Side Story 2: [Stories]

"Argh… this is so boring… I wanna go play games… or read a book… maybe a manga… or a manhwa…"

"John!"

John flinched as Zero smacked the back of his head, then held the wound as if he were in pain.

"Ow! What the hell, man?" he said, pretending to be hurt, but then he simply burst out laughing. "Look, weren't you the one who told me that we have an infinite amount of time here? Let me slack off for a while."

"Yeah, yeah," Zero grinned. "Seriously, you should start learning properly, though."

"But there's nothing to learn!" John complained, leaning back in his chair.

The two were in the library, where John had been given a set of books to read. They were relatively simple, but within them were details of how [Stories] worked. Essentially, John was leaning basic literary skills.

"...did you know everything in these books before you read them?"

"Erm." John pressed his lips together. "No."

"So are you learning something?"

"You're boring, you know that?"

John leaned back a little too far and fell over, crashing into the ground. He got up with a sheepish expression on his face, putting the chair back on its legs.

"Look, I'm just saying, a lot of this is stuff I could figure out on my own."

"It is," Zero acknowledged. "But there's something you'll need to do in the future that requires you to internalize this knowledge. If you don't… I don't think you'll make it very far."

"You don't?" John frowned. "But I have [Infinity] and [Zero]! Plus, there's that [Deus Ex Machina] bullshit that occasionally works, right? What could I possibly lose to?"

"...those powers won't be around forever, you know?"

"...fuck."

John got up, wandering around the library, running his hands over the empty bookshelves. A cup of hot cider floated over to him, and he took a sip before sending it back.

"I don't get it, though. What's all this about internalizing shit? I just don't get it. Look, I'm just saying, you can tell me this world is a story or whatever. You can tell me I'm just a character. But what does that mean? Why does that matter? To be honest, I just don't get it. And that's fine, isn't it?"

"...it's not fine," Zero said quietly.

"Hey, come on. Cheer up. Why do you get so pissy when we talk about this shit?" John said, putting his hand on the soul's shoulder. "It can't be that bad, right?"

"You're going to have an existential crisis, dude."

"Ah, that's fine. I had one when I first died, right? Nothing new. I'll handle it. Or maybe I won't, but who knows, right?" he grinned. "Look. Just lay it on me, and I'll figure it out."

"...not yet," Zero said quietly. "Learn all that stuff first. It doesn't really matter how long it takes you to do it, but you'll need to do it eventually. Don't internalize the knowledge until you absolutely need to, ok?"

"...is it really that bad?"

John was suddenly quiet. His face still had a faint smile, and his eyes were still bright, but he was no longer in a joking mood.

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Zero wasn't the type to lie easily. Of course, he lied in a joking manner, but it was obvious when he was doing so. When it came to serious topics like this, he genuinely had John's best interest at heart.

So if he was saying something like this…

"More pain and suffering, huh," John sighed, shaking his head. "What's new? Guess it never ends, huh? If this was a story, I'd say there's some author that's got it out for me."

Just like that, he was back in good spirits. It wouldn't do to stay gloomy for too long. There simply wasn't any advantage in doing so.

"Still, I guess some of this story stuff is pretty cool. If that's the basis on which we're moving… I suppose it's pretty useful. Man, it would suck to be the protagonist, though, wouldn't it?"

Zero snapped to attention at that. "What… what makes you say that?"

"Well, I mean, a lot of the time I think it'd be really cool to be a protagonist," John shrugged. "Like, you get to do cool shit, and you're popular, and you're super strong or whatever. Um… I don't know if that's the case in other genres… I only read action and fantasy these days…"

"Just carry on."

"Well, you get all this cool shit, right? But, like… don't those guys go through an equal amount of bullshit to get to that point? You're always getting dead mothers, dead fathers, dead siblings, dead lovers, dead friends, betrayals, pain, you're losing a limb, you're losing an arm, all that stuff. That's… that's kinda like me, actually…"

John's voice trailed off as he came to a sudden realization.

"Ah, whatever! Best not to think about it. Anyway, yeah. It's just a load of crap. Personally, that's not really worth it to me. I'd rather just… you know, live a quiet life."

"Yeah," Zero said, unsure of what to say next.

"Anyway, knowing how things work is pretty cool, though. I suppose if this really is fiction, then worlds would operate on different levels of logic. But then again, this is kinda like a multiverse, right? I still don't really get this whole fiction thing. There's just a bunch of different worlds. Isn't that how this works?"

"...you'll figure it out," Zero sighed.

"Yep! I'm sure I will. Fuck you, dude."

At that, Zero couldn't help but laugh. John was an idiot, but he was definitely a fun kind of idiot. The kind that just did what he wanted. Perhaps it was a consequence of giving a person of his character [Resets], but then again… well, this was simply how things were.

"Still… you'll need to internalize it."

"Why?" John sighed. "Ok, I know we've been going back and forth for a while, but seriously, you need to tell me why."

"It's because… well, ok. Here."

Zero disappeared, then returned with a handful of books. A lot more than a handful, actually, but that wasn't the point.

"These are your memories."

"My… memories?"

"Yeah. They're in the form of books. You have the ability to extract your memories and turn them into- look, I'm getting distracted. The point is, these books content [Deus Ex Machina] power."

"They contain- ok, stop lying."

"I'm not lying, John. All of your memories contain [Deus Ex Machina] power. It's just part of who you are. But as you are right now… you don't have enough power to move to another dimension. You need [Deus Ex Machina] power. And you need all of these memories. Part of those memories…"

"...you're kidding me."

Zero sighed. "I wish. To be honest, I kinda agree with you. There was no real reason to force you to inherit these memories. You could've just read them and learned what was inside, but… well, I suppose the [Author] has their plans."

"The what?"

"Don't worry about it," Zero said, shaking his head. "Look. I'm just saying, things aren't going to be all sunshine and rainbows from here on out. So it's just best to prepare the most you can, ok?"

John thought about it for a moment, but Zero's argument really had very few flaws.

"Ha… fine," John said, finally giving in. "You're sure this is gonna be useful?"

"...it'll be more useful than if you don't do it."

"That's not really a good thing to hear, you know."

"What? It's true! Wha- John, hey, don't just walk away! John!"

John took three steps before he burst out laughing.

"Ah, it's fine. Look, I don't know what kind of horrors are waiting for me. But I've already been through a lot. You've put me through billions of [Resets], I've watched my friends die over and over, I've watched worlds collapse, I've watched civilizations fall, I've seen reality itself get warped. Look at me now."

John smiled, his expression bright.

"I'm doing fine, right? I'm strong."

He walked up to his soul, sticking his hand out.

"Look, I'll say this. I don't know if I can promise anything, but… I'm strong, Zero. Even if I fall down, all I need to do is get back up, right? So even if the horrors get to me, just help me back up. Because, in the end, I'm sure we'll both get to where we want to go. You're me. You know that, right?"

Zero closed his eyes, a smile growing on his lips.

"You're right. …my bad, John. You're right."

"Great! Don't hear you say that very often."

With that, John walked away, humming a tune. Zero watched with sad eyes as his body slowly moved out of the room.

"You're just saying things… you're always just saying things. This won't be a conversation you'll remember."

Still, even with those sad eyes, there was a warm smile on Zero's lips.

"Well, that's my job, after all. Even if you hadn't told me to do so… I'll do my best, John. Whatever it takes to help you. I'll do my best. Because, in the end… that's all I can do, right?"

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