Chapter 52 - Deadline

"5 MONTHS?!!!"

"5 Months, 7 days, and…"

He looked at his digital wrist watch.

"10 hours, to be specific."

"ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!!! THAT'S CRAZY!!! There's no way we can pull this out! What's with all the hurry?!"

"The more time a project takes to finish, the more expensive it becomes."

His expression became more tense and serious.

"Teslan… I have a very limited budget. 2 million pesos, tops. My money would only last till December."

There was a moment of silence between us…

"Dude… Don't put all your eggs in one basket! Don't bet your life savings on one card!"

He smiled.

"High risk, high gain."

(Teslan's thoughts: THE STAKES JUST GOT HIGHER!!!)

"Dude… Bro… This is a freaking gamble! You may lose everything!"

He was quiet for a long time…

"Do you know why I chose to invest on you?"

(Teslan's thoughts: I really don't know what to say.)

"It's because your idea is the most unique concept I've ever encountered. A clean, power provider with a positive impact to society. Gamers all over the world, if we're successful, would not be labeled as 'NEETS (Not employed and educated teenagers), 'Weebs' (JRPG - Japanese Role Playing Game/Anime Addicts), 'shut-ins' and 'good for nothings' by adults anymore. Visualize it. In the future, Gamers will make a big contribution to the betterment of their community. You're giving good paying jobs to the youth and the unemployed! That, to me, is just simply amazing. No businessman thinks like that anymore. All they think about is the profit. They don't care about the people."

He offered his hand.

"But you do. So what do you say, partner? Let's start the evolution of gaming and make history, shall we?"

Silence…

I smiled, and uttered my favorite quote.

"This is crazy… But it's crazy enough, it might just work. :)"

======================================================

On that same day, I've written a new story.

"Josiah, can you check this one out?"

"Sure. Let's give it a try.

======================================================

(Monami, our Virtual Character's Point of View)

Lance Armulet. 19 years old. Freshman College Student.

First impression: Nothing. No "aura", no "spirit energy", no "hidden psychic powers", nothing. He doesn't "stand out". Nothing really "super special" about him. In fact, he's just a plain, ordinary, happy-go-lucky human student with average looks and below average intelligence, on his way to campus. Based on my initial observations, he has no flashy talents like singing, dancing, acting, or leadership. Not that it matters, but those abilities might come in handy in the future… This is frustrating… He's not even athletic. He's not fit and physically active. He doesn't play any sports and doesn't know a thing about self-defense martial arts like karate, taekwondo, or kung-fu…

There are so many better candidates out there, but why does my conscience want to choose this guy…?

I'll test him, and soon, I'll find out…

======================================================

(Lance's Point of View)

Someone suddenly tugged the hem of my uniform.

"Onii-chan! Onii-chan!"

I turned to where the cute voice is coming.

"I'm hungwy! Pwease give me some snacks!"

Silence...

What the...?! She's so amazingly kawaii my mind stopped on working.

The time stopped on ticking.

THE WHOLE WORLD STOPPED ON SPINNING!!!

She's so adorable and cute! The soft voice who called me "Onii-chan! Onii-chan!" (Oh what bliss!) And the hand who tugged at my uniform came from a young small girl (I think she's seven years old.) with long black silky hair, bangs, two hairpins on both sides with a red ribbon, dark red eyes, cute nose, cute pink lips, very cute pale white face, and wearing a Victorian style dress. Everything about her is so cute! I want to hug her so bad! (Please don't report me for child abuse. I'm not a bad guy! I just love goth-loli! >w<)

Man, this young girl has a great taste for fashion!

"Big brother! I'm vewy hungwy! Pwease! Give me something to eat!"

"Oh! Yeah! Sure! But I'm so sorry. I don't have any snacks in my bag..."

"Then treat me, onii-chan!"

Wow. This kid gets straight to the point.

"Ano... eto... By the way, where are your parents, little girl?"

She pouted. (So cute.)

"Onii-chan doesn't know how to treat a lady properly! Hmph!"

This is getting amazingly complicated.

"Hai, hai. I'll give you a treat. But after that you'll tell me where your parents are, okay? So... What do you want to eat?"

"ICE CREAM! ICE CREAM DAISUKI!"

Her mood changes so fast.

"Yeah, you're right little girl. Ice cream's good."

We all need ice cream sometimes.

Most especially when we're feeling kinda down and we don't know the reason why…

======================================================

We went to the nearest convenience store and bought two half-pint size ice cream.

I'm quite surprised at the brand and the flavor she picked.

