag strap. “Well then, see you later, Doctor. If you need anything else, just call me.”

“Will do.”

Thorns start walking away and disappears around the corner.

The doctor and the sniper Operator are just standing silently, with the sniper Operator feeling anxious about what the Doctor is possibly thinking right now.

But she just yawns.

“Man, I feel sleepy now…” she mumbles.

As she yawns, the sniper Operator just stares at her teeth, especially her fangs that to him look quite sharp now, wandering back to the marks on Thorns.

But then he realizes how uncouth it is what he's doing and tries to distract himself by focusing back on the music playing from the speakers.

After absorbing all the oxygen she needed, Doctor blinks a few times and mumbles an 'oh yeah' before turning to face the sniper Operator, “If you meet Mostima can you ask her to come to see me?”

He quickly nods. “Sure.”

“Well, that's sorted out I guess. I gotta go back to my research now,” she says as she walks to the lab she came out from.

What kind of research is she doing exactly? And what does it have to do with… what she does to Operator Thorns? The sniper Operator found himself thinking that but is far too scared of saying it out loud.

But before she opens the lab door, the Doctor starts talking again. This time in the coldest voice he ever heard coming from her.

“You know,” her voice trails off for a second. “I would really appreciate it if you don't say anything to Dr. Kal'tsit. Or Amiya.”

Those words are unusually sharp, making the sniper Operator stand up straight.

“Absolutely!” he realizes how loud his voice has become and lowers it for the next sentence. “I mean, of course.”

“Mhm, that's a great answer.”

She proceeds to open the lab door and closes it quickly after she goes inside, leaving the sniper Operator in the middle of the hallway, alone, with the music playing from the speaker enveloping him.

He never knows the Doctor who is usually quite calm but cheeky at times can have such a threatening aura. Now he's glad he's never under her direct command while in mission and only heard about her actions from other Operators.

He doesn't want to be involved in Doctor’s personal affairs again nor see that part of her ever again. That was scary.

Rho pushed the library doors open, making the hinges creaked loudly. He wasn’t kidding when he said no one comes to the library often.

As soon as the door opened, I could see rows and rows of bookshelves, stacks and stacks of books on the floors, a big open stair connecting the lower level to the upper level with more bookshelves, and some weird animal heads behind glass cases in some corners. Well, I won’t ask Rho about that last one.

“Venust?” Rho called out, but the only answer we received is his echoes.

I glanced around the place. “Maybe this librarian guy is taking a lunch break?”

“No way,” Rho laughed. “He doesn’t eat.”

“Huh? He doesn’t eat?”

But before I could ask what he meant by that, a loud masculine voice boomed from the second floor of the library.

“Commander and The False Chosen One is finally here, I see,”

At the top of the stair to the upper level, stood a white-haired man with a major antagonistic vibe. He looked down at us with his ice-blue eyes and smiled a smile so hollow it strengthened my suspicion of him.

I just knew it. He probably fulfilled the role of a backstabber in this world.

Venust, the librarian, started to walk down the stairs, dragging down his fancy purple cape behind him.

“To bring The False Chosen One with you is quite bold, isn’t it?” he fixed his gaze at Rho. “I thought you wanted to steer clear from any accusation of helping her further the destruction, Commander.”

And oh god, the way he said that annoying nickname is far more annoying than usual since he’s trying to sound oh-so mysterious. I knew he’s the strongest healer in this whole kingdom or something, but I’m not sure I could stand him if he’s in my party.

“It’s all for the kingdom’s sake,” Rho sighed and pulled out the transfer letter from his pocket. “Besides, after you sign this paper, I’ll officially be her guard. And if I remember right, ‘keep your assigned guest as close as possible’ is a rule in the Knight’s Handbook on the Guard Duty subpart, isn’t it?”

Bringing up the Knight’s Handbook seemed to annoy Venust because he scoffed and walked down faster, quickly snatching the paper from Rho’s hand. He stopped right in front of us and opened it.

“Are all the forms filled in already, The False Chosen One?” he glanced at the paper before glaring at me.

I crossed my hands together. “Pretty sure the paper is already complete. The king said so,” I said. “And if you don’t know, my name is Merle.”

“Oh.” Venust raised his eyebrows, ignoring the latter part of my sentence. “So even your magic signature is filled in?”

“I, uh...” my voice trailed off. Damn it, he knew I couldn’t do any magic yet he still asked something like that.

Seeing my reaction, he closed his eyes and snickered in triumph. “As expected.”

I clenched my fist. Such audacity...

Venust then turned his attention to the transfer letter, hovered his left hand over the paper for around a few minutes to cast his magic signature, lighting it up in a variety of colors before it dimmed and slowly turned into a black-colored paper.

