Reality Quest: A Monster

As we're walking the hallway, I couldn't help but glance at the window of the classroom doors.

And then I saw it, a student was playing with many phones inside a classroom.

His hands were moving fast with precision on every phone in front of him. I don't know how he was able to do it, but that skill isn't given, he practices to get to that level.

I also remembered that people called this type of player a game addict because of their nonstop playing of games.

This person must be one of those.

Though, I saw his face, it was expressing annoyance.

Shouldn't he be happy to be able to play with those phones?

I have seen people always smile whenever they look at their phones, so it was unusual to see someone become annoyed with them.

I don't really understand.

Maybe because I haven't used a phone yet? Maybe that's the case.

I wasn't really interested in those, it's said to feature games which I'm not interested in and instant messaging which I can't use because I don't have anyone to message.

And the biggest factor was probably because I don't have money.

Ahrin took a deep breath as he looked at the crowded cafeteria.

"We're finally here, but... it's too crowded."

Her friend Yun observed the crowd as well and said.

"Yeah, so what are we gonna do?"

Ahrin turned and looked at Yu.

He's been an interesting guy in her eyes.

Yu was always unbothered by what was happening around him, always showing his apathetic expression to show that he didn't care.

Even though she only knew him today, Ahrin knew that Yu had a tough and painful life just by how he responded to those around him.

Like before, when he was letting bullies beat him up, she never saw him groan in pain, flinch when getting punched, or react to anything that those bullies wanted to do to him.

It's as if he's a doll devoid of life, not feeling any pain or emotions.

She pitied him.

It was the first time in her life to see someone so indifferent to everything.

She wanted to help him even though she knew nothing about him or what he had gone through in life.

She just wanted to help.

"Yun, can you find a seat for us? I will buy something for us. It's my treat as well as the payment for the betting we did on the Life Game."

"Are you sure? You don't have to, but thanks, Ahrin!"

Yun then looked at Yu, seeing him expressionless, she nudged him on the waist.

Yu looked at her straight in the eyes without saying anything, his expressionless face told her that he couldn't understand what she meant.

Seeing this, Yun sighed and whispered to Yu.

"Aren't you gonna thank her?"

Yu's eyes widened, he turned towards Ahrin, but she wasn't there anymore.

Yun sighed once again and said.

"Forget it, let's go, follow me."

Yun searched for her other friends so they could sit together with them, but it looked like they weren't in the cafeteria anymore, so she just took an empty table and brought Yu with her.

I sat silently with the girl named Yun, she didn't seem to be bothered by the silent atmosphere or my presence as well.

She sat there fidgeting around, trying to remove her boredom as we waited for Ahrin.

As for me, I don't really feel bored; I stare at my wall most of the time in the dark, so this kind doesn't affect me negatively. I even found this slightly relaxing.

The sunlight today is very calming to look at.

As I observed around, I suddenly spotted Ahrin, and she spotted me as well, creating eye contact between us.

Her eyes sparked as her smile widened.

"She's here!"

Yun and I then helped Ahrin organize the food around us, and then we ate.

Ahrin and Yun occasionally talked about school stuff and the game Life Game.

Ahrin tried to bring me into their talk, but I didn't really know how to get into a conversation, so I just answered yes, no, and nodded to her questions.

Even so, there wasn't a single awkward atmosphere around us, as she seemed to feel comfortable with Yun and me.

As we were eating, I wanted to bring myself to say this to her.

I had long forgotten to say this to someone.

I stopped saying this after my parents left me.

These are the words you said after someone helped you, I think.

I tried to open my mouth, but it wouldn't budge.

Noticing me trying to say something, Ahrin looked at me and said:

"Do you have something to say, Yu?"

I tried again, but it still wouldn't budge.

Maybe I should try saying it when we're alone.

"N-nothing."

Ahrin smiled at me before continuing to eat.

Her smile...

Then something suddenly came to my mind: an image of a woman with a blurry face offering her massive hands to me.

I remember this from before, it was when I tripped as a kid and my mom offered her hand to help me get up.

But...

Why is her face blurry?

I know that I have an excellent memory, often memorizing things that I didn't even want to remember, yet, I couldn't remember the face of my mother.

Even her voice, I had forgotten about it.

"Is everything alright, Yu?"

Ahrin's voice suddenly brought me out of my thoughts as I looked at her and nodded.

Time passed, and the school finally ended.

I long parted away from Ahrin after the school break.

As of now, I was walking out of the school alone.

Until she showed up.

"Yu!!!"

It was Ahrin.

I turned around and looked at Ahrin running up to me with a big smile on her face.

Has it been just today that we met?

Why is she very close to me?

Even so, she helped me today, so I want to at least show that I've appreciated it.

But I don't have anything to give her for now, so I just smiled.

My mother always smiles whenever I smile, so I thought that it shouldn't be that bad to smile at least.

I don't know if I looked genuine since I couldn't feel my eyes move, only my mouth. But even so, it looked like Ahrin appreciated that smile.

