Chapter XIII: At McDonald's
I jumped back out of the plane bathroom and almost ran into a stewardess. At first, she looked annoyed, but then she saw my face. "Young man, are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I... I'm fine." I looked back at my reflection and it still displayed the lines and symbols across my skin.
The stewardess looked at the mirror and then back at me. "Are you alright?"
"... Does anything look wrong with my reflection?"
She shook her head. "I don't see anything wrong."
She couldn't see the markings? I examined my arms and my chest, but there was nothing. It was only in my reflection that I could see the physical manifestation of my contract. Needless to say, I returned to my seat for the rest of the flight.
It was another long flight, so I messaged Amos, Euphie, and Kanade about getting a bit to eat with me tomorrow. I got back the affirmative. We were going to meet at a Mcdonald's.
When was the last time I had set foot in a fast food chain? It was during my last life. Growing up, we had enough money to make occasions out of going to a fast food restaurant. When I was killing myself in that shitty little apartment, I had McDonald's on the regular. They also delivered.
I hadn't had a bite of fast food since I was reborn. If we didn't count Starbucks. My mom was addicted to coffee. We ate at restaurants, or my mom would cook for me.
She never said anything, but I got the feeling that she didn't care for fast food. Daliah, the only person who could rat on me, was gone, so I agreed to it.
The next day I slipped on a pair of black skinny jeans, a white tank top, and a blue jacket. Around this time, I'd put in my driving simulator and spend a few hours riding on my motorcycle, but I was pretty confident, so I could miss a day. When I turned sixteen next year, I was sure I was going to pass my motorcycle test.
Coke in France tasted different than it did in the United States. I couldn't put my finger on the way, but it certainly did. I preferred the way it tasted in the states, but that might just be my bias.
Then again, McDonald's coke has never tasted right, even in the states. This was my first time in a McDonald's in fifteen years.
Where I grew up, we called McDonald's Micky D's. The French (at least the ones in Paris) call it McDo, pounced Mac Dough. I wondered if the Germans or the Chinese had different nicknames for the most popular fast-food chain.
The inside of the McDo's looked more like a fancy cafe than a fast food joint, but I liked it. McDonald's everywhere should up their standards and try to make their restaurants look like this.
"Is this seriously the first time you've been in a McDo's?" Kanade asked, her lips twitching.
I shrugged. "My mom doesn't like fast food." Probably.
Euphemia rolled her eyes and giggled.
Kanade nodded. "Makku isn't the healthiest." I guessed that was what the Japanese called it.
The cute girl that took our order appeared with a tray of food. I had ordered the Fromage Royale, or Royal Cheese. It's what the French called the Quarter Pounder since they didn't use the metric system. I also had a nice Caesar salad, a large order of fries, a twelve-piece McNuggets, a freshly baked donut, a coke, and a Swiss McFlurry. I didn't know how the Swiss McFlurry differed from a normal one, but I was eager to find out.
"All jokes aside, I just got back from Japan," Kanade said, picking up a fry and nibbling on it. "Forgive me if I'm a little tired. I just got off the plane."
"I know the feeling. My mom and I were in the United States visiting her friend and the jet lag is real. So are you an exchange student?"
Kanade shook her head. "No. My parents moved here for work."
"What do they do?"
"They work for Stardust Mobile."
"That's cool."
"It's whatever. I'm surprised to see you. I thought I was going to have to wait until the first day of school before we saw you again."
I shrugged and tried to play it off: "Sorry, I've been traveling with my mom."
"Is that where have you been?" Amos demanded to know, leaning across the table. "You've been traveling around the world and I've been going to class? How is that fair?"
At least you didn't have to put up with Daliah. "It isn't, but life isn't fair."
"Yeah, I can see that now." He was grinning while he spoke. At least he was being a good sport about it.
It still took them by surprise. I could see it written across their faces. They hadn't been expecting that. If I was in their position, neither would I. Looking at it from the outside, my life did sound pretty good.
Euphemia was the first to recover: "Oh. That's nice. Does your mom need help? I can learn how to play the guitar?"
I laughed. "No. We got that part covered. Don't worry about it."
"So do you get paid for traveling with the band?" Kanade asked.
"No. Why would I? I'm not doing any of the work." They didn't even ask me to carry luggage or equipment. "I'm a freeloader, through and through."
And soon I was going to be a high school student. Because that's what I wanted to do with my life. Go through school again.
I shouldn't complain. I had a great life. A fun life traveling across the world and getting to listen to music in an endless concerts. It could have been a lot worse. I could have been reincarnated in a poor family.
"Why are you so keen on playing Primal Vale?" Amos asked. "What's so special about it?"