He gave back the paper to Rho. “You’ve officially transferred to guard duty. Do give it back to my Liege for the final seal, please.”

“Thank you, Venust.” Rho folded the paper and put it inside his pocket. “I’ll come here again if I need anything else.”

Venust put his right hand on the stack of books beside him that is nearly as tall as me. “I prefer you don’t, Commander. These new books still need to be registered and distractions are not needed here.”

“Even though it’s your job to deal with the letters... tsk, what a librarian,” I mumbled. Venust who heard my mumble started glaring daggers at me. It felt like those piercing blue eyes were aiming for my heart. Yikes. How could this backstabbing shady character be the strongest healer?

Suddenly, Rho nudged me and whispered. “Do you want to ask him about joining the party? I think it’s a perfect time.”

I don’t think this is the ‘perfect time’ for me, but I gave Rho a quick look. A look that said ‘I don’t like him though’. He answered with a shrug and another whisper.

“No matter how much you disliked him, he’s still an ally.”

Yeah, yeah, I know. I sighed. Someone fast at casting healing magic is valuable in the battlefield—too valuable for me to pass on.

I faked a cough before smiling at the rude librarian. “Venust, dearest sir, do you… want to join us?”

He looked taken back for a second. “Join you?”

“Yes, as our—” I tried to answer but Venust shook his head and cut me off.

“No need to answer. I know it’s about the adventuring party,” he scoffed. “Do you think I would want to taint my good name on purpose and join The False Chosen One’s party?”

God, he’s getting on my nerves…

“It’s not like I want to be The False Chosen One, you know? I don’t even want to be thrown into this world in the first place!” My voice started to get higher. “And you, shady ba—”

Before I could finish my sentence, Rho took a step forward.

“If we get the King’s permission, will you join us?”

Such a peacemaker, I sighed.

“Of course, Commander,” Venust snickered as he turned his back against us. His purple cape was blown by a gentle breeze as he turned, making him look more dramatic. “But since I’m irreplaceable—unlike you—I’m not sure my Liege will let me dilly dally around with The False Chosen One.”

Then he started walking away. Just like that.

Gritting my teeth, I start yelling. “Stop calling me that, you—”

“Merle, don’t go searching for trouble.”

The sharp tone of Rho’s voice sent shivers down my spine and made me look back at him as an instinct.

Still with the usual cheerful smile on his face, he continued. “You’re already a nuisance enough to this world, so don’t try to make people hate you even more.”

I shifted my gaze to the marble floor. I’ve come to hate how he’s able to say those things so casually.

ALTHEA WOLFHART-NIGHTINGALE ✒ Age: 20 years old Gender: Female Birthday: September 19th Height: 159cm Occupation(s): University student, Part-time One-Shot Coffee waitress

Althea is a student of Kyros-Eider University, taking Computer Science. She is also one of the people who managed the dorm-turned Blodyngwyn mansion. At times she also works part-time as a waitress for her friend’s cafe called One-Shot Coffee.

She’s quite shy and reserved, prefers to speak through her writing. And if she speaks her mind, she always tries to do it in the most polite way possible. Her neutral facial expression always makes her look sad most of the time even though she tries her best to smile. Most people also have an impression that she's uncaring, but she just can't express herself well.

When facing something she can't deal with, Althea will take a step back and assess the situation as best as she can, but this leads people to believe she doesn't like to get too involved with things, which is actually true. She knows she's some degree of a coward and despise herself for that.

In her spare time, Althea likes to write and play games, ranging from RPGs to visual novels. Aside from that, she also read mystery and thriller books. She lives through characters she writes and hope one day she can publish her book and make people happy through them.

Despite doing her best to treat Sinclair and Juuzou as friends, Althea is actually quite confused with her feelings. Because she never experienced romantic love before, she relies on her logic, wishing to assess the situation and view every possible outcome first to learn which one is the best one to take, leading to either Sinclair or Juuzou talking about their feelings and them being shut down unconsciously by Althea since her brain is malfunctioning again and she still doesn't understand what to do.

Being persistent people, both of them still stick by Althea, because even if she never chooses any of them, nothing will change, because, well, they're friends after all.

JUUZOU SHIROGANE 💎 Age: 19 years old Gender: Male Birthday: July 14th Height: 165cm Occupation(s): University student, Marching band coach

Juuzou is currently taking a Business major at Kyros-Eider University. Aside from that he also teaches a local marching band. He’s adept in some musical instruments, but he likes the trumpet the most.

