Me and Aqua sat on a bench, waiting for the girls tears to dry. But is it because she's part onion? She just won't stop...
Im hesitant to say something because her mental state is extremely fragile at the moment, but we're still on a timer.
Checking my watch impatiently, I decisively stand up.
"Aqua."
"Sob Sob... *Sniff* ugh... Yes...?"
"As much as I want to you to let your emotions out, we do still have a job to do."
"Ah! That's right! Time... What time is it...!?"
Aqua hastily wiped her tears and scrambled to get her phone out, before sighing in relief that there was still a bit of time left.
However, when she realized what she had to do, she shuddered, before clenching her fists.
"Right... Lets get this over with. It's just an interview... You can do it..."
Calming herself down, she muttered self motivations in an attempt to shake off her fear.
"You have people behind you... People who genuinely believe in you... Even if you can't rely on yourself, they're still there to help you... You can't let that go to waste... You can't let them down..."
"Believe in the people who believe in you..."
I couldn't hear most of it, so I don't know whether her self-talk was effective. However, when she was done, I could see that same calmness return to her gaze and posture. That alone told me everything.
She opened her mouth without a single tremor or pause.
"Lets go."
Aqua walked off with unwavering determination.
...
In the wrong direction.
"...Aqua."
I point my thumb in the opposite direction.
"It's, uh, that way."
Aqua's face turns red as she hurries over while hiding her expression.
I trail behind her without saying anything.
.....
....
...
..
.
Personally, there wasn't much I was worried about.
Aqua seems sufficiently prepared, and I myself didn't need to do much but believe.
The most I could do is give her interview tips, but that's about it. There were no real problems.
Well, actually, while we speed walked our way to the meeting site, there was one thing that bugged me.
Something other than the fact that our UberSheep driver dropped us off an entire block away from the destination.
Usually, interviews are held at the company's building or somewhere related.
But the email Aqua received instructed us to arrive at a random street.
The warehouse is nowhere in the vicinity, and the street is empty and cold, with very little presence of life.
The scene brought to mind those images of liminal spaces, places that scratch at a corner of your memory, while lacking the human warmth that completed it.
Those kinds of places scare the shit out of me, and It creeped me out to no end that the interview was to be held in such a place.
Maybe we should back out after all, I don't have a good feeling about this.
While lost in my thoughts, we arrived at the exact place the email mentioned, and I looked up in sheer disbelief.
It was a half finished office building.
"???"
Why did they call us here? Is it even the right place? No, I made sure myself, even quadruple checking on the way here, this is positively the interview area.
Maybe it's a test? No, it's a fucking warehouse job, what would they be testing in the middle of bum-fuck-nowhere?
I was trying my hardest to mental gymnastics my way through this one, but no matter how I looked at it, it was fishy as hell.
Aqua seemed entirely oblivious, simply focused on trying to calm her beating heart in the face of social interaction.
But I was more than a little skeptical. Because this was the type of place that got you mugged.
Trust me, I learned from experience.
With my guard all the way up, I scanned the surroundings like a hawk while waiting for the interviewer to arrive.
...
But nobody came.
It was 2 minutes past the meeting time, and the uncomfortable feeling shot up to its limit. So I spoke to aqua, who was also starting to get uneasy.
"Hey, aqua... Can you check the email again?"
"Huh? But this is definitely the right place..."
"Not the location."
Aqua looked at me confused.
I simply looked at her, urging her on.
"Okay, I'll read it again, then."
Aqua reached into her coat pocket.
And at the same time, I heard the sound of scraping stone.
Wait, scraping stone? We're at an unfinished building, where could that sound be coming from?
Oh...
We're standing directly beneath an unfinished building.
-Activated first blessing, [Death Instinct]-
"Oh shit!!!"
The realization hit me like a freight train, and at the same time, Death instinct rang like an alarm.
Aqua, startled by my scream, flinged her phone out of her pocket, and watched it bounce towards a sewer drain.
Nearly simultaneously, we both leaped out of our respective positions.
Me, to escape death.
And Aqua, to rescue her phone.
The next instant, a block of concrete twice my size landed on where we both just were.
*BOOM!*
"..."
"..."
Aqua and I simply stared, slackjawed, at what just happened.
She was clutching her phone, and I was clutching my pearls in distress.
