Paracosm

9: Right Person, Wrong Time

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"Wake up, beautiful."

The lucent sun managed to ooze into the room through the gaps between the curtains. I squinted my eyes, unaccustomed to the breaking brightness. Everything from last night meandered its way back to memory. I smiled through my closed eyes, remembering the way it felt.

"Get up before I use force!" Agatha bleated, "It's noon!"

"You know, I might actually enjoy that." I mumbled languidly in reply. My voice was distinctly raspy from the spiffing sleep I caught.

And then I was up without burden, cracking a few joints as I stretched my arms out to the ceiling, assimilating what really happened yesterday. I felt so alive, and my life was becoming too good to be true. I think maybe somebody granted my wishes. Maybe I wished hard enough.

"You're excited. Where do you plan on going?"

"To the flea market! I want to see what the locals sell, and you're coming along."

I hummed to her proposal in thought. It's been a while since I've headed to the flea market. The last time I went was with the motive of finding some authentic non-fiction, perhaps some theoretical philosophy that expands on metaphysics if I was lucky. Let's just say I came back home with fish extract squirted up my nose instead, because someone didn't know what the whole point of "flea markets" were - selling second-hand merchandise by the way, not seafood. It didn't make things any better that I had a sensitive nose. Furthermore, I never visited the annual market ever again, but I'll consider it this year I guess. Ultimately, I wanted to take Agatha on a tour around my town since she deserved to be acquainted with the place she was visiting on a daily basis.

I shambled into my finest apparel: a faded teal overlay with romantic sleeves and lacing at the front, and right underneath was a shabby white skirt, which I'm sure no one will notice anyway. I pinned my hair back into a half-up, half-down, the two sections separated by a facile braid. Still my best pieces couldn't compare to Agatha's, but at least I put in some effort today.

I checked myself out in my mirror. Do I look okay?

"You're looking gorgeous." she complimented, sauntering to place her hands on my shoulders.

And there was the reassurance I needed.

"Thank you." I beamed. We tucked our arms together and headed for the market.

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My hands delved deep into my pockets, enough to practically pierce a hole through it - still no cash. I blew my hair out of my face, checking the empty aperture, searching for pointless pennies. I refused to admit defeat.

"It's fine, I'll pay."

Again, she reassures me.

"I'm really so sorry," I apologised as sincerely as possible, "I've used up all my savings to enter the Underground."

That was patently too much for a meagre reasoning, but I felt no need to retain information from my girlfriend.

"The Underground? I've been there once or twice."

"You have? I-I mean of course you have, you live in Wall Sheena."

"That place is dangerous and unauthorised," she trailed off whilst paying the counter, "What were you doing there?"

I gulped. I knew I brought this on myself; it was a long story that I thought I was prepared to tell at first, yet when I opened my mouth to commence it, my words were staggering on one another. How am I supposed to explain than I had a crush on a thug after meeting him for only a couple of hours? And that he wasn't any ordinary thug... he was Levi Ackerman.

"Let's take a stroll," she suggested. Reiss must've seen the struggle written all over my face.

"I believe that'll place you in the proper mindset."

I agreed instantly. "Good idea."

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Amongst the hurrah of fiery sourwoods, a river strays its way in, often used for the transporting of goods between Shiganshina and the Trost District. It was, in fact, our town's main income. But I'd rather not think of it in such a capitalistic way.

We were ambling by the riverbank as I began to divulge into the journey. Tunes of shock, worry, elation and zest filled the air, turning the ethereal ambience of chirping birds and croaking toads into a chatty one.

"So you've met Levi, huh? As someone who lived directly above the city, in literal Mitras, I haven't even got to see him once!"

"You say that like you're keen on meeting a criminal."

"When you put it that way..." she chuckled timorously, "However, I do still think it's jammy that you got to see someone so famous!"

"Pfft, famous for the wrong purpose that is."

Pacing on with new responses, I could tell she wasn't ready on giving up the conversation just yet. It was obvious that she wanted to drag it on, fish out more details about me and him.

"I just don't think it's worth it to forget someone so special, Mayuka. It could've been the right person! Maybe it was only the timings that were a bit off." she weaved her hand around, proving her point.

I gazed into the autumn sky thoughtfully, taking my attention off her drastic gestures.

"Yeah."

Perhaps she's right after all.

But I wonder why my own girlfriend would encourage me to chase an old crush of mine, and convince me that our encounter was a positive thing. Isn't she jealous? Is this a subtle hint that I did something wrong? Is she about to leave me after having sex with- no, shit, I'm overthinking. I already vowed to put my full trust in Agatha.

"I won't go back there, back to how he made me feel," I reminded myself, "No matter what."

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to be honest, i can't place a finger on whether this chapter
was a light read or just adding to ur sadness from the last
(and from chapter 139 for the manga readers 😃)

anyways, leave ur comments for how you feel!
feel free to rant and yell at me all you want for the next couple of chaps LMAO

signing off for now :)