3: CHILDHOOD FRIENDS
//
7:39 A.M. // 8 - 28 - 2023 // Oakcrest Plaza
Starring ???
Featuring ??? and ???
//
I looked out the passenger’s window. The cute little house was slowly disappearing behind us. I wish I had never left there. The two weeks ever since I took over Gwen Olynn’s body had been an absolute pain, but yet I would so much rather be back at the house, and not stuffed with two guys beside me.
The moment I woke up that day, I screamed. My hair was near identical to what I remembered in the my own world, straight and shoulder-length, neat raven black hair. But my eyes weren’t supposed to be blue. A petite face and big eyes, I almost swore an eternal love oath to myself when I looked in my little mirror, a mirror I had never seen before. I was a looker.
I immediately knew what I was and had a good guess what had happened.
I was that one girl from those shounen animes, the one where the plot-armored black-hair-handsome fellow took care (no, no. That’s not true. He watches her and pets her like a dog while she takes her final breaths) of her as she lays sick on the hospital bed for 50 damn episodes. And then she would either keel over and die or the hero would find some unassuming miracle herb to save her with all his little sidekicks and minions. With my luck, I’d be taking the first route.
And how did I know that I was the chronically sick kid?
The moment I got out of bed, I almost slumped over. My head was heavier than bricks and pounded like bongo drums. My ears popped constantly until they faded to a dull ring, and then vile rushed up my throat. And my stomach. Oh, gracious lord, my stomach.
—Gurgle. RRRP
And by then I’d already seen myself in the mirror.
Not a hair out of place. I was dying, and I looked cute doing it. Right then and there I laid back down onto my bed and perished on the spot. It was only by a thread of miracle that my dad walked in after hearing my scream and tugged my soul back into my body. I begged him to let go as he dragged me back.
Later that day, while I was sick in bed this itty bitty little boy came into my room. It wasn’t like he was a child, but rather just a really, really short guy. He had very dark, neat and long-ish, almost purple hair and similar eyes. The boy looked to be of Eurasian descent, and wasn’t half bad looking. He also looked like the type of person who could give a professional rapper a run for their money. A puffer jacket loosely hung over his shoulders like he had just taken it off but didn’t know where to put it.
“Are you sick again?” He said.
And that’s when the weirdest thing happened.
========================
Answer
Memory
Overtake
Will you use a Guide?
Yes//No
========================
In front of my face, a screen had popped up like the UI for an RPG video game. Answer? Memory? What was a Guide?
Back then I had chosen Overtake. My reason? I had stolen a body, right? It only seemed right to give it back.
I prepared for the heavens to call me up, but nothing happened.
My head turned to the side, even though I was completely still. “And you’re here again, Avil?” I said. When I looked up in surprise, I didn’t look up. It was like I was in a really realistic nightmare.
“What would you even do if I wasn’t here to keep you company?” He said.
“Hmm? Wait for Visionaire’s next song and sleep.” I hadn’t even known those words, much less wanted to say them. The angels were still not yet here to pick me up. They were running really late.
And the words had kept coming out of my mouth.
“Hey, why do you keep coming here?”
“I told you, to keep you company.” He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “Haven’t we been friends since we were like, 2? So you don’t like me being here?”
I was silent. ‘No, I want you to leave and I want God to TAKE ME BACK AND WAKE ME UP,’ I screamed. I didn’t scream. I didn’t make a peep. Instead, I sniffed.
I remember sweating like crazy, the pain so crazy intense and flaring inside and outside of me and yet she kept on talking almost completely unfazed.
“You already know that it’s not infectious. It’s probably my allergies again.”
“The one where you’re allergic to yourself? You said that yesterday.”
“We went to the Agent Institute for all that training just for me to be stuck like a little princess in bed.” She grumbled. At least we agreed on something. I did look like a princess, and she probably was the damsel in distress
“That’s not completely… wrong…” Avil suddenly muttered.
“Huh? You’re mumbling again.” Oh crap, Avil, God no.
“I said, you’re like a…” he trailed off. Princess. Just say that you like this Gwen character and move on with your day. Simp.
