"What's your name?"
The girl who just sat down asked casually, her tray filled with food. She looked at the young man across from her, whose tray held only a meager portion.
Oh, the rich kids?
That's what he thought. He looked at her once, their eyes met, then he went back to eating.
"Hello...? I asked a question," the girl reiterated, leaning forward slightly.
"Can you not bother me? Just in case you're blind, I am eating." He didn't spare her a glance.
"Actually, I don't mind. But I can treat you to a real meal if you want," she said in a tone that somehow irked him, like she was doing him some kind of favor.
"Sigh. Fuck off before I ruin your face. I don't mind breaking some rules if it means putting busybodies in their place." He still didn't look up.
"Oh~" The girl grinned, and he frowned at the amusement in her voice.
"But it's you who doesn't know your place. I can easily get you expelled without breaking a sweat," she said with a confidence that sent a chill down his spine, but he didn't let it show. Instead, he picked up his tray and began standing.
"Go fuck yourself."
"Why do you carry a gun around?" the girl said out of nowhere.
The young man's eyes widened. "What...?" He frowned, freezing mid-motion.
"I saw what you did yesterday," she said with squinted eyes, watching his reaction carefully.
The boy tensed, looking around to make sure no one was watching them. "I... don't know what you're talking about," he said, taking a seat carefully, his movements deliberate now.
"Oh really?" She raised her phone, flipped it around, and showed him the screen.
He froze.
His heart pounded so fast he felt like the walls were closing in on him. Who else saw me? The thought made his fear grow exponentially.
"Wh-what do you want?" he asked, his voice barely steady.
"Simple..." She grinned, leaning back with satisfaction. "First, answer the question. Why do you carry a gun around?"
✽✽✽
"HAAAH!"
Eren lurched forward as he woke up, gasping for air. "Haah... haa... haah..." He panted, his whole body drenched in sweat.
What the fuck just happened? Why did I have that damn dream again, and why now? The annoyance settled in quickly, mixing with confusion.
"Huh....?"
It was only now that he realized he was seated on the ground, not in his bed where he should've been.
"The pain... it's gone," he remembered suddenly, then placed a hand on his abdomen and chest, pressing gently to confirm. He gulped before standing up with some difficulty, his legs still shaky.
"Damn it," he groaned, then looked at the cracked mirror across the room.
"My hair... it changed again," he murmured, staring at his reflection. He closed his eyes to calm his racing thoughts, trying to piece together what had just happened.
Wait.
His eyes snapped open as he recalled a crucial detail of his plans that he had forgotten in all the chaos.
"Angelica," he muttered.
Yes. Angelica.
From the moment he had decided to destroy the so-called goddess of life, he had realized that there were some important variables he had to deal with, variables that would destroy his plans if left unchecked. He knew Angelica, perhaps even better than she knew herself. He knew how smart she was—and how dangerous she could be to the fulfillment of his plans. She could ruin everything before he even got the chance to begin his revenge.
So he planned to attack her before she attacked him.
Yes.
He knew what Anna would do before she even did it. It wasn't mind reading—it was simply using her frame of thought to predict her actions. He knew she would lead someone to him, hoping to save herself and Jason. There was an 80% chance that Angelica would be suspicious of her, given that he had requested Anna leave early to come to him. Angelica's suspicion would only rise when she noticed Anna's strange behavior. Adding to that, the fact that he had rendered Anna unable to reveal what she had been doing all this time—or even lie about it—only strengthened his plan. He had instructed her to remain silent whenever questioned.
Angelica was smart. Dangerously so.
But it was that very intelligence he counted on.
He hoped she would pick up on all the clues he left for her—and surely, she would. He anticipated that the moment Anna left, Angelica would follow her, driven by curiosity and the need to piece together the puzzle he had left behind. She would follow Anna, but Anna wasn't some idiot. In fact, she was one of the strongest in their team. The only reason he had overpowered her that day was because he had taken her by surprise—coupled with the fact that he had continuously fed her mana-flow blockage potions. Otherwise, she would have killed him at some point.
So Anna would definitely pick up on Angelica following her. But she wouldn't react—she would act as if she hadn't noticed, allowing Angelica to tail her. Perhaps in the hope that she would find and kill him, or at the very least, confirm that he was still alive and find a way to stop him.
He banked on that mindset.
His plan was to keep Angelica's suspicion of him being alive lingering in the air, unconfirmed but growing. He wanted her to question the authenticity of his death, to suspect Anna. And it was in that uncertainty—her inability to decipher the truth, her growing curiosity—that he placed his bet. That was how he would deal with Angelica.
"But I can't let her see me. She's probably on her way now," he muttered, biting his lip. His gaze fell on the spatial ring on his finger.
"Alright." He sighed. "Let's get this over with."
He channeled mana into the ring, and in an instant, three items materialized before him. A cloak. A unique perfume. And the final potion—the last piece he needed to complete his transformation.
A slow grin stretched across his face.
"Let the game begin."