Chapter 4: Delphine and Feline Encounters on the Siren Seas

On a normal day without strange new characters, and choice bars appearing to dictate my next moves, I would be using some wireless earphones and tune in to the various musical masterpieces composed of piano, violin, guitar and saxophone that accompanied the angelic voices of several seiyuu, gushing out their lines of love and laughter in well-acclaimed moeges. My phone would be hidden amongst a scattering of notebooks, textbooks, and other school paraphernalia, and I would alternate to appear listening in class and playing my VN, all the while trying not to get caught by the teacher and getting the boot towards device confiscation and a boring lecture at the guidance counselor's.

Not that I was ever caught in the first place, but when it comes to my playing time, caution is a must. Above all, a finely honed sense of danger and multitasking skills were required, as much as a surgeon requires a steady hand.

A Herculean task for most, however I had already transcended that phase. During our last biology class, the teacher was remarking about the way how dolphins sleep: one hemisphere of the brain would undergo sleep while the other part remained awake. That wakeful part kept a corresponding eye open to watch out its surroundings for any dangers while the its other eye was closed asleep. This peculiar mode of sleeping was called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep and apparently, a different way from how humans sleep. It was a necessary type of rest, though, considering how impractical it was to sleep underwater as a mammal, which required the dolphin to resurface to take a lungful of air every 20 minutes. See how much trouble would be saved if they evolved some legs, paid taxes, reacted at memes, played visual novels and sleep normally like any land dwelling mammal. Although it's too late for that now, and we all have to live with our failed opportunities.

And speaking of failed opportunities, today was one such. I should be capitalizing upon it especially when the conditions for slacking off were too good. My multitasking abilities bordered on the delphine: one hemisphere of my brain was focused on the masterpiece rendered by my phone while the other soaked up vital information from the lesson. It went without saying that I wasn't giving my 100% to either of two activities and a dog chasing two hares would end up with none, so the balance of my attention percentage was a bit skewed to prioritize what was truly important to me: by giving a 90% on playing the magnum opus and the remaining 10% was to what the teacher was droning about. This wasn't a fixed value; when it came to really good scenes, a 5% was transferred to the visual novel-addicted hemisphere.

It may sound that I was doing bad in class, especially when I was devoting only an iota of my attention span and thinking capacity to it, but that wasn't the case at all. Another factor that added up today is that my potential warden was our aging literature teacher, and he just spouted whatever was written in our books, alongside with his life teachings and the passion for it, which made his lessons negligible. Besides, he didn't care. You just have to sift whatever important nuggets of information amongst the dusty hoards of worthless ones, and this worked well in other classes. Not to mention that we are living in the age of information, and careful filtering of data was required, as we are being bombarded with tons of worthless trivia, designed to render us ignorant and insensate like any 12th century Slavic peasant deprived of learnings. Taking this by heart served me admirably in the course of my highschool years.

Don't believe me? The dolphin's unique way of sleeping was mentioned as some half-assed trivia contrived by our quirky biology teacher and she included it as a bonus question in her first pop-quiz. Needless to say, I got that question right and passed the test with flying colors. I wasn't a genius like C4, but I guess in academics, you don't need virtuosity or overworking; just plain old anticipation. Kinda like playing a visual novel. Besides, the current class was literature. VNs were the epitome of it. In no way that I would flunk this subject.

The conditions were up, and such, by all rights, I was supposed to be playing a girl's route right now. Only that, like I said earlier, it wasn't a normal day. There was only a bare minimum of sound that entered my ears and I knew it was still useless, as this was already tackled in the book. The teacher was droning about the great works of Agatha Christie and to hear him extol about it, you would half-expect that the Queen of Crime herself would rise from the dead and accept her metaphorical laurel crown.

Everybody else was perhaps in several stages of sleep or near sleep. We were all lucky that this old man cared more about talking than actually caring about whether people were listening to him discuss. And so, as long as we all didn't do anything wild like lighting the back portion of the room on fire, we were pretty much free to do whatever we wanted. That almost unanimously meant sleeping. Gene and C4 were no exceptions. The former was boldly snoring his ass off while the latter was peacefully closing her eyes, and her arms folded underneath her bountiful chest, as if she was listening and contemplating Poirot's exploits with his little gray cells, but judging from the hypnotizing way her bosom rose and fell, she was well into the realm of dreams. And as for Chizuru, she slept like a young bird, snuggling in her own arms like it was a nest for tired and weary fledglings. My heart almost went out towards her as she drooled cutely in her sleep. It was the very image of innocence.

