It was early morning in the〈Neutral Zone〉and Cole was staring at the rising sun in the distance from the porch. He was filled with different thoughts as the cold air of dawn hit his cheeks.He thought back to the creature... No, Xenos, as Felicia called it. When Cole thought back to its mashed up features, he truly thought it to be appropriate.
The name meant "foreign". Well, it certainly was, to the residents of the other Zones.
"Why does such a thing exist?"
"What do the other ones look like?"
"How do I kill it?"
"Is it possible to domesticate such things?"
"Why did the ones on the mountain stay while the rest headed for, presumably,〈Central Academy〉?"
His head would normally burst from all the questions he had and he probably wouldn"t have gotten any sleep last night but his mind was constantly clear ever since he was transmigrated here.
It even felt that it was able to process information faster than before. But in the end, Cole still woke up a bit earlier than expected and continued to ponder his thoughts.
"*sigh*..."
Cole breathed out a heavy sigh and a puff of white mist along with it. He laid his head on the porch rails and said out loud.
"I mean, considering that it was a wolf, its main weak spots would be its neck, stomach, and chest area. It would be best to immobilize its legs first due to it being the enhanced part of the body. Although I would love to just behead it, I have a feeling it probably wouldn"t do much due to it already being semi-dead."
Cole had thought of a way to kill the Xenos the moment his eyes laid on it. But he isn"t a kill hungry monster and he had also wanted to see if he could make the Xenos into a possible "Weapon".
Cole then stared at his hand and thought back to the only skill Libra could let him use,〈Influence〉
"I was originally planning to test it on gravity with Val as a little prank and go on from there but..."
"*sigh*..."
Cole heaved out a sigh once again and ma.s.saged his forehead for a bit.
"Felicia, I presume one of those cups of coffee is for me, right?"
*CREAK*
The door behind Cole opened up with a cla.s.sic creaky sound, revealing a Felicia with a tray of two steaming coffees.
"Isn"t it a bit too much to use your overwhelming senses just for a cup of coffee?"
Cole just gave her a smile while she chuckled in response. She brought the tray over to Cole and gave him the cup that was of a lighter shade of the two.
Cole took in the nice hot coffee and he could feel his insides warming up. Although he didn"t feel that bothered by the cold, he enjoyed the warm and fuzzy feeling.
Felicia stared at Cole"s face as she drank hers and then asked a question.
"So you prefer it milkier?"
Cole stopped in the middle of drinking and temporarily put the cup back down on the tray and simply said.
"I guess. Maybe it"s the texture? I just prefer it over other blends."
"Hmm..."
Felicia raised an eyebrow at his answer, she had actually expected him to grab the darker one and to politely decline the one she was offering instead. Felicia had always imagined him as a person who would drink black coffee.
"By the way... Aren"t you cold in that?"
"?"
Cole wanted to look Felica up and down to emphasize his point but decided to avert his eyes due to his common decency.
Felicia was wearing a short, lilac-colored, spaghetti strap nightwear. It only reached until a bit above her knees and her cleavage could be easily seen with a simple pa.s.sing breeze. She put on a cheeky smile and felt like teasing him but decided not to and just stared at the rising sun.
"It isn"t that cold. And even if I was overly sensitive, Mechanicas have temperature regulators in their body to help with that. And if you"re so bothered with my outfit, what about yours?"
She then turned her head and had an amused grin on her face. She looked at the soft, light-blue pajamas that were designed to look like a suit. Both of them also happened to be wearing matching bunny slippers that even Eva had a pair of.
"Hey, they"re really comfy."
"Hahahaha!"
Felicia couldn"t help but laugh at Cole"s statement, especially with the serious face he had used when saying it. She had to hold her stomach due to her burst of laughter. It was at this point in time that Cole could finally confirm something.
"... You"re different than who I thought you were."
"I could say the same to you."
"I had the idea that you were a girl who was too interested in love and was easily embarra.s.sed. Was the cute and bubbly type of kind. The kind I didn"t hate and could appreciate."
Cole preferred women that could be calm and collected and a bit cheeky to you at times but he was okay with the former. He also liked black hair because it just calmed his eyes back then because everyone had a unique color that would sometimes just blind his eyes.
When Cole came to this realization a few years back, he was confused at himself due to him having an ex-girlfriend that didn"t fit in with his preferences at all.
When he thought back to his social relationships in the past, the only way you could get him to become your friend is to either be good at cooking or know him for a long time.
In fact, the only reason why Cole wasn"t a popsicle towards to Felicia and Eva was because there was already a sense of trust and familiarity left behind from the previous owner.
"Well, I thought you were a person who could be stone cold to people on the surface but cared about them inside. Even if they were some random stranger. But, that"s actually what I thought of the previous Cole."
Felicia had a.s.sumed that the previous Cole had secretly endeared people that were all bubbly and happy like that and it"s why she acted like such a person. It was quite easy for her. She had done a lot of acting as a child, so she was used to it.
But when she found out that Cole had been switched, she had a few pa.s.sing thoughts of taking advantage of the opportunity and continue her facade but in the end, decided not to. It would probably backfire anyway.
And her father had always told her to immediately repent and apologize the instant she felt she had done something wrong.
"(Apologize and realize in an hour, if not a day!) is what he always said..."
Felicia unconsciously smiled as she remembered the grizzled old face of her father. A smile that would make children cry and a thick beard that was basically a forest.
Both of them didn"t plan on raising a ruckus on who the other person wasn"t who they thought they were. It"s natural that someone would have things they would want to hide.
They had actually guessed that the other was thinking of past times and just let silence take over. Faint bird chirps and the rustling leaves accompanied it, creating a calm and serene atmosphere.
The sun had then taken full root in the dull, monochromatic sky while covered by the puffy white clouds. Even if there were only two or three colors and it didn"t have a single drop of life due to it"s depressing tones, it still made a beautiful landscape.
"The sky is..."
"...Pretty."
The two ended up thinking about the same thing, but this time. There was no small exchange of laughs and giggles, instead, the two faced each other and picked up their respective mugs.
It became just another peaceful morning with a cup of coffee.