"H-Hold on a second… what's with this sudden outburst? Saying you love someone like that is like dropping a huge bomb onto them, and I'm unprepared for it."
"Y-You're right… I should've gone about it in a different way, I am sorry, truly sorry. But what I say is the truth! My feelings for you won't change, even if you're a guy beyond this game. I love Angelica, specifically."
Angelica grew quiet, glancing to the side to disembark eye contact.
"We've been in a party for quite some time, I could see the looks you gave me, but I always thought they were the looks of someone who cares for me as a friend… and not as someone who loves me that way."
"Angelica… I…"
"Everyone I end up around only wishes to get closer to me so they can be with me. They don't count me as a friend, but rather some beautiful woman they can sleep with. Is that how you viewed us this entire time, Lucifer?"
"No, that's not how I viewed it at all! I count you as a friend, truly! I-I mean it!"
"That's hard to believe… but I'll take your word on it because I trust you."
"I'm sorry if I… caused you any trouble."
"No, you didn't cause any trouble, it's fine." Angelica snickered, "I'm happy you at least told me that you feel that way, because friends don't hide secrets from each other, right?"
"Well… yeah, they don't, I suppose you're right." Lucifer looked to the side, scratching his cheek.
Angelica turned to face him again, smiling, "But I'm sure you'll find someone out there in the world who will love you. But for me… I'm not someone who's looking for any relationships right now, I already have a lot going on back home, and it's been hard. So worrying about another person is going to put more stress on me, I hope you can understand. Sorry if it's selfish."
"No no, I completely understand that. We all have things going on outside of the game, I get it." Said Lucifer, "…I even have an abusive father who comes home every night and takes his anger out on my mom. He beats her senselessly… and there's nothing I can do to stop it…"
"That's horrible… what kind of sick bastard puts his hand on a woman? What scum he is!"
"Yeah, he's scum, but… I don't have to hear it if I play the game with you guys, that's why I'm always online." Lucifer crossed his arms sighing, "Honestly… sometimes I wish we could just live inside the game and never have to go home again. That's something I would kill for."
"Well, as nice as that sounds, I wouldn't wanna be doing any of that with a family back home…"
"Yeah, you're right. For you guys, it's different, but for me, I wanna escape reality and live here forever."
"I dunno, sometimes we wish for something, and when we get the thing we wished for, it ends up worse than we thought." Said Angelica, "I would be careful making those wishes, Lucifer."
"I doubt anything would change if it actually happened…" Responded Lucifer.
"You're an idiot."
"What?!!"
[PRESENT TIME]
"…So, you're telling me that Lucifer admitted his love for you? Is that it?"
I heard everything Angelica told me, and now it started to make sense.
"Yeah… I'm assuming that's bad, right?" Said Angelica, "You don't look too happy about that."
"Yeah, it makes sense now. It all happened the night we set up camp."
[TWO YEARS AGO]
Chirp—Chirp—Chirp.
The crickets chirped in the night.
Zombies roamed around the campgrounds but didn't attack anyone from the campfire keeping them away as a source of light.
Floating ghouls traversed the sky, circling around the campsite.
Skeletons with swords, axes, and shields roamed through the forest, their bones heard clanking.
Werewolves were heard howling in the distance.
During the night, dangerous mobs spawn. It's dangerous to attack them as they always end up in hordes. Having a torch with you is the best way to keep them away, or by lighting a fire.
"…Angelica is sleeping…" Lucifer woke up inside his tent, hearing the monsters around him, which he ignored. The demon decided to unzip his tent open, and sneak outside, "I haven't heard anyone snore or make any sounds, I wonder if they're doing alright." Lucifer was cautious about his teammates, so he snuck toward their tents, unzipping them silently.
The first tent he visited was Angelica's. He peaked his head inside, realizing she was fast asleep… but next to her was a journal.
"Oh… good. Maybe I'm worrying too much—hold on a second… is that her journal?" Lucifer gazed at the journal, curious as to what it was for, "I'm sure peeking at it wouldn't hurt…" he let his curiosity get the best of him, so he tip-toed inside her tent, picking up her notebook before sneaking back out.
"Gyaah!" Lucifer jumped in his skin, meeting Emperor face-to-face, "Emperor… what are you doing up? I thought you were asleep… eh…" Lucifer trailed his eyes down Emperor's body, realizing he was covered in blood that slowly started to vanish into particles, "You were out killing mobs?"
"Yeah, decided to gather a few materials for when we head back to the Main Lobby in the morning. But what are you doing sneaking around Angelica's tent?" Emperor frowned, lowering his brows.
"I was just checking on everyone, making sure they were okay. Trust me, bro, I wasn't doing anything suspicious."
