NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 16: Try to fool me
Will
"You took a while..." I said, yawning, sitting on the floor in front of Sona's apartment door.
"Sorry, I forgot about you, to be honest. I should have told you to meet me at school." Sona was wearing her uniform as usual, and I couldn't help but notice that even though I was sitting on the floor, she still looked so small and cute.
"It doesn't matter now, let's just rest. It was a busy day, wasn't it?" She raised her eyebrows, analyzing me. I think I let my bad mood slip.
I picked up a shopping bag and showed it to her. "I did some shopping on the way."
[ +10 EXP received | Total Exp: 10/400 ]
"You didn't have to, I can always order something..." She continued to analyze me, but still spoke calmly.
"Don't say that. A full pantry is always good, not to mention that I wanted to prepare something better today. As Student Council President, you deserve a treat once in a while, don't you?" I smiled kindly, making her even more suspicious.
[ +20 EXP received | Total Exp: 20/400 ]
"Did something good or maybe bad happen?" She asked me, and I shook my head emphatically. "No, I just feel like I've been taking advantage of your kindness lately. Now let's go in, President Sona." She unlocked the door, and we went inside.
I walked straight to the kitchen and started organizing things, taking the groceries out of the bags. From a distance, I felt Sona's gaze checking the groceries and selecting an item.
"Why and how did you buy alcoholic beverages?" I just laughed a little.
"I wanted to give the best to the best president!" She snorted and looked at me angrily. "We're not old enough to drink." I could sense the speech she was going to give me against drugs from a distance, but I just waved it off.
[ +10 EXP received | Total Exp: 30/400 ]
"There are several dishes that use alcohol, you know? It's just another ingredient; the alcohol itself breaks down in the process." I wasn't going to get such a straight-laced girl drunk, not if she refused... however, it would be easier if she accepted...
Difficult conversations require a little alcohol...
From a distance, I looked at a precious can, the alcohol content was a little too high in it, and Sona noticed. "Food, isn't it?You came up with an excuse pretty quickly. Hats off to you." She quickly confiscated it and looked at me like a mother after finding her son's hidden cigarettes.
It's better not to say that the money came from bets, lots of bets.she would not accept the food in that case.
[ -2 Luck | Total Luck: 4 ]
I sighed.
"A can every now and then doesn't hurt, you know? In my country, we start drinking earlier than in Japan." She gave me a strange look, thinking she was being prejudiced and exaggerating a typical situation.
[ +10 EXP received | Total Exp: 40/400 ]
She felt embarrassed and guilty, but still asked.
"How old? And don't even think about lying!" I shrugged and told her the truth. "Usually around fourteen, but there are a lot of people who start earlier, around twelve." She looked at me shocked and even a little embarrassed by her ignorance, but soon recovered.
"That early?" I just nodded, but she narrowed her eyes again. "And the legal age for that?" I sighed heavily. "You got me, congratulations Sona. It's hard to fool someone so smart and wise." Ignoring my flattery, she kept her eyes half-closed, demanding an explanation.
"Laws are boring, no one follows them..." She snorted and repeated the question. "How old?"
"Eighteen..." She still looked at me somewhat incredulously. "It's still a little early, but I think it's okay." I just ignored her moralistic speech.
"Before you get any silly ideas, parents themselves usually offer and encourage this kind of habit. It's cultural and not to the point of passing out and vomiting in the street..." She ignored me and sat down on the counter while I started preparing the food. "...This usually happens at sixteen, at eighteen we start thinking about stopping drinking after a few accidents, and at twenty we're coming out of alcoholism."
[ +20 EXP received | Total Exp: 60/400 ]
"They're stopping at twenty? That's pretty wild, don't you think? I haven't even started it yet and on the other side of the world there are already teenage alcoholics seeking help." Her tone, however, was not judgmental; she seemed curious about my homeland.
She was a person who was genuinely curious about my country.
"Hahaha for me it's the opposite, in fact, the Japanese and the vast majority of countries in the world are very straight-laced for me. Rules were made to be broken and with that they bring lasting lessons. No one is more responsible than the one who has faced the consequences of his actions."She leans back on the bench, listening like a child to the story of a distant people from a different culture with different philosophies.
"You can only understand their true value when you break them, but you also understand that if necessary you can break them again.Nothing is forever, no law is absolute."She smiled, entertained by the conversation, and then finally spoke.
"It makes some sense, although I think it's an exaggeration.Too much freedom leads to chaos, don't you think?"I denied again,but then I corrected myself and agreed, and then frowned in doubt.
"Pff! hahaha you look so stupid hahaha"Sona tried to hold back her laughter but it was really hard.
[ +40 EXP received | Total Exp: 100/400 ]
"Hey! That's not cool."She started crying from laughing so hard seeing my expression getting more and more confused. I waited for her to calm down before giving an answer.
"I don't know to be honest, there are many beautiful and incredible things that are born from chaos, but sometimes the destruction it causes is not at all beautiful. I guess I have to live longer to find out a more appropriate answer."We continued talking for some time.
She seemed very interested in my country.
…
Finally calm, she sighed and then took the reins and entered the main topic.
"Something went wrong, didn't it?" I nodded without turning around and continued doing what I had promised, good food. "What happened?" I also had that question in my head for a long time. Having a perfect memory wasn't like having Einstein's intelligence, but it made a lot of things easier to see.
"I ignored a lot of details. I wasn't used to the mystical and thought I could ignore any decent clues as mere rumors..." I had slowly begun to realize many things. "...I also disregarded the clues given by Ravel and Riser and how they seemed to disagree on something. And feeling nervous in my presence, they were afraid..."
"I was stupid. I focused too much on what I wanted, as if it were a simple game of luck or chance, and I ignored that this world is as alive as I am. I forgot that my luck can be someone else's misfortune." She seemed to be forming a picture of the situation, and she seemed to understand that I already knew the truth about the devils.
"First of all, we made a big mistake. Sona, do you know what a joke is?"She frowned.