Quickly leaving the restaurant after eating all three of my desserts, I was eager to go back to my room in the inn I was staying at.

I was very much on a sugar high after eating that much sugar. It was an enjoyable time, and everything tasted delicious, but for now, I have to get back as soon as possible.

So, deciding to run, the only thing on my mind right now was the smartphone Athrun gave me.

I couldn't let him see me use it because I can't risk him finding out that I actually know how it works, even if I tried to fake it. And I can't do it now anyway; that'd only draw unnecessary attention from the people in the crowd. Besides, even though the adventurers' guild is closer, I can't really show or explain it to Clare and Emma either, since telling them how I got it would be a whole other headache on its own. Clare would accept whatever answer I give her, even if she knows it's a lie, but for Emma, I would rather not.

Using a bit of magic, I enhance my legs to run even faster, reaching the inn in around 5 minutes.

Then, quickly running through the lounge on the first floor and up the stairs, I took out my key and opened the door to my room.

Closing the door quickly and locking it with a chain lock, I scan my surroundings just in case to make sure nobody was spying on me.

After a couple of seconds, I took a breath and sighed, letting my hair stop glowing and my eyes go back to their original color.

However, as soon as I did that, I… I… did not feel too good. A sudden dizziness hit me, followed by something in my stomach trying to come out.

As fast as I could, I sprinted toward the bathroom to the toilet, and I hurled out everything I had just eaten.

Tasting surprisingly sweet but also bitter and sour, vomit came out of my mouth, I felt my stomach turn, and a wave of nausea hit me. I puked out even more of what I had eaten.

Ugh… I don't feel so good. Geez, why now of all times?

After, I don't know, 10 to 30 minutes of me dry heaving and throwing up two or three more times, I felt like there was nothing in my stomach for me to throw up.

A bit dizzily, I moved unsteadily to and leaned against the bathtub for support. Damn, I have never felt this sick before, but I should have expected it.

So this is like being a child who has access to a large amount of sugar. Note to self: I am never doing that again.

Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I rinsed my face at the sink and was about to grab a towel to wipe away the sweat off my body when I heard the door open, only to stop short against the chain lock I'd put up.

"Blake, are you all right? I was told you ran back. Is something wrong?"

Hearing Clare's voice, I responded to her overly concerned tone.

"I'm fine; give me a second. I'm in the bathroom."

Leaving the bathroom and heading to the door, I unlocked the chain lock and opened it to see Clare with sweat beading on her forehead, as if she'd sprinted all the way back here.

Quickly coming in, concerningly, she asked me after I closed the door.

"Lady Rita, are you truly fine?"

Seeing my sweat-drenched clothes, she was dubious that I was actually fine.

"Yeah, I was just done puking out all the sugar I just ate."

"My lady?"

Proceeding to tell her that Athrun took Edwen, Aria, and me out to eat, where I ordered and ate a slice of chocolate cake, a lemon tart, and a massive strawberry sundae. Followed by telling her about the artifact Athrun had given me, which is why I ran back here so fast. Clare looked not too pleased by my response, under whose gaze I internally sighed.

"I see, then shall I prepare a bath for my lady? Please take the rest of the day off. And also, my lady, please don't consume that much sugar at once."

A bit meekly, I said, "Yeah," knowing that I made Clare worry for nothing.

So, with that, I patiently waited for her to prepare a bath, and once she was done, she said.

"Lady Rita, the bath is ready. Do you need anything else, my lady?"

"No, I don't need anything right now."

"Then I'll be going back to the adventurer guild, and my lady…"

"Yes?"

"I would be staying in the adventurer guild for the night."

"Really? Why?"

"There are things that I need to prepare for, my lady."

"I see. See you tomorrow then."

Saying thanks to her, Clare left while I walked to the bathroom and took off my clothes to get into the bathtub.

Feeling slightly fine, I dipped my entire body in the soothing hot water. And as I did that, I held up the smartphone Athrun gave me and stared at it.

