image [https://i.imgur.com/qqJG2Rj.png]
image [https://i.imgur.com/HAp4cBF.png]
----------------------------------------
In the large kingdom of Setus, two prodigies were born on the same day.
Carine, the sole heir of the Sareid dukedom, respected for her military prowess and intelligence, her cold demeanor spreading her fame even more.
Feyt, a commoner who rose through the ranks and became an esteemed knight, adored by the masses due to his bravery and gentle nature, becoming an inspiration to all.
These two coincidentally met during their young years, and ever since then, they constantly challenged each other and grew stronger.
Together, they were an unstoppable force, and the world knew it. They moved and acted as one with an unbreakable bond. Their unity was so flawless that it sparked rumors of relics or dark magic being the source of their synergy.
Of course, none of them really knew the truth.
Carine and Feyt were both me.
----------------------------------------
“This party sucks…” I groaned.
I stared at the people around me. Most were slumped in their seats, nursing canned colas and picking at the bland snacks, their eyes darting longingly toward the exits. Yet, no one made a move to leave.
You might wonder why. No, it wasn’t due to traffic or the weather. The simple reason was that the party was mandatory.
How did we get here? Well, long story short: the branch manager, our boss, finally got married.
He informed us of his leave to Paris for the honeymoon, dumping all of his workload onto his secretary, AKA, me. Not only that, he said he was feeling ‘generous’ and wanted to give back something for our hard work.
But this is the boss we’re talking about, his idea of generosity came with a few strings attached. He ordered me to organize a Christmas party for the employees while he was gone, and I couldn’t be happier.
Finally, we would have a chance to kick back and relax! I was pretty excited about it until I was given the plans.
The budget, O’ Lord, the budget. It was barely enough to buy snacks, let alone decorations. I had to pull money out of my wallet just to get the necessities.
He also gave us a venue, the office building’s unused seventh floor. It was spacious, thank god for that, but it had its fair share of problems.
Maintenance was only ever done on the lower floors for appearance's sake, the upper floors were neglected to save costs. That meant the entire seventh floor was not in a condition for a party, we had to clean the entire floor ourselves.
And then, after wasting an entire month just to prepare for the party, running my wallet dry, and also sacrificing sleep, the party finally commenced on Christmas night.
After witnessing the fruits of my labor, I could only say…
“It sucks…”
I felt bad for setting the place up, no one could ever enjoy themselves here. The snack table consisted of off-brand potato chips, stale cookies, and fruit that had already seen better days last week. They were the only things I could afford with a measly budget.
And don't even get me started on the drinks. Sure, they were cold, but the soda was as flat as my spare tire, and the beer was some cheap foreign stuff whose label I couldn't even begin to read.
Entertainment-wise, someone brought over their Gamestation 4 so we could play games, but we had no TV… so the console was just sitting there in the corner, forever alone.
We would play music and dance the night away, but our office was situated right next to an apartment. The fear of a noise complaint stopped us since the one who’d be paying the fine would be none other than us.
Since the party was mandatory, the ones who didn’t arrive would get a pay cut. Some of the employees here had to cancel their Christmas dates for the party, how depressing was that?
Everyone looked dead as they chugged the cheap beer, the only worthwhile entertainment was gossip. I was beginning to wonder why I even tried to make the party work out.
“...I wanna quit.”
I chugged beer like there was no tomorrow. After making sure it was empty, I threw it at a trash can carelessly.
“Hah… What do I do now?”
“Boss!”
“Hm?” I turned my head to find a familiar face. “Ah, Luke.”
Out of everyone at the party, he was probably the only employee with a glimmer left in his eyes. He ran at me full of energy as he held two unopened beer cans.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Thanks for inviting me to the party, Boss!” Luke saluted with a can of beer still held firmly in his palm. “The party’s great!”
Well, someone’s optimistic.
“Hey, told you to stop calling me Boss, you’d get in trouble.”
“What? He’s not here, is he?” Luke turned his head left and right.
“Well, no… but…”
His boot-lickers might be.
“Well, after having you teach me for so long, it feels natural, y’know? Besides, you’re more of a boss than he ever was–”
“Shuush!” I forcibly cupped Luke’s mouth. “Stop that, or we’re both going to get in trouble.”
Luke nodded. “Mmmhmm!”
After making sure he understood my point, I released Luke’s mouth.
“By the way, Luke, is that beer for me?” I eyed the pair of unopened beers in his hands.
“Oh, sorry, nope! It’s for my girlfriend!”
“O-oh! Of course it is…” I was hoping it was, though.
Luke’s girlfriend… It was her, the reason why Luke was so energetic despite the dead atmosphere of the party. He had invited her to the party as his plus one, and she surprisingly agreed.
“Ah! Speaking of the angel!” Luke’s face lit up as a woman approached us.
“...Yeah, that’s not corny at all.”
In a modest blue dress was a woman with a rather emotionless expression. But, I had a feeling it was just how her face usually was.
“Luke, did you get the beer?” She said, her tone quite monotone.
“Yep! Right here!” Luke handed over the can.
“Thanks,” she said to Luke. She then turned her head towards me. “And… you’re Luke’s senior, right? The one he keeps calling ‘Boss’?”
“Y-yes, I am his senior. Nice to meet you! Do try and avoid calling me that here, though…”
I politely shook hands with her.
“The name’s Kloe. Luke talked a lot about you.”
Sheesh, he gossips about me? I hope it’s nothing bad…
“Don’t worry, I assure you, Luke admires you a lot.”
“R-really?”
