Kara happily hummed a tune, one of her hands resting on her lap while the other held a small cup of wine. Behind her, Rakna silently tended to and brushed one of her tails.

“This is surprisingly tame coming from you,” he commented, switching to another tail and running the brush through her fur.

“Well, Kae would probably hate me if I hogged you,” she replied and sipped on her drink. “And you may not know, but for a fox, to have someone brush their tails is one of the most intimate actions they can allow. I’m very pleased with this.”

“…is that so?” Rakna blankly said and briefly paused before continuing with a sigh.

“Yes, indeed,” she chuckled and resumed her humming.

“…hey, Kara, can I ask you something?” The therian spoke up and she looked back at him from the corner of her eye. His expression was rather casual so she answered simply.

“Sure! Go ahead.”

“Why are you constantly drinking? I’ve noticed… you don’t do it for pleasure”

The vixen stiffened but quickly recovered, making a wry smile. “I don’t know if you are asking to make fun of me or if you are being serious…”

“Your choice.”

“Haha… you’re quite mean when you want to,” she said solemnly and gazed into the ripples of her cup. “Hm, you might already know, but I am a full-fledged Host. I wasn’t born here like Kae. I was taken from the outside by the System like everyone else. The world I came from was… lonely,” she admitted and looked up.

“Long story short, Nine-Tailed Foxes… didn’t exist. At the very least, they didn’t exist in the plural sense,” she said bitterly. “I was the only one. For decades. And it wasn’t a ‘strong’ world; you could say I was the only fox spirit altogether. Normal humans couldn’t see me. I was so very lonely,” she whispered. “During that time, I got to taste sake for the first time.”

“Sake, huh?” Rakna hummed. “Rice wine is good. It’s a good first pick.”

“Haha, you don’t tell me. I fell in love with it… But the story of how I got my hands on some though has quite a different tone,” she added. “I was being hunted. Some shamans, wanting to capture and sell me. Spiritual beasts were rare like that. Humanoid ones even more. As for me… I was a great treasure in the wild. Well… they might have thought I was a golden goose. Literally so,” she stated and smiled slightly.

“I can feel it, you know?” She said, glancing at Rakna who was expressionless. But she could discern more than just that, “You’re getting mad for me. That’s pretty sweet of you, Rara.”

“…you’re welcome.”

She chuckled. “But, well, don’t worry. I killed them. What point is there loathing the dead? At the end of the day, they were the ones carrying a treasure for me. I found some drinks they had with them and tasted them in curiosity. Then, I drank it all. Got drunk; forgot my loneliness. Then I stole some more from towns and villages. Drank again. Forgot again. Drank. Forgot. Rinse and repeat.”

“So, that’s why, Rakna,” she looked over her shoulder. “Do not be alone. This is the first thing I saw in you when we met. So alone that you were, that I couldn’t look away.”

“What a weird reason to be interested in someone.”

“You think?” She smiled. “But I’ve seen some progress since then already. You have accepted what I told you about your hungry soul. You haven’t tried to do anything about it as well. You said you wanted to discuss it but all you did, in the end, was ask for details.”

“…”

“Say, can I ask you a question in return this time?”

“…what is it?” Rakna responded, never stopping his movements.

“You’ve been acting differently for the past two weeks. It’s subtle, but it’s there. At first, I thought that maybe my little pep-talk had helped, but I quickly discarded the idea. The way you changed was odd, more than anything else. It was as if, instead of avoiding others’ love, you suddenly let go of your doubts and decided to go along with the flow… why?”

Rakna hummed softly at her question. He didn’t sound surprised nor bothered. “To be clear, there is no decision involved. Let me answer you with another question, if you knew that something was set in stone, would you try to fight it?”

“Eh?”

“I’m not sure personally,” he continued, still brushing her tails. “At this point, the stakes have been flipped on their heads. The true conflict now is not whether I’m worthy of others’ love or not, but if I’m willing to put my selfishness to have them by my side over their own good.”

“Rakna…?” The vixen was getting worried.

“Some people say that once you know the future, you can change it,” he added. “That’s stupid. It’s a contradiction of the laws of the universe. If you get to know the future, it’s obviously a future in which your current self, the one who knows about it, will end up at. That you know is irrelevant; it will happen. Otherwise, it’s a paradox. And people… can’t consciously create paradoxes.”

“Wait, what are you--?!” Kara turned around to grab his wrist but they were interrupted by the sound of the elevator and cheery shout.

“Hey, Devourer~ I’m back!” A beautiful woman with dark skin and golden eyes stormed inside the training floor. Her long black hair was tied in a pony-tail, her lion ears sticking out, while only half of her upper body was covered, having opted for a sports outfit as per her preference.

When she arrived, she paused as she saw the strange expression on Kara’s face and the abnormally tranquil one on Rakna as he stood up from his seat, letting go of the vixen’s tails, all of them fully groomed. The lioness became slightly more serious, her smile flattening.

“What is…”

The therian nonchalantly turned toward her and mused. “Hm, yes. You’re beautiful, Higure. There is no doubt,” he said, stunning her, and walked past her, back inside the elevator which departed soon after.

Kara and Higure were left alone after that, the latter in a state of shock. The compliment had been so sudden she was blushing hard enough to overpower her skin color.

