"Meil! What happened?" Mademoiselle ran up to me in a hurry, "Where are the others?"

"... Mn?" I closed the door to the coffee shop.

"W-What?" She backed away awkwardly as I gave her a puzzled stare, "W-Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Well, it's odd of you to call me by my name." I noticed.

As soon as I said this, I was met with a wide plethora of reactions. Starting from Kevin and Lemmy, the lovestruck duo, they had glared at me quite strongly. It seems they didn't appreciate her change in addressing me. Jelena found something funny about their reactions and started to mock them. Javi was just kinda there. And the mademoiselle?

"O-Oh! S-So you've noticed?" She blushed lightly, "I-I just kinda b-blurted that out. Y-Y'know, we were in quite the s-stressful situation and all..."

"Did the beauty in green finally accept the detective as worthy of speaking her name?" Jelena nudged her with a smug grin.

"S-Shut up, you!" Mademoiselle daintily punched her in the arm, "T-That's not it! I-I just found it more convenient to call everyone by name, is all!"

At this, both Lemmy and Kevin glanced back at each other, their faces glimmering with a newfound hope. Dapping each other up in victory, they immediately turned to the mademoiselle and asked in unison:

"Then can we call you by name as well!?"

"E-Eh?" She jumped back, a bit unsure as to why that part was so important, "I-I mean, I guess that's fine...?"

"Hooray!" They threw their arms up as they used the opportunity to give her a great big hug, "Our goddess acknowledged us!"

"G-Goddess!?" Her face went flush, "P-Please don't call me that!"

"Oh! You're right!" Lemmy then put on a pretty mean grin as he addressed her by name, "From now on, we can call you Kiria!"

"Kiria!" Kevin shouted.

"Mademoiselle Kiria." Javi smiled.

"Come on guys, let's chant it!" Jelena teased, "Ki-ri-a! Ki-ri-a!"

"Uuu... This feels weird..." She blushed as she turned to me, "What is it? Do you wanna chant it as well?"

"I am not that much of a singer." I replied, "Though I am pleased to hear you consider me close enough to be on a first name basis."

Stopping their loud cheers and jeers as they heard me spout such a phrase, everyone around us had instead directed their attention to the now very much red as a tomato Kiria as she took in the information. You could tell she tried to take my words in stride and just laugh it off, but something about her stiff behavior just didn't allow for it to come out naturally. Instead, she awkwardly sat everyone down around the table as she quietly ordered a glass of cold water.

"We got the bottled water and regular ol' tap water." Jelena chuckled, "Which do you prefer?"

"Is there even a difference?" Ma...Kiria shouted, "S-Stop with the teasing already!"

"Huh? Of course there's a difference." Jelena shut her down quickly enough, "Bottled water costs 100 bytes. Tap water is free."

"Oh. T-Then I'll take the tap water, please..." She blushed upon realizing her goof.

"You sure?" Jelena's Eyes flashed brightly as she seemed to have gotten a nasty idea, "Our bottled water comes from a nearby shrine, y'know? They say the water, as well as anyone who drinks it, will instantly get their wishes fulfilled by the Gods."

"I know you just made that up, Jelena." Kiria pouted.

"Hey, if she don't want it, then I'll gladly get one!" Kevin suddenly butted in.

"Dude, it's so obviously just her trying to sell you the more expensive option." Lemmy rolled his Eyes.

"Heh, you keep saying that and you'll get left in the dust!" Kevin flashed a confident grin at him, "At the end of the day, my love will be boosted by the Gods, while yours wilts and dries all alone! Bahaha!"

Lemmy, now stuck between a rock and a hard place, glances back at Javi as if seeking some sort of objective opinion on the matter. Javi, finding no harm in believing the cunning Jelena, simply smiles and gives Lemmy a thumbs up. Lemmy then glanced over to me, though I just shrugged and told him to make his own decisions.

"Grr...! This water better be refreshing...!" He grit his teeth, sparks flying out as he rummaged through his pouch and took out a hundred bytes, "There, now gimme my water!"

"Oof, feisty little guy, aren't you?" Jelena chuckled as she happily took his money, "Word of advice: Nećeš nikad dobit damu ako ostaneš takav."

"Fuck's that supposed to mean, woman!?" His opinion of her dropped down significantly, "Just gimme my water and fuck off already!"

"Lemmy! T-That is no way to speak to a lady! How are you ever going to get a girlfriend one day?" Kiria reprimanded him before apologizing to Jelena, "Sorry about him. Y-You know how kids are when they're in their adolescence, ha-ha..."

Turning to an embarrassed Lemmy with a shit-eating grin on her face, Jelena shrugged, "Told ya'. Should've listened to my advice from the get-go."

"I CAN'T UNDERSTAND CARDINIC!" Lemmy got even more pissed as he continued throwing out slurs at her.

Needless to say, it seems everyone here has chilled out quite a bit. Oddly enough, no one is pressing me for answers regarding Aguilar and his men. I'm sure they're just calming down from the entire situation, though I can't imagine that's gonna last that long. Sooner or later, the cracks are gonna start showing, and I'm gonna have to find a way to combat that and cover up my, ahem, misdeeds as soon as possible.

"Hm." Lemmy cooled down as he drank the spring water, "It's actually pretty good."

"I know right?" Kevin replied before muttering to himself, "Now for the wish!"

As he started praying to himself quietly, Lemmy too joined in as if it was some last ditch effort to overtake him in his pleas. Before long, they had finished up their prayers at the same time oddly enough, and had then continued drinking as if nothing had happened. Jelena had then burst out laughing, even going so far as to slam the table we were seated at before telling them a striking revelation.

