reality 3: "reality of a villain"

Ah...this meant that she was able to find peace...it’s truly the best end for her.

For some reason, those lines from the Fairy Noble NPC stuck with him. 

After he and Ai had finished the quest, they parted ways and he went back to the Fairy Kingdom of Eulus to hand over the flower he took from the human village.

The Fairy Noble shed tears then explained that fairies turn to flowers when they reach the end of their life. The color of the flowers showed what state of mind they were in when they died. In this case, white meant that her death had been peaceful.

Peace...he wondered if…

The sound of bells ringing cut off Mori’s train of thoughts. It was the sound of his university bell, signaling that class was over. He didn’t even realize, he had spent the entire time daydreaming and thinking about [World Symphony]. What started as a fun way to break away from stress and deal with his issues had turned into something he loved and maybe a tad bit obsessed with.

He sighed.

The game had entered scheduled maintenance, leaving him with nothing to do during the evening. He supposed he could go out and maybe do something outside for a change...but the thought of having to talk and face people gave him a surge of anxiety. Yeah, no. Not possible.

Mori packed his belongings away in his bag then got up from his seat. He tried his best to ignore the stares and the whispers and ignore another surge of anxiety and nervousness that came.

As best as he tried, the words still reached him.

“Is that him? The son of that shady politician?”

“Seems like it. Such a shame, he’s quite good looking. Why does his parents have to be completely suspicious?”

Mori didn’t react to those words but his steps sped up significantly. 

He’d been hearing those kinds of words for years now but he still couldn’t get used to it or block it out at all. He still let it get to him, which in turn made him feel like complete trash. He knew his parents weren’t the best people, they didn’t have a completely clean rap sheet. Even though it didn’t have anything to do with him, it still meant that he didn’t have a clean rap sheet.

All those words and suspicion, it made him uncomfortable around people in general. His experiences in people made him...scared. Scared to talk to someone, scared to look them in the eye. Even currently, in college, he walked with his eyes glued to the floor so as to not accidentally meet someone’s gaze.

He wondered if this feeling would ever go away. He tried his best not to let it consume his life, but it didn’t make it any less easier. He didn’t hate people, but thinking about interacting with people scared him.

He could finally breathe a little bit easier when he stepped out, where there weren’t so many people around.

Although, he found that talking to a certain elf in-game didn’t scare him at all. Maybe because it was all virtual and not at all real, which was why he played the game in the first place. It was suggested by someone he knew and admired. He knew very well that [World Symphony]’s NPC A.I was one of the best out there. His friend and mentor had suggested that he used the game as practice to deal with his social fear, by interacting with its NPCs. Which in turn made him talk to every NPC he came across, no matter how insignificant. It was definitely beneficial, it even gave him his unique weapon, and yet...he was still this scared of talking to someone in the real world.

So what exactly made that elf so different? 

Although he knew partly why, he also wondered if that was all. 

He thought back to the elf’s little face and his big blue eyes. Maybe it was because his face was just too cute to be scary?

Mori chuckled and suddenly remembered the menacing smile and words he said to the old man NPC once.

“We wish to explore your house. Surely, you have nothing to hide there?” 

The words were spoken with a gentle smile yet they were so passive aggressive that it made Mori laugh whenever he thought of it.

Really...maintenance was taking way too long.