“…And that’s how we figured out that Biat can make me visible too!” Ruem finishes, sitting on your shoulder while you and Kittpey sit on your bed. The two of you had gone back and forth explaining everything to Kittpey over the last half hour or so, while the blonde girl had just sat there staring, occasionally asking clarifying questions, but otherwise keeping quiet. With Ruem having drawn the tale to a close, silence now overtakes you all, as you wait on bated breath for Kittpey’s reaction.

Finally, she opens her mouth. “So… you both lied to me. For a long time.” Anxiety spikes into your chest; she is not off to an encouraging start. The anxiety spikes higher a second later when she gestures your way. “With you I can understand it, at least. You’ve known me less than two months, and this whole world is new and scary to you.” As though she notices the hope returning to your eyes, she adds, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m still hurt and upset with you too, but…” She points at the ball on your shoulder. “You. We’ve been friends most of our lives, and you couldn’t bother to say a single damn thing until now??”

White eyes wide, Ruem says, “Me?? But I— I mean I’ve been with Umeso!” Kittpey’s glare intensifies. “How would I— what, was I supposed to just ask them to talk to you out of the blue?” She scoffs. “As if you would’ve listened!”

“Did you even consider it before now?”

That question pierces through Ruem so clearly that you witnessed her nearly tumble off your shoulder. “I—Well—The thing is—”

“So that’s a no, then.” Ruem continues to sputter, while Kittpey just shakes her head, staring off to the side. Her emotions seem to be barely held at bay, her lip trembling and her eye twitching. Jolting to her feet, she stares down at you both, fists clenched. “I need some time to process this.” She turns away. “Some time alone.”

As she walks toward the door, you bolt upwards too. You can’t let her leave without saying one more thing. They’re words you’ve said already, more than once, while explaining the situation. But they’re no less important now. “I’m sorry.” She glances back at you, her hand on the doorknob. “You deserved better, and I just…” Tears well in your eyes, but you refuse to let them fall yet, your face set. “I’m so sorry that I hurt you.” 

Face also steeled, she says nothing, at first. Finally, softly, she says, “…Thank you.” Then she leaves, the door closing behind her.

Tears stream down your face.

~~~

Hours later, you and Ruem head to Radestro’s hideout, sneaking off campus and through the dark, winding town streets. Kittpey never came back, making it difficult to cling to hope about the situation. But hopefully tomorrow she’ll be willing to talk again? And she won’t hate you forever? Your anxiety over that possibility attempts to tie your stomach in knots, but you knock it back by focusing on a different anxiety: the heist.

“Girl, you’re tense as Umeso is before tests. Chill out, it’ll be fine!” says Ruem, perched on your shoulder, as is starting to be the norm. Her calling you ‘girl’ shoots a bolt of happiness down your spine, and the effect is apparently visible. “Heh, you really like hearing that, don’t you, girl?” The corners of your mouth lift involuntarily. “Wow, it’s so easy. How didn’t I notice this before?”

“Because you’re self-absorbed?” you offer.

She headbutts your neck. “Hey! I’m being nice and you give me snark in return!?” You can’t help but giggle. It still hurts to imagine that you might have just lost one friend, but at least you’ve gained another. Early on, the word ‘friend’ hadn’t quite seemed appropriate for this rude little ball, but now? No other word is as perfect. “Ugh, I do like seeing my own face smile, though, so… hard to be too mad.” The little wink you shoot her way prompts what you assume is an eyeroll, despite the lack of visible pupils. The two of you walk in silence a few more moments before she quietly says, “We’ve gotta figure out how to get you your own body soon.”

You cock an eyebrow. “I mean, sure, but what prompted that?”

“Nothing much,” the little ball says, rocking back and forth. “Was just thinking that you probably have your own pretty smile, you know? Be nice to see it one day.”

UM?? Heat fills your cheeks, and your eyes go wide. “I—? What?”

Ruem startles, rolling as far away from your face as she can while still staying on your shoulder. “I mean! Not like—! It’s just that you smile with my face, which I’ve seen in the mirror, so I’m just curious— Like I don’t mean it in a gay way!”

Not able to maintain eye contact, you say, “What way did you mean it?”

“Like! Like a really casual, cool kind of—” She literally spins in place, looking everywhere possible except for in your eyes. “Like can’t a girl think another girl might look cute and want to see—” Burying her eyes into your shoulder, she shouts, “Actually nevermind! Nevermind is actually what I meant!” She peeks out, then bounces up. “Oh, look, there’s Radestro’s, time to focus on that now!!”

The attempt to deflect is obvious, but she is correct — the rundown building that Radestro considers his base looms before you, the hole in the corner that serves as an entryway looking more like the jaws of a beast at the moment. Inwardly you steel yourself for the job you’ve committed to, and also for the generally unpleasant experience of being around Radestro, then stride inside.

“Ah, my love, you have arrived!” Radestro shouts, looking up from a book that’s splayed across the table. Grinning wide, he says, “Let us get down to business!”

