Nagoya, Japan

Tuesday, August 12th, 2050

Despite some tossing and turning the night before, I hadn’t devised a plan by the next morning. I told myself not to worry too much. One can’t rush inspiration, after all. When it came to Maggie Edwards, acting rashly never paid off. I’d pretend all was normal.

I arrived at the workout room. Despite the show of solidarity a few weeks before, our unofficial running club had shrunk back down to Rose, Kiyo and I.

“You know what? I’m tired of using the treadmills all the time,” declared Rose as we walked into the gym. “It’s such a lovely day. Let’s go run outside.”

“I’m not sure,” I said. “I think I see some rainclouds in the distance.”

Rose closed her eyes and concentrated. “No, you don’t. It’s a lovely day!”

“I stand corrected,” I said as the clouds dissipated before my eyes.

For once, it wasn’t Rose talking my ear off as we jogged around the school. Kiyo took her turn.

“So, then the Dark Queen cast Yarbov the Grey into his dungeon, but he was like, ‘you can let me out of here, or I’ll do it myself! You just won’t have a castle afterwards.’” She giggled helplessly, but trailed off and looked at me accusatorily. “You aren’t laughing, Magpie.”

“I’m sorry, my dear. I think you had to be there for that one.”

She brightened up right away. “Hey, I can lend it to you when I’m done! I only have, like, fifty hours left.”

“Fifty hours?”

“Yeah, it’s a pretty short RPG.”

“A pretty short… fifty hours…” I shook my head. “Now I see why you were too busy to answer my texts.” I couldn’t keep the ire from my voice.

My subtle implication flew right over Kiyo’s head. “I’m glad you understand. I thought you might be angry about it.”

I decided to let it go. I didn’t want to waste the day on a fight. Who knew how many I had left in the human realm? There was no point being difficult.

Rose didn’t share my discretion. “Wait, you what? You ignored him?”

“Yeah, I was doing a marathon,” she said. “So anyway, that’s when your character, Gale, shows up at the castle because the queen summoned him, and…”

“No wonder he looked so miserable when I ran into him last night!” I had brought up the middle of the formation, but Rose sped up, ran around the front and resumed her jog at Kiyo’s side. “Soren, how many times did you text her?”

“It hardly seems important,” I said. “No hard feelings at all.”

“Like heck there weren’t! Kiyo, Soren is a sensitive boy!”

“Not that sensitive,” I said.

“How would you feel being ignored like that?” said Rose, blowing past my comment.

Kiyo slowed her pace. “I… huh. I didn’t think of it like that. I got back to him later, though.”

“How much later?”

“One o’clock, I think?” Kiyo shrugged.

“Rose, please don’t. That’s how my Kiyo is. I’m used to it by now.” Rose had chosen a Hell of a time to start meddling.

Rose shook her head emphatically. “No, Soren, you don’t get it. You’re completely whipped, but you deserve to be treated better than that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Kiyo, an accusatory note in her voice. “What’s better?”

“Well, if you’re going to spend all day playing a silly videogame, come up for air long enough to tell your boyfriend what you’re doing so he doesn’t worry about you!”

“Wand of Yarbov is not silly! It was game of the year in 2048!”

“Funny, I thought Magpie was your game of the year for 2050,” countered Rose.

Kiyo came to a stop near the Tower’s north entrance. “I mean that’s… that’s the boyfriend/girlfriend contract, right? He knows I’m a gamer. I’m going to go AWOL occasionally. Magpie’s okay with it, right?”

I couldn’t very well say that the distance made it easier to scheme, could I? “It took my risks when I dated an introvert. And for the record, I am not whipped! Kiyo simply needs a… delicate touch.”

Kiyo went quiet after that. “I think I’m done running.”

“Yes, I think that’s quite enough for now,” I said.

Rose made a sound like whip’s crack.

“Hush, you!” I barked.

Rose giggled. “I need to stop by the headmaster’s cabin to drain some magical energy, so I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Yes, go take your wild accusations elsewhere,” I said, dismissing her with a wave.

On the ride back up the elevator, Kiyo kept up her patter about the game, but the enthusiasm was gone. Her hand was glued to mine all the way up.

We arrived at the boy’s floor, but she didn’t release me right away. “Hey uh… I guess I didn’t think about the… the texting thing,” she said, avoiding my gaze. “The networks were shut down all day, right? I didn’t think to check after when my phone started buzzing…”

“Don’t worry yourself a bit, my dear,” I said, giving her a playful tap on the nose. “It’s water under the bridge.”

She didn’t take the invitation to cheer up, and bit her lip nervously. “I mean, I guess I’m kinda… I can’t think of the last time I did that without you there. Just tuned out the whole world and lived in the game. Am I going back to… y’know. The way I was when we first met?”

I shook my head and forced a playful laugh. I thought I could see where she was going, and I didn’t like the implications for my triple life. If she was reverting, she was bound to start snooping around while hidden from sight. The elevator’s doors began to close, so I guided her into the empty waiting room on the dorm floor. We were still an hour out from class, so the carpeted room was deserted.

“That’s just you getting your money’s worth, right? You were on lockdown and cut off from the outside world. There’s no shame in it.”

She had pulled out her phone with free hand and scrolled through the messages. “Wow, you texted me, like, twelve times. You were really worried. How can you be so calm about it now?”

“Angel, it isn’t…”

“No, it is a big deal,” she said, cutting me off. “Is something wrong? With us?”

I laughed jovially. “What could possibly be the matter?”

“Soren, am I like… a burden?”

“Burden? Where did that come from?”

“I dunno. Forget I said anything.” She laughed without humor. “Hey, I’ll see you after class, okay? I gotta go get ready for Ms. Edwards’ stupid quiz.”

“The Wizard Corps are a bunch of slave drivers,” I said. “I can’t believe they’re already teaching classes again. They just flew in last night.”

“Yeah. Bet that’s why she did a pop quiz, she didn’t have to think.”

“That certainly does sound like Maggie.”

“Yeah… Maggie. Well, bye. Love you, Magpie.” She took a step towards the elevator, but looked at me expectantly.

She often baited me to return her declarations of love, but something in me could never comply. Love is the cornerstone of the Enemy’s entire philosophy, and my remaining shreds of demonic pride prevented me from responding in kind. Funny how I could throw myself into mortal danger for her, but those three little words stopped me short.

Besides, it was more fun to respond with action instead of words. “Remember the first time we kissed?”

“Yeah, you backed me against the wall, then slammed your hand on it. Yeah, just like that, they call it a kabedon online. Then you just went in for-”

There, that was a much better use for my mouth than any professions of love. Less likely to get me in trouble, too.