"Huh? What? Where am I?"

"Oh, he came back to the land of the living."

What happened? Why am I suddenly in the corridor, leaning on Hiro's shoulder, no less. Ugh, the girls are going to have a field day with this one. The special ones seem to not care about who it is, as long as it's another male with him.

"Oiii, are you still there?"

Actually, why are the students around us staring at me specifically? I swear if they are putting me on a pedestal for no real reason.

“Never mind.”

I heard before I was dropped without remorse. Ow. Face, meet flat ground. Flat ground, face.

“Jin, you're embarrassing yourself.” Hiro said.

For someone who is completely weak against girls that come onto you, you sure know how to talk big.

But I digress. So I got off the ground.

“Right. I think so too.” Don’t think I missed our little Miss Aristocrat here. Our eyes met. Hm, her eyes are no longer red though. Must’ve been the sun in my eyes back then.

“Lilith Alucard, yes? I’m Jin Craig, dumbass extraordinaire. Pleased to meet your acquaintance.”

I bowed much like a magician would after performing his many tricks.

“Yes… It’s a pleasure.” She said hesitantly, wondering how she should deal with me.

I never realized I had the ability to read other people’s thoughts too. Maybe I do have special powers… or not. Let’s not go there. Every fiber of my being is telling me to stop before wounds are cut open.

“Alright, now that we are acquainted with each other,” I shrugged, “Let’s get some food.”

And we’re off to the cafeteria! I have no doubt in my mind that it’s probably filled to the brim and there are no empty spots left, though.

“Is he always like this, Mr. Fate?” Lilith decided to stop dealing with me and asked Hiro in whispers. The hero works fast, turning enemies into friends and soon friend into love interest. I wonder when they decided to let bygones be bygones and get so close to each other. It was only a single chapter ago, after all.

Shut up, me! You’re making more work for the author. The fourth wall breaking down will become an obsolete trope in a matter of seconds, idiot.

Right. I'm already insane.

“Hiro is just fine, and yeah… That’s my idiot of a friend.” Hiro said with slight embarrassment.

“Then you may call me Lilith as well,” Lilith replied, “He is an interesting one. How did you two meet?”

A good question, really. Now, if I recall correctly, it was in the middle of the night about three or four years ago. The streets were empty, and mist covered the surroundings. The darkness and silence was my neighbor… It was during my dark phase. The night was mine to control and no one could stop me. Or so I thought, until he swiftly appeared from the mist, sliding across the pavement until he lost momentum.

He was garbed in light armor that looked very ornamental, wearing a cloak. His holier than thou sword gripped tightly in his hand. A work of art I’d say. Even now, I can remember his gear.

Our eyes had met. Back then,  I could only widen my eyes in surprise.

“Dang.”

I muttered with all the respect I could muster.

His entry held that much finesse. I also recognized him and he recognized me. It wasn’t anything special since we were in the same class back then too.

“Craig, what are you doing here?” He asked with an eyebrow raised.

It looked like he was sweating a bit, though. I guess making an entrance like that did take a lot out of him.

“Nothing much, really,” I said, reaching for my right eye as I attempted to cover it with my sealed hand, “After all, I am the Master of the Night. Controller of Darkness, and the Demon Lord of the End.”

“W-what?” Hiro stepped back, showing fear. His acting was top-notch too. I even felt the atmosphere around us change too.

I bet we looked so cool back then.

“That aside, Hero,” I called him that because he looked a lot like the ones from the games I played… Ah, yes, Slime Quest.

“Where did you get that outfit? And that sword too. It looks really well made.” I chuckled. I was happy, after all. I did manage to find myself a comrade in arms. I had never thought the day would come around since then.

“Uh? What?” Hiro looked really confused.

“Your cosplay. Where did you get it? Who made it? I don’t think I could get that anywhere.”

“Oh, er yeah, I made it myself?” Hiro himself didn’t seem too sure but I didn’t care. His outfit looked so cool.

“That’s cool. So, you too huh?” He immediately deadpanned in realization in response to my words.

It seemed that he wanted to rip me a new one in the end but only sighed in defeat.

“Well. We met up and then it clicked, I guess.” Hiro said, snapping me out from my reminisce, probably remembering how we met. 

He didn’t tell the story of our fateful meeting. Must be pretty shy, but then again, I would be too. That was another pretty embarrassing moment in our life.

“Aw, Hiro. You shouldn’t lie to people like that. We met and our fates intertwined. I saw it. Your potential.”

Teasing him is fair game, even though I’ll be hurting myself in the process.

“Don’t lump me with you, you seriously diseased person.” Hiro was clutching his head, feeling a migraine coming on.

“There’s no need to deny it, Hero,” He probably felt it instinctively that I was using his nickname too, “You too are inflicted with said disease.”

“Disease?” Lilith seemed confused for a bit but her face lit up in recognition.

“I’ve heard about these kinds of people but I never thought they actually existed.”

I thought so earlier, but Lilith seemed pretty open compared to what is normally thought of aristocrats. Maybe she was sheltered, so this might seem like a new experience to her. Yes, another trope, as expected of another day in the daily life of our Hero.

“Stop believing his lies, please Lilith,” Hiro sighed, “Let’s just go before he gets a big head and hurts himself some more.”

It didn’t seem like I was going to get any more reactions from him, so I gave up. There's no point in hurting myself with nothing to gain. By the time we got to the cafeteria, it seemed like there weren’t any more seats left.

I can’t say I didn’t expect this.

takeruu

About 1k words. Even though the chapter is longer than usual, I feel like the chapter isn't quite good enough, probably most likely due to the fact that I added Lilith into the chapter, but she didn't have much screentime. I'll have to fix that in the next chapter so maybe expect her POV. It should include more insight into her character too.

Other things include complaints about writing transition scenes which are pretty hard to do. They are usually short in real life, which makes it pretty hard for extended conversations... Also, I may be running out of brain juice for the story. I would have to stock up on more copium.

Spoiler

The supernatural may also be introduced in the chapter

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Thanks for reading!