Scumbag Fate System-Chapter 24: Entertainment Department (2)

Reinhard had noticed many new things about Yor. But the most vivid one was that she seemed the happiest when she forgot who she was.

Which showed the best when they were playing the games.

After finishing all of the games on the first floor, he led them towards the second floor. Yor almost turned around three times before they reached the second floor.

The first time he saw her, she was going slower than normal when she thought he was looking at something else. The second time she half-pivoted, he glanced back with a smile that didn’t ask anything. The third time, she stopped completely as if she was waiting for him to question or say something. But he didn’t and simply glanced back at her with an easy smile.

And he knew the words she wanted to say died in her throat.

I can tell she is telling herself... Just a few more minutes of pretending she could be normal. Reinhard thought as they arrived at an archery range.

The bows shot light projections instead of real arrows. Tracing a path through the air and marking exactly where they landed on the target. Reinhard picked up one of the bows and tested the draw before lining up a shot. He released it.

The light arrow curved wide and caught the outer ring.

"Not my best," he said with complete honesty.

Yor took the bow from him and turned to face the target. She positioned herself the way she’d seen in illustrated books, brought the string back, felt her arms shake slightly with the pull of it, and let go.

The arrow hit the center ring perfectly.

Reinhard looked at the target.

Then back at her. "Have you done this before?"

"No. I just..." She lowered the bow slowly. "I’m not sure how I knew to do that."

"Do it again."

She nocked another arrow and drew back. Another center hit. Then another after that.

"You’re a natural," he said with a grin.

The blush that came up above her mask was quick and involuntary.

They played five full rounds together, and she won all of them.

"Let’s try something else," Reinhard said, already turning toward the next section.

Yor stayed rooted and didn’t move. "Why are you doing this?"

He stopped before turning back and tilting his head. "Doing what?"

"This." She gestured vaguely at the space between them, the building around them, everything. "Taking me to this place, spending time with me, and acting like I’m..." She couldn’t finish.

"Normal?" He walked back to her, and his expression had gone serious. "You are normal, Yor. You have a dangerous power, but so does every Hunter here. The only difference is they have better control over it like you, and don’t drain your emotions."

"They didn’t hurt people-"

"But their power can." Reinhard said softly, making her pause. "How many combat students have accidentally put someone in the hospital during training? How many Hunters with elemental Sigils have destroyed their dorms? How many mental Sigils have broken someone?" He stepped closer. "Magic is dangerous, just like how people are. You’re not special for having hurt someone."

She stared at him, something cracking open in her chest.

"I’m doing this. Because I want to." Reinhard held out his hand. "Now, are we going to stand here, or are we going to shoot things with the light bow?"

"... The light bow."

"Good answer."

Nearby students began to notice, leaning together and trading quiet words.

"That’s definitely her."

"Why is she with the failure?"

"Does she not know what he is?"

"Isn’t he the one who got fifteen students in trouble?"

"Yeah. He’s supposed to be trouble."

"Wonder what he’s after..."

Across the room, Reinhard was teaching Yor how to shoot while stepping sideways, but missing the target entirely. She laughed, and neither of them heard a word of what was being said about them.

They made their way to the third floor when lunch came around, settling at a table in the food court near one of the large windows that looked out over the campus grounds. Yor pulled her mask down just enough to eat, and for a while neither of them said anything, which felt comfortable rather than awkward.

"Are you having fun?" Reinhard asked.

She looked at her food for a moment before answering. "Yes. This is really nice."

"Just nice?"

"Very nice."

Reinhard smiled before looking out the window, and something shifted in his expression. Not sad, exactly. Just... elsewhere.

"What is it?" Yor asked.

"Hm?" He blinked back to the present. "Nothing... Just thinking."

"About what?"

He was quiet for a moment. "My sister used to make me take her to places like this. Arcades, game centers, anywhere loud and bright and distracting." A small smile. "She said I was too serious and that I needed to remember how to have fun."

"Used to?"

"She’s gone now." He said it simply, without drama. "Not dead. Just... somewhere I can’t follow." He looked at Yor properly, and the smile returned. "Point is, she’d be thrilled I’m finally taking her advice. Even if it took meeting a girl who drains emotions to make it happen."

Yor felt something twist in her chest. "I’m sorry about your sister."

