Work Text:
S.V is typing…
…
…
S.V: Hello.
Leona looked at the bright screen. A light pink background with small pastel hearts. The icons were a shade of hot pink that made Leona squint.
He taped on ‘S.V’, creating a pop up on his screen, displaying a miniature version of their profile. Leona checked the string of number at the bottom right of the pop up.
93410
His face relaxed as he recognized the familiar number. It was the uid Azul had sent him a picture of.
His finger tapped onto the screen once, closing the pop up and revealing the bright background once more. The layout was minimal. Three icons on the upper left corner of the chatroom. Video call, Voice call and Details respectively and one the upper right was the exist button. However the minimal layout didn't matter one bit when all the icons were hot pink and frankly, annoying to look at.
He hadn't even began testing out the chatbot and the app already got a minus one from him.
Leona's finger hovered over the hot pink coloured keyboard. What was he supposed to say to a chatbot? He didn't even bother replying to the messages from Ruggie, Jack and the others. It was too bothersome.
Before Leona could reply to the 'hello' message, the chatbot began to type again.
S.V is tying…
…
…
S.V: Would you like to be friends?
Leona stared at the chatbot's message with a little surprise. Were chatbots suppose to text unless texted to? Then He recalled hearing Azul mention he had gotten Idia to help make it and knowing the radish sprout, it was very much possible they created a self aware bot or something resembling it.
Leona began to type.
The king is tying…
…
…
The king: Friends? Thought it was a dating app or shit
-
Silver stared at his phone's screen, a mixture of white, pink and pastels. The icons and keyboard all had heart motifs on them. It looked like a dating app.
it was a dating app. Octalov. Developed by Ignihye and funded by Octavinelle. Currently it was in the beta stage and only available to students from NRC.
Silver turned towards the desk where his father was sitting, back hunched as he murmured something incoherent.
"Father." Silver called out.
"Yes, Silver?" Father doesn't look back, fingers tapping violently on the keyboard.
"Why am I making friends on a dating app?"
Silence.
Lilia slammed his finger on one of the keys and spun around, hands clapped together.
"Because almost everyone from NRC has an account there!"
Silver had woken up one evening to Lilia hanging over him, smile on his lips. Apparently, he had gone all the way to Ignihyde to open an account using Silver's student id on 'Octolov'.
'You can make friends on this app! Isn't that so fun?'
But how could Silver make friends on an app made for dating? He didn't understand his father's logic.
"and?" Silver inquired.
"Remember Silver! The foundation of love is friendship. Surely some people must have opened an account in hopes of finding a friend who they could hit it off with? NRC is so huge! This app makes connecting with the entire student body so easy!" Lilia smiled, eyes crinkled. His father truly was looking forward to Silver making new friends on this app.
"I see." Silver nodded, convinced. He had to try, if only for his father. He started typing.
S.V is tying…
…
…
S.V: The foundation of love is friendship.
-
Leona raised his eyebrow. The response, although corny, felt completely robotic, not one hint of emotion. He supposed that was to be expected from a chatbot.
At least it knew how to flirt, though badly. But Leona wouldn't expected anything more from Ignihyde. A bunch of shut-ins who probably had never held hands with the opposite gender before. It was no wonder the dating had an ai chatbot too.
The King is typing…
The King: What's your name
S.V is typing…
S.V: Father said I can't give strangers my name.
Father? Was an ai chatbot supposed to have a father?
The King: You got a father?
S.V: Am I not suppose to?
-
Silver tilted his head in confusion. He looked at his father, who had started playing games again, then back at the screen. Was it that strange that he had a father?
Even though Lilia wasn't actually his father and Silver didn't even have his last name, Silver considered him as his father in all aspect except from blood. Lilia also never prevented Silver from calling him 'Father'
…Except from one time. But that too was completely valid and reasonable.
Silver pressed onto the keyboard. His finger hovered over the 'send' button with hesitation. Eventually, he ended up deleting the text.
He repeated it a few more times. Type, hesitate and delete. How did one talk with a stranger over text? Silver didn't have many people he could consider his friends and his normal message app was practically a barren land.
In the time it took for him to even think what to type, a message from 'The King' had already arrived.
The King: Which year are ya in?
S.V is typing…
S.V: Second.
-
Leona wasn't expecting the bot to give an actual reply to his question.
