Legacy of Forgotten Times 213 Who said that!?

"One question?"

"Yeah, did your virus had anything to do with the VCSR scenario we went through in the past?"

"Who knows? Probably? It seems like a good idea to teach their students how to respond in case of a zombie apocalypse when they have a patient zero in their school. But if you are asking if I was aware of it the answer is no I wasn't" said Ashley.

Linri did not buy it. The school had a student that could literally start a zombie apocalypse and she said she wasn't aware of the simulation? Sure what she said also made sense but he wasn't going to buy it. He felt like she carried some sort of secret and that was why he was so curious.

From a literature standpoint, she was a patient zero. Her mom was the doctor developing the virus but for who? Government? Most likely case. Then how did the government let go of a potential bio-hazard like Ashley walk free?

Maybe they let her go because she was going to a foreign country? Nah, that would be malign intent and a cause for war. Most importantly Linri wouldn't believe it if they said Hanawa government had nothing to do with Autumnfall. He was sure that they checked the backgrounds of every student attending here.

Actually, that was far fetched too. If it was so why would they allow him, Hayato, Selim and other mercenaries attend the school? They were killers and he was an anomaly who gained magical powers due to an accident. If Linri worked in a government he would be very interested in someone like that and whether the accident could be replicated or not.

Then maybe the government was aware of Autumnfall but they had a strict non-interference policy? That seemed like the most probable possibility. However, it still did not help him figure out how someone like Ashley was allowed to attend here.

Anyway, for now, this was something above his strength so as always it was better to let his future self solve this mystery. While making small talk with Ashley the trio finally arrived at Chesa's room. 

"Okay, when you go inside ask her to be your friend and she will easily say yes. That's all from me" said Linri. He opened the door and pushed Mary inside before closing it back again.

There was no way in hell he would step inside the room after what happened today. If he wanted to die that much he would just use his own guns.

"Is that it?" Ashley asked.

"What were you expecting?" Linri said after raising his eyebrows.

"I don't know. Since you brought her here I thought you were friends with Chesa. I thought I might see something interesting" said Ashley after shrugging.

"If we went inside together she would have killed me and probably turned you into a lesbian," said Linri.

"Who said I wasn't one?" Ashley raised one of her eyebrows like Linri and said seriously.

"*Sigh* The normal pattern here should be me getting flustered and saying sorry but honestly, I don't wanna go to trouble just for you. If you are into girls I am sorry, if not meh it wasn't that good of a joke" said Linri.

"...But I am bored!" said Ashley.

"And I am tired. If you heard what I have been today you would have agreed with me"

"Does that mean you are going to tell me?"

"Would you?"

"Nope"

"And there is your answer. Lucky for you I am not still done. I am going to visit Jaime, are you coming? Not to boast or anything but she is totally into me" said Linri.

"Really? You are talking about the Ice Queen of Sophomores right?"

"She already got that nickname? Anyway yeah. I met her before she was the Ice Queen so she has a soft spot for me in her heart. Unfortunately, for her, I already have a girlfriend and so nothing can happen between us"

"Really?"

"Yeah, no joke"

"Then why didn't you just flat out reject her?" 

"Well, I kinda did but I don't know. I don't want to go too far either. I think I already broke her heart too many times"

"Juicy, so what did you do? Did you kiss your girlfriend while she was watching?"

"Nope, I called her a manipulative evil-hearted person. It's a long story."

"I don't get how that broke her heart. I mean doesn't every person have a black heart?"

"Exactly!... You know what I think you are a bad influence on me" said Linri after he stopped walking.

"What does that have to do with me?"

"You should have noticed by now but we think and act very similar right?"

"You would have to be an idiot to not notice it," said Ashley after rolling her eyes.

"Exactly! Anyway, have you wondered why humans are social animals?"

"Isn't it because we find comfort in numbers?"

"Yes and also no. Actually, let me change my question. Why do you think humans who are stranded or live alone for a long time tend to go psychotic?"

"Obviously because they didn't have any human interactions but I still can't see your point. You have one right?"

"The answer is it was because they were left alone by their own thoughts. I think that's also the reason why we tend to seek entertainment. To keep ourselves from thinking at all. The more we focus on other subjects the more numb our brain will become. If we are left alone with our own thoughts we tend to have negative thoughts"

"So?"

"So if we are so similar don't you think we would be bad influences for each other? Talking with each other should basically be like talking to an echo, right?"

"Maybe but isn't there a big hole in your logic?"

"What?"

"An echo repeats your words completely while we have each have our individual differences. We might be similar but we are not the same. If you look at the easiest one I am a girl. If you look deeper we both have different memories which shaped us to be who we are today. Maybe they were similar experiences so we turned out similar. However, in the end, they were different lives so there is always going to be a difference between the two of us"

"So you think that we wouldn't be bad influences on each other?"

"Who said that!? We definitely shouldn't hang out if possible"

Chapter end