Chương 34: An Old Smile, an Old Friend

Once they had all finished eating, the woman from behind the counter materialized beside them like a ghost. She slid the bill onto the center of the table and vanished just as quickly as she had arrived. The three of them looked down at it. Then, William began studying the ceiling with a strange interest. Lio stared down at the bill, and frowned. While Lio had ordered the medium Stoneback, William had ordered the extra-large, resulting in his cost being the biggest. How shameless.

"William," he said.

"Hm?" William said, still looking at the ceiling.

"Why are you looking up at the ceiling?"

"... It's a very interesting ceiling."

"Yeah. It isn't." William finally lowered his gaze, and upon finding the bill still sitting there, coughed awkwardly.

"Right," he said.

"So. Regarding the payment..."

"Yes?" Lio said.

"I want to be upfront," William continued, shaking his head pitifully, "that I didn't technically ask to be here. I was led here. Through a corridor with death traps, even! And if it hadn't been for me and my rune—""William," Ophila interrupted.

"I'm just establishing some context—!" He protested.

"You ate the most expensive thing out of all of us," she said gently. A short silence followed, in which William cringed slightly.

"I'll pay half…?" William gingerly offered.

"You'll pay your share," Lio said.

"Which is seventy-five percent." William looked at him with an expression of exceptional suffering. Then reaching into his pack, he counted out the coins with great reluctance, then set them on the table one at a time mournfully. Ophila also paid her share cleanly, tucking her coins beside Williams. Lio added the remainder and stood up, heading out. Outside, the spore-light of the artificial sky had turned more golden while they'd been inside, afternoon arriving on Floor 3.

William stood on the bottom step of the tavern and stretched, raising his arms high above his head.

"Right," he said, letting out a yawn.

"What now?"

"There's a Union outpost on the northern edge," Lio replied.

"I need to stop there and meet with someone. After that we'll find some lodging." William nodded along, before a look passed through his face.

"Actually," he said, brightening up considerably, "I can handle the lodging." Lio glanced at him, raising his eyebrows.

"I'm just saying," William continued, "that one person can absolutely handle booking rooms. And I have very good instincts about these things."

"You just want to sleep, don't you?" Ophila asked.

"I want to sleep," William confirmed, dropping the act without any shame. Sighing, Lio reached into his pack and counted out a portion of the money he'd won at the gambling house, what felt like a lifetime ago now, and held it out. William took it while beaming widely.

"Go and get three rooms somewhere," Lio said.

"Three rooms, coming right up!" William said enthusiastically. He was already turning away.

"I can do that. Easy. Very easy." He pointed at a building two streets down.

"That one looks promising."

"Pretty sure that's a supply depot," Lio said. William squinted at it.

"... The one next to it then?"

"Sure," Lio said. He had stayed in that particular lodge for a few loops. It wasn't bad, it wasn't good. Completely mediocre. William nodded with a satisfied look, and started walking. Then he paused and looked back at Ophila.

"You coming?"

"I'll go with Lio," she said.

"Only one person needs to book the rooms," she added.

"Right," William said.

"I'll find you both after." Then he turned and walked off down the main street. For a moment, Lio watched him go, then started walking north. It took some time, but the Union outpost that sat at the edge of Trestfall soon revealed itself. It was a small building by any measure, its fungi walls much narrower and less settled than the tavern's, suggesting it had been grown more recently.

A Union banner hung above the entrance, the same grey and blue as the one in Crater City, though this one had clearly been through a lot more, tears and stains everywhere. Inside, it was just one room with two desks, a wall of notice boards, and two clerks. One of them was an older man with a bulging belly and ruddy cheeks, bent in a horrible posture over a stack of paperwork. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

The other was a young girl, perhaps eighteen, chewing a strand of her auburn hair as she filled out a stack of forms. Her hair was slightly curly, held back in a small ponytail with a piece of cloth. Her facial features were incredibly gentle, with soft features and large, innocent-looking eyes. She looked up at the sound of the door opening, and immediately sprang up when she saw who it was.

"Lio!" she cried. She hurried over, quickly smoothing her uniform as she did so. She hugged him gently, then leaned back with a big smile on her face.

"You're back," she remarked.

"I've been so worried since last time you said you were going to Floor 5 and—" She stopped herself as she noticed Ophila, bowing her head.

"Oh. Hello!"

"Hello, Senna," Lio greeted her. She was a girl that he had befriended before the loops had started, back when he had just been a regular Delver. He was already smiling. It was constructed the same way the smile he had worn when he'd approached Lupin and Acacia at the Checkpoint had been made. But it was also much softer, closer to beaming, as Lio had learned, across the multiple loops, that was exactly the kind of smile that worked on Senna Jacinta. So that was the smile he gave her.

Senna's smile wavered, a faint color rising in her cheeks. Then she hurriedly collected herself.

"You look well," she observed.

"So do you," Lio said. She grasped Lio's hands, tilting her head.

"Is there something you need? Maps, or supply—" Lio chuckled.

"Why do you always ask that? You know I just wanted to check in with you like always." That part was true. Before the loops, he always visited Senna when passing through Trestfall. The girl had been one of his few friends during those times, someone Lio had easily warmed up to. Senna looked back down at the floor, her cheeks blazing.

