"If this isn't an omen, I don't know what is."
"It's called being an idiot." Lauren tried to reassure Zachary.
Despite all the hesitation and thought he was at that moment, he realized that he had still jumped off the lighthouse and into the water fully-clothed.
"Perhaps I was too reckless."
"That's one way to look at it." Lauren tried to mock him, "Perhaps you should carefully look things over before doing something."
"Really? And what if I fa~~" He lowered his head as if he were going to drop dead on the ground.
"No!" She reached for his shoulders to pull him back up, "Don't sleep now!"
"But I wanna sleep so bad, come on," he spoke like a nagging child. He could stomp his legs on the ground and it wouldn't feel odd with the manner he spoke in.
Lauren sighed, "So you do have a fun side… at awful times. Come on, we should get you home now."
"Oh we're here actually!"
After a few encounters with the military police patrolling the town (to ensure that everyone was acting accordingly), the two rascals were out of the main streets and into neighborhood side streets, away from all the ruckus.
On their left was a metal gate that reached up to almost a two-story building, preceding it was a long path of immaculate concrete tiles surrounded by fields of grass with the lightest color on both sides — the rest was barely visible due to how long the path was. Beyond the trees and fields, a mansion sprung up from afar.
"Oh wow," Lauren was surprised, "I didn't know you lived near a mansion like this! Must feel bad living so close to your drea—"
Zachary passed her and went right in the direction of the mansion itself. It didn't take long before he approached the gate and pushed it open with ease.
"Wait wait wait wait— You live here?!!" She shouted with surprise.
She moved backward in shock while staring at the mansion in all of its entirety. Its sight was something to behold. The number of windows plastered on its front was endless, it was almost close to being a glass house — talk about privacy for a 'private' mansion. Despite the archaic feel to it (like everything in that town), it was rather clean in its presentation with white paint coating its entirety. It could potentially pass off as a modern mansion with an old gothic decoration when in reality, it was over a hundred years old.
A revelation of this magnitude left Lauren in utter awe. She looked at Zachary after getting her fill of the mansion's image.
Even though he had seen her react in shock, he could feel a moment of scolding rising up.
"You're mad, aren't you?" He chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Of course I'm mad!" She stomped her feet on the ground like a child throwing a tantrum. "You're living the high life—"
"It's not all what it looks like… Just flare and no color." He spoke before she could go on. He still bore his apologetic expression yet he wanted to make it clear what type of colorless life he had been led to in this place. He wanted to vent out all the problems he had with this "home," however… "Besides, we've only just met."
"Excuses, excuses," she closed her eyes and waved her arm around in rejection as she approached him, "I don't want any of that, Mister. That should have been the first thing you said when we first met."
He raised an eyebrow and thought for a moment. "What? Should I have just said "Hey, I'm rich and I live in a huge mansion that could rival Dracula's" or something like that?"
All of a sudden, Lauren sprung up on her feet, grabbed Zachary's hand, and held them both up before closing some of the distance between him and her.
Her face lit up with excitement like never before, "I'd marry you on the spot!"
Those words left him shocked and speechless.
For all the bizarre things happening that day, he felt a slight ache in his heart. Seeing Lauren's face and hearing her words only deepened that ache within him. Why? He would wonder. Because those simple words would make anyone flutter in fantasy. Right about now, he should be dreaming in his little cloud bubble about their wedding together — a fantasy fit for the gullible. But he knew better.
"But leave out the Dracula part," she let go of his hands as she turned away.
He chuckled, hiding his dismay. "I knew you'd say that."
"Yeah, nothing could beat Dracula's castle if we're being honest." She rushed back to Zachary with a, once again, exciting look. "I mean, have you seen it, man? It could very much be a castle and a tower… and it moves!!!"
This was all just a jesting matter.
「Of course she was only joking.」
But after confirming for himself, he felt the ache in his heart slightly fade away. And truth be told, he did not want anything else. He was glad to be able to have a friend to joke with. It was a dream come true, and a step in the right direction.
"By the way," He tried to distract his thoughts, "What were you going to show me back in the ocean? The thing about freshening up our minds."
Lauren thought for a second before it hit her, "Oh? It was this!"
She reached for her bag and pulled out a large cold coin to show off to Zachary.
"A coin… golden coin?" He did not get her enthusiasm, "That's what I almost drowned for? And you had it with you this entire time?"
"N-No, there was more down in the sea, a-and I didn't you were gonna…," she stopped when she finally remembered the purpose of this coin, "This is not just any coin. It's a Grail Coin."
Instead of replying back to her, he felt lost. He had no idea what she was talking about. It left him with an unfocused gaze of confusion.
"Well, they say," she started explaining the story, "In the past, there was a race across the globe for obtaining the legendary "Holy Grail." The participants were divided into factions with their own allies. It was said that those who got ahold of its coins were closer to the prize than most. But it wasn't just any type of Grail Coins, they were supposed to be coins that aligned with their factions. This one bears the sigil of the Hanged Man."
She quickly held the coin right in front of Zachary's eyes to show its details.
The coin was certainly bigger than any coin he had ever seen before.
