小嫂子的味道

Well, it wasn\'t really hot since most of the heat was lost during the time it took to bring it here from the cafeteria but still, it is what it is.

I picked up my diary in which I\'ve written the rough plot of loli_pop\'s novel, sat on the bed, and began skimming through its contents as I drank the almost cold hot chocolate…that sounds illegal for some reason.

It was half an hour before I was lying on my bed, stretching my arms and legs and staring at the ceiling.

I was done reading the diary, it was all the same no matter how many times I read it. The contents were not going to change.

Finally, I gathered up my body and sat up straight on the bed, leaning against the wall.

"Req, you there?" I called.

The sword leaning against the lower corner of my bed shone a brilliant white as a beautiful girl emerged from the light, carrying the same childish grin on her face.

"Always, master," she said, looking at me with her playful eyes.

\'Ah, I\'d forgotten about it. I haven\'t told her my name for obvious reasons but every time she calls me master, my ears bleed with cringe. It\'s so much cringe that I could die! I mean, really, that sort of thing sounds good only in anime.\'

"I want you to tell me something," I said.

"My bra size?"

"No, about yourself. About your past. You\'ve mentioned it a number of times now, and I want to know why you were feared by the five kingdoms," I stated.

"Hmm, can\'t you just look into your history books? But wait, what am I even saying? There\'s no way they would have let all that pass down and be heard by future generations," she seemed to be talking to herself as she levitated near me and sat on the bed, a couple of feet away from me.

Then she came to a stop and eyed me curiously. I didn\'t know what she was watching with such interest, as I wore my usual blank expression.

"You want to know?"

"If you\'re willing to tell, and I\'ll prefer that honestly."

"Okay," she said. She jumped over the bed, folded her legs, and sat in front of me in a cross-legged position.

"Do you know how the world was, a thousand years ago? About the five kingdoms and their rise and fall. About the destroyer? About the war that burned the whole world in its flames?"

As pitiful as it is to me, I\'d be lying if I said that I knew anything at all. Loli_pop\'s novel didn\'t have a history, a backstory, hence it was clear that what she was referring to was all original material.

"No. Explain it to me as if I were a child," I said. For some reason, this brought a smile to her face. But I was no fool, even I could tell that it was not a smile out of happiness. It was covering something deep, something dark.

"Well, that settles many things. I now know where I have to start, but," she looked at me. "It\'ll take a lot of time to get everything done."

I glanced at the wall clock; it was 8 in the evening. "We have a lot of time, the whole night if that\'s what you want," I stated.

"Now, now, don\'t say things like that. You\'ll get me turned on," she said in a teasing tone.

"Then again, we might have time but if we\'re going to sit for a long time, I should get some things done before you start. Like buying myself a dinner," I added and hopped out of the bed.

"Eh, you\'re gonna go now? After making me get in the feel. That ain\'t right!!" she protested.

"Don\'t be damned like the world\'s ending. I\'m only going so far as the cafe, it won\'t take long."

I put on a hoodie to shield myself from the cold winds that will be blowing outside. I wore my shoes and opened the door, then looked back at Req. "I don\'t think I need to say this but…"

"Yeah, yeah, I won\'t leave the room and transform back if someone comes inside. I know, I know. Now get going if you\'re gonna go, or else I\'ll snatch you back and won\'t leave you for the rest of the night. We won\'t be telling stories then, mind you."

I closed the door and locked it from the outside, then took the stairs down and left the dorm building.

By now the sun had set completely and it was dark outside. It was a cold, winter night. The gusts of winds passing by contained a chill and I\'m sure I would\'ve been sick if I avoided the hoodie I was wearing.

As I walked down the path that led to the cafeteria, I was somewhat amused by the number of students out on the roads. To be completely honest, I\'ve expected the numbers to be far less, and boy was I wrong.

The stone-paved path was bustling with students, not as many as you see right before the classes are about to start but by no means, there were few. And as I reached near the cafeteria I got to know why.

The cafeteria and the buildings surrounding it were lit with bright and colorful neon lights. To call them \'neon lights\' would be wrong actually, since they were just strips of magic lights but a colored version of them.

The atmosphere around the cafe was different too. Rather than inside, most of the students sat on the benches and tables that were placed outside the building. I noticed that the numbers had increased, which meant that they brought some extra chairs and tables for the night.

I\'ve seen the cafe like this one time before when I was accompanying Ellyn to her dorms but I never got the chance to come and inspect it from close.

The students around were chatting excitedly with each other, there were groups of five or ten or fifteen then there were duos and trios too. Some even danced, while others enjoyed watching. Soon I came to notice something I hadn\'t before.

It was what most of the students were drinking, and as I walked past one its smell cleared all doubts.

\'Alcohol,\' I thought.

It was not served during the day although you could see the bottles of wine, whiskey, beer, and ale settled on the shelf behind the counter. I always wondered why to keep them if they were not for sale, now I know why.

The purpose behind this difference at the cafe during the night was also getting clear in my head. This was no longer a cafe, it was a bar.

I entered the building and stopped at the counter, the first thing I noticed was that now there were small and round wooden stools lined up behind the wooden counter. Some were occupied by students who sat and savored their drinks.

It wasn\'t much of a surprise that I saw many first-year or second-year students too. Age was not a matter of concern.  You were seen as an adult once you crossed the age of 15, but despite that, there was no legal age for drinking.

I sat on one of the stools and waited for the girl at the service to notice me.

She had strawberry blonde hair that came down to her shoulders, her skin was fair and her frame was small for her age—though I don\'t know what her age was, she looked somewhat around her ending teens. Also, she was not the same girl who served the counter during the daytime.

"What can I get you?" she asked, finally noticing me.

I ordered a few things that I can heat up and eat when hunger hit me later, and some then some donuts for Req.

"Anything else?" she inquired.

"No, that\'s all."

She shrugged and noted it down on the small clipboard she was holding. Then she went inside a room that I-though-was-the-kitchen and came back after a minute or so.

"It\'ll take a while to get some of the dishes ready. Care to have a drink till then?" she appealed, gesturing at the vast variety of bottles nested on the wooden shelf behind the counter.

This question left me wondering. I mean, I hadn\'t drunk before even in my former life so I didn\'t know what it was. And right now, I was in no mood to get drunk. Not knowing which drink contains more alcohol was one of the major problems.

I could simply deny her, that was a clear option. But as you know, curiosity kills that cat.

"A beer would be nice," I said with a knowing smile.

"Which one?"

"Any recommendations?"

She looked up at me, and finally, her whole attention was focused on me. I don\'t know if that\'s a good thing or not, but she had a smile that depicted her curiosity on the matter. So I\'d either said something very nice or just made it clear that I\'d never drunk before…I\'m betting on the latter.