"Of course…" she mumbled. Behind him, Lio was aware that Ophila had drifted towards the notice boards. She hadn't said anything, instead giving him and Senna some space. But still, she was at a distance where she could hear everything.

"How have you been?" he asked, turning his focus back to Senna. Senna looked back up, smiling gently.

"It's been good," she said, glancing at the older clerk, who hadn't even looked up once.

"Greaves does most of the heavy work. I mostly manage the filing and the incoming reports."

"That sounds like you," Lio said warmly.

"I know you always preferred organizing things." Senna tittered.

"Yeah. But Greaves says I'm too careful with the forms and that I spend too long on each one." She shook her head.

"But if you don't do it right the first time—""You just have to do it again," Lio finished for her. Senna looked at him, brightening up.

"Exactly," she said.

"You remembered!" Lio smiled.

"Of course." He glanced over at her table.

"Are you still working the early shifts?" he asked.

"Yes. Morning to afternoon." She glanced at the window.

"Then another attendant takes over for the night. I usually have to finish up the backlog after he leaves though." Lio sighed.

"You always push yourself too hard. Leave it to someone else, for once." Senna smiled self-deprecactingly.

"You know how much of a pushover I am," she said quietly. Lio said nothing, letting a dark look flash over his face, hinting at his concern for her. Senna immediately looked up, cringing.

"Sorry," she said automatically.

"I didn't mean to—""Don't apologize," Lio said, shaking his head. He patted her head gently.

"I'm just worried." The crimson came back to her cheeks.

"H-how long are you staying in Trestfall?" she asked, redirecting the subject.

"Just a few days," Lio answered. Senna nodded, a complicated expression surfacing before she smoothed it away.

"Are you going down to Floor 5 again?"

"A bit further," Lio said. She looked down at the ground, worry and questions showing clearly on her face.

"I see," she said instead. Lio cocked his head, studying her.

"I don't want to keep you from your work," he said.

"But we're eating dinner later, myself and two others I'm descending with." He grinned.

"You should come as well." Senna blinked.

"Oh, I—""Only if you want to," he added immediately.

"You've probably had a long day. I understand if you—""No, no!" Senna quickly looked over at the stack of forms on her desk.

"I can finish early," she said.

"If I hurry the backlog."

"Please, don't hurry on my account," Lio said.

"I'm not," she said.

"I was already planning to finish this early and do something fun anyway." Unfortunately, Senna Jacinta was a horrible liar. She had a tendency to bite her lower lip whenever she fibbed. Still, Lio went along with it.

"Come to the tavern on the main street," Lio said.

"The one with the sign that just says Eat." Senna let out a surprised laugh.

"I know the one." She nodded, squeezing Lio's hands one last time.

"Alright. I'll be there soon."

"See you," Lio said, letting go of her hands and turning away.

"See you then," Senna returned softly. He then quickly walked toward the door, where Ophila already was waiting, having left somewhere during his and Senna's conversation. They stepped outside together. The spore-light was now completely amber by now, the artificial sky above Trestfall burning with a slow gorgeous gold. Ophila walked beside him with her hands in her pockets, saying nothing for a stretch of time. Then she let out a giggle.

"Huhu…"

"What?" Lio said.

"Nothing," she said pleasantly. After a few more seconds had passed, she spoke up again.

"Have you known her for a while?" Ophila asked.

"Yes," Lio said.

"Well, I could tell that she was very happy to see you."

"I see." Ophila glanced at him sideways, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"You told me you don't have people," she said.

"Friends, family, anything like that. You just know people, you said."

"I remember what I said."

"So what is she then?"

"Someone I know," Lio said. Ophila chuckled.

"Just admit it. Why are you so stubborn? Admit that she's your friend."

"No."

"Why not?" Lio glanced over at her. She was full on grinning now, with a delighted expression.

"I always knew you weren't the loner you act as. So you do have a friend," she said, a tone of great satisfaction in her voice.

"I have an acquaintance," Lio corrected.

"She held your hands~" Ophila sang cheerfully.

"And you even went out of your way to meet her~""You're enjoying this too much," Lio said.

"So what?" Ophila replied.

"It's fun!" Lio said nothing after that, letting her have it as they walked back through Trestfall's main street toward the lodge where William was probably already asleep. Ophila's humming stopped after a while, her attention being grabbed by the afternoon life of the settlement around them. Vendors began packing up their stalls for the evening, followed by the distant laughter of playing children. The warm smell of something cooking from an open window above them floated into their nose. Lio glanced over at her.

She thought that Senna was his friend? Well, that wasn't entirely wrong. Before the loops had started she had certainly been a close friend. But now…? If only she knew. Everything he had done in that room had all been a simple routine he had compiled throughout loops, consisting of actions and words that he knew could take advantage of who Senna was. But then again, why would it matter even if Ophila did know? What would it even matter if Senna figured it out?

The loop would reset in the end and everybody would forget. So he walked beside Ophila through the amber evening light of Trestfall, and felt nothing about any of it.

'Cause it doesn't matter.