It was rusty, most likely from being under the ocean for who knew how long. There was a certain symbol crafted on it, which seemed like a man drawn upside down. Of course, one could always rotate it to make it look upright, but what distinguished that the intended symbol was upside down was the rope at the end of the man's leg. It was indeed… a hanged man?
"I hear that it fetches a high price on the market," she smiled wryly.
Zachary tried to grasp what he was hearing, "You dragged me through all that trouble for treasure hunting?"
"Nooooo I would never," the way she had said it made it hard to believe, "Now, open up your hand."
He complied with her command.
She placed the gold coin on top of his palm, "Close your eyes."
「This again?」
Just as before, he shut his eyes.
"Now put your other palm on this one."
Even though he realized the beauty of such things, he still lacked enthusiasm when it came to the first-time process. Nevertheless, he listened to Lauren's request.
"Can you feel it?"
"F-Feel what? The coin?"
"Yes. What else?"
"I guess so…"
He was holding it after all. Not feeling the coin on his hand would mean that he could not feel his hand altogether.
"Take all its features in like you did before without looking. Just touching."
With the coin tightly in his full grasp, he rubbed both his hands against each other, getting himself to "feel" the coin that was in-between in the process.
At first, he felt the inscriptions on the coin, there were some that seemed missing, seeing as there were sharp gaps in the middle. Since there was barely anything at this "small" coin, compared to the scenery he had to look at earlier that day, he was already feeling the sigil at the center. It was neatly carved, vastly different from the inscriptions, but then something seemed to be missing as well, or rather… it was carved deeper than the rest of the body.
Curious about that last detail, Zachary opened his eyes and palm before taking a good look at the coin. It was the leg wrapped with a rope. Now that he was directly looking at it, he narrowed his eyes to focus.
「A button?」
"And that's another test done." Lauren clapped her hands.
Zachary flinched for a second.
He had almost forgotten that Lauren was here with him. Perhaps that was one of the points she tried to show him: to be completely engrossed in something.
"Writing isn't just describing visuals… it's everything." She spoke with that same tone of passion she had when they first met, "An imagination needs to be erratic, chaotic, with terrifying and boundless freedom to conceive something."
"Is that why you were always so quick with everything today?"
She thought for a moment and then laughed, "Sure, let's go with that."
Both of them were laughing, but now the tone of their voices lacked that energy and enthusiasm of earlier, it possessed a somber tone. Because they knew, with everything they had done today and with the evening itching closer, it was time for farewell.
"Uh… hey."
"Hey…"
They spoke at the same time. But they weren't surprised. They still had things to say, yet they were left gazing at each other.
「Maybe…」
Since they were already near his house…
「Maybe…」
Zachary moved closer to Lauren, but she instinctively turned back.
"Oh!" He realized his mistake and returned to his position, "I thought maybe you'd want to enter the mansion. We could talk about our stories too, I don't know much about yours. Maybe we could give each other tips."
"Oh no, it's getting late, and I'd hate to impose." Lauren gave off an awkward smile and rubbed the back of her head, "B-Besides, we shouldn't be so eager like this," her voice turned back to the usual tone, and then she placed her finger on her lips, "We should keep them a secret till after the competition."
He couldn't quite understand her reasoning, but he went along with it.
"But we didn't even submit anything yet."
"Oh we will," she winked, "You better get ready for the weekend, it's the deadline for submissions. And we're meeting Myung if you haven't forgotten."
「That's right!」
It felt as if Zachary was hit with a reality check. This one day of wonders had caused him to drift off far away from his dream than intended.
But now, he was reminded of his priorities, and with a new perspective at that.
And then he remembered that his story was quite gloomy, all things considered. It was never going to be a perfect fit with how his thoughts were now. However, he did not feel like he was in peril. Instead, he had never felt such a surge of confidence overwhelm him like that before.
He was going to make a new story.
With a few days left till the meeting with Myung and one chance to submit, he was going to write something new. It was going to be challenging. But he was still going to write it. He had to prove his worth as an author. He was going to gain Myung's recognition. He had to, after all. He had a dream to fulfill.
"You look pretty excited all of a sudden," Lauren smirked.
He remembered her part in all of this, and he could not be more thankful for meeting her and opening up his world.
「We have a dream to fulfill.」
"I mean, who wouldn't? We're meeting Myung. We have to be in tip-top shape no matter what. You better be ready, Lauren." He raised his arm and pointed his finger to the sky, "We're going to change the world!"
Lauren was surprised by his bizarre pose but ultimately found it endearing, causing her to let out a warm chuckle. It was clear that her influence had rubbed off on him a little too much, yet it all came as a benefit in the end.
"We're meeting Myung! We're going to change the world!" She stretched both her arms to the front, joining in on Zachary with the weird poses.
They just needed a few more people with them, to wear colorful space armor made of spandex, and their act would be officially complete.
After raising their spirits up, they waved back at each other with a smile as Lauren walked down the street.
The scene looked awfully familiar to the one from the day before, except instead of being left with confusion and gloom, Zachary was now confident in himself.
He was going to write that story.
He was going to join the competition.
He was going to meet his idol.
He was going to meet Myung.