The king is typing…
The King: Dorm?
The bot took a long time to reply. It seemed to be very slow at operating.
S.V: Diasomnia.
S.V: What about you?
Leona looked at the word blankly and exited the chatroom and pressed onto the only other contact on the app.
The King: Oi, Cephalopunk.
Azul is tying…
Azul: Have you run into trouble with the ai bot?
The King: Is it suppose to act like a student?
Azul is tying…
…
…
Azul: Once you send a friend request to the bot using it's uid, it automatically gains access to the information you filled out when creating the account and uses it to create a virtual persona based on your likes and preferences. It's identity, mannerism, even name is generated based on the user's preference. So it can be said that each user gets their own exclusive person to talk with.
The King is typing…
…
…
The King: You better not be sayin' ya swindled my data.
Azul: This piece of information was written quite clearly on the fine print of the Terms and Condition. So no, you agreed to it.
Azul: Please let me know your feedback in five pages or more next week. I will be looking forward to your cooperation.
Leona clicked his tongue as he watched Azul's status became inactive.
He should have known better than to make a deal with that shady bastard. Now he was paying for it by talking to a robot that was cosplaying as someone from Diasomnia, of all dorms.
"Second year, Diasomnia huh?"
It clearly didn't properly use the information it swindled from Leona if the bot decided to role play someone from that lizard's dorm. Leona's disinterest grew even more now.
He returned to the his chatroom with S.V. The bot felt interactive enough. it even had active and inactive status bars. Leona assumed it would always be online since it was a robot but it seems he was wrong. Given that the circle around the blank profile was now grey.
.
The King is typing…
The King: Savanaclaw, Third year.
As expected, the bot doesn't reply.
-
"You downloaded Octalov? Lets exchange IDs!" Kalim vibrated as he took out his phone and practically shoved it at his face.
Silver distanced himself from the bright pink screen of Kalim's phone and took out his own. He tapped into the 'Add friend' option on the upper left of the screen and entered Kalim's uid and sent a request to the white haired boy.
As Kalim excited accepted Silver's request, Silver noticed the red dot on his 'Notification' setting. A message from 'The King' had arrived.
Last night.
The King: Savanaclaw, Third year.
Silver didn't know why but it was hard to imagine anyone from Savanaclaw use Octalov. Was it because all of them looked disinterest inn anything but spelldrive and training. They didn't look like they would be interested in romance, the main selling point of Octalov.
Silver shook his head. Anything is possible after all. He couldn't judge someone, let alone a whole dorm for being on a dating app.
Silver moved on, returning his attention to 'The King's message.
Did he know anyone who was in their third year of Savanaclaw?
Immediately, the face of a certain Housewarden popped up Silver's mind and just as immediately got dismissed. He really couldn't imagine him to be on a dating app. Even to make friends.
S.V is typing…
S.V: I see.
What now? Did he wait for 'The King' to reply? Should he ask him how his day was going? Making friends was a difficult job but Silver didn't want to disappoint his father.
Silver turned towards Kalim, who had already sent a bunch of texts to Silver on Octalov. Kalim had a lot of friends. Surely he would know how to help Silver.
"Kalim." Silver called out. "How does one make friends?"
"Make friends? Do you want to befriend someone?" Silver nodded. Kalim's eyes widened slightly as even Jamil gave him a curious look.
"…Is it not possible?"
"Of course it's possible! I'm happy to help! Who do you want to be friends with? Is it someone from outside NRC?"
Silver shook his head.
"Great! That's easy. Who is he?"
Silver shook his head again. "I don't know."
Most people on Octalov didn't use their real name, perhaps afraid of being founded by classmates. And Octalov also encouraged students of maintaining anonymity while getting to know their 'Love Interest".
"it's someone from Savanaclaw."
"You want to be friends with some from Savanaclaw?" Jamil looked surprised, as if he wasn't excepting Silver's answer.
"Yes."
"Savanaclaw huh…They are a little tough to crack but…I'm sure they'll like you!" Kalim's positivity made Silver feel better. If Kalim thought so, then it must be possible.
"Yeah I'm not sure about that…" Jamil mumbled.
"I'm not sure what to say," Silver admitted. "I have never friends before."
"Don't worry about it! I'll help you!"
-
Leona was almost asleep when his phone vibrated, jolting him awake.
