I thought it wouldn't hurt to play a joke on Allyssa who was so strung up about something only 1% of the whole population was worrying about, but it seemed that saying that I had a couple thousand credits on my ID didn't match Cass' reaction. But yeah, since Ron conveniently flicked my ID back to me, all izz well and I still had the means to have the upper hand in this conversation if I so desired to.
Though Allyssa didn't want to be kept in the dark.
"Y-You two are hiding something! Tell me! How much—"
I cut her off as I chuckled, "Who fucking cares? I still haven't—"
"I do! It's really important to me! I'll—"
"Hah! You went from refusing any help to downright demanding it as if I owe you, huh?"
"That's—" Allyssa stopped herself momentarily before taking a deep breath, "I… I apologize… It's just that this matter is that important to me and knowing that I'll be able to catch a little break for once got the better of my emotions…"
Kaley remarked after a short bit, "You're horribly self-aware, you know that?"
Allyssa was startled by that statement, "Ah— I-I guess so… It's that bad, huh?"
"Not exactly. There are good and bad points being that way though it mostly aligns itself with the good points. Tell me, why do you want to be a department head so bad, you're willing to put yourself under this much stress to yourself and— yeah, let's just talk about yourself first. Why do you wanna do it?"
"U-U-Umm… This question is, u-umm…"
Kaley looked at Allyssa solemnly, "I'm sorry but you have to be able to answer a question like this if you wanna impress and most importantly, convince, your colleagues at your next quarterly meeting. We're basically nobodies in front of you so that much should be nothing, right? I'm not trying to be mean, I just—"
"I-I… First, all of you are trying to help me so you're not nobodies but my benefactors… A-And if we're talking about the reason why I wanted to do this… It's… It's umm… It's to save this school from crumbling by itself because everyone's pretending that there's nothing wrong and continuing as is even though what's happening right now is just the beginning of the end times."
"Pretending? What do you mean?"
"I mean… It's a show of strength to continue as is… continuing classes, the worships, etc. but that doesn't mean we ignore everything that's happening outside. A good majority of the people that were here even before the world ended are… As much as I hate to say this are damned f-frogs that jumped into the well and purposefully isolated themselves from the rest of the world just because this place could function on its 'own' as it has been doing for decades and even now…"
"..."
"Even I'm guilty of this. My late parents studied here and met one year after, getting together, graduating at the same time, and continuing on with their master's and then their doctorates until they conceived me and led me on this path. I've been here since preschool and I've barely gone out even when I have the freedom to do so and most of my friends outside of this circle were the same and to be completely honest with you…" Allyssa turned to me as she looked a little ashamed of what she was about to say next.
"Go on, I'm already over it…" I said as I chuckled.
She continued after looking down for a moment, "I… I was laughing at your back and looking down on you when you decided to continue your life outside the campus because I thought that there was no place better than here, and when you sent us that email? I thought for sure that you've lost your damn mind… But when everything as you've said h-happened and shook the world to its core? I've never felt so much like an idiot but I felt so much worse when the university that I was so fucking proud of just raised its walls even more and continued like nothing's happening… I thought some changes were about to happen but nothing…"
"..."
"You see, the Academy extending its help and the university deciding to work together with them was already a surprise in itself but the changes I was hoping for ended with that. Don't get me wrong, this place has kept everyone safe since day one but it seems like what we're trying to do was just to stay alive and continue on until He arrives to save us all. It's the end times, right? He should be arriving soon and taking care of everything as He promised…"
I was 100% prepared to gloat and start a different conversation but I stopped myself because it would just strain whatever we have further. Besides, they knew full well about the point I would be trying to get across so it'll be better to listen for now.
She continued though she looked more somber, "B-But enough about that… The reason… The reason I wanted to do this is to promote change for the better of everyone here… E-Even if it'll be so, so difficult… incredibly difficult to convince our directors and elders to do something about our problem… I just… I just want to be proud of this place once again and the reason I'm doing what I'm doing is it's a shout into the abyss if I try to voice what I wanted to them out while being a nobody—I mean, at least to their eyes…"
With that said, Allyssa needed to take a minute to compose herself while each of my friends in this circle looked a little conflicted.