I was tempted to continue watching her, but I was alert for other variables that might come into play today. Namely, the possible arrival of a set of choices, and/or another 'flower' into the garden. And for that I was well positioned into a vantage point that a sniper themself would envy. My desk was strategically placed, not only well out of sight from the teacher's prying eyes by certain tricks of angles and lighting, but also enabling me to have a God's eye view all over the room.

I see everything. Nothing could pass by me unnoticed. Except...

!!!!!

It was a sleek shadow that passed by me; an ethereal entity wearing our school uniform and a mane of impossibly straight black tresses. It... she had an elegance and grace that was hard to mistake but still can camouflage herself if she wanted to, evident from the way that she seamlessly glided from behind me. Although, I had a dolphin's task management, I didn't have their echolocation to ping this cat's approach. However, due to the fact that ailurophilia ran deep in my blood, and that Mr. Sandman was as quiet as this, especially when he was less chonkier when he was a kitter, I could sense whether a cat was near, no matter what kind of a blindspot path they used from the backdoor.

Catlike in movements as she sat in a chair diagonally from my right, she appeared as if she was already there from the start: in a perfect, prim posture and attentive eyes and ears towards our literature teacher who was probably going on his nth long-winded speech about the cultural context of the mystery genre. She kept that stance for a while but after seeing other of our classmates dozing off or waking up and seeing that the teacher was still in a passionate rapture about 'And Then There Were None' then returning back to dreamland, she loosened up in a soft sigh.

That was expected. What I hadn't expect was that she would talk to me.

"Sir Makapoi's lectures aren't known for their brevity, are they, ?"

I blinked. Was she talking to me? Of course, she was. I was the only one awake besides her in a one meter radius. Or was I hallucinating that this bishoujou would take time to talk to me? Either ways, I see no harm in responding. If she wasn't talking to me, I could easily laugh it off like my hobby was thinking out loud.

"Well, he loves what he teaches about. You've got to spend some time with what you love."

Ha Ha! I never stuttered even though I was averting my eyes and kept a firm a look towards my notebook. She replied to me, however.

"So true. It's a one-sided love affair, though. Mystery must have been a cruel mistress to render him as such, that he lauds his love for it while the rest of us closed our eyes and held our ears, for we already knew that it will be unrequited."

Ooookaaaay? It felt like she was talking with me from a higher plane of existence. I could get the gist of what she was saying but even C4 didn't talk like this. Well, there were times, but this girl somehow felt different. I wasn't sure how to respond but I tried my best.

"Is that from a play?"

"Nah, it's just something I just pulled out. But the real mystery here is that why you aren't affected by the siren's song that apparently anesthesized the rest of our classmates. So what kind of wax did you plug inside your ears to prevent lapsing into sleep, Odysseus?"

She was doing this deliberately, wasn't she? Siren songs weren't lullabies; they were seductive calls that lead people to certain danger. But perhaps in this case it was effective as such as the lecture was sweet enough to lure you to sleep. And besides, no classmate of mine would speak in such a cordial manner, other than my comrades. To be fair, I could barely connect the faces, the names and the voices of my classmates to their respective owners but she was a new encounter. Is she perhaps one of the flowers that Gene was babbling about? And what would I tell her? That I was watching how would the Phenomenon move its pieces in the game board?

"Nothing of the sort, I was kinda interested with our topic for today."

"Usually, your earwax would be a set of Bluetooth connected earphones and your attention would be focused on playing some games on your phone during class. If that was interest, then I don't know what this is. I was really tempted to call you out on that and give you a warning, but now's a good time more than ever."

"Geh, please don't snitch me to the teacher."

She laughed in response, a mellifluous sound richly coming from her throat. It reminded me of a music box and a cathedral bell at the same time... She must have a powerful voice yet it can be delicate when she wanted to.

"I wasn't thinking of that. Just don't do it if its risky... especially if it's not during Sir Makapoi's class. I'll get in trouble too, if you get caught. So let's keep each other out of the dreaded guidance counseling, okay?"

I wanted to retort that I wasn't the type to make a retarded mistake when it comes to VNs but I guess it was her own way of worrying.

"Ah sure, umm..... uh..."

"Already? No way. You already forgot my name? Well, Gene warned me about your disinterest, but I didn't expect that it would go that far."

Oh boy. I heard her say Gene's name, but above all, there was an amount of disappointment and hurt that even a social retard like me could discern.

"I'm sorry..."

It's just that I haven't met you yet. It was a different me that you've met, probably. Someone who has Chizuru as his childhood friend but I've overwritten him. But this time, I swear, I'll remember your name, if you'll give me the chance.

"No, it's okay... really. But this time, I'll make sure that I wouldn't be forgotten that easily. I feel like I've failed at my job, if otherwise."

