[187]
Hours come to pass, and the trio are in the cafeteria sitting down on a table, revealing their scraps of papers indicating their room sections after they did a 'Three… two… one… and… Shoot!' game.
"Hold on, WHAT?!"
"Whoa… me and Margaret got the same room sections!! 108!"
Wyne shouted out loud as she happily hugged Margaret and jumped with her. Margaret just stood there being manhandled by her friend, not minding much about it except thinking about how manhandling could potentially break bones if done recklessly.
Meanwhile, Trizha frustratedly pointed out a finger at Wyne aggressively.
"Hey! I thought we made a promise a few days ago that we would both eat ramen after Margaret had her meal with it??"
Wyne lets go of Margaret and turns to Trizha, before putting on a smug, teasing smile on her face as she shrugs.
Wyne: "Eh. I thought I told you that this was based on luck…"
Trizha then suddenly grabbed both of Wyne's shoulders and started pushing and pulling her continuously back and forth, screaming at her face;
"How dare you?! Miso Ramen was my favorite! I even prepared some recording stands and cameras so that we can eat together while recording ourselves!"
"...So that you can post it on social media?? You're just wasting your money for your social advantage!" Wyne shouted back.
"Th-thats now what this is about! It's for a memorial type of thing!"
"Wow! That's news for someone like you, blondie!"
As the two of them argue again, as usual, Margaret raises a finger and tries to stop the argument with another disturbing manhandling bone breaking stuff.
"Guys, did you know–"
"Nope, shut it, you Impostor!" Trizha cut her off.
"Uhm, you mean Traitor?" Wyne asked.
"No, I meant what I said. You're the traitor, Wyne. And Margaret IS the imposter because she is eating my miso ramen when it was supposed to be ME who eats it!"
"Well I mean, luck is luck, and you definitely can't do anything about it." Wyne said, as she then wraps her arm around Margaret, looking at Trizha with a smug expression. "And besides, we can just go over to your room and we can enjoy together with… something else besides just eating–"
"Yeah, like that'll happen."
Trizha interrupts as she crosses her arms and looks away stubbornly, as Wyne looks at her in irritation.
Trizha then turns to the two with a determined smile after replacing it with her stubbornness, putting both of her hands onto her hips. "In any case… let's go plan out our journey inside the supermassive La Luna Sangre Hotel!"
Wyne's eyes light up, going thoughtful.
"Oh alright… hmm… a little tour would be nice… they probably would hand out discounts in their restaurants."
Trizha snapped her fingers at that. "Ah yes! Perfect planning–" But Margaret then interrupted them.
"I heard that there was gonna be a 'scare room'. Let's try it once we get there."
"Yeah, let's go there– wait no, when we just got there? I don't want to go to my room looking all traumatised."
"I mean, places like that hold very important information on how to survive real life serial killers—could be useful in a way."
"That's… that's actually a nice suggestion, but anyways…" Wyne said, calmly.
Wyne then turned to Trizha, her face a look of curiosity.
"Since me and Margaret are going to live with each other, I wonder who's going to be your roommate, Trizha."
In an instant, Trizha's earlier cheerful look was replaced into a surprised one.
"Oh, that? Uh…"
"Nomoro Ketatsuki, probably." Margaret suddenly mentioned.
Baffled, both Trizha and Wyne turned to Margaret with their eyes wide and surprised.
"It's always the protagonist's conflict victims that they often meet up with in most romance tropes. If this were a novel, Nomoro would fit in that regard."
Margaret added casually, and the next second, Wyne began responding loudly.
"Him? Are you out of your mind?? Asif! Like hell that guy is going to sleep with Trizha, not to mention what she even did with him yesterday!"
"Hypothetically speaking, that is. But it could happen."
The two bickered, one had their jaw open, and the other calm and collected.
But one stood out, and that one person… was someone who usually bickers along, but this time, she was left there, standing as if frozen by a freezing cold.
Her eyes were wide, and her face… It showed nervousness like never before.
The idea of the Demon of Nine Years Ago being her roommate, to her, is just as terrifying as being trapped with a bear after being forcefully thrown into its cage.
