Chapter 0086: Whispers (3/4)

Back at the spot that the trio disappeared from. A portal opens and out come Masashi, Mai and Yue.

The moment they appeared in the infinite reflection cave they got a large number of whispers directly stuffed into their head.

It was as if the dungeon was accumulating the whispers for them, knowing that they'd appear sometime.

Most of it ended up becoming unintelligible since the whispers kept getting overlapped but it was annoying as hell for the three of them.

"Fucking shit," Masashi said loudly from the annoyance of the whispers and instantly regretted his actions.

His words created an echo so loud that it almost brew apart his eardrums. It kept going on and on.

'I hate this damn place.' Masashi is annoyed at this dungeon completely.

'It's fine, let's just keep walking.'

Masashi had already added the enchantment to the bracelets to create a telepathic link between the wearers so that Yue didn't have to use spirit magic every time only to talk telepathically.

She could do it herself but using an artifact was much easier.

This time, with a much more experienced and prepared mindset the trio walks quickly through the mirror maze that's on steroids.

(You think that they'll let you stay?)

(You don't get a happily ever after.)

(You don't even have a purpose for existence.)

(They'll abandon you again.)

The whispers keep going but with their renewed mindset it was much easier to pass through without being too affected.

After what seems like an eternity of walking through incessant whispers.

'I hate my voice from now on,' Mai says.

'What?' Yue is confused by Mai's statement.

'These whispers are made to emulate our voices. It's as if our own heart's insecurities are being laid out by ourselves. Probably some sick liberator bullshit.'

'I never realized.'

'You're not to be blamed. Our voice sounds much too different to others than it does to us inside our heads. We usually never hear our voice.' Masashi chimes in.

'You're right.' Yue contemplates her existence since she's spent centuries alone and still doesn't know the sound of her voice.

Finally, after a few hours of mental wear and tear, they reached the end of the pathway.

The path opened up into a large dome-like room, the same as all others that had them fight monsters before.

"Finally. We've been walking for hours." Yue let out a relieved breath.

"Remind me why we couldn't run?" The echoes had finally stopped being infinitely reflected so Mai spoke normally to Masashi.

"We had to spend the time we spent here no matter how fast we were going. It was like Meildi's dungeon. The paths automatically changed. It was built to make us spend too much time in the maze so that I could wear us down."

After Masashi says that, [Gamer's Mind] automatically reactivates since Masashi's condition of completing the path was fulfilled.

He didn't want to take any risks so he added many fail safes to automatically reactivate the ability at the slightest hint of mental provocation, be it possession, mind reading, or anything.

As long as it was done by a sentient entity, [Gamer's Mind] would block it and reactivate.

The moment the ability was reactivated Masashi felt an unprecedented relief go through his mind, he could feel that Mai was the same.

"This dungeon's taken a big toll on our minds, eh Mai?"

"No shit."

With this Masashi and Mai were fully rejuvenated and only Yue was the one with dark thoughts swirling through her head and taking a big toll on her mind.

"Yue. Do you need to take a break?" Masashi goes over to Yue and pats her head.

"It's fine. Let's just get this damn place over with."

Masashi narrows his eyes and sends a [Legilimency] probe into Yue's mind to read her surface thoughts.

"Nope, we're taking a break." Yue's surface thoughts themselves made Masashi realize that a break is very important for her.

"I said I don't need to."

"Come on Yue." Masashi unceremoniously picked Yue up like a sack of potatoes and threw her over his shoulder.

"Let me go you, big bully." Yue hits his back with her full strength but Masashi only felt tickles since her physical stats were so low.

He brings her back into the inner world as Mai follows them.

"I'm not big, I'm a kid, you're the one who's overly small, right Mai?"

"Masashi… I gotta side with Yue on this one. You gotta admit. We're big people."

"…Fine whatever." Masashi's inner child is heartbroken and proceeds to die due to depression.

"All right Yue, therapy time." Masashi brings Yue to the living room and sits her on the big couch.

