Chapter 78| The Deflection and the Answer

Chapter 78: Chapter 78| The Deflection and the Answer

Zane looked at her.

"Same reason as you," he said. "Errands?."

She held his gaze.

"Your errands took twenty minutes," she said. "Mine took thirty. We’ve been out here for two hours."

He looked at his plate.

’She clocked it,’ he thought. ’Of course she clocked it.’

He looked up.

"And chill with some good fresh air," he replied.

She stared at him for a long moment.

"You’re deflecting," she said.

"Maybe," Zane said. "Maybe not."

She looked at him with the expression that wasn’t the calculating stillness and wasn’t the smirk and wasn’t the red face. The one that was more settled than all of those.

"Okay," she said simply.

She went back to her food.

He looked at her.

’Okay,’ he thought. ’She accepted the deflection and went back to her food, don’t know if that was a nice thing.’

’She didn’t push,’ he thought. ’She never pushes.’

He looked at his plate.

Then ..."What about you.?" he asked. "Why did you come today?"

She looked at him.

"Hmm," she said. "Tricky question."

’This is probably the most basic thing I’ve asked,’ Zane thought. ’I asked a straightforward question.’

She was quiet for a moment. Looking at her plate. The calculating stillness running whatever it always ran.

Then... "Errands," she said. "And I just wanted to spend some time with someone."

Zane looked at her.

"Someone." He glanced around the table. "I’m the only one here so it’s probably me right."

She looked at him.

Said nothing.

Which was its own kind of answer.

"Same here by the way," Zane said. "That’s the second part I forgot to add when you first asked me."

She stared at him for a moment.

Then pulled down both lower eyelids with her fingers.

"Bleh," she said. "Too late."

Zane laughed.

She went back to her food with the smirk sitting on her face doing whatever it wanted.

The system surfaced.

『 System Note: She admitted she wanted to spend time with you specifically. The system is very pleased with this development. 』

’Shush don’t spoil the moment,’ Zane said mentally.

『 Sure. The system is heavy on privacy. 』

Zane looked at her across the table.

She was eating. Smirk still present. Completely unbothered.

He picked up his fork.

’Heavy on privacy,’ he thought. ’Hope it’s really true.’

The timer ticked in the corner of his vision.

『 BOUND TARGET QUEST — Time Remaining: 1 day 14 hours 22 minutes 』

’One day, fourteen hours and a few minutes left,’ he thought. ’Need to pick up the pace. Wouldn’t want to find out what’s on the other side of that timer.’

He picked up his fork.

The system stayed quiet.

For once it had nothing to add.

They left Ember & Co at 1:30 PM. Which was the name of the restaurant.

The city was still running its Saturday energy around them. The commercial district was fuller now than it had been in the morning. The lunch crowd adding to the foot traffic, the street vendors doing better business, the hero agency billboards above the rooflines catching the early afternoon light.

They walked without a specific destination.

Not toward campus. Not toward any remaining errand. Just walking. The specific aimless comfortable movement of two people who had finished what they came to do and hadn’t decided to stop yet.

Maren walked beside him with her handbag over one shoulder and the bucket hat back on and the glasses catching the afternoon light.

He walked beside her.

The city existed around them without needing to justify itself.

They passed a small hero memorabilia shop. The window display running a Nova Steele feature, the Number Three hero’s face on three different poster formats behind the glass.

Maren stopped briefly.

Looked at the display.

"She came to our trials," Maren said.

"Yeah," Zane confirmed.

"She graduated from Aldren," Maren added. "So basically she used the same halls. Same training grounds."

"Same corner probably too," Zane added.

Maren looked at him.

Then at the display.

"Same corner funny guy," she said and let out a little laugh.

They kept walking.

At 3:00 PM they stopped at a small street vendor for something cold. Stood on the pavement drinking it. The city moving around them.

Maren looked at the street.

Zane looked at her.

’One percent and one day fourteen hours,’ he thought. ’The conversation that needs to happen not today, not here, but soon. Tomorrow at 6:20 AM after the session. That’s the window, the possible safest bet.’

『 Correct. You are not wrong. Crossing that tier means the person genuinely likes you. Not surface level interaction accumulation, not proximity familiarity. Genuine. The data would confirm it. 』

’So if she crosses 70% tomorrow,’ Zane thought. ’The system is telling me she genuinely likes me.’

『 The system is telling you the data would confirm it. What you do with that information is your own decision. 』

’Same thing,’ Zane thought.

『 The system neither confirms nor denies. 』

’Sure,’ Zane thought.

He kept walking.

Then the system surfaced again.

『 System Note: The host has identified the window. The system approves. Do not overthink it between now and then. 』

’Working on it,’ Zane thought.

『 You always are. 』

They finished their drinks.

Started the walk back toward campus.

The gate came into view at 4:30 PM.

The attendant was still at his station. Looked up when he saw them.

Raised his hand in the same broad wave from the morning.

"Welcome back," he said. "Hope you had a good one."

"We did," Maren said. Her mouth widened with a smile.

Zane nodded at him.

They walked through the gate and back onto the campus path.

At the junction where the path split Maren stopped.

Looked at him.

"Today was really good," she said. Simply. The way she said things that were true without needing decoration.

Zane looked at her.

"Yeah," he replied. "It was,I really enjoyed it."

She held his gaze for one more second.

"Okay, then see ya later." She said as she waved.

Then turned toward the girls dormitory path.

Zane waved back then turned toward the boys.

They walked in opposite directions.

The system ticked.

『 BOUND TARGET QUEST — Time Remaining: 1 day 08 hours 14 minutes 』

’Tomorrow,’ he thought. ’That’s where the dynamics change.’

He could hear Gerald wheezed somewhere ahead of him. That’s what days of hearing a broken vent creaking does to your ears.

’Damn, I might need to get my ears checked’. He thought and kept walking.