“K, idiot. Get out, you’re giving me a headache.” She said bluntly, shaking her head tiredly. She wasn’t wrong, my head was about to split open. No, of course I couldn’t do anything about it.
The heavens were playing a cruel prank. I couldn’t move, but I could feel. I couldn’t say anything, but words came out. It wasn’t me moving, and it wasn’t me saying those things though. If the body’s owner had come back to life, then why wasn’t I being spared from their stupid conversation?!
Back then I had silent screamed in my head. Now I know better than to use Overtake.
My name is Gwen in this world. The tiny kid is my childhood best friend Avil and we are somehow 16 years old. And the hot one—I mean, uhh, what? Oh yeah, he’s Avil’s other best friend. He’s an orphan taken in by Avil’s parents. They are technically brothers.
The next day he came again while I was still in bed. Yep. Once a sick kid, always a sick kid.
“I’m back.” Avil pulled open the door.
The Guide then appeared again. At the top right corner, 5 days, 47 minutes. I refused to use it.
Earlier that day when I had woken up again, I was in full control of Gwen’s body. I used all the precious seconds I could to research about the world on the phone lying beside my head so I wouldn’t have to use another Guide. I was armed with knowledge and the power of the Internet. Teachers lied. Wikipedia was awesome.
“Hey.” It hit me then that I had no clue about Gwen’s general behaviors. Should I say more? Should I ask him something, what should I do? I didn’t waver a bit, no I didn’t.
“What do you think I’m supposed to do when we get to ARC?” I asked as nonchalantly as possible. Thank goodness for my insanely good poker face.
“Hmm? Oh, ARC. I guess you can, I don’t know… get carried on a stretcher?”
“I smell sarcasm.” I said off the top of my head. It was then that I decided to simply say what came to my mind. Not my body, not my consequences. No stress.
“You said you can’t smell things when you’re sick,” he replied, “oh, but for your information you smell pretty good.”
“What was that?” I feigned ignorance. Who goes around telling people how they smell? The perverts and the stalkers. That’s who.
He came by 3 more times on the 3 following days before he finally stopped showing up.
On the 6th day I ‘met’ Cedrance for the first time.
That day I had finally gotten out of bed (with only a mild headache), and as soon as I opened my door my parents shooed me away to Avil’s house next door. I couldn’t even tour ‘my’ own house.
I knocked twice. A moment after Avil answered the door. It was the first time I was standing next to Avil, all the other times I was laying in bed. I knew he was short before, but goodness. The top of his head barely even reached my nose. I’m 5 feet tall. We’re both really short.
“Oh, you’re not sick anymore.” He said blandly. Was he the same boy that was so obviously smitten with me before? “Come inside.”
Cute was an understatement to describe the house. It was a replica of my own with a slightly different layout, the dining table at the entrance and the kitchen behind it in the other room. Besides that was a rustic couch in the living room that stretched out in front of a mounted TV.
On the other side of the wall near the kitchen was the backyard. I was slightly astounded with how big the yard was. It was full of flowers and strawberries and aloes that littered the far back fence overseeing a gorgeous view of the city below. We lived on a mountain, I had realized.
I really liked the house; it was home like no other, had a gorgeous yard, a cat named Momo who was on the sofa, and an upstairs area I hadn’t explored yet. I could hear Avil’s parents talking to each other upstairs loudly.
The floor plan was similar enough to what I saw in my own; my room was downstairs at my house, and I spotted it in the hall beside the dining room.
I opened the door, and then immediately closed it. Hot dude. Looking in my direction. Laying in bed. Huddled like a penguin. Blue hair. I was totally inside some sort of anime. He would be the protagonist.
But why was he in Avil’s house?
“Hey, Gwen,” Avil said behind her. I startled into the wall and yelped. “What are you doing snooping in Ced’s room? You usually neeeever do that.” He winked. “A sudden change of heart?”
“U-uh, I didn’t think he’d be in the house today,” I lied as convincingly as possible.
“Yeah, and he’d be with his girlfriend? She’s out of town and we have barely any time before ARC starts, so why wouldn’t he be in bed?” He pressed forward. “I’ve never asked this before, but why do you hate him?”
I gaped. What…?
Who could hate such a pretty face? Oh, Gwen, you have bad taste.
