"Mmm, these noodles are exquisite! Every spice in this dish explodes in my mouth like a flavor bomb. The vegetables are so finely blended that they're practically invisible to the naked eye, yet their taste is undeniably present. And the touch of ketchup elevates it to a dish fit for a five-star hotel's most expensive menu item."
"Um, please keep it to yourself. Even if a so-called VISION like me can't eat—I still feel hungry to some extent just by the sight of food."
"Aha! Isn't it obvious that I'm doing this purposefully? What kind of tasteless sadist would miss the chance to torture the person they trust is responsible for all the misfortunes in their entire life?" I announced while eating elegant street food, sitting on my table. Honestly, I almost felt that I was being mean to him because I was looking down on him—which isn't quite right.
"Well, if you have to blame someone, blame yourself. All your misfortunes are the result of your foolishness and not some beings that don't even exist within the human eye spectrum."
"That's what you think? I see. Well, I just have one question. Answer me, who do you think is responsible for today—a day which was so important for me I'd die for it to become one of the worst days of the last one year?
"Well, that would most certainly be me—I wouldn't deny it. But don't shove all your life's misfortunes to only me."
"But you're the only representative of VISIONs, aren't you? So, you're the only one whom I can hold accountable. Also, you, personally have committed three instances of crime against me, just in a single day. And to be clear, the eight-year-old VISION is on my side—so you can't blame her."
"Huh, I wasn't trying to bring her in, anyway but..."
My long response shut down Johan's super talkative mouth (but in this case his brain) and then cornered himself in my room. He was extroverted—I'll accept that, but he had no talent for debating. Conversely, I expected he'd resist a bit more but in the face of plight, he simply didn't.
His skills of debating were a mere imitation of mine, from what I witnessed. Talk about a meaningless skill. But even I, an introvert possess limitations—which is the very reason why this entire conversation was done through telepathy, and most of it from now on will be too.
It may sound out of context but just moments ago, when I was radiating my malice—I was able to talk to Johan by sending him a telepathic message accidentally. I think it's a skill that I could apply only to VISIONs. So, the VISION constitution needs to be changed, it had to be amended by adding a new rule, I see.
RULE 5: TELEPATHIC CONVERSATION IS POSSIBLE THROUGH THE WILLING OPENING OF THOUGHTS.
"Forget about it, If I were to do it every time, I'd rather just shut my brain and speak only through my mouth from now on," Johan replied with brimming hostility. He didn't like the rules, I see.
"Wait, what? You can't do that!" I exclaimed, trying to transmit the message through telepathy but he seemed unfazed. I think he had literally shut off his brain. Annoying brat.
"...What? Do you want to say something? Then go on, speak as you please, with your puny mouth, that is!"
"Hmph, I prefer not to speak from now on! Let me enjoy my elegant food."
"Boooring! You're boring!" Johan cried out feeling genuine boredom. Cry as long as you want to, I won't speak.
"..."
"By the way, don't you have to change clothes or are you the kind of person who wears their uniform for 5 days straight?" Johan then let out some rude words with an overly cheery attitude, trying to steer the atmosphere in the opposite direction—probably? I'm not good at reading the room.
"Yeah, I forgot about that completely. But don't mind me, it's your forgetfulness which is at fault, it's like a contagious disease—I just caught it and nothing else." I retorted, gunning down his insults.
"Again, blaming me, huh? Stop with that already, you imbecile!" Johan's voice had gained twice the amount of cheeriness and rudeness with the comeback.
"No, I won't. Blaming someone is good for my mental health."
What really has gotten into me, hu? I'm the kind of person who despises uniforms from the bottom of my heart. I don't get a piece of mind until I remove the symbol of 'demolishing individuality' off my body whenever I'm inside my house right away.
Was I truly becoming an imbecile just like Johan said, huh? Well, whatever.
After he didn't reply, I tossed the plastic utensils in the trash bin just outside my room. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to go downstairs again since I already shut the doors and turned off the lights on my way back.
Johan finally hit me with a proper question as I re-entered my room, maybe for the fifth and the final time for today. "I believe that attack, or the violent declaration of war against us was to prevent me from unveiling the secret of my death—and why I wasn't able to access time."
"Us? Not sure about that, but I was certainly the victim."
"Enough with the jokes, you could have died."
