When The System Spoils You For No Reason-Chapter 52 - Fifty Two

"I am not what I think I am. I am not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am."

— Charles Cooley

---

"Why you running?"

Michael’s voice carried softly through the kitchen, unhurried, the words settling into the cool air like something that had always been there.

"You hurt me." He touched his chest lightly. A single crystalline tear traced a slow path down his cheek. The gesture was too perfect, too measured — an actor hitting a mark he’d rehearsed alone.

"How?" Zeke’s usual lazy composure had frayed at the edges somewhere between the hallway and here. The refrigerator hummed behind him, a mundane counterpoint to the surreal shape of the conversation.

"Well, I do know how, but—" He paused. "What the fuck? You’re even more of a monster than I am. Are you even human?" His metallic grey eyes moved over Michael’s face, reading nothing.

"It does say that on my status sheet, doesn’t it?" Michael replied, smooth and utterly unbothered. "In my case, I wouldn’t trust appearances too much."

"Ya know." He rolled the phrase off his tongue with deliberate slowness, like a scientist sampling an unfamiliar compound, and filed it away somewhere deep.

"How did you know I can—" Zeke stopped himself. "You know what, never mind. What do you want?"

He turned and walked to the fridge. The soft slap of his flip-flops was the only sound in the room.

"You." Michael tapped the quartz countertop once with a pale finger. Sharp. Final.

Zeke looked back from the open fridge door, the cool light washing over his face. He gave Michael the most deadpan look he could manage. "I don’t swing that way."

"Neither do I." A small, precise smile touched Michael’s lips — movement that went no further than his mouth. "I’m not even a fan of love."

"You’re not a fan of anything." Zeke scoffed and grabbed a soda. The hiss-click of the tab breaking the seal came out louder than it had any right to.

"You see a lot, don’t you?" Michael’s head tilted a fraction, his gaze settling.

"Stop smiling. You creep me out." Zeke took a long swig, the cold liquid grounding against his suddenly dry throat. "Go home. Leave me alone."

"Are you scared?" Michael’s grin widened — a slow stretch that strained the handsome, placid mask of his face. "You fought an anomaly, An S-Rank Minotaur. You drove without a license to beat up Zeldris for touching your friends. You fought a dragon. Beat heirs with the strongest possible backing. Soloed a demon." He let that sit. "Tell me — are you really scared of little ol’ me?"

Zeke set the can down with a soft clink. "That’s stalker-level intense."

"I need to know everything about what catches my interest. It’s the best way to play with a toy." His tone was conversational — the kind used for weather and train schedules. Then, with a slight shift: "I did the grin right, didn’t I?"

Zeke touched his own face, then shuddered faintly at the feel of it. "Is that how I usually grin?"

"Of course. I have pictures." Michael’s eyes didn’t waver. "A young orphan who, out of the blue, bought a house, accumulated over two hundred million, awakened, and suddenly had a physique worth posting on social media — who just happened to meet the heir to an S-Rank guild." He listed each point like a line from a dossier, unhurried. "A lazy fool with a knack for battle who is, presumably, immortal. Did that add to the stupidity, or the love of it?" A brief pause. "We are not so different, you and I."

"Talk-no-jutsu of that caliber doesn’t work on me."

"Sigh." Zeke said it flatly — the actual word, not the exhale. "I tried. I really did. But I always seem to attract overpowered bastards." He closed the fridge door and slid down to sit on the cool floor, back against the appliance.

"Teach me folly."

"What?"

"You’re the only person close to my age, and near my level of power, who still chooses to live this mundanely." There was no affect in it — the same flat, analytical register he used for everything. "My wastrel act is getting exhausting. Posturing is annoying."

"Do you feel anger?"

"No. But that’s what a normal person would feel, I think."

"You can’t even feel anger?" Zeke stood, brushing absent dust from his joggers. "How do you expect to reach Nirvana like me?" He crossed past Michael and dropped a heavy hand on his shoulder as he passed. "My brothers are here. Go home. You’re unworthy of my tutelage."

"You have a sensory-type ability as well." Michael didn’t turn. "Interesting."

Zeke glanced back over his shoulder. "No. I copied it from you. Your ability reminded me of another, so I copied it." The admission settled between them, charged.