This made me look up and notice her gently rapping her knuckles over my sleeping seatmate. The poor bloke drowsily woke up and once he saw who he was dealing with, he rapidly and unconvincingly tried to look he wasn't asleep in the first place. The catlike girl wasn't amused. As if a signal was given, the two of them swiftly switched seats, and as a result, now she was my seatmate.

During this ruckus, I scanned the classroom to check whether I had missed anything. It was still in high siesta, and even the teacher was being affected by his own lullaby-like lecture, lethargic in his speech and motions, as if the entire classroom was submerged in a sea of sirens. Nothing was amiss, save.... C4. She wasn't in her seat. Nor currently in the classroom. This wasn't uncommon, even back then.

Sometimes if the boredom really gets to her, even while she was sleeping during class, she would do several.... unusual things at the back portion of the room. Everybody else ignored this, even the teachers, and it was a clear mark of C4's special treatment whenever her eccentricities called for it. This would involve, but not limited to, pacing around, doing tai-chi, gymnastics, calisthenics, and once she tried a science experiment involving some homemade white phosphorus. It was the closest call that the school ever had to require the aid of a firetruck, and thanks to the class' quick actions and thinking (it was C4's, mostly), the fire was contained before it could do some real damage. It was also noteworthy to mention that it was probably Sir Makapoi's first time to actively stop a student from not listening to his lectures and we learned that his limit ended on fire hazards.

Needless to say, C4 was called before the principal himself and I was dying to know whatever diplomatic skill she used to prevent an expulsion and getting away with only a slap to her wrist, but she never divulged it to us. These days, when she felt the need to go wild, she immediately leaves the room instead, with no explanations. As usual, the teachers never say a word of disagreement. Talk about having privilege, but I never resented her for it. I had my means too, of playing hooky whenever I wanted.

"There we go. Then, ? I have a favor to ask of you."

C4 vanished from my thoughts like that as the girl beside me replaced my sleeping seatmate from earlier. I took a closer look at her and found out that she was so beautiful that I have to avert my eyes again, and reevaluate my opinion about the 3D. Starting with Chizuru, and then this girl, it was clear why they were dubbed as the flowers.

"Sure... if it's reasonable."

She smiled at me and tucked a loose strand of her hair behind that immaculate ear of hers. I was starting to notice tiny details that composed her.

Beige skin. Raven-dark hair kept in place by a white headband. Black eyes, but unlike Chizuru's, they were deep pools like an abyss. A small, button nose. And lips that were always baring a smile.

God, I felt like a creep but she barely noticed my stare or if she did, she never told me off.

"Reasonability is subjective. What might be reasonable for you, may not for me, and vice versa. However, I hope this one is for the both of us."

"Now, I'm getting nervous."

"Don't worry, I won't extort money or anything criminal. It's just that I want you to keep me company during Sir Makapoi's class. He's been droning on for what? 30 minutes? And there's still 20 minutes left, right? I'm afraid I'll end up sleeping like the many of the huddled and tired masses. Give me liberty or give me sleep! Hahahaha!"

I was about wanting to sleep myself if this girl is as crazy as she seemed. But if there was a chance that she was a new element in the gameboard... it's worth talking to her at least. Maybe she was a box of clues just waiting to opened for me to successfully learn about the Phenomenon. But what if she was a Pandora's box instead? Even so, I wanted to get to the bottom of this, even if it meant stirring a nest of wasps. So then, in for centavo, in for a pe------

Choices

1.) Talk with this strange girl.

2.) Perform a standup comedy skit with Sir Makapoi.

I was already doing it, alright! No need to push me to the direction that I was supposed to go to. It's like leading me like a horse towards the water and when I was on my way to drink it, the liquid is being splashed around, to ensure that I was doing what it wanted.

I was half-tempted to do an impromptu manzai act with Sir Makapoi and test whether one of his limits involved tsukkomi, but I shudder to think of the consequences, even if it meant throwing the Phenomenon into a disarray and recording another record of our literature teacher's rare outburst for the books.

And even if I ended up choosing none, the lack of temporal progression almost drives me mad. Even the dust motes around the room stopped in place and nothing was moving. A set of perfect flesh sculptures frozen in time. That included me and this girl, who was somehow asking me to talk to her, the same way the Phenomenon wanted. I was getting suspicious already.

So strange girl it is.

The moment I thought about the first choice, time continued as if nothing happened.... leaving only a pleasant feeling of wanting to talk to somebody... a desire of nonisolation and communicative passion.

"Yeah, sure. Although you have me at a disadvantage."

