Room Cafe (1)
Exactly twelve minutes had passed since I'd resolved to become Lucia's for the entire day in exchange for her saving me. I stared blankly at Grayson, who was sprawled on the floor covered in bruises.
"What exactly is this, Lucia?"
"..."
She was whistling while looking off into the distance, which made it painfully obvious that she was the culprit. She had probably tried to come in, but when Grayson blocked her per my orders, she simply beat him up and forced her way through. Of course, Grayson didn't have enough memories left to convert into strength, so he ended up getting pummeled.
…Wasn't this girl basically a thug?
"I-I didn't do anything wrong! I was worried about you, but this guy kept blocking the way…!"
"Even so, how could you beat up your own friend until he passed out?"
If someone blocks your path, you should try talking to them first. What kind of mindset leads straight to clubbing them with a bat?
"We should at least take him to the hospital. He's covered in injuries…"
"No way!"
Lucia let out a sharp cry when I tried to take Grayson with me. When I turned to look at her in confusion, she spoke in a tiny, shrinking voice.
"W-well, we don't have much time for our date, and taking him to the hospital would eat up a lot of it…"
Her eyes sparkled as she stared at me. She really didn't want to waste any time on Grayson.
But I couldn't just leave him badly injured on the cold floor either.
As I hesitated, Lucia let out a deep sigh and stuck something that looked like a ticket onto Grayson's body.
"Are you insane!"
And just like that, Grayson vanished from sight in an instant.
"What… what did you just do?"
I asked, half-afraid she'd killed him for interfering with the date she had in mind. But Lucia simply grabbed my arm and pulled me along.
"It's a short-range teleport ticket. It would've taken too long otherwise, so I sent him to the hospital. Now we can finally have fun, just the two of us."
"Excuse me? What?"
My head went completely blank for a moment. A short-range teleport ticket was an item that sealed the essence of modern magic—teleportation—into a physical object. It required thousands of overlapping magic circles and incredibly rare materials, so I knew the price was astronomical.
And she just used one?
As I stood there with my mouth hanging open in shock, Lucia tugged impatiently on my arm.
"Dad gave it to me to use in case of emergencies, so don't worry about it."
No, that wasn't something you could just brush off like that. In terms of pure utility, it was a cheat item that could let you escape any dangerous situation. For example, even when we faced that saint earlier, she could've just slapped the ticket on herself and vanished instantly.
"You used an item this versatile… just to go on a date with me?"
"Yep."
She was so matter-of-fact about it that I had nothing to say. Well, it wasn't my ticket. It was hers to use however she wanted…
'But it still hurts so much!'
No matter how I looked at it, using something that valuable for a single date felt like an incredible waste. I was scowling hard when Lucia suddenly linked her arm with mine and whispered into my ear.
"You're worth way more than some scrap of paper, so stop worrying about it."
Then she laced our fingers together tightly, started walking toward the city streets, and added,
"You're mine for today. You should be focusing on me."
…Honestly, that one got to me a little. But the other person was a Geumtaeyang, so I shook the stray thoughts from my head, popped a candy into my mouth, and followed where Lucia was leading me.
She wouldn't take me anywhere weird… right?
Fifteen minutes after being dragged along by Lucia's hand, I was bitterly regretting my earlier complacent thinking.
"If you have any inconveniences, you can use the intercom on the inner wall. Your order was two pancakes, correct?"
"Yes, that's right!"
I really shouldn't have casually agreed to be Lucia's for a whole day. I'd meant it as a way for us to have fun together, but I was starting to suspect she'd taken it in a completely different way.
"Once you're inside Room E, I'll bring your food right over!"
"Thank you!"
Lucia gave an unusually bright thank-you to the part-timer and immediately grabbed my arm again, pulling me along.
When she dragged me through the door of the room the employee had mentioned, the first things I saw were a large mattress and a projector hanging from the ceiling.
"It does look comfortable, at least…"
Yeah. No point trying to hide it.
The place Lucia had hauled me to was a room cafe.
I'd been going "Huh? Huh?" the entire time she dragged me by the arm, and before I knew it, we'd arrived here. When Lucia hopped onto the mattress and patted the spot beside her, a chill ran down my spine.
"I've changed my mind. Let's meet again tomorrow."
The sense of impending crisis hit me hard. I grabbed the door handle and shot a remark at Lucia, who had startled me.
"…Beast."
I tried to open the door and escape immediately from Lucia, who seemed to have her sights set on me. But from behind me, as I hurried to flee, her urgent voice rang out.
