Chapter Text
An alert blinks on your ‘smartwatch’. Incidentally, it’s not really a smartwatch but a self-drawn accessory in some semblance of a watch made in shaky black ink; you still have no idea why it works. Elio is calling you to meet with the group for another mission. Just as you were winning too… sigh. Unfortunately you’ll have to leave the next game of cards to your stand-in.
“Hey, server.” You wave at a nearby employee, bringing him closer to the table. “Put this game on my tab will you? The rest,” your right thumb directing at the stand-in you’ve introduced, “leave it to them.”
He seems to nod in understanding, and you rise from your seat. Swinging your fluffy-collared jacket around your shoulders, you flick a poker chip behind you at the now-vacated spot, “Thanks for the game~” and step out into the cold.
…
As you enter the meeting place, you hear the familiar click-clack of a pair of heels behind you. It’s Kafka.
“Kafka..! How are you?” You are particularly excited to see Kafka. “How was your meeting with those annoying Astral Express-ers?”
She chuckled. “It was about as pleasant as it could be,” casting you a soft smile.
“Seriously, I really don’t think any of them– aside from your ‘specimen’– are worth visiting.”
“Didn’t you say you liked that one lady’s hair?” Silver Wolf chimed in from the couch, her eyes still glued to her hand-held gaming device. “What was her name? Hina- Hymee-”
“Himeko.” Kafka interrupted.
“Ya. Her.” She echoed.
“Well, red is a nice color. But I like the deeper kind more, y’know?”
“Ya ya, I forgot you’re the crazy type.” Silver Wolf yawned and focused on her game once more.
“And I forgot you’re the chronically online type” you stuck out your tongue, making a bleh face, and turned your attention back to Kafka. “So, about the mission..”
The both of you take your seats at the bar.
This time your mission was to infiltrate the Xianzhou Luofu to steal a flash-drive; for the nth time!! You were getting seriously bored of these repetitive missions. Elio, Schmelio… if you were so powerful it’d take only one mission and done! I mean, seriously, why couldn’t we just do all the objectives at once? Is there a reason to leave a month's break between getting ingredient A, part B, map 3, and yada yada? Obviously not one that’s good enough to ruin a perfect poker streak repeatedly.
Outside of your thoughts, Kafka discreetly slides you a sleek keycard. You accept it, and deftly slink it into your sleeve. Neither motion is leaden enough to be caught by the naked eye. There may be no onlookers, but one can never be too careful, what with the IPC being everywhere these days.
You resume the conversation, gently swirling the cocktail in your hand. “And, my partner this time..?”
She smiles. “He’s waiting there” and points to a far-away corner of the room.
A man in dark attire was standing idly against the wall, carefully holding a well-shined sword covered loosely in an icky old white cloth. Blade.
Sigh… not with him again. A ‘rival’, although it might just be your one sided title. Albeit he’s never lost to you, you weren’t that bad? Look, some might say your personality is much too sporadic, but once you get serious you know you’d easily be able to beat his numbers.
Anyway, Blade was one of the people you tried to avoid most on the team. He was the same way, and altogether you recall *almost* two pleasant encounters. Well, he probably hates you. For what possible reason, you may ask? Well, maybe that one time you used his beloved sword to cook a flying sea anemone, or when you took selfies with him collapsed on the ground instead of helping during one of his mara episodes, or maybe it was when you called ‘Dan Feng’ his ex-boyfriend and him an obsessive stalker during one of your countless heated arguments… Yep. There’s many reasons. At this point who can really blame him?
But really, was he free of guilt either? Definitely not. You can’t count the amount of times he’s showed up to crash your gamble pools as soon as you have a winning hand, or the times he’d barge into your room and ‘borrow’ a few prototypes, that time he even stole your custom card deck just to bend the corners on one and lose another, or when he somehow set fire to your yearly custom doll collection, or the times when…. In any case, the feelings of hatred are mutual.
“What?” Your tone of voice was icy, clearly signaling your unhappiness. “Is there a reason it has to be with this guy?”
“Yes, well, it’s Elio’s vision after all.” She stated nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders. “You should know by now that destiny doesn’t care for your preferences; it simply assures everything will follow its due course.”
That damn old man again. Always destiny this- destiny that!
“...” you took a shot of your bright pink cocktail. “Puah– fine.”
Kafka shoots you a glance of partial amusement and sips her own drink. You shoot her a disapproving glance right back.
You give a lengthy and dramatic sigh. “Since you’re the one who asked, Kafka, I’ll do it. Even if it makes my skin crawl,” you hear Silver Wolf scoff in the distance, but decide to ignore it. You get out of your seat, leaving a paper note for the tab behind.
Sparing only a split second look at Blade, you turn on your heels and beckon him to follow, uncaringly. Whether he actually follows or not, doesn’t really matter.
“Come along, ‘Bladie’. Let’s get going.”
…
Diary Analogue #1:
Sometimes, Silver Wolf will look at me and Blade arguing, shake her head and sigh. We aren’t even that loud. What gives? Kids these days. Back in my day…