… This might be an awkward time to open the door…
But I can't just wait here either, I'm kind of hungry… Fuck it, let's just pretend I didn't hear anything.
*CREAK*
"Oh, hello girls. How rare to see you both in the kitchen."
The girls both glare at me after which Sara greets me with a:
"Oh great, just on time. Tell us Reo, whose food do you want to eat the most right now?"
I… I shouldn't have entered.
"I-I'm not that hungry."
*GROWL*
Goddam you stomach, now they're glaring even harder. Calm down Reo, as the future harem king, this should be a piece of cake:
"How about we just eat out for once? We don't have to cook every meal ourselves do we?"
Now Juniper shoots me a slightly unnerving smile with a:
"You didn't answer the question Reo."
"W-Why can't both of you cook for m-"
But they simultaneously interrupt me:
"NO!"
Looks like I'll have to choose between them. But still, Sara is weirdly competitive at times like this, almost makes it seem like she has a thing for me or something.
"Alright, alright, then I choose Juniper, she has more experience after all. Sara can cook tomorrow."
Juniper smugly looks down on Sara, who's menacingly hovering an icicle above her palm.
Damn, looks like I made the wrong choice… I better get out of here.
"A-Anyways, I've got something to do in my room, something that doesn't require any blood or icicles. Enjoy some girl-talk togheter while I'm gone. Just call me when the food's done."
I'm sure they won't hurt each other… 98% percent sure…
I made a quick escape into my bedroom and closed the door.
*PHEW* That was close, the icicle reminded me of a traumatic experience… I shouldn't upset Sara in the future…
I empty my dimensional tattoo on the bed and sit down beside it.
Time to start programming the orange cartridge I got from Miss. Izumi. I already thought up a concept for a new movement magic, it should be pretty fast… In theory at least, I'm just afraid it would take some practice to control.
The basic idea is this: I'll start of by creating a fake hologram of myself with light magic, then I'll make the soles of my feet/shoes frictionless for around a second or so, finally I'll push my center of gravity towards the direction I'm looking at with some powerful wind magic. I'll call it: 'After-Image'.
In theory it should not only confuse the enemy by making it seem like I haven't moved, it would also allow me to travel a great distance in a short amount time, I might have some problems with keeping my balance once the friction beneath my feet returns though…
The hologram part of the magic isn't really necessary if I just wanted to move quickly from point a to b, but I feel like it gives me more options for evasion and defense. Plus if I chain a couple of 'after-images' together, it would seem like I cloned myself, which I think would look pretty cool…
Luckily one of the yellow cartridges I tried out at the black market contained a 'hologram' magic. Alex said it was a pretty rare one too, it was the only one of its kind that they had at the shop after all.
As for what to program in the blank yellow cartridge… I have no clue.
Maybe a detection magic or something? But I could always just buy one of those, they are already pretty efficient mana-wise…
Or should I just reveal this one? I haven't tried that yet, maybe my programming powers can also effect things during the revealing-process of a cartridge?
I think it's worth the gamble. Maybe it gives me the admin option of choosing between all different cartridges instead of it being random… I would hate to only discover this after I have enough money to buy spare cartridges, it would've made my journey to the top so much easier…
Alright, let's do it!
I pop the blank yellow cartridge into my chest-implant and get the familiar three options. This time I won't be choosing 'program' though.
I press the 'reveal' option and after some glowing from my chip-implant I get the following message:
-------------------------------------------
-Yellow Revealed Cartridge: Clay Hide-
Store
Eject
Analyze
-------------------------------------------
Oh well, at least now I know that I reveal cartridges like every other Machia. Plus Clay Hide was a pretty expensive Cartridge for a yellow one if I remember correctly.
But… Doesn't the magic you reveal from a blank cartridge depend on your talent? Doesn't that mean I have a earth-rook talent? That's so boring!
No, don't lose hope just yet Reo, tomorrow is the promotion exam which starts off with a talent-measurement. I could still be a cool bishop or something.
"Reo! Dinner is ready!"
Oh good, just on time. I'll have dinner with the girls and then I'll program my 'After-Image' before going to bed.
I leave my room and head towards the dinner table:
"Smells delicious Juniper! Really impressive how you manage to make us such a tasty dinner every time! You'd make a great girlfriend."
I gave her a playful wink when I said those last few words. It might be a bit presumptuous of me to already joke about her being my girlfriend, but… Well, we did have sex.
Looks like Juniper doesn't mind it though, she's just standing there blushing, all cute and stuff.
Sara apparently does mind it:
"Just wait until tomorrow, I'll show you how a real girlfriend cooks. You'll be jealous of my future boyfriend!"
She suddenly stares at me after saying the word 'boyfriend', but then bashfully looks away and says:
"W-Whoever that might be…"