Outsiders.

Lena merges into the crowded street once again. The kid is nowhere to be seen, he had most likely just followed the crowd with how dead he is at the moment. Lena follows the crowd while moving as fast as she could. While pushing her way through Lena's mind is blank. Those people all around her, they do not just exist, they all have lived lives. Whether they be boring or interesting, every single one of them has had it better or worse. So, why? Why is it that she couldn't understand such a simple concept? She had always had a single person in her mind, and even then she never though of them as changing. As if they would freeze in time the moment she turns her face away. Octan. Is he really still out there, and if he is, will he accept Lena? Will he let her follow him once again? It had never crossed her mind, but... everything she has done was it really worth it?

As her train of thought stops Lena raises her right arm cladded in the massive armor piece and places it over the boy's head as if patting him.

'Now even such a simple action can be quite cumbersome...' Lena thought to herself after being barely able to raise her arm.

"Don't you go straying away from me now, with this kind of crowd finding you would have been hell." Lena said to the boy as they started following the crowd on the same pace.

The boy just nods.

Lena sighs, "They should be heading towards the arena, so Let's just follow them." Lena said lowering her arm.

The boy doesn't nod.

Finally reaching the end of the crowd a huge entrance into the arena is in front of them.

"So, we won't be watching the match sadly since I wasn't able to get tickets, but I had gotten some information on where to find the rigid champion after the match. We will be waiting outside the arena until the match is over and then moving towards said location... got it?" Lena asked the boy.

"got it..." The boy said.

Lena and the boy stray from the crowd and enter an alleyway next to the arena.

"Let's just wait here." Lena said as she sat down.

The boy laid down on his back.

Lena gazed at the boy and then hugged her knees.

3 hours later.

*knock* *knock*

The sound of knocking wakes Lena up.

"Huh! Who! What?!" Lena wakes up with a spring and looks around like a maniac.

She is in the middle of an alleyway with a boy sleeping on his left side next to her using his left arm as a pillow.

"Oh shit!" Lena says as she jumps towards the boy shaking him to wake up.

"Hey! hey! Hey! I know we haven't had much chance to sleep, but this really isn't the time!" Lena says as if she had missed her alarm.

"Shit He is way to asleep!" Lena said picking the boy up.

Although it was a harder task then she could feel, with all the adrenaline rushing through her she makes a quick run for where they were told of.

The streets are empty compared to how they were earlier, which makes Lena get some hope as that means the match might have either just finished or not finished yet.

Rushing through the streets with a boy slowly waking up on her back, she reaches her destination.

There she finds... no one.

"huh?" Lena thinks.

"Oh right! the match still isn't over... I hope..." she says to herself.

She can feel the boy trying to get down so she bends down to make it easier.

"This might not be the best idea, but it's not like we really have another choice. We will just wait here." Lena said to the boy.

She didn't want to wait here at first since if the rigid champion had seen company waiting he might have changed his route, but with how desperate she is she couldn't fathom the fact of missing the champion because of chance.

Standing there waiting after quite a while someone finally appears.

Slowly approaching them from far away. Someone with a massive silhouette.

One that is slowly getting larger, and more detailed.

His armor finally getting into view, Lena couldn't mistake him for anyone else.

The person wielding the most terrifying power she had ever witnessed.

"The Rigid Champion.".

A man who for unknown reasons refuses to move his ranking of 10th, even though many speculate he can easily conquer his way through to the 5th rank.

A man who only has mysteries behind him.

A man who reads off of air just like some she knows. All of her sacrifices depend on that one short moment she saw.

Will her choices lead her towards the right path and help the kid, or will she end up in some jail after getting claimed.

Finally. In front of them stands. The 10th.

Stopping his tracks he stands towering over them staring at the kid.

He then turns his head towards Lena.

"Can I help you?" He asks.

Lena trying to hide her face with the hood she replies "Y-yes. This kid, do you know anything about him?" Lena asks getting straight to the point.

"Hmm..." he turns his head towards jack and looks him up and down, with his mask still on his face Lena can't make up his expression so she can only imagine him as annoyed.

"First, can I ask you a question?" he asks turning his head towards Lena.

"O-of course! go right ahead!" Lena said reflexively.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

His question was very much understandable as the scene was quite unordinary. Lena and the Kid had been waiting at the near end of an alley with only a place called a "Cafe" at the very end of it.

"Uh... We were just leaving this 'kafi'... quite a nice place I would say!" Lena couldn't stop her anxiousness from messing with her speech.