And by instinct, her mind activated on its own, helping her visualize the scenario in a way that instead of a bear in a cage, she thinks that it would be just as scary as riding a roller coaster for the first time.
Scary at first, but becomes fun the next few seconds riding it.
However, like that will be enough to erase the occurring thoughts and possibilities that could happen to her with such being.
She insulted him.
She humiliated him.
She trashed him.
All three in front of people who already feared him from the start, and doing all that just for an unnecessary vengeance.
She felt guilty of it.
And then, she started overthinking it.
What is he thinking?
What does he think of her now?
Is he thinking negative things about her?
To return the favor back to her as well?
The thought of justifiable harm and violence coming from someone like him scares her. And she hasn't even noticed it, but one her hands began shaking because of that thought.
She has always been careful with who she messes with both in media and real life, always looking out for her recklessness.
But that recklessness never lasted.
It was because of her ego that she let this recklessness consume her and attack a person whom she only knew for just one day.
"Trizha?"
And now, she is thinking of every single possibility of what could possibly happen…
"Hello, Trizha?"
…if Nomoro Ketatsuki…
"Hey, Trizha!"
…simply became her roommate.
"Hey! Trizha, wake up!!"
Holding Trizha's shoulders and shaking her entire body continuously, Wyne shouted at Trizha's face to wake her up from her subconscious mind.
And at the last second, Trizha returned to her senses, looking around confusingly.
"Wha-what–?"
"Hey, are you alright?" Wyne asks, concerned.
"I… it's nothing…"
She looked away, slightly biting her lip. To her, acting this way will only confuse Wyne further. But she is always oblivious that Wyne is not always as slow-minded as she thought.
After all, that look on Trizha's face is enough for Wyne to believe that something is clearly wrong. And if she's not wrong, it's related to Nomoro becoming her roommate.
"Idiot… there's no way that will happen, so calm down."
Wyne muttered, yet in a tone enough for Trizha to hear, as she turned to her, biting her lip even harder.
"...Okay." Trizha whispered softly.
***
Some hours later, class was over and every student in the campus headed out to make their leave from the school premises.
The teachers bid farewell, and the students… not so much, only to each other, or perhaps to those teachers they respected and liked the most.
"See you two."
Margaret waved to both Trizha Wyne, as she made her leave along with the sunset in front of her, and in front of everybody else.
Wyne smiled and waved back, and Trizha, well, not so much. She was still overthinking it.
Wyne turned to her, noticing that thoughtful yet fearful look in her face. This time, she's not sure what it is, but she hopes it's the same thing as earlier.
Alas, she just sighed and moved her own body to make her own leave, her steps slow but convincing.
But then, she stopped from her tracks.
"Trizha, whatever it is that you think you did wrong yesterday, I suggest you just let it go… and live your life."
She called out with her back turned, and Trizha looked over to Wyne from behind, listening.
"If being what you are now is the route you chose to walk into, then whatever the decisions you make, now and then, it will always consequence you in ways you'll never expect."
Those words lingered in Trizha's mind, contemplating them in silence, and Wyne turned her head around to look at Trizha over her shoulder.
"And whatever the results that will have those consequences… I just want you to know—they happen. And it's all in the past. So if you're that worried with what happened before, know that you already walked past it all. You're still walking on that same path for nine years, I know you can do better than that… if not, you're always free to walk on other paths. On other Routes."
Face to face, they stood clear and halted like mannequins staring at one another.
Yet, one of them plastered a smile onto their faces.
"No, I think I'm fine, Wyne. I think I'm fine… being an Influencer."
The wind blew past the two, the shining hair gleamed like sparkles. It was a pleasant look, but Wyne stood there… unpleasant of Trizha's decision.
"Thank you for being worried about me, but… I can handle it. I'm an Influencer, after all. Not to mention one of the best? Haha."
Trizha chuckled, and Wyne… she just turned around and walked out.
"Sure."
Sure. A single word, yet Trizha's smile wavered in an instant hearing it, and she sighed.
This is reckless, she thought.
But taking risks, no matter how much it hurts, that's what it means to be an Influencer.