14 It isn't a date.

I am currently sitting in a restaurant, waiting for my order to arrive. However, I am not alone. Far from it, in fact.

I am with a girl. Evangeline to be exact.

'Shit... I asked her to join me on a meal purely on whim! I don't have any idea what I'm supposed to talk to her about!', I thought.

She was looking outside the window to see people walking past the restaurant.

"Wow, those two look so good together!"

"I know right?!"

"Man! I'm fucking jealous!"

I could hear whispers coming from all directions, directed towards us.

No one could tell that the girl with me was Evangeline, thanks to her covering her eyes with sunglasses, but she couldn't hide her irresistible body. She really did look like a seductive vampire, to be honest.

"So, you like ice cream, huh?", I broke the silence.

"...Yeah...", she sounded listless.

'Is she bored?'

"Thinking about something?", I asked again.

"Yeah..."

"Okay, I'm taking my order home, then."

"...hmm... WAIT! NO! Don't go!"

"Then don't just sit there in silence, its uncomfortable for me."

"Urgh... Sorry..."

"So, what were you thinking about?"

There was a few seconds of silence. Then she suddenly turned away her head and asked,

"Promise me you won't laugh..."

"... I promise."

"I...I w-was thinking about... if y-you would even l-like the g-gift I gave you...", she turned beet-red.

'what the fuck? that's what she was worried about?'

"Should I open it now and give you my reaction?"

"N-NO! Don't open it now! Go home and then open it!"

"Why?"

"Cause it's embarrassing!"

'wait... what is this?'

"Pffft... 'iTs eMbArRaSsInG!' Pffft... HAHAHA"

"SH-SHUT UP! DON'T YOU DARE MOCK ME!"

"I'm not mocking you, I swear! Its just that the way you said that, it was so funny!"

'Am I having fun right now?'

"MMPPHH! You jerk!", she pouted.

"Okay, okay, sorry! I won't... Pfftft... laugh anymore...", I barely controlled my laughter and apologized.

After that little exchange, we started talking about random things. She was mostly keen on asking me more about how I got 1st place in the written exams. I answered her quite vaguely, saying 'I just study extremely hard. And, I am more talented than you.'

She would get angry for a spilt second after hearing these stupid reasons, but quickly calmed herself down.

"But... that 'skill' of yours... its quite powerful, isn't it?"

"Skill?"

"The weight manipulation skill you used on me..."

"Oh, right. Yeah. I guess it is quite powerful. Its perfect for an Energy Mage such as myself. I can easily run away from danger, or support my allies, if I have any."

"Yeah... But, where did you get such a perfect skill? also, if you had used that skill in the practical exams, wouldn't you have gotten a much higher grade?"

"uhhh, yeah... I could've done that... But I didn't because that skill could make the lunatic wizards target me and potentially turn me into a lab rat..."

Evangeline frowned hearing this.

"Why are you afraid of some stupid wizards? the school's staff will take care of them if they try to harm you!"

'she's still so naive...'

"I don't just stay inside the school, but leave its premises too, dumbass. I have personal business to attend to off-campus..."

"Oh, right... Wait! Did you just call me a Dumbass?! How Dare you!"

"Maybe if you were smarter and thought before you said anything, I would have called you something else?"

"Mmmmph! You are so rude!", she pouted again.

'why is it so much fun to tease her like this?'

"Haha! Sorry about that. I didn't mean it! Seriously! You're definitely not a dumbass. You're a Smartass!"

"Again! Stop that!"

"Hahaahaha... sorry, its just so much fun to tease you..."

'oh, shit... what did I just say?'

Evangeline turned beet red again.

"Y-y-you.... YOU IDIOT!!!", she shouted.

Everyone looked at us for Evangeline's behavior and loud mouth.

"Uhh, continue what you were doing, people... nothing to see here...", I told the customers and tilted my gaze back to Evangeline, who was now almost tearing up.

'Shit... did I go too far?'

"I'm sorry, Evangeline... I truly am. I didn't mean it. I didn't think about how you would feel about getting teased like that... I won't do it again.", I bowed my head.

'wait, why the fuck am I apologizing to her? wasn't she the one who tailed me without my permission?'

"...I-It's fine! I overreacted, so I apologize as well...", Evangeline apologized to me as well as the other customers.

"Sir, Madam, your order is here.", a waiter interrupted us by giving us our orders.

"Thank you.", I thanked the waiter and started eating.

"Eat up. We need to get back to school too."

"Y-yeah. okay."

...

After we had finished eating, we left the restaurant and reached the Skyrail Station.

On the train, Evangeline had fallen asleep on my shoulder and I was left alone with my thoughts.

'This version of Evangeline is so much more different than the original... I wonder why...'

Its true. The Evangeline currently sleeping on my shoulder was completely different from the Evangeline in the novel. In the novel, she would be busy trying to build up a scheme to sabotage the main cast. She would then get in the way of Sophia and even try to seduce Julian into being hers. It ultimately didn't work, though, as Julian was actually 10 years older than her mentally, and only saw her as a kid. Julian had a debt to repay to Sophia, so he helped her out of the mess caused by Evangeline.

After that, Evangeline become a fully-fledged villain and started to obsess over more power, whatever the cost.

'I wonder what she is thinking right now... is she still planning to sabotage Sophia? Or maybe pit Julian on some kind of trouble?', I thought.

'*Sigh... I can't possibly grasp the mind of a woman like her. But I do wonder... did she have fun today?', My thoughts trailed off as I also fell asleep on Evangeline's smooth hair, that felt like silk.

'What a refreshing smell...'