"Oh, so you can smile! Just a little more practice, then you're good to go!"

She walked beside me and nudged my waist, I don't know why she was doing that, but I didn't stop her.

"Hehe, do you know anything about games? I've not seen you bring up your phone once."

"I don't own any phone."

"Oh... That's why! Then, wanna go to a PC Cafe with me? Don't worry about the cost, it's all on me as thanks for saving me. And my dad owns that cafe anyway, so the money would eventually return to me."

She just said many things non-stop, I wanted to refuse since I'm not interested in those, but the look in her eyes prevented me from saying it.

Weird...

I usually gave straightforward answers to anyone, but I couldn't seem to refuse this girl.

'I don't understand what's happening, but I would go with the flow for now.'

Ahrin was the first person to try to help me out without anything in return, doing whatever she wanted seemed to be the right way to thank her since I couldn't give anything to her.

And she seemed very happy about this, so I just let her be for now.

We walked together towards her father's PC Cafe and eventually arrived there.

There aren't many people here right now, probably because the school had just ended, but this place was still big and loaded with computers in each corner.

Ahrin stood in front of me with her back facing me and said,

"What do you think of this place? Big, right?"

"It's a big place..."

"Come and sit for now, I will go change first."

She then ran into a room and came back wearing different clothes.

I don't really know what's the use of her changing clothes, since when she came back, she still had the same appearance...

She's now wearing a bright beige sweater and some pants, and she was looking at me with eyes that were asking me something as she adjusted her clothes, even though they looked perfectly fit.

Ahrin sighed and said,

"I expected this... But Yu, if you meet a girl and she changes clothes, you should compliment her if you think she looks great."

So that's what she wants? I guess I can give it to her.

She adjusted her clothes again.

"So... What do you think?"

"You look great."

I said with an expressionless face and a dead tone that it didn't look like I agreed with something I had said.

However...

I do think that those clothes really suit her, even though I found nothing had changed in her appearance.

Ahrin didn't seem to believe what I'd said, as she said,

"Really...?"

I nodded.

"Thanks! Now choose which computer you want to play with."

I pointed to the one on the far left, and Ahrin immediately pulled me towards it.

She grabbed a chair beside me and asked,

"Do you know how to play on a computer?"

"No."

"Then I will be your teacher for today!"

Ahrin proceeded to teach me everything about computers and how the keyboard and mouse work, I have an excellent memory, so I immediately learned about them.

After that, she played games with me to teach me how to play. I was getting too many losses at first, but after a bit more playing, Ahrin couldn't win against me anymore in many games.

She got sad because of that, so I let her win a few times, I did it at different intervals so she wouldn't notice.

Ahrin had a lot of fun, evident by how much she laughed and smiled while playing with me.

I didn't have as much fun as she did, but I strangely felt satisfied.

After playing games with Ahrin for a few more moments, I left the PC Cafe.

As I walked towards my home, I couldn't help but think about my experience today.

I thought it was going to be another dull day, but many interesting things happened.

Some emotions that I thought were dead were shining a little light.

They're weak, but they somehow managed to make me do things that I wouldn't normally do, like smiling.

There are still many questions for which I want an answer, but for now, I will keep close to that girl since she seemed to be the answer to my questions.

As I continued to walk, I suddenly saw a black cat and her little black kitten being played with by a bunch of thugs smoking cigarettes in the dark alley.

They probably had nothing to do, so they decided to play with the cat and her kitten after they saw them.

The cat was constantly shouting cries while the thug holds it to its neck, trying to reach for her kitten.

"Meow! Meow! Meow! Hissss!!!"

While the kitten was being held on the neck, on the other hand, and was doing the same as its mother.

The thugs laughed upon seeing the misery of those animals.

One thug noticed me approaching and said,

"Huh... Hey, look guys, we got a visitor."

They all looked at me. There are four of them, but I don't consider them any threat, not even a little.

I instantly dashed towards the closest thug to me and gave his stomach a powerful punch.

Thuuuuuuddd!!

His body bent from the sheer force of my punch, as his saliva came out and his eyes rolled.

He fainted.

The remaining thugs were surprised at first, but their instincts kicked in and they all immediately attacked.

I adapted the one-two form.

They all moved in slow motion in front of me, but the difference is, I could move freely in it.

I swung my fist at each of them non-stop while they were in the air.

Once I was done with my punches, the walls were painted red and the unconscious thugs lay on the ground, beaten half to death.

I looked at the cat and her kitten, noticing that the two were safe, I turned around and left.

But as soon as I walked, something jumped in front of me with a small thing in its mouth.

The black cat from earlier and her kitten.

I stopped and watched what this thing wanted to do.

The black cat dropped her kitten and meowed at me. Then her kitten cutely walked towards my shoes and meowed cutely.

Is the mother cat saying that I took her child?

It seems so.

The kitten doesn't seem to mind.

But I don't like to make them part ways, so I knelt and patted my shoulder to signal her to come to my shoulder, which she did. I then picked up her child and began my walk again.