"The Eyes of the Emperor can detect lies… but I don't see anything from you, alright then; I'm going to bed, get some sleep for our travels tomorrow."
"Right, I'll see you guys tomorrow in real time then."
"Alright." Emperor turned around, making his way back to his tent.
Currently, Angelica and Lilith were logged out of the game, leaving their Game Avatars to sleep.
Emperor would do the same… however… Lucifer decided to stay inside Isekai Online and read Angelica's journal out of curiosity.
He made his way back to his tent, opening her notebook, and flipping through empty pages. Eventually, he stumbled across a page full of words and drawings.
"Here it is… Angelica's handwriting." Lucifer was flushed in his cheeks for a moment, "Even her handwriting is beautiful… oh, what am I saying? Maybe I'm obsessing too much over her." He decided to read the page, admiring her beautiful handwriting.
To him, it was like reading a holy gospel.
"I don't know how to feel, everything at home has been hard, and the government has been treating me and my family poorly. Reality is cruel, but the best part of my day is being online with my friends, seeing their smiles, and not worrying about the world outside of the game. We play together, tease one another, and have fun. More fun than you would ever have in the real world… that's why I love them dearly." Lucifer was reading her writing, closing his eyes in contentment, "Oh Angelica… someone beautiful as you shouldn't have to suffer this much."
And so, Lucifer continued reading; "Lucifer, Lilith, and Emperor are my closest friends, I don't know what I would do without them. They always make me happy, they always cheer me up when I want to cry or whenever I get angry. They always show care for me when nobody else would—friends like these are what makes life worth living… but, when I think about it, Emperor has always been there for me in the very beginning. He's shown the most care out of anyone else, and he's willing to risk it all, just to see me smile. Honestly, someone like him gets on my nerves sometimes, but I adore him." Lucifer slowed down his reading, widening his eyes in shock, "…What is she saying? Angelica… are you saying that I don't make you happier than Emperor?"
Lucifer frowned, continuing to read the journal; "Somebody like Emperor is the type of person I would fall in love with, but honestly… that's pretty gay, like really gay. Not that being gay is a bad thing, but… oh what am I saying? Forget it. I don't even know why I'm writing this, maybe I feel some type of way. But besides that, life in this world is great. I only wish it was reality sometimes." Lucifer closed the notebook, dropping it to the ground, "This whole time… Angelica was in love with someone else. Sh-She lied to me… she… betrayed me…" He fell to his knees, lowering his head, "…I'm not good enough for her… I'll never be…"
[PRESENT TIME]
"You idiot! Why didn't you take the notebook away from him!? You said you saw him hold it when he walked out of my tent, so why didn't you snatch it away?!" Angelica was holding me by the collar, glaring at me in rage.
"…I didn't know if it was your journal or not, so I didn't wanna be so pushy about it."
"Pushy?! He walked out of my tent holding something in his hand, shouldn't that be more than enough proof that he stole something?!"
Well… she was right.
"So, you stayed in the game and pretended to log off, right? You apparently heard everything by using the 'Ears of the Emperor', realizing that Lucifer was reading my personal stuff."
"Yeah, that's exactly right."
SMACK!
Angelica slapped me, crossing her arms in annoyance.
"What I said in my journal is just the mindset of some lost soul who doesn't know what they're yet. We all have those problems, and I'm sure you experienced them as well."
"I have. Why do you think I'm not teasing you about it?" I responded, snickering.
"So in conclusion… you're assuming Lucifer despises me, because I quote on quote, had feelings for you? Is that it?"
"That's the only logical conclusion I can give you at the moment. After we made our way back to the Main Lobby, Lucifer departed from us. He left without telling any of us why, and said 'I have to find my own journey'. You and Lilith asked him what he meant by that, but he gave us no context. He just left our party."
"So you knew why Lucifer left this entire time? Why didn't you tell anybody, Emperor?"
"Because if I did… you would've felt bad and put the blame on yourself. I didn't wanna see you put yourself down. My friend's smiles are most important to me."
"But Lucifer was your friend as well!"
"Yes, but there was nothing I could do to help Lucifer. What he does now is only his choice! He must grow and realize that having your heart broken is the way of life."
"…Lucifer… I didn't know…" Angelica murmured, giving a deep sigh, "If I ever run into him, I'll try to talk it out. We can't continue being enemies over some grudge from the past."
"Hey, while you two are talking to each other, can someone please stop Mona from trying to molest me?!"
Mona had crimson pinned on the ground, biting his neck in a seductive manner, and wiggling her butt side to side.
"C'mon, this isn't funny at all! Get off me you perverted bitch!"
"Pfft, bahahaha!" Angelica started laughing.
I couldn't help but do the same.