'Inner dialogue/thoughts'
"Normal dialogue"
[System]
[Diary entries]
~ A few moments earlier, with Wanda in the café ~
It had been a day filled with nerves for Wanda. In the morning, she had finally agreed to Pietro's request to visit the Peach Blossom café. Upon reaching the café, she had gotten quite the first impression of Luke, running away in tears. At the time where she had seen all the emotions in Luke's eyes, Wanda could only feel sorry for him. She was not his Wanda.
'Sigh. . . I was so worried about how I'd react to seeing Luke for the first time that I never really thought about how he'd react to seeing me for the first time. It was quite a spectacle.' Thought Wanda as she sipped on her beverage.
'So, that was him. Luke. The owner of this diary that only I can see. He seems rather normal, apart from that first impression. I guess seeing someone you love, who you thought dead, alive and well, could cause someone to react that way. He was probably embarrassed and that was why he ran off. Though, the look he had as we locked eyes. . . How much did he love the other me?' Wanda was in her own world, thinking of how she should react to the emotions that she had seen earlier.
"Ahhh, what did I tell you? The reviews and rumours about this café were spot on, weren't they?" Pietro said, turning his head to look at his sister.
"Wanda?" Not getting a response, Pietro raised his hands in front of Wanda and began snapping his fingers.
"Hello? Earth to Wanda, come in Wanda? Are you there?"
Snapping out of her thoughts, Wanda looked at Pietro in confusion, "What?"
Pietro looked back at Wanda in confusion before he spoke, "Okay what is going on with you? First, there was that whole situation with that eye-patch wearing guy. Then for the next few weeks I get a Wanda that was very critical about every single thing I do. Then I find out about this café and told you about it, at which point you started getting all antsy and nervous, and now that we're in here, you're spacing out? Just tell me what's going on?"
Wanda sat still, quietly listening to Pietro. She did not want to bring up the diary again after Pietro not believing her for the past month.
"Pietro," Choosing to change the subject, Wanda began in a curious tone, "For all the good you say about this café, wasn't the first impression a little, odd."
Pietro, understanding that he would not get anything out of Wanda, could only sigh and relent. "Yeah, what was up with that? Dude just dropped his tray, started crying then ran up the stairs. What a cryba- OUCH! What'd you do that for?!"
Pietro was cut off by a kick to his shin by Wanda.
"Have some shame Pietro, you don't know what the guy is going through." Wanda reprimanded Pietro in a dangerous tone.
'Wait, why did I react that way? I don't even know the guy.' Wanda wondered.
Although she did not know Luke personally, she had read his story through the diary, subconsciously forming an impression on him, and feeling empathy for the Luke who had lost his world. Hearing Pietro insulting Luke had triggered this subconscious impression, which had caused her to react instantly in that manner.
"Then why even ask me that question. . ." Pietro said in pity as he rubbed his shin.
~ Later that night, with Luke ~
'Well, that was embarrassing.' Luke thought. Natasha had left his office and had gone back to her apartment about an hour ago, while Luke remained to gather his bearings.
'So, as I thought. That feeling locked deep inside was related to Wanda. But to have such an impact as to cause such a mental collapse on me. . . I need to stop underestimating this simulation feature.
Ugh. . . How am I going to explain this to the rest of the staff? Natasha should know why I was in that state thanks to her being a diary holder, but the rest? All they saw was me looking towards the two customers who had walked in, dropped my tray, cried, and ran straight up the stairs.' Luke wondered.
'What if I just ignore it? Yeah. I'll just ignore what happened until someone brings it up. Even then, if I still haven't come up with a good excuse, then I can continue ignoring it. After all, I am their boss, so I should be afforded some level of leeway out of this situation.' Deciding on a plan of action, Luke finally left the room and began making his way back to his apartment.
While walking along the streets deep into the night, Luke was currently thinking about how he should write his fourth entry. Luke had held off writing in the diary as during the past month, nothing interesting had happened, so there was nothing to write about that would help him in.
However, with the events that had occurred earlier, Luke finally had something to write about.
"Maybe I can use this to further increase Nat's trust rating? She was the one who had stayed by my side as I slept. Speaking of, I should find a way to thank her." Luke mused aloud.
Suddenly, Luke felt a chill run down his spine, an almost imperceptible shift in the atmosphere that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. In an instant, Luke was enclosed in a dense water dome as he raised his hands.
Luke was surprised as he felt a breeze move past his face. A bullet had pierced its way through the dome, creating a brief but intense burst of sound within the dome. Luke had gotten lucky, as while the bullet had pierced through the water dome he formed, the trajectory of the bullet was infracted, causing it to narrowly miss its intended target.
'HOLY SHIT!'
Before Luke could panic, the years of experience he had received from the simulation had kicked in, and he had, as he had done in the simulation, switched on. Taking a split second to determine the direction in which the bullet had come from, Luke sprung into action.
~ At the same time, with the hidden attacker ~
Seeing Luke running in his direction, the attacker knew that his position was compromised and that it was time for him to leave. Thankfully, he had set up his position at quite a distance, so he had a few seconds to abandon his location.
This was not how the attacker thought this assassination would go down. Everything had been going according to plan, however, he did not know that Luke was not normal. Thus, seeing a dome of water forming around his target had surprised the attacker.
'Shit! I have to leave. Now!'
As he was about to escape, the attacker saw his target flicking his hand, creating multiple water arrows that were then sent flying towards him. Seeing this, the attacker ducked behind a nearby vehicle.
However, this did not help him as the water arrows had penetrated through the vehicle completely, although he was lucky enough that only two of the arrows had found its target. With his shoulder and his thigh being wounded, the attacker knew that he would be caught. Resigning to his fate, the attacker instead chose to end his life before he could be tortured by his would-be captor.
"Yeah, not today buddy."
As he was raising his weapon, he heard a voice which was followed by him being encapsulated in a sphere of water. Within this sphere, not only was his weapon separated from him, but he felt like he was constricted, unable to move an inch.
'HOW DID HE GET HERE THAT FAST?!'
The attacker panicked as he stared at his captor, his life now at the mercy of the person in front of him.
- End of Chapter 33 -