Chapter 13: Okay
Aside from tasting like chocolate with a whitish colour, the Mudmilk had the side effect of making one drowsy.
Julius half wondered if the goblin had spiked it. He had taken measures to put padding in the key hole but Iris notified him there was no such thing.
The drink must have had a different effect on Yumiko or so he thought. She hadn’t said anything since they finished eating. Her attention was outside as she stood near the window.
She was calm. No words spoken. The bustle of activities outside was the only thing that served to cushion the silence between them.
But Julius had decided. They needed to talk.
The system flashed a message. Julius looked at it briefly before closing the interface.
He turned to look back at Yumiko to find her sitting on the bed near him. He did not hear her move. Julius concluded in all honesty if she wanted to kill him she could.
"You keep doing that," she said.
"Doing what?"
"Looking and touching something that isn’t there."
Julius understood she meant the system. He was the only one who could see it and even he didn’t understand it fully.
"It’s something only I can see for some reason," he said.
She considered this for a moment. Then her eyes moved to his pocket.
"The small magic cube," she said. "From before."
Julius reached into his pocket for his phone. Her eyes tracked the device as he held it.
"You called it a phone," she said.
"Yes." he answered.
"What does it do?"
"Where I’m from it does many things. Here it mostly stores information. Photos. Videos." He turned the screen on to show some features he had explained to her before.
"What gives it life?" she asked.
"The battery."
"What’s a tery?" Her brows furrowed with confusion.
"Bat-te-ry," Julius replied.
She frowned. "Bat-tery?"
"Yes. It’s like a power source for lots of stuff in my world." Julius answered.
She leaned forward slightly. Her eyes moved across the screen, the time display, the cracked corner, the lock screen photo.
Julius looked at the photo too.
It was him and his brother at a restaurant. Vincent mid-sentence, gesturing at something off camera, Julius beside him with the expression of someone who had heard this particular story before.
The picture was taken by their aunt Vera.
Yumiko looked at the photo for a moment.
"Brother?"
"Yes."
"He doesn’t look like you," she said.
And that was true. Where Julius had black hair with white streaks, Vincent had brown hair with freckles. Their brown eyes were the only traits they shared asides from overlapping interests.
"Half brothers," Julius said. "Different mothers."
She looked at the photo a moment longer. Something in her expression shifted. It was barely noticeable. She did not ask why different mothers or what happened to them.
Julius was glad she didn’t.
She asked: "Is he older or younger."
"Younger, nineteen."
"He looks like he talks a lot." She concluded.
"He does." a smile came with the words.
She sat back. Her tail moved once.
"You are human. Right?" She asks.
Julius hesitated before answering. "Yes I am."
The answer made him slightly anxious as he realized he was slowly accepting he was in a different world now.
"From a different world. Your magic is Technologia?"
"Yes, technology."
There was silence as she considered all these. Julius took this opportunity to ask questions of his own.
"How did you find out about me?"
She answered that she lived in the same village as The dark elf, Maeva.
She saw the council being secretive and followed them to the hall. She saw everything that happened and proceeded to follow him.
"What about the bear?"
Yumiko put on a smile as if to appease Julius but he wasn’t having it.
She mentioned it was an accident. She had been following him when she caught wind of it. She went to investigate and found out it was corrupted.
"And you led it back to me." Julius said.
"I thought you’d be able to handle it." She raised her hands in defense.
Julius didn’t know what expectations she had for him, but he had one more question.
"Why did you follow me? And don’t give me the smelling good excuse." while that was true according to the bond protocol. He had since learned there was always a reason for people’s behaviour.
This time Yumiko paused. She looked at the device again.
"Can it find people," she said.
Julius looked at her. The question had a specific weight to it that the previous ones had not.
"In a particular kind of way but it can’t do that here for many reasons." Julius didn’t have the strength to explain what the internet or GPS was to her.
"Why do You ask," Julius added
Her tail stopped moving.
The silence stretched for a moment. Outside a cart wheel caught on something and someone said something Julius did not catch..
"My sister, I’m looking for her." She finally answered.
Several things ran through Julius’s mind but he settled on one question.
"How long have you been looking?"
She did not answer. Guilt replaced her expression and she opted to deflect the question with another of her own.
"Would you help me look for her," she asked.
"No."
"But you are..."
"Someone who was dragged from my world into all this." He interrupted.
"I have a brother back home and while I do share your sentiment. Finding your sister was not in the quest the system gave me."
She held his gaze for a moment. Her tail moved back and forth as she considered his words.
"Okay," she said.
She went back to her side of the bed.
The day had dissolved into evening.
Julius watched the lantern hung on one corner of the room come to life. They provided a cozy low lit atmosphere to the room. He wondered how they work.
The noise from the outer ring had gone into its nighttime version of itself. It was quieter but not empty.
Most of the people who were active had closed or were closing shop.
But new ones were opening too and new characters with them. He saw a group of hooded figures wearing black cloaks with red on the inside.
He also saw two lycan couples walking together, giggling under the street lights.
He also noted a store across the street having its light come on. It wasn’t open during the day.
Julius had assumed Yumiko was asleep. She was lying down and facing the other direction he couldn’t see and she had not moved in a while.
He looked at the ceiling of the inn for another few minutes then reached into his pocket and pulled out the phone.
He opened the gallery. Scrolled back through the camera roll. Project screenshots, a recurring alarm to not procrastinate, photos of their apartment, chats and outings, Vincent and his aunt.
He scrolled further back checking other folders if there was something he hadn’t seen.
His eyes stopped.
A video file. No recognizable thumbnail. He opened it. The beginning part was black then it showed his ex’s face.
He knew the contents of the video and that he should save the phone battery. He opened it anyway
He recognized the angle, the lighting, the expression on her face as she did a bit of an intro. She had made it herself and sent it to him when they were together.
He could have stopped watching but he didn’t.
He saw the striptease. The eye contact she made with the camera as she took each item of clothing off, he watched her move the phone closer to get a better shot of her boobs and her nipples that were as hard as he was getting down there.
There was more but he decided he had seen enough and closed the app then pressed the power button to shut the device off.
The screen went dark. He put the phone in his pocket and looked at the ceiling
He was going to have to go through that folder at some point and delete things.
Just not tonight.
---
The next morning brought the sounds activities in the outer ring.
He and Yumiko were already awake. She was in the washroom. He had already taken his bath and was wearing his dried clothes.
He was on the bed watching the system interface. A knock interrupted him.
Three of them.
Julius got up and opened the door.
Mudgob stood in the corridor. His glasses were slightly crooked and his breathing was uneven. He had come up the stairs quickly.
"There is someone downstairs," he said. "Asking for you."
Julius looked at him. "Who."
"She is standing in the common room and has refused to sit down."
Julius processed this. There were only a few women who knew about him.
"Give me a second."
Mudgob looked at him for a moment. Then he turned and went back down the stairs.
Julius closed the door. Yumiko was out of the washroom, wearing her jacket.
He pointed to his foot wear, to which she obliged.
They left the room and headed downstairs to meet the visitor.