"Certainly, if the prince hadn't saved me."
"I appreciate your acknowledgment of me as the prince. But seriously, we need to come up with a solid plan for what's next...."
"See, a little appreciation and you're on the airs. Taking over the charge like a little Bossman, are you?" I teased.
"Ugh! Please build a plan, will you?" It felt like I was getting on Johan's nerves and I loved every bit of it.
"I don't work well with plans, just leave it to me—I've got a specialization in dealing with problems on the spot and if I faint or give up, I'll just rely on you."
"That doesn't sound reliable. Not a single bit."
"I see. Sounds like a you problem. Deal with it."
"..."
The conversation stops with an abrupt break. It was a great time for a time-out—giving me some time to rearrange my silly and serious thoughts.
Not even a minute and I got back to speaking again as I remembered a very important offense against me. "Anyway, what in the world did you find so interesting in my diary?"
"Oh, that? I was just trying to look at the dates but I wouldn't lie by saying I wasn't looking at other meagre mundane details."
"I'll ensure that your mouth will never dare to blabber forever if it calls my melodramatic entries as 'meager mundane' once more."
"I'm genuinely sorry from the bottom of my heart. I swear I'll never repeat such words ever again."
Measly and dishonest words roll out of Johan's mouth as unnaturally as possible. Someone should teach this guy to lie.
"So? How was the result of the invasion of my privacy? Were you able to look at the dates?"
"Not at all, everything looked like it was purposefully blurred out—even the meager mundane details were. But only after the first of July, 2020. I could read everything before that." Johan audaciously replied referring to my diaries as meagre mundane once again. This time I just left him alone as we had a better perspective to analyze.
"1st July 2020!? That was the day I was disallowed from playing basketball at the national level because of an accident. Moreover, that very day, not even a single VISION came to my sight—none whatsoever. It was probably an advanced birthday gift, I guess."
"...Hmm, that definitely sounds fishy—seems like the Charybdis involved, you know?"
How could he know about Charybdis of all things?
Though her existence is perfectly in sync with the mishappenings that occurred that day. As the mythology goes, I'd be Odysseus and the predicament I faced was the infamous water creature —Charybdis.
Similar to the tale, I had this moment where I had to make a tough call during the match—I was given two die-or-die choices: either back off and lose the match in the most embarrassing way possible by not even attempting that insane angle that could break my legs and kick our team out of the finals, or just go for it, even if it meant putting one of my legs on the line, but also securing our spot in the finals.
Either of those choices didn't settle right with me but I had to choose the fate of our team—as the ball was in my hands.
So, I sent off the ball in the air, giving it the maximum accuracy that my hands could have attained at that moment. It was also a farewell to my aspirations and a beloved team which weren't that close, but close enough to call them more-than-acquaintances. Giving them the title of friends wasn't apt.
I don't regret my decision even a little bit but I do feel lonely. Although, they still lost in the finals when I was bed-stricken. Now, it may seem an insignificant sacrifice to some people but for me —the moment I left the ball was a moment of relief.
"Indeed, but the ones I sacrificed weren't my subordinates or teammates but myself."
"But aren't your legs your subordinates?" Johan attacked me in a blind spot.
"No—" And I simply couldn't deny it. I say lies as naturally as I breathe but not to an extent to hurt myself.
It was so very ridiculous that I, of all persons, hadn't thought of that. Did Johan change my perspective of the story entirely? Was I too busy romanticizing that event I'd forgotten to love myself? How plain stupid.
I'm not a person who plans something but I do live on principles... and one of the foremost principles I lived on was to love myself no matter what—even if I did something stupid, even if I lost everything. It's not about being narcissistic—but loving myself is the utmost I can do for myself.
"...Not that you're wrong, but I couldn't think of anything better or worse at that time," I replied with a sense of failure.
"I see. If you can't think of anything then that's okay, don't you agree? It's not like you're a person who can do everything."
Johan was much of a failure in the field of lying, but being straightforward was his forte. His words, though not charismatic, were strong enough to sway my thoughts.
"...Yes," I replied for my brain couldn't think of anything else.
"Well then, the court finds in favor of the defendant. This concludes the matter before the court." Johan proclaimed his victory against the plaintiff audaciously.
"Nonsense! You're still going to be punished for reading them."
