Quite a few days had gone by since the big reveal of Violet Myers—a former classmate of Matt Lewin, now turned Chuunibyou.
What has happened since then? Well, nothing.
Nothing of note, anyway.
In fact, Matt simply decided to continue living his regular life with his friends.
Here he was right now, hanging out with the squad after yet another lecture in their prestigious college, as sophomore undergrads.
"You guys heard the professor, right? Things are gonna be tougher this semester. Whyyyy!" Cried the already overwhelmed Nathaniel.
He had the most 'personality' out of everyone in the group, and everyone regarded him as the most unserious guy of the bunch. He rarely studied, and even though he got relatively good grades, he barely scaled through most times.
"To think they're adding to our workload. Damn it." He made a mock sob.
"Grow up already, you big baby. You're a sophomore. What did you expect? Rainbows and unicorns?" Nadia opined, in her usual sarcastic tone and gave him a playful slap on the shoulder.
"O-ow! That hurts both my body and my heart." Of course, this was just Nate being overly dramatic as usual.
His dread was justified, though. School just got tougher, and while they all wanted to hang out and enjoy their university days, hard work was required to scale through.
"You're gonna have to buckle down and study harder, bud." Hakeem laughed in his usual cheery tone.
Everyone burst into chuckles, most definitely deriving pleasure from watching Nate suffer an internal collapse. If there was anything the bold, daring, and handsome Nate—as he often called himself—wouldn't do, it was definitely to take studying seriously.
Telling him to do that so late in his education was quite hopeless.
"Noooooo!!!" He gave another dramatic cry, ensuing even more laughter.
Everyone was having a good time, Matt included. Even with the stress of university, friends always made it worth it. Thus, as they strolled across the walkway, heading to their usual chow spot, Matt felt as gleeful as everyone.
Well, until he heard a voice.
"Martin? Martin!"
'Eeep!' He nearly jumped, but swiftly controlled himself.
He ignored the voice and kept laughing with his friends, hoping their voices would drown out the sound. Poor Matt. How wrong he was.
"MARTIN! MARTIN! MAAAARRRTTTIIIIIINNNNNN!!!" The voice was relentless, and it seemed like it was getting closer.
"Is that girl calling you, Matt?"
"I think so. She's running right for our group."
It would seem that even if he could pretend not to hear a thing, his friends were not that oblivious.
"Me? Why would she be calling me? I'm not Martin. Is anyone here, Martin? Definitely not me. Hahaha… haha…"
And of course, his friends gave him 'the look'. What else did he expect from them when he was acting all sus.
"Well, I guess we'll ask her now that she's here." Nadia said, staring directly beside Matt.
What would you know? The girl was already present—standing beside the very person she was calling.
"Gyaahhh!" Matt yelled in surprise.
Apparently, he was too busy giving his bullshit excuse that he didn't notice that she had already closed their distance like the little interloper she was.
"Haha! I beckoned for you from a distance, yet you did not acknowledge my call." The pink-haired, weirdly dressed girl said to him, grinning madly.
Her left hand was on her hip, while her right hand pointed at Matt in what would appear to be an emphatic declaration of victory. Of course, this only lasted a moment, before…
"Haa… haaa… huff… gimme a sec… haaa…"
Yep! The girl was out of breath.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah, we saw you running from a distance."
"Yeah… haaa… I'm fine… haa… this much is nothing." Her response was a mix of bravado and sheer exhaustion.
It was clear that she was not fine, but who could deny what the girl herself affirmed? Especially with her oddly energetic personality.
"Nice outfit, by the way." Nate chipped in, smiling like an idiot.
Any rational person—or rather anyone who didn't know Nate at all—would think he was making fun of her, but he was simply being genuine. He was good-natured like that.
"Hehehe! You have good eyes. Not as good as mine, but good nonetheless." The pink-haired girl adjusted her glasses and gave a toothy grin.
Yeah, who would buy that?
Not only was her dress awfully bright and weird—like a cosplay—but she also wore glasses. Who on earth would believe her words at this point? She looked ridiculous.
"Hahaha! Is that so? Well, I'll take your word for it."
Yep, Nate would.
"Sooo Martin, got a minute?" After regaining her lost stamina, the weird girl finally faced her target—Matt himself.
"U-uh? Who? I'm not Martin. I'm Matt. You've got the wrong guy."
"Really? I think not."
"Think again!"
In response, the girl placed her finger on her lips, staring emptily into the clouds in absolute silence. After a few seconds, she returned her gaze to Matt.
