'That William from two years ago.'
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Taking another glance at Edizon, I then switched my attention to William. My fingers tapped rhythmically as I studied the latter.
Unlike Edizon, who's pretty much impossible to read, William, on the other hand, is a lot more...
Well... You could say he's Transparent.
Almost too easy to read.
Smart enough to hold conversations with his manipulative friend... He seems to be Immune... and to a certain degree, supportive... of his friend's... very nature.
Now, aside from his prodigious but short-lived achievements in the World Arena, he's pretty much an easy-going person, to sum it all up.
It would have been simple if we assumed it like that; then again, his achievements in that short amount of time were simply too outstanding to ignore.
Unscathed, unparalleled, unmatched.
Be it strength or speed.
Everything about him drew the attention of the crowd. He loved entertaining the crowd. Rather than going for swift knockouts, he always took his time showcasing his continuously developing fighting style.
His movements. His flexibility. The way he utilizes his joints and muscles. It was as if he was showing how humans should naturally move.
...
He studied his opponents as he fought, sometimes even adopting a more natural version of his own opponent's moves.
I have always been amused by his antics. There's always that sense of feeling that he was helping his opponents improve.
Though often times he looked bored.
That was what made him so famous back then. A declaration to the world that he's the strongest.
And the people loved him for it.
It's a shame he quit as soon as he reached S rank. That would've shown the world some really intense battles.
Nevertheless, I have a feeling that the result would've been the same if he had continued climbing back then.
He probably knows that too. Now that I think about it,
Maybe he really was bored.
I couldn't help but giggle.
'That would've really sent those antique brats fuming.'
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Anyway, as far as my rambling went on...
I still can't fathom how two of these overly remarkable people ended up in this place—and even ended up as best friends.
Now that's a bit too odd,
isn't it?
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"A false sense of hope, Your parents dying, people dying for you, some of them because of you..."
"An unbearable amount of pain and suffering."
"I wouldn't say they're a representation of my fears."
"Are these the things you wish to happen?"
"No."
"Not even remotely?" he paused before answering his own question.
"Probably not. For the longest time, we've come to know you as accepting. Admittedly you yourself know that."
"We might as well say that it's highly unlikely for you to self-destruct."
"Apart from the nightmares, you keep having. I could even say, you're doing too well right now."
They both chuckled.
"Follow your nightmares they say so you know what's eating you alive."
"What do you think Karina?"
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What do you think, Karina?
My train of thought halted as I was called out. I almost laughed. They have been going through these conversations for about two weeks now. Even discussing it in front of the managers and asking our opinions, sometimes even asking the staff members.
At first, I thought that William quitting the fighting scene had something to do with all of this but compared to winning money and fame, he was facing something a lot heavier than normal people could brace through.
Normal people already struggle to face reality as it is. What a strong mentality he must have.
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"I think the best direction we could go for is to treat this as some sort of farfetched premonition."
"A rather drastic one if it ever comes true."
An ominous creation of your own subconscious after overreacting to a greater threat.
The best thing we could do right now is to try and...
"track what's causing the other part of your mind distress."
Edizon finished for me.
"Insightful as always miss Einstream." I curtsied playfully.
He then turned towards William.
"Well need a few sessions to identify-."
"I should be alright now."
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"I should be alright now."
William smiled before standing up to stretch himself.
We both turned to look at him.
"It should pass soon. Besides, they're simply visions. It doesn't affect me either way."
William smiled. Wearing his signature nonchalant self.
That's good, then.
I was about to resume reviewing our calendar for today when I noticed the strange smile Edizon was wearing.
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It was too subtle, almost impossible to notice,
It was already too late by the time I realized it. Even my own instincts weren't able to cope with all the things that happened in the next few moments.
In a split second, Edizon swept the knife lying on the table and instantly plunged it towards William's skull.
William, at that very instant, grabbed Edizons hand, using the very same momentum to circle back the swing, only stopping after it reached Edizon's throat.
Not a moment later, Edizon swung the fork using his other hand; it looked as if it was gonna plunged towards William's cheeks, only for a loud clang to resound after the very knife William was holding slammed towards Edizon's hand, knocking off the fork over, forcefully stopping Edizon's hand.
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What the hell?
I unconsciously grabbed the hidden dagger within my skirt, trying my best to anticipate what would happen next.
The exchange happened so fast; although it happened all right in front of me, my instincts didn't even have the time to react or even process anything.