~~~

After briefly discussing the plan, the three of you trek out into town, sneaking down alleyways and around corners as quietly as possible. The whole time, your mind runs over the plan again and again — at least what little of said plan currently exists.

Radestro has been keeping his eye on the bank lately, and has noticed that most of the guards that were assigned to guard it before the demon boar attack have since been reassigned to protect the mayor’s home.

“Fat lot of good that would do him if a giant monster wanted him dead,” Ruem had muttered, and you couldn’t help but agree.

The plan is for you and Radestro to hide behind the bank, while you ‘astral project’ and take the lay of the land inside. ‘You’ will report back on things like how many guards are actually in there, if there is any notable magic being used to keep the building secure, and if there are any better ways to sneak in than the front door.

“And then we’ll play it by ear based on the information you gather!” Radestro had said. Brandishing the book he’d had splayed on the table, he said, “And we’ve got this ace up our sleeve, should the need arise.”

While traveling to the bank, Ruem explains, “That book’s got forbidden magic inside. It’s how I learned to astral project!”

Somehow this does little to comfort you, meaning by the time the three of you arrive at the back of the bank, your stomach is still in knots. You wonder if maybe you’ve made a bad decision, coming here. The last spell Umeso taught you was how to magically tie a bow, and it took you six tries to get it right — the idea that you’d be capable of using any of the magic described in that book is laughable.

The three of you hide near a large waste container, then Radestro starts whispering. “Alright, so you do your projection thing and I’ll keep a lookout.” After glancing around the nearby corner, he turns back to you, pointing at the wall. “You can sit over there. Best to have the wall’s support — you would’ve fallen off that log back in the woods if I hadn’t been there.”

Nodding, you take your position on the ground, doing your best to get comfortable. You’ll actually be experiencing this sit for the entire ‘astral projection,’ afterall.

“Alright, I’ll try and go quick,” Ruem says from your shoulder. “It’s two floors, though, so it still might take a bit. See ya in a few, girl!”

Ruem floats away, but you still have a job to do. Asking Radestro to keep an eye around the corner while you “cast,” which he does, you wiggle your hand a bit and then do your best to appear like a body bereft of a soul. You figure it probably looks a lot like someone who’s unconscious. Slumping against the wall, you loll your head to the side, letting your body go slack, and then you sit and wait.

As the minutes tick by at an agonizing pace, you hear the shuffling footsteps of Radestro every now and then, along with some ambient noise like the whistle of a light breeze and the chirping of some alien bug that sounds a lot like a cricket. Despite the position not actually being very comfortable (neither brick walls nor dry dirt are known for their softness), your do find your mind drifting toward sleep. At least until it’s awoken by the sound of Radestro’s voice.

“Love, are you back yet?” Given that Ruem has yet to return, you stay silent and still. “Ugh, this is so boring,” Radestro says with a dramatic sigh. Shuffling sounds reach your ears, and a moment later you are nearly startled into involuntary movement when his voice is suddenly much closer to your face than before. “Ruem, hello? Still nothing?” You keep quiet. “Well, if I must wait, might as well enjoy myself…” What does that…?

