"Th-Th-The P-Progenitor????"
"Das me."
W-Why am I– when– whe–
"You're gonna burn the pillow." The Progenitor drank from–
Wait!!!!!
"W-W-Why–"
"I dunno I'm just here." They smiled with a shrug.
They looked at my senior.
"Well I was kinda lying. I was gonna be the shake shack but someone had to rrrruin! A nicely put idea." My senior looked away.
W–... what does that have to–
"In fact!" They snapped their fingers towards me. "It's you!"
I blinked.
"M-Me?"
"Glorious me took time out of my day to juice you!" They placed Their hand on Their chest.
…And nodded.
"Now! Let us go to the otherworld! For reasons. Yes. Reasons."
"Why?"
They looked at me. Their dark brown hollow eyes stared into me. They touched the fedora while crossing Their legs.
A smile growing on Their lips.
"You might not like what'll come next. Especially those craving action. Oh inadequacies. What can you do?" They moved their extremely dark brown hair to the side.
Uh.
"Well you can refuse. Not like this matters too too much. But a girl's gotta be smart at times."
"...Can I… think about?" I squeezed out.
"Sure sure. Times all we got. Well, for me I gotta skidaddle. Prithee, farewell! I shalleth return! For uh, answer!"
They bowed with the fedora placed on Their chest.
Their smile never leaving Their face. Only growing wider and stranger.
I blinked and they were gone.
"Ah They're gone."
"Next time don't target Their prey."
"How was I supposed to know?"
Alex frowned and said nothing more.
"....so…re…ta… Dear junior, how are you~?"
Ah.
Aaaaaaah.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh.
"Hello~? Making such a face is unpleasant~."
Save me…
— — — —
Alex is a descendant of Oromanian.
My senior has a face that's more cute than beauty.
A small face that accentuates that fact.
The one thing that never fits is her expression and voice.
"..."
Oh this wrapper is so nice to play with!
After feeling her gaze turn somewhere else I looked up.
Mana.
In novels it's this mysterious, constraining force.
Dantians, mana cores, aura, elixirs…
"What would you like?"
"Huh? O-Oh. Um… the Gorge crescent. Can I have it medium raw?"
Eheh…
"Our junior is so silly~"
"..."
T-The ocean went as far as the horizon… How cool…!
Novels.
That's what it amounts to based on the grueling knowledge for scenarios based on novel-like situations.
It's pretty small compared to recently…
So many times as a Page…
But mana is always so… peculiar.
Seeing it in person was like….
Constraint?
I can't make any idea of it.
And the only thing left was history.
I want to ask. If there are any issues with. Similar… but I'm scared!!!!!!!! They remind me that they might kill me if I speak!!!! And Alex has that face that reminds me of the tall woman with indecipherable white eyes!!!!!!!!!
…Though it just makes me feel small.
"That's cuz you are."
"W-What?"
Suddenly I heard laughter.
Standing in the aisle was–
"Hey hey it's me again!"
The Progenitor?!
"Yah."
Then They sat next to me.
They said nothing.
Only humming with a smile.
My heart calmed. As if it realized this was dreamlike. Or not real. But it still felt warm.
Just like in the medical bay, they wore black shoes and dress pants, dress shirt, a black tie with a colour detail, and a fedora.
The white dress shirt was covered by it.
"Go ahead. Ask it."
My seniors' eyes flickered towards me.
But. I don't– do I even have– It's not for me. Because there's three people who have questions.
…At least for something.
I don't have a question so it's not me!
"Doubting is harsh. Especially for your own self."
….
"Geez we have so many low self esteemers it's actually sad. Well that's what I think. It could just be a small need of confidence."
...
.....
...…..
….I guess a few ask this…?
It's because I'm not ready.
To have just a bit of clarification.
"...Are we evil?"
"Depends on who you ask. Personally, it's something I established with myself. I am not a good person. Nor am I bad. Though objectively it'd be in the spectrum of bad. But not the worst! There are ones deeper than me."
Not the worst.
That's… something.
"Maybe I didn't explain it well? Alicia teeeeeell me! Was it good!"
"No." my senior Alex said quickly.
"That hurts."
Maybe I just feel a bit lighter from a lie. From a truth I don't understand.
"Why– The world– the game show that…"
I can't get my words straight. There's too many things that confuses me.
"The world? Haha. Which one?"
"The one that was invaded…"
"Which one?"
"The one with the game show…"
"...."
The Progenitor just smiled with no end.
"It wasn't upheld."
"Up…held?"
"Sometimes we're a bit petty. Tricky, but just normal."
Ok…ay.
I still want to… think.
"Are we puppets for The Progenitor?"
"Spicy."
Their cuffed sleeve caught on the armrest.
"That depends."
Depends.
Depends….
"Both on our selves and who you ask."
From here the light shimmered.
A silver streaking across the train.
"Still, time is needed. I don't mean this lightly. Take your time to see if it is or isn't. It doesn't go away due to the wind."
....
"By the way will you give me that answer?"
Ah.
I felt like something just got ruined.
Really ruined.
"I feel stiff sheeeeeee."
I guess the image of The Progenitor got tattered after that.
The way it would be similar is…
"Oh can I eat here too? My throats kinda dry."
Your creator who made everything, unbelievably, irrationally, behaves childishly. With far too many insane antics and eccentricities.
And I follow them. Oh…