Everything was wrong.
Keith stood back as the girls fumbled their way around the game.
They read the entire letter, wasting the life of their Torches. They picked arbitrary spots to head towards without locating them beforehand. How could they head somewhere on their own without a map?
Yes, he'd said there wasn't always a map in the game, and it wasn't a lie. However, in this situation, there was likely to be a map somewhere near the entrance. Obviously, without a map, the girls would be helpless. They would *have* to rely on him. Yet the Scion took control for herself, and Rae followed.
Why? Was this the difference between commoners and royalty? If so, he had to up his game.
The problem was, he'd never played the game this way before. In every situation until now, he was always the one with the upper hand. He was always the one with leverage over the other. How was he supposed to play when *she* had the higher status?
Was this even the same game?
Was this how commoners felt when trying to play?
Countless boys had flocked to him for dating advice, and he'd just told them the same thing. Be confident. Be yourself. It would work. Yet now, when he applied his own advice that'd worked for so long, he was losing reputation instead...
No matter. He would let them do as they pleased. Eventually, they would fail. Eventually, they would bend the knee. Eventually, they would *beg* for his help.
He smirked as the window burst open in the hallway. A Phantasm had likely entered the building. There were many different types of Phantasms, so he didn't know what would happen. However, they were usually harmless, albeit a bit terrifying.
*This* would be the moment they crumbled.
Nothing unusual happened from his perspective, but the two girls began acting strangely. Rae then screamed and swung her Torch behind her, likely dispelling the Phantasm.
How lucky.
Regardless, now was the time to drop some advice. The most generic non-spoilery advice that nobody could turn down.
Good.
Frankly, they were reacting fairly normally to playing a horror game for the first time. However...
He looked over to his left.
That cute round face looked almost like a lifeless doll's.
What was the Princess thinking?
No matter what happened, she didn't react at all.
He had a general idea of her personality from the daily breakfast mukbangs. Even though he didn't live under Slyker's rule, he would religiously tune in every morning. There was no way he was the only one who watched for this reason right? Thus, everyone knew she was mentally slow in social situations, but to think it was to this extent...
Even when the Scion cracked a simple joke, the Princess failed to understand it.
Perfect! It was just perfect.
He'd seen his fair share of sassy, stuck-up girls, and no matter how attractive they were, that personality destroyed their shelf life. One night was usually all it took for them to become spoiled.
But this... would remain fresh for a lifetime.
Of course, the Scion was valuable in her own right. Watching her fumble around in an animated manner warmed the heart. This was what won him over in the first place.
When she stumbled backwards and fell into the Princess' arms, he couldn't stop himself from snapping a few pictures. In this moment, he thanked God that this wasn't the real world. If that camera click had been audible, he might have moved to the countryside to live as a hermit.
Now, the girls decided that finding Margaret's room was the first priority.
How naive. Nonetheless, he didn't speak up. For some reason, whenever he spoke, his reputation with the royal girl would drop like a stone, yet Rae was still completely infatuated. The results were polar opposites. He was at a loss.
If he didn't speak, how was he supposed to showcase his charisma?
For now, the only thing he could do was go with the flow. It wasn't a bad show, anyway.
He held back snickers as the girls inspected the portraits in the hallway.
"Rae, this is her! This is the person I saw! Except she was dead!"
"She's alive here, isn't she? That yellow dress is nice..."
"Yeah... If I saw *the* ghost in the mirror, it's definitely hers."
"I don't see a label anywhere..."
Rae and the Scion poked and prodded the painting to no avail.
"Maybe we need to get in here?" Rae asked as she rattled a door handle to the left of the portrait. "It's locked."
"Well let's look for a key then!"
They frantically searched everything nearby. No decorative object on any of the tables was safe. They even looked under the long rug that ran end-to-end through the hallway.
"It can't be *this* hard to find, right?" Syny asked.
"No, I don't think so... there's no way we have to search this entire hall. That would take too long."
"Wait, there's one place we haven't looked yet."
"Where?"
"Behind this painting."
"Ohhhh... Okay. I'll grab this side and you get the other. Ready?"
"Yup! One, two, three...!"
They lifted the portrait off the wall, and a small, shiny bronze object tumbled to the ground.
