“Don’t say that. You’re 30, and I’m 21. We live in the same city, and we meet from time to time. We’ll see one another for the next hundred years or so. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to keep our relationship sour for that long. Can you imagine hating someone for a hundred years?”

“Nice words after you insulted me in public.”

“Come on, you know what I said wasn’t completely wrong.”

She flared again.

“You’re still saying that!”

“Wait, let me explain. So what if you’re a bit spoiled or easily angered? Crali, aren’t you the one handling Geola’s daily operations?”

“So what?”

“In other words, you’re pretty much ruling the territory. You could be a tyrant, exploiting the citizens for your profits. You could kill whoever you dislike. You could rape innocent boys if you wanted to.”

“What are you saying! Why would I ever do that!”

“My point exactly. You’re not doing any of these things, or even worse stuff. What’s wrong with having one or two minor flaws compared to those? If I had to say, it’s only making you look cute.”

“What? Cute?”

“Yes. Isn’t that precisely why your mother teases you all the time?”

She stayed silent, her gaze filled with mixed feelings. Eventually, she opened her mouth again.

“What is it you want to say?”

“I didn’t mean anything bad with my words. You could say it was my acknowledgment of your personality. No one’s perfect, after all. We’re all flawed species, me included.”

“Blah blah blah. I know I shouldn’t have listened to you. Lots of honeyed words. It doesn’t change the fact that you insulted me.”

I shook my head.

“I didn’t think you’d take it so strongly. Alright, this was my bad. I apologize. I’m sorry, Crali. Please forgive me.”

My sudden humble attitude took her by surprise. She hesitated for a moment before answering.

“Hmph… Fine. I accept your excuses.”

“Thank you.”

She started eating the food she had chosen from the store's first floor and seemed surprised.

“This isn’t bad.”

“Right? Did you know? These meals are actually cooked by some of this village’s residents.”

“Oh, by bunnies? I didn’t know they were that good at cooking.”

“The food they make is quite popular.”

We continued the meal in silence for some time. When we were done. Crali stared at me again.

“Take me back now.”

“Wait, we didn’t even start talking. Spare me a bit of your time.”

“What more is there to talk about?”

“I just said it, right? I want to get to know you better. What about this? Let’s take turns asking each other a question. We have the right not to answer if we don’t want to. Otherwise, we have to tell the truth. If someone doesn’t answer three times, the discussion ends.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Aren’t you curious about me, too?”

“Not really.”

“The first human you saw in your life, the first person who ever came out of the domes, possessor of a rare affinity, and you’re not curious?”

She only glared at me without denying it, so I concluded.

“Since this was my suggestion, you can start by asking a question first.”

“Hmm… Fine. What’s your rank?”

“4.”

“You’re rank 4? Are you really 21?”

“It’s my turn to ask a question, right?”

She frowned a little at my interruption.

“What do you do in your free time?”

My question caught her off guard. She seemed pensive for a moment.

“I… You'd better keep that a secret, okay? I’ll kill you if you don’t.”

“I swear.”

“Alright… I like… reading romance stories.”

She blushed a little, as if she had uttered something shameful.

“What’s wrong with that? Isn’t that a very nice leisure activity?”

“Really?”

“Of course. Much better than collecting mementos of your victims or other stuff like this.”

“What’s with your examples?”

“Just saying. There are some seriously twisted and weird people out there. In comparison, I like yours a lot. I actually enjoy reading too.”

She looked relieved.

“Really? What do you read?”

“Is that your second question?”

“Ah! No…”

“Fine, I’ll be lenient and answer that one, too. I just happen to have an erotic book author among my acquaintances. They lent me a few of their books, and wow, they were hot!”

“Why do you keep talking about stuff like that!”

“I can share the titles with you if you want. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”

“No thanks!”

“Hahaha! Okay, your turn.”

She breathed hard a few times, sending me a dark glare.

“…How did you rank up so fast?”

“By training hard. Harder than you can imagine.”

“What? That’s all?”

“Let me tell you, I’m pretty confident you’d have suicided by just being submitted to ten percent of what I went through.”

“That bad? Is that how they train people in the domes?”

She didn’t seem to believe me, but I didn’t mind.

“Yes, that bad, so don’t think there’s such a thing as a shortcut.”

“Aren’t you just boasting that you’re a genius?”

“You don’t get it. What I mean is that I reached rank 4 at my age without being a genius. You understand, right?”

This time, she couldn’t help being taken aback. Since she didn’t add anything, I went next.

“My turn. What’s your favorite color?”

“What question is that? It’s green. What kind of spells did you master?”

“I’m not answering that. This isn’t even related to my particularities. What mage would reveal all their spells? You should know better than to ask this.”

“Hmph.”

“What’s your favorite meal?”

“Are you seriously only asking stuff like that? You’re wasting your opportunities. Aren’t you curious about Geola’s secrets, or my mother’s secrets?”

“I am. But, right now, you’re the only one who matters, Crali.”

Her eyes widened as my response startled her. She opened her mouth and closed it a couple of times before finally speaking, a slight blush on her face.

“Ah… Um… Well… I see… Yes.”

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