"Aw, dang," Johan replied in surprise. How the hell did he think he'd get away with committing such a heinous crime?
I may have overlooked it one time, but what happens once doesn't happen twice with me.
"I hereby impose the penalty of confinement within a sleeping bag replete with insects upon you."
"Noooo! Capital punishment would have been a million times better!"
"You think? I don't have any choice but to give you such a high-class punishment as you're already dead."
"Don't you agree, 8YO?" I asked looking at the camera that lies on my desk.
The VISION in the screen didn't say a word but it did seem to nod in agreement.
"What the hell? Why would you seek a child's opinion on such a weighty matter? And what's wrong with that lame name?"
"Don't call her lame, she would cry!" I said trying not to anger the dead eight-year-old.
"Thine head shall be hewn in the most disastrous manner conceivable," 8YO said with the maximum malice she could muster up with the childish voice. I think her intelligence and appearance were at odds with each other —they were polar opposites.
Also, what came as a surprise was that she spoke, but I was sure she didn't address me—rather it was Johan. She would speak as long as it wasn't me, huh?
Keeping aside all that, seeing her say such still words felt creepy—despite paying heed to her words for almost four years—until the last year, that is.
Also, from what I observed, VISIONs didn't age a single bit—just like 8YO didn't.
And about her name, I didn't want to address her anything aside from her original name as that'd be insensitive on my part. So, I simply used her age to call her.
"Whoa! That's sure a scary kid, let me keep a distance!" Johan interrupted my stream of thoughts by adding fuel to the fire.
However, unlike before, 8YO didn't give a death threat. Perhaps, she had noticed that I'd caught on her voice.
"Hmm, stop it right there— continuing that any further would threaten your existence for real. Her judgment is invalid, so let me confine you in the bag full of bugs." I said.
"Okay. Just do it gently when you confine me." Johan said, almost as if he was ready to face his demise.
"Sure," I said with a cold stoned smile like any executioner would do.
After that, I pull out the sleeping bag from under my bed and then roll Johan inside—after which I zip it fully. The zipper was custom-designed by me so that it covered the entire body —it also meant that there was no escape.
Plus, I'd made it in such a way that it can be only opened from the outside.
After I was done, I looked at the bag from a distance — it looked like a perfectly packed caterpillar, how cute.
"Have a good night with your buddies," I said as I went to my bed and started changing clothes.
"Hmm? Are you changing your clothes right here?"
"What if I do? You got any problems with that?"
"No, but don't you feel uncomfortable with changing clothes in a room with a guy? I thought girls of your age were overly self-conscious."
"Huh, no? You're in a position that is as good as being in a different room. Not even a single strand of your hair can escape that sleeping bag." I continued. "VISIONs can't pass through clothes—as they can't indulge with anything impermanence." Clothes had a much more insignificant life span if we compare them with buildings or walls, I suppose. The logic assuredly went something like that. Who the hell was even making such rules anyway? I'd personally like to meet them and slap their face.
"Then, you'd be an irregularity—a glitch in the matrix," Johan revealed a secret I had been trying to search for years.
"Well yes, but that wasn't why I made this beautiful cage, it was something else—something very uncontrollable."
"...What kind of bizarre experiences would have forced you—a person who always likes to assume control, to design such a sleeping bag?" Johan asked—while I was happy for the fact that he looked at me in a positive light, he shouldn't presume that I'd have no other problems aside from VISIONs.
"To put it simply, it was Pilo. Whenever we had sleepovers, she'd try to sleep on the same bed as me — which I think is enough for a reason to build a jail-like sleeping bag."
"So, you lock her up whenever she comes here for a sleepover!? How could she even keep up with the likes of you?"
"Well, I was the one who had to keep up, you know."
"I-I see."
"Anyway, I'm going to sleep early as I've school tomorrow, so enjoy your stay."
"Wait, am I going to be stuck in this for the entire night?"
"Oh, so you want your prison time to be extended till the day of our date? Fine then, your wish is as good as granted," I announce as I turn off the lights in my room and switch on the AC.
Next, I take a moment to shut down the camera by removing its batteries. The last thing I want is to be awakened by the eight-year-old VISION in the middle of the night.
With a final "good night," I close my eyes and let sleep take over. Despite the violent movements coming from the bag, I pay no attention and slip into a deep slumber.