(Rimuru POV)
"R-Rimuru...?" an exhausted voice said between breaths.
"Huh?" I snap my head around and see the familiar face show itself chest rising and falling with each breath.
"Are...are you okay?" they said, exasperated.
"...Sophia...?" thoughts started whirling around at the unexpected encounter.
Huh? Why is she here?
Does she know about the fact I'm a monster?
"..." she slowly began to regain her breath before staring down stoically at me. I gulped nervously.
She slowly stepped forward, each step sending anxiety through me.
I didn't understand why though... it's not like I even knew her for that long... and yet I felt fear build up inside me.
Will she be afraid of me too?
Will she hate me?
I couldn't help but ask these questions. Maybe it was the idea of being alone that scared me. Having all my progress reset at the drop of a hat and a whim of a god.
She crouched before me and stared me in the eyes intently.
"Are you okay?" she asked again.
"Ah... yeah I'm fine" I found myself turning away from her gaze. The words came out with so little confidence even I had trouble believing it. But at the very least I was able to calm down.
She doesn't seem to realize I'm a monster yet. I think to myself and that gives me a little more comfort.
"..." she stared at me before lowering her head with a small sigh. "...Okay," she whispered, disheartened, for some reason, accepting my response. She got up from her spot and retreated from me as I continued to avert my gaze.
"..." an awkward silence filled the room.
"Why are you here." I end up asking.
"Well..." she takes a second to respond. "I saw you heading in this direction and it looked like something was wrong so I ended up following you," she said so blankly.
It was hard to read her. Was she telling the truth? Was she lying? Or was she hiding something? Reading her was difficult. The pause made me think something was wrong, but her face betrayed no signs of lying. However...
"..."
Hmm. wait... she saw me?
I had gotten here by flying so that would mean...
...she knows! My eyes widen as I shoot my head from the ground to her stoic face.
"so... you're a monster?" she asked. Her face remained blank.
"..."
(??? POV)
I stared at the fire lit in the fireplace from a distance. The dancing of the fire reflected in my eyes as I simply watched in mesmerization. The hot flame warmed my cold body and made me feel a nice sort of comfort.
"..." I stared listlessly at the flame with a small smile as I reminisced. The memories may have been a little painful now, but I treasured them nonetheless. It was nice to slow down once in a while and remind myself of what I'm doing.
Makes me feel slightly less like a monster.
"Haaaaa~" I let out a half-laugh half-sigh at my train of thought.
Well, then time to get yelled at for another hour and a half. I joke to myself as I get up.
I turn towards a mirror in the room
"...haa" I sigh as I take in my appearance. black hair that's all tangled and seems unnecessarily long. A beat-up old eyepatch covering one of my eyes. And a loose-fitting shirt with random trousers. Usually, I wouldn't care about such things, but I know that if I continue to look like I do yata would pester me about it so...
"Guess I'll just have to do it myself." I decided.
I start by removing my eyepatch to reveal a scar that cur directly through my eye rendering it unusable.
I place my hand on the scar and frown as I remember the cause.
...
My mood, having just taken a downward dive, could best be described as agitated.
I shove the old worn-out eyepatch into my pocket and was going to throw on a new one but...
"Tch. looks like I ran out..."
I click my tongue in annoyance. I'd have to get more later.
Moving on I straightened my hair out before throwing on an overcoat "fit for one such as I" or so I'm told.
If you asked me why I bothered to do all this when I never had before I could only reply with an unmotivated 'I don't know perhaps I felt like humoring yata.' or rather that's how I would respond. there was another reason. but either way how I dressed wasn't very important. And why I decided to dress nice wasn't important either.
In any case it would seem like things are progressing faster than anticipated.
"Well can't say I'm unhappy about that. Although it is..." I trailed off trying to find the right words. "Hmmm... cold comfort," I conclude.
"Sure," I affirm.
I take another look at myself in the mirror. White overcoat with gold lining. It disguised my sloppy undershirt which now simply seemed to be a black shirt that seemed formal enough to not get yelled at by yata. My hair was unnaturally straight. I was going to have to get used to this... my eye was manually closed and the scar was clearly visible.
"..." I grimace in the mirror for a second.
"Yeah, I can't do without this," I whisper as I slip my hand into my pocket again and throw on my old eyepatch.
I'd say I put in enough effort to shut yata up.
Although he might just be so stunned it ends up having the opposite effect. I contemplate my decision to dress semi-nicely. On the other hand, though that would be entertaining in its own way. I chuckle as I imagine his reaction. It was so enticing I began to look forward to it.
And thus I exited the room in a better mood than I came into it with.
(Sophia POV)
"so... you're a monster?" I ended up asking.
Rimuru already seemed uncharacteristically unnerved for some reason, but upon me asking this question his eyes widened even further. It was a shock to see Rimuru flying with bat wings, and it took just about everything I had to keep up with him after the fact.
Well at the very least it explained the strange sense of strength he had when I first started following him. Rather than skill and experience his raw power gave him this aura.