""Yes!!!!""
In a race to reach the key first...
""Ow!""
The two bumped heads and fell to the ground. The painting they'd abandoned likewise fell flat on its face. And...
"Huh?"
The ground below them disappeared.
""Whaaaaaaaaa-!""
*THUD*
The two girls' screams faded away in the distance until they hit rock-hard ground.
Ordinarily, Keith would have stopped them before they removed the painting. In suspicious locations like this, they were almost always traps. However, they reaped what they sowed...
Now, they were trapped without anyone's help. Keith shook his head. What a tragedy this was... but only for them.
They would finally understand the value of his commands. But more than that...
He looked over to his side, where the shining sun, the "light" of life, stood.
Miraculously... They were alone together.
---
Jisha tried not to show it on her face, but she was terrified.
*I literally only spoke a few short sentences!!!*
How her face wasn't drenched in sweat was a miracle provided by VR.
Yes, when Keith had annoyed her best friend, she'd spoken up. Anything that got in the way of Syn having fun needed to be resolved as quickly as possible. However...
Everyone had turned to look at her. Again.
*Why does this keep happening????????*
What could she do to reduce suspicion? Yes, there was one reincarnator among them. The current Jisha's personality was nowhere near the young Jisha's, yet she had to act like it nonetheless.
She was failing miserably, apparently.
*I need to figure this out quick, or it's gonna be super problematic. How much am I allowed to talk?*
Thus far, single-word responses and slight head movements were all that were acceptable. As strange as it sounded, she would probably have to go study her past breakfast recordings to make more sense of herself. Maybe slowly, she could "overcome" her shyness and start initiating conversations with others.
""Whaaaaaaaaa-!""
*THUD*
*The first opportunity has presented itself!*
"Um... Syn...? Are you okay?" Jisha asked as she peeked over the edge.
This was a normal thing to say, right? Especially if your best friend fell down an entire floor.
"... like, what, did we seriously fall for this?? Yeah, Jish, I'm fine! There's no fall damage!"
"Okay... That's good..."
"Don't worry, Jish! We'll save you!"
*What?*
As far as Jisha was concerned, the ones in the most danger were the two that'd just fallen into a dark basement in the mansion of a ghost with unknown properties.
"Actually! You know what! Since there's no fall damage, how about you just jump down here and-"
*SLAM*
The trapdoor automatically slammed shut.
*Well, looks like she's having fun.*
As a bonus, Keith wouldn't be in Syn's way, either. Mission accomplished.
Keith shook his head as he wore a distressed expression.
"How terrible. They're in real trouble if their lamps go out down there. Come, let's find them," he said, holding out his hand.
*What a drama queen. Now this is a dilemma...*
What would young Jisha do?
*Maybe this?*
After staring awkwardly for a few seconds, she accepted his hand which immediately tightened around hers.
*Okay.*
Jisha wasn't dense. In fact, it sounded like a strange problem to have, but sometimes she wished she was *more* dense. Practicing mindfulness for many years was a double-edged sword; you were just as aware of the negatives as you were the positives.
This attentiveness allowed her to discover torches and lamps for Syn, but it also made Keith's intentions apparent. The only surprising thing was that Syn was so concerned that she'd forgo a chance of victory to protect Jisha.
*I guess her intuition alarm bells are just that loud. Or maybe I'm just addicted to the hard drug known as victory? Hm... Regardless, she's worrying about me...*
If this was going to be an impediment to her fun, this was a serious problem. There was no wireless communication within the game for "immersion", so Jisha opened a third-party messenger.
*>Fae Sol: Don't worry about saving me, I'm fine! Just have fun!*
*>Synycal: Huh? I'm not forgiving that bastard!*
Jisha almost laughed out loud. He hadn't even done anything yet, and she was already this riled up? This kid was a young teenager. Everyone went through phases. Plus, no matter how dangerous Keith was, it was irrelevant.
She looked him in the eyes and smiled.
He smiled back and tightened his grip on her.
"Let's go," he said, leading her down the hallway.
"Okay."
*Syn wouldn't understand, but if anything happens... I'm not the one that'll need saving.*
Thanks for the chappy!
thanks for reading - rz