Chapter 575 (2/2)

Tatiana pursed her lips and folded her arms across her chest, but nodded.

Randidly nodded as well, more to himself than her, and then said, “Look, I’ll keep it brief. I… my name isn’t really Baloo Erickson. You probably guessed that. I don’t doubt you did some research on where I served my military duty. But the truth is, I’m from Zone 32. I came over just as it opened, and I’m under a Skill that lets me hide my true appearance.”

Tatiana’s eyes sparkled golden as she watched him. He paused and scanned her face, but couldn’t even extract the smallest bit of impression from her. It was like there was a door inside of Tatiana, and she had closed it. She was blank and ambivalent. So Randidly soldiered forward.

“I should have told you right when you agreed to join me, but I suppose I believed briefly I could truly switch over to being this person. ...It’s become obvious that I was something of a fool for believing I could do that. So… I wanted to explain to you what’s going on. Especially because we…”

Randidly trailed off, suddenly unsure of where he was going with that sentence. But now at least, he had a firmer sense of Tatiana’s reaction, based upon her face; she was pissed off.

She cleared her throat. “Is that all? Do you have anything else to say?”

Randidly blinked. “About the disguise and why I did it? I figured that I wouldn’t get access to the drone blueprints if it was known I was from a different Zone. A disguise solved that problem, and people were wandering in from the borderlands every day. It worked out well-”

“Not the details of your plan,” Tatiana said through gritted teeth. “Perhaps something that you wanted to say after reflecting on your actions.”

Again, Randidly considered this. “...honestly, mostly that it was dumb to make the fake identity be a few inches shorter than my real height. It’s very disconcerting to have people constantly looking at your mouth-”

“IDIOT!” Tatiana exploded. “Just apologize.”

Now her emotions seemed to gush forth, and Tatiana balled her hands into fists and glared at Randidly.

For his part, Randidly frowned slightly. “Yea, you are right. This is my fault. I apologize. But it was necessary, I hope you understand that.”

A lot of her sadness disappeared at the apology, but the anger stayed. “Maybe you believed it was necessary, but it was a lie, Baloo. Or whatever I should fucking call you. You betrayed the trust of the people around you.”

“Look, I get how you feel-” Randidly began, but Tatiana cut him off.

“No, I get how you think that you were in the right. Or even if you were in the wrong, it was a small thing that can be brushed away with inane reassurances. But it can’t. You only have one chance with trust. It’s fragile. This isn’t a rom…. A movie, this is real life. If you want to make up for this, it will take a long time.”

Randidly’s temper flared. Every time he apologized, she seemed to attack more. So maybe instead of apologizing, he should attack her. It seemed very ironic to him that the woman who worked as an escort, no matter how high end, would lecture him on trust.

But as soon as he had that thought, Randidly felt his temper fizzle out. That was… unfair of him to say. Just like Tatiana was being unfair in her characterization of things. So instead of speaking all of the vicious little remarks that his anger had created, he let them go, and looked at Tatiana. “...Tatiana, what are you afraid of?”

She stopped too, seeming abruptly exhausted. After a bit, the corners of her mouth came up into a crooked smile, and she barked out a hollow laugh. “That kid Nathan just upgraded my Class. I don’t know how he did it, I just sat there and daydreamed, and then… and then it was done. Everything… everything since I’ve met you has been accelerating. It was easy to agree, and now I’m just wondering what I have bound myself to. The things that happen around you… they shouldn’t be possible.”

Randidly laughed, and Tatiana shook her head helplessly.