Chapter 72

Two people frozen just on either side of a door.

What the heck am I supposed to do with this awkward vibe? It’s seriously so troublesome.

In this heavy atmosphere, it was Raven who snapped out of it first.

He gave a small cough, averting his gaze from me and casually scanning the inside of the shop.

“Hmm, what kind of store is this? Well, since we’re here, maybe I’ll buy something…”

“…”

“Hoo, alright. Got it. Let’s go, let’s go.”

What’s with pretending not to know in this situation? Seriously, you’ve got some nerve.

I quickly grabbed Raven’s hand as he tried to nonchalantly leave, and marched us both outside.

Realizing I wasn’t trying to hide anything, he obediently followed behind me.

…If that’s the case, why the heck are you wearing a robe and that Goblin Mask?

Well, one reason I came all the way to the Northern Slum was because it’s a place Raven rarely visits.

Running into him here so openly… it’s obvious he’s been following me for quite a while.

Then what was the point of hiding? The gig was up from the start.

“Customer! If you come back within a week, we’ll give you a full refund! Be sure to visit if you change your mind! Got it?”

“…!”

“And you… come here. You’re in trouble. How could you forget to collect payment from the customer? Some things shouldn’t be forgotten!”

“Eeek! Master! I’m sorry!”

I lazily waved at Tara who was shouting from the storefront.

Side by side with Raven, we walked out of the Northern Slum.

Though I could hear the yellow-haired youth getting scolded by Tara as we left,

If he gave away merchandise without collecting payment… well, he’ll have to deal with the consequences himself.

Leaving the slum was much easier than entering.

Raven had been efficiently chasing away any thugs blocking our path.

“Hey, hand over everything you’ve got… Ack!”

“Huh? Jason? Please excuse me for not recognizing you! P-please, go ahead!”

“Yeah, take care.”

“…”

Seeing muscular thugs fall like autumn leaves from simple palm strikes…

It was another reminder that Raven was far beyond any ordinary person.

After nearly an hour of walking, we finally exited the Northern Slum, took a bus to near the office,

and entered a familiar franchise café where we sat facing each other.

Me secretly going to the black market to buy something, and Raven getting caught tailing me…

This was an awkward situation in multiple ways.

“Hmm. I think I’ll get a chocolate latte. What about you, part-timer? Your usual apple mango?”

“…!”

I nodded vigorously at Raven’s question, swallowing my anticipation.

If he goes crazy for sweets, especially chocolate, then I prefer sweet and tangy fruits.

The apple mango drink, combining mango’s creamy sweetness with apple’s freshness, was one of my favorite drinks at this café.

‘Wait, hold up. This isn’t the time to be drooling over drinks.’

I belatedly snapped out of it, swallowing my saliva.

Placing both fists on the table, I looked up at Raven with an accusatory glare.

Why were you following me without permission? Trying to pick a fight?

This aggressive posture roughly conveyed those sentiments.

Had my message gotten through to him?

Raven scratched his cheek sheepishly as he ordered our drinks using the table’s order code.

“Well, you see… sigh, actually, those guys were causing such a ruckus.”

“?”

“Alice and David, I mean. They were crying their eyes out, saying they’d make a big decision if anything happened… I couldn’t help but follow you a bit. Sorry about that.”

“…”

Figures.

Come to think of it, there’s no way he’d follow me of his own accord.

Although we’ve grown somewhat closer recently, our acquaintance has only lasted a month.

It was a bit strange for Raven, who tends to be dry when it comes to human relationships, to tail me.

But if it was Alice, who’s been overly protective lately, or David, who’s connected to Sabrina… it made sense.

Though it was ridiculous that neither of them were actually around.

If they had been, they would’ve noticed immediately. I guess you could call it proper role division.

‘If that’s the case… there’s no real reason to be mad. In the end, he followed out of concern for me. As long as my telekinesis didn’t get exposed, there’s nothing to worry about.’

Getting caught at the end was probably because I stayed in the shop for too long. He must’ve come to check on me right at that moment.

If the reason wasn’t suspicion but simple goodwill, I had no reason to dislike it.

Considering Raven’s usual behavior, it’s not like he had any weird intentions.

Besides, from a distance, my telekinetic flick probably just looked like someone suddenly collapsing. My status as a superhuman probably remained hidden.