"That so?" He asked.

"Of course!!!" Lena replied immediately.

"I see. Well I'm sorry, but I do not recognize this kid from anywhere." He said shrugging it off and moving on.

"If you would excuse me now." He said pushing them aside.

"P-Please have one more look! I'm sure!" Lena said panickily.

"Please, I just had a match and I would like to enjoy a drink to myself. We can do this later." He said raising his right arm with an open palm without turning back.

"System! The System! I saw you! Back then! Like 3 or 4 years ago! After fighting the octopus adventurer, you were reading something off of the air! T-This boy, he is the same! He can read those words off of the air too! So please! Just, one more look." Lena screamed to his back.

The man stops and turns around.

"So he is an outsider?" He asked.

'Well he definitely isn't from here so...' "Yes." Lena said.

"Well, why didn't you say so from the start!" The man walked back to the kid and patted his head.

"Hey man! How is everyone there doing! Would you care to share with me everything inside!" He said going down to the boy's level.

Jack looked at the man with a confused expression.

"Hey don't look at me like that! We both are outsiders here! you know, earth and stuff. Personally I'm from Toronto, Canada! Where you from kid?" The man asked the kid.

Finally for the first time in a while the kid's face lights up.

"T-Tennessee! A-america!" Jack says barely talking with excitement "Though I have never been there..." jack added under his breath.

"A fellow north-American! Come on Inside I got a friend who would love to talk with you too!" The man said standing up.

"You too, you can join us." The man said as he looked towards the grinning Lena.

"O-oh, yeah please I would love to." Lena said embarrassed by her own grin.

They then followed the excited Champion as he walked towards the "cafe" place.

When he knocked on the door of the "Cafe." He was asked for a password, which made Lena shrink down as she realized how stupid her lie just now was.

"Player" The man says.

A moment later the door opens.

Inside is a very well attended establishment, with a foreign looking style. Lena liked the vibe it gave.

"Hey james! You are quite late this time around. Let me guess, have you finally met your match?" The man behind from the counter says jokingly to the rigid champion.

"I wish... It was just some idiot trying to challenge me from the audience seat, He tried to interfere with the match but the barrier protecting the audience stopped him." James said as he waved his hands annoyed.

He then took off his helmet and sat down at one of the chairs next to the counter.

"Come here, sit next to me boy, and you too." James waved for them to close in.

"A-alright." The boy said slowly walking and Lena following him from behind.

"Who are those? fans?" The man behind the counter asked.

"As if, you know I try to separate myself from them as much as possible." James said with an annoyed tone.

"You see this boy here actually is an outsider too!" James said excited while patting jack's back.

"Oh you don't say!" Said the man behind the counter excited too.

Jack scratches the back of his head embarrassed.

"What's your name kid!" The man asks as he leans on the counter.

"The name's jack, and stop calling me kid I'm almost 18 you know!" Jack says.

"Hahaha. Is that so, kid?" James laughs as he pats jack's back.

"Oh what a let down, so you can't drink yet." The man behind the counter says.

"I-i guess... But there is nothing stopping me from drinking here!" Jack claims.

"Well that is true, but I would feel horrible personally, so Let's keep it non-alcoholic for you." The bar counter says turning around.

"For you, james, it should be the same as always, so what about you there? the one with the hood." The bar counter asks Lena.

Lena had been taken up by the moment, finally seeing the boy act normally again had made her a bit too happy. A huge grin was covering her face hidden behind the hood.

"Me? Nothing. I'm good." Lena said continuing to hide herself.

"huh, you sure? It's on me you know. After all meeting another outside is always great!" James says Looking at Lena.

"Yeah, I don't want anything. This is more than enough." Lena says with a smile hidden under her hood.

"I want chocolate milk!" Jack claimed.

"Chocolate milk?! Where do you think we are kid! I know I am an outsider too, but there is only so much I can do!" The man behind the counter says.

"Man... I have been craving some for a while now..." Jack says.

"Hahaha! trust me, we are always craving something from back home here, boy. Why don't you get him a milkshake instead." James says.

"Sure."

"So you can produce a milkshake, but not chocolate milk..." Jack said doubtful.

"Well I never studied how chocolate milk was made back home, so unless you have an idea I'm completely useless." The man behind the counter says shrugging.

"..." Jack doesn't reply.

"hey you know, You can take off that hood in here. There isn't anyone except us." the man behind the bar counter says to Lena.

