"Well? How do you feel after watching that?"
The Eighth Herrscher rested her chin on her hands, staring with interest at Su, whose face was so grim it looked like it might drip ink.
"Can you believe now that I'm not forcing them?"
"...No. This might just be something you fabricated to deceive me."
"Is that so?" The Eighth Herrscher gave him a bone-chilling smile. "You are the human. You should know better than anyone whether this is real."
"..."
Yes, Su knew very well that the Eighth Herrscher was telling the truth.
No matter how many excuses he found, even if this incident hadn't been caused by the Eighth Herrscher but by a machine that truly trapped people in dreams, Su would never doubt that those people truly wanted to stay in the dream.
Seeing Su's silence, the Eighth Herrscher snapped her fingers and revealed an amused smile.
"In that case, let's resolve this in a different way."
"What?"
"Lin and I are currently playing a game, and I'd like to play one with you too. If you can pass this game of mine, I'll release all those people. How about it?"
"No. Your words carry no guarantee!"
"True, Herrschers indeed have no credit among humans..." Her eyes narrowed, the curve of her mouth widening. "But you have no choice. You could certainly start a battle of consciousness with me right now and transmit my physical location to Fire Moth, but during that time, I will erase every single one of those people's consciousnesses."
"..."
The Eighth Herrscher should actually be grateful that the ones observing her conscious world weren't rationalists like MEI or Mobius. They wouldn't trade the lives of a small group of people for the lives of the majority, much less abandon so many people just to defeat her.
Therefore, Su's answer was simple and didn't surprise her.
...
"Su... Su..."
"Ugh..."
Rubbing his bleary eyes, Su was shaken awake. He opened his eyes groarily to see his seatmate's face.
"You're finally awake. School's over. You slept so soundly today. You're usually the most active in class; why were you sleeping today?" His seatmate, carrying his schoolbag, wiggled his eyebrows. "Let's go. I've finished cleaning up. It's just the two of us left."
Su sat up in confusion, wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth, and sat dully in the glow of the sunset coming through the window.
He fell asleep today? Strange... he remembered... that he was supposed to be paying attention in class...
"Still not going?"
"...Oh."
Su simply tidied his desk, stuffed his saliva-dampened notes into his satchel, and walked out of the classroom toward his home.
I feel like... something is missing.
Su walked along the road flooded with the red setting sun. The laughter from the passing crowds failed to interest him. As he thought, he took out his phone to see if anyone had messaged him.
...There actually was one.
"Su, I got tickets to Eden's concert, and they're VIP seats! You, me, and Lin should skip class and go to the concert together!"
This was a message from his friend, Kevin.
Su couldn't help but widen his eyes, muttering in disbelief: "Eden's concert? VIP seats? How did Kevin get those?"
He was suddenly very excited. He and Kevin were both loyal fans of Eden, but the "Lin" Kevin mentioned caught his extra attention.
Lin... he remembered Kevin mentioning another friend he made at Senba Academy. It was thanks to Kevin personality that he could make friends so quickly.
Su hurried to reply: "Sure, when?"
A reply came back in seconds. One could imagine Kevin jumping with excitement on the other end: "Fly over this weekend first. We'll meet at Lin house. His cooking is delicious; you have to try it."
"No problem."
Su began to look forward to the weekend.
...
The two lived quite a distance apart. Su took a ninety-minute flight. As soon as he exited the gate, he was ambushed by Kevin, who was waiting at the door, and given a big hug.
"Hahaha! Su! Long time no see!"
"Long time no see indeed."
Su wasn't bothered by the hug. He naturally hugged Kevin back for a few seconds, then noticed a person nearby with their hands in their pockets, wearing a hoodie and a mask, staring at them silently.
"Oh! Let me introduce you!" Kevin let go of him and unceremoniously pulled the hooded man over by the neck. "This is Lin! Not only a study genius who can play games with me all day and still rank second in the school, but also a master chef who knows eighteen national cuisines!"
"...I feel like you're dragging me down to your level. And what is a master chef? Do you think this is a manga?" Lin pushed away Kevin overly enthusiastic hand and nodded to Su. "I'm Lin. Consider me his friend, for now."
"Hello, I'm Su. It's nice to meet you." Su replied politely with a friendly smile.
"I'm telling you, Lin. Su is a genius too! Not only has he been first in the school since he was a kid, but he also aspires to be a doctor who saves people from fire and water in the future..."
"Hey, wait, 'fire and water' is an exaggeration. That's a job for firefighters or officials," Su immediately critiqued. "Besides, isn't it embarrassing to say we're both geniuses?"
"Huh? Why should I be embarrassed? My best friends are both geniuses; doesn't that give me a lot of face?"
Kevin innocent face left Su unable to argue. He lowered his head helplessly but soon gave a soft smile.
Well, that's just Kevin.
...That's... Kevin.
Su's heart suddenly skipped a beat. He stared at Kevin bright, smiling face, catching the attention of both Kevin and Lin.
"What's wrong?"
"...Nothing."
Su quickly lowered his head. He was very confused by the feeling he had just a moment ago...
An illusion, probably. It must be because he hadn't seen him in so long.
"Let's go, let's go! We're going to Lin house to drink! We won't stop until we're drunk tonight!"
"...Aren't we minors?" "Why is it my house?"
"Don't worry about that! As long as nobody knows! Besides, Lin, didn't we agree last time that we'd go to your house for dinner next?"
"...Which 'last time'? You have a lot of 'last times'."
...
The three boys played until midnight before stopping. Under Su's strong condemnation, they didn't drink alcohol, but juice.
Afterward, they played board games, Truth or Dare, and video games, turning Lin tidy house into a mess.
Su drifted off to sleep, thinking that this kind of life was quite nice.