XIII. (Interruption I.)

Interruption I.

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. . .

My eyes fluttered open at a relatively quick pace as I laid on the brick tiles. My mind wasn’t racing with thoughts or thinking about where I was, because I already knew where I was.

The sky, or rather the void, was a demure purple and the tiles I was resting upon were a dull violet. The tiles were certainly floating as well as the crystals that surrounded me. I shifted myself slightly as I turned to lay on my side, groaning.

“King, you’re here!” A young girl, though she was probably around my age, so she couldn’t be that young, ran towards me. I shifted a little bit more before turning to face her.

“Yes, Xoka, I’m here… just like I’m here every night,” I groaned as Xoka chuckled lightly.

“Well, I see you brought a friend with you as well!” She giggled as the fox walked over to me, hand in hand with Goryo.

“Oh yeah, forgot that happens,” I let out as Goryo chuckled lightly to himself.

The fox stepped over to my side and started kicking me with his shoe. He sighed as I proceeded to lay there, ignoring his antics. “King. Up.” He muttered as he extended an arm out.

As I proceeded to get up, I brushed away his arm, not using it to support myself. I glanced at Goryo before speaking, “welcome back, Ryo. To the Meta-World.”

“...it feels wrong to be here…” He groaned as he came over to me and grabbed onto my arm. “...you still talk to them?”

“...I don’t really have a choice,” I chuckled, “but yes, I do.” My mouth let out a light exhale as I blindly batted an eye to the fact that Xoka was breaking it down, presumably to a song only her and the fox could hear.

“Well, at least you have them, and Diana,” Goryo said, sighing. I glanced over at Xoka and the fox and then smiled.

“Yeah, I’m glad I have them.” I smiled even more as I continued my conversation with Goryo, “They help me get through a lot of stuff. And sometimes help me cheat on assignments~” I chuckled as the fox overheard what I was babbling about and he teleported himself over here, turning his form into a flame, which had been extinguished, and then reforming himself next to me.

“We don’t help you cheat, we help you understand,” he spoke softly, turning his gaze back to Xoka, who was still dancing.

“Yeah, yeah Pyro… whatever you say… basically giving me the answer seems like cheating to me,” I teased Pyro as Goryo started chuckling lightly along with me.

“S-shut up-” He stuttered in embarrassment as he went back to Xoka, who was still breaking it down.

“Xoka! What song are you listening to!?” I shouted as she stopped dancing for a moment.

“Baby One More Time! Britney Spears!” She shouted back, which had gotten me to genuinely chuckle.

“You like Britney too!?” I shouted once again before she turned her form into a bunch of golden roses, reforming next to me, the same way Pyro had done just a moment ago.

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“Yeah! I love Britney! She’s awesome~” She chuckled as she put her earbud back in and began dancing next to me.

“...I seriously don’t get the point of this, but you do you,” I sighed as Pyro stepped in front of me.

“She’s too ashamed to do this in front of anyone else,” Pyro sighed as he looked at Goryo. “...I know you two haven’t met them yet but… Xoka is on good terms with Ally and Lusha.”

“Ha! So they are real!” I chuckled as Pyro groaned. “Called it! I knew they were real sea witches!”

“Just because the meta-world is real, doesn’t mean everything you read about is,” he sighed as I began chuckling.

“Sure~” I said sarcastically as Xoka glanced at Goryo, observing him closely.

Comparing myself with Goryo, he was a lot paler than I, though to be fair I am colored.

Xoka is too, her skin tone is the exact same as mine and Akane’s, which was pretty neat!

“So, we heard you’re gaining some traction at school, did you want to talk about it in the bathroom today?” Xoka asked me as she turned down the volume on her phone.

“Uhm, not exactly… I just wasn’t exactly comfortable with the fact you were watching me… in the bathroom…” I sighed as Xoka chuckled. “I just wanted you two to know that I was in pain.”

“Oh King, stop with that lying bull crap,” Xoka chuckled. I groaned as I pouted my arms.

“...whatever-” I groaned even more as my face contorted into embarrassment and slight anger. I sighed and exhaled before inhaling deeply. “...I… I was wondering…”

Xoka tilted her head as if she was a dog before asking, “Wondering what King-sama?”

I breathed in, “...when will I be able to meet a ficto…?” Before I could even fully comprehend the fact that I had just asked that question, Pyro came over, using his flame power of course.

“...not yet,” he inhaled as his gaze deepened as he stared into my eyes. I wasn’t sure why he was acting that way. He spoke again, “you are not ready.”

I sighed. “Okay, then, what does it take to be ready?” I asked the fox before thinking to myself. Does it require endurance? Training? Am I ready and he just doesn’t want to admit it?

“You’ll know. You truly will,” he responded to my question vaguely. I rolled my eyes before chuckling.

“Okay, Pyro, okay…” I sighed before glancing at the void. “Can I wake up now?”

“You’re the one that makes that decision, King,” Pyro replied as I walked over to the edge.

“Ryo! I’m going to wake up, okay?” I shouted to him, he was talking with Xoka. He nodded. “Six! Six am, alright?” He nodded again and gave me a thumbs up.

I guess he remembered how to do it.

The way this works is that I have to jump off of the platform and think about the time I want to wake up, not the date, just the time.

It was, well, at first, absolutely terrifying, but, over the years, I’ve gotten used to it.

Very used to it.

And so I did it without any hesitation.

Letting myself fall through the void thinking the time, only the time, nothing else but the time.

6 am. Six am. Six in the morning. At six in the morning.

Six. In the morning.