"You idiots! Don't you know?" She barely contained her laughter as she then explained, "The only way for your prayers to be heard are if you say it out loud!"

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"Out loud!?" They both shouted in surprise.

"Mhm! Out loud, so the whole world can hear it!" She smiled, "Come on, at the same time now!"

"No way in hell!" They both jumped out of their seats.

***

As everyone slowly got up to leave the premises, I was slowly but surely losing my mind, expecting someone, anyone, to suddenly started pounding me with question after question. What the hell is going on? Do these guys not care at all about the fact their friend left with a bunch of enemies and came back alone? Do they genuinely not suspect me in the slightest? What kind of a fairy tale land to they live in if that's the case?

"Hey, about Aguilar and his group..." Javi finally grabbed me by the shoulder, everyone else easing their pace to see what's up.

"So you are the one to ask this first, huh Javi?" I chuckled, "I guess it makes sense, you DO work here, after all. Of course you'd suspect something."

"Meil? What's going on, bud?" Kevin joined in too.

"Meil, I can understand you wanted to find out the secret of the System and all that, but even you've gotta admit that there's no talking your way out of this."

Huh? Did he seriously catch me this quickly? Javi, this guy is an Ace Detective! Frantically checking my clothes for blood, I sighed in relief as I realized I did in fact leave no traces of a scuffle. Not that they'd suspect, at least. Still, he didn't seem too intrigued by my song and dance, as his glare didn't seem to waver in the slightest the entire time.

"No use trying to joke your way out of this." He put his hand out, "Give me the book. Now."

"... Eh?" My brain short-circuited for a moment, "T-The book? You mean this?"

"Yeah, I don't mind you borrowing it, but you gotta remember that it is still a book that was stolen from the Library of a Thousand Passages. That detail in and of itself is enough to award you the death penalty, so let me check it out for you before you take it home."

"Oh, is that all?" I chuckled.

"Is there more you're not telling me?" He suddenly raised his alertness again.

"N-No." I winced before getting and idea, "Right! A-At least let us see what is inside first!"

"Oh, that's right!" Kevin agreed, "Please, Javi! Do us a solid, will ya'?"

"Yeah, there could be something really important inside regarding the case!" Kiria noted, "Oh, pleeeease, Javi?"

"Guys, I really..." Javi tried to explain.

"You WILL let us read the book." Lemmy Commanded.

"Sure." Javi immediately replied.

Nice! And not so nice at the same time. In all actuality, this was just me trying to stall for time to keep the book until tomorrow. That way, I could hide it somewhere overnight or something. Sadly though, the others had sabotaged my plans unknowingly by agreeing with me a bit too steadfastly. In the end, this is a gamble. If what's written inside the book alludes to the whereabouts of the system room, then I'm as good as done for. However, if not...

"Hm?" I read the book's contents, "The main character... lived a fulfilling life?"

"The hell are you reading, dude?" Kevin took the book from me and read the entire page himself, "Whoa, this main character guy kinda sounds like me! Though, I fail to see how this has anything to do with the System."

"Yeah right, who'd write a book about someone like you?" Lemmy took the book in his hands and read, "See? Says here the main character never grew past 168cm! You're way taller than that, you damned palm tree."

"Huh? Where does it say that?" Kevin inspected the book again.

"Right here, see?" Lemmy pointed to a specific spot on the left page.

"Lemmy, I do not think you pointed to the correct spot." I corrected him, "It says there the main character loses himself in greed."

"Guys, what's going on?" Kiria inquired, "Everyone's saying differing things about the book's contents, it's just way too confusing. Just give me the book and I'll explain it clearly."

"Sure, you're free to try, I guess." Lemmy closed the book after putting the bookmark strip in and tossed it to her.

"Alright, let's see... Eh?!" She jolted, "H-He caressed the main character's... T-This is a lews book! I-In other words, erotica!"

"Erotica!?" Everyone stood surprised, shouting such an embarrassing word in the middle of the street, "You sure?"

"Of course I am! I-I would know!" She proudly professed to reading erotica, "Ahm, I-I mean...!"

"Kiria?" Kevin approached her.

"S-Stop! I-I didn't mean it that way, promise!" She backed away, hugging the book in between her bosom so hard you could feel the spine bending.

"Kiria, it's alright." Kevin put his hand on her cheek, her face bright red as she looked up at him.

"K-Kevin?"

"Yeah, it's alright..." He then ruined the mood completely by tossing her a thumbs up, "I read it too!"

"What?" She immediately lost all interest and turned around.

"H-Hey! Where you going?" He called out, "Come on, tell me what your favorite is!"

"Die."

"Aw, don't be like that~!" He trailed behind, "And you didn't answer my question - Where are you going?"

"I'm going home." She couldn't even stand to look at his face, "Away from a pervert like you."

"But we live together, don't you remember?"

"... Gahh!" The thought occurred to her, "I completely forgot about that! I'm gonna have to spend the night with this pervert!"

"You'd do that?" He got all giddy.

"I-I didn't mean it like that!" She hissed, "Geez, get your mind out of the gutter, Kevin! You're like a brother to me, so don't even joke about that stuff!"

As soon as the words left her lips, Kevin had stopped following her. He didn't move a single picometer from that spot, nor did he move any external muscles for that matter. As his face slowly drooped down into an earth-shatteringly devastated grimace, a lone tear stood out as it hit the ground below him. Lemmy was about to laugh at full strength, but Javi and I stopped him. He needs to learn to not kick a foe while he's down. No one can recover from that.