My Friend and I Reincarnated Into a Tragedy Dating Game

Chapter 54: Missing

When we got back, Jess dragged me off the carriage with her arms around me. The servants all looked at us rather strangely, and rightfully so.

Even when changing clothes, she was very reluctant to separate. It was honestly kind of suffocating. She was a little weirded out by the book I had on me, but I was able to convince her to just set it aside for now.

As she dragged me along and began washing me while pressing herself against me, I came to a realization.

It was a realization I should've come to far long ago.

Jess is mentally unstable.

I reviewed the conversation we previously had in my head, looking for any major flaws in the things I said and how I responded. But while I can't say my performance was perfect, it should've been enough to dispel most people's worries.

Honestly, she never showed any clear signs of it in the shitty game itself, though I guess you could at least get to a theory that she was a little loopy.

After thinking about it for a while, I tried to tackle this situation once more, or else Jess was simply going to get even more obsessive about this.

"Hey, haven't you ever considered that going this far may be doing more harm than good? Instead, you could tone it down a little, right?"

Jess only leaned into me more when I said that.

"No, I was too distant before, so I have to fix this by getting closer."

I let out a small sigh.

"You probably won't care, but I'm just going to say that you really don't have to fix anything. But even under the assumption that something was broken, you have to take time to fix things instead of rushing. Doing too much at once can backfire and cause the opposite result."

For what felt like the first time, Jess finally began releasing me, but soon tightened up far more than ever before. It was honestly quite painful.

"H-Hey, you're hurting me here."

She slowly lowered her intensity finally. But still, she had begun crying.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm so sorry, I must've messed up our relationship because I was too close, didn't I?"

A bitter smile formed on my face.

"I don't want to tell you the answer that would hurt you, but if I am being honest, yes."

This would finally get her to be a little crazy about it right?

Jess was sobbing rather loudly, to the point that it nearly overpowered the other sounds. Eventually, she picked me up and dragged me over to the large bath that was inside. The water splashed when we entered, and the warmth of the water made me feel even more uncomfortable.

I mean, it was already hot enough with Jess holding me like this, but this made it worse.

My skin felt prickly, and a faint sense of pain, like needles piercing all throughout my body assaulted me.

"Can we please not be in the bath itself? It's too hot for me."

I had to speak rather loudly just to get the message through her sobbing. But Jess just continued to cry.

"I'm sorry... nothing I do is right, is it?"

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. This girl really was a handful, wasn't she?

"You have the right idea, but are just too forceful about it. Maybe try and just... let go."

Jess's breathing became ragged.

"B-But..."

A sense of frustration rose, but I forcefully shoved it down.

"This is the right thing to do. Isn't that what you want?"

Please. You have to let go now, right?

Jess pressed her forehead against the back of my neck.

"I'm sorry. I can't."

Shit. You... no, calm down. Calm down.

"Why?"

Jess pressed her forehead against me a little harder, and just barely muttered loud enough for me to hear.

"You are all I have left."

Ah.

I think I get it now. The biggest reason she wanted to care for me like this wasn't actually for my sake, but for her own. She desperately wanted some form of intimacy and saw me as the only way to get it.

I opened my eyes.

"Sister, I am far from the only thing you have. There is an entire beautiful world out there with countless people to meet."

Jess shook her head. I could tell because she was still leaning against me.

"No..."

Well. Like I said before, you have to take time to fix things. I wasn't going to force it.

"Ok, I won't talk about it anymore. But seriously, I can't take this heat. Can we get out of the bath?"

Later, we got out, but Jess refused to stop hugging me until I untensed myself once more. As always, it took a while, but I did it and fell asleep.

Shortly after, I had a dream, informing me that the book was talking to me again.

As I came to, I saw the pink figure standing in front of me once more. He had his arms crossed, with a neutral expression. Despite dragging me into this dream, he just remained there silently.

Since he wasn't going to speak first, I decided to.

"So why'd you bring me here?"

The pink figure looked down.

"I was observing your actions for the entire day."

He paused like he had to think of what to say.

"At first, I thought it might've just been me, but I now realize that you really are incredibly strange. You differ greatly from the norm."

I held out my hands.

"That means I stand out. If you don't think about it too much, that's a good thing."

