"I have to admit that Daud's story is suspicious." Hussain pinched his chin as he and I walked through hallways. I told him about my secret meeting with Daud and his untrustworthy backstory with Morgiana. "Still, I don't wanna assume the worst. He's supposed to be a moral paragon, so there's probably a good reason for him to lie."
"I don't know about that. Something's off with Daud, I just can't put my finger on it," I texted.
"Still, I wanna be his friend. I mean, he gave you a chance when almost nobody else in the world would, so we gotta give him the same courtesy."
"And I don't disagree, if only because I wanna figure out what Daud's deal is. Considering how overpowered he is, I wanna make sure he's gonna use his strength responsibly."
"Isn't it great when we're on the same page!" Hussain clapped his hands so hard the building shook. Everyone was looking at Hussain and I with extra vitriol now. A sweat drop appeared on my head while Hussain laughed. "Oh, I'm so excited! Daud's here and we're finally old enough to participate in the Khalid Combat Festival!"
Do I even have to explain the Khalid Combat Festival? It was the typical anime tournament. Students could choose to participate once they hit eighteen years old. They fight in a bracket tourney, and the winner gets public acclaim and guaranteed participation in a future tournament between four different Alchemy schools from four countries.
"There's no way anybody but Daud is gonna win the Festival."
"It's not about winning, it's about having fun!"
"You like fighting so of course you'd find it fun. I just wanna add the recordings of my fights to my portfolio." The Festival was an easy way to show off your skills as an Alchemist to the general public. Performing well meant an easier time getting work after graduating since people knew you were especially competent.
"Doesn't the idea of fighting Daud excite you?"
"He could one-shot either of us by blinking. Why would fighting someone you've got no shot against be fun?"
"It's about the thrill of the fight, not winning!"
"And what thrill would there be in getting knocked out immediately after your opponent farted in your direction?"
"Oh, it'd be so cool if I got wrecked by Daud! Like, I don't even realize what's happened until after I wake up from being unconscious! That'd be sick!" There were sparkles in Hussain's eyes.
"I just hope I don't face him early in the bracket. I want as many chances as possible to show off my skills."
"Same here! I wanna enjoy as many fights as I can before the finale!"
Hussain and I reached our destination, a lecture hall which was about to host the class I shared with Daud. While I was covert about my meeting with Daud, Hussain planned to strut right up to the Djinn King and strike up a conversation with him.
Daud was in his seat, surrounded by other students with whom he was conversing. The way everyone in the room appeared to revolve around him made Daud come off like some prophet or religious icon.
Without even a moment's hesitation, Hussain walked right on over to the holy man.
"Wassup?" Hussain's greeting earned him a barrage of glares that bounced right off him. "You're Daud, right? The name's Hussain! It's good to meet you!"
"Hello." Daud's mouth hung slightly open as he smiled, a sweat drop sliding down his head. "Did you have some business with me?"
"No, I just wanted to talk with you, hang out, all that. I'm actually an old fan of yours from when you were dominating the junior tournament scene. After seeing you on the first day saving that girl, I knew I had to get to know you!"
"I see."
"So when are you free?"
"I'm actually rather busy today, and for the rest of the week." Daud sat back a bit. "Sorry."
"That's alright. How about we swap contact info and you can let me know when you've got free time?"
"I'm not super comfortable with giving out my contact info. You never know what people are planning or who's listening. I don't wanna wake up with an endless sea of spam being sent to my brain."
"I'll just give you my info then. I get a ton of spam already."
"Will you take a hint?" Abriza said. She had been present the whole time, but had blended into the crowd, as did her veiled right hand woman. The usually attention stealing daughter of the president had managed to fade into the background thanks to the light of Daud's presence. "Daud doesn't want to waste his time on a friend of the biggest bitch on campus. He's too amiable to say it to your face."
"But why? If he doesn't want to talk to me, he can say so. I won't be offended, though I'd like a reason why."
