Late release because the chapter"s a bit longer than usual..
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Cole arrived when it was already 11 in the evening. He exited out of the portal with not a single piece of paper in sight. He decided that it was better to move to another room and finish the doc.u.ments there.
It took him a bit more time to do so since he needed to question Lucille about the〈Demon Realm〉"s current affairs.
He then saw Felicia happily waiting on the porch of the house. She was happily kicking her legs back and forth. There were about 4 or 5 unopened cases of beer with her along with 3 wine bottles, each with their own bucket of ice.
"Well, what"s this for?"
"I was just thinking that you must"ve been tired with everything lately. So I brought these out for you to relax!"
"Instead of a nice hot dinner?"
"You"re telling me you didn"t eat dinner over there?"
"No, I did. But that means you just want to get drunk?"
"There"s pizza, fries, chicken wings, for the beer and some dark chocolate for the wine."
Cole looked behind Felicia. All of what she said was there place neatly on a picnic blanket. He was surprised by how she was able to cover the entire thing with her body alone.
Seeing as there was nothing to lose, Cole sat down next to Felicia on the porch. He hadn"t had a chance to have a drinking party in a long time. Even if that "party" was only made up of two people.
"Beer or wine."
"Give me a cold one."
Felicia happily tossed Cole a chilled beer can (despite there being barely any distance between them) and got herself a wine gla.s.s and filled it nearly to the brim of the cup.
Cole opened the can and heard the satisfying click of the can. He took a gulp and felt the nice refreshing coolness of the beer going down his throat. It was a sensation that he hadn"t felt in a long time.
"The last time I had a beer it was when I was at a victory party for my first skirmish."
Cole wasn"t saying that to anyone in particular and he had just felt like reminiscing about his past.
"Cole..."
"Hmm?"
Felicia hesitated for a bit. She didn"t know whether it was okay for her to ask this question. She knew that Cole probably had his reasons but curiosity won in the end.
"Haven"t you ever thought of going back to the〈Avant Zone〉?"
Cole"s eyes changed at her question. But Felicia didn"t see it. She was staring at the direction of the〈Avant Zone〉
"You could get all the cool stuff you left there, you could revisit your friends and family you left there, you could become a lot more famous than you are now! And--"
Before Felicia could continue on, Cole stopped her.
"...Stop right there."
His face didn"t look quite right. It was like a shadow was cast over it, not by the darkness of the night but maybe by the shadows of his past. His tone even sounded a bit aggressive.
Felicia complied and just stuffed her mouth with fries so she wouldn"t make the same mistake again.
There was now silence between the two of them. But the silence was quickly lifted by the low growls of the beasts in the forests and cricket cries.
Cole looked to his side and saw Felicia"s downcast face. He figured that he must have been a bit too tired and that"s why he let his emotions slip. He tried calling out to her, this time his tone a bit softer.
"Felicia."
"...Yes?"
"I don"t need the things I left there. Whenever I make or get something, I always prepare myself for the time that I might lose it."
"Isn"t that a bit... sad?" Was what Felicia thought to herself. But the look on Cole"s face told her that it was just the usual for him.
"Second of all, I don"t want to see my friends who have long been ruined by that stupid war. Them seeing me might bring back bad memories. I"m not sure if they"ve even been able to recover."
Cole"s voice weakened a bit when he reached the end there. His gaze blanked a bit and he seemed to be remembering something. But like always, he quickly came back to reality.
"Third, being famous would just be a ha.s.sle. The scientists there would be obsessed with how I suddenly came back. Reporters would bombard me with questions. Heck, they might even get my family involved."
Cole took another gulp of beer and started munching a chicken wing along with some fries. His att.i.tude was now so casual. As if it wasn"t that important. But Felicia"s curiosity reared its head again.
"...Then what about your family?"
"..."
Cole stayed silent. His eyes were once again flashing with memories Felicia had no idea of. He downed the rest of his beer can and opened up another one as he began to speak.
"My mom"s dead, Father left heartbroken together with my little brother after she died. The only ones I have left back there are my grandfather and grandmother from my mother"s side. "
"If I went there, I would only be a nuisance."
At first glance, his eyes looked melancholic. But looking again, it was more like he had given up on the notion of ever trying.
Felicia felt that she had seen Cole show true emotion more times than the past months she"s known the dude. He would smile when he should smile, show anger where he should"ve probably shown anger.
