When I woke up, I again drained my mana while trying to recreate the sensation. But again, I only managed to recreate the non-muscular shaking of my right hand and the feeling of the invisible goosebumps. I tried to switch to my left hand to see if there would be any difference, but there wasn’t.

I got ready to head out to Centro. I agreed to meet up with the gang again yesterday.

“Whassup baby,” Amygdala said.

The gang was already outside my inn, waiting for me. Amygdala was levitating mid-air in a laying down position.

What the hell are they doing here?

I tried to not let the shock show on my face and went over to Amygdala as if everything was normal. And with an ulterior motive of course.

I initiated a fistbump and he complied.

There’s that sensation again. I’ll try to recreate it again when my mana is full.

When we fist-bumped, Amygdala gave me an analyzing look.

“Where we headed?“ I said.

“Oh, I got a lil something for you. You’ll see. You’ll dig it,” Amygdala said.

Right to his left Tray was giving me a nasty look.

“The fuck you want?” I said.

“Tray…” Amygdala said and gestured to Tray to stand down. Anyway, I’m starving. You know any places around here?”

“Yeah, there’s a burger joint nearby I always go to.“

***

Amygdala tried to pay for my food, but I refused. And when we headed for Centro, he tried to pay for my mana ticket, but I refused.

It was a pretty interesting system, the train system. It was built in a way where you couldn’t cheat it.

To get on, you had to pay mana to get a unique temporary mana key to go through the barrier of the train. Technically, you could try to break the barrier and just go in anyway. But to do that would cost a lot more mana than simply paying for a temporary unique key, so it was just more convenient to pay. It was obvious why this system was in place. Because of how useless the police were.

The sun was shining down our faces, and we were all walking down the main street in Centro.

“Okay, it’s time. Listen up, Precuneus,” Amygdala suddenly said.

All the other gang members continued their conversations while Amygdala was walking by my side. Though this time he didn’t have his arm around me, for some reason.

All around us were tons of cute girls, and my and Amygdala’s eyes kept tracking them.

“Number one, eye contact. Always make eye contact. And if you’re nervous or want to look away, keep your face in her face’s direction, but only move your eyes.”

“Why are you telling me this?“ I said.

“Shut up. Number two. Always walk about one or two steps in front of her. If you don’t, she’ll instinctually get this creepy feeling that you’re the one following her. And if you do, she’ll instinctually get this normal feeling that she’s following you.

Number three. Talk, talk, talk, and talk. What you say doesn’t matter. But when you first start off the interaction, you do all the talking and tell her about yourself. Within the first two minutes, she should know most there is to know about you so you aren’t a stranger to her. After that, ask and listen to her. She shouldn’t be a stranger either. Most guys get this step wrong. Know what there is to know about her."

"Number four. Social logistics. When you’ve gone through the introduction and gotten to know each other, find out where she’s headed right now. What she’s doing this week. What things you could do together. Yada yada."

Okay, those are the main points. Oh, and if she doesn’t like you from the start and is bitchy, then just say goodbye so we can move on and not waste time,“ Amygdala said.

“Okay, cool. But why are you telling me this?”

“Listen, village boy, I’m teaching you how to pick up girls in the city. Now act accordingly. Pick a girl.“

I started looking around. I spotted a cute girl in a school uniform wearing a skirt. She had beautiful black hair and was slender.

“Okay. That one. So how do I talk to her? Do I just walk up to her?”

Amygdala flashed me a smile.

“Let’s go boys!“

Wait, what are you doing?

“Wait, a minute or so, then come barging in and be her hero!” Amygdala said and took off running with the other guys from the gang.

Amygdala ran up to her and grabbed her arm and he and the other guys surrounded her. All the other people on the street ignored them.

I could see on the cute girl’s face how nervous and scared she was. She had her school shoulder pack in front of her stomach and was holding it tightly.

I ran towards them.

“Come on baby, let’s go back to my place,“ Amygdala said while grabbing her arm.

“Please let me go. I have to go home right now,” the girl said. It looked like she was almost crying.

“Hey! Don’t fucking touch my girlfriend!” I yelled.

Everyone, including the girl, turned to look at me.

Then Amygdala said, “Oh shit! It’s Precuneus! Everyone run! He’s a magician!“

What?

Then they all took off running.

I went over to the girl.

“Hey, are you fine?” I said.

“Y-yeah. Thank you so much!” she said.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll walk you home. I’m afraid they might come back,“ I said.

“Thank you,“ she said again.

“Don’t worry about it.”

And so we started walking.

“You look really tired…” she said.

What? That came out of nowhere?

“Really? I guess so, huh? I have trouble sleeping at night because of my tinnitus, so I always wake up tired. By the way, my name is Precuneus.”

“You have some dark bags under your eyes,” she said.

“Haha, yeah. I’ve always been told that.”

After that she was shy, and I just kept talking about random things.

“My name is… Licia. By the way,” she said.

Oh yeah, forgot. I need to make sure we aren’t strangers.

“Licia, I like that name. One of my little sisters back in the village has the same name.”

“What? Really? And you’re not from Tyoto?”

“Oh yeah, I’m from the countryside, a village north of here. I came here about half a year ago. I hated it back there. I had six siblings and two annoying parents.”

“Eh! Six siblings!” she said.

“Yeah. Out in the countryside, they breed like crazy. What about you?”

“Oh, I’m born and raised here.“

“A city girl, huh?“

“Yeah, hehe. I have two sisters, an older one and a younger one. I live here in Centro. I was just coming home from the Academy.”

“What are you studying for?“ I said.

“Engineering. I wanna be like my dad,” Licia said. “What about you?”

“Oh no, I don’t go to school. I’m just working.”

“How old are you?” she said.

“I’m 21. You?“

“16, and 17 in three months.”

God, she’s so cute!

I stared at her face for a moment. I tried not to, but I quickly glanced her up and down and looked at her thighs.

“Ehm… they said you’re a magician?“ Licia said while smiling.

“Oh, yeah.”

“That’s so cool!” she said. “It’s so fascinating! I and my dad talk about it all the time! What kind of magic can you do?”

“Oh… eh, just some basic strengthening,“ I said.

“How does it work?” the look in her eyes changed and she was filled with curiosity.

“I’m not sure how to explain it. It’s mostly based on sensations I think.”

I don’t know how to explain it. Because I’m lying.

I scratched my head.

“So, what kind of things do you want to engineer?“ I said.

We were now away from the main streets and walking into a more residential area.

“Communication systems! Just like my dad. You know the telegram right? My dad was on the team that invented it.”

Whoa. She must be loaded then?

“That’s cool. I’ve never tried one but I think the village elder had one in his home.”

We were now walking into a very rich residential area in Centro with big concrete apartment complexes.

Wait, isn’t this where Amygdala lives as well? The Gray Scrapers?

“Well… we’re almost here. Thank you for walking me home and thank you for saving me from those guys.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” I said.

We were now standing in front of her apartment building.

What do I say? I want to see her again.

“Hey,” I said and looked Licia in the eyes. “If anyone ever bothers you again, say your boyfriend is Precuneus. Then they won’t bother you.”

“Oh… When you say it like that, you sound kind of dangerous,” she said.

“I am dangerous. Anyway, let’s hang out again and we can talk about magic. When's the next time you're free?“

***

After we agreed where and when to meet again, we said goodbye and I turned around to walk back to Centro.

What the…

Right when I turned around, all the guys were there and Amygdala gave me a big smile.

They followed us!

“Hurry up, we got plans. It’s time for your initiation,” Amygdala said.

This sounds bad...