"Listen, you aren't wanted here." Abriza got right in Hussain's face, her arms crossed. "Clear out."
"Can't-"
"Silence! My boyfriend won't be intrigued by whatever you could offer."
"It's not an off-wait, boyfriend? You mean Daud?"
"Indeed." Abriza smirked with her cat-like mouth, her head tilting back so she could look down her nose at Hussain. "He's quite the catch."
When Abriza turned around and winked at Daud, he smiled at her.
Now I knew something was up with Daud. In the anime, he was the stereotypical anime protagonist that was too awkward to properly reciprocate the feelings of any of his harem's members until maybe the very end of the light novels with the main waifu. There was no way in hell that he'd start straight up dating Abriza.
The Daud in front of me was fundamentally distinct from the Daud from the anime.
Even the way Daud was behaving towards Hussain was suspicious. While Hussain was certainly coming on way too strong, the eternal nice guy Daud of the anime would still give Hussain a chance to hang out. This Daud clearly didn't want to hang out with Hussain, or at least he didn't want to promise anything in front of other people.
I was reminded of how, when Daud met up with me in the alley, he initially suggested we talk somewhere private. He framed it as him being concerned that I'd be harassed, but it was possible he didn't want to be seen with me just like he didn't seem to want to be seen with Hussain. Perhaps he feared ruining his reputation.
That said, it was also possible that, like with me, Daud would be okay with hanging out with Hussain if it was in private or in disguise.
It was hard to get a read on whether this Daud was a good person or not. While he was potentially prioritizing his reputation over giving everyone a chance, it was hard to blame him given the consequences of being associated with me. He was dating Abriza, who wasn't exactly nice, but she wasn't necessarily acting at her cruelest while around him given she wanted him to like her.
"Now then. Please, Hussain, I know you and Scheherazade are lacking shame, but I hope you have enough to know when to make a graceful exit." Abriza gave me the side eye.
"Let's go," I texted Hussain. "There's no way you're getting anywhere with Daud while Abriza's here."
"Fine." Hussain waved at Daud. "I'll talk to you another time, bro."
Daud's mouth forced itself into the most neutral expression possible.
Hussain and I left the building. As we were flying off on Hussain's golden motorcycle, I texted him.
"So you noticed Daud's off, right?"
"Yeah, he isn't how he was in the anime! His behavior's all off!"
"It's the little things."
"Totally, and they're piling up!"
"But I can't think of a logical explanation for why he'd be acting differently from the show."
"Maybe he's an imposter!"
"He's too overpowered to be some imitation, and why would someone impersonate him? Hell, where would the real Daud be if the Daud we've met is a fake?" My head tilted to the side.
"That's true. Then I've got nothing!"
A fake Daud. That idea stuck with me.
The Daud I had met wasn't acting like the Daud from the anime, and it couldn't have been the actions of Hussain or myself that changed him.
Hussain and I's influence.
The influence of two outsiders to this world.
I moved one step further back in my thought process, and thought of a possibility that could explain Daud's behavior completely.
At that moment, I received a text from Daud.
"Sorry about before. I kinda panicked when Hussain started talking to me. I figured the fact we spoke in disguise last time meant we wouldn't talk openly, so I wasn't sure what to do when Hussain approached so casually. Part of me thought Hussain might not have known you wanted to keep things private. I didn't want to upset you. This isn't me blaming Hussain. I'm the one at fault for overthinking things."
My desire to confront Daud about my questions caused me to start writing a text directly asking them, but I deleted it when I noticed my impulsivity.
"It's okay. Hussain couldn't read a room if it were an audiobook."
"I still feel bad. I should have stuck up for you two when Abriza started being rude."
"Speaking of Abriza, you're dating her?"
"Yeah. I heard she's not the nicest to you."
"She tricked me and my friends into getting sent to detention the same day you met her."
"Really? I'm not gonna say you're lying. She's been really nice with me, but that doesn't mean she can't have a cruel side she's hiding. I'll confront her about it."
