Aimi served them breakfast as soon as they sat down. "Good work to the both of you!"
They said their thanks then dug in.
While Tadashi continued to eat normally, Naoko paused after her first bite. The taste was incredibly bad, so bad that it was an assault to her senses. This could not be a mistake, could it? Even if it was intentional, Aimi should not be dumb enough to give Naoko spoilt food only to ruin her image as a cook and jeapordise this journey by having someone fall ill. So, it should be safe to eat. Although, the pause was brief, it was enough to catch Tadashi's attention. "Igarashi-san, how's the food? Is it to your taste?"
It sounded a little funny that such questions were coming from Tadashi instead of the cook.
Naoko hesitated about telling the truth. She did not want her words to be regarded as slander. "How about you try it?" She offered with a sweet smile.
Tadashi stared at the meat and rice in her spoon in surprise then
Phew, back from a break! Thank you all for the support you've been giving me! I really appreciate the readership and votes!! ♥
"How are you?" BaoBao asked enthusiastically. He had completely forgotten that he had been hopping mad just a moment ago."If you're asking about my host's performance, it's almost perfect.""Do have fun with your host?" BaoBao elaborated.The other system immediately frowned. Not only did he not react to her host's performance rating, he was now asking about something completely irrelevant. "Fun?""Yeah! My host's really great to be with! How's your host like? She keeps making things hard for my host but I shall forgive it if she's like that because of a mission."Her frown gradually deepened to the point that she looked slightly intimidating. "You're really enthusiastic for someone who's strong enough to fix the data that I corrupted that quickly. That girl's your first host, isn't she?"Right after BaoBao nodded, she continued without waiting to see if BaoBao would have something to say. "I knew it. I've never met a veteran system b
Naoko's and Tadashi's morning practice went smoothly with each of them focusing on their task.When Naoko was done with her mecha practice, she looked at Tadashi who was still hard at work with his eyes closed and a slight frown on his forehead. Naoko squatted down in front of him and waited silently for him to open his eyes by himself. With a disgruntled tone, he said softly, "Nothing at all.""It should be expected. You're just beginning. It'd be more surprising if you got something immediately."His eyes slightly rounded in surprise. Normally, someone would sound more comforting than she did. However, the way Naoko said it with such a flat expression and like it was a matter of fact reassured him more than any sympathetic or kind smile would have.He laughed then said, "You're right. Let's go for breakfast."This time, Aimi did not do anything funny to Naoko's breakfast. In fact, she gave Naoko a larger portion than the o
Later that day, the group went through the same procedures that Tadadshi did. They split into two and took turns to practice mindfulness right outside the hover ship. Since, Naoko had to be in the hover ship while Tastuya was out, Tadashi took Tatsuya, Isamu, and, of course, Aimi. At night, they went through another mindfulness practice, except that this time it was to tune into their own bodies. Tadashi offered to singlehandedly guide everyone through it so that Naoko could focus on her individual practice without interruption. For a newbie who sensed his own spiritual energy just this morning, Naoko had to say that his guidance was commendable. Both times, Aimi behaved like she had a talent for it and got the sensation by the end of each session. Each time she did, she jumped at Tadashi in her joy, mimicking what Tadashi did to Naoko in the morning. It was a clear jab at Naoko, which she chose to ignore. It was not as easy for Tadashi, though. The first time, he was caught
As the days passed by uneventfully, Naoko caught on to Aimi's strategy. She was slowly but surely adopting Naoko's ways. The things she did. The way she dressed, behaved, and expressed herself. She even expressed an interest in the martial arts that Naoko practiced, then learnt it by herself through the web. However, with the knowledge that Aimi was a fellow transmigrator, Naoko was willing to bet that she definitely had prior experience and knowledge. The way she moved was far too natural. Nonetheless, it was increasingly frustrating for Naoko to witness how everything Aimi did, Aimi did and looked better. It was a painful reminder of how she would never amount to much. The others had only shown a brief and itsy-bitsy interest in martial arts until Aimi practised it too. Watching how Aimi could make the boys, including Tadashi, do things just by doing it herself made Naoko cringe. Unbeknownst to Naoko, it was merely a matter of coincidence that Tadashi expressed his interest at the
Not long after they resumed their comfortable silence in each other's embrace, there was a knock on the door. "I guess it's high time we should return." Naoko commented a little drily. "We don't need to." Tadashi tightened his hold on Naoko. [He lashed out at Aimi in front of everyone.] BaoBao grabbed the chance to fill her in on what happened with a single-line summary. Right after BaoBao said so, Aimi's voice traveled through the closed door. "Tadashi-kun... Na-chan... I'm sorry... Please, can you let me make amends?" "You can do so by leaving us alone." Tadashi harshly bit out. Naoko lightly pursed her lips, wondering how would this affect the rest of the story and journey. There was a pause before Aimi replied dejectedly, "Okay... I'll see the two of you tomorrow morning..." Naoko waited for awhile before she looked up at him and asked, "Erm... Tadashi, how long do you intend to st
Naoko considered confronting Aimi about it, but BaoBao warned her that it may not be helpful. [There's an extra restriction when hosts inhabit the body of lead roles. They have to stay in character unless changing it is needed for the scripted story to make sense. The purpose is so that the other characters do not gain an awareness, start questioning, and create further bugs in the world.] /So what you mean is... Other characters in the story cannot experience what Tadashi, or rather the familiar soul inside him, goes through?/ [Yes. That's why when there is a familiar soul transmigrating along with our host, it is taken as the host's responsibility to take that into account and manage the consequences of that or...]BaoBao fell silent. /I'll be deemed as incapable?/Naoko completed his sentence for him. [Yes...] BaoBao refrained from telling Naoko that the co
Isamu and Tadashi immediately went to the pilot seats. However, the hover ship refused to follow their commands. Everything ran as per normal, they were just not taking off. Tatsuya rapidly brought up images after images of the hover ship. Finally, an image showed their hover ship being pinned to the ground by the needle sharp tails of some bugs. The parts destroyed were not crucial but enough to hold them down. "I knew their exteriors were hard but not THAT hard!" Tatsuya exclaimed in terror. They had witnessed how it got violently knocked around and out by the sand twisters without suffering a single open wound. "Abandon ship! To the mechas now!" Naoko yelled decisively when Tatsuya's mind seemed to have frozen in panic. Just then, a tail shot through the roof dangerously close to the command table. "Naoko!" A strained voice rose above all the surrounding noise and made Naoko's heart feel like it was caught in a tight grip.&n
Naoko knew that Aimi was looking down on her by throwing her this chance to turn the tide around but her throat clamped down and prevented her from saying anything.She was having second thoughts about triggering a change in Tadashi's condition.Recalling how he was earlier when they were abandoning their hover ship, the only thing she was sure of was how painful it was for him to gain awareness. The chance that the familiar soul was alright and lying dormant within that body made her unwilling to try and trigger a change."Igarashi-san?"Now that she knew what her issue was, she found her voice back. "I was just jealous of her for having everyone's attention. I started to feel left out and forgotten." Naoko chose to say things that she knew Tadashi would not like.Aimi's eyes widened slightly in surprise upon hearing the familiar words.Tadashi stared unblinkingly at her in disbelief. Suspicions rose again. Som