Minako
🎮Super High School Level Gamer: Chiaki Nanami🎮
Cornelia Robinson
!!!!!!!!
That's right!
Your phone!
"Here, take a look!" You aggravatedly agree to this while it taking everything in you not to add "prick" to your sentence as you open up your photo app and hand him your phone.
"Hmmmm..." He narrows his eyes and murmurs while looking at Rosie's picture.
...And stares at it a little too long for your liking... With a very minimal reading of the passages, you don't fail to notice...
"...Your friend is kinda cute..."
THIS ****ING PERV!!!
"OK, FIRST OF ALL, YOU'RE NOT HER TYPE AND SECOND OF ALL SHE ALREADY LIKES SOMEONE ELSE!!"
Sure, so Rosie and crushes haven't worked out at all in the past, usually involving your fist meeting some S.O.B's face for hurting or using her, and uh... "her type" seems to be some dude who can control the wind, but whatever the champion of chumps don't know won't hurt him.
"Ok, ok, geez! I was just giving her a compliment," This "nice guy" whines while (rightfully) backing off and handing you back your phone.
You're already starting to not be able to hold back anymore, but before you clock this clown--
You gotta remember what's important.
"ANYWAY, You saw it, right? The smallness? The glasses?" You begin asking, "I don't exactly have good proof on confirming her moms a single parent, but if you're really heartless, I suppose a phone call to her mom can--"
"Alright, alright...! Sheesh!" He groans in defeat, and you're holding your breath.
Can it be...?
Did you do it...?
He starts massaging his temples and sighs exasperatedly, then turns his gaze to you.
"Let's say I believe you--"
!!!!!!!!!
"And let's say this Rosie IS trapped in this book--"
YES!
You totally did it!
Hook, line, and GOT THIS SUCKER!
"Why do you need to get a computer for? How is that going to help matters?"
Aw sh***, this idiot actually has a point.
"I-I don't know for sure," You honestly answer, "But I have to do SOMETHING! My friend is dying in this book! I need to get her OUT of there, and MAYBE I can find some hint or something if I look more into this d*** book that sucked her in!"
Street fighter-wannabe looks at you for a moment, examing you for some reason?
"What...?" You ask as you shoot this fool a confused raised brow in return and then he groans and starts walking off... While gesturing for you to follow him?
?!?!
Is he taking you to the Staffroom!?
You quickly grab your things and Rosie's notebook as you follow him, hoping against hope he's taking you to the---
...Wait, no... You're heading for... The front desk?!
Mary!?
"Oh! Hey little bro! Oh! Corny! I knew you two would get along great!" Mary greets the both of you, pleased you two are together for some reason (to be fair, you'd be relieved to dump this f*** on someone else, too) and then, like she is doing you a solid, cocks her head in confusion and worriedly asks, "Oh? Where's Rosie? Haven't found her yet?"
The punk looks back at you, displeased, while you gladly give him your smuggest "I told you so" look, as you figure out pretty easily why he had you follow him to his big sister. Seriously, are all little brothers curses upon their big sisters, or are you just "lucky" enough to bump into the "special" ones?
"No... We haven't found her yet..." He slowly mutters, and you can't tell if he hoped this was all real or not, but reality sure is kicking his a** now.
"Aw, well, maybe she's in the graphic novel section reading some comics? Or the children's book section?" Mary offers.
"Uh, yeah, we'll go look over there... Sorry to bother you..."
"That's alright! Good luck finding her... I swear I didn't see her leave here, and the scanners would have gone off if she tried to leave without checking a book out while having one, not that she would at all, but--"
"Uh, yeah, don't worry, I'm sure she's just... in the kid's section..." He cuts her off, not wanting her to worry about Rosie anymore and you kinda want to frown at him, but it seems Mary's "testimony" is proof enough Rosie is supposed to be here and not in some book!
"Well, we better go get her, ahaha... See ya, Mary," You mutter while awkwardly waving at Mary as you and her clown of a brother walk off, feeling kinda bad Mary looks so happy you two are hanging out for some reason, no doubt thinking you're buddy buddy with this a****** when really you wanna smack the s*** outta him.
As soon as the two of you are outta Mary's earshot you fully take this opportunity to seize your turn to be smug.
"Well, Captain Hotshot? Proof enough for ya? You finally gonna let me in the staff room to use the computer so I can figure out how to get Rosie out of this book or what?" You slyly demand passage into the locked-off room.
"One, please don't call me Captain Hotshot, EVER. Two, my name is Alistair. Alistair Sol. Three---" He begins listing off his grievances and orders, then gestures to be quiet while saying, "Yes, it's proof enough, but let's not advertise to anyone else what the h*** is going on: The last thing I want is the police flooding this place and shoving a missing persons report on Mary when my shift just started."