"She'll lie or say we deserve the harassment. Listen, can we talk in person again? I've got a question to ask and it feels kinda weird to ask you it over text." It'd be easy for Daud to evade answering honestly if he had the time to think out a response. Also, I wanted to be able to read his facial expression.
"Sure thing. Want to use disguises while in public again?"
"Yeah."
"The aquarium sound good?"
"That's good. I'll talk to you then."
"See you then. Sorry again for earlier. Tell Hussain I'm sorry."
"Will do."
It was as we arrived outside the Salt dorm that I told Hussain about my conversation with Daud just a moment ago, as well as my theory as to why Daud was different from his anime self.
"That makes so much sense! Ah, how didn't I think of that earlier! You're so smart!"
"Thanks for the compliment, but it's still kind of a guess."
"Still, it makes sense!"
Hussain and I went to the room I shared with Morgiana and Badroulbadour. When we entered the main space, I heard a harsh "Out."
Morgiana stood up from her bed and pointed towards the door. Badroulbadour was on the floor, petting Pan Hu with her head pulled down, mouth stretched wide, and teeth grit.
"I guess somebody already posted online that I talked with Daud." Hussain scratched his cheek.
"Out. This is my room and I don't want you in it."
"B-"
"You prioritized trying to make a new bestie over trusting me. Out." Morgiana's muscles flexed.
"I'm not gonna say you don't have a right to be upset, but you know Hussain trusts you. He's more trusting than anybody else," I texted.
"Scheherazade, you're on the thinnest ice here for helping Hussain meet Daud. The only reason I haven't kicked you out is because you didn't choose to share a class with that fuck, and you haven't talked to him yourself."
An impulse born of my ADHD and a pang of anger made me text something I instantly regretted.
"You're a hypocrite. You're complaining about trust when you don't even trust us enough to say what Daud did. It's not fair."
Badroulbadour let out a gasp so quiet it was barely audible.
Hussain coughed.
My toes curled.
Morgiana's muscles bulged against her skin, as did her veins. Instead of her body shaking with anger as I expected, Morgiana became still as a statue. Her eyes were as wide as they could get.
The air became thick.
"I'm sorry," I texted, which caused Morgiana to jolt slightly. She closed her eyes.
Silence lingered.
Badroulbadour, Hussain, and I all exchanged looks of worry.
"I'm sorry." Morgiana shot those words as fast as possible before she ran out of the apartment.
None of us left in the room knew how to react. Morgiana stood her ground against Adil to save Bezabeh all those years ago, she regularly broke Academy rules, defied her family, and yet she apologized before fleeing at my accusation of hypocrisy. The contrast from how she normally acted was disquieting.
My words had hurt Morgiana.
I took my regrets to bed with me that night. Morgiana hadn't returned before I fell asleep, nor was she back the next morning.
Hussain and Badroulbadour decided to go look for Morgiana. I wanted to join them, but I had several classes that day, and afterward was my meet-up with Daud. My guilt increased as it was what I said that sent Morgiana away and now I was doing nothing to help find her.
The campus aquarium's exterior resembled a giant coral reef painted white. I arrived wearing the same veil of ice I wore the last time we talked in public. Since I only used it once, it wasn't likely that anyone had seen through my disguise yet.
Daud stood in the lobby, and he wore the same disguise as last time as well. He combed his fingers through his silver coated hair and adjusted his shades as he walked over to me.
"Hey."
"Hello," I texted.
"I'm sorry again about how things went with Hussain." Daud rubbed the back of his head.
"Don't worry about it. Hussain doesn't care."
We meandered through the aquarium, passing by tanks both large and small that were full of various forms of sealife, from octopods, to rays, to sharks, to crustaceans, to starfish, to whales, to turtles, and more. Dim blue light was all that illuminated the dark halls.
"What did you want to ask me?" Daud said.
"I feel like I should ease into the question more, but I can't think of an actual reason to do so. Daud, are you a human from Earth who died and was reincarnated in this world?"