He takes a seat in front of her in a recliner and brings out a notepad and pen along with a pair of glasses to complete his therapist's look.

"What's he doing?" Yue asks Mai with a scared tone as she feels intimidated by Masashi's passionate look.

"I'm going to talk about your feelings, Yue." Masashi gently says in a soothing voice.

This creeps Yue out more as Masashi is acting a little out of character.

"Please don't."

"Why are you acting as if I'm some kind of pedo about to force you to do some unsuitable acts." Masashi gets annoyed and his therapist persona falls apart within seconds of being unleashed."

"Okay, now you're normal."

"…Anyway. Lay it on me. It's clear to me that you're repressing something and the dungeon's trial is getting to you. The next one's gonna be much more difficult and it'll target you the worst. Please, Yue, talk to me." Masashi holds Yue's hand with both his hands and looks into her eyes.

Yue's eyes dart around as she fidgets a little.

After a while, she resigns to her fate.

"Fine…"

Masashi waits for Yue to continue patiently. He doesn't want her to feel pressured to tell him anything.

"I'll start from the beginning of when we met." Masashi lets go of Yue's hand that he was still holding but she gets up and takes a seat on his lap.

Masashi understands that she wants some comfort right now and caresses her hair before she continues.

"When I first met the both of you, I was ecstatic, as one would expect… After centuries of unending isolation, I was finally freed by you both. You two are the only people in the world that are important to me.

"There are some times that I think or even hope that everyone else would die, leaving only the three of us and no one else. Being with you both was enough for me and I couldn't give a shit if the world burned.

"When I started sleeping together with you and Mai, at first I felt like I shouldn't intrude on you both, but you welcomed me with open arms. I feel so loved when I'm with you both."

Yue tightly hugs Masashi, enjoying his caresses as he starts using his other hand to rub her back lightly.

"This time with you both… It's the best time that I could ever imagine having. I don't know what I'd do if you both weren't there and that scares me.

"There's always been this nagging thought inside me that one day you both will leave me, forever. I know that it's an unfounded feeling but it's always been there." Masashi wants to interrupt Yue to tell her that's not going to happen but he patiently waits for her to complete her words.

"You both have this connection, you'll always be together, no matter what. But I don't know if you'll let me truly stay for that long. I'm not your lover, I feel like at some point you'll leave me and I don't want to think about what I would do after that.

"I've never tried to seduce you out of respect for Mai and somewhere inside of myself, I know that it'll probably be futile."

There's a break after Yue stops speaking as Masashi thinks about what to say, "… don't you think that you could find someone who could join our little family?"

"…I don't know."

"I'm only telling you to think about it. You don't need to force yourself. I promise you that no matter what you'll always be with us. I just want you to know that you don't need to close yourself off completely."

"Mmm."

Masashi reminisces while caressing Yue's hair, "Back in our original world, the people other than Mai whom I was closest to were Sakuta, Futaba, and Kaede. Sakuta was a fun dude, he had a cool albeit cynical outlook on the world. Kaede was his little sister. I used to pamper her a lot. Kinda like I do with you. Futaba on the other hand was a researcher, a scientist. The mysteries of how the world worked were what intrigued her."

Yue patiently listens to Masashi's story while enjoying his caresses.

"To me, you are a lot like Kaede but with one big difference. You'll always stay with us. I left those people back there because I wanted them to have a normal life. Immortality might seem fun but it can also be horrifying. You know that best, don't you Yue?"

"Mhm," She nods in Masashi's chest.

"You're like my cute little sister whom I can dote on to no end. So just don't worry about meaningless things, all right?"

Yue doesn't answer but her hug around Masahi's waist tightens ever so slightly.

"So, you ready to face your demons, Yue?" Masashi asks Yue who now seems like she's ready to face the world.

"Yeah, let's go." Yue hyps herself up.

"Come on then, I'll find Mai, we'll get back to the cave.