“I don’t,” I said firmly. Play along. If this was an anime, he could definitely hear me right now. “Unlike you, I just find him dull to be around.” I tried to keep my face as straight as possible. The screen looming over my head could go jump into a ditch. It showed the same 3 options again, but I ignored it.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Suddenly a screen popped up in front of me.
========================
‘Gwen Olynn’ has been rewarded for the following action(s):
[Compliment Avil Daniase, Diss Cedrance Manamune]
Reward: Guide (1)
Amount of Guides: 2 ⇒ 3
========================
I stared at the notification. Hello? What were these horrendous names? Olynn was okay, but… was this world really that resigned to anime?
“Hoho?” Avil snickered. He didn’t seem to notice the huge screen in front of his face. He slightly brightened and I realized I was inadvertently staring at him. Clearing his throat a bit, Avil walked away. “Do whatever, I’m feeding Momo. Wakey wakey, you fat mooch!” The fat mooch screeched.
I was getting mixed signals. Did he like me or not? What’s a notification, what are Guides, what is this anime?
I walked around in a daze after that and nothing particularly eventful happened.
It was sort of like that for the rest of the week, but I finally figured out a bit about the system. That also meant I had more questions.
First was that I couldn’t say anything about the fact that this wasn’t my world, my body, my life, basically anything related to reality. My tongue would trip and a bunch of random words would instead come out, or not even come out at all.
Second were the notifications. Later that week I tried doing the same thing, pissing off Cedrance and giving Avil some nice words. I got funny and annoyed looks instead. No notification, no reward. I couldn’t figure out much about it.
And lastly, the Guides. Seeing that I could earn back my Guides or wait a week to get another one, I decided to try a Memory, as I already had a vague idea of what an Answer would do.
In bed, when I called it out, my head spun in different directions as if a toddler was shaking my brain and eyeballs like a pair of maracas. Everything moved, and I felt my body less and less as the system began counting down.
It was a really unpleasant experience.
A bunch of screens popped up like the notification inside my head. By that point I had been completely passed out. When the success message finally popped up, it came alongside a keyword:
FACETS
Facet. That word means the sides of an object. You see one side, but you can’t see the other, because the wall is too long and tall for you to see around it.
But if you walk to the end of the wall or climb a ladder, you can see the other facet.
My final realization was that Gwen was sick.
She was physically sick, to a disgusting amount.
And she sickened me. She was a disgusting person.
//
7:58 A.M. // 8 - 28 - 2023 // Oakcrest Plaza
Starring Avil Daniase
Featuring Cedrance Manamune, Gwen Olynn, and Aythe Siena
//
The sign at the end of the street read ‘Portal Facility’. Oakcrest was long behind us, as was my month of adapting to the new and unfamiliar world.
I was in the middle seat between Ced and Gwen. Gwen looked out the window and said nothing, as did Ced.
Besides the obvious height difference, they were a lot more alike than they admitted.
And also that Ced was Awakened, while Gwen and I were still plebeians.
I comparatively looked like a minion next to them both.
I grunted. It was getting awkwardly silent besides the constant sound of the car going forwards.
It felt like hours had passed when we reached our destination. We reached an entrance gate and showed our identifications to the agents, who wore black uniforms with the crest of Holimont, a silhouette of a rose. Holimont, I knew, was the guild partnered with ARC for its preference of safety and order over raids and fights. They were the strongest guild of law enforcers.
Two agents escorted our car into a large building. They stopped us at another checkpoint and we were scanned for harboring demons and checked our luggage and backpacks. Afterwards we finally said goodbye to my ‘parents’ who had driven us.
One of the agents took my parents back and we were led down a hallway. There were many doors, each labeled with a different place. The cameras above monitored us like hawks. I subconsciously held my belongings closer to me.
At last we reached the door marked for ARC. It was slightly taller and more prominent than the rest. We walked nervously into the room and saw the huge portal, which slightly shimmered with mana. It was as pretty as the ocean.
Not many words had passed between the three of us from when we got into the car to now.
“Well, walk through,” the agent said, “it’s a seamless entrance from here to ARC. Best of luck, kids.”