But he seemed rather sad when I saw him running, or rather flying, in this direction.
He said it was nothing when I asked him, but, it was fairly obvious. At least to me.
I ended up just taking him at his word though. Or rather accepting his rejection of my help.
A simple "...Okay" was all I could muster. And after that, silence filled the room.
"Why are you here?" he asked, trying to make small talk.
"Well..." I take a second to think. "I saw you heading in this direction and it looked like something was wrong so I ended up following you," I said. the full story was I was heading back towards my inn after having some dinner at a tavern nearby before noticing him and setting off after him. But those were extra unimportant details.
And that leads us to here.
Upon hearing my question his eyes widened in... fear? Of what? I couldn't help but grimace.
"What are you so anxious about?" I end up asking.
He opens his mouth slightly. And slowly as he tries to find words his fear seems to melt and instead turns to confusion.
"I'm a monster," he says.
I nod in agreement.
"You're not afraid of me?"
"Why would I be?"
"Aren't monsters supposed to be... like hellbent on killing?"
"Well sure, but you don't seem to be killing anyone."
"..." he made a dumb face at my response.
"What? Am I wrong?" I ask.
"Well... no" he finally says.
"Then that's that is it not?"
"...yeah I guess." he reluctantly nods along.
Then a train of thought struck.
"...ah" I grunt in realization.
"Hmm? What is it?" he looks up at me as I grunt.
"Hmm well. Tell me did the Loki familia do something?" I ask.
He grimaces slightly when I ask. "Yeah" he responded. "They figured out I was a monster, although it seemed as though one of the gods was trying to antagonize me and make me out as some mastermind of sorts." He responded.
It's as I thought then. If it was the Loki familia then yeah I doubt they'd take too kindly to Rimuru being a monster. Or hell now that I really think about it most adventures would probably be on edge.
I guess my past experience with this kinda thing helped, didn't it? I found myself thinking.
Although calling her evil, at least from the perspective of a normal person wouldn't be too far off in her case I guess.
In any case, it seems being betrayed by the Loki familia left him feeling sad, and perhaps afraid that I'd leave him. Although we haven't known each other for long the idea of being alone must have scared him. I conclude.
I felt a little bad for him.
(??? POV)
*Achoo*
I sneezed.
"Hmm? What's this? Is someone talking about you?" I heard a teasing voice coming from my side.
"Nah it's probably from all the dust this jacket collected in my closest," I respond in a deadpan manner.
"About that... You know I put a lot of thought into picking that out for you. It'd be nice if you wore it." the voice said
"Yes, well starting from now I'll have to make myself seem at least a little more presentable. So I guess I have no choice." I shrugged
"You don't sound very enthusiastic about the idea."
"Why would I be?"
"...why did you bother to start wearing it in the first place again?"
"As I said starting from now I'll have to be more presentable. Besides you'd pester me if I didn't."
"And the truth comes out..." he sighs.
"Hey what's with that reaction? It's not like you being annoying about how I dress was the only reason."
"Okay but let's be real, it's the main reason, isn't it. At least 70:30" he said.
"Meh 80:20" I respond
"Way to prove my point." he deadpans.
"In the opposite direction of what you're thinking."
"Hmm?" he hummed in surprise.
"I have to make myself presentable in front of everyone. Now more than ever." I respond.
The mood quickly changed in the room as the man realized I was being serious.
"What do you mean?" he responded more gravely.
"What can I say? Things are coming to a close." I say. "I predict in about a year's time everything will be done and settled with." I finish.
This surprised him.
"You should really keep me in the know about this, as your advisor and all," he said.
"You are in the know, for the most part."
"You're version of in the "know." is giving people far too vague information and expecting them to draw most of the conclusions on their own when you could just tell them what the situation is," he complained.
"Yes well, 2 things. 1 it's more fun that way and 2, I make sure to give all the information necessary to draw the conclusions. I can draw the conclusion from the information I give out and it wouldn't do for my advisor to be dumber than I would it?" I say adding a layer of teasing at the end.
"..." this shut's him up. "Do you ever think that the reason you can even draw these conclusions is because you already have them?" he asked.
"Perhaps, but you've been able to keep up with my train of thought and draw all the necessary conclusions haven't you.
"..."
"And besides when an unexpected factor is added I do tell you without the bullshit riddles." I laugh. "In fact I just did. One year. That's what we're working with in the long run, got it?" I affirm.
He sighs. "Yeah."
"See it's not so bad is it, Yatagarasu?"
"Whatever, Katame."
(A/N: TFW you're teachers go on strike and you can't use homework/ school as an excuse to not update you're fanfic. in any case hello sorry for not updating in a while, but my excuse this time is I've been playing a lot of Elden ring lately... it's addicting... well for now I think i'm taking a small break from that so I can write a little more. and finally the excuse for if you don't like the chapter. I'm writing most of this at 2-3 AM... don't worry... this is healthy... I promise.)