Finally, Aqua began backing away slowly, tears beading in her terrified eyes, before bumping into a concrete pillar.
"... W-What... Was th-"
*Crack*
The sound of shattering stone broke out, as the pillar Aqua bumped into began to crack.
This crack spread up the pillar, farther than it had any reason to, and disappeared into the upper floors.
Then, another crack sounded out, followed by the distressed screaming and cursing of a man rapidly approaching our position.
"SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT, OH FUUUUC-"
*SPLAT*
A person fell from the sky at a speed nothing less than lethal.
He crashed next to the stone block, landing directly on his head, dying instantly.
...
"... What?"
What the fuck?
The incomprehensibility of the situation threw me for such a loop, that I could only look over to aqua with my mouth gaped.
...
She passed out.
Whether it was out of fear or the shock of seeing a person die right before her eyes, I'm not sure.
She was slumped over, with her knees pressed to her chest and her arms limply lying to the side.
I could only see the whites of her eyes.
"I... You... What...?"
I'm getting overwhelmed, let's calm down and go through the situation step by step.
1. We were called for an interview.
2. The interview location is at a seemingly abandoned part of town, beneath a half finished building.
3. When we arrived, no one was there.
4. After standing beneath the building, the sound of grinding stone could be heard from above.
5. A massive stone block fell and nearly crushed us.
6. Aqua's probability altering bad luck cracked a pillar.
7. A man died right after.
After going through each step of the way, it seems like there's a picture forming, but the evidence is inconclusive.
I carefully avoided looking at the corpse and took shaky steps toward aqua, trying my best not to vomit at the strangely familiar smell of blood.
Picking up her unlocked phone, I went to her emails and searched for the original message from Holozon.
"... I fucking knew it."
The email address was fake.
After comparing it to the one I found on the official website, I found that the first H was capitalized.
We had been led astray.
I gathered courage and looked toward the body of the man who just died.
He was wearing all black, concealing any trace of his identity. He was even wearing gloves, as if preparing to commit a crime.
This wasn't an interview, it was an assassination attempt.
Thinking this, I stuffed aqua's phone back in her pocket and called the police.
"Y-yeah, someone just died here... I think they were trying to kill us."
I spared no detail explaining the situation to the operator, and they said that the police were on their way.
I slumped down to the floor, and dragged my hands down my face.
I just watched a man die.
And for some reason...
I don't feel much.
I mean sure, the guy (probably) tried to kill us, but seeing a person die right in front of you doesn't happen every day. If it was the me before coming here, I'd probably still be freaking out.
That's the normal reaction, right?
But then again...
[Second blessing, Unburdened activated.]
I haven't exactly been normal since coming here, have I?
"[Unburdened]... Is it your fault...?"
The first time it triggered was outside the hotel, when I fell into depression thinking about home. Afterwards, I didn't even feel a pang of emotion, only a grim determination.
And now, it seems to have activated in response to an event that would have otherwise traumatized me.
I'm not that dumb, I had my guesses from the first time. Once is a mistake, twice is a coincidence, and I don't believe in coincidence.
It seems that the effect of [Unburdened] is to stabilize my mind during moments of extreme stress.
[Ding! Skill description unlocked!]
[Unburdened: You've lived your life being kicked down and rising back up over and over again. Most would have given up in your situation, but not you. You are different.
To combat such an arduous existence, you have forged a mindset unshakable by any means. And now, within you lies a formidable mind palace, and an unbreakable focus.
Go forth, o' Stoic Victim of Fate. May your will remain unshaken, and your mind Unburdened.
Effect: Complete Mental Immunity]
...
So now you wanna tell me?
When I've already figured it out?
Dickhead.
But still, I wasn't expecting complete mental immunity. Isn't that a major boon? I almost wanna celebrate.
"But before that, can you tell me what my other blessings do?"
[...]
"Right, I should have expected that. You only talk when you want to."
These abilities are still total mysteries to me, so I'd like to know what they do as soon as possible. Unfortunately, however, I do not possess the mental fortitude to talk to a brick wall. I assure you, the system will out persevere me, no matter how much I try to annoy it.
So we're back at step 1. Just how do I find out what my abilities do? So I just throw myself into danger and figure it out? That sound inefficient, not to mention painful...
[Can't Stay Down] and [Death Instinct] are the two remaining blessings, and while [Death Instinct] is a little self explanatory-
Wait a minute, [Death Instinct]?
