"Who are you...?"
Those were the first human words I heard after opening my eyes. Or so I believed at that point of time.
Was it some kind of trick that my mind was playing on me?
I honestly didn't know.
Clenching my teeth and ignoring my unfamiliar body's cries, I solely focused on the girl infront of me.
She looked distant. Understandably, frightened by my presence.
Her porcelain face betrayed her hints of hostility.
'No, it is something else...
She is sad, but not because of me.'
'Reply fast, target's approval of you is rapidly dropping. Fall in value beyond a certain limit will automatically initiate target's suicide', Sys D warned me.
Wait, didn't I name her Lianne?
Why did I do that again?
Did she not like it? I feel like this was a mocking joke disguised as a warning.
Is she even a 'she'?
Ugh, I should say something fast!
"Pretty great weather to go sky diving, huh? ", I replied in a very nonchalant tone.
"..."
'Target feels hostile towards you.'
Shit, it's not like I did a crash course on smooth-talking to ladies.
"Please do not be afraid of me." I raised my hands to ease her mind."I will not be approaching you any closer. I... just woke up from a bad nap, so you might not have seen me lying around right here."
"..."
"My name is..."
I immediately tried to remember the last masculine proper noun stored in my memory, but all I could process was the word 'Reji'
"...Reaeii.", I replied with a confident smile.
"...Ray?", she asked, seemingly confused.
Yeah, that works.
"Yeah, you can call me Ray. What about you?"
"..."
'Target is actively considering jumping.'
"Ouch my head hurts!", I dialed up my voice a few notches.
"!?!", she clasped the railing with both her hands immediately.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
What should I say next?
"Uh, I'm great at reading people, you see. And...You seemed extremely sad for some reason."
Yeah, right! Whatever am I saying? She's literally about to jump to her bloody death! Sad? More like depression has knocked the word 'Happiness' out of her fucking brain.
"..."
'Target's attention is on you.'
"I'm not one of those superficial people, who will tell you about all the good things and give you a lecture on life."
But I am. That is exactly what I'm doing right now.
"If you ask me, those moral codes? 'They', are just there so innocent people can get tricked into thinking they deserve the pain."
I was trying to frame my sentences in a way that a majority of people could relate to. I had to narrow down my words to her exact problem soon.
'Target is listening.'
"Somebody once told me, changing the angle you look at your circumstance is the first step to walking forward."
Wouldn't walking forward be really bad for her considering the angle she's in?
Fuck.
"...", she said nothing.
Damnit, it's much more difficult to crack this ice she keeps putting out than I thought initially. I didn't even get time to plan this out.
But I had to keep talking to keep her attention on me.
"I... have been having a bad day..."
My day just begun right now though.
"Things just aren't going the way I thought they would..."
Can't I just run up to her and grab her?
"But you know what? I'm not hating it so much right now even though I feel so confused."
"?", she tilted her head slightly.
"When I woke up, my body was sore. The night was dark and growling with hunger. It was trying to consume me as if I were just a piece of meat. It was scary, I'm not going to lie."
Saying the truth naturally made my words more fluent.
"The only reason I'm smiling right now is because I saw the beautiful red moon and I instantly fell in love with it."
I looked straight into her eyes.
She turned her head around, to look up at the bright moon in the night sky.
"...But it's not red...?"
" Oh, my bad. You looked so beautiful under the moonlight, I thought YOU were the moon. I realized my mistake just now. And..." I lowered my gaze to her swaying hair, "Your red hair is so pretty, I've never seen anything quite like it. Haha. I totally mistook you for some celestial beauty. Forgive me for that."
I had a choice. Face palm immediately, and kill myself for saying all that cringe.
OR
Just keep a small smile and maintain eye contact.
I guess I felt extra confident from all the pain my body was in, since I chose the latter.
She immediately lowered her head. I couldn't see her expression because of that.
Damnit, did I fail?
'Target's apprehension towards you is beginning to diminish.'
Nice! Thank you, Goddess of Beauty for making her this beautiful. I can just say the truth without having to feel guilty.
'Divine message received from ??? Open message?', Lianne asked.
I forgot I could talk to Lianne in my head.
'No, later. After I talk this girl out of her crazy ideas, you'll explain everything to me properly.'
'Understood. Would you like to activate your skill, Assistant's advice?'
'Assistant's advice? What's that?'
Lianne said proudly, her robotic female voice carrying an extra amount of human emotions, 'With this skill, I can analyze the situation and recommend you the best possible action. Cost of using this skill: Your mental power+ assistant patronage.'
'My mental power? So basically you'll be using my brain to calculate and not do it yourself?'
'No, it's a joint activity. I will do the work, however my processing is virtually impossible without an active brain component to attach my system to. A good analogy would be, I'm the computer while you are the power source.'
'I see. And what do you mean by assistant patronage?'
'It's the fee for using my system. Depending on the task, the fee varies.'
'And what exactly do you charge?'
'Strong current emotions, like pain. Also, I accept sanity points and prefer refined points more than raw emotions.'
'So you accept emotions like love and sadness too?'
'Yes. However, it is recommended that you stick to providing one emotion, so that you may feel comfortable when large quantities are required for intensive processing. Multiple changes in input may also lead to sensory overload.'
What is this bullcrap that she is spouting?
'Okay. So, basically just stick to one emotion, right? I'll use the skill right now then.'
'Command accepted. Cost analysis initiated. No cost for first processing. Beginning calculations.'
This seems handy. What is it going to tell me? Is it going to be useful? Since the last thing I need right now is...
'Calculations complete. Assistant's advice: Compliment her more and make her fall in love with you. SUCCESS rate if advice taken: >90%', Lianne drove the words inside my brain.
It felt like a hot knife slicing butter.
What?
My brain shut down.
Did I hear right?
"Enna...", a voice spoke.
I jolted back to reality.
The girl in front of me, standing on the edge of the roof, holding the railing with one hand and brushing her hair falling over her face with the other, was looking at me.
She spoke again, "My name is Enna."