Chapter 63 Construct of Provocation

"It’s getting late, isn’t it?" rhetorically inquired Soyeon, with the sun already dyeing the atmosphere in scarlet red.

"Ahhhhh!! I’m famished and exhausted and..." afterwards, Ku sighed and dropped a bunch of bricks on the ground.

"Just a bit more and we’re not—you got this, team!" let out Nemo, with a cheerful voice; he was quite confident in us, I suppose.

The three of them yapped quite a bit during the day, but this time I somewhat felt like an observer rather than an active participant—voluntarily.

Before long, we were done and all of us got together for the final goodbye—for the day, that is.

"We’ll farm missions like this on the daily— you guys don’t have any qualms with that, right?"

"Sure"; "okay"; I was silent, on the other hand—again.

All of us would typically go in the same direction—except Nemo, perhaps—but out of hunger, that was quickly a cancelled route.

"Should we go to some restaurant before heading home?" asked Soyeon, excitedly glancing at us with her puppy eyes—I get your excitement, Soyeon, I could also kill for some food right now.

"Mmmh..." I let out and she immediately peeped at me—I didn’t get ahead of myself this once—I was getting better at keeping up masks without any.

"I’m down," replied Ku; Nemo instantly nodded his head as his response.

"I’ll have to pass—I’m too tired, so I’ll just eat at home."

Soyeon was strangely disappointed in my words—how so?—hasn’t she been a little iffy with me lately?

"You always bail on us, Dante—can’t you go with us?" she voiced in a tone that... admittedly, made me want to strangle her.

I always had MANA on my eyes now—just a whit of it, so I could see her MANA soften when she asked me that—it reacts to emotions then?—what if I agitated her?

Quickly, I gasped, then answered her tiny guilt-trip in my own words, "I said I’m tired—is there something you can’t understand about that?"

This prompted a moment of silence—awkwardly; her MANA destabilized for a second—interesting.

"Sorry?—Gosh, you don’t need to be like that, you know?"

She’s right—I should methodically build our relationship, like a pyramid of affection that escalates day by day, creating a little fantasy for her that never runs dry.

"Can’t you appreciate honesty?" coldly...

But dear, what makes you think you’re worth so much effort?—I could slice your throat on the spot and get away with it scot-free, so what exactly makes you so valuable to me that I’d put in the time to manipulate you?

"No need to go at her so hard, Dante," added Ku in her defense—he should be quiet like Nemo, but I guess he has a bit more balls than him.

His MANA... Soyeon’s was rather soft, meanwhile his is aggressive.

"Don’t you think it’s self-serving?—I give you honesty and you tarnish it without thought, as if you’d rather I swallowed my needs and gave you whatever you’d like to hear."

I was sabotaging.

But...

I didn’t care.

Then, after a second or five of having a staring contest with the wall... Ku...

"You done monologuing?—it was never this deep and you go off ranting about shit no one even brought up."

Instantly, I rolled my eyes and gestured a shrug with my hands. "Some dialogue spawns from actions, not necessarily words."

"Okay, this is e— enough—can you guys stop arguing?" both of our eyes proceeded to go onto Nemo—his body flinched upon it, which was slightly funny—I admit.

Nemo’s MANA seems to be destabilizing as well—can’t handle arguments, cutie?

"Don’t group us together—he started this over nothing," then Ku hostilely glanced at me and continued, "I have to say, I hate people that let out their anger on others just because they’re in a bad mood."

Look at him go—Ku’s definitely got social intelligence, he’s not bad at all!!

I know there’s nothing I can do to backpedal this, but I’ll give it a try regardless...

"You’re right—my bad, guys," I said with a smile—and a giggle.

Without so much as delay, Soyeon jumped in... "it’s okay, Dante—everyone is grumpy sometimes."

I could see Ku’s annoyance as she said that—he wasn’t having this at all, which was respectable.

Social constructs... manipulation... all of this...

...strangely, irrelevant to me.

I admit that I would care about appearances before my transformation, but now it’s just a bother to act—even if it’s theatrical.

I suppose, it’s strength that’s making me feel this way?—being stronger than these two makes me not care?

This was some valuable data anyway—MANA is extremely reactive to emotions, so something like provocation could genuinely give you an advantage in a fight.

Then, if I murdered every person dear to someone, would they get some sort of temporary powerboost over the sight?—is that how it works?

Consequently, I put my hand on my chin—letting out a quick chuckle, then skimmed over all three of them with mild arrogance surrounding my face.

Yet again, Ku’s expression was that of irritation—how precious.

"Ku, I’m sorry—okay? I’ll take your words to heart," he still didn’t look at me—like some tsundere had his cheeks puffed with closed eyes.

"Yea, yea—whatever," he let out.

His MANA... it softened up—you’re that easy, huh?

"Welllll... Dante..."

"...text us on the group-chat, okay?—even if you’re not going with us this time."

"Sure thing, Soyeon," sure thing, Soyeon.

We parted ways—they went to some sushi place that was near us, meanwhile I created the impression that I was going back home.

I wasn’t...

Just as I left their vision, I jumped atop a street-lamp and then climbed onto a three-story building.

"Hm..."

"HAHAHAHAAHAHAH..."

"Fisk..."

...you might’ve bested me, but do you think you’re the only one that has tricks up his sleeve?!

I was grinning...

Dimming sun painting my face with redness akin to sweet and innocent blood.

"Fine!!"

I let out...

"You want a battle of wits?!"

Abruptly, raised both of my hands in the manner of a requiem.

"You lost the moment you decided to invest in me!!"

Started running atop the building...

And as shadows surrounded the atmosphere...

I disappeared into the night sky.