"It was the world's first VRMMORPG and it's going to have a huge professional scene," I said automatically. "Even if you aren't a pro player, you can make good money on it."
Amos and Euphie exchanged looks. "How can you be so sure?"
I realized my mistake then. Athena, a goddess, had told me it was going to be the biggest came in the world. With a huge pro scene.
The game wrapped up its two-month beta. The official servers weren't even going to be online for a few days.
From that perspective, how could I justify what I was saying? I couldn't tell them the truth. That sounded crazy. Insane.
"It's the world's first Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, it's going to be huge. Stardust Studios has the most advanced virtual reality in the world. Not even Apple or Google or Tencent have a snowball's chance in hell of catching up any time soon. They have rudimentary virtual reality, at best.
"Which means that Primal Vale is going to be the top dog during that time. Unless something major comes up and they botch it, I think it's going to be a huge seller and it's going to develop in esports."
Considering I was talking out of my ass, I think I made a good case. None of them seemed to see anything wrong with my argument. If they did, they weren't saying anything about it.
Euphie giggled. "You want to make money playing a game, is that it?"
I shrugged. "It beats working in a fast food or retail." I never want to work at a Mcdonald's or a Walmart. I've heard the horror stories.
"So you want us to play with you, right?" he asked. I nodded. Amos grinned. "I've always wanted to play a Virtual Reality game."
"Seriously?"
"Why not? We study enough as it is and as long as our grades don't slip, I don't see a problem with it. Doesn't your older brother work for Stardust Technologies, Kanade?"
She looked away. "Yeah. He heads a development studio in Tokyo."
"What does he work on?"
"... Primal Vale."
"Then what's the problem-"
"Fine!" Kanade said, throwing her hands up. "I'll go get a copy of the stupid game"
"Kanade, if you don't want to play, I won't force you. That goes for all of you."
"... It does look like an interesting game," Kanade admitted.
Euphie chuckled. "We're the three amigos... Or four," she said as an afterthought, giving me a look. Was she already including me in the group? That was... Nice.
A look that said she was interested. I wasn't exactly a lady's man in my last life, so maybe I was being presumptuous, but that's what it looked like to me.
Maybe I ought to ask Bianca about it sometime. She was a girl and my girlfriend. Of course, if Euphie was interested, I'd have to tell her I was taken. If she didn't say anything about it, I wasn't going to.
"You'll show us the ropes, won't you, Mr. Beta tester?" Amos asked smugly. I don't know why he was so smug. I was the beta tester.
"Sure. I'll give you a crash course."
Kanade shook her head. "The game is going online at nine pm. The night before school starts. That's going to be a problem."
Euphie looked over at her. "My parents are going to Marseilles for the rest of the week. They're leaving me home alone. Do you think your parents will let you stay over?"
"Yes. My parents like you. I'll tell them you don't want to stay there alone. Though you might have to come over to my house the next day."
"The two of us can sneak out and go to the Joyful Flourish."*
"You're going to have to tell me where this Joyful Flourish is if you want me to publicly dive with you."
"Search for it on google maps."
I smirked. "Well, there is that."
"My parents are never going to let me go," Amos said. "My parents are traditional Muslims. They would never let me stay at your house, Euphie."
"Because she's a girl?" I asked.
"She is unmarried. It wouldn't be proper."
"What about my house? I'm not a girl and my mom is going to be out of town."
Amos seemed to consider this. "I cannot be late for school. I assume we will be playing all night?"
"I'm up for an all-nighter."
"My parents will punish me if I'm late or I skip."
"Joyful Flourish isn't too far from the school," Euphie said. "We can head to school in the morning. We can put on fresh clothes and take a shower the night before. It isn't like we'll be doing anything physically active."
Amos thought about it. "That might work. Come with me to meet my parents and they might say yes."
We finished eating and said our goodbyes.
I stopped by the Centre Commercial Beaugrenelle and went straight to Dreamway. Dreamway was a huge chain VR game store. We picked up copies for Amos, Euphie, and Kanade. The girls had given us the money and we'd give them the game the next day. Euphie was going to call and make the reservation for us at the VR cafe. From 8:30 to seven the next day. We all chipped in to pay for the room and four Neural Spheres.
The cartridge and the account card were packaged in one piece of plastic. Each account card was linked to solely one account. These cards didn't hold the real account, of course, they were only needed to log into it. The servers contained everything.
His parents agreed surprisingly easily, once they found out that I was Madeleine Leschere's son. They were big fans of Aphrodite.
***
*Joyful Flourish is the internet cafe in The King's Avatar. At least it was translated as such doing the anime's first season, though I think it's called Happy. Either way, I want to pay homage to my favorite Webnovel and one of my favorite anime.
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