To Live Again, For the First Time!

'Shit, I fell right into his trap and the joke wasn't even that funny.' Emilin couldn't help but curse in her mind.

It was a rare moment for her, it wasn't every day that someone could do something to make her so flustered, but her face didn't show any of this. The decade-old ice face came in clutch in moments like these.

'This won't work. Should I keep pretending? But I don't think he'll buy it.'

While Emilin thought about what she should do next, she took out a handkerchief, handing it to Cenci, whose shirt was wet from the water that she had been drinking, and then, that she had no longer been drinking.

If the person in front of her was able to think of and employ such a nasty tactic at a moment's notice, Emilin seriously doubted that he would easily fall for her not-so-great acting.

'Just why did I have to react? Now I have to make something up.'

Her mind churned at high speeds to think of a way to get herself out of her predicament, but on the outside, she still looked like she was simply worried due to her previous action of spitting water on a complete stranger, who looked friendly enough.

"So you do understand what I'm saying," Cenci continued speaking in Syrin, sounding a little more determined than he had previously.

"Hmm?" Emilin's brows furrowed, and question marks were written all over her face. 

Fake it until you make it, there could be many reasons for her reaction that didn't involve understanding his terrible one-liner.

"You don't need to keep acting! I already caught you red-handed." Cenci said, but this time in fluent English, he himself didn't know why he felt the need to change his way of speaking. 

Maybe it was simply because he wanted to hear a response from this teenage girl who was in the middle of the mountain range all alone, or perhaps he just wanted to hear what kind of excuse she would dish out, after all, it was clear that she wanted to keep pretending.

Cenci was already 65% sure that she had understood him, and this wasn't solely due to his little test, but his powerful instincts that had saved his life on multiple occasions. 

He didn't get to the position of captain with just his looks. Well, who knows if he would have gotten the job if looks were truly part of the criteria, after all, his baby face was no joke.

[Cenci: Hey! WTF, who the hell are you talking about here!]

[Author: There, there, looks aren't everything. And no swearing!]

[Cenci: Just because I look young doesn't mean that I'm actually underaged and you didn't even say anything when that girl swore in her mind! How can you be so shameless? The first word that starts this chapter off is a curse word from that child.]

[Author: I don't know what you mean. ♪～( ￣ε￣)]

Moving on.

[Cenci: …]

"You speak English!" Emilin exclaimed as if she completely hadn't expected it, bringing her hands together into a small clap of sorts.

Cenci narrowed his eyes as Emilin spoke, putting his hands on each side of his waist.

"Did you not understand what I said earlier?" Cenci's doubt emanated from his every action.

"Of course I did! 'I hate Ussian girls'" Emilin nodded her head eagerly.

'What is this girl talking about?'

'...'

"Where did you hear that from?" Cenci asked. 

Dumbfounded.

"It's that what you just said? I didn't really get that last part, but I speak some Makin." Emilin informed. 

Yes, this was the amazing plan she came up with on the spot...

She realized that with her arsenal of languages, she could pick any one language that had words that sounded like what the man in front of her had said with a different meaning, and she would still have a reasonable excuse for her reaction.

Surely there was more than one language that fit the bill, but Makin just happened to work and she had just come here from Malalakan so it seemed most convenient. At least it was the one that she first thought of.

Though what they said wasn't exactly the same, it still sounded similar, after all, Syri was one of the countries bordering Malalakan.

"Really? Amazing. I learned some Syrin so I wanted to test this out." 

Cenci started to explain his actions, after all, English was the most spoken language worldwide, so it simply didn't make sense to 'ask for directions' or whatever it was that he wanted to do in Syrin when they weren't in Syri.

"I watched from this video saying that girls particularly liked guys that spoke multiple languages. You know, they say, if the girl speaks the same language, then you have something to talk about, and if they don't speak that language, you can just shrug it off and speak to them in a language they do know. Looking cool is just a plus" Cenci excitedly explained.

"It's a good ice breaker no matter what!" His eyes were shining when he was thinking of picking up girls.

It almost seemed too real to be an act.

'If this is acting, this guy is much better at it than I am.' Emilin added.

"But now that you've told me, it won't work on me anymore." Emilin couldn't let her guard down for one moment without knowing who exactly this person was.

"No worries, no worries. I don't hit on minors." Cenci waved his hand to emphasize his disinterest. Though Emilin was cute, she was still a minor nonetheless, and Cenci didn't want to go to prison for being a pedophile, even if this girl wasn't prepubescent. 

All the others would kill him if something like that happened.

'I appreciate it, but aren't you in your teens too?' Emilin directed a questioning glance at him.

When Cenci saw the way Emilin was sizing him up, he knew exactly what she was thinking. After all, this wasn't the first, second, or third time he had received one of those glances.

"I'm in my twenties, no matter how hard it is to believe." Cenci let out a grieving sigh to which Emilin just nodded.

That was just about as much talking as he was going to be squeezing out of her.

In a moment where danger could be imminent, her instincts suppressed all else, but once that sense of danger dissipated, her stomach clenched just at the thought of trying to converse with this blond man properly.

Seeing Emilin's scrunched-up face, Cenci had mistakenly thought that this girl had mistaken him for a big playboy who would just waltz up to someone and hit on them, that was a misjudgment on his part, but there was nothing left to do.

'That was a poorly made excuse on my part', he thought to himself.

'But she's still very suspicious. This girl just happens to know Makin but not Syrin. Of course, that isn't the strange part, her reactions just feel off. I should just dismiss this and let her put her guard down before looking into it any further.'

Cenci didn't want too much to be leaked unnecessarily, but just from the fact that there was a possibility that this person was playing dumb, it was already clear that this girl was a cautious one. 

Thus, there was no point in trying to probe any further and making himself seem suspicious in the case where she truly knew nothing.

"My companions already went ahead of me so I'll have to get going if I don't want to lag behind too much! It was nice to meet you." Cenci waved his hand and ran off.

'Yeah right. Then why do I feel like you'll catch up in no time, no matter how fast they've run.' Emilin secretly rolled her eyes. 

She wasn't blind. 

She saw how those 4 other people were sweating like pigs while this man in front of him looked like he had just woken up from a good night's rest. Even an idiot would be able to tell that he was exaggerating.

"I hope we'll meet again."

'I hope not.' Emilin responded in her head. 

But on the outside, she just used her eyes to see him off before looking back down on the floor.

She picked up the handkerchief that she had been using to wipe off the water that had stained that man he had just met a few moments ago.

'That was way too easy. I should have been more careful. If he really isn't someone I have to worry about, then perfect, but if he's waiting for me to let my guard down, then I won't be falling for another one of his traps.'

Emilin folded her right leg, resting her right ankle on her left thigh and as if disdaining the dirty soles of her shoe, she took the handkerchief and wiped some of the dirt right off. 

There was no one around, but even if there were, they would just think that perhaps this young lady felt like her mountain hiking shoes were getting a little heavy due to the accumulated dirt after walking for such a long time.

Even with a keen eye, it would be hard for one to tell that there are, in fact, four tiny pinholes that would only be able to fit a thin needle. 

Even if someone did notice, it would be more likely that they were to think that it was part of the design, and after walking for a while, it was even covered by some of the dirt accumulated.

After making some actions of wiping her shoes, Emilin slipped in a long, thin, uniform needle into the second hole in the alignment.

'You can never be too careful.'

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