"Okay! I won't do anything weird! It was a joke!"
Lucia sounded desperate, but honestly, her intentions were highly suspicious. Even if a room cafe wasn't inherently strange, lying on a mattress and patting the spot next to you was suspicious no matter how you looked at it. Who knew if I'd sit down innocently only to suddenly get pounced on and devoured?
'Besides, Lucia's physical abilities are overwhelmingly superior to mine. If she attacks once, I won't be able to run away…'
In short, this was my last chance to escape. I seriously considered bolting, but then I remembered that she had essentially saved my life, so I let out a deep sigh and sat down beside her.
"If you touch me without permission, I'll never speak to you again."
It felt ridiculous for a grown man to sit there primly and say something like that, but what could I do? Right now I was basically a social weakling who could be devoured at any moment.
"I just brought you here so we could watch a movie together."
Lucia said this with an exasperated little laugh.
'Is she for real…?'
Either way, I knew it was already too late to run. I let out another sigh and slowly scooted closer to Lucia, just like a couple on an actual date would. After all, I'd promised to be hers for the day. I had to keep my word.
"Hehe…"
Lucia was scanning me with those creepy eyes again. When I instinctively leaned back a little, thinking the gaze was dangerous, she quickly asked,
"Is there any movie you like? Something you want to watch together…?"
When I looked at the wall after hearing her, several posters for movies I'd never seen before were floating in the light cast by the projector. Apparently you could choose a movie here and the magic-powered projector on the ceiling would play it.
'That's pretty neat.'
It felt less like a room cafe and more like a miniature movie theater. Of course, the black mattress on the floor, the fluffy cushion I was hugging, and the faint lemon scent coming from beside me kept reminding me of reality.
I decided to just pretend I was watching a movie alone in my room. If I didn't think that way, I'd be too terrified of what the person next to me might do to even breathe.
"I'll put on a romance movie then!"
'This crazy woman.'
Two people of opposite genders alone in a small room, and she just casually puts on a romance movie. Then why did she even ask for my opinion? Wasn't this obviously her trying to create that kind of atmosphere between us?
Resigned, I stared at the screen. After the production company's logo passed, the first scene of the movie began…
"Hngh…"
'Oh, for fuck's sake.'
From the very beginning, the movie showed a man and woman passionately kissing. Worried it might be an adult film, I watched the screen with anxious focus. Fortunately, both characters were fully dressed.
That meant no dangerous scenes would appear right away.
'At least that's a relief…'
I'd genuinely thought this insane woman might have started with an adult film, so I breathed a sigh of relief. Still, I couldn't completely relax. I kept glancing nervously at the person sitting beside me, afraid some violent someone might suddenly rip my clothes off.
My poor life…
'…Could I use that intercom to call for help?'
The thought crossed my mind as I looked at the intercom on the wall, but I quickly shook my head.
'This woman would beat up the part-timer too if she felt like it…'
Rather than creating one more innocent victim, it was better for everyone if I sacrificed myself alone…
"…Jack."
At that moment, Lucia turned to look at me with sticky, heated eyes. The kiss on screen had already ended, and the actors were now portraying a fresh, innocent romance within the academy. But in that instant, I felt anything but innocent fear, and my body began to tremble violently.
As I shook, Lucia narrowed her eyes and slowly started moving closer to me.
'Here it comes…!'
I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for whatever Lucia was about to do. But…
"…Hm?"
Instead of the lewd sensation I'd expected, I only felt a warm touch on my hand. When I carefully opened my eyes, all I saw was Lucia's hand gently resting on the back of mine. She seemed perfectly content with just that, turning her head away and grinning like an idiot. Her face looked flushed too.
'Maybe…'
In that moment, a ridiculous hypothesis popped into my head. What if Lucia wasn't just using me as a tool to tease Heidi, but had actually started seeing me as someone she genuinely liked? It was a tiny possibility, but she'd kept emphasizing it, and the thought that she might go this far because of it kept nagging at me.
The way she was acting right now didn't seem like acting at all. The slight tremble in her hand, her breathing, even the color of her face—all of it looked far too natural.
'Sigh…'
Of course, that didn't mean I had any intention of accepting her feelings, but my heart felt strangely heavy. A baseless sense of guilt for possibly trampling on and rejecting her sincere emotions rose up in my chest as a bonus.
Maybe that was why.
"Huh? Jack…? Uh…?"
I flipped over the left hand where Lucia's hand rested and gently laced our fingers together. It was a completely impulsive action with zero forethought. Strangely enough, though, I didn't feel any desire to pull away.