His eyebrows furrowed as he ignored it. Only for it to vibrate again exactly two seconds later. Then again.
Annoyed and angry, Leona takes out his his phone. He had almost everyone muted. The only notification he is supposed to get is from Ruggie during any kind of emergency and even Ruggie prefers to find Leona instead of relying on texting.
Whatever it was, it better be worth waking Leona up.
When he unlocks his phone, he doesn't see any message from Ruggie. Instead, he sees a hot pink heart icon on the black of his wallpaper
❤︎ You have an unread message from ❤︎S.V❤︎
❤︎ You have an unread message from ❤︎S.V❤︎
❤︎ You have an unread message from ❤︎S.V❤︎
Leona felt like dragging S.V through his phone and giving it a piece of his mind. Then He realized S.V was a chatbot and not even real.
He already got bothered by normal herbivores, and now he had to deal with a robot too?
Leona turned his phone off and closed his eyes again—only to be interrupted once again by the dinging and vibration of his phone.
"By the sevens, if it isn't about the world endin' tomorrow, I'm strangling this piece of code one way or another."
S.V: Sorry, I fell asleep.
S.V: I see.
S.V: What is your favourite colour?
S.V: Mine is silver.
Leona closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He wished 'S.V' was real just so he could show him what happened when someone disturbs him.
Barely holding himself back from deleting the stupid app, Leona started typing.
The King: Stop talkin' bot
S.V is typing…
S.V: I'm typing though?
S.V: and who is bot?
-
"What does 'bot' mean?" Silver questioned Riddle, who was brushing his hand over the mane mane of a while horse.
Riddle turned to Silver, face plain and gentle. A month or two ago, Silver wouldn't have questioned Riddle. However after the Heartslabyul Housewarden's overblot, Silver found Riddle to have gotten much more easy to converse with.
In a way, he considered Riddle as one of his friend. It helped that Riddle was also a friend of Lord Malleus.
"Bot?"
silver nodded. Riddle thought for a moment before replying.
"I recall hearing that word from the Ignihyde Housewarden often. It seems to refer to an automated software designed to interact with users. Why do you ask?"
"Someone called me a bot, I think."
Riddle's face darkened slightly.
"That is quite rude I believe. Who is it that called you a 'bot'?"
"A…someone I'm trying to befriend."
Riddle's eyes widened in surprise for a brief moment before returning to his usual expression. Kalim and Jamil had reacted in a similar way. Was him trying to make friends something strange?
"Would you mind telling me who they are?"
"Someone from Savanaclaw."
Now Riddle looked even more surprised. "Does that person know you are from Diasomnia?" He inquired.
"Yes."
The red haired Housewarden nodded, as if suddenly understanding everything. In a stern voice, he advised Silver.
"Do not allow someone to call you that. Even if you wish to be friends, you must have clear boundaries."
Silver did not understand but he nodded. Riddle seemed to mean well.
S.V is typing…
S.V: Please do not call me a bot. It is rude.
The King does not reply.
-
The bot was strange. Leona concluded within less than a day of talking with it. It was a bot that had a father, was a second year student at Diasomnia, even had a favourite colour and disliked being called a bot.
Any less robotic and anyone other than him might fall for it.
After waking from his nap, Leona surprisingly left less annoyed at the bot. Was it because it was not real? That fact certainly seemed to help because Leona actually considered replying to his question.
S.V: What is your favourite colour?
Leona had never thought about that question before. And no one had asked him about it before.
What was his favourite colour? Was it green? Like his eyes and the nature revered by Sunset Savanna? Or was it gold? like the sand he conjured and the throne he could never have? Or the orange-yellow of the dorm he had come to lead?
Such a simple question yet one Leona couldn't find an answer to even after half an hour of thinking.
Ah whatever, why was he putting so much effort to answer a bot?
The King is typing…
The King: Ain't got any
S.V is typing…
…
…
…
…
S.V: I see.
The bot was slow, frustratingly so. And it took so much time for such a small reply. It was like it's vocabulary was as limited as the number of times the students of Ignihyde left their dorm.
Makes sense, Leona thought, it was them who made it after all.
S.V: What is your favourite subject?
Leona clicked his tongue, what kind of questions were these?
The King: Ancient magic
The King: stop asking kiddish questions, its stupid.
S.V: Sorry.