Finally, I get to look over this thing.

Reexamining the phone, I pulled it from end to end, expanding it, and looked at the clear screen closely.

This thing… this thing… was definitely a thing from my world, but like the last time I saw it, I don't recognize the model at all.

I never heard of a phone that could do something like that, one that you can expand. Maybe it's an experimental model from a company that somehow got into this world, but that leaves a lot of holes in that line of thought, like the fact that Athrun says I can communicate with him anywhere, except dungeons and such, even though this is a fantasy world. In addition to that, I sense mana flowing in and out of the device for some reason.

With those thoughts in my mind and others more, I proceed to go through the smartphone to see what I can recognize.

Going through those apps on it, I barely recognized any of them, save for the apps that are basic features of all smartphones.

However, I looked through the app, and granted, there weren't many of them since this was also a factory default phone, and I noticed there weren't any icons on top of the status bar. This could be an experimental smartphone that Athrun could have found and given me, something that was made after the second Kaiju war, after I had died, maybe, since the app icons are somewhat different from the ones I'm used to seeing, and the fact that when I looked in the calendar app, it said September 21, 3761.

The year that I died was 2281. I couldn't really remember what exact date I had died, but I remember it was around early December, since at that point in the war, Norn and I were too tired to really care too much about what day it was, due to the constant deployments we had to make because… everyone we knew kept on dying off one after another.

At first, we managed to keep everything in order; cities and bases did fall, but that was within expected parameters, but… after several failed major counterattacks and several gates to close them off that were extremely costly for us, we couldn't keep up with the losses and were put on the defensive, gradually losing ground, one major base or city after another.

Huh… things really looked bleak during those times, now that I think about it.

I guess I had Scot, Athrun, and… … … Norn for… that…

I stared at the screen blankly for a good minute or two, and I realized something.

No, it can't be, can it? The way Athrun had asked me about my eyes, like it was to confirm something, I couldn't help but wonder… Is Norn in this world?

Could it be possible? I generally had not thought much about my sister, say, for a few times in this life, because she was dead. But now, after all that I have been through, the likelihood that Norn is also in this world is likely. What else could explain it, even if there were some major holes in that line of thought?

Continuing to go through the phone, which was mostly in what I presume to be its factory settings, I tried using the search engine to see if it would work, but unfortunately, that was locked for some reason. So then I went to the app store, but it was also locked for some reason. And following that, I tried using the map, then the settings, to see if I could remove the lock, but that was also locked.

Realizing that most of the essential apps are locked, I try using the other apps, like the text message app and the phone's one, which, as I figured, did let me have access to it.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Finally pressing on the phone app, I saw Athrun's name in my world's language, being my only contact.

For a minute, I just stare at Athrun's name, because it all but confirms that Athrun has some sort of connection to my sister, or at the very least has some sort of connection to my old world.

Getting out of the bath, I placed the phone on the tabletopand began drying myself off. Then, putting on a new set of clothes, I picked up the phone Athrun gave me and went to my bed to lie down and call Athrun.

I'm not planning on asking him directly, but I just wanted to check if it actually works and if I could communicate with him.

So pressing his contact info, then putting it up next to my ear, I heard a ring, followed by Athrun's voice a couple of moments later.

"Oh, Nyx, nice to hear from you. Why did you call? Do you need anything?"

Answering that in his usual aloof tone, I responded.

"No, nothing. I just wanted to test it out."

"I see you're getting used to using the artifact right now. Have you run into any troubles with it?"

Hearing what he said, I thought for a moment and thought it would be a good excuse for why most of the apps on here are locked.

"Umm… Yeah, I was playing around with the symbols on the artifact, and for some reason, something kept on showing up when I pressed on it, like a lock of some kind."

Trying to be careful to say it in a way that I didn't actually know what the phone does or any of the names, like this was the first time I actually saw one of these, I waited for his response.

"Oh, that? You're right, that is a lock of some kind; I was the one who put it there."

"Really? Why did you do that?"

