Prelude of Humanity

Chapter 6

Nothing is nothing, so is anything anything then?

1:11 PM

It's fair weather today in Merumeru. Again, the Venetian-like architecture here with buildings made out of brick in muted colors of gray, yellow, and red. Well, at least the buildings near the station that is.

I'm admiring the ambience here, because it's dreadful here at the restaurant that Tomo requested to meet up at. No, not that the restaurant's dreadful.

Miko and I are sitting our butts on a table outside of Bo's Italian Cravings. Her laptop's already set up and running, while we're like tarsiers staring at a fixed point.

"U-uh..." I can feel Miko's voice trembling. "W-why a pleasant afternoon Tomochii~!" She exclaimed with recovery, waving back and forth.

I simply nodded towards her and waved quite cutely yet effortlessly.

Tomo continued to growl silence, as she stumbled on a seat, hanging her bag behind it.

"The Most Mysterious Person I Met" is still the appropriate title for her, at least for me.

It's not everyday that you can easily tell what people feel by their faces. If you have the theory of mind to do so everyday, then good. I wish everyone's like that; easy to tell if you're happy, sad, or angry, or easily be readable by other people of how you feel. Or most importantly, not leaving dying and miserable souls aside as if you haven't noticed them.

Contrast to what I'm talking about is another paradox of time travel. If you want to go back to your home timeline without disrupting it into chaos or accidentally dumping your girlfriend, not conversing with people you encounter is not enough to avoid that catastrophe, but rather you needn't be encountered. Basically, avoiding people that see you. The eyes of the people are enough to tilt time-traveling.

"S-so uhm, Tomo... How's classes today?" Miko tried to stir the silence, her trembling voice seemed to adapt to the atmosphere we're currently in right now.

"O-oh!" Tomo sprang with bliss. "It's a fine day. Always great and dandy with the Business Management and Accounting classes! Ahehehe..."

"...I forgot to ask when your last period ends, so it's around one in the afternoon then?" I asked towards Tomo.

"Yup! That's my sched' for Wednesday." She replied with a clap.

Okay, I think the dread's been stabilized.

"So what will both of 'ya order, Akko? Mikochii?" asked Tomo, as she and Miko grabbed a menu from the table's container.

"Italian cravings huh?" I mumbled whilst glancing at the menu.

Miko stood up and raised her hand. "Oooh, I'll have their Risotto signature dish!"

"Er, I'll have their pesto pasta." That was a mouthful.

"Gnocchi for me." Tomo monotonously said out loud.

I grabbed the thin sheet of paper and tiny pen that was on the container as well. The texture and size is akin to a receipt you'd receive in a grocery, but it's actually a checklist for you on what to order.

"Guys, I'll just fill up your order here."

"Thanks a bunch, Akko!" Miko put her hands together with a glance at my direction, then shifted her direction back to her laptop.

Huh, so that's how they order things around here, just tick the boxes of what you want to order and specify the quantity on the right-hand side if you need to order more than one, then just give it to the waiter when they walk towards you. Clever doing things here I must say.