MICH : LEVEL 9
DAY 128 : H-DAY, FOURTHWEEK, DEIMOS, YEAR 1
CENTRAL 6 : RESTAURANT 3 : DINNER
[ NEW S.T.A.T.S — STRENGTH: MAGICAL=23 - PHYSICAL=23 — TENACITY: DEFENSE=23 - SPEED=23 — APTITUDE: MANA=23 - STAMINA=23 — TILT: CONTROL=23 - LUCK=23 ]
[ NEW COMMON C.L.A.S.S. TOGGLE: ARCHERY / QUICKCHARGE — EFFECT: REDUCE ARROW CHARGE TIME BY 72% — RESTRICTION: ARROW DAMAGE AND EFFECT EFFICACY REDUCED BY 50% — COST: SMALL STAMINA DRAIN — TILT SCALING: CONTROL ]
[ NEW COMMON C.L.A.S.S. TOGGLE: ARCHERY / OVERCHARGE — EFFECT: ARROW DAMAGE AND EFFECT EFFICACY INCREASED BY 146% — RESTRICTION: INCREASE ARROW CHARGE TIME BY 100% — TILT SCALING: CONTROL — COST: SMALL MANA DRAIN ]
[ NEW UNCOMMON C.L.A.S.S. ACTION: ARCHERY / BURST ARROW — EFFECT 1: YOU MAY CHARGE A NOCKED ARROW UP TO 1 ADDITIONAL TIME BEFORE FIRING — EFFECT 2: ARROW RELEASES A FORCE SHOCKWAVE ON IMPACT — COST: MINOR MANA — STRENGTH SCALING: PHYSICAL ]
[ NEW RARE C.L.A.S.S. ACTION: ARCHERY / EXPLOSIVE ARROW — EFFECT 1: YOU MAY CHARGE A NOCKED ARROW UP TO 1 ADDITIONAL TIME BEFORE FIRING — EFFECT 2: CHARGED ARROW EXPLODES ON IMPACT — COST: MAJOR MANA — STRENGTH SCALING: MAGICAL ]
[ NEW EPIC C.L.A.S.S. ACTION: ARCHERY / PIERCING ARROW — EFFECT 1: YOU MAY CHARGE A NOCKED ARROW UP TO 1 ADDITIONAL TIME BEFORE FIRING — EFFECT 2: CHARGED ARROW PIERCES THROUGH ALL IN ITS PATH — EFFECT 3: ALL ON-HIT EFFECTS ACTIVATE ON EACH ADDITIONAL IMPACT — COST: MASSIVE MANA — STRENGTH SCALING: MAGICAL ]
The restaurant is actually in the tower itself. So you can see over the rest of Central. But that explains why she never saw the tower from here before. And infinite delicious food or no, nothing seems to be able to unknot my stomach. I originally wanted to get it out of the way as soon as we got here.
But Jessie has a firm stance on the subject. “If it ain’t on a plate, then it can wait.” In that spirit, she’s already halfway through her fourth burger when she takes a swig of her own Coke Zero Cherry.
I finally think of something to break the silence. “So why the diet version of the soda? What’s the point? Especially when you eat like… That.”
Far from the defiant annoyance I expected, Jessie seems more surprised than anything. “Did you not know?”
“Know what?”
“If you’re even a little bit hungry, diet soda makes you hungrier. It’s perfect for wolfing down literally the most food I can manage off one token. As for why this kind specifically? Have you tasted it?”
Why would I do that? I hate soda. “No? I don’t think so.”
Jessie scoffs at me. “What? Yes you have.”
Blinking, I use my Eidetic Memory to run a quick double-check. And to my surprise, her blind assertion is spot-on. “Actually… Yeah, I have. But how did you know that?”
Jessie practically explodes into a cold sweat as she otherwise poorly feigns nonchalance. “I mean, um, hasn’t everyone?”
I… Really don’t know what to do with that. But I can tell she doesn’t want to talk about this now. Which, stomach twisting aside, is fine. It can wait. It’s why I asked her here anyway, so it’s not like I won’t get around to it. “But that can’t actually be Coke Zero, can it?”
Jessie blinks at the can and seems to run out of breath in an effort to think of a way to turn my pun into something before just continuing as before, albeit slightly more fatigued. “Sure tastes like it.”
“But how is that possible? Isn’t there some sort of secret formula to that?”
Jessie shrugs. “Dunno. But it’s super cheap. You can even make it with the right CRAFT.”
I think that through. “I bet someone who knew the formula died heroically or something. And now The System knows it too.”
Jessie blinks at me. “Yeah, that actually makes sense.”
“I’m glad you think so. But have you noticed any… Absences? I mean here. Today. Right now.”
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She raises an eyebrow at me. “You mean the refreshing lack of Ross and Rachel hanging around?”
“Yeah…”
She shrugs. “And?”
I sigh. “They won’t be seeing you again.”
“Oh… Ok then.”
It looks like I don’t have a choice. I’ll just have to state it plainly. “They don’t want to be around you.”
But far from sad or angry or anything even remotely within expectations, Jessie just snorts.
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“Your snort was serious?”
“Yes. Yes it was. But that’s only thanks to the seriousness of my implied condescending dismissal.”
“Well, I’m serious too. They don’t want to be around you anymore.”
Jessie snorts again. “I feel like I speak for everyone when I say I’m good with that.”
Oh. Oh wow. I always assumed their arguments were playful. But if they weren’t… “So… Do you hate them?”