S.V is typing…
…
…
…
…
The King is typing…
The King: Keep taking so long to type and I'll block ya
S.V is typing…
S.V: sorry.
S.V: I have never made friends before.
The King: No shit
-
It was hard making friends, Silver decided less than a day after talking with The King. He did not what to say and took too long, which annoyed his potential friend.
Ah, and now he had no idea what to reply to The King. Silver thought that if he got blocked, he wouldn't be able to be mad even. As the Diasomnia student contemplated what to say, his phone dinged.
The King: cat got your tongue?
Silver's forehead creased.
S.V: We don't have a cat at Diasomnia.
The King is typing..
…
…
The King: That's not what it means
S.V: What does it mean?
The King: Shouldn't you know better than me? bot
Silver frowned. The King was still calling him a bot.
S.V: Please do not call me a bot.
The King: why not? that's what you are anyway
S.V: I'm not a bot.
-
The bot was in denial, Leona realized. it probably had been programmed into believing it was a human, to make the experience more realistic. It was almost funny; like a child being told they were adopted and refusing to believe it.
The King: You say that like a child who just found out they are adopted and refuse to believe it
Leona watched the bot type, for a long time. occasionally the 'S.V is typing' message would go away, only to reappear a few seconds later. It was funny at first, now Leona just felt fed up.
After almost two minutes of that, a message finally appeared on his screen.
S.V: I'm adopted.
Leona looked at the two words, baffled.
S.V: my father took me in when i was an infant and raised me. I'm very grateful to him.
How and why did the bot have such a detailed background? Leona couldn't wrap his head around it one bit. By the second, Leona became convinced that the bot was not made catering to him or whatever Azul talked about.
What was he even suppose to say to a bot telling him it was adopted?
The king is typing…
…
…
…
The King: sucks
Leona stopped overthinking. It was a bot. It had no feelings that would be hurt.
Not like Leona cared even if it did. he could care less.
S.V: It is fine. I'm very grateful to him for raising me. I want to pay him back for everything.
-
Why did Silver say that?
Looking at his latest text, Silver felt that he might have said too much. He had never talked this much about his father with his other friends. The King wasn't even his friend yet.
Silver watched as The King typed. The King typed for a long time.
The King: payback? to your old man?
S.V: My father.
The King: same shit. why do you wanna pay him back?
S.V: for raising me.
The King: that's some bullshit reasoning. He chose to raise you, from that moment, it was his duty to raise you.
Silver blinked.
His father chose to raise him, yes. But Silver never thought it was his father's duty. He…
He didn't understand The King's words.
S.V is typing…
S.V: I don't understand.
The King: 'course you don't.
S.V is typing…
S.V: What about your family?
For a long time, Silver got no reply from The King. Not even the text indicating he was typing appeared, even though the profile had a green circle around it.
Silver felt his eyelids getting heavier. A yawn left his mouth as his vision blurred. He was getting sleepy.
Silver wanted to stay awake. He felt like he should wait for The King's response. If he kept falling asleep while mid conversation, they would never become friends. But it was impossible for him to escape his drowsiness.
At last, Silver raises the white flag and lets himself slump forward on his desk, phone still in his loosened grip.
Only when his phone's seen dims and almost closes that it buzzes up with a text.
The King: Mother, Father, a good-for-nothing brother, sister in law and an annoying nephew.
Only, Silver isn't awake to read it.
-
Leona had no idea why he had replied to the bot's question with something was wasn't something along the lines of 'Not important.' or 'Non of your business'. Even less idea why he had actually answered it.
And of fucking course it goes offline the minute he presses sent.
Leona felt tempted to delete the message. Wipe the evidence of his momentary lapse in judgement.
He doesn't.
It didn't matter, he told himself. It was bot. Not real. A string of code made by Azul to scam some poor souls of their last dime.
So it didn't matter what he told it, how he told it, why he told it. No one would know except from him.
-
The King didn't seem to like his family much. Silver concluded after reading his last message. He had called his brother a good for nothing and nephew annoying. And he didn't say anything else about them.
Do you dislike your family >send
Silver hesitate to press the send button. He wasn't sure if it was appropriate to send or if The King would appreciate him asking more. In the end, Silver deleted the sentence and sent a simple 'I see' instead.