Ced was the first one to go through. He didn’t bring much along with him besides some clothes and his phone. It was as if he disappeared into a distorted lens when he stepped through. Then Ced was gone.
Gwen took a deep breath. She gave me a quick glance. “Well?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “In a second.”
She also disappeared into the portal.
I was the last one. The agent stood there, watching me. He didn’t beckon me to move forwards, he didn’t move at all. His eyes simply were on me.
I took a few steps forward, then broke into a sprint headfirst through. I felt nothing as I passed through, but then my eyes were suddenly blinded by an onslaught of light, and then landed on my butt. I sat for a moment. The air felt cooler, though I was still clearly indoors. It was like a very brightly lit waiting room of sorts, lined with rows of chairs and people. Gwen and Cedrance groggily waved at me, also sitting down, and also clearly affected by the change in setting.
“Up and moving!” Someone, a woman’s voice, yelled in my ear. “You, you, and you, get up! You guys think you’re the only ones just gone through?” She sounded like a drill commander, a very scary and angry one at that. The whole room was filled with the sounds of yelling, and looking around there were a few more kids about my age being told off by other instructors.
I pulled my body upwards and immediately came face to face with the yelling woman. She was wearing a uniform.
“I said, MOVE!”
I tumbled forward, and so did the others. We were all walking up to a machine beside the exit, and we were also overwhelmed by the suddenness of it all. A flashing red light began probing me as I walked up to the exit door, then turned into a flicker of green. ‘Approved.’ A woman's voice sounded from the probing machine. I trudged a couple steps and pushed open the door.
Again I was blinded, but this time by sunlight. It shone magnificently against my skin and I felt a tingle of sweat beginning to form around my collar. The air was pleasant, full of the subtleness of a seaside resort.
ARC was a huge academy designed to train the prospective Awakened young generation, and was situated on an island in the middle of the Pacific. Someone online wrote that it was as big as San Francisco, and that it had access to dungeons and portals all over the world. Modern defined every aspect of it, from the elegant entrance and the beautiful but lively mall bustling about. In the distance, a large defining arc went from one side of the main buildings to the other, like a glass bridge of sorts. It looked similar to a prestigious university school brimming with state of the art equipment. At least, that was what the videos had told him. Now that I was seeing it in person…
“I didn’t think that it would be so fancy,” Gwen stood in awe beside me. I could only think of animes that were this impressive. She was staring up at the lecture buildings that resembled something from a college, buildings which were a very long way away and covered by masses of trees and other buildings. How good were her eyes?
We had just left the portal room, which was in the middle of the town on the island. It had been built alongside ARC to accommodate the students, who weren’t allowed to leave the island without permission, as well as graduates and simply people. It was a lively area, full of businesses, restaurants and a mall. I was confused on how we would buy anything, though. We had brought no money.
Closer to the actual main school itself we’re the dorms, split into boys and girls. According to many videos and tours, the dorms were tiered: the lower one’s school rank was, the less pretty their dorm would be. However to me the worst dorms still looked pretty decent, with everything one could possibly need.
Nevertheless, everything on the island was gorgeous. It would make the richest of rich people feel basic. Maybe that’s what happens when you get accepted into such a good school. I still had no clue what Avil had done or was able to do to have gotten a spot at ARC. Or Gwen, for that matter. Especially Gwen.
I pulled my phone and checked the time. 8:12. 18 minutes until the ceremony began. There was a large screen to my left that people were lining up to use. It was a map of the entire island, and the people there were students. I watched a little closer, the person who was using it was trying to figure out how to get to the Square. Luckily I already knew where to go.
Glancing around, I realized Cedrance was also in line. Did he not know or something?
I went up to him, cutting through a few people who grumbled at me and tugged at his elbow. He didn’t react and kept staring up ahead at the screen. I faintly smelled popcorn in the air.
“Hey, wake up Ced. Ced.” I finally caught his attention, and he turned to look at me. Well, look down at me.
