"Ok, I'm in." Paige thought she would have to talk him into it, but the magic of the female worked just fine.
"What was that about the blood?"
"Ah that, yes. This isn't my body...." Instead of continuing to suppress, she just let herself tremble in front of him. It would often happen in the future, and she didn't mind. It was easier this way for her, too.
"When possessing the character, not all body functions go online at once. This time it should be the blood circulations..." She herself was staring at her wound in wonder; the band-aid was already down and the wound started to close itself slowly.
He abruptly met her eyes. "Then who are you?"
"Paige, 34 years old. A shut-in." She gritted her teeth as her body shuddered involuntarily again—information about herself was difficult to share. The system liked her to pay a price a little higher than it was visible at that moment, but she was resolved to be absolutely honest with the male lead.
"34? Wow.... so you will go to school again." He commented, feeling unaccustomed to looking at a clear teenager but meeting the eyes of a grown woman.
She answered resignedly, "And act in much drama with you and the female lead..."
"And a Hikikomori nonetheless. Why did the system choose you?" He raised an eyebrow, feeling a light anticipation for the upcoming drama she had mentioned.
"I don't know." She felt her temperature going higher and felt the fever approaching. In the System space, she was warned about each punishment step, and disclosing about oneself was nearly the highest punishment possible. Paige knew that it was time to let the system wreak havoc on her body, so she sped the talk up. "In your wallet is a credit card; use it to buy everything you need." The system didn't just arrange her financial situation; the original body was rich too. So she had more than enough.
"Of course you can come and go without the need to tell me anything. Though, I would like to ask you to be here in the evening before school starts, in about a month. I would like to go over the first few scenes with you. Is that okay with you?"
He slowly nodded, observing her increasingly heated face. Again with this strange politeness. She didn't appear to be asking for a favor, nor did she look as if she were feeling superior; just a dry, polite exchange between colleagues.
She propped herself up with difficulty, throwing the yogurt cup in the trash can while dragging her body upstairs. Not really there anymore through the fever, she said in the same way she did in the afternoon, "Don't worry, everything will be fine. You are already registered in the school, and it's just a bit of acting."
Lance thought that the whole thing sounded really like little effort coming from her; meanwhile, it was she who had been tormented by the system the whole day.
"Good night." She mumbled, disappearing again from his sight.
He was a bit overwhelmed by the information he received today. Everything here was a story, with conscious and unconscious actors acting out a play. It wasn't clear to him why he was chosen to be born in this world. But he felt a bit thankful for having a rich, non-whiny team member by his side. Though this team member was somewhat older than he thought and was nearly passing out from the invisible force manipulating her.
He wasn't the least bit interested in some romance story, apparently neither that much in his rich parents nor that prestigious school. What he really wanted was enough to eat. Then, when he had enough to eat, he really wanted to find the men who had kidnapped him when he was a child and have a little fun with them. And he seemed to reach each of his goals by remaining here, so why not.
He had long let go of unrealistic dreams, but now it seems he could let loose a bit.