1.6 – Housecrashing

Would asking her if I could stay in her house be embarrassing? Surely she’d have enough room, though. His mind raced as he looked at Alicia, who was just one step away from her doorstep. It was now or never, he knew. Yet this was far beyond what was comfortable for him… Although he did make a promise to himself.

There was nothing more embarrassing than asking a friend to stay at their house, and that was besides the fact that she wasn’t even quite his friend yet. He barely knew her, but still, she was the closest he’d gotten, and she also gave him her phone number, which was something, at least. He didn’t even check the reward or the next tutorial quest. Hopefully there wouldn’t be one.

Although… The money was good.

But that was a problem for later. “Hey, Alicia!” he shouted, hoping to catch her attention. She just inserted the key into the keyhole.

“What is it?” she said, not bothering to turn as she moved her hand and grasped the door handle.

“Could I possibly stay at your house tonight? I’m kind of homeless now.”

…

“The fuck you mean you’re homeless? How did you even get accepted at the Academy?” she asked incredulously.

“Hell if I know!” Honestly, it was the most truthful answer he could give her. He still didn’t understand how all of this happened, how he was in a damned video game, or how this video game suddenly turned into a real world.

Much to his surprise, however, she didn’t reply with an immediate “no”, but instead looked at him with a pondering expression on her face. “What do I get out of it?” she finally asked, after about twenty seconds of silence.

“Uhhh, my gratitude?”

“Not enough. Try harder,” she waved his words away, and a smile started creeping up on her face.

Realization struck him. She’s enjoying this, god damn it. I can’t even be that mad. I’m kind of asking for a lot here.

“I’ll owe you a big favor; it’s all I can offer, really, and it doesn’t seem like you would have any use for money.”

She nodded at that and then motioned for him to step through the gate with her hand. “Fine then. You owe me one. The next time I ask you something, you have to obey no matter what it is. Deal?”

He didn’t like the sound of that, but if there was one thing he was quite apt at, it was weaseling out of similar questions or tasks. “Deal.”

He stepped in once again, amazed by the technology shown, and then went through the doorstep as Alicia stepped to the side, letting him in. The inside was just as marvelous as the outside.

Technology was all around him. The lights seemed to have several light bulbs, though he didn’t know what most of them were for. The mirror was already blinking like a phone display, showing about twenty icons on its leftmost side. As if a mirror needed more functionality than being a mirror.

He never understood how people could spend so much money if they were rich enough to buy a normal house, yet now he saw it, and this sight made him a little bit sick. The cost of the mirror could have probably been enough for him to rent his flat for at least a few months in New York. But such was the inequality in life. He couldn’t blame Alicia for being born with a golden spoon in her mouth.

“Will your parents come home? Will my being here be a problem?”

“Nah, they travel a lot,” Alicia said in a sad tone, with a hint of regret or maybe envy at the end of the sentence.

“What do they do?”

“Superheroes. The ‘big’ type. They also own some companies. And no, I’m not telling you which ones they are.”

“Oh, why so?”

“Because I’ve got enough problems in my life without paparazzi snooping around every corner.” She bit back and began walking towards the kitchen. She grabbed two glasses, filled them with tap water, which made him a bit uneasy, and then put one of them in his hands.

“Come, I’ll show you your room, and you will only stay one night. Are we clear?”

“Yeah, we are.”

“Also, try anything, and I mean literally anything weird, and I will kill you.”

The thought that he was at a girl’s home with only him and her being there hadn’t even occurred to him until this very moment. Suddenly, he felt himself become a bit more self-conscious.

Just until he remembered who exactly he was there with. No reason to be self-conscious about a girl like her.

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Though he was still surprised that she agreed to let him in in the first place.

They walked to the second floor, and she immediately guided him towards one of the rooms. The room was, of course, larger than his whole flat in his last life. The bed was giant, and there was a cupboard that showed the time, temperature outside, and even had a tabloid for scrolling news. He once again felt a sigh and dropped his bag to the ground.

“Thank you, Alicia.”

The rest of the day passed quickly. Nathan didn’t even exit the room, except once when he had to ask Alicia where the toilet was. Trying to decipher how to flush felt like a problem on its own. But other than that, he stayed in, scrolling his phone, trying to understand the world that he found himself in.

The strange thing was that most of the apps he was used to didn’t actually work here in Tokyo, and so he had to resort to navigating applications he had never even heard of before.