Hello, dear reader! So nice to finally talk to you again! Hm? What do you mean you don’t know who’s currently talking to you? It’s a me, Lune! If you’re a bit confused at this whole turn of events, then let me break it down for you in a way that’d be easier to grasp.
As you already just saw, Meil and I were wandering around Havana, taking in the amazing views and the even more amazing historical monuments. I even got to touch Olyahim’s statue! Ah, in any case, we had planned on stopping by the library before finally entering the Palace, but whilst Meil was trying to pass through the crowded entrance, I had found someone who I had thought was Cecily, my unofficial wife who I kind of have a rocky relationship with due to my own misconduct.
Upon seeing her, I had immediately turned around and gave chase. It was actually quite fun, and it really reminded me of our training sessions together back in Great Hiana, but I was really out of shape as compared to then, so I really couldn’t do anything more than just barely tail her. While running around the quik, the only thing on my mind was thinking up the proper way to apologize for what I had done with Marina. I’m sure she’d hear me out no matter what I did, but then why is she running from me? Why is everyone staring at me like I’m a madman, but no one is batting an eyelid at her? It’s all too odd, but I hadn’t stopped to think about it. I couldn’t, I didn’t have time to think and act all at the same time. I had to make a choice, and I chose to follow her.
Finally, just when I had thought that I had caught up to her, she had seemingly vanished into thin air. I couldn’t find her anywhere in the dead end alleyway I had cornered her in! And just when I thought about my rotten luck, would you look at that – the local authorities had decided to arrest me for my little freerunning exercise around the quik.
“And that brings us to here!” I said as I chowed down on the prison meal the guard had handed me.
“Oi! Shut up in there!” The nice guard knocked on the bars with his baton, “You’re lucky these bars are dividing us, otherwise I’d beat the crap outta you with this here weapon!”
“Don’t do that, Mr. Guard. I’m sooo scared~!”
“You making fun of me?!”
“Whaaaaat~? Little old me? Making fun of the likes of you? I would never!” I said, stifling my laughter.
Yeah, I’m stuck in prison. I don’t actually remember the last time I was put in a jail cell. Was it in the Neo Urbana Gang Dispute? Well, that was more of a basement dungeon than a jail cell, but realistically it’s the same thing. Actually, this place is a lot kinder, since it actually gave me a half-decent meal as well as some adequate prisoner clothes.
Oh, speaking of the food, it was certainly novel in its attempt to curb my hunger. I mean, we’re in a prison here, so I seriously doubt they’d try and make something delicious, but the least you could do is add some salt or something! The dish itself was some kind of stew with meat and potatoes in it. The guard didn’t hand me any bread, but since I was the only prisoner currently present, I was allowed seconds. Thanks to the law-biding citizens of Havana, it seems I was allowed to make do with the lemons life had given me.
All in all, I’d rate this restaurant a solid 3 stars. The food was pretty meh since it wasn’t spiced up at all, but I kind of found the guard’s tsundere shtick endearing, so I’ll give him some extra points. Everyone needs some tsun in their life, so let’s just go ahead and say that that singlehandedly made up for the lack of spices in the dish.
“But just who was that mysterious person I was chasing?” I asked rhetorically as I played with the spoon in my hand.
“For the last damned time, there was no redhead at all! Countless witnesses claimed you were just running around like a maniac and throwing everyone’s belongings to the side!” The guard explained.
“So what? I’m a schizophrenic maniac as well now? Come on, Mr. Guard, if there’s anything I can trust, it’s my vision.”
“Then why wasn’t anyone with you in that dead end where we caught you?”
“Cecily’s pretty agile. I can certainly see her climbing onto the rooftops and running away.”
“Agile… my foot! The lowest rooftop is a whole 5 meters off the ground! No one can climb that high in such a short period of time, especially not without any equipment!”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“You’re underestimating my unofficial wife quite a lot, you know that?”
“And what the hell is an unofficial wife, anyway?!” He asked, fuming, “If you’re married, she’s your wife! If you’re not, she’s your girlfriend! Don’t go making up terms!”
“That’s probably sound advice.” I genuinely agreed to his reasoning.
Just like that, I had spent the next couple of hours wasting my time with my new guard friend here. I never did get to ask for his name, but I have a feeling it’s not important to know, so I won’t ask. He was getting more and more antsy, all the while angrily hitting the bars of the jail cell with his baton and threatening to beat me up. Teasing him was literally my only source of entertainment until Meil came to bail me out.