…It didn’t get exposed, right?

No matter how smart Raven is, he’s never seen me in ghost form, so how could he have figured it out?

[“Your deep chocolate latte and apple mango juice are ready.”]

While I was pondering and adjusting my posture, a service robot approached with our drinks.

Raven got his warm latte with a whole chunk of chocolate floating in it, while I received my cool apple mango juice with mango pieces floating around.

We silently drank our preferred beverages without conversation.

Not that I could talk anyway, and Raven isn’t the type to lead conversations and set the mood – that’s Alice’s specialty.

At this rate, we’d just finish our drinks and head back to the office. Suddenly, the box containing the terminal I bought earlier caught my eye.

Since there was nothing to do in this awkward atmosphere, should I open it?

As I thought this and pulled the box from the bag on the adjacent chair, Raven, who had been staring out the window, showed interest.

“Right, you went there to buy that, right? What exactly…?”

“!”

“Huh? Isn’t that just a terminal?”

As I opened the box on the table, a well-packaged terminal appeared inside.

Slightly larger than my palm, the pure white device somehow matched my color scheme, which pleased me.

However, Raven squinted slightly at the terminal inside, looking puzzled.

As if thinking it was absurd to go all the way to the black market just for a terminal.

Well, whatever. Just take a look at it first.

Thinking this, I took the terminal out of the box.

Carefully observing from the other side, he stroked his chin and gave a light evaluation.

“Hmm, plain design. But without a chip, isn’t it just an empty shell? What are you planning to do about that? Should I quickly buy an illegal chip from the black market?”

…

He was right. A terminal alone was just an expensive toy.

To use its functions properly, it needed a user authentication module, commonly called a chip.

So when Raven mentioned this, he was essentially asking if it wasn’t meaningless to go through all that trouble buying a terminal without solving the chip issue. Which was true.

Without giving him a big response, I simply shook my head and plugged the charger from the box into the powered-off terminal.

Almost immediately, the screen lit up, displaying a message about initial setup being required.

Since I didn’t need to enter any name or such, I pressed the button to set it up later, skipping all the steps.

[Welcome! Are you ready to explore the world with Echo?]

When everything was done, the following sentence appeared on the screen.

The terminal’s name was Echo. That was important to remember.

Yes! Finally, I have a terminal of my own!

Excited, I fidgeted with Echo unnecessarily.

Raven chuckled at my excitement and pointed to the order code on the table, suggesting I try ordering something.

Hmm, not particularly difficult.

I immediately opened the camera, had Echo scan the order code, and naturally tapped the screen to order cake, chocolate latte, and cherry cola.

A notification popped up in the corner of the café confirming the order was placed successfully.

Watching this quietly, Raven grinned widely and snatched Echo from my hand.

Hey, what do you think you’re doing? Give me back my terminal!

But he just trembled his lips in disbelief, raising his voice in confusion.

“W-wait a minute. Did you just place an order with this? H-how?”

“?”

Isn’t this what you told me to do?

Trying hard not to laugh at Raven’s flustered expression, I tilted my head innocently.

But he examined the terminal he’d taken, double-checking that there was indeed no chip inside, and instinctively pressed his forehead in bewilderment.

He flipped the terminal over and tapped the screen repeatedly.

It was like a programmer seeing code that shouldn’t work functioning perfectly.

…Actually, it wasn’t particularly strange to see Raven so flustered.

After all, I’d just taken it out of the box without any setup, and without the chip that activates communication functions, I’d somehow placed an internet-requiring order with this empty shell of a terminal.

For someone with knowledge about terminals like him, it was only natural to be shocked. His earlier comment was probably just meant as a joke.

But knowing the full situation, I wasn’t particularly surprised.

Hmph, does he think I went all the way to the Northern black market for nothing?

Ah, whatever. Just give it back quickly.

I reached out my hand to Raven as if saying this.

Looking thoroughly confused, Raven returned Echo to me.

And as Echo came close to me, perhaps sensing something…

Tesseract, who had been lounging around, cheerfully raised his voice.

[Ah! Mama! Friend!]

At that moment, Echo’s screen momentarily flickered before returning to normal.

It was as if it instinctively sensed that something was terribly wrong.

I looked down at Echo, recalling a memory.

What came to mind was one of the horror episodes – the haunted terminal.