"Over here," I heard a voice and spotted a table up ahead in the cafeteria. The young man with his hand draped over my shoulder dragged me toward it.
"I see you brought him," said the guy at the table. He had roughly styled hazel brown hair and deep green eyes, dressed in the same uniform as both me and my escort. From what I'd picked up on the way here, the guy dragging me was named Michael. And according to the SYSTEM—which I now realized was the freaking goddess herself... wait, let me rephrase that—the SELF-PROCLAIMED goddess who IS the system had come to an agreement with me: to avoid deletion, she would prove herself valuable and no longer speak to her master (that's me, by the way) however she pleased.
[Tsk. I'm not a self-proclaimed goddess. I'm the real deal.]
Really? Then can you tell me why you're just the system consciousness and so powerless that I can literally delete your existence?
I asked the question that had been bugging me since this whole revelation.
[I...]
Nothing.
Just like before, it seems she can't answer that particular question—or anything about her past or even mine. I even threatened her with deletion, but she stayed silent, which told me she wasn't at liberty to say. Anyway, she'd informed me that this Michael guy was a good friend of mine, and I'm guessing this was Fred, also supposedly a friend.
"Angel, you're here!" Michael suddenly let go of my shoulder and rushed across from where Fred was seated to a girl with platinum silver hair and strangely light blue eyes. I won't lie—they were mesmerizing.
"Yo, you gonna sit or what?" I heard Fred give me a blank look, which I returned with a weary smile. Looking past him, I noticed there was one other person at the table—a girl giving me a rather disturbing, annoyed look.
The table itself was considerably wide with two seats on each side, but there was an extra chair next to the irritated girl, probably reserved for me. She had very light pink hair that stopped just before her shoulders, with a black flower ribbon on one side that contrasted beautifully with her hair color. She had blue eyes too, but not REALLY blue—the closer I looked, they seemed like a mix of purple and blue. Wow... beautiful.
"Stop gawking and sit already," she said, patting the chair beside her. I nodded and headed over, sitting down. I wasn't too worried since the system had confirmed they weren't hostile and were even friends... SUPPOSEDLY.
Now settled, I was able to look around properly. The place was packed with students. The cafeteria was a huge hall with about two open floors, and the whole place was mostly glass—really classy, I won't lie. There was even a massive chandelier hanging from the top floor, shining down, along with many smaller ones attached at strategic corners throughout both floors. Even with the windows open, the whole place practically glowed. We were currently on the second floor, which gave an interesting view looking down.
Anyway, across from where I sat, an interesting scene was unfolding.
'What's their deal?' I asked, watching as Michael kept a weird smile on his face while whispering something to Angel, who kept giggling as he held her hands.
[Are you blind?]
And are you deaf?
[They're in a relationship.]
I mean, it was obvious, but... I just get this weird feeling when I look at her. Something doesn't feel right.
"Here, stop looking at her that way," I heard and turned to find the pink-haired girl now sitting very close to me.
"Let's order something," Fred said, calling over attendants stationed around the area. Well, isn't this luxurious.
"Hey," the girl said, pinching my leg under the table.
"What do you want?" I asked in response.
"At least look at me when you talk," she said, to which I complied.
"What do you want?" I repeated, now looking right at her.
'Who is she?'
[A friend as well... Look, I don't know everything, just basic knowledge, so she could be more than that,] she explained, to which I nodded. So in essence, it's just like my knowledge of this world. I know many characters, but the only ones I know deeply are the main characters. The others—side characters, villains, and the rest—are mostly just surface-level knowledge and nothing more. I have no idea what drives their motives or what they're really like outside what they portray.
At my words, she frowned. She looked around before sighing. "What's up with you? Why are you acting strange? Why are you ignoring me?" she asked, to which I paused. Could it be there's something between us?
"Hey, aren't you guys going to order?" It was Fred.
"Oh shit, um... what do you want, Angel?"
"This honeyed rice will do," she said, placing the menu down.
"Just that...?"
"Yeah, I feel like cooking for myself later."
"Sweet. Um... as for me, I'll have the premium steak," said Michael.
"What? That costs a few hundred points, genius," Fred said in disbelief.
"So? Remember, lunch is on Leo today," said Michael.
"...Oh, that's right. I almost forgot."
"Eh? Hold on, you freeloaders! When did I agree to this?!" I don't know why I said that, but for some reason those words left my mouth as naturally as breathing.
However, at my words, they both gave me accusatory glares. "Are you going senile or something? You literally swore on Fred's life just three days ago," Michael said, to which Fred looked confused.
"...My life?" But Michael ignored him anyway.
"Does this mean you lied? Does this mean Fred's life is nothing to you?" he asked, giving me this weird, serious look.
Damn, are you trying to stare me to death?
"Again, why my life...?" But Fred was still ignored.
"I mean, I DO remember something like that," the pink-haired girl chimed in.
"See, even Jenny is more sincere than you," Michael added.
"When you put it like that, you make it sound like I'm some fraud," she glared at him.
And to this spiraling, completely unnecessary conversation, I just proceeded to check my graphto watch to see just how many points I even had.
I saw it... and I froze.
'No way.'