"Haagen-Daz Chocolate Truffle Berry Ice Cream..."

Man! This girl is classy! It's the most expensive ice cream in the fridge! She spent two-thirds of my allowance today!

But it's okay. I'll just consider this as my mini first date. XD

(Teslan's Side Comment: Am I being a shady writer here?)

(Josiah's Side Comment: You're so shady, all I can see is darkness, man. Just how desperate are you?!)

"ITADAKIMASU! XD"

In less than one minute, her ice cream is gone.

"Arigato, onii-chan."

"Ah, domo, domo."

Silence...

"Uhmm... What's your name, little girl? Can you please tell? : )"

"Monami."

"That's a very beautiful name, Monami. : )"

"Arigato."

Another silence...

"So... Where are your parents, Monami? Are you lost? Don't be shy. Your big brother will help you out."

(Lance's Thoughts: Anything to skip classes!)

(Josiah's Side Comment: Using a little lost girl as an excuse to skip classes... You are the lowest of the low, Teslan. What a great example you are to the readers of this story!)

(Teslan's Side Comment: Thank you!)

(Josiah: Shut up.)

(Teslan: Tee-hee! XD)

"Let's go to the police, your parents would be so worried-"

"Big brother, what's your name?"

"Oh! Gomenasai! I totally forgot! My name is Lance."

"Lance..."

"Hai."

She slowly raised up her right hand in front of me.

"Nice to meet you, Lance onii-chan."

Everything that's happening right now is quite new to me: Meeting a strange little girl who appeared out of nowhere and then eating a delicious cup of ice cream with her. But, without further ado, we shake hands.

It's a simple and natural polite gesture.

There's no harm in that, right…?

"Me too, Minami-chan. : )"

She then stood up and walked towards the glass door of the store.

"Hey! Wait! Where are you going, Monami?!"

She turned and looked me deeply in the eyes. Her sweet childish voice suddenly changed to a serious tone.

"You need to go, big brother. I don't want you to be late for your first day of school."

She opened the door and walked outside.

I frantically ran to reach her but...

She suddenly disappeared...

I turned to my left and right but anywhere I look, I can't see her anymore...

What did just happened...? Did she just tricked me to get a free ice cream?!!

But most importantly…

How the heck did she know that it was my first day of school…?

======================================================

Thanks to the reminder of that little girl, I didn't get late for my first class. But it was very obvious that I'm the last student who entered the classroom.

All eyes are on me when I opened the door, expecting the first professor for our first subject in our very first college year.

It's kinda embarrassing to see the disappointment on their faces.

Great first impression, Lance!

Man... These guys are so eager to learn!

======================================================

The whole day went by pretty fast. I didn't even notice that it was 6:00 P.M. already and the classes are over. Now please don't think of me as a lazy student. I listened to the lessons of our professors and took some notes but, I really can't focus.

Goth-loli girl Monami keeps bugging my mind.

Again, please don't get me wrong. This is not love. This is not a love story. This is not the ridiculous "love at first sight" thing. And I'm definitely not in love.

I just "like" goth-loli because they're adorably cute.

And I may have just a little bit of "infatuation" for her, okay? There's a big difference between the two.

But there's something else about her.

Something deep and mysterious...

As I walk back home and think about it, I realized that she's kinda... different...

And when her voice and expression changed, she really caught me off guard. I felt a sudden chill inside my heart. At that exact moment, her whole presence became... ominous...

It's like… something's bad gonna happen...

Nah! I'm overthinking trivial stuff! She's just a cute, smart, innocent, goth-loli girl who happens to know my first day of school! Nothing "Out of ordinary", "Mysterious", and "Ominous" about that! (Cross my heart, I'm not being sarcastic this time. I'm being very rational.)

But…

Life has a wicked sense of humor.

It loves to prove me wrong.

"What the...?!"

Do you know the PlayStation 2 Game "Kingdom Hearts"? I love that game! Now, do you know the small, dark blue or black, creeping monster called the "Heartless"?

Defying the fabric of reality, there's a Heartless look-a-like monster that came out of a dark corner and it's fifteen feet away from me.

So as not to be charged with copyright infringement from Walt Disney and Square Enix, I invoke my right to fair use in the Copyright Law and hereby also proclaim that I'm only using "Kingdom Hearts" and the "Heartless" as a reference. I'm not copying them, I do not own the copyrights, and I'm not using the trademarks for profitable business. Please consider this as a promotional activity for your own benefit.

