Side Chapter Metous 7: Lila, How Are You Here?
Lila enjoyed her walk to the Stella household with Mella. The talk and lunch with Nina were nice, and she was happy she was able to tell someone about one of the topics she was holding in–her first Vocation. It helped that Mella was the only one who wouldn’t get the meaning behind what she told her.
If Mella thought she was embarrassed…
Lila shook her head, thinking of the scenario if Tella, Tyell, or god forbid, Ceella found out the reasoning behind her first Vocation.
They had been silently walking side by side for a while longer, both using the silence to organise their thoughts.
However, as they were walking home, Lila felt a chill up her spine. She had been in danger many times and even had a skill to support it. This time though, she didn’t feel like she was about to be stabbed or anything, but simply that something or someone was watching her.
I can’t let Mella be around me.
Lila made the executive decision to get Mella out of her. Of course, she understood the potential that they were both being watched, and potentially, Mella was the main target. However, she had a strong feeling that wasn’t the case, but if she was wrong with her decision, she would do her best to catch up with Mella.
I won’t allow you to be hurt.
Lila used her contacts to send Mella a message.
Lila – ([ Don’t react. Just head home, trust me. ])
([ ?! ]) – Mella
Lila – ([ Don’t say anything unnecessary ])
Mella didn’t reply back. She walked forward and turned back for a moment, “Anyway, it’s been a fun day. I hope we can do this again soon.”
“Yeah, see you next time.”
Mella turned, crossed the street, and walked a little further, where the public bus was waiting.
Good… now let’s keep going forward.
Lila kept walking down the street. She wasn’t planning to go straight to the Stella's home, but she didn’t know exactly where she would go. A hotel might be a good choice; she had the money for it. There was also the option of visiting Nina again, which she was debating on.
The big issue she was facing was the identity of who was watching her. Being a now level 150 individual herself, Lila felt confident that she would be able to fight off most individuals who would attack her in a situation like this.
But that didn’t change the fact that she was scared. Ever since she had come to Metous after everything that happened on Earth and the close calls she and the Stella family faced, she was terrified of something happening to them again.
I’m so glad I picked up [Extra Sense].
After walking for a while longer, Lila was sure whoever it was, they were following her.
“What ya doing, Red?”
“!” Lila turned around to see a woman she didn’t recognise, but with a voice she very much did. “Boss…?”
She looked like an ordinary woman with brown braided hair and blue eyes, but Lila knew that voice, and it wasn’t the first time she had seen this woman in a different appearance.
“Red, no–” Colours paused and tapped her lip. “–Lila, how are you here?”
“I–” Lila didn’t know what, why, or how Colours was here talking to her, but she had a mission to do–keep everyone safe–so she decided to speak the truth. “I–don’t know…”
“Huh?”
“I… really don’t know.”
“Did you get teleported here?”
“No, nothing like that… I just wandered and somehow made it here.”
“?”
“...It’s a long story.”
Colours took a step closer, “Well, I got time.”
Lila didn’t show any hesitation and agreed, “Let’s go sit down then, it’s easier that way.”
"Sure, then, where do you plan on taking me.”
“Wherever? Do you want something to drink or just a private place?”
“Usually I would say drink, but let’s go private.”
Lila nodded. "Okay, then, let’s go to the river.”
They spent a little bit of time walking until they made it to the river and sat down at the table.
Lila sighed. “Where do I even begin?”
“Where it is appropriate.” Colours asked calmly, but inside she was asking a billion questions.
“Yeah, well, it was during our attack on Nina… when everything was going badly,” Lila explained the events of that day from her skewed perspective. Then she reached the main point of the story, “Then, during the attack, I… there was a child that got hurt.” Lila became silent for a moment.
Colours pushed. “And?”
“I saw myself when I lost my sister, I saw all the grief that could be happening to someone else, but this time I was responsible for it….” Lila truly felt that way when she saw the Stella family, in the back of her mind, she blamed herself for the danger they faced on Earth. “Then I got here.”
“After that, I came here.”
Colours, annoyed said, “That doesn’t explain how you got here.”
Lila replied, “I really don’t know, I just wobbled, my mind clouded. I somehow hopped on a ship and then another, and another, and then I made it here… Heheheeeaaaa… I don’t even understand it myself.” She looked up to the sky and wondered where Ceella was. “When I got here, I wondered if someone allowed that to happen. I… thought someone would grab me, torture me for my information and the like, but no, that didn’t happen. Honestly, when I felt you staring at my back, I thought…” Lila went quiet and didn’t say anymore.
Colours nodded, thinking they understood the situation. “Well, now that I am here, you are ready to come back.”
“No… I can’t.”
“Pardon.”
Elly pleaded, “After what I did… I can’t…”
Colours questioned, "Well, do you plan to go to someone to tell them about what you were a part of?”
“No… I think I’ll just keep wandering the streets, and maybe if I can one day, rebuild my life in a way that would make my sister smile.”
Colours was angry and there was a lot she wanted to say, but seeing how shattered Lila seemed about the cause, she knew she wouldn’t be able to convince her.
“Well, I’ll be gone by tomorrow, so I won’t be seeing you. Bye, forever, Red.”
Colours got up and walked away, and Lila didn’t move from her spot for a long time.
Lila made sure not to lie during their talk, but at the same time, she didn’t give the exact truth of what happened.
…What’s going to happen now…?
“Hey, seer, I’m going to need your help with something.” It was late at night, and Colours barged into the backroom workspace of the Dominous Hood seer in the area.
The very exhausted Elly replied, “I’ve already done my prophecies for the week.”
“No, I don’t need you to predict anything extra.” Colour crossed her arms and said, “I doubt this is even worth making one, which is why I’m asking for something else.”
“Which is?”
Colours grinned, “I need your help to remove a traitor.”
Elly paused and blinked a few times to register that what she was hearing was indeed correct. Once she did, she answered, “...I’m a non-combatant, and I’m still suffering the effects of using [Future Prediction].”
“That doesn’t matter, I have no one else in the area, and my goons won’t get here in time before I leave.”
Elly asked the reasonable question, “Why don’t you just assign the job to someone else?”
Colours sighed, “I will be forced to give the upper management report, and if I give them that report, they will likely give a secret mental evaluation of the target and decide what to do after that.”
“And if that’s the case, why do you need my help?”
“Because of their situation, the mental evaluation team is sure to give them a pass and order them to be monitored but left alone.”
Elly questioned, “Then what’s the big deal?”
“Elly, you of all people should know the power of a single pebble.”
“And? Isn’t the motto of the prediction unit that victory is fated to happen?”
“True, but the less of our lives lost, the better.” Colours reached out her hand. “Now come on, we need to make a plan for next week; they will think I’ll be gone by then.”
Elly raised her hand and said, “Fine, but do not expect me to be able to do much.” She had already resigned herself to the life fate had chosen for her.
tftc
I wonder how she will react.