Sunday Date (1)

Inside a dark room in the second floor of a mansion located in the rich neighborhood in Nigel's city, a man covered in a long, black robe was standing straight near the window. He was looking at the overlooking view, while his hands were placed behind his back. He has an aquiline nose, which was a perfect pair for his sharp, upturned eyes.

Behind him is a table made out of mahogany, which is filled with documents and books that are organized neatly. The door of the room opened, as a young blonde woman entered, with bright blue eyes, entered.

"Continue observing him, and keep reporting on his activities. Use your charm as a woman to infatuate him. Make him completely trust you, loyal to you. He is critical for our plans to succeed."

"I understand, father."

"Good. While you might be incompetent compared to your two brothers, you have an advantage as a woman. Use it to your full capacity, and ensure success. Go now, and fulfill your mission."

The man, after saying what he wanted to say to the young woman, raised his hand and gestured her to go out of his room. Her solemn exit causes the room to be silent once again, but he did not notice a change of her expression upon going out.

…

A week has passed by since the incident in the library. The head of the security in the university passed by the hospital and asked Shyla on the events that had transpired there before they arrive. They gave him a lie, stating that it was her family heirloom and she wanted to return it to its proper place as instructed by her great-grandfather. They never exposed that she was, in fact, of Merca lineage.

She only followed what her great-grandfather has written in the paper slipped at the last page of the book, which contained which bookshelf she must place this book. Since that section of the library was off-limits, she doesn't have any choice but sneaked in while the library was closed.

After placing the book inside the bookshelf, she was knocked unconscious by another bookshelf that fell down due to the sudden shaking of the floor. Her great-grandfather did not seem to know about the secret room below the library, or he did not bother putting it down at all.

Since she was the main cause that led to the discovery of the research room, she was forgiven by her offense of sneaking inside the library unauthorized. Same is true with Nigel, especially since it was proven that he was indeed telling the truth.

The head of security named Ben, which they learned after conversing with him inside the hospital, told them that they will also be credited with the room's discovery as well as given various benefits by the school, such as allowing them to visit the room after asking permission first.

This made them all happy, Nigel in particular. He had this odd feeling that something was there and he had not completely explored the room yet. The runes carved in the ceiling and floor of the room were what he was interested in the most.

Ben also informed Shyla that she will have to stay in the hospital for a week because of the injuries that had suffered. The doctors were not able to explain the cause of her unresponsive behavior while she was inside the library after she was saved by Nigel, and they wanted to do some additional test to understand her condition.

This irritated her, but she knew that there was nothing that she can do to change their decision. Her bitter smile is the only response that she can let out to express her dissatisfaction. Well, it didn't matter in the end because it was overshadowed by her stoic and frigid face.

The whole week passed by without incident, much to Nigel's appreciation. There were no freak accidents, no paranormal situations, and no accidental archaeological discoveries. It was a peaceful week for Nigel, which he enjoyed with utmost sincerity.

But this peace won't last for a long time, and Nigel knew this. While he was enjoying this temporary peace, drinking his favorite coffee and watching the Sunday early morning news, he was thinking full time about his ability, the hint system. He re-examined his recently upgraded ability, and the new features that it has.

The new feature that he was having a hard time understanding the most was the "CASES" tab. In the surface, it might appear as a list of cases and mysteries Nigel has a knowledge of. He, however, knows that it's far more profound than that.

'If this menu listed down all of the mystery cases that I am involved in, then was in the world is a case? No, a more distinct question would be, what factors are required by the system for the system to recognize mystery as a case?' Nigel contemplated while messing around with his phone. He was noting down all of his hypothesis while brainstorming for further ideas and creating logical deductions based on the genuine information that he had.

While he was thinking about these factors, he was removed from his state of total concentration because of the sudden ringing of his phone. He looked up who was calling him, only to discover that it was an unregistered number. Not thinking too much about it, he pulled up his phone from the table and placed it near his right ear.

"Hello, who is this?"

"…Hello"

Nigel heard a young woman's voice at the other line of the phone. The voice was calm and tranquil. But because he was hearing the voice over the phone, he wasn't able to identify who the voice belongs to.

"Sorry, I still don't know who this is. Perhaps you have called the wrong number?"

"Nigel, it's me. Shyla."

"Oh, it's you. My bad, I wasn't able to identify your voice over the phone. In any case, why did you call?"

"I need your help with another matter regarding the book."