Daud opened his mouth, only for no words to come out. He clicked his tongue and chuckled.
"Yeah. I'm gonna guess that you're in the same boat."
"You guessed right."
"And here I thought I was special." Daud's hand clenched into a fist for a second.
"There's only three of us, so I'd say we're still pretty special."
"Three of us?"
"Hussain's also from Earth."
"Was that why he wanted to talk to me? Did you two already know I was from Earth?"
"No, I figured it out afterward. There were all these little differences between you and the Daud portrayed by the anime, and they couldn't be explained as being the result of some butterfly effect from my and Hussain's actions. The only explanation I could think of was that you and the Daud from Al-Kimiya were fundamentally different people."
"How perceptive. So you've seen the show."
"Yeah. I hated it."
"I liked it, though I don't remember it super well. I watched a lot of anime like it and they all blend together." Daud shrugged.
"You mean action-fantasy-harem anime?"
"Nailed it."
"And isekais and stuff? Series with worlds that follow RPG mechanics and protagonists that are super overpowered?"
"I like power fantasies." Daud shrugged again. "They were a fun distraction from my day to day life."
"What was your original life like?"
"I was a normal guy. I lived in England. My old name was Lewis Adams. I lived a standard, middle class life, though I was a loner since I wasn't exactly handsome. Most of my free time was spent in my bedroom, watching anime and playing video games. Then, when I was twenty-two and feeling really depressed, I drank myself to death. Now I'm here."
"And how has it been for you since?"
"Like heaven," Daud trilled. "My first life was empty, but now I'm strong, attractive, popular, and life's fun all all the time. I'm living the isekai dream."
"I wish I was too." I sighed.
"Oh, sorry, that was really tone deaf of me." Daud held up his hands. "I know things clearly aren't the greatest for you."
"Don't worry about it. I'm no stranger to speaking without thinking. It was practically my trademark in my first life."
"Speaking of, what was your old life like?"
I proceeded to update Daud on my tragic first life and potentially even more tragic second life up to that point.
"Christ." Daud avoided eye contact. "You've been through it. But you've survived it all. That's good."
"A lot of people didn't though, because I decided to spark a revolution."
"And you made Alf-Laylah wa-Laylah better for way more people, including all the people who will be born in the future."
I didn't respond. No matter how the conversation continued, there was no convincing me that I couldn't have handled taking down the Sultanate more intelligently.
Now I wanted to ask Daud about his past with Morgiana. His previous explanation of his behavior hinged on him having been an immature child when he mistreated Morgiana, but now I had reconfirmed that wasn't true.
But I was afraid of how Daud would react if I asked again. We were in public, so he probably wouldn't do anything drastic if he reacted poorly to my interrogation, but I could make an enemy of him if I handled things wrong. Considering my history of shoving my foot so far into my mouth that it came back out my ass, I decided to wait on asking about Daud's history with Morgiana again until I could think of the best way to broach the topic.
"How long did it take you to get used to everything looking like an anime?" Daud put his hands in his pockets.
"You're assuming that I ever got used to it. Seeing people's faces deform into exaggerated cartoon expressions every time something theoretically funny happens is something I'm always anticipating when I see people talk now."
"People's heads turning giant when they're mad scared me for a long time."
"I got scared every time I felt my ahoge move." I pointed at my ahoge and on cue it began to wiggle like a worm.
"How much control do you have over that thing?"
"It's basically a fifth limb for me. I could stab someone with it if I wanted to." The tip of my ahoge twinkled as it thrust into the air like a rapier. "But most of the time it just moves on its own according to my emotions like a dog's tail."
"All my hair does is allow me to see even when it covers my eyes completely. I feel robbed."
"Says the most overpowered dude in Underworld."
"Yeah, I should be grateful I wasn't reborn as a jobber."
"Like Hussain?"
"He managed to get decently strong despite that based on the rumors I've heard."