Your breath hitches in your throat as you feel a hand press against one of your breasts. Perhaps noticing this, the hand quickly retracts. “Oh, have you returned?” Despite the rising horror within you, Ruem is still gone, so you stay still, and try to resume normal breathing patterns. He just… they’re dating, right? So it’s fine? Maybe they’ve talked about this sort of thing? And Ruem has to be back soon, surely, so— “Hm, guess not,” he says, and a moment later his hand is back on your breast. Another soon follows and attaches itself to your other breast, and it’s all you can do not to scream and shove the vile man away. Your heart is hammering, your brain is scrambling to understand what is happening and why, and your body… you keep it still. With all your might you keep it still. It’s not… it’s not really yours anyway, right? Just… just think about how it’s not yours, distance yourself from it, like when you made out with him in the past. Just… think about how you’re probably a floating orb like Ruem too, just floating around in this body that you are actively ignoring the physical sensations of. Those sensations can’t hurt you if you just ignore them, right?

“What the fuck is he doing!?” Ruem shouts from your shoulder. Not even a full second later, you snap your head up and your eyes open, no longer playing dead. Radestro stumbles backward, having apparently been crouching, and falls roughly onto his ass.

“Ah, you’re awake now!” he says with a grimace.

“Wh—what the—?” you manage to say, your body shaking.

“What the fuck more like!!” Ruem shouts, though he cannot hear.

Shrugging and looking to the side, Radestro says, “Oh, the — my hands?” You nod. “Well, you see, I was bored! And I figured you wouldn’t mind, so…”

Well you do mind. But it’s hard to say the words, because you’re having a hard time getting your mouth to open at all right now. Ruem does not have the same problem. “I mean, I might not, I dunno, but like! Ugh, I guess he doesn’t know it’s you, but still! It’s not like we’ve talked about doing that! What the fuck was he thinking!?”

Unable to articulate either her thoughts or the mess that is your own, you settle for glaring daggers at the man in front of you. He looks the tiniest bit sheepish as he gets to his feet and offers you a hand. You do not take it, instead shakily getting to your feet on your own.

“So it seems like perhaps you do mind, a tad. Sorry?” Is that it!? You’re barely holding back angry tears, and all he has is ‘sorry’ with an audible question mark at the end!? On your shoulder, Ruem is voicing similar but more expletive-laden thoughts. And yet Radestro has the audacity to roll his eyes. “Alright, alright, I get it with the glaring. You didn’t like it, I won’t do it again, whatever. Now let’s get on with the heist, shall we?”

Rather than do that, you would much prefer to either kick him between his legs or bolt away, back to the safety of your bed. Perhaps both. After several more curses, Ruem angrily says, “Ugh, whatever, let’s just do this. I’ll kick his ass once we’ve got you a body of your own.” For her, you’ll force down your feelings, at least for a little while. But you still find it difficult to exist next to this… this complete asshole.

Not aware of the thoughts you do not voice, Ruem goes on to inform you that the building has only one guard inside. But it also has multiple mirrors set up throughout the entryway, along the path to the main vault, and in front of said vault. As you relay this information, Radestro questions what the mirrors mean, and Ruem explains that they’re probably magically linked to the guard. So if anything besides him shows up in their reflection, he’ll know about it.

Radestro wonders aloud how you can be sure about the mirrors’ functionality, and the best Ruem gives you to say is, “Do you have a better explanation?” He doesn’t.

The final piece of info Ruem’s able to give is that there’s an open window on the right side of the building… but on the second floor. She says the second level is pretty much all offices, including the room that window connects to. There’s no mirrors on the upper level, either, so if you can get to that window, it’s the best area to start from.

With all the information at hand, you and Radestro (with suggestions you relay from Ruem as though they’re your own) try to figure out a plan of action. The biggest issue is the guard and how to handle him. Radestro suggests a distraction that lures him out of the building, but you think that has too high a chance of backfiring, since it could alert others to what’s going on, and at best distract the guard for a short while, giving you a hard time limit. Ruem suggests you just dash behind the guy with your new power and knock him out. Acting as though you’re considering this, you voice the idea, but then say you’ve thought better of it, because you’ve never actually knocked someone out before and are very likely to get it wrong. All you’d end up with is an injured hand and an angry guard.

