30 Vol 1. pt. 30 Patch 6.0: The Voyage South (1/2)
”Serra?” Cassandra asks.
Both of the girls just blink at one another.
Sure, Serra might have come here expecting to see Fenrir and Oleander, but she didn't expect to see Cassiel!
She nods her head and pulls out her phone to type a message for the other woman to read. Once it's typed, she holds the phone up for Cassandra to read with one hand while pointing to her ear with the other.
”You're deaf? Shit, sorry, you probably…” Cassandra pauses when Serra shakes her head, taking the phone back to type another message. Serra holds the phone back up. ”You can read lips? Good. Sorry, but I don't know the first thing about sign language. Anyways, I'm surprised that Franky over there even let you in with how… tiny you are.”
Serra pouts and huffs, bringing her phone back to type in a very offended message!
Cassandra looks at the phone again. ”Sorry, but no matter how you look at it, you're small. Anyways, nice to meet you offline I guess. I've heard of people meeting up with friends they make online but never this soon.” She shrugs. ”Can I get you anything? The other waitress had to go, so I'm in charge of the booths now.”
Serra looks over to where the two men were. She's not much of a drinker and usually only ever comes here for the food, and very rarely at that. Without her totally-not-stalking-targets here, she doesn't have another reason for being here. But, if she leaves now without even having anything right after meeting Cassiel, she'll feel bad.
Cassandra looks at the screen. ”A hard cider? That'll be right up,” Cassandra says, turning to leave but then she looks back at Serra. ”By the way, if you tell any of those guys about this, I'm going to throw you overboard.”
The serious expression is enough to make Serra gulp. She figures that now probably wouldn't be the best time to tell her about how she's already met them in reality.
…
”Fuck, my head – why can't I move?” Ryouta grumbles, the scent of liquor on his breath reminding him why he feels the way he does.
He looks down and sees himself tucked into the bed with extreme tightness. It feels like he's been wrapped up in a straightjacket!
Fortunately, with enough wiggling, he breaks free from his tight yet comfy confines and takes a sip of water from the glass on the nightstand next to his bed. A couple of over-the-counter pills are sitting next to it with a note that reads:
For the headache.
Stop being so messy or you're never going to get the wife you always complain to me about not having yet.
You also need to fold your clothes so that they aren't so messy and wrinkled whenever you go out. You can't just leave them sitting in the bin after washing them.
Thanks for the fun night and giving me a break from school.
P.S. I did lewd things to you in your sleep.
Ryouta can't help but laugh. Spencer is too good of a friend. This is what happens every single time, and he always feels horrible for never getting to do anything similar for him. ”Sorry for making you take care of me, Spence,” Ryouta says to himself.
He pops the pills into his mouth and washes them down with the provided water. Next thing he does is get a look at just how much Spencer did for him.
Every single room in his house has been cleaned from the entrance to his bathroom. Everything has been dusted off, any messes on the floors have been cleaned up, all garbage is gone, his clothes have either been neatly folded or hanged in his closet, and--to really prove just how perfect of a wife Spencer would be--even his keyboard has been cleaned out of any stray hairs and food crumbs that have gotten stuck underneath its keys.
”Fucking waifu tier, man. Why do you have to have a dick?” Ryouta says. ”You're going to make me regret turning you down back then.”
There is no way that Ryouta can not take care of himself for the day after everything Spencer did for him. So, after eating breakfast, he actually does his dishes. Then he even showers, and brushes his teeth, and – and… combs his hair!
”Yeah, that's enough of that for a month or two.”
Something has been bothering him ever since his headache went away and he's had a chance to recall last night's events. There is something that he just… feels like he should be remembering, but doesn't. There was that blonde with the really great chest who looked like Cassiel, that girl who looked like Serra, and Spencer carrying him around. What else?
Oh.
He looks at his right hand. There's a couple of small bandages on it.
That's right, he punched a guy!
Time to internally regret everything he did.
”You stupid idiot, now we're not going to be allowed back! Guess I can use the rest of my savings for plastic surgery, maybe that'll fool them.”
Though, as much as he wishes he could find a way to get back into the bar, he can't really regret what he did when he remembers why he did it. He may not be able to remember exactly what the man did to deserve getting punched in the face, but he knows that the man made the wannabe Cassiel almost cry in front of everybody which is enough reason to—
Wait a second.
Was that Serra he saw?
Before he went into the bathroom last night and only landed half of his stream in the urinal, he recalls making eye contact with some girl at a booth outside of it and staring at her like a deer about to get splattered by a self-driving semi.
She looked exactly like Serra. Everything from her hair to her eyes and her petite figure was the same. He also knows that Serra lives in this city and apparently looks the same way both in-game and in real life.
It must have been a coincidence, right?
No, that had to be her. There is no way that it wasn't her. Even Ryouta knows that there are only so many coincidences occurring in reality at once. She already lives in the same city as him by coincidence, so there is no way that another coincidence is happening where she has a doppelganger also living in this city that he just so happened to have met.
That's just too unbelievable. If something as crazy as that were to happen, he would have to begin believing that he's the main character of some sort of cliché anime-esque romance novel full of unbelievable coincidences and… wait, if that's the case, doesn't that mean there will be scenes like being on the beach with cute girls wearing swimsuits getting assaulted by fanservice-y tentacle monsters, visits to hot springs, and plenty of wardrobe malfunctions?
If only.
Ryouta shakes his head, trying to figure out what he was thinking about in the first place.
Right, he punched a guy and saw Serra. At least Serra won't know that it was him. She'll probably just think that he's some crazy drunk guy whom decided to stare at her before going to the bathroom.
He sits down at his computer and opens up Fiscord.
>HushedVoice: I saw you at the bar last night! After hearing you guys say that you were going to a bar close to me, I couldn't resist going there myself to see if it was true. I realized how silly it was when I remembered that I have no idea what you look like… but the picture you sent in the group chat, which I think you did by accident, helped me find you! I really
>HushedVoice: AHH I HIT ENTER I DIDN'T MEAN TO, I WASN'T EVEN GOING TO SEND THAT I WAS JUST TYPING IT TO GET IT OUT OF MY SYSTEM, I SWEAR I'M NOT LIKE A STALKER oR ANYTHING I WAS JUST REALLY CURIOUS AND I'M SORRY PLEASE DON'T THINK I'M CRAZY. WHY CAN'T I DELETE MY LAST MESSAGE? WHY ISN'T THERE A DELETE BUTTON? I SHOULD BE ABLE TO JUST HIGHLIGHT MY MESSAGE AND THEN BACKSPACE!
…
…
Oh.
He looks at the group chat to take his mind off of what he just learned.
>Viktor's Favorite Slut: cant play today
>Viktor's Favorite Slut: just keep going south
>Viktor's Favorite Slut: even u should be able to handle it @TheMemeStruggle
>Viktor's Favorite Slut: u showed me last night just how good you are at handling thingsSerra Berra: Lewd o///o
”Spence, please,” Ryouta groans.
He returns to the direct message conversation with Serra.
>TheMemeStruggle: Sorry about last night! I saw you and I should have said hi, but I was really drunk and needed to go to the bathroom. Then I guess I forgot afterward. Hope you didn't think I was ignoring you.
He picks up his headset to head over to his bed, but Serra replies in her typical quick fashion.
>HushedVoice: It's okay! I'm just happy that you don't think I'm like a crazy stalker or anything like that. You don't think I'm like that, do you? I swear I'm not! I guess it was inappropriate of me to go there knowing that there was a strong chance of seeing you, but – I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gone.