“…what in the world was that?” She uttered after calming down and Kara sighed.

“I would like to know as well. Nevertheless…” The vixen said and stood up before putting a hand to her chin whilst inspecting Higure’s appearance from head to foot.

“W-what?” The lioness was still a bit disoriented, so she got nervous at the gaze.

“Hm,” Kara quietly approached her and poked her defined abdomen. Then squeezed her forearms with an appraising touch. “I see, I see… what an incredible body, you have. I suppose these muscles are a representation of your more barbaric instincts.”

Higure’s mouth twitched and she cleared her throat, finally recovering her bearings. “Are you done molesting me, you damn fox? Also, I wouldn’t get ahead of myself if I were you. Barbaric? Are you the one he just called beautiful, huh?” She countered with a smirk, her fangs poking over her lips.

Kara huffed and backed off, crossing her arms. “Dream on, you dull lion. The competition isn’t even close. Your unrefined self is no match for me, or much less my little Kae.”

“You wish,” Higure shot back and the two glared at each other.

* * *

“{Did you just run away?}” Fray deadpanned as Rakna leaned against the wall of the elevator.

‘Tactical retreat. Those two already created sparks before when there wasn’t anyone around. I don’t want to be in the crossfire now that she has a human body. Maybe foxes and lions don’t get along…’

“{Says the wolf…}”

Rakna ignored him and resumed, ‘Also, please remind me what you said about privacy earlier?’

“{Well, I was referring to the birds and the bees. How was I supposed to know that woman would want to do something so innocuous? So, I just stuck around.}”

‘But doesn’t that mean you stayed long enough to check?’

“{…point taken.}”

‘Don’t worry, if it ever happens. I’ll be the one closing you off.’

“{Hm, I think I should be happy for you… but what is this disappointing feeling?}”

‘Your depravity.’

“{Hey! Please cease that slandering!}”

‘…’

Fray grumbled and switched topics. “{And what about… ‘that’? You were close right there. Are you truly not going to tell them?}”

‘What good is there? They will try to change the future if I do.’

“{Is that not a good thing?}”

‘Didn’t you say so yourself? There is no use struggling once you know about it.’

“{Yes… I am plenty aware. One’s death is a fixed point in time. Once it is known, it cannot be altered in any way, nor can it be avoided. There are plenty of recorded examples in the past. But, are you really planning on giving up so easily? That does not sound like you.}”

‘Fray, there is one person that I trust more than anything in the world.’

“{…}”

‘If the old man told me to look at the last page, it wasn’t for nothing. He knew. That specter, made by my dreams, he knew and wanted me to know. That’s why I can’t do anything else than believe it,’ he declared as he opened the door of his office.

He glanced out the window where Tyran and Pronos were. It seemed the former had even grown a pair of wings with his evolution. “He’s looking more and more like a dragon,” Rakna commented in amusement and picked up a paper on the desk. The words written on it were the ones that had appeared on the book’s last page.

“I’ve had two weeks to pick apart these two sentences, word by word,” he said and sat down. “The only conclusion I came at is that this is not necessarily my inevitable death; rather, it is something that I will inevitably do. That was probably the true purpose of that message.”

“{…your fate?}”

Rakna smiled and leaned back in his chair. “Fate be damned,” he spat, glancing outside where he could sense his friends awakening from their Simulations and practicing their new powers just as he had done. He momentarily activated Crystal Sight and couldn’t help but admit that this group of his was certainly full of monsters.

“That I’m fated to do something means someone or something else decided for me. What a load of bullshit. I might be unable to escape the future, but it doesn’t mean that my future-self will make a decision that I would disagree with. I’m not surrendering to fate; I’m simply trusting myself.”

“{Hm… I suppose that’s just like you. Should I praise your wisdom? Or your ego?}” Fray joked and the therian snorted.

“Why not both? Anyway, we’re going to the 100th Plateau today. Anything useless to comment as usual?”

“{Why do you say it like that…?}”

“I’m just stating a fact. Your inner fabulist comes out and you just never tell me what it actually is so that I keep the surprise. It only makes it worse when Kaelith and Kara go along with it.”

“{Well, if you put it like that… But it’s not like it’s useless. I’m giving you my impression of it.}”

“That’s useful?” Rakna asked as if he was truly confused and Fray fell silent.

“{……firstly, the 100th Plateau is a Main Plateau. So, it means you will be teleported into a city as it happened for Black Steel after you came out of the Tutorial. You’ll see for yourself when you get there, but that Plateau is considered the most relaxing and exotic location in the System.}”

“Oh?”

“{Mhm, indeed. Put into words… Living there makes you feel free. Aside from all that though, it’s a place where nobility starts to get prevalent in the System, and higher leveled Hosts and Locals are common there. It’s not as much as Old Eden in the 500th Plateau, but be mindful. I don’t think there is anyone courageous enough to confront you head-on, but they might try to provoke you.}”

“I see. Speaking from experience?”

“{You could say so. And after that, hm… you have the Myth Council Tower you will head to for your first meeting or things like the Arenas.}”

“The Arenas?” Rakna raised an eyebrow.

“{Haha, you will see once you get there.}”

The therian shook his head and huffed. “I guess that was somewhat useful this time,” he remarked and stood up. “Let’s go see it then,” he added and left the room.