She crossed her stockinged legs together in a casual pose and steepled her hands underneath her chin as she appeared to be genuinely curious. For a moment, I thought that her having a set of cat ears and a twitching tail suited her, but illusion was ruined when she talked.

"What do you mean?"

"Your name. I haven't caught it.".

"I gave it to you some time ago... but I guess it can't be helped if you forgot. However you can take guesses if you may."

A guessing game?

"How many?"

"Just one? But I did mention guesses so I'll make it two."

"Are there any clues?"

"Ahahahahah. Let me see. Does being the incumbent class mayor count?"

"Ah!"

Now the fog surrounding this feline flower dissipated. So this was the one who displaced C4 in this world as the reigning leader of this class? Let's see... both Gene and C4 mentioned her name before... it was Elia. No? Ella?

"Ah, it's Eliza! Your name is Eliza!"

"Yep, give this guy a medal! You got it right, and only a little jog of your memory was required, after all."

It wasn't just a little jog... rather it was only a recent acquisition of information. Something that I really needed right now about this girl.

"Your full name is...?"

"It's something plain. Eliza Beth Santos. Of course, both of us know the plight of being named after famous people, don't we? Or perhaps a lamentation towards our parents who gave us such names."

Eliza Beth Santos. I mentally file her name inside my brain hemisphere dedicated to non-VN stuff. I took another survey of the room. The teacher wasn't stopping from his sermon anytime. Seriously, I was almost convinced that he could teach even if all of us weren't present. It's been weeks since he was assigned to us and we were quick to notice his high levels of tolerance.... or apathy.

The compulsion to talk this girl, unnatural as she was, was still present and I have to choose a light topic like any normal people would do. Let me pick from the great ranges of conversational options that I had: visual novels, deconstruction of its tropes, current degradation of society, the impending sense of doom I always felt whenever I check the internet, some half-assed philosophical generalizations, and did I mention visual novels? As I ticked off the boxes from this list, I was more and more saddened by the fact that perhaps I couldn't hold a normal conversation with someone.

But before I could make an ass out of myself by talking weirdly, I was saved by her interjection that reminded me of a twinkling bell.

"What are you always doing at literature class... or any class for that matter?"

"You mean playing visual novels?"

"Is that what it is called? Is it some kind of a book?

"Book? No, it cannot be compared to a mere book. It contains the divine union of visual art, satisfying plot complete with philosophies and great character development, amazing musical arrangements and voice acting all in a neat package that blurred the line between a game and a piece of literature. It's simply the epitome of both."

"Oh so that's what it is. Sounds fun. Can you recommend any visual novels for me?"

It was a curveball pitched at unexpected speeds and angle that I was reduced to single, dumb utterance of confusion.

"Hah?"

"What I meant was do you have any nice recommenadations regarding visual novels? Ah, but I'd like it to be appropriate for a newbie like me."

My brain hemisphere responsible for the management of visual novels and their sauces were running up to 90% and up, and so they could easily offer goods tailored for any particular patron. I told Eliza several otome games with lighthearted themes: the very same which I recommended C4 to start off with. If everything went well and I'm sure the magic of sugary sweet content aimed for girls would make it so, Eliza would take to the genre, and our small community would only grow and further itself. In business, repeat customers were just as important as fresh ones.

She earnestly jotted down whatever I was rambling about in her notepad: the type that you use for making to do lists. "I got it. I'll download these and play them whenever I got the spare time."

"Not to question a potential comrade about their business, but why would you bother knowing what I played?"

"It's because you love it, right? When you talked about your hobby, your eyes sparkled with delight and passion. You get to know a lot about people by asking them what they love the most. Kinda like Mr. Makapoi here. It's evident that he loves... to talk."

"And here I thought it was driving people to sleep."

"Sleeping with the Siren, huh? Does that mean that the classroom turned into the sirenum scopuli?"

"I have no idea what that means, but do sirens lure people to sleep? Sounds like the Sandman would be better suited to the job."

"Well, that was the only fitting image that came into mind. I'm fascinated by Greek mythology, you see."

She abruptly ended the topic at that, and yet the compulsion still urged me to talk to her. Not to mention that I was curious about her; I wasn't seeing anything that might be a useful clue. So I jumped ahead with the first question that came into my mind.

"Do you like being the class mayor?"

She looked surprised at me. Perhaps it was a taboo topic or something that wasn't supposed to be brought up casually, but yet she answered my question.

"Whether I like it or not is out of the question... I am the most well-suited for this job. Everybody thought so. But personally, I like it well enough. I get to know people, and get along with them. Have you ever read Plato's Republic?"

"No... but I've heard of it."

