Chapter 12 - Another

𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨!

A notification popped up.

'Huh?'

[Looks like you've been pinged, Aiko.]

'Wait, what do you mean, "pinged"?' Aiko said. 'Tem, I thought I was the only one?'

[Well, it seems I just forgot to tell you~. Sorry about that 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘦]

'Oh god, now I have to deal with other people again....why can't I just be alone.....' Aiko thought.

Aiko Takahashi was your typical loner girl. Long hair covering her face, always reading a book in the corner of class, and generally just not socializing with anyone. Of course, this attracted some unruly types. Aiko was bullied by the well-known divas of the school: the beautiful, the rich, the JK's- you name it. A typical day for Aiko would be greeted by a swirlie in the stalls or a panty flip in front of others in the hallway during transition. Eventually though, Aiko snapped. During the third month of bullying, Aiko retaliated and punched one of her tormentors in class. It was one of the rich girls and so, with a bit of influence from her parents, Aiko was suspended and later bullied by just about the entire school. Traumatized, Aiko became a shut-in for quite some time.

'I only returned to school because the quest told me to....I could feel the stares from everyone.' Asuka thought, quivering slightly. 'What if they bully me again....I don't want to go through that another time! And just as I thought I'd have finally escaped this hell, I came back here....why....why me?'

[Looks like the pinger is coming here, Asuka. What'cha gonna do?]

'Oh god, the person's coming?! What should I do, Tem?' Asuka said.

Asuka was currently holed up in the library in a small section of the study space. She didn't really want to go to class, so she opted to just skip most of them and go to the library- her little haven.

[I don't know Aiko. Maybe, ya know, chat it out?]

'Why would I do that?! They-they're's probably out to kill me since I'm the first user!'

[Nonsense, Aiko. Stop being so paranoid already! Maybe this is a chance to get a friend, hm?]

'Friend? Why would I need one in real life? And besides, does anyone in this school really want to be friends with ME?'

[Well, you have about 5 seconds, Aiko. Make your decision by then~]

'Tem, don't leave me here!'

As Asuka said this, the library door opened.

𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬

"Oh no." Asuka said.

She prepped a spell.

----

'Hmm. The map shows the other user is here, right System?'

[That is correct, user.]

'Alright. Well, time to find where this guy is....man, in a library though? Isn't class still going? I only got here because I told the teacher I needed to use the restroom...' Masato thought.

Masato stepped into the library and started looking around the library.

'Man, there's so many nooks and crannies in this place...'

Masato glanced over to his minimap as he walked towards the study area.

'Looks like I'm getting warmer.'

As he began to look straight, a ball of water came into his view.

𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩

The ball of water hit Masato square in the face, knocking him back.

[HP -10]

"Gah! 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 What the hell?!"

"Stay back!" a girl yelled.

Masato looked at the girl. He saw a petite girl with long, jet black hair covering her face in a battlemage stance, mana condensing around her pointer finger.

"Whoa whoa, I mean no harm!" Masato said.

"Pff, yeah right! You-you're probably going to beat me up a-and rape me, aren't you!" she said.

'Huh? What did this girl just say?' Masato thought.

"What?! What made you think that?! I just wanted to talk!" Masato said, raising his hands up. "I'm guessing you're the other user?"

"S-So what if I am, huh?" she said.

"Look, I'm guessing you already know that I'm the second user by the way you're acting right now." Masato said. "I just got a quest to find another user earlier, and I was just surprised to see that they were in this school as well."

"Oh yeah? Does the quest say to kill me?" she said, finger still pointed at Masato.

"No, I'm telling you that I just want to talk! Is that too much to ask for?" Masato said.

"....I still don't believe you. I've been tormented by others far too long." she said.

"Wait, have you been bullied too?" Masato said, slightly lowering his arms.

"Wha-.....hold up. You're telling me you've also been bullied?" she said.

"Well, yeah. I...really don't think this is an appropriate place to talk about that right now though. Can we do this outside of school? I just want to get out of here." Masato said, rubbing the back of his neck.

".....Fine." she said. "I can't stand this place either. Let's take this elsewhere. I pick the location though."

"Fine by me. Lead the way." Masato said.

{I hope he/she doesn't kill me} They both thought.