NOVEL WEB Chapter 11: Calm Date
———Karra———
<10: 44 pm>
*Beep*
“<What is it?>” She asked, her voice calm and patient.
“Wiina… Is… Casting going haywire hard to avoid?” I asked, wanting some sort of… I dunno, feeling secured, I think.
“<Hm? For that to even happen you need to either use too much mana for you to handle, or handle particularly volatile magic with less than ideal mastery. It’s actually quite rare, in a world where magic is more commonplace.>” She answered. “<If you need extra consolidation, you are rather talented in magic, so the chance of that happening is next to none.>”
“Ah…” She actually complimented me. Is it to be kind or… “Erm… Thanks.”
“<...Do you usually sound so shy?>” She suddenly asked. What?
“W-Why would you think that?” I said, not knowing why she would suddenly ask that…
“<Just from how you are in streams. It seems quite different compared to now.>” She explained her reasoning, and I guess how I am right now is very different from how I usually act, but I can’t exactly help it. It feels wrong acting like I usually do with someone like her.
“Look. You are rather… Kinda larger than life, especially with what you just did a few hours ago. I can’t help but be in awe all the time.” I tried to explain why I am talking like this to her. Something about her just makes me behave differently.
“<I see… I don’t really need respect, but if you insist.>” Ah. I guess she’s not one who likes to garner so much reverence.
“If you find it too much I can try…” I offered.
“<I’d rather not force you. I guess I just need to be more familiar with you first.>” She said, definitely sounding more confident in herself when it comes to our relationship… Should I call it that?
“Umm… Should we… I dunno, hang out?” I asked, wondering if we should do that.
“<I supposed that’s possible, but I need to alter my appearance a bit if that were to be the case.>” Huh? What does that mean?
“What do you mean?” I asked, confused at what she meant. Like a disguise?
“<I’ll alter my hair and eye colors to be more mundane, and wear something more casual.>” She elaborated.
“Is it like… a spell?” I asked, not being surprised if she can just use magic for it.
“<...Sure.>” Guess she wasn’t impressed by the question asked.
“So… Where are we gonna meet up?” I’m not gonna pass up on this offer. So where are we going?
“<Hmm… Well, multiple restaurants have reopened by this point. Maybe we can chat over a meal and dessert…>”
<1: 32 pm>
I wonder if she thinks my clothes are good. Puffy light gray shirt and red skirt, it’s pretty simple, but I think I am looking quite cute…
“Whoa! You sure are looking real nice.” …Am I being fucking cat called right now? Seriously?
*Grab* *Grip*
“You. Leave.” Suddenly I feel an immense amount of pressure only to notice someone grabbing the man’s shoulder and grip it tight.
“Ah!” That looks pretty painful as the man shakes it off, stumbling awkwardly. “What’s your business, bitch!”
The woman with long black hair and eyes glared at him, and he quickly cowered and ran away. Is she…
“Are you alright, Karra?” She turned to ask me as I kept staring at her. Her outfit is also pretty simple. It’s an office lady look without the black suit, it actually looks kinda… tight.
“*Gulp* I-I’m fine. You look amazing, by the way.” I said, starting to feel hot in the face again.
“Is that right? Your clothes are quite cute. It matches your hair a bit.” She said, maintaining her nerves way better than me. “Well then, let’s go in and order something. Better than to stand around being cat called.”
“R-Right!” I said while trying to put on my best face for her.
———Wiina———
<1: 41 pm>
Why does she look so damn cute right now!? Why are you staring at me like a kitten!?
———Karra———
<1: 45 pm>
…Now we just have to wait for the food… Hmm… I guess we should chat to kill time… “So… What do you usually do in your free time?”
“Nothing interesting, honestly speaking.” She plainly answered, sounding rather disinterested. Maybe that’s not the right question to start off with? At least she doesn’t seem offended. “Aside from dungeon diving I mostly either train or procrastinate and glued to my computer.”
That’s… surprisingly mundane, almost lame with how she worded it… Maybe because I asked about what she does in her free time? Does tend to be very whatever.
“What about… Like, your non-free time?” Is this intruding too much? I feel like she probably has something important to do… at least maybe like once a week.
“...If you mean to ask if I have any jobs or secret missions…” She took pause, probably judging my question and any intent behind it. “Nothing important, really.”
I don’t know how true that is, but I really shouldn’t press my luck on our first… Umm…
“As for you… Well. I can say you are a bit feisty.” She remarked. Is that a compliment? “I can’t say I know too much about you aside from the streams…”
“Well. I’m just a girl who loves to stream and right now in the last year of highschool…” I don’t know what else I’m supposed to say. “Maybe jogging here and there…”
“...I can understand not having much to say. I think this is about the bare minimum needed. Also, I think it’s best we get to know each other through showing instead of telling.” She remarked, before her gaze moved up to my ears, the horse pair.
“Umm… Is it distracting?” I asked, noticing the gaze.
“No. I don’t mind such features.” She replied with disinterest that seemed to betray the gaze. “It’s something we all need to treat as a norm anyway. From what I know, a significant number of humans have changed. It would be foolish to be so bothered.”
“Right… You happen to know anything about that?” I asked, just to keep this conversation going, and because I’m still curious as to the how and why.