Did my tongue slip? Or was she just casually reading minds?
“Ah, Luke. Want to head to the balcony? The air’s stuffy here.” Kloe fanned her face with her hand.
“Oh, sure!” Luke answered. “I’ll see you later, Boss!” He tapped my shoulders as he walked away with Kloe.
“I told you to stop calling me that, didn’t I?”
“Haha! Sorry, just a habit!”
That kid is going to get me killed…
With those two gone, I was once again left alone with the rest of the employees. Compared to those two, I felt like I was staring at a pack of zombies… me included.
The only ones I’d seen genuinely smiling so far were Luke and his girlfriend. Those two were so in love, I doubt anything would bring down their mood.
…Love, huh?
“If I have someone like that… Wonder how it’d be…”
Useless fantasy aside, I needed something to do to pass the time until midnight, only then would we be permitted to leave.
The boss doesn’t want any one of us leaving early for some reason, did he even take into account that some of us could take hours to commute back home, especially at midnight?
“Welp… Chugging beer it is.”
Not like there was any other way to have fun.
—
“Ahhh~”
I promised myself that I’d stop after a couple of cans, but in the end, I couldn’t stop myself. Thankfully, we bought quite a lot, so no need to worry about drinking it all up on my own.
“Shit… I need to clean up…”
I slowly stood up, stumbling over my own feet as I did so.
“I’m that drunk? Cleaning’s gonna be a chore…”
Most of the others had left while the rest were asleep on the floor, drooling and all. The only one I could rely on to help clean the place was Luke, unfortunately.
“Is he still on the balcony?”
I headed there, one hand on my forehead and another on the wall to prevent myself from falling.
“You’re such a flirt.”
I heard Kloe's voice from across the hallway leading towards the balcony. As I approached, I could see Luke and Kloe leaning on the iron fence through the window, chatting away under the moonlight with wide smiles on both of their faces.
“...Maybe I shouldn’t bother them.”
As I was about to head back down the hallway, I grew kind of curious and decided to stay and watch.
“It’s kind of weird,” Luke said. “The moment we met, it just felt like… fate, or something!”
“Sheesh, you need to work on your flirting more.” Kloe took a sip of her canned beer. “But, I have to admit, I kinda feel the same…” She said, a blush forming.
“I know right?!”
“Hmph,” I scoffed, letting out a smirk. “Damn lovebirds.”
The scene before me was romantic as hell. Two young people gazing at the moon with their full life ahead of them.
The only thing ruining the scenery was the iron fence they were leaning on. It was rusty and looked slightly bent at the feet as well.
“I should seriously get that thing checked out, that thing looks like it might break at any moment.”
And, as if fate was mocking me, the fence began to bend even more.
“...Wait, no, it IS about to break!!”
With no hesitation, I jumped up and rushed to warn them.
“You two!! Get away from that fence!!”
““Huh?”” Both of them turned towards me.
The sudden change in their position was the fence’s last straw. In an instant, both Luke and Kloe fell backward along with the fence.
“Shit–” Kloe cursed.
“Kloe–!!” Luke shouted.
I busted through the balcony door and jumped. To my own surprise, I managed to catch both of their arms, barely saving them from the fall.
“B-Boss?!”
I clenched my muscles, exerting every single energy I had into my arms and legs.
“Aaaaaaaaaaggghhh!!!!!!!!”
With great effort, I managed to pull both of them enough for them to climb back onto the balcony on their own. When they reached land, they were gasping for air with their hands tightly held onto their chest.
“Haah~ Haaah~ W-we almost died!!–” Luke said, out of breath.
“That was… scary…”
As for me… well… let’s just say, I began to regret drinking that much beer.
I couldn’t move my body, it was stiff as a board. The wind began pushing me forward.
“B-boss?!” Luke shouted.
Sorry guys, I can’t really do anything here… My body is falling on its own…
I closed my eyes as my consciousness started to fade away.
“BOOOOOSSSS!!!!!”
I could hear Luke’s scream growing smaller and smaller, consumed by the loud sound of wind passing my ear.
Ah, I really did fall… This is it, isn’t it?
…
……
………
----------------------------------------
I opened my eyes to a perplexing sight—A wooden ceiling and a white marble ceiling—both overlapping in my vision.
““Wha–?””
I slowly got up and my vision began to grow clear, and it perplexed me.
I could somehow see two scenes before me at the same time. A modest wooden house and a luxurious Victorian-styled room.
I could also feel two contrasting sensations on the bed I was lying on. One was a rather stiff bed, while the other was soft and inviting.
What’s going on here? The last thing I remembered was… falling.
As I was collecting my thoughts, one of my visions showed a man and a woman wearing what looked like medieval rags quickly rushing to my side. The woman hugged me tightly, not giving me room to breathe.
“Feyt!! You woke up!” The woman cuddled me as she rubbed my forehead. “Oh my, that’s a huge bump! How hard did she hit you?!”
W-what??
At almost the same time, my other vision showed me another man and woman, they wore what looked like regal outfits you would see in a play. Both of them rushed to my side as soon as they saw me.
“Carine! I’m so glad you’re okay!” The man exclaimed, his voice filled with relief. He gently rubbed my forehead, where I could feel a bandage. His touch stung slightly.
The woman walked to my side and observed me. “Does it still hurt, Carine dear? Don’t worry. I’ll make sure that idiot who hit you pays for it!” She flashed a horrifying smile.
““...Huh?”” Both of my bodies said at the same time.
image [https://i.imgur.com/x1yr77y.png]