"That's because he loves training and fighting like a shonen manga protagonist. Plus, Hussain in the anime was stated to be of above average strength, it's just that he was nothing compared to any major character."
"I really hit the jackpot, huh? I get to be the main character of a story made to cater to me." Daud grinned wide.
"In theory. I was supposed to be the main heroine, but now I'm public enemy number one. What our characters were in the original plot doesn't seem to matter much."
"You might still be the main heroine, just one with a more tragic backstory."
"Do you think we're still in a story? This feels more like a world with genuine dynamism rather than a plot with 'main characters'."
"You say that, but we still managed to meet like Daud and Scheherazade did in the anime."
"Not exactly like they did in the anime. You didn't walk in on me in my underwear." I shivered at the thought of being forced into such a contrived and uncomfortable scenario.
"My point is that we're…significant, if only because we're powerful." Daud began gesticulating as he spoke. "Hell, you changed the trajectory of history by inciting a revolution, so there's no way you can act like you're not special. The fact we were reborn at all makes us special."
"There are things that make everybody stand out, which means everyone is special if you think about it."
"Obviously, but our situation is a bit different from someone being a really good cook or something. You should take pride in that."
"I don't care about being special. I simply want my friends and family to be happy."
"You really are a good person."
"Am I?"
"Most people say they care about their loved ones more than anything, but really they care about themselves, even if they aren't aware of it. You cared about helping not only your loved ones, but all the citizens of Alf-Laylah wa-Laylah to the point that you caused a revolution. I know I keep bringing the revolution thing up, but most people wouldn't have been able to do what you did. Even if it didn't work out perfectly, the fact you tried to save this country and put yourself at risk is a sign of how genuinely kind you are."
"To be fair, the risk I put myself through was less due to a willingness to be self-sacrificing and more to due with my own inability to think through the consequences my actions would have."
"You can keep looking at things pessimistically. I know you're a good person." Daud gave me a big grin.
"I'm not convinced, but I appreciate the effort. Thank you." I smiled under my veil.
We continued to talk as we enjoyed the aquarium. It was fun. Daud acted chill and nice. He also wasn't behaving as 'generically pleasant' as the anime Daud, at least not anymore. I assumed that he was imitating the anime Daud around people in order to properly play the role of the overpowered anime protagonist he wanted to be.
"What's your snake's name?"
"A Half Empty Can of Corn."
"What?" Daud turned from the crab he was looking at to me.
"Ever since I was a kid, I always named things after random stuff around me. There was a half empty can of corn nearby when I adopted my snake, so I named him after it. Can you tell I used to be really into 'LOL, so random' humor?"
"We've all got quirks we're ashamed of. I get pissed when people say tuna fish."
"Why?"
"Because it's redundant! Tuna's a kind of fish! It's not like there are tuna that are birds! Saying tuna fish is like saying 'water liquid' or 'politician prick'!" Daud's arms flailed with fury.
I giggled.
Daud exhaled. He looked around.
We were walking through a shark tunnel that bathed us in an even more vibrant blue than the rest of the aquarium.
"There are no cameras or anything here, and we're alone right now. All the other people in the building are far away." Daud removed his disguise, his eyes once again covered by his black bangs rather than silver sunglasses.
"What are you doing?" I texted.
"Could you take off your disguise for a second? Trust me, I'm going somewhere with this."
I paused. I could tell based on the positions of all the oxygen and hydrogen atoms in the air where things were and were not, and I couldn't sense any gaps in the air that were shaped like a person or a recording device. It was unlikely that Morgiana would find out I spoke with Daud if I revealed myself, but I still felt a twisting sensation in my gut.
"Can't you tell me why you want me to remove my veil?"
"I'd like you to trust me."
There were still questions I had about Daud, so trusting him blindly was difficult. That said, he had been nice up until now, and putting my trust in Badroulbadour had worked out when she tortured me in my room all those years ago.
My veil vaporized.
Before I could even ask why Daud wanted us to remove our disguises, his face went right up to mine.
Our lips connected.