[Nightmare]

Chapter 173 [Burlow Street]

"What do you think of my new dress?" Sarah asked with a shy smile.

"I-I… I think it will look amazing on you." Leo replied with a slight blush.

"You two are sooo~cute." Charlotte commented with a grin.

The two of them blushed.

"I think it's fantastic. You two look happy together, and it brightens my day." Riley commented with a gentle smile.

"Y-You think so?" Leo stuttered.

"Of course. You can't fake that level of happiness." Riley reasoned.

"After experiencing it for myself, I can tell when people are happy."

"With Helix?" Sarah asked.

"Who else, dummy?" Charlotte asked with a puffed-out chest.

Riley nodded with a warm expression.

"You two look like we do when Helix takes us shopping." She explained.

"We smile a lot, and even Charlotte gets shy when she asks Helix his opinion on outfits and jewelry."

Charlotte gave Riley a venomous glare.

Leo and Share burst into laughter, causing Charlotte to turn bright red.

"See? If Charlotte gets cute when talking about the man she loves, you should be able to see it in yourself." Riley reasoned with a sweet smile.

Charlotte grinned when she saw the [blush match] turning back against the couple.

—

"War Goddess… Marie… just Marie." Samuel called out awkwardly.

"Yes, Samuel?" Marie asked with a warm smile.

"Do you think… women would like this hat?" He asked.

"It's pretty quirky, but I kinda… like that."

"I like the quirkiness too. I think all of our people do." Marie giggled.

"Many of the women might be drop-dead gorgeous now, but they're still a bunch of cultured degenerates like us."

Samuel's face lit up.

"Really? Hearing you say that… I don't know…."

His eyes gilded to the left, looking for the words to say.

"It makes me… happy? Not because I'm flirting with you are anything!"

Samuel started waving his hands in front of his face.

The quirky hat, which looked like a balding peacock got in a fight with a fedora, bounced in the air.

Marie giggled in bewilderment.

"It's just that you're such a charismatic badass.

So hearing that you're an otaku like us is… strange and inspiring."

"Thank you for your compliment." Marie giggled while giving Samuel a bright smile.

Samuel's eyes widened in awe.

"Yes. I'm a proud otaku. I watched anime, read light novels, and played videogames." Marie confirmed.

"I was anti-social on earth.

I never fit in with people.

How would I explain this…."

Her eyes gilded to the left in thought.

p "I was afraid to openly like my interests." Marie continued after some thought.

"I think that alienated me from people, because I was afraid of their judgment."

Other power-weebs and super-otakus nearby walked over cautiously in interest.

"So I mainly lived in forums and comment sections online." She giggled.

"It's strange now that I look back on it.

Creating aliases online.

Turning down shopping trips because I felt uncomfortable.

Laughing nervously around pretty girls that approached me.

And…."

The otakus and weebs hung on to every word.

"Raging with a headset on while playing video games.

I was a horrible trash talker online.

It's like I was venting my frustrations on the world.

How embarrassing…."

Marie turned bright red, and the group burst into laughter.

"What about you guys?

What was your online personality like?"

The group took turns talking about their online personalities.

They started laughing again.

For a moment, it felt like the real world had returned.

"Marie, can I ask you a question?" A super-otaku asked.

"Of course, Kyle. As me anything but my cup size."

Marie burst into giggles when she saw Kyle's bright red expression.

The others in the group followed.

"I'm sorry. I got carried away reminiscing.

What was your question?"

Kyle blinked twice before turning his head and seeing everyone's gaze.

"I… yes. I was going to ask how you became so different in Myriad.

I feel like I'm the same person." He asked.

A few of the otakus and weebs nodded.

Marie looked to the sky for a moment in thought.

"To be honest, I don't know…." She thought aloud.

"No, I know. It's because I wanted to protect Helix."

Many eyes widened.

"Putting aside how absurd that sounds now…." Samuel commented.

He was a Thymian Knight, so he couldn't believe Helix was weak once.

"How did saving Helix change your personality?"

"Yeah… you were like this from the end of the first week." Kyle

Marie giggled when she was their bewildered faces.

"It is strange, isn't it?"

She put her thumb on her chin and her knuckle to her mouth.

"The first real night, everyone showed up at the cafeteria, and his servant Emelia was wearing beautiful clothing." Marie recounted.

"Charlotte struck up a conversation with Helix right next to us.

She asked him what he was after.

He told her to survive.

His best friend David reiterated that.

However, he also announced that he had the lowest stats in the Alzerian Army."

The otakus and weebs looked at her with shock.

"Like the Myriadian soldiers?" Samuel asked.

"That's right." Marie giggled.

"He was being humble, too. His stats were exactly zero for everything except 25 spirit particles."

The otakus and weebs sent Marie gawking expressions.

"Unbelievable, right? Anyway, he said he wanted to survive.

He was the weakest young adult in all of Myriad.

Despite that, he dressed up Emelia anyway.

He said that Emelia's smile was worth it and hoped that the super-otakus would compete to see who could treat their servants better.

It worked beautifully.

However, he ended up in the hospital with three broken ribs the next day and almost died.

I'll never forget him telling Charlotte that he knew what would happen.

He wanted to survive.

But he did it anyway because it was the right thing to do.

That made me want to be his friend." She recounted with a warm smile.

"So I visited him with other girls to give him a get well soon card.

After we showed up, I noticed how many people plotted against Helix during his recovery.

It made me so angry knowing he almost died, and people were still resentful we visited him.

So I started standing up to those people.

Soon other people started coming to me to stand up for them too.

I just wanted people to stop bothering Helix.

But it quickly became more generalized.

That's why the transformation was so quick.

It just happened." Marie recounted with a perplexed expression.

"That's… such a small reason, but it had a massive impact…." Samuel commented with wide eyes.

"Yeah. I think many people were changed for the worse by power and jealousy.

You changed for the better by power and standing up against it." Kyle followed.

"Power didn't change people. It was just salt—a magnifier."

Marie's eyes glided to the left.

"I think you're right. Helix was always a leader.

I wonder if this is what he would have looked like from the beginning.

Or whether he became this way just for us as he always claims." She mused.

The super-otakus nodded their head.

"Hmmm. Enough about that. Who wants to hear what his favorite light novel is?"

A flurry of excitement followed.

"I want to know!"

"On a level of 1 to super-NEET, where does Helix stand?"

"Hmmm. I'll give Helix a 10. He wanted to become a video game developer.

He wanted to be a professional otaku for life." Marie giggled.

"His favorite light novel was…."

—

"What about this? I think it matches my [almost handsome; still, a loser] persona.

What do you think?" Maze asked.

"Eh? Why are you askin' me?" Miskie asked with a bored expression.

"I… don't know. You're kinda rude and mean.

You have that [I'm moody, deal with it] thing going on.

But, I like that about you." He laughed.

"So you're an idiot. Congratulations, you fit in with that black-haired kid well." Miskie scoff-laughed.

"What? You don't?" Maze chuckled.

"So? What does that have to do with anything?" She asked.

Maze gave her a bewildered expression.

"You're still an idiot." Miskie laughed before walking away.

He followed her back as she continued walking down the street.

"Yo. You gonna keep gawkin'?

Or are you gonna get some Star Sparkle Alka so I can ignore you with a beverage?"

Maze laughed in disbelief.

"I'm coming." He chuckled.

—

Power stones and grammatical errors = more content. :)