The night was awkward after that.
They had to speak to Justin, who was just returning from his meeting with his Party Members when he saw them in that corner.
As expected, he poked jokes at them and tried to probe further into what they were doing alone in the dark, but none of them answered honestly.
Thankfully, Justin only caught about a second of it, so he couldn't make any concrete case.
"Well, I hope your Party meeting went well. I'm supposed to rendezvous with them at our Group Room later, so I'm just whiling the time away exploring the city." He explained with a casual smile.
It might have been casual information from his perspective, but both Rey and Alicia received a rude awakening the moment he said this.
'THE PARTY MEETING!'
The had completely lost track of time, and now the meeting was probably over.
Justin, being the perceptive guy that he was, observed their shocked expressions and cocked his head slightly.
"You guys okay?"
"Y-yeahh…" They both muttered, their heads hanging in disgrace.
Who would have thought that Alicia—the stern and disciplined one—and the Extra—who didn't cause trouble for anyone—would be the ones to default in the plan?
Their heads were still spinning as to the consequences of their actions when Justin waved them goodbye.
"Welp! I gotta go now! You people can continue what you were doing back the—ouch!"
A slight jab from Alicia sent him hopping away, hurriedly waving as he ran off in both pain and fright.
"See you guys at the Conquest!"
As both Rey and Alicia heard his last words, they sighed simultaneously. Rey's sigh was louder, though.
'There's no way we can continue now…'
Not only was the mood not right, but they had to deal with their lateness to their respective Party Meetings.
Rey didn't know about Alicia, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't aware that time was passing and that he was supposed to be in his Party Meeting.
However, because of his time with her, he kept pushing it aside. He couldn't even use his Skill to create another duplicate to take his place, since that meant he would be momentarily disconnected from his current clone.
He didn't want to do that with Alicia—especially in the later parts of their evening together.
In the end, he messed up.
"W-well… I guess we better get going to our Party Meeting…" She muttered, causing Rey to slightly nod.
"Mine is in that direction."
"Mine is over there."
Both of them pointed to separate places, which clearly meant they would have to part ways at that particular spot.
The wise thing to do was to dash off, not wasting any time at all, but something about the atmosphere caused their feet to be planted in the ground.
"So… I guess we won't see each other till the Conquest. Maybe even until after."
"Yeah. We won't be able to talk until after."
They both stared away from each other in silence, feeling the awkwardness creep in on their skin.
Perhaps it was just reluctance, but it seemed like neither of them wanted to be the one to say goodbye.
'Damn… how do I…?' Rey swallowed his saliva and clenched his fist.
It wasn't right that they were still delaying despite how precarious their situation was. Before he could be the bigger person and tell Alicia goodnight, though…
"I should go now. Bye Rey!"
… She ran off, almost as fast as the gust of wind.
"B-bye…" He slightly raised his hand while mumbling.
Rey remained like that for a while, soaking in the disappointment that now filled his body at a massive rate.
'I was so close…' He closed his eyes, clenching his fist while his upper and lower teeth grated against each other.
'What will happen now? Will we forget this moment? Will we try it again?'
Rey wasn't sure.
There was one thing he couldn't deny now, though, and that brought him incredible relief.
'Alicia… I'm pretty sure she likes me!'
It made him so happy that he could scream at the top of his lungs in victory.
And that was exactly what he did.
"WOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
Sound Magic blocked anyone else from hearing his thunderous shout of triumph, so he didn't really care how loud he was.
Rey just felt so happy!
'I'll definitely confess to her when we get back.'
He would have preferred doing it after the Conquest, but that time wouldn't be appropriate considering how many moving pieces there would be after everything was over.
'We'll be pretty busy. Plus, the most vital reason is the casualties…'
People were going to die in this Conquest, and he wasn't going to save them. No, it was more like he couldn't.
They chose the path that they desired, so it wasn't like it was his fault at all.
'If I want to cause no casualties, I could just try clearing it myself. Well, maybe with Esme by my side.'
But would that really be the best solution? Was that what the Adventurers wanted, or even needed.
The answer was no.
'A lot of them are going to die, but they wouldn't have it any other way.'
Rey wasn't saying that Adventurers were suicidal who simply desired to die. No, they were simply risk-takers who chose—for various reasons—to walk down a path that could lead to their demise.
'We all die someday. It's just a matter of how and when…'
He couldn't allow himself to be overly concerned with the mortality of the Adventurers in this Conquest, especially since more were going to die after he was gone from the city.
'Let's just stick to the plan…' Rey began walking away. '… And everything should be fine.'
A few more steps forward and he stopped dead in his tracks before swiftly realizing something.
… Something he hadn't thought of before.
Swiftly cupping his two hands around his mouth and nose,he heavily poured out his breath and smelled it.
'No bad breath? Whew…!'
After sighing in relief, he continued down his path.