"Yup, done thinking. I am not mistaken."
'He didn't mean that literally, you idiot!'This was what was running through the minds of the rest of Matt's friends, but they fought so hard not to show it.
And on the note of solidarity, all his friends glanced at each other and wordlessly made a unanimous choice—one that seemed to be the best solution in such an awkward situation.
—Ditch their friend!
"W-well, Matt, it seems she's not mistaken."
"And she did run all that distance to meet you."
"Just hear her out, okay?"
"Maybe we should wait for—"
"Nope, we're leaving, Nate." Nadia dragged the silly boy by the ear and they all began creating some distance between Matt and the obvious freshman.
"Uh, guys? Where are you going?"
Of course, Matt knew fully well what was happening. He remembered how he and the rest always did it to Nate when he was caught in so many of his antics. Or that one time when Nadia had her awkward crush episode. Even Hakeem and Erica had their moments as well.
And now, it was his turn.
"We'll be at the cafe. You can join us there when you're done."
Matt couldn't believe the betrayal.
Sure, he had done it to others before, but why did something like this have to happen to him? What did he do to deserve this?
"See you later, Matt!"
"Goodbye to you, mademoiselle." Nate made a stupid bow to the grinning freshman, and surprisingly, she curtsied in return.
"Idiot, would you knock it out." Nadia hissed, sighing and shaking her head as the group walked away.
Yep, they left.
Matt and 'the girl' were all alone now.
"You have wise comrades. They must have sensed the urgency of—"
"What do you want, Violet?" Matt was exasperated to the point of screaming at the infuriating chick. It took all his willpower to maintain his cool tone.
"Well, Martin, I—"
"I'm Matt, not Martin. What the heck, Violet! You don't see me adding 'Chan' to your name, do you?"
For a second, it seemed Violet was blushing after Matt said that. Of course, Matt blushed too, in embarrassment that is.
Remembering his dorky past and that silly confession of his was more than enough to make him cringe badly.
"You know, I wouldn't mind."
"What?"
"I wouldn't mind it if you called me that… Violet Chan"
Matt couldn't help but blush even more upon seeing Violet call herself that while winking at him. As much as he found it cute, it was also very, very CRINGE!
"N-no thanks." He looked away, hoping not to get any more involved in her Chuuni nonsense.
"Well, suit yourself, M.A.R.T.I.N."
"I'm leaving." Matt had had enough at this point.
His face was stone cold as he swiftly turned and tried to leave. Unfortunately for him, he had no idea who he was dealing with.
"Hmph! You can not escape me so easily."
Violet was right behind him, tightly gripping his body. A self-satisfied grin appeared on her face, as she tightly held on to his body.
"W-what are you doing? Get off!" Matt tried to brush her off, all to no avail.
"Hehe. You can't escape."
Theoretically speaking, she wasn't wrong. Unless Matt was going to be a ruthless savage, who would beat her off or shove her aside roughly, there was no way in hell he was getting rid of her death grip.
At this point, their little scene was garnering attention from fellow undergrads, and Matt found himself in a very terrible and extremely awkward situation. Obviously, anything he did at this point would serve to cement his long standing 'normie' position, or downright shatter it.
He had to choose wisely.
"Haha, fine. I give up. I won't go anywhere, so let me go." He whispered to Violet, nearly in tears.
"Hmmmmm…" She narrowed her amber eyes.
"P-p-please."
"Fine, then. I shall choose to believe you."
And with that, Matt was saved from further embarrassment—at least, that was what he liked to think.
*
*
*
"So, what do you want?" Both students were walking now.
Yes, Matt saw how Violet garnered attention due to her strange outfit—a large hoodie with a teddy bear imprint, teddy bear flip-flops, and a teddy bear themed skirt. Of course, she still had that pink teddy bear strapped to her skirt.
Still, what choice did he have?
It was literally killing his reputation to even be seen with such a girl, but what could he do? He was being held hostage.
That's right! He wouldn't be here talking to her otherwise.
"Why have you been ignoring me?" Violet's gentle voice echoed softly through his ears, and Matt suddenly felt the urge to look at her.
As he felt her innocent gaze pierce him, he began feeling really shitty for his actions the past couple of days.
Indeed, the reason nothing worthy of note had occurred ever since their chat that night was because Matt had been ignoring Violet ever since.
She was a Chuunibyou, a very painful reminder of his past. In addition, he could feel his attraction for her—even now, that had yet to change. For his own good, he had to stay away.