“I wouldn’t say ‘hate’. But they do suck pretty hard. Well, mainly Ross. I feel like without him, Rachel would be tolerable. But they seem to have hooked up for some reason, so she’s infected with his whole shitty shit.”
I raise an eyebrow. “‘Shitty shit’, huh? Isn’t that his drink you’re drinking.”
But as usual these days, Jessie doesn’t miss a step. “Ross may be a big dumb bag of dicks, but his taste in soda is on-point.” Apparently thinking of Ross, Jessie screws up her face. “It’s been really-” At which point she bursts out a breath she hadn’t been holding, bracing her elbows on the table. She’s breathing normally, of course. Only with effort. And in slow motion.
“Sorry.” Her sudden apology comes out as gradual and labored as her breathing. “Can’t think of….” A slow-motion, somehow hurried breath. “The right word” She slowly and forcefully and in fast-forward, heaves in air. “Should’ve given-” Again. “Up sooner.” Then she stops moving. And just like that, she’s back to breathing normally as ever, all vestiges of strain just… Gone. Wow, I guess those Breathing Skills she always complains about are really doing work.
About half a minute of eating later, I break the silence. “Jessie, do you remember a week ago? We were walking to Central. It was right before you leveled up. Do you recall what we were talking about?”
Jessie responds eerily fast. “Oh yeah, so you don’t wanna change your name anymore?”
I’m surprised. She still hasn’t gotten Eidetic Memory. But of all the things we talked about that day, she actually hit the nail on the head. “Yes, that. I was just starting to ask you something when you got really focused on the level-up. And your dual-sword thing. But behind all that, do you remember what I was going to say?”
Jessie looks at me like she’s not sure if this is a trap she wants to dignify by falling into. “How should I know what you were only ‘about to’ ask me?”
The tension is too much. I laugh. “Then do you remember what you thought I was gonna ask?”
Jessie jerks the way she always does when she’s just slowed down time for a while before replying the same instant. “Don’t remember. Sorry.”
I close my eyes, breathe deep, and hold my breath before finally letting it all out like a bellows. “Listen, Jessie. We made it to Central. We’re here. I figure, considering everything we’ve been through, at this point in time, we’re even… Steven, even. So without any obligations in either direction, you’re a free woman now.”
Jessie chuckles a little slowly. “W-w-what are you getting at, Mich?”
I gulp, my toes curling in the least comfortable way they ever have. “No… No reason to stay with me.”
Jessie’s eyes go wide.
Damn, I’m really having a hard time getting this out. Not that I hadn’t anticipated that. “So… It’s not like it’ll ever be a better time to tell you, Jessica.”
Her eyes go even wider at the use of her real name.
But I pay it no mind, determined to ease my pounding heart and just get this done already. “Back on that bench… The one where we first met, remember? I know I do. I was… Scared. So scared, I couldn’t move. So I just listened to you rant. Seemed like that was what you needed at the moment, anyway. And instead of everything I was dying to say, I just started rambling back to you on autopilot. I… I panicked. And now we’re here… Leaving finally has no disadvantage. I didn’t want to put you in that position. After this, you have all the freedom and capability to leave and never see me again…”
It’s only thanks to a career of practice that I confine all my uncontrollable shaking to the hand below the table. “We do know each other, Jessie. Jessica Simmons… My real name is-” The moment seems to last for eternity. In it, I see Jessie. It’s written all over her face. And she can’t wait to be right. Ready to interrupt me the moment I start speaking. And then… Then… What then..? But all too soon, the moment is over. And I rip the bandaid off. “Michael Williams.”
As expected, in fact if not form, Jessie interrupts by running around the table and tackling me into a hug so tight, it could only come from 32 Strength. I can practically feel the warm smile on her face. It breaks my heart. “JAMES!!!”
I said it. The weight is already off my shoulders. Come what may… Compared to that, the literal weight of the girl is nothing. I’ve already lept. Now, there’s just the falling. I wish it would just fall already…
I get my wish a few seconds later when Jessie’s face goes entirely blank. Not that I can see it, of course. But I pick it up through context clues. Like how her entire body becomes rigid. Not relaxing. Not even squeezing as a natural, if unintended consequence of the hug I’m now stuck in. Neither moving, nor movable.
Even at this point, I can’t tell how she’ll respond. I can never know for sure until I take the plunge. Over the past half-year, I’ve come to see that. But whatever her answer, I’ve already decided to accept it. And respect it. I started the avalanche. I braced for it. All I can do now is distract myself from the impending impact. Or is it liftoff? I’m mixing so many metaphors that I lost track.
The event is Jessie starting to move. Not stopping. Or is it more of an explosion? That doesn’t seem right either… How about ‘discharge’..? Heheheh… I mean obviously not, but come on-
A guttural whisper. “For James.”
[ YOU DIED — XP DEBT: 8,192 — RESPAWN DELAY: 8 HOURS ]
[ RARE DEFENDER REPARATION GAINED: BOW OF LONGINUS ]
[ 8:00:00 ]
Is that it?
[ 7:63:63 ]
I didn’t even feel her move.
[ 7:63:62 ]
Seems a bit unfair to kill me on behalf of my killer…
[ 7:63:61 ]
But I guess I have my answer.
[ 7:63:60 ]
Hopefully, it’s over.
[ 7:63:59 ]
Hopefully, I don’t see her at my spawnpoint.
[ 7:63:58 ]
Best thing for her is a clean break.
[ 7:63:57 ]
Best for both of us, really.