"I'm assuming that you are talking about the book used as a key for opening Dr. Perchard's hidden research room?"

"...yes. It's not convenient to talk over the phone, can we meet up somewhere?"

"I know a café near the university. It's open today and it has a nice coffee."

"Okay, let's me up there after an hour."

"Should I invite Rena too?"

"…No."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you later."

"Can't you just… ah. She ended the call."

Nigel scratched his and started to prepare for their secret meeting. 'Looking at it in a certain angle, it does sound like a date. A date with my mistress. Does that make Rena my legal wife?' Nigel smirked while continuing his current line of thought. His wardrobe does not have that many clothes, as he prioritizes comfort and mobility over design and appearance. But for today, he wore his best shirt and pants while doing some pose in front of his wardrobe mirror.

As the saying goes, the clothes will only be as good as the one wearing. Nigel was standing in front of the mirror, pleased with his current looks. He might have worn simple clothes, but the way that he carried himself while wearing his plain-looking shirt and pants made it looked like he was wearing expensive and branded clothes. He was also a handsome young man, which added more to this effect.

He passed by his mom upon going down the stairs. When she saw his appearance, she smiled so hard it cramped her mouth. She keeps on asking him annoying questions like 'What was the name of the girl' and 'What does she looked like', but there were also some inappropriate ones like 'Bring her sometimes, or maybe you already did'. This caused Nigel to feel embarrassed and began to rush outside his house to escape from his mother's tormenting inquiry.

It was half an hour before their agreed time of the meeting, but having nowhere else to go and too scared from going back to his, he went to the agreed café ahead of time. While the event inside the convenience store had happened over a week ago, he was not taking any chances and decided to never pass by that path again.

It did make his journey to the university longer, however, it was the complete opposite in the case of going to their target café. The new path that he was using on arriving at the university and going home is nearer to the café than the university. In the first place, it was the reason why he knew the. He kept on passing by it every day that it was imprinted in his subconsciousness.

Arriving at the café, the outside was barren as he expected. Normally on school days, it was almost always full. College students were its number customers, and those that had drunk here would always invite their friends to drink in this café.

This continued on and on until the entire student body of the university knows about this café. Even Nigel spends some time here before heading straight back home, sometimes bringing along some takeaway coffee and food for his consumption later in the night.

He went inside the café and looked around for a table in a good spot. However, he was shocked at what he saw when he turned his head over to the left side. He saw someone that should not be here in the café, at least not for thirty minutes.

It was Shyla, recognizable with her silver hair and stoic face. She was wearing a frilly pink dress, which enhanced her beauty by a few notches higher. She was busy reading a small book while drinking an espresso.

Nigel felt like watching a scene from a movie. She was there, in the corner spot of the café, drinking her coffee while reading a book and getting hit by the sunlight passing through the glass window on her right side. It was picturesque. It was alluring. It was elegant. It was simply charming.

Nigel was breath-taken by her demeanor, as she changes the page of the book that she was reading. It was a simple action on her part, and it does not need strenuous effort to perform it. However, to his eyes, it was elegant and pure.

She had always been sensitive to the gazes of the people around her, which was caused by her upbringing and childhood experiences. Whenever someone looks at her, most of the time she would just ignore it. However, something was special from this gaze. Curious to see the owner of this special gaze, she looked towards her right.

"Hey."

"…Hello."

Nigel greeted her in respect, and she replied politely to his greeting.

"I thought that we were supposed to meet on this café twenty minutes from now. I guess both us arrived early."

"…True."

"Which makes me a bit curious. What time did you arrive here?"

"Not answering that."

"Okay, then let's leave that for now. What do you want to talk about?"

Nigel showed his serious expression, as he noticed the heaviness of the tone from her voice. He adjusted his sitting position from his previous sloppy position now to a sit straight. He looked at her in a straight gaze for a couple of minutes, before she opened her mouth and stopped narrating.

"It's about the book. Have you tried reading it? Do you know of its contents?"

"No, I didn't read it all. My mind was preoccupied with my current situation at that time, so reading a book would totally be on the lowest priority in the schedule."

"That might be true, however, you might also want to see the book's content."

"In any case, Shyla let's cut right into the chase. Why did call me, and me alone."

"…Because I wanted to see you?"

"It doesn't work with your deadpan and stoic face. Try again."

"…Because, I wanted to see you?"

"Okay, time to go home I guess."

"…. No, wait."

"Well? Spill it out. What did you call me here in for?"

"…Don't trust Rena!"