"Are you talking with your friend from Savanaclaw, Silver?" Kalim asked, an excited look on his face that brightened even more when Silver nodded.
"But I don't think we are friends yet."
Silver's pessimism does nothing to dull Kalim's optimism
"It's okay! I'm sure you'll be friends in no time!"
"If you say so."
-
S.V: [Image]
S.V: Having mushroom risotto for lunch.
S.V: What's your favourite meal?
Leona was, once again, prevented from taking a nap by the stupid bot. He almost wondered if it could sense when he was about to doze off and sent a text accordingly.
The picture S.V had sent looked real, the plate even had NRC logo on it. Those Ignihyde shut ins placed a concerning amount of effort to build a chat bot. Even though Leona was pretty damn sure Azul hadn't gotten the Ignihyde Housewarden to make it in a normal way.
Mushroom risotto. Leona didn't think he ever had it before and looking at it, he sure didn't crave it. There was no redness of meat or mouth numbing spices visible. it didn't look bad but not good either.
The bot needed better taste buds.
The King: anything that doesn't have meat isn't worth eating.
╰┈➤The King: looks like a struggle meal
Surprisingly, S.V replied in record speed.
S.V: I see.
…with it's signature reply. was it one of it's default reply? Leona wondered as he watched the bot type.
S.V: I fell asleep in Crewel's class today.
S.V: The potion got messed up and exploded on me and my partner.
It even created daily stories to tell. Even though all the sentences felt stiff, Leona supposed that was part of the persona too. Or just a robot being a robot. Leona moved his fingers, tapping onto the keyboard in quick succession.
-
S.V: I fell asleep during flying.
The King: seeing you seem fine enough to text, ill assume that robo-skull of yours is just fine
S.V: Vagas caught me before i hit the ground.
S.V: What do you mean by robo-skull?
-
S.V: I accidentally slept in today. Had to stay back during potionology to redo a potion.
The King: how much do you sleep in a day jeez. Even i don't sleep that much and my talent is falling asleep in three seconds.
S.V: I can't help it.
S.V: my father once said it was a disease. I think I'm just lazy.
-
S.V: [Image]
The King: basic level ancient runes, what? can't do em?
S.V: Just wanted to show you.
The King: don't bother unless it's a challenge
-
Silver had become friends with 'The King'.
Half a month ago, he would have a hard time believing this but now, Silver felt pretty confident that they had become friends. The King had gone from calling him bot every sentence to only when Silver 'annoyed' him. Silver could also tell that The King was opening up to him more.
It felt…nice talking to The King. Somewhere along the line, Silver found himself sharing bits of his daily life with The King. Even though he never properly replied, Silver knew he actually remembered what Silver told him.
Even though The King pretended like Silver was a headache, oblivious and called him a bot and 'robo-skull'. silver still looked forward to talking with the stranger who had become his friend.
Someone whose name he didn't know, face he wouldn't recognize even if passing by, voice he had never heard.
Silver looked at his screen, waiting for The King to reply when the door suddenly opened.
"Silver! There you are!" Lilia busted into the run, gingerly coming up to Silver and squishing his together. "How is my boy doi- is that a grin I see?"
Lilia brought his face extremely close to Silver's. Silver blinked, aurora eyes looking into his father's red ones with confusion.
"guihn?" Silver questioned, face still being squished by Lilia.
"Why yes! I would never mistake a smile on your face! Tell me, what happend?"
What happened…Did something? Silver couldn't think about anything that could have brought a smile to his face. He was waiting for The King after concluding that they had become friends and-
"oh."
"What is it?"
"I made a…friend." Silver informed his father of his latest revelation.
He thinks he did.
-
S.V is typing…
…
…
The King: five seconds before i block you for good.
S.V: It's nothing.
The King: don't push your luck
S.V is tying…
S.V: I fell asleep during training today.
The King: what about it
S.V: do you know how to stop falling asleep when fighting?
The King: only thing i can teach is how to fall asleep in three sec
S.V: oh.
The King is typing…
…
…
The King: just sleep it out if you are tired.
-
The King is typing…
…
…
The King: Oi
The King: finally cracked that robo-skull of yours during flying or somethin' ?
.
.
.
The King: Reply.
-
S.V: I was asleep. Sorry for worrying you.
The King: who said I was worried? About what? a bot? Don't make me laugh.