Lena taken by surprise replies "Oh Um Na-h I-I-I Can't because umm... my hair is stuck to it! and if I take it off I would go bald! and as a woman I that wouldn't be very good!" Lena says.

"Hahaha! Your friend's quite funny jack! how did your hair get stuck to a hood, and what a woman! come on I couldn't mistake you for one in a thousand years!" James says extremely drunk off of excitement.

Lena awkwardly laughs.

"Actually, she is a woman you know..." Jack says quietly.

"...Oh..." James says as his excitement slowly disappears.

Everyone goes silent and the atmosphere turns ice cold. Only sound that could be heard was the sound of the owner working.

"Anyway, as James here had said, you can take off the hood. I will close shop for now so no one enter, after all I'm very interested in what the kid has to say." the owner says.

"No trust me, I'm very comfortable with this..." Lena says awkwardly.

"Take the hood off, Lena." Said James.

Goosebumps. Her entire body. From the top of her toes, to the top of her head. What must her next action be? Act dumb? No, he has it all figured out. Escape? From such a monster? Impossible, absolutely impossible? Fight? Not even plausible, hell even the owner could take her down at her current state.

'What must I do?!' The question screamed in her brain.

"I will admit it I didn't notice at first. A huge mistake from my part, goes to show how aged out I have become. That build, That armor piece, and the fact that you are a female. There's no mistaking it. You are the person who killed the king of Kinolera, and the person with a bounty of 50,000,000$ on their head." James said calmly.

The man behind the counter continued working quietly.

"50,000,000$! What!?" Jack screamed.

Lena said nothing, and stayed tense.

"If it wasn't for James I definitely wouldn't have made the connection, Hell the last time I even cared about a bounty was years ago. Now all I do is read them as if its a newspaper, A way to keep my family safe to know who to trust, But you see, even among those labelled most wanted I believe some are wroth trusting. So tell me, Lena, which are you. A fugitive worth 50 million, or a victim." James asked continuing his calm tone.

"..." Lena doesn't reply.

"I see how it is." James says standing up.

"I'm sorry, but you will have to understand this is a precious place to me so I would rather not have someone like you sully it." James says as he carries the helmet from the counter and slowly places it over his head.

He then turns to his right and faces Lena.

"Please take this outside." The owner says.

"I will." James says staring down Lena.

Lena continues to sit down unhinged, not because of confidence, but because of how horrified she is. She had seen how strong he was hand-first, but even his strength was nothing. It's not that she is scared to die, but scared of being erased. The black orb, what if he uses it against her. The mere thought of it shook Lena to her very core.

The sound of a clap. A heavy clap of metal. James claps his hands as he moves his first step.

"If you just surrender I will turn you in and lea-"

"STOP! DON'T DO ANYTHING TO HER!" Jack jumps in front of James.

Looking up to James he realizes where has put himself.

"P-PLEASE!" Jack says adding to his sentence.

"Jack, Please move." James asks politely.

"N-No! T-this woman saved me! I don't know what happened to her, or what her past is! But I'm sure of one thing, she is definitely not a bad person! I-I think!" Jack says.

Lies. truly the first defense mechanism of any human, Before running or fighting. The first thing all humans think of is lying. Whether it be to themselves or others, Lies is what humans will always resort to first, and jack is no exception.

He had witnessed it himself. The corpse of a human who was killed by her hand. No matter the circumstances he understood, Only a sick person would kill another, But you see it wasn't just one, but 4. She had killed 4 different people with corpses left for him to witness. She had even admitted to it minutes later saying it was for him, But even then, even with him fully understanding Lena isn't a "good person" He trusted her. Fully so. Not for a moment did his trust in her disappear, even when he didn't agree with her. She was the first to talk to him in this confusing world and the first to take care of him. She had even saved his life.

For all he knows everything up from the moment they met has been for him, even when he stopped caring she took care of him bringing him all the way here only to meet other 'outsiders'. He was observing it, all she had given away to get here. So after all that, while he might be lying to his moral self by calling her a good person. He himself, The consciousness people call jack, It believes she had her reasons, and for that he must protect her in anyway.

"Ever since I ended up in this world she has been taking care of me! All the while she had never once bothered anyone! nor treated any harshly! She is a great person, and I fully believe those are all just rumours!" Jack said to James.

"..." James stared down at jack with judging eyes.

"*sigh* So she was one the trusted ones. Why didn't she just say so then? was I that intimidating? sorry if so..." James said taking off his helmet.