He has a wild and untamed appearance and was known to cause some trouble if someone were to insult him or things he cared about. But since high school, he tried to be polite for the sake of his family name, and so far has managed to keep his emotions under control. So most people see Juuzou as a laid-back but cheerful guy, that is until he gets annoyed and finally shows his true color.

At times he can be quite selfish, preferring to do things for his own good. Although he has been called out for this a few times, Juuzou doesn’t really care about it until his parents point out it will sully their family name. Only then he tried to change his attitude.

He comes from a branch of a family well-known for their contribution to animal conservation, but Juuzou decided to pursue business out of spite for his cousin who always mocks his interest in art. His friends have voiced concern for his motivation, but he always said he works better under pressure and fueled by spite. Despite how some of his actions are fueled by spite, he will always do his best to not make their family name worse since he knows fully that his parents work hard at maintaining the shaky relationship with other families.

Juuzou’s true interest lies in the marching band, which he also pursues by acting as a coach for a local group. To the junior high schooler in the marching band group, Juuzou is a ‘caring’ but strict coach. He will try his best to teach them, but if they dare slack, he also will try his best to make their training a living hell.

Juuzou was Althea’s under classmate in high school, and she was the one who introduced him to their high school marching band. He initially only gets close to her friend and gets trained by this said friend, but over time, he develops a liking to her and decides to develop a genuine friendship with her. But since Althea knows his insincerity from the get-go, she has always seen him as a distant friend. This makes his attempts on getting close to her a little bit hard, but being persistent is one of his good points.

In front of Althea or someone he tries to charm, Juuzou will become more cool and very considerate, willing to do most things—-in Althea’s words, ‘similar to the usual Sinclair’. Despite multiple attempts trying to uncover if this attitude is just an act or a genuine switch, Althea still can’t decide which one it is. Juuzou insists he’s not doing it to tease her, though.

Juuzou also still calls Althea with a '-senpai' suffix like he did when they were in high school, but this time is done to tease her. He only uses the suffix when there are not too many people around, since Althea gets embarrassed really easily. She's starting to keep up with his jokes and teases though, and hopes someday she can get him back.

SINCLAIR RED 💌 Age: 20 years old Gender: Male Birthday: November 30th Height: 173cm Occupation(s): University student, Actor for local teather, Part-time model

Sinclair is currently studying at Gulliver School of Arts, in the Department of Theater while doing roles for his local theater and occasionally some modeling gigs. Despite his busy schedule, he still has time to play the Falutin series, a series of RPG games with optional online game mode he has played since middle school.

He always sounds so confident and not afraid to speak his mind, even though that habit has landed him in occasional troubles. Some even say he’s a cool guy that doesn’t need to put effort to look cool, and Sinclair can only laugh when someone says that to his face. When someone compliments him, he usually has trouble accepting it, since he always feels he’s not good enough for them.

When Sinclair gets a major role in a play, he will devote himself to studying that role to the point of abandoning his school tasks. This is why some of his classmates view him as someone who doesn’t take his study seriously. Deep down he’s actually afraid that he’s slacking too much, and if he doesn’t keep his performance up, he’ll need to repeat some classes, again. But he also doesn’t want to do a bad job on a role since both the people working on the play and the audiences of the theater he’s working at are putting a lot of faith in him. To get rid of that creeping feeling, Sinclair usually plays a Falutin game for a few hours. Playing that series always took his head off things, and he said it’s only one of a few reasons why he has put so many times and money on it.

Sinclair usually wears a few hairpins since he doesn’t want to cut his bangs but also doesn’t want it to get into his eyes. His hair pins mostly have cute designs, like animals or flowers. Most of it he got from his fans, but he also bought some from flea markets.

To maintain himself as best as possible, Sinclair always buys skincare products he’s most comfortable with even if the tag isn’t that cheap. But strangely he still feels more reluctant to spend money on those than buying in-game currencies. Today, he has spent quite some money on Falutin and only has a bit of regret.

Sinclair was Althea’s childhood friend. They lived in the same neighborhood and even went to the same elementary school. At first, they bond over a game they liked, and eventually become friends. Unfortunately, Sinclair needs to move after 6th grade since his mother got a new job, and they lose contact for several years until Sinclair went to Gulliver and stayed in the same dorm as Althea. They become friends again after discovering they both are fans of the Falutin series.

When he’s with Althea, Sinclair drops his guard and acts more cheerful than usual since he feels she's one of his first friends who truly understands him. He also likes to get cuddly with her, and since he won't stop doing it no matter how many times she says it embarasses her, she has given up and let him do it most of the time.

He likes telling her things that he does every day and sometimes nags her to do the same. Sometimes Althea feels he's a little too annoying, but she always tries to keep up with his energy and open up more.