He always took into consideration the situation and acted accordingly. It was only recently that he stopped adhering to it and now always wore his cold, bored expression.
No matter when and where. Felicia thought that maybe he was so exhausted that he was starting to lose control of his emotions and expressions.
"Besides, I wouldn"t even be able to establish a family similar to the one I have now."
"?"
Her thought process was suddenly interrupted by Cole"s sudden remark. She tilted her head in confusion. If he went back there, Felicia was sure that there would be lines of women wanting to just shake his hand.
"I mean, look at that pretty as f.u.c.k face! I still wonder how he doesn"t have a single drop of Korean or just even Asian blood."
Felicia drank out of her gla.s.s while waiting for Cole to continue on.
"There"s the stupid you and a carbon copy of me as a daughter. I"d probably have a hard time finding someone in the〈Avant Zone〉as happy-go-lucky as you. Everyone there"s a realist or part realist. I"m included in that though."
Felicia put her hand over her mouth and made a surprised expression. But Cole knew that it probably wasn"t because of the reason he first thought of.
"You"re aware of my stupidity? I had thought I had his it quite well..."
"And everyone else"s."
"Hey, my stupidity is unique!"
"Is that really something to be proud of?"
Cole was enjoying their strange back and forth when Felicia"s next statement caught her off guard.
"Yes, I was so stupid that I went and raped the previous Cole because I wanted to feel loved."
"PFFT!!"
Cole spat out the beer he was drinking. Felicia"s tone was so casual and it was like she was just recalling a foolish memory. He wiped away any remaining spit and looked at Felicia who was still eating without a care in the world.
"I knew that there was no one else besides you who could be her mother but..."
"What, you thought he raped me?"
Cole looked the other way. He had indeed thought of the possibility and it was one of the reasons why he was being so cautious. He had been planning to ask about the matter when the mood was right or would wait for Felicia to open up about it.
He was afraid of making her recall an unpleasant memory since that was never good. Looks like it didn"t matter.
"Ha! That wimp couldn"t do it even if he tried!"
She puffed her chest with pride but her mood quickly changed to a more sombre tone.
"But... because of his character, he was too scared to even show warmth to Eva."
"He probably thought that he was at fault for getting me pregnant at 14."
Felicia started to curl up into a ball as she told the story. Cole stayed quiet and listened to what she had to say. It was a bit out of curiosity for his "other self".
"Because of that, he would barely be at home because he was too scared to look me in the eye. When our eyes would lock for just a second, I could see all of his regret, self-disappointment and self-loathing in them."
"So, I tried easing that. I would dress up as those cute maids or anime characters and act as a gentle person. Because I thought that a kind person to soothe him was what he needed the most. Now that I think about it, I think that"s when I started to misconceive my concern for him as affection."
"Ah, so that"s why your maid uniform at the time had such a short skirt and weird breast pocket thing."
Cole thought to himself. He thought that it really was just her hobby since she was still wearing a maid dress now. Although the skirt now reached her knees and the top was simpler. It was also sleeveless because of the climate in the〈Neutral Zone〉
But Cole threw away his irrelevant thoughts. It became one of those few times where he wasn"t sure what to say. For now, he could only spout out a possible reason for the other Cole"s actions.
"It was probably because he was the older one at the time. He would have been about 17. Some people would play him as a paedophile."
"Yeah..."
Felicia"s fist tightened a bit. She knew that was how some people would perceive their little incident. She grimaced at the thought of the possible things that might"ve been going through his head the entire time she was pregnant with Eva.
She took a big gulp out of her gla.s.s, but not big enough to down the entire thing.
"Hey, Cole."
"What?"
"Did you fully get his memories?"
"Only most knowledge. My A.I that somehow came with me is still busy repairing the damage and recovering the data."
"Is that so?"
Felicia asked as she stared into her gla.s.s. She was hoping that maybe she could"ve found out what the other Cole was doing during the time he was gone. It looks like she"d have to wait a little longer.
Then all of a sudden, she smiled and looked up at the full moon shining above her.
"Hey, Cole."
"Yes?"
"I"m gonna do it."
Her voice held the conviction to not have any kind of regrets. Cole knew what she probably was gonna say, but he showed a smile and played along with her anyway.
"Do what?"
"I"m gonna make you fall in love with me."