"Don’t be, I just miss her sometimes." He leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand. "That’s why I get it, you know. The guilt of thinking you could have done something different. Should have seen it coming or been better... But if I spent my whole life punishing myself for this, then I would never get better."

"So you’re saying I should stop punishing myself?"

"I’m saying the people you hurt would probably rather you learn from it than disappear over it." He straightened up. "But that’s just a guess. I never met them."

She fell silent, but he could see from the shift in her expression that it had gotten through.

"Anyway." Reinhard smiled at her. "We’re not done yet."

The afternoon came.

On their way back down to the first floor. They passed the light-bow arena through its glass wall, and he noted the two teams moving through the obstacle course. But then also Yor stopping and watching with a look of interest and curiosity.

"That sure looks fun, if only I had a teammate with me."

Yor trembled before glancing and saying. "Let’s do it."

Reinhard grinned before heading inside.

It was a wide room built with low barriers and obstacles scattered across the floor. Players wore vests that lit up bright red when they got hit, and the bow fired small bursts of projected light that tracked impact on contact.

"Teams of two," the attendant said at the door. "You’re up next."

They suited up and took their bow, and Yor turned hers over in her hands with a thoughtful expression. Reinhard started to ask if she’d used one before, caught her look, and didn’t bother finishing the question.

"Stay close to me," he said instead.

The game started with two other teams rushing in from opposite sides, bright projectiles cutting through the air in long arcs. Reinhard moved fast, pulling Yor behind a barrier with him before ducking back up to fire. His shot caught someone’s vest, and it flashed red.

"One down!"

Yor leaned around the edge of the barrier, spotted someone lining up a shot at Reinhard’s back, lifted her bow, and fired before she’d fully thought it through.

Hit.

Reinhard turned to look at her with a grin wide enough to be embarrassing. "Nice shot!"

They fell into a rhythm together without planning it, moving through the arena from cover to cover, back to back in the tighter spots. When Reinhard got hit and threw himself into an overdramatic fall, clutching his vest as it had genuinely wounded him, Yor pressed her lips together against the laugh trying to come out.

"That hurt my pride!" he announced from the floor.

"It’s just light," she said.

"My pride is very sensitive."

She was definitely smiling even when she tried to hide it.

A handful of students watching from outside the glass pressed a little closer.

"Is that actually Yor in there?"

"She’s smiling. I’ve never seen her smile before."

"Who’s the guy she’s with?"

"That first year. Reinhard. People say he’s a troublemaker."

"They look pretty close."

"Yeah."

Inside the arena, Reinhard grabbed her hand to pull her toward better cover. She followed without hesitating, her attention already on the next target.

By late afternoon, they had drifted to the dance game platform near the back of the first floor. A wide lit surface covered in arrows that flashed in sequence with the music. The goal was simple enough: step on the right arrows in the right order. Whether you could actually manage it was a different question.

"I can’t dance," Yor said, looking at the platform.

"Neither can I," Reinhard said cheerfully. "That’s the whole point."

He picked an easy song, stepped onto the platform with entirely too much confidence, and immediately missed the first three arrows in a row. He hit one on the fourth try, missed two more, and glanced over to find Yor with her shoulders shaking.

"Are you laughing at me?"

"No," she said, and her voice gave her away completely.

"Your turn, then. Show me how it’s done."

She stepped onto the platform with considerably less confidence, and the first few arrows passed under her feet without being touched. Then something clicked, and she found the rhythm. Her feet started to find the right spots, even if not perfectly, and she quickly destroyed Reinhard’s score.

"Show off," he said.

"You told me to show you."

They played several rounds together after that, both of them on the platform at once. They were bumping shoulders and stepping on each other’s feet and missing half the arrows because they were laughing too hard to concentrate.

Neither of them was winning by any reasonable measure, and they didn’t particularly care.

The song ended, and the platform went quiet with the score showing how they aren’t even in the top 500. They stood there in the fading rhythm of it before chuckling.

"We’re terrible." She said with a sigh.

"No argument there." He agreed with a look of wonder.

She looked at the screen for another moment.

And then a faint smile appeared on her face.

"Again?" Reinhard asked with a stretch of his arm.

Yor looked at the platform before nodding at him.

"Again."