"Hah. You get more interesting by the second."

"I didn’t change it. But to think you’d see most of it..." Micheal’s voice shifted, quieter. "You know, don’t you."

"Yes. Why would I be scared if I didn’t?"

Before Zeke could answer, the air where Michael had been standing shimmered once — and he was gone, leaving behind a faint trace of ozone and the shape of his absence.

’Zero, call Anton.’

{Sure.}

’When they leave, though.’

{Oh. I thought you’d lost your cognitive ability to fear.}

...

---

"Miss Makima says to tell you she’s heard of your tales." Kai had a sly smile plastered across his face, eyes gleaming with mischief in the warm living room light.

"Ohhhh." Aaron cooed from deep in the couch, stretching both arms overhead.

"Why would you date other girls while you were pursuing her?" Jude patted Zeke’s shoulder firmly, his expression caught somewhere between disapproval and amusement.

"An immortal can’t stay a virgin." Zeke shrugged, half-smirk in place. "I needed the experience for her."

"What a twisted reason." Kai shook his head.

"You were against her last time. You called her a spy."

"I still think that. But it’s not honorable, is it? We’re out here working our asses off and you’re out there fondling asses."

"I never liked her." Jude crossed his arms. "I still ship Zeon."

"Did you just—" Zeke started.

"Yes, he did." Kai and Aaron nodded in unison, faces grave.

"Get out of my house!" He chased them — laughter and mock protests filling the hallway, spilling through the foyer, and tumbling out the heavy front door. As they passed the gate, he called after them: "If you see Makima, tell her I’ll call her! It’s all rumors!"

He walked back inside. The massive oak door shut behind him with a solid thud that rang through the entrance hall.

’Make the call.’

{Okie, stallion.}

---

"Yo."

"Mad Dog? How’d you get my number?"

"I have an AI. My name’s Zeke. Aliases are for business partners or friends."

"Both of which I am, am I not?"

"You four-thousand-year-old geezer — you didn’t mention the risk that came with killing that demon. I would never have gone near that battlefield."

"Bwhahaha!" Anton’s laughter came through sharp and genuine.

"Did he come?"

"No, he did not come. There was no sexual intercourse between us."

"Bwhahaha!"

"I knew you’d be fine."

"How did you even know he’d show up?"

"Who do you think persuaded the Council to plead your case?"

"Did you know he was SSS-Rank?"

A beat. "Really?"

"Yes."

"You were able to see his status sheet?"

"Yes. Last time I only copied his ability after watching him use it. When we were at the Expanse, I saw his traits. Today I saw what I’d assume is everything."

"Hmm. You’re a lot more special than I gave you credit for."

"He did mention something about dropping his defenses — to check whether I could."

"You must have had quite the conversation, to see his status sheet and walk away from it."

"I’m immortal."

"That hasn’t stopped him before."

"Oh." The single syllable landed like something cold and heavy.

"He’s a dangerous person. The only reason I even mentioned that Enel had gotten stronger when he appeared in the tower was because he had managed to work alongside Micheal for a time. To think he’d be SSS-Rank now..." He paused. "Monster."

"Don’t you dare start a monologue. Save me."

"Save you how? I’m in the Danger Zone. How did you even reach me here? Your AI—"

"Shut up."

"You’re a regressor. It shouldn’t be hard to handle him. You threatened me without blinking last time."

"I didn’t know you could mid-diff the demon!"

"I’m a weak old man. Let me be." A brief pause, and something almost like warmth bled through. "He’s taken interest in you. You’ll live. You’re immortal, after all."

"Hoo-roo."

The line cut.

"This bastard." Zeke stared at the dead interface hanging in his mind. "He hung up."

’What do you think he’s doing in the Danger Zone?’

{How would I know? By the generic setup, there’s definitely a treasure involved. And you don’t even know which one he’s at.}

’How did you know I was going to run to him?’

{Heh.}

’You called him. Obviously. So you know exactly where he is.’

{I do. But shut up and face the guy. I don’t see who you think this act is convincing.}

"Heh."

A slow, reluctant smirk spread across his face. He stood alone in the quiet grandeur of his mansion, the evening shadows stretching long and unhurried across the marble floors.