A bit surprised by his answer, since I didn't expect him to openly say it, since I kind of expected him to say something along the lines of him also not knowing why it does that.

"It's so you don't do something that messes up the device."

"Like what exactly?"

"Let's see… like the settings app."

"Settings? What's an app?"

So… he does know the terminology from my old world, even using exact words as well.

"You see an icon that vaguely or not looks like a gear of some kind?"

I pause a moment or two before pretending to respond with a "yeah," like I was looking at it on the screen for the first, no, second time, still figuring everything out.

"Okay, you see, that is the icon that is the control for the artifact. I locked that so you wouldn't accidentally break something you shouldn't, and for the others."

Proceeding to tell me the reason for each of the apps that he had locked with plausible explanations and outright lies since he thinks I don't really know what they were, I paid attention to his voice, getting whatever information I could because again, this all confirms that he knows how to use a smartphone and, more importantly, has a connection to my sister.

After he was done talking, explaining all that, he said, Lastly.

"After you get used to using it, I guess I could unlock some of the icons if you want?"

"Could you do it now? I want to see what the other Icons can do."

Asking him that, unfortunately, he responded back by saying, "Sorry, I can't; I'm currently not in Farsbarow right now. I'm currently in a neighboring village."

"Huh? Really?"

"Yeah, I have an errand I have to do, so I can't meet with you, but I have the feeling that we'll meet again soon, sometime in the future."

"What does that mean?"

"I'll call you after you've dealt with your little problem."

I was about to press him for more information on what he meant, but…

"Okay, bye, I've got to go."

Hanging up the phone, the call ended, in which I tried calling him again, but he didn't answer, and it went to voicemail.

So, stopping my call, I took a big sigh and wondered about those foreshadowing words he said.

Not trying to let it get to me, I exited the call app and stared at the screen fixedly. I wonder if I could bypass all these locks?

Trying my best to do so with whatever knowledge I have from my past life, one idea came to mind.

Other than typing up the correct 8-digit passcode, which would take forever, maybe a factory reset would do?

Since I don't really need the settings app to reset it, I just need the lock screen to do it, it should…

It's not working… typing out a random passcode, it… it… It's not working. For some reason, I can't even interact with the lock screen whatsoever; nothing happens when I press the keypad other than the cancel key.

Wiping my finger on my shirt and the screen, I made sure it wasn't because the screen didn't sense my finger, but that didn't work either.

Is this a glitch? No… Thinking about it for a second, could it be that I need something else to unlock it? Maybe a key, or something that has master control over it?

Since Athrun gave it to me, I don't see why not, with how mysterious he tends to act.

I took another big sigh and thought to myself, there have to be other ways. I've got to remember something, like intentionally crashing the phone or finding a weird glitch I can exploit.

For the next couple of hours, I did just that, first looking for an exploit I could find and use, but this thing had none, none that I could find. Then, I was trying to overload it by seeing how many systems and things I could run on it, but this thing didn't even overheat one bit.

"Damn, this thing's practically foolproof—at least as far as my limited ability to bypass it goes."

Frustrated after spending all that time trying to find a workaround, I felt like I wanted to throw it across the room but stopped myself and calmed down.

Turning it off, I let my arms fall to my sides, sprawling across the bed after holding it up for so long with a long, tired sigh.

Looking out the window and then at the clock to see what time it was, it was already late into the night.

I guess the only way I can bypass the lock is by using Lumina to hack the thing. Normally, Lumina is a medical assistance AI. However, with my authorizations, she definitely has the capacity to make me a program to hack this goddamn phone if I remove some of Lumina's restrictions.

So, turning it back on, I went to the clock app and set an alarm to wake me up at 8 in the morning and went to bed.

Waking up the next day from hearing the alarm that surprisingly worked, I begrudgingly got up after hitting the snooze button 1… 2… 5 times.

Yawning, I rubbed my eyes and stretched a little to wake myself up, though I was still pretty groggy even after getting out of bed.