Far, far away!
Yet, for some reason…
"Haha! It's nothing personal. I've just been too busy."
Matt couldn't tell her that.
"Hmm, is that so?"
"Yep. Life as a sophomore is no joke."
"Umu! I guess I have something to look forward to next year." Well, that confirmed Matt's suspicion about her status as a freshman.
It didn't make the conversation any less awkward, though.
"Sooo, what's up?" Matt knew he was going to regret asking, but it seemed like a better alternative to the awkward silence.
"I'm guessing you didn't check the couple of messages I've been leaving you."
"Um… sorry… busy." Matt mumbled in a semi-apologetic tone.
Who could blame him? Violet said there were only a couple of messages, but Matt could have sworn that he saw at least a hundred messages from her chat box alone.
'Ain't no way I'm opening that!' They were most likely full of Chuunibyou nonsense after all, so Matt decided not to give in to the temptation.
His half-baked excuse was followed by a sigh from Violet. She shook her head and muttered some unintelligible words. They sounded like curses, but the weird kind that only children or crazy people would say.
"Well, if you had seen them, you would have understood my point, but very well, I guess I can just tell you right now."
Matt almost rolled his eyes, bracing himself for some more Chuunibyou nonsense.
However…
"There's something important you should know."
He was definitely not expecting the next words that came out from her mouth.
Something about Violet's chilly tone, as well as her overly serious demeanor, threw Matt off. He was expecting something very silly, but her stern gaze told him otherwise.
He gulped, clenching his teeth and steeling himself for whatever stuff Violet was going to say. He had no idea what he was going to hear this time, but the tension he felt was real.
Whatever awaited him felt incredibly serious and important.
"The world is in danger."
What was she talking about? Climate change? Global warming? That kind of fanger? Was Violet just an environmental rights activist—albeit a weird one—after all?
"The 'Veil' is being torn, and 'Links' are appearing all over. I spotted one on Campus."
'A-ahh, so that's what all this is about.' Matt thought disappointedly.
What was he expecting?
"I'm serious! As one of the 'Enlightened', I see them. The Links."
"Violet, would you please stop." Matt sounded drained at this point.
"This Campus, everyone here is in danger! The rip is getting bigger and bigger. The Link looks like it's going to open at any point."
Matt had lots of responses to give this girl.
What the heck were Links? What was this 'Veil' she spoke of? How many people had said the world would end, yet the world was alive and thriving! Could she even hear herself?
What stupid nonsense was she spouting?
"Haa, what did I expect from a freaking Chuuni." He groaned to himself.
They were in college for crying out loud. How on earth would someone keep doing something so foolish to themselves?
The sheer stupidity of the entire thing was beyond him! Somehow, Matt could even sympathize with his old classmates that had found him insufferable in High School.
It was expected that people would outgrow stuff like this, you know?
However, he couldn't say any of these to Violet. Judging by the serious expression on her face, he knew how much she believed this stuff. It sort of reminded him of how stubborn he was with this Chuuni stuff when he was a kid.
There were certain people who believed in conspiracy theories, or who actively searched for dumb things that simply couldn't be proved by science. Even simple logic couldn't get through to such fanatics.
There was only one surefire method Matt knew of, and he had been saving it as his secret weapon in case of such a conversation with Violet.
"Prove it."
"Huh? What did you say?"
Matt smiled slyly, shaking his head as he stared at Violet with unshakeable confidence in his disbelief.
"I'm not saying I don't believe you. I'm just not convinced. If you want me to take you at your word, then, just prove it."
It was that simple!
'This is the end of the line, Violet.' Matt's smile grew wider.
From his past experience, as well as sound logical thinking, he was absolutely certain of one thing.
'Chuunis can't prove shi—!"
"Fine then! I'll show you!" Violet's voice instantly pierced through his bubble of smugness, puncturing it.
'Eh…?'
"You want proof, right? I'll show you!"
Matt couldn't believe it. She actually had proof?
From the way Violet unhesitantly gave her response, and with how she kept up her confident smile, Matt thought—even if it was for a split second—that she could be right.
Suddenly, his heart started to race.
Faster. Faster. Much faster.
Excitement appeared out of nowhere, and he didn't know when his skepticism morphed into anticipation.
"Come with me, then. I'll show you the very line that protects this world, as well as the void that seeks to destroy it!" Violet's declaration could only mean one thing.
It was time to go down the rabbit hole!