Oh right, Meil said that the Awards are gonna start soon. Heh, it’s gonna be so funny if we’re late on the entrance ceremony. He’s gonna be so pissed, haha! Eh, when you don’t want to get made fun of for a mistake you made, just double down on it and you’ll be fine. I’ll just try and raise my confidence meter up a notch so that I can make the other contestants think we were late on purpose. Actually, isn’t there a phrase for that? Fashionably late, was it?
“Right this way, sir.” Another guard pointed a visitor to my cell. Ah, that’s probably Meil, I thought.
“I swear to God you’re doing this on purpose.” He said while grinding his teeth at me.
“What makes you think that?”
“We’re late, idiot! God, couldn’t you have just Materialized the key to the cell?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t wanna miss out on the food here. Want a bite?” I said as I heeded his instructions and opened the cell’s doors.
“Wha-?!” Mr. Guard stood in utter shock, “W-When did you…?!”
“A…” Meil gave me a terrible glare before sighing in defeat, “Let’s just head to the Palace. If we run we might make it before they finish the opening speech.”
***
Gasping for air, we both ran as fast as our legs could take us. Our destination was the first floor of the pyramid-like palace where the Mobius Awards are to be held. I had originally thought that the place was pretty close to the prison, hence why I wasn’t in any rush to get out. But as it turns out, the Palace’s sheer size had messed up my perspective! I’ve been tricked into thinking that it was quite close, but we’ve been running for what felt like ages and those giant front doors are still as far as ever!
“Don’t give up now, asshole! You owe me to not stop running until we make it inside!” Meil shouted at me as I was steadily slowing down.
“Ugh…! Can’t we, haah, take a little break?!”
“Hell no!”
Thus, we had accomplished what I could only call a historical feat – we ran the whole way to the entrance of the Palace. If I recall my studies of Abyssus Solis correctly, it usually takes a normal person around two hours to walk this whole pathway, and we destroyed the record by running through it in just under twenty minutes! Talk about making great time! In any case, we slammed the doors open, revealing a whole venue of nicely dressed attendees and their assistants.
“Pfft-!” One of the attendants began to crack up after seeing us in our rugged state.
Just then, the whole venue flared up in a fit of laughter. Sorry Meil, but it seems I kind of made your worst nightmare into a reality. Heck, even I feel kind of ashamed that everyone’s laughing at us. And to think… Hold on, is Meil starting to tear up? I can’t let that happen, if this guy starts to cry, we might as well just turn back and go home! I need to utilize my previously thought up genius strategy of acting confident if I am to save face!
“Ahem!” I cleared my throat as I fixed up my clothes, further gathering the attention of all the people present.
Slowly and calmly, I had walked up to the Mobius Throne, the throne reserved only for the winners of the Mobius Awards, and promptly sat on it.
“Huh?!” The crowd stood surprised.
“L-Lune?!” Meil gave me a look of horror as well.
“What’s the matter?” I gave everyone a snarky reply as I put my fist under my chin with my legs crossed in a cool pose, “Each and every one of you virgins so badly wanted to be the ones to sit atop this throne, but you’re saying none of you had the balls to actually walk up here and try it?”
“Get down from there, you tardy bastard!” One of the participants weakly shot back, “That seat is only reserved for the winners!”
“Yeah?” I had Materialized a glass of grape juice in my hand as I gave him a smug look, “Cry about it.”
While the entire venue was now in utter chaos, I had noticed that Meil was actually stifling in his laughter at my actions. Woo, I did it! I’m such a good friend!
“Helloooow!” A young girl around the age of 4 ran up to the throne and suddenly sat on my lap, “Nice to meet you, daddy!”
“Eh?” I yelped.
“Eh??” Meil winced.
“EHHHH!?!” The crowd raised their eyebrows in unison.
The entire venue was now completely silent. Not a single person (including me) could understand what had just occurred. Some random ginger-haired girlie called me daddy out of the blue. Now, I know my track record with the women in my life isn’t the cleanest, but I’ve only ever had eyes for Cecily and Marina, the latter of which being the only one I’ve engaged in baby-making with. So who is this adorable bundle of joy that’s jumping in place on my lap?
Upon noticing the crowd starting to divide as if to reveal a person relevant to the situation, I had looked down and finally saw her.
Giving a slow clap as she made her grand entrance, the familiar, albeit more grown up and feminine figure had finally shown herself to me completely. With her red hair now shaped into a pixie cut, her eyes glistened Yellow as she gave me a confident smile.
“I see you haven’t changed at all since the last time we’ve talked, Lune. Still as confident and outgoing as ever.”
“Y-You’re…!” I bit my tongue.
“That being the case, I do find it interesting how Nelly’s so quick to get accustomed to you, despite not even having any recollection of who you are as a person, Lune. That makes mommy feel kind of lonely.”
“Cecily!”