P.S. The monster in front of me in this story is very different. : )

Dear spectator, you might think that by this time, the monster already attacked me and is now eating my "never been kissed, never been touched" body.

I assure you, we're still staring at each other.

Even with that descriptive reference about the monster and my defense statement for the copyrights case,

ONLY 5 SECONDS HAVE PASSED.

As you can see, a lot of thoughts are running through my head. Or maybe, no rational thought are running at all.

Shock, surprise, curiosity, amazement, questions, panic, fear, confusion, bewilderment, indecision, mixed emotions, flight, fight - I'm experiencing all of this right now.

And because of this, plus the snarling red black baby-like monster hunched in all fours, its small body dripping with red black ooze, red square eyes that looks like a tiny house window, and yellow jagged teeth,

I'M PARALYZED.

This never ever happened to me before so I don't know how to react.

I don't know what to do.

From the time I saw the monster, 6 seconds have passed.

Without any preamble, and with an earsplitting scream, the monster charged towards me crazy fast.

"RUN, SILLY BOY! RUN!!! SILVER SICKLE!!!"

It's just a blur, but I saw a whirling sickle went past by my side and straight to the monster. But just within half a second, the monster jumped back and evaded it.

"TING!!!"

"Grrrrrr..."

Someone hit me in the head.

"ARE YOU SUICIDAL, BONEHEAD?!! WHEN YOU SEE A FREAKING MONSTER, YOU DEFEND YOURSELF KUNERO!!!"

"This is all surreal... By the way, who are you?"

The monster charged at me again.

"OH SHOOT!!! SAY YOUR NAME, BONEHEAD! SAY IT NOW!!!"

"HUH?! BUT WHY?! THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR INTRODUCTIONS!!!"

"JUST SAY IT! DARN IT!!!"

"OKAY! OKAY! - My name is Lance!"

Strong gusts of wind encircled me and bright neon blue light started to glow all over my body, stopping the monster on its tracks and pushing it back. At the same time, a giant, super heavy lance magically materialized in my right hand...

Silence...

The natural reaction for this super magical epic event would be,

"WHOA!!! THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!!! HOW CAN THIS BE POSSIBLE?!! WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING?!! I HAVE SUPERPOWERS?!! THIS IS SO AMAZING!!!"

But, my initial reaction for this once in a lifetime, extraordinary, life-changing, ultra epic moment is,

"HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!"

"Uhmm... Lance? Why are you laughing?"

After a few seconds, I started crying.

"That's some serious mood swings you got there! Why the heck are you crying?!"

"My story... I can see the resemblance... MY STORY IS A BLEACH FAN FICTION!!! HUWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

"SLAP!!! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF, LANCE! THIS IS REALLY NOT THE TIME TO CRITICIZE THE ORIGINALITY OF THIS GAME STORY!"

"OH! To see the author fall into this pitiful state! HOW HORRIBLE!!! WHY WOULD HE EVER RESORT TO FAN FICTION?!!"

"Well... It is one of the most famous genre these days. He's really desperate to get some reads. Oh! Sorry about that. What I mean to say is,"

The monster has recovered from its temporary blindness and started to attack again.

"THIS IS NOT A FAN FICTION AND WE'RE FACING A LIFE OR DEATH SITUATION SO PIERCE THAT MONSTER WITH YOUR WEAPON RIGHT NOW!!!"

The monster is quickly closing in. With both of my hands, I tried to wield my lance and lunge forward.

BUT IT'S SO FREAKING HEAVY I BARELY RAISED IT AT ALL!!!

The monster made an effortless small leap, softly landed on the lance, and rushed towards me.

"NO! NO! NOOOOOOO!!!"

"SILVER MACHETE!!!"

The stranger slashed at the beast with all his might.

But the monster is fast.

Way too fast.

It easily evaded his attack by jumping up high to the sky.

"THAT MONSTER IS WAY TOO STRONG FOR A LOW LEVEL PLAYER LIKE ME!!!"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!!!"

"RAISE UP YOUR WEAPON KUNERO!!! SILVER STAVE!!!"

With all the strength my weak, unhealthy body can muster, I raised up my lance.

"CHUUUG!!!"

...Silence...

"Did we... win...?" I asked the stranger.

"We are so dang lucky…"

Fearfully, I started to look up.

I saw the monster, pierced in my lance and in the stranger's pitchfork.

I saw it dissipate away, its black essence slowly falling and vanishing to the ground.

Our weapons started to disappear too.

"I've got a lot of questions for you, Mr. Stranger."

"The 5W's and 1H?"

"Yup."

"You're not the only one."