“If you’re talking about the Mythical Eclipse. From what I’ve gathered. It’s an event started by two gods.” …Hold on what?
“Gods?” I have a hard time processing what I am hearing. She said it with a straight face when I think most wouldn’t. Is this like… legit info?
“Well. Not the capital G, but the two beings that can be aptly considered gods.” She clarified. Yeah, I think I get that. “Of course, I still don’t understand much about the motive, but I can confidently say they definitely have the raw power necessary to cause such a change on a global scale.”
…I was gonna ask about names, but I know that even if she does know it, would that even mean anything? I don’t think a word of a single person will hold much weight, and even if that is the case, what will even happen next? Hunt down the two gods? Worship them? Bargain?
“I guess it’s hard to really discover, let alone comprehend what exactly the reasoning was.” I remarked, now understanding that looking more into the root cause is going to be a major headache.
“It would be more healthy to think of how to move forward. We’ve already proceeded through stage one with absolutely no warning. It’s clear the perpetrators are not the type to leave things to chance.” She suggested, giving her insight. “In the first place, since they’re gods, their level of strength basically dwarfs anything anyone of this era has. You already saw my footage, right?”
“Yeah… Is that related to the…?” I know she meant in the terms of ‘nothing we have can scratch what has been put forward’, but now I wonder if it has anything to do with the gods.
“I am still looking into that.” She dismissively replied. Guess at least it doesn’t look that way. “Hm? The food’s here. Let’s continue with the questions later.”
———Wiina———
<2: 04 pm>
A bit more nerve-wracking than I thought it was gonna be. I don’t really know how this is gonna go, but at least she’s asking about other stuff not related to my personal life… Then again, even if she suspected Jass and I to be the same person, she would still be missing more than a few pieces of the puzzle to even attempt to jump the shark.
All that aside, the food here is about as good as ever. Thankfully the quality hasn’t atrophied. I should probably try to eat it a bit more slowly just to not look too unrefined. It’s not that I want to have an image of someone very sophisticated, it’s just a matter of first impression. After maybe a few… Umm…
Anyway, let’s just take our time. We have plenty.
———Karra———
<2: 32 pm>
“So… What were we talking about again?” I asked. Not because I forgot, just that I don’t want to lead the conversation. I don’t have much to say anyway.
“About why we probably shouldn’t look too much into the perpetrators. As it stands we don’t have a good reason or any resources for it.” She recounted. Right. That.
“Hmm… Welp. I don’t really know what else to add to that.” I said, seeing that we really shouldn’t tackle this topic further. “Actually. How do you even find these information? Is it top secret?”
“Not necessarily top secret. It’s just that I would rather not tell anyone who I got these information from, like many behind the masquerade, they would rather not bother dealing with others.” She answered. Masquerade? Many?
“What does that mean? Masquerade?” I asked, confused as to what she meant by those words.
“Just like there are gods, there are others with great power and secrecy. Those with power beyond human limitations, some hiding in the shadows, some hidden in plain sight. They may be hidden in a dark alleyway, walking around in school, just lazing around in their home, or perhaps watching from the sky above. They exist long before this point.” She elaborated… So… “But to put it more simply, think of urban fantasy. These supernatural elements are very much real, hidden within some people, but now this event has caused it all to come crashing down, so to speak.”
“Right, I guess you wouldn’t want to break their privacy, considering they’re probably way more experie… Wait, what about you then?” Is she also part of this masquerade? She seems very knowledgeable, clearly very strong, and just overall too confident to be on the same playing field as the rest of us.
“Me? I’m just a highschool student caught up in these shenanigans, I’m in the same boat as you.” She answered… Huh?
“Nonononono. Wait. What!?” That can’t be right… Right? No… “That makes no sense!”
“It can make sense.” Come on now! Are you pulling my leg!? There are so many things to indicate that she’s anything but a highschool student!
First off, she looks… Well, not old, but definitely more mature than I do, and noticeably taller than me. She looks at least three years older than I am!
Secondly, she knows about too much to be a bystander like I am.
Thirdly, the fact that she’s so damn proficient with magic should mean she has been in on this for a long while!
Nothing makes sense otherwise!
“Calm down, we’re still in a public space.” She said, probably noticing me silently fuming to myself. “I know it sounds unbelievable to you, so I can’t blame you for assuming otherwise.”
Yeah. No shit it’s unbelievable… Still I should calm down, she’s right on that, and I really don’t want to make myself seem whiny and impulsive in front of her.
“Sorry… Just. Really hard to believe.” I can’t tell how sincere she’s being, but I also don’t want to distrust her.
“...Maybe we should drop this particular topic.” She suggested, and you know what? That’s fair.
“That sounds good…” I said, feeling a bit embarrassed that her comment got me that worked up. “Then… How about when it comes to… Oh, the desserts are here. Was gonna talk about dungeon diving and fighting and all that. How should we go about it.”
We both got pretty large fancy sundaes, but she chose less common flavors, so hers look a tiny bit atypical. Anyway, let’s dig in.
“Mhm. I can see why that will be a concern… It would be unfortunate to have people still be lost in the ways of swords and magic.” She said while eating rather slowly. “It’s best that we do something to prevent an accident like the one from yesterday.”
“Yeah…” No way anyone would want something like that to happen.
“Maybe we can guide them a bit. How does that sound?” She said, and does that mean…
