Wuthering Waves: For The Future of Me, Myself and I

"A character with no set set past, unwavering will, and sheer human spirit. How compelling. If my characters hasn't been decided yet, I would've preferred it if you had been my [Blessed Maiden]."

"Though unfortunately, that couldn't be the case at this moment."

"I can only dub you as the [Indecisive Child], don't take offense."

"...Now, now, I wouldn't want to disrupt her story, I'll let go for now. But if she were to fail...

...then, I'll start my own storyline. I'm sure you'd be delighted to witness your own story, [Indecisive Child]."

Christoforo was muttering some incoherent stuff on his own again. But since he's practically all alone, there's nobody nearby who could actually end his monologue.

The only other individual present was the distracted Katsuri, who wasn't being aware of her own surrounding.

She's still distracted by what's inside the darkness, even when she had already confirmed that there's nothing.

She pressed a palm onto her Tacet Mark, feeling it itching for some reason.

Of course, she couldn't actually make out what it's shaped like. She should really look at it from a mirror or something sooner.

Perhaps there's a mirror nearby?

...Yeah, as if something so convenient could actually appear.

In fact, with her luck, something convenient might actually happen that would in no way, shape or form help her.

Something illogical would totally happen just to fuck with her life.

She just had a small inkling that it might be the case.

Something like... I don't know, that flying sea that's heading towards her or something.

Wait a minute...

"...Huh?"

[Wuthering Waves]

"Hm, we found some traces, but not enough to actually paint the Fisalia Family as the culprit. This is not leading us anywhere, perhaps somewhere else would work." Zani sighed, lamenting the fact that she's not getting a vacation anytime soon.

"True, it's also getting quite late. Although I wanted us to rest a bit, Gilberto is probably not getting any rest too right now trying to escape the scene." Rover responded, heaving a sigh of her own.

They decided to return back to Christoforo for now.

While they were making their way down the hill, Zani brought up a small topic.

"Speaking of which, have you seen Katsuri anywhere?"

"Huh? I thought she's always hiding behind you?"

Rover glanced behind Zani, she noticed that nobody was there.

She then tried to come up with a reason.

"She's probably staying back along with Christoforo. It's alright, we're returning back anyways."

Rover tilted her head a bit to the side.

She still can't get a read on that small girl no matter how closely she looked.

It was a bit weird. At the very least, she'd have noticed the smaller girl scorning at some point, but it's like that was an act.

...A very convincing one.

But it'd be a stretch to say that a child of her age could even do that kind of acting.

In which case, has the girl actually shown her any real emotion at some point during their journey together?

That'd be quite a feat, actually. But she highly doubted it.

"Um, Rover. Is it just me or did the sky somehow become darker? Also... Is it raining?"

"...?"

Surprised, Rover looked out and extended her hand.

Zani's right, it was raining.

It was a very sudden rain. Though, she find it a bit fortunate that the rain was a very light one.

But something felt off about these rain drops.

"...Remnant Energy?"

It was then that she felt her heart dropped.

Her gaze moved upwards, towards the sky.

It was a very dark night, there were no visible stars at all. But that's not all... It was also a bit blurry, as if she was looking through the ocean's waves.

Summoning her sword, she prepared herself.

"Zani! Call reinforcements! It's the Etheric Sea!"

"Huh?" Zani simply tilted her head, not knowing how to react in this situation. What is the Etheric Sea?

But she doesn't question Rover's orders. Although she was tasked by the Montelli Family to 'Guard' their favored guest, she was also tasked with following their order.

If Rover asked to bring in reinforcements, she will bring in reinforcements.

Due to that, she simply lowered her stance, confusing Rover who had already prepared for combat.

"What are you doing!? I told you to call in reinforcements!" Rover shouted, not knowing what the Averardo Bank employee is thinking.

"What else? I am the reinforcements. I don't know what you're so worried about, but if it's combat, you can leave your back to me. I know a combat tactic or two from my childhood." Zani simply smiled, as if it was common knowledge.

Rover's mouth slacked open.

But only for a moment.

"Haha! You're very charismatic, you know that?" Rover laughed. It was a very unexpected reaction from someone she doesn't know very well.

"Being charismatic wouldn't give a rise to my pay, would it? If not, I would like to talk to my lawyer." Zani summoned her gauntlets, she doesn't need to go all out yet.

"You're right. Looking at the trajectory of the Etheric Sea, it seemed like it's heading straight for the Whisperwind Haven. We'll have to stop it, else catastrophe would befall the citizen and its Echoes." Rover explained.

"I don't know what you mean by 'Etheric Sea', but I'm willing to put my trust in you. Just tell me what kind of enemies we'll be facing."

"Nothing much. Just a stampede of Tacet Discords out for blood."

"...Can I get a paid leave after this?"

"I'll talk to your employee."

Zani stayed silent for a moment before responding, "Thanks."

Meanwhile on Katsuri's side...

"...Hm, rain. I quite like the rain."

She felt like facing upwards and opening her mouth wide like that one meme she saw in the internet.

Of course, whether she could replicate it or not was another story.

But for some reason... as the rain droplets hit her body, the rain was also starting to pick up pace.

Previously small, unnoticeable droplets, had now became a torrent of thumb-sized droplets.

And it's still picking up pace.

"Never seen a cloud made of entirely water before, that's something you could only see inside of a fantasy world." She walked towards the a building, trying to seek shelter.

It was only now that she realized that she had been left alone.

Where had Zani, Rover, and that mysterious masked guy gone to?

Her clothes was absolutely wet, down to her shoes.

Her jacket became heavy from the extra weight. Due to that, she had to take it off and placed it to the side.

Wishing for it to dry would be unrealistic.

So she sat down, hugging her knees.

Unbeknownst to her, many eyes glinted inside the darkness, eyes belonging to Tacet Discords who had been attracted to the Etheric Sea.

...Alongside the presence of a Threnodian, it became a spectacle as their strength was enhanced to levels it couldn't reached before.

The Tacet Discords that had taken her multiple lives previously would look like small children next to these Tacet Discords.

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[Author's note: From this point onwards, I'll try not to stick to the original story as much. I'll look through a playthrough now and then but all the conversation would be something I came up with. Who knows? Perhaps even the storyline would be my own...

...I have no idea what would happen to the original story like this. But that's what makes writing fun. Because although I am the one writing the words, the story is moving in the direction even I'm not expecting. I am merely the narrative that's telling the story, not the creator.

The line would connect on their own when it needed to, characters would have personal growth when the story needed them to. In my opinion, this is what makes writing a story fun. Even I am expecting something out of these story I'm writing... But that might make the story felt a bit bland for some readers. If you feel like the story is changing too much and that makes you uncomfortable, feel free to write your thoughts.

Perhaps in a Review, or even commenting here. In actuality, this is practically the second story I've written, I'm still gaining experience. Also, I placed an Auxiliary chapter where I've actually shown a picture of how Katsuri looked like, check that out too.

In short, I'm scared that my hand wouldn't be able to actually convey Katsuri's story. In fact, I might actually ruin it. But that's part of the experience.

With the sudden influx of readers, I feel like there's quite a bit of expectation placed on me. Never felt this way before since English is not my main language. The story is unfolding on it's own, I'm merely the narrator. I can't force things to happen. Even if I did, it'd break the reader's immersion.

So, I wish for all of you to have fun reading this, as much as I have fun writing it. That's the greatest wish I could have as an author.

P/S: Don't worry, these yap sessions wouldn't take any words from the original chapter. It'll still stand at 1000-1200 words.]

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