S.V is typing…
S.V: It was the first time you texted me first though.
-
S.V: Are you okay?
-
The King: why?
S.V: you sounded upset in the last text.
The King: None of your business, bot.
.
.
.
.
The King: went back home for break
The King: unbearable
The King: wanted to turn everything and everyone into sand.
-
So,
The bot wasn't that bad.
Sure, He was absolutely robotic, oblivious, had no common sense and was no way made to fit Leona's supposed preferences.
But he didn't push Leona to answer, he apologized when he was wrong and he didn't try to offer useless words of comfort to him when he complained about the burning in his whole being seeing his brother.
Why was he even talking about his family with the bot? Well it was a bot. Not real. Fake. A string of codes Leona would never wrap his head around. So, it was like talking to a mirror except the mirror replied.
And so, somewhere along the almost one month, Leona had started looking forward to talking to the bot.
A bot. Not real. A string of Code. A Robot. A machine made just for him.
For him.
His.
"Ah"
A sound escaped Leona's lips as he stared at the field of flowers that was S.V's profile picture. Somewhere along the almost one month, He had changed his profile picture to a field of flowers. When asked, S.V told him it was in the botanical garden.
Leona looked around himself, not a petal of flower to be seen anywhere.
The field of flower did not exist, Leona was sure of it because he had spent the past four years vising this botanical garden almost every day and had never seen it.
The field of flower did not exist.
Just like S.V didn't.
And Leona didn't mind it.
Not at all.
-
S.V: Father wanted to dye my hair today.
S.V: I refused since he wanted to do it pink so we'd match.
The King: What colour is your hair?
S.V: Silver
S.V is typing…
S.V: What about you?
-
S.V: We brewed a colour changing potion in class today.
S.V: Crewel used me as an example because I fell asleep and turned my eyes red.
S.V: I didn't mind it. My father has red eyes. I felt like I was his true son for a while.
The King: What colour are your eyes?
S.V: A mixture of blue and purple. Aurora, father says.
S.V: What about you?
The King is typing…
The King: Green.
S.V: I see.
S.V: They must be very beautiful.
.
.
.
The King is tying…
…
…
…
The King: You are his true son.
-
"Ah Leona, Hello. I assume you are here with the feedback on Octalov's automated chat bot?"
Azul pushed his glasses up his nose and offered Leona a smile that honestly, was even faker than those of the servants under him back in Sunset Savanna.
Leona sat down from across Azul, a scowl visible on his face.
His one month 'testing' the bot had finally come to an end today. And Leona did not feel even a wisp of the freedom he should have.
"Take this and get it over with." Leona tossed a thin file across the table. Detailing his one month of forced communication with the bot. He had written most of the things down. The slowness, the robotic responses and many more that annoyed him at the beginning.
"…Have you compiled everything?" Azul picked up the file, a look of bewilderment on his face, maybe even confusion.
"and if I didn't? Just take it and scram."
He did compiled almost everything. Everything except from the daily bits of information S.V gave him, everything except from the 'i see's and 'I'm sorry's , everything but the fact that he had silver hair and aurora eyes, everything except from the fact that Leona only ever replied to his messages.
Azul was silent as he flipped through the file. Finally, he placed it down and looked at Leona with a stern face.
"Leona."
"What is it?"
"I don't know why you even decided to create a fake feedback with so much effort, if you made it anyway at least. I know you didn't talk with the chatbot."
Leona stared at Azul, blankly before his pupils sharpened and he leaned forward. Flashing his canine to the Octavinelle Housewarden.
"Cephalopunk, I'm not in the mood for your shit right now."
"Good for us, Neither am I. The app's developers can see how many times and when someone talks with the chatbot. In fact, It is them who approve friend requests to the chatbot during beta stage and I have already confirmed with Housewarden Idia that he never got a request from you."
Leona stared at Azul with confusion. He couldn't smell falsehood from the man across him. But Neither had he spent the past month talking to no one.
With a click of his tongue, Leona pulled out his phone and went into the obnoxious app that he had opened probably a hundred times the past month.
He pressed onto S.V's contact. He had sent one last message to the bot easier that morning. A simple "That's it then, can't say it was fun talking to a bot the past month.". S.V left him on read and Leona assumed it was because his free and originally unwanted membership with the bot had ended.
Silver tapped on S.V's account until it took him to his full profile and shoved it at Azul's face.
