As an old hand who had spent her years working a lawless place like Sundown Alley, Pardofelis of course knew how to tell whether someone meant her harm.
Which was why she had picked up on something that struck her as deeply odd.
The person in front of her clearly knew Pardo had been trying to steal from her. Caught her in the act, no less. And yet, despite being someone obviously no ordinary fighter, this person did not feel a shred of malice toward her.
If anything, there was a strange goodwill there.
This person knew her.
Trouble was…
"I sure don't know her, though!"
"Who is she even? What is this…"
Felis, who had not yet, through one accident too many, become the future catlike Fusion Warrior known as Pardofelis, was now suffering a brainstorm in her head that had absolutely nothing to do with any kind of advanced learning.
After a beat or two…
"Uh, listen, Boss…"
Pardo lifted her free hand and pointed back and forth between herself and Raiden Mei. "We, uh… have we met before?"
"…"
Mei froze for a second.
The strange power doing things to her, plus the small matter of being thrown back more than fifty thousand years into the era before her own. Both, frankly, far too much.
So although she was the one going through it, she had not yet finished settling into this completely new and unfamiliar place.
Her thoughts kept slipping out from under her.
Luckily…
"Boss, you got something you can't really talk about?"
Pardo had high emotional intelligence.
Or, more honestly, she knew how to keep herself out of trouble.
That was one of the small survival tricks she leaned on every day.
So when she saw Mei stay quiet, she figured Mei had something she didn't want to bring up, and shifted topics on her own.
"It's fine. I'm not the type who needs to know the whole story. Everyone's got their own stuff, right?"
Truth was, she did kind of want to dig into the whole story.
Her curiosity was, in fact, very lively.
But Pardo knew exactly how the saying went. Curiosity killed the cat.
So instead…
"Boss, you know Nia?"
She moved on to something else.
"Also, uh… we're kind of standing in the middle of the street tugging at each other. That's not great, right?"
As she said it, the hand still locked in Mei's grip gave a small, uncomfortable wiggle.
"Ah. Sorry."
Mei let go.
Then answered. "I do know Aponia. I came to Sundown Alley specifically to ask her for help."
"Oh?"
Pardo's eyes rolled around a little, calculating. "Mind if I ask, Boss, what kind of help you're looking for from Nia?"
"…"
Mei was quiet again.
She was busy wrestling with herself.
A moment ago, with her thoughts not quite in order, she had called Pardo by name. Just like that.
Now that she was catching up to her own behavior, she had registered exactly how awkward the situation was.
This place, for her, was real. It was the era that existed more than fifty thousand years before her own Current Era.
Right now, set aside the Elysian Realm and the Flame-Chaser memory sims. Even the MANTIS project might not have a single draft yet.
So she had to start telling herself something. She could not keep using the finished, future version of these people in her head to judge the real ones living right here.
Like Pardo, in front of her now.
Like Aponia, whom she was about to meet.
Of course, given that the latter had what seemed to be the ability to see things ahead of time, maybe a slightly different approach would be needed for that one.
But all of that aside…
"I just want to ask Aponia a few questions."
Mei did not throw together some lie to feed Pardofelis.
But neither did she say what she really wanted.
Half the truth, the lighter half. That was about right.
In that moment…
"Asking questions, asking questions. Got it, got it."
Pardofelis clapped her hands together. "Nia helps folks sort out their problems all the time."
"Nothing strange about that."
"Just, the people who go to ask Nia things, they don't go back a second time."
Now that. That was something the Elysian Realm did not record.
Mei was a little surprised.
But she filed it away, quietly.
Pardo, for her part, let out a small breath of relief…
"Tch. So you're one of Nia's guests. Had me worried for a second there… eh?"
To be fair, Pardo had really only said it as throwaway street talk.
What she had not expected was that the purple-haired girl in front of her, the moment that word "guest" landed, gave a single involuntary tremor through her whole body.
It looked like one of those things. That trauma… something disorder. One of those academic names.
Pardo could not pull it up.
But she had already decided to take Mei there.
Her thinking was simple…
"Anyway, anyone in Sundown Alley can point you to where Nia's place is."
"This weird Boss is clearly someone with real ability."
After all, even Pardo, who could lift goods clean off a shelf without paying, had been caught by her without effort.
So…
"It doesn't make a difference whether I show her the way or not."
Better to tag along and see what was actually going on.
Although…
"Nia looks all gentle and sweet, but somehow she gives me the creeps."
"Yeah. I'll just take her to the door, bolt, and then duck around the corner and keep watch for a bit…"
In the space of a blink, Pardo had already worked the whole thing out in her head.
And so…
"Boss, you came to me for a guide? Lucky day for you."
Pardo cranked up her usual street patter.
For example. When meeting someone, call them big bro or big sis right away. Taking a small hit to her pride was fine. The payoff usually came later.
Or, for example. When meeting a man, tell him he's handsome. When meeting a woman, don't stop at pretty. Always add that she's got a kind heart to match.
Following that exact playbook, in the span of a few minutes…
"What I'm telling you is, big sis Mei, life's got no hurdle you can't get over. Look at me, will you. Nobody loved me, nobody raised me, and I still scraped and clawed my way to today, didn't I~"
"Maybe those big shots eating well and living comfortably worry about this and that all day long, less free than I am. I mean, am I wrong?"
There it was. She had not only learned Mei's name, she had also clocked that Mei was in a low mood.
And she had started pouring soft words on her, smoothing the fur down so to speak, saying nothing but the kind things.
Honestly, just like Ling Ke on the other side of the planet at that very moment, whose already good mood had only gotten better after Eden's concert.
Right now, Raiden Mei felt her own mood lift, a little, because of Pardofelis's patter.
It did not, of course, do anything about the actual problems she was carrying. But.
"Thank you, Pardo."
Mei said it inwardly. "I wouldn't even call it trust…"
"So this is what it feels like. Being answered."
If, back then, she had been a little more patient. Even if she had not trusted him from the start. If she had at least tried to answer him, even once.
Could she have reached that too-beautiful "nonexistent memory" too?
-
My bad, i fell asleep doing the bonus.
Currently I'm working on the new chapter translating it. And hell yeah! Reach 90 power stones for a friggin double chapter bonus! XD