“Bro, did you bring your kid to ARC?” A guy in line guffawed. I looked around but couldn’t recognize the person who had said that. He definitely stood out with his extraordinarily curly brown hair, an almost freckled and textured color of sorts. His eyes also stood out with the same prettiness but also with the cool-kid-and-I-know-it kind of expression. And he looked rich. It wasn’t the kind of rich invested into his clothes, but of his posture and almost revealing gym-blessed bod and fit. Cedrance quite literally looked down on me, but it was almost funny how even though the guy stood at Ced’s height he looked down.
"He's a gremlin child as stupid as you." What was with this sudden aggression?
“Morning," Cedrance yawned. "What brings you here, Aythe? Can't find your way around? Me too."
“At least you know how much of an imbecile you are.”
“It looks like you don’t even know how much you’re giving your guild such a bad name.” Ced responded indifferently.
"Says the orphan affiliated with nothing but mud." Oh, so it’s a Tuesday? "And for the record, I'm better than you. Last year was a fluke. You were practically the teacher's child." Aythe looked down at me. "Looks like you have a child of your own. Who'd you have fun with? Go play with the kids, you."
“He’s not my kid. Avil is my brother!”
Annoyance bulged in my neck. I pulled up a Guide.
Answer.
========================
Option 1) “#### off, virgin-### ugly #####, don’t you have better things to do like make ####### lick your ### and **** *******? C’mon, how can a tactless #### like you be the Angels of Crap’s next big thing?”
Option 2) “Go kiss your daddy’s ### and ask your little info team where to go. Maybe they’ll answer you, like how they warned your latest dead team in that dungeon. Oh wait, they’re idiots and disgraces. Like you, dip####, Mr. Sockets for Jaws.”
Option 3) “Eat ####, Goldilocks. Ced, come on, don’t hurt his ego any more and let’s go. It’s so fragile that I just sat on it, it’s an accident I swear. Like your daddy’s condom.”
========================
I burst out laughing. Avil wasn’t afraid when it came to language. It was hilarious, I fell down in fits of laughter and cackles, oh God I couldn’t hold it back.
Aythe looked down at me in disgust, and a few people in line glanced at us. “What are you laughing at, minion motherfu—”
I cracked. I wanted to say all of it.
========================
Two Guides were used. ‘Avil’ has used all three Options.
Amount of Guides: 3 ⇒ 1
========================
My mouth began to move on it’s own, and my body language matched the words. Oh, I hadn’t meant to do that. But I didn’t regret it.
It was so funny, and it was so real. I was howling in my head as my words came out.
“Eat ****, Goldilocks,” Avil fired. He was a pro at this. Aythe’s face morphed into a tomato, and Cedrance was clearly horrified. The other kids in line were howling along with me, tears of funny falling wetting their cheeks and dust splotching their faces from falling to the floor, also out of laughter. The moment was more golden than the flecks on Aythe’s hair.
========================
‘Avil Daniase’ has done the following actions:
[Embarrass and Anger Aythe Siena, Horrify Cedrance Manamune, Protect the Little Brother, Curse Out Aythe Siena, Cause a Scene, Call Out Aythe Siena, Nickname Aythe Siena ‘Goldilocks’]
Reward: Guide (1), Settings Adjustment
Amount of Guide: 1 ⇒ 2
NEW Settings Adjustment: ‘Avil Daniase’ can choose up to 3 Options when prompted with a Catalog.
========================
Another screen appeared.
========================
‘Aythe Siena’, ‘Gwen Olynn’ and other people in line acknowledge ‘Avil Daniase’ as a threat!
========================
“And sit down, Goldilocks!” I hooted, walking away with Cedrance in my arms. He was as stiff as cardboard and followed along, almost fearfully. Gwen, who was in the notification, also walked behind us. I felt her stare on the back of my head like lasers.
“Don’t worry, I would never do that to you, Ced and Gwen.” I reassured them, still giggling.
“You’re insane,” Gwen muttered.
“I heard that,” I called back, and she flinched. We walked onwards for a little while. I could hear.
Cedrance suddenly straightened. “Wait one second. No, go to the Square, I’ll find you there.”
“Hey, what do you mean, are you going somewhere?” I grabbed his arm but he tugged away.
“I’ll come back in a little bit.” He dashed off before I could react.
“Ced! Where are you going? We’re already here!” I yelled after him. But my words couldn’t catch up to him, and he disappeared behind the bend.