I figured out what [Death Instinct] was ages ago, why didn't I unlock the description for that?
If the condition for seeing the description is realizing what it does myself, haven't I met the criteria?
[...]
Unless, there's more to it than just telling me when I'm about to die?
Or is the unlock condition wrong from the start?
Holy fuck this is confusing.
"You couldn't have just given me a normal system? It doesn't even come with a tutorial."
Tell me how to use a gift if you're giving it to me, otherwise it'll just waste away.
Fucking hell...
Suddenly, I could hear police sirens in the distance.
It was then that I was reminded that I was currently sitting next to a corpse.
"Right, I forgot about you for a sec."
The man who unfortunately died to Aqua's calamitous luck.
It's a bit of a stretch to say he didn't deserve it, considering he tried to kill us, but I still feel his death was complete bullshit.
I suddenly understand exactly what A-chan was talking about when she said 'reality breaking clumsiness', but honestly this can't be said to be her fault.
It's to the point that I almost can't tell who was the victim of who.
What pitiful people.
The sirens grew louder, and eventually I could see 2 police cars rolling up to the building.
I already told everything to the operator over the phone, but I wonder if I'll have to tell the the officers too. It's kind of a pain in the ass to tell the whole story.
Maybe I'll just leave it to aqua-
My head snaps to the still unconscious, still unaware Aqua slumped over next to me.
Fuck.
The police cars stop, and 3 people step out of the vehicles before walking up to me.
"Ugh..."
The briefly glance at the man who was turned into kinetic jelly and grimace, before approaching me, the only person still alive and conscious.
At the forefront of the people approaching me was a woman with short brown hair, who exuded youthful energy even at a glance.
Her blueish-yellow eyes flared with an intensity that I wasnt expecting from a mere police officer. Just when I was wondering the identity of this woman, she spoke in a surprisingly loud voice.
"Hey! We got a call about an attempted murder. Was that you?"
"Uhm, yea-"
"Great! Nice to see you alive and kicking! Most people would be half out of their minds right now, but you seem pretty calm, can I know your name? Ah, actually, lemme just see your ID real quick. Don't worry, you aren't in trouble!"
"...sure."
Too bright.
This woman is way too bright!
I can tell right away, this person is a SSS tier Extrovert, a one in a million type breed.
I've only seen one other person like this, and that was Ethan, my friend who had gone missing.
I briefly felt a pang of emotion at the thought of my best friend, but it was quickly suppressed by [Unburdened].
Weird, was it always this effective? I'm not sure if that's entirely a good thing.
Either way, I handed my ID over to the Sun-like woman, and she quickly looked it up in the database.
However, something seemed to have caught her eye, as she stopped and stared at something.
She didn't say anything and simply stared, as if deep in thought. I looked over to the other cops, but they were simply standing around the corpse, making calls and writing stuff down.
No way... Am I not in there? Did that grim reaper Mori not put me into the system?
Just when my anxiety reached its peak, The woman suddenly asked me a question in a calm voice completely devoid of that sun-like warmth.
"Hey, quick question. When were you gonna tell me...?"
I'm fucked.
"That you were also an otherworlder!?"
"...?"
She suddenly exploded like a supernova, speaking in a tone of complete familiarity, as if recognizing someone she knew.
"... Pardon?"
"I'm an otherworlder too man! If I knew you were like me, I would've greeted you sooner!"
The brown haired woman removed her police cap and fake saluted me while introducing herself.
"the names Oozora Subaru of the Oozora police department! Nice to meet ya!"
Oozora Subaru...
... Oozora Subaru...?
That name...
Why is it so... familiar?
My eyes began to throb.
===================
A/N: Hey, sorry bout the long wait, Ive been hella busy. These days, when I get home I just flop onto bed, goon, and pass out.
Good news though, my free time has been increased dramatically, so I should be able to start posting regularly again.
But, unfortunately, upload dates will be moved to the Weekends instead of Wednesday since I'm off those days and have more time to write and edit. I feel that I can more reliably upload chapters this way, and I also think it's less awkward for those who want to read, but are still in the middle of their work week.
Sorry again for the wait. And to those of you who stuck around and waited for me to lock in, thanks a bunch. I'll be sure to make this arc a good one.
See you next week!