Frustrated that it’s taking so long to come up with something, Radestro pulls out that forbidden magic book and flips through the pages. “What about this one? Something about sleep. So we could magically put him to sleep.”

You glance at the page, and Ruem disappears from your shoulder, perhaps moving closer to get a good look. The spell is clearly named ‘Eternal Sleep.’

“I think this would effectively kill him,” you say, glaring at the reprehensible dickhead. There’s absolutely no way you would do that.

He does actually seem surprised by this, and immediately backtracks. “Oh! Is that what— I mean, yes, of course, we don’t want that.” His cheeks heat up and he refuses to make eye contact. A suspicion enters your mind.

“…Did you not know what the word ‘eternal’ meant?”

The defensive, flustered way he responds is answer enough to your question, which is good because Ruem appears at the same time and starts talking, making it difficult to listen to the creep. “Those symbols at the bottom of the page are for signs you have to make to do the spell. Half of it is for the ‘eternal’ part and half is for the ‘sleep’ part, so if you give me a minute, I think I can figure out how to make it a shorter sleep timeframe.”

Your eyebrows nearly launch off your skull. She thinks she can do what now?? Since when was she capable of that!? “Why’re you looking at me like that. It’s just how spell signing works. Umeso could probably do it too.” You’ve been training with Umeso for weeks now and still had no idea that the signs used for magic actually meant things. Given they love to over-explain, you find yourself dubious of Ruem’s claims. Ignoring your incredulous look, Ruem says, “Okay, I’ve got it figured. I can sit on your hand and help direct you, but you should still practice, right? So tell Radestro you’re gonna knock him out for a minute.”

A moment later, after you tell him, Radestro says, “You’re going to what!?”

“I haven’t done it before, so I need to try it out.”

“But!” He glances around as though the environment can help him. He finds nothing. “But what if you do it wrong and do the eternal sleep thing instead!?”

“I’m not wrong,” Ruem says. With as much conviction as possible, you repeat it.

“Are you sure this isn’t because you’re still mad at me?”

Glancing away for a moment to make him sweat, you say “…Yes.”

Though he doesn’t seem terribly comforted by your response, he clearly wants this heist to work enough that he agrees to be your test dummy.

Hopping onto your hand, Ruem slowly guides you through the motions. “Okay, upward curve on this part, yeah, just like that, a little longer… now sharp down.” You find her help to be remarkably intuitive, and after only a few repetitions you think you’ve got it down. Then without warning, because fuck him, you cast the spell on Radestro, and he collapses to the ground in a heap.

“Heh, nice,” Ruem says. Then she turns to look at you. “Are you… okay? You know, after what he…”

A shudder goes through your body, your mouth involuntarily grimacing. “No, not really.” After a moment’s pause you say, “Do we really have to do this? Can’t we just ditch him?”

“Biat—” Ruem cuts herself off, perhaps giving herself a moment to think through her response. She sighs. “Look, you’re great and I’m mad he did that, but… I don’t want to ditch him. I still love him!” She glares off to the side. “I’m mad at him, but, like… he just got carried away. And that sucks. But I still wanna do this, you know? And once you get your own body, I’ll kick his ass a bit for having done that, but like, I can get him to shape up, you know?”

Though you think getting him to shape up is an impossible feat, you still nod your head. You don’t want to lose this friendship too, afterall. “Okay.”

Right after you say it, Radestro comes to and slowly gets to his feet. “Hah, well, it certainly seems to work!” He rubs at the middle of his face. “…Nose hurts, though. Don’t suppose you could have caught me when I fell?”

You shrug. “Wasn’t fast enough.” Ruem giggles.

Rolling his eyes, Radestro says, “Of course. Well, we’ve got our solution. So let’s get to that window and get this heist done with once and for all!”