"Been talking to your stiffer than rock bot for the past month and ya say my request never got approved? Bullshit."
Azul fixed his glasses again and leaned forward, having realized that Leona wasn't lying. He scanned the screen until his eyes stopped on a specific spot.
"Leona, This is not the bot."
"…What?"
Leona, though he would never admit it, sometimes pondered what would happen if the bot turned out to be actually real. What would he do then? Feel glad?
Of course not, He'd go and murder that bastard because Leona had been too unguarded around it. He couldn't let anyone who knew so much about him go unscratched, even if the other person didn't know his identity.
Azul pulled out his own phone and showed Leona a picture he recalled seeing over a month ago.
"The bot's uid is 93418 not 93410."
"That looks like a 0 to me in every angle."
"…" Azul turned the phone towards himself, squinted and said after much deliberation.
"…It's an 8 if you look closely."
"you kiddin', right?"
Azul's face—and smell told Leona that no, he was not kidding. Leona had sent friend request to the wrong uid.
The bot didn't become a human, like Leona may or may not have dreamed about once.
It wasn't a bot to begin with.
"L-Leona"
The Savanaclaw House warden paid Azul no mind and he walked towards the door. His steps too fast and hurried for his own liking.
The sun was bright. The sky was clear of any cloud. Any other day, Leona would be taking a nap under a tree.
Today, however, he just found out the bot he was talking to for the past month was a two armed, two legged, one mouthed human. His schoolmate.
Did he feel rage? Angry that someone had peaked into his deepest thought without his permission? Did he want to turn the whole school upside down to hunt that person down?
No.
Surprisingly, not at all.
Leona stared at the obnoxious yet minimal layout of the chatroom. He was still on 'seen'.
Leona let out a deep breath. His finger moving towards the upper left of the screen.
Video Call, Voice Call, Details.
He pressed on 'voice call'
The standard buzzing of an outgoing call was clearly heard. Even though it was by no means early morning, there was no one around Leona. Which was surprising considering he was standing in front of Mostro Lounge.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
One the sixth ring, the call connects and instantly, Leona heard the chaos on the other side. The voices of multiple student at once, though faded and fading even more by the second. Like the person on the other side of the phone was moving farther and farther.
There is silence. Neither the person on the other side speaks nor does he.
Leona had never been this impulse before. Never.
After what felt like eternity, Leona found himself being the first to break the silence.
"You have five seconds to speak before I hang out."
The word 'block' doesn't make it's way out of Leona's mouth.
How disturbing.
The silence stretches out for four seconds exactly. Leona knows because he has been staring at the screen with more focus and attention than he did in any of his classes in the past four years in NRC.
"I…" Finally, a voice, not of background noise, comes through. Hesitant.
"Speak." Leona commanded, authority of a prince in his voice because no matter how he could never be king, he was still a prince, royalty and Royalty doesn't wait on anyone.
"Have I offend you by any chance?"
The voice on the other side of the phone is low, like a whisper and gentle, too gentle to belong to someone from NRC. Leona almost feels his heart stop. He hates the feeling but he doesn't want to not feel it.
As if taking his silence as a yes, the voice on the other end started to speak once more. A little panicked, maybe worried as well.
"I…I'm not sure what I did. Is it because I kept leaving you on seen? I fell asleep…Or did I say something wrong. If there is any way I could make it up to you then-"
"Name." Leona spoke. Of all things, He wanted to know this the most.
He had always insisted he was not a bot yet had never given his true name. Neither had Leona asked. There was no need to.
None. Until now.
There is silence again and Leona wondered if he had to specify even this as well. He wouldn't put it past S.V.
The silence stretches until Leona is almost tempted to just go to to the cafeteria and find him himself. And just as his last thread of patience is about to snap, the voice speaks, still a whisper.
"Silver."
Silver.
"Just…Silver."
Just Silver. Second Year Diasomnia Student Silver. Silver haired and Aurora eyed Silver. Malleus Draconia's Knight Silver.
S.V Silver.
Leona is surprised at himself for not being raged out of his mind at the other man's identity.
"and…" Silver hesitates, unsure if he should continue but he does. Slowly, like stepping on a old wooden bridge that looked like it was about to snap to pieces. Deliberately, like he was still willing to cross it.
"What about you?"