If that was me, then I'd already be dead by now. These people... Just what the hell are these people have been doing?
Not even our Grand Assassins would be able to pull off such an incredibly masked attack, not to mention counter it.
They took a brief pause before continuing. Apparently, they were more interested in how William managed to survive the attack.
And then it clicked on me. Is this somehow related to William's nightmares?
But if what William displayed just now was outside of his own expectations,
then...
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Impossible.
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--- Break ---
"Fascinating." Edizon whisked away his hand before standing straight and fixing his tie.
By the looks of it, they didn't particularly mind that I witnessed everything.
"You knew I would hesitate?" William couldn't believe it either. Stretching his hand close and open.
"Something like that. You've been awfully on guard lately. Like your instincts have been open wide and awfully prepared at all times.
You didn't for a single time look worried, but you kept your guard up as if you were on the edge of your own lifetime.
After a while, I started to notice that more and more of your micro habits started to deviate.
The way you position yourself, how your eyes sweep the corner of each room, and how you pay extra attention to each and every person in the room.
Even our program takes a couple of months to embed to refine our employees.
Not to mention despite the sudden change, all of this seems to be so natural for you,
aside from the heavily projected nightmares, you kept seeing, everything for you seemed alien and ordinary at the same time.
Your overall growth would've been too obvious had you still been a ranked fighter going to matches.
It was a good thing, though...
Seeing how fast you reacted and how decisive you moved just now, there could be a chance of you accidentally killing your opponent.
"Then why did you..." Seeing as how casual they are. I couldn't help but cut them off.
"Cause it's still his instincts. No matter the level of threat, if we were to move based on a reaction, there would always be some level of bias that would unintentionally come into play.
Also, who knows how he would've reacted happened if I really did intend to kill him?
Edizon touched the skin on his neck. Even with how fast everything had happened, there wasn't even a single scratch on his neck and hand.
I couldn't even start to imagine just how much skill and precision it would take to be able to pull all that in just a split second.
Just what really happened to William to cause such a drastic change in him?
William looked one more time at his palm. He seemed to be...Worried... For the first time.
Ah... That's right.
The Nightmares.
They must be concerned about what the other implications of those visions are.
Then again, it's also possible that this case is only isolated to William.
I tilted my head as I watched the now silent two.
The level of prowess they displayed just now only added to my confusion.
If that level of prowess was realized partly because of those visions. Then what of Edizon?
Could he have been initially more dangerous than William? And what of those visions?
Not to mention the very existence of this shop and all of its methods.
Are they all part of a single puzzle, or were they simply pieces of different games from the start?
I might as well be overthinking at this point.
Let's see what all of this will turn into.
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The two continued discussing possibilities while I returned to arranging the shop's scheduled clients for today. Occasionally I would glance at them to confirm their expressions, but I didn't want to get too absorbed in them.
Eventually, they were able to relate some possibilities that lay to the VR Project that was going to be released by the World Government, but my interest had already been burned out at that point.
I'm still documenting our takeaways from this whole project. As overkill as these studies is for a simple coffee shop, these materials are incredibly valuable even for the largest corporations our family holds.
It was highly unlikely that they're teaching all of this you'd got the sake of building connections, but factoring in everything I've witnessed so far, I'm sure it would be anything but one-sided...
--- break ---
*knock* *knock* *knock*
We all paused as a very tall and dark man entered the room. The man nodded politely to me, and William then bowed deeply towards Edizon.
The man bowed so deep and sincere he almost looked as if he wanted to kneel in front of Edizon. Ignoring the usual 'theatrics' of the staff members of this shop, I immediately cut to the chase.
"Table # 9?"
"Yes, manager."
"They're probably asking for you." I looked at Edizon, who's now walking towards us."
"The Daughter of the Zhao Clan right?"
"Yes. The youngest daughter of the current head of the Zhao clan happened to stumble into our shop around a week ago.
She must have taken a liking to our establishment and is now back to propose a proper acquisition."
"I see."
Edizon continued to walk before proceeding to stop at my side.
"This must be a slightly familiar sight."
"hahaha... I can imagine my cousin doing something like this.
Do you want me to come? My presence alone would push them to decide faster."
"That would be much appreciated."
"William?"
"I'm going for a walk. You guys try to take care of this as fast as possible. Let's meet up later to discuss our pre-launch plans for NOIM."
"You got that over pretty fast."
"Well, I am me after all."
"For some reason, that means a bit different now."
"Yeah."
*waves*
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