The pink figure nodded, apparently agreeing with my logic.

"Yes. It is indeed a good thing. It appears your enlightenment has changed you, making you deviate from the norm to an astounding degree."

I raised an eyebrow.

"If that's what you think it is, I guess."

The pink figure froze.

"Was my interpretation incorrect? Well, I suppose that was to be expected. Though I knew my level of enlightenment was low, it is only now that I understand how far below I am."

...It looks like either my acting was good, or this guy was just that good at deluding himself.

"Um, yeah, sure."

The pink shook his head violently before putting his chin into his hand.

"If you were to learn divine arts... your power should be immeasurable."

I raised an eyebrow after hearing that.

"Divine Arts? How come I've never heard about that."

This guy wasn't just talking out of his ass, was he? There wasn't anything about Divine Arts before. I was honestly kinda starting to lose faith. If it wasn't for the fact I saw that symbol of the cult outside, then I would've already lost all faith in it.

The figure responded promptly.

"I'm not entirely sure what Divine Arts are. However, there were a few people that have been famous for using it. According to legend, Divine Arts are stronger the further one has walked on the path of enlightenment. Although few people know the actual technique, many care about this path of enlightenment anyway."

He looked at me and spoke with a bit of excitement.

"If you find out how to learn the Divine Arts, you will probably become incredibly powerful!"

Hm. I heavily doubted that.

"Ah, well that's cool I guess."

The pink figure blinked a few times.

"D-Do you not care about this power?"

I tilted my head to the side.

"I guess it would be nice to have, but it's not the biggest deal in the world."

The pink figure nodded a few times.

"I see. But if you do wish to learn, there is a man well known for his unbelievable power from Divine Arts north of the kingdom and past the forests. I am not entirely sure how to meet him, but if you can, then you should be able to become his disciple."

Eh? Wait a minute. That should also be where you find one of the legendary spell incantations in this game.

"...Is Divine Arts related to magic?"

The pink figure raised an eyebrow.

"Huh? No, they are completely different. They exist as a separate thing just like the Dark Arts."

What? Then why would there be a legendary spell scroll just lying around there?

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to make a trip."

If you were to go to the north and past the forests, you would find a strange cave. Inside that gave that special spell scroll. The spell itself was called Blackout, and the effect was to blind all people within a certain radius within you, while not affecting yourself.

It was like a flashbang, but more reliable.

Unfortunately, there was no ally detection function, thus it would blind those on your side too. However, it was one of the best spells, and made fighting certain boss fights at least ten times easier.

After casting the spell, if the enemy was trying to shoot any sort of projectile, you'd be able to dodge it easily.

Unfortunately, the spell had a cooldown, which was rare considering most spells didn't have something like that. To top it off, the mana needed to expand the circle increased exponentially the bigger it was.

If I were to use it, then I probably would only be able to blind those next to me. But that didn't change the fact it would be incredibly useful.

Hm... there shouldn't be a need to fight just yet, but having that spell would be better than not I suppose.

I'll bring it up with Nathan at school.

My eyes then landed on the pink figure, just staring back at me.

"Do you still want something?"

The pink figure tilted his head to the side and smiled awkwardly.

"Er, not really. I'll let you go back."

And I woke up once more, with Jess holding me like I was a body pillow. With a bit of difficulty, I went to sleep, deciding to worry about it later.

...

I had the classical morning routine. Today was a school day, so I headed off on the carriage with Jess to go there. When I did end up making it onto the school grounds, I couldn't help but notice that two people were collapsed on the first floor.

Curiously, I walked up to look at who they were and let out a small gasp.

It was Carrot Top and Baby Man. They were lying face down on the ground, but I could still recognize them fairly easily. It appeared that they were not taking my abandonment of them too well.

I remember they were rather energetic and bold as they followed Bryson around whenever they could, while Bryson himself just let them tag along. Now they were reduced to this.

Jess scoffed.

"Leave them on the floor. People that are unable to even keep themselves awake during school hours don't deserve help."

"Sure."

I shot them a second glance before heading up the stairs and to class. I made it there and was greeted by both Raisa and Arianne. Nathan wasn't there, but I imagined he would come soon.

But then everyone else had shown up.

Now, the only seat empty was his.

Shit, did you get yourself in trouble Nathan?