She stood up and pointed a finger right towards Cole. He was surprised by how she managed to hit the food in any way. Which by the way, had somehow already reached half to what it used to be.
"What finalized your decision?"
He wanted to know. He was planning to revoke his proposal due to the thought that it might be too painful for her but threw that idea out of the window for obvious reasons.
"Well, I was already halfway there with all the perks you come with. But the deciding factor was right now."
"Hmm?"
"Perks? What, my face? My abilities? Because that"s all I can think of."
Although Cole had let such negligible thoughts run through his mind, he was definitely paying attention to what she had to say.
"Because this night, I saw you as a person. Not the Hero from all the doc.u.mentaries I"ve watched as a child."
"You have a family, your own thoughts, your own backstory. You aren"t just a cold and heartless Weapon Master that I somehow grew up admiring."
Her smile confirmed her sincerity. Cole was wondering what he was if he wasn"t a human to her back then. But despite that, he was actually a bit shocked at her words. It had also reminded him of a truth he usually brushed past.
"Now that you say that, isn"t it kinda weird?"
"What, the fact that my idol is in the same age range as me now?"
"Yeah."
The two of them locked eyes with each other for a moment.
"Well, I guess you"re right."
But Felicia thought that the fact was negligible at most. With that done, she sat back down and patted her hands on her lap. Inviting Cole to come and lay down on her lap.
"Now, since that"s been decided. Come over here."
"Ha, why?"
Cole was planning to continue eating. If he were to lie down already, it would be harder to reach the food that way.
"The early bird gets the worm. It"s better to start my conquest now than to start later morning."
"Wait, it"s past 12 already?"
"And after all, you"ve barely slept at all ever since you came here."
"You don"t know that."
"Yes, I do. I always hear you going out at night."
Felicia tapped at her headphones and gave a smug grin. She also answered in a way that resolved Cole"s other question in his mind. As to how come he didn"t sense her nearby. But what was she doing listening to the surroundings in the middle of the night?
"Hear?"
"Whenever I go to sleep, I close my eyes first and let my imagination go wild with the sounds from the surroundings. Personally, I find it quite fun."
"..."
Seeing that she had no intention of backing down, Cole sighed and put his head on her lap. He had inadvertently done so in the past so it wouldn"t be such a big deal to do it a second time. He didn"t bother trying to go back inside since she could probably stop him with her portals anyway.
The first thing Cole had thought was that her thighs were quite soft and comfortable. He wasn"t sure if that made him perverted because he honestly thought of it as a simple observation.
From his viewpoint, he was able to see Felicia"s face clearly. It looked even whiter due to the moon"s glow which even added a sort of ethereal look to her.
There was a smile on her face and her eyes had an emotion Cole wasn"t exactly sure what. Looking into them made him feel sleepy. His eyes started growing heavy and his mind started to grow muddled. But there was one thing that came across Cole"s mind during the moment.
"...Felicia...?"
"Hm? What? Go to sleep already."
"...You"re..."
Before he would totally blackout, Cole extended his hand to Felicia"s cheek.
"Pretty."
And with that, his hand fell and his eyes closed. If the setting were different, the scene could be immediately changed to the start of a tragic backstory or the beginning of a revenge plot. Felicia froze from Cole"s warm touch.
Her white cheeks reddened slightly and her eyes went blank for a bit. She had planned to start caressing his hair and stare at him in an affectionate manner and win up some points. Of course, there was the possibility of it not working but she liked touching Cole"s hair. It was nice and soft after all.
"Eh? Oi! I thought I had to be the one to make you fall in love with me! Not the other way around!"
Felicia shouted in a startled voice. But she didn"t make the volume of her voice too loud since she had hoped for Cole to sleep after all. And the fact that she might accidentally wake the others up.
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"...Love should be a two-way street."
Unexpectedly, she received an answer. But after that, not a single word was heard from Cole"s mouth. His breathing had grown slower and was now a lot more regular, showing that he was now really asleep.
Felicia tidied up by placing the leftovers in her〈Inventory〉, that way she wouldn"t have to wake Cole in the process.
She could have transported Cole this way but she let him stay on her lap for a little longer. After that, she looked up at the sky with the full moon still shining through.
The pure white circle made a beautiful contrast against the vast starry sky. The entire scene was very picturesque.
It was a beautiful moonlit night.