"Fair enough," You agree, then, realizing you hadn't really given him your name, amend that egregious oversight by adding, "And my name is Cornelia, by the way. Cornelia Robinson. I go by Corny for short."
"Corny, huh?" He raises a brow and smirks, then says, "That's pretty A-maize-ing."
THIS FOOL REALLY JUST---
"Uuuugh, don't make this even more torturous than it already is, and like I haven't heard that a thousand times over," You jokingly groan in response.
"I saw you smiling," He brags while again gesturing for you to follow him and this time IT IS TOWARDS THE STAFF ROOM.
FINALLY!!!
You simultaneously wanna sock and kiss this clown and you don't know how that's even possible, but as long as he's taking you to the staff room you don't rightfully care!!
"So..." Alistair turns to you as he takes you there and gives you a kinda suspicious look, "Kid's section, huh? Why would a girl our age be in the children's section... Don't tell me it's her reading comprehension...?"
"...Don't judge her. I'm sure she has her reasons."
"Riiiiight," Street Fighter wannabe replies, sighing and looking elsewhere while muttering quietly to himself in disappointment, "Man, Why are all the pretty ones always so dumb...?"
"I'm sorry, what was that? Didn't quite catch that..." You growl ominously at him to promptly shut the **** up before his mouth loses some teeth.
"Nothing, geez!" He groans annoyedly as you two walk on.
When you two finally reach the staff room, Alistair looks around like the shiftiest mother****er as he unlocks the door into the staff room. It's pretty big, all things considered, and you can see a coffee machine and some noodles in a cup on the counter with some small cups you're safely assuming are for sugar and stirrers for the coffee. There's also a small sink with soap next to it with the obligatory 'Please wash any of your dishes and your hands' signs. There are two tables with chairs surrounding them and you could NOT be any happier to see a computer on a small table.
You breathe a sigh of relief as you set your stuff down and he boots up the computer.
As this fool could take several seats, in your "humble" opinion, you pull up a chair for him and yourself as the start-up sounds ding echos through the whole room.
"It's safe to say we should try not to leave this room too much until we find a way to get your friend back," Alistair proposes and you nod in agreement.
"Yeah, can't raise too much suspicion," You agree.
"There are some cup noodles over there, and some spare forks and cups to heat up the water and eat them with if you want," Alistar suddenly offers food, and then, to your absolute shock, he straight up reaches into a bag with his name labeled on a tag and takes out a protein bar (because of course roid rage has one) and then you're blown out of your a** when he hands it to you!
"Alistair?" You ask confusedly as you blink and take it, wondering where this sudden nice guy persona spawned from.
"...We might be in here a while, and though I brought that as a snack, I'd rather you have it so you don't get hungry too quickly... I'm guessing you haven't eaten since lunchtime at your school, right?" He guesses right while explaining his actions with actual decent motives.
"Hey, Yeah, Thank you so much, man...."
"I'm still gonna tell Rosie you're a no-good pervy browbeat who'll only bully her till she agrees to go out with you, just so you know... This nice decency ain't gonna earn you brownie points with either of us, understand?"
"SHUT UP! THAT ISN'T EVEN WHY I GAVE YOU THAT! JEEZ!"
"Just making sure..."
"Alright, so where should we start?" Alistair asks while opening up a search engine on the computer after entering the password to log in.
"A-actually, I really DO want to thank you," You begin, figuring you should throw the guy a bone, "And not that I'm complaining AT ALL, you're literally helping me save my best friend and all... But... I tell you something unbelievable and sure, you kinda shot me down at first, but then you asked for proof right away, and even went to confirm she was missing yourself and when it was confirmed... You help me... Why the sudden change of mind?"
"I dunno...You just... Have an honest look about you," Alistair answers, for a second, you could have sworn almost hesitantly, "I... I just couldn't picture you lying..."
Whatta dork...
"Heh, thanks again. Anyway, what say we start with the author? I think his name is Damien du Mont," You finally answer his original question.
"Alright... Da..mien... Du... Mont..." He mutters as he types up in the world's most reliable search engine.
Oh.
Oh dear.
The look on his face already tells you something is up: He both looks confused and irked.
"What? Is the author a jerk or posting dumb crap on social media or something?" You ask, not believing you're PRAYING that's the case.
"He's kinda too DEAD to--" Alistair begins, killing off your only lead pretty brilliantly, "And he's been dead a while."
"Wha--"
"He died in a plane crash in 1945, right at the end of World War II, along with his wife... He was coming back from researching old European cultures..."
"S***!" You shout, "Now what?!"
Your brain scrambles for something, ANYTHING, to keep this lead alive!
Wait maybe he had---
code by @Satanic Nightjar
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