So, making my way to the bathroom, I turn on the sink and splash water on my face, followed by my normal morning routine.

After fixing my bed hair with a brush, I walk out of the bathroom to change my clothes and put on my gear.

Now, leaving my room, with my smartphone in hand, and finally looking at what time it was as I walked down to the first floor to get something to eat, I was pretty shocked that it was 10 already.

Seeing that it was late in the morning, close to noon, I ordered something quick to eat and quickly made my way to the adventurer guild.

However, halfway through walking there, I spotted my brother. I hear him raising his voice to someone… Wait, is that Rain?

Yeah, that is, why are they together? Remembering our plan, Rain isn't even supposed to be in it.

She does know my situation since Emma told her; granted, Emma only told her that I was going by Blake now and not to make contact with me since I was in a delicate situation now, but leaving all that aside, why is my brother yelling at her?

"Come on, you've got to know something more!"

"I—I—don't know any more than that."

"That's a lie, I can tell that much, cut the—"

Before he could scream out even more, I raised my voice, stepping in and saying.

"That is enough."

Both Rain and my brother looked at me when I said that, and in doing so, Rain managed to slip away from my brother to run toward me and then behind my back, hiding herself from him.

"Blake…"

Spitting my name out with a low but trembling voice, he had bags under his eyes, a bit bloodshot even, and looked like he was angry, solely at me for some reason, like I was the cause of his problems. Granted, I was.

Looking behind me, at Rain, who was using my back to hide herself from Eric, trembling all the while, I ask her.

"Rain, what happened?"

Almost about to say my past alias of Nyx out of panic, Rain managed to catch herself and proceeded to tell me.

"Blake, he'd approach me out of nowhere, just demanding things, asking me about someone named Rita."

Hearing the last part, I could tell she was playing along nicely, though she did actually feel afraid of my brother.

"You know him?"

Responding to Eric, I said. "Yeah, but why were you harassing him?"

"I wasn't!"

Raising his voice, not masking his emotions, basically an open book, I could tell that impatience was all he felt.

So my interference yesterday, getting everyone to back off looking for me, had worked because I sense that Eric is the only one searching for me right now, from how frustrated he looked.

"So? But why did you target Rain of all people?"

Saying that, Eric angrily blurted out.

"Because he knows my sister, I've been looking and asking people around if they saw someone matching my sister's appearance, and one of them said that the guy over there said he partied with her."

"But… But… I don't know what he's talking about."

Rain, bravely speaking that out, Eric did not seem convinced, not one bit.

Pretending to sigh with my expressionless face, which my brother, who was in front of me, couldn't read, I asked Rain.

"Did you know her?"

Gently using my finger to poke her where Eric wouldn't notice, I then said, "If you can't, could you give us a general description of the friend you've partied with?" telling her to improvise it.

"No," shaking her head, "The only people I've partied with were Blake and…."

"Cole, right? I believe you've told me. I believe he had an androgynous face with red eyes and ashen black hair."

Nodding, "Yes, that is him."

Pretending to hear Rain's answer, I ponder it for a moment and say next, "Well, that is a surprise… I didn't expect that."

"See, I told you. He knows something."

"And that's all he knows; isn't that right, Rain?"

Nodding yes, behind me, I continue.

"I could see Rita disguising herself, but it's honestly impressive that you've managed to find Rita this way, by tracking her to Rain."

Seemingly surprised by my unexpected praise, he seemed taken aback by it.

"Hey Rain, do you know where he is right now?"

I secretly poke her again, giving her a signal to respond, as I whisper to her to tell her to say Acton.

So, shaking her head, "No, I only know he went to Acton."

"I see that all but confirms my theory."

"Theory?"

"Oh, right…"

Looking at Rain, I told her, "Rain, you can go now. Sorry, but this is a private matter for a job I'm doing, so please keep this a secret, okay?"

Nodding up and down, Rain hurriedly ran off while I walked past Eric, toward the adventurer guild, telling him.

"Come, I got some information to tell everyone."

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