"The most ideal leader is a philosopher. Along with other key points, it argued that a republic of virtues and wisdom can be built with its leader as a selfless philosopher who leads with example and knowledge. With such rulers, they could understand the true forms of justice and goodness, and therefore rule morally, for acting altruistically is the greatest self-benefit, after all." After an embarassed smile, she continued. "I aspire to be one such: a philosophical leader who could inspire people into goodness."

With her heartfelt and earnest declaration of her thoughts about being a leader, I could now finally understand why Eliza was voted as the class mayor, and not C4. Perhaps, the me of this world voted for her as well and maybe even C4 did. It was also possible that she was nominated unanimously, with no oppositions against her.

"For, what it's worth, I think you already reached your ideal. Is that also why you decided to talk to me?"

She blinked, and then her usual beatific smile was replaced with a knowing, yet cryptic grin.

"I believe that knowing my classmates is a part of my job. I was quite surprised however, when both you and Gene talked to me after I won the election with zero resistance. You wanted to know about me and we both did. You warned me however that remembering people wasn't your strongest suit, as you have little to no interest about the 3D world..."

Gah! I gotta change that perspective because it was quite obvious that it's already eating into my time at immersing in the 2D.

".... but it seemed that perhaps, maybe this time, I might give you a cause to pay attention to our current dimension."

"What do you mean?"

"Simple, really. Any form of literature comes from the thoughts of humans. And they quite exist right here, right now. No human is an island and no matter how much of a loner you proclaim to be, essentially you would still need other people to survive. You aren't truly alone. The masterpieces that you call visual novels are made by other humans and thus they are communicating to you through that. Even if you don't actively seek out the company of others... it's completely fine. You just have to call us out, and we'll be there."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"You told me how much of a loner you consider yourself to be, last time... when I don't see that otherwise. It's true that you may perceive yourself as alone, but we are always here by your side. Your childhood friend Chizuru, your comrades Gene and Cassandra. And well, now... you have me. Just call our names and we'll be there."

"....thanks." Was this how the me of this world appeared to her? A lonely boy who saw himself indulging in the comforts inside waifu-filled screen while never seeing nor appreciating what he had outside? That hits too close to home. It seemed that me here wasn't so different from the me in my own world. Was this what the Phenomenon wanted me to see?

"Although, I believe that I have made an impact over you. Aren't philosopher-leaders amazing? Last time, you weren't even talking to me directly as you were playing some kind of a game. You told me that you had a dolphin's hemispheric division of thoughts so you could handle talking to me while you played. I wanted to correct you that they only use that during sleep, but I didn't want to burst your bubble and sabotage you while you were taking your first steps outside your shell."

I was speechless over this girl's actions. She was just worried for me, probably, but why would she go this far? Why would anyone go that far? Then I remembered Chizuru... truly in this world.... why have I been lauding myself as a loner especially if I have a lot of people around me? Maybe it was just me who never considered them as such in the first place? Suddenly, I have something to chew on besides the crazy Phenomenon, and I was curious about this girl's actions... which was probably due to her political position.

".... why would you go that far?"

"Why, indeed. I'd say a mix of my personal reasons and professional duties. Hahahahaha. Haven't I told you? The greatest self-benefit comes from altruism. I'm just helping myself by helping you realize that we are here to help."

She laughed with that last part, apparently pleased with herself. Without any warning beforehand, the school chime played its catchy notes that we've all heard a thousand times before and yet the feeling of jamais vu refused to leave. Contrary to that, Sir Makapoi was already packing up his things and left without much ceremony. His lullaby of the siren sea accompanied him to no doubt another class to be lured to the depths of sleep. One by one, my classmates woke up, and began to prepare for the next class: calculus.

Eliza stretched like a black cat, and prepared to transfer to another seat, presumably her proper seat, but I had one last favor to ask of her.

"Sure, what is it? Glad to see that you are relying on me. Ahahahahaha."

"Do you have an extra copy of the class roster?"

"I do. Here you go. Finally interested with the rest of our classmates?" She handed me over a neat printout with the names of our classmates arranged alphabetically, with the boys separate from the girls. Convenient, that.

"You could say that." With this, I was already equipped with the barest amount of prerequisite information about the class flowers.

"That's good. And remember about what I said about using phone in class! With your leave, then. It's calculus." She quickly inclined her head and left me with the class roster and her earlier words which stirred inside my head.

I took a look at the printout at my hand. Then another look at my phone. I smiled ruefully as I realized that Eliza was just as close as she was to her ideal. I decided to give her words a try.

It's calculus. Might as well dedicate a 100% of my dolphin brain to this.