It's not like they've given up on this place was the reason they've accepted my invitation but seeing Allyssa fight for something she had a low chance of achieving was plucking on their heartstrings.
What Allyssa was trying to accomplish was admirable in its own right but not to bring up more issues and topics that should've been non-existent the moment the world ended, a woman trying to get a major foothold in a university whose core values and beliefs were inclined to be on the other team she wasn't on—in the context of leadership or something similar—was as she said earlier, a shout in the deep, dark abyss even if she became a diamond under all that pressure.
Sometimes—no, almost always, people's own beliefs—more so when it's a huge collective—couldn't be changed even if the world had ended, and said beliefs would be even more strengthened as time went on. It could both be a detriment or a boon depending on the circumstances but it's obviously the former in my case and Allyssa's.
And to further support my statement, I didn't even try to do anything drastic the moment we arrived here because even if I tried to attempt what Allyssa was trying to do, it'd be the same thing that happened when I got laughed at by the whole university.
But yeah, Allyssa was definitely dead set on her decision to stay and fight it out to the bitter end, and what better way to support my friend and milk this place for whatever it was worth was to give her something that could make waves and somehow disrupt the flow of things or even break the place's economy which was also completely useless anywhere else.
To be completely honest, the credit stored on my ID was just a bonus aside from discovering that all my friends who were here were still alive and we'll see what she could do with that after we're gone.
I eventually let out a short exhale as I stood up and looked at Allyssa who looked like she had more weight on her shoulders, "Look, we'll do it this way: I promise you that we'll just go shopping for a bit and whatever's left in this ID will be yours but do know that my offer for you and Ron still stands until we get back. We don't have a prestigious university like this in our control but my people will be more accepting of you and we most definitely need someone of your level if we were to keep everyone well-educated for, you know, if we're talking about university standards because back home, our teachings are more of the practical side than the philosophical or even the theological side."
"You mean—"
"Sure, we trickle a bit here and there but the overall structure is not present. In this place, you're gonna struggle hard—harder than everyone else to be noticed by the head of the dragon while in my place… You could well possibly be the head of a Koi—wait, no, that's too bad a comparison… How about we use dragons in the Western setting?"
"..."
"Yep! Let's do that. This place is like an ancient dragon and you're at the very end of it, not even sure if it's going to budge but in my place, it'll be like in between an actual fully fledged dragon and a wyvern and you could be the one leading the pack to full evolution. I know I'm mixing up lore and fantasy mechanics and shit but you do get where I'm getting at, right?"
Allyssa let out a dry chuckle, "Unfortunately, yes…"
"Good enough! So yeah, before we leave, I'll transfer what's left of the twenty-thousand—"
Andy straight up lost his mind, "WHAT?! TWENTY— YOU SAID, TWENTY… AND THOUSAND?! TWENTY-THOUSAND?! BRO! CAN YOU GIVE A THOUSAND— NO, FIVE HUNDRED WILL BE REAL NICE AND I'LL MAKE SURE TO MAKE IT WORTH YOUR WHILE WHEN YOU TAKE ME IN!"
I replied with a straight face, "Oh? Really? Then you don't want one of our spare guns? Alright—"
Then Andy just straight-up fainted on the spot while foaming in the mouth and having a seizure or an epileptic episode before springing back to life in a few seconds like nothing happened.
It was a bizarre sight as any but looking back at Allyssa, she looked like the other option I gave her was another ton of worries to consider because it's as good an option as any and those two choices were life-altering.
Everyone who knew her knew that she'd commit to anything she set her sights on 100% but she was also a realist in the sense that she was able to step back and think about things more thoroughly and had the courage to stop completely or find other ways about the objectives she was working on.
But it's just that before we came in, she only had one path to take and it's life-or-death and now, her confidence and convictions were wavering and she was completely aware of that going on in real time.
'Now, what will you do?'
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