"Y-yes... your sudden announcement took me off-guard..." Lena said taking the hood off.

"Hahaha! Sorry about that then! I will try to be more mindful next time!" James said sitting back down.

"Y-yeah..." Lena said still in a state of shock.

"Good work there jack! I almost put your hero behind bars there!" James said patting jack, who had sat down, on the back.

"Ahahaha..." jack laughed awkwardly.

"Here you go you two." The owner finally done placed each's order in front of them. Jack being a milkshake and James a dark coffee.

Lena just sat down in silence and continued to listen from afar.

A while later.

They had been talking for a while the so called "outsiders" Lena had understood nothing and instead just sat and watched them with a grin.

"Anyway, I will have to leave now! Kailey is waiting for me today, I promised her a family dinner." James said standing up.

"Tell her uncle matt says hello." The owner says.

"definitely!" James picks up his helmet off of the counter.

"Goodbye, James." Jack said.

"..." James stood up in silence and then turned and looked at jack.

"Jack, I want you to hear me out." James suddenly talked.

"I mean no offense to Lena, but I believe you should come with me." James said.

"W-what? W-why?" Jack surprised by the sudden declaration.

"I Could teach you more about the system than anyone ever could, so I would like if you would join me and learn more about what you were given, jack." James said.

Jack unknowing of how to answer turned to Lena.

Her face is facing the bar in front of her so he couldn't make what her expression is. James is in no way keeping quiet Lena can hear everything yet she isn't even turning her head.

"...No..." Jack said

"I want to stay with Lena... I can't leave her, especially not now." Jack said with a firm expression.

"GROW UP!" James suddenly screamed.

"Jack, Do you even understand how weak you are at the moment? A level 7 can do absolutely nothing out there! You are only an obstacle to Lena, another thing to look after and care for. Another mouth to feed and another body to warm. Jack you're not a kid anymore, If this was on the other side I would have given you a beating, but here with how you were suddenly sent here at such an age I won't be too harsh. But if you are going to stay with her you will only drag the both of you down and eventually lead yourselves to death. I'm sure Lena understands that, but couldn't bring herself to get rid of you herself. What I am saying is for the better of the both of you. Join me Jack, even if only momentarily, I will teach you all about this world and the system, and then you can decide for yourself what to do." James said in his calm tone.

Jack again turns to Lena whom is still facing forward.

"I'm talking to you." James says in a dominating tone.

"P-p-plea...."

"Talk louder!" James says almost screaming.

"P-please! Please teach me!" Jack says.

"Alright! then get ahead of me and wait outside I will follow you in a bit." James says.

"But shouldn't I say goodbye first? and shouldn't I thank her for everything?" Jack said confused.

"No. You will thank her once you both meet again, by repaying them. As for your goodbyes make them quick." james said.

Jack nodded confused by the first answer and got up.

Lena slightly turned her head, but not enough for him to see her expression only a corner of her mouth.

"I know this is sudden, But goodbye miss Lena, I hope we meet again." Jack said to her back as her body faced the counter.

Lena said nothing, only a a bit of the right corner of her face was visible. With her eye covered only her a bit of her mouth can be seen. As she heard jack's words again her mouth grew to a grin as she nodded.

Jack seeing she had nodded took his leave.

James then sat down next to Lena.

"I'm sorry if this is wasn't what you wanted, But I could tell it is what's the best for you two." James said facing forward.

"earlier when I stood up after announcing your name, I could tell. You were weak, extremely so. There is either an error in the bounty description or something's wrong with my magic item, because that level of strength couldn't even have gotten you into a middle silver tier, so a Gold is straight impossible. What happened to you I can't understand, but if you are still willing to travel while knowing that, please do not drag the kid down with you. He still has his whole life ahead of him. With how many people are out there searching for you, and with how weak you are you will eventually be forced stop this nonsensical march of yours. All I can do is hope you are satisfied by then." James said in his usual calm tone.

"Do not worry about it. This is exactly what I had wanted. If you had not taken the kid I would have begged you to. I'm in no shape to take care of him anymore, and he has no reason to follow me in this search." Lena says facing forward.

"Thank you for your understanding, I will make sure to raise the kid well." James says getting up.

"We will immediately start moving, so you can leave in a minute or two." James says as he opens the "cafe"'s door.

Alone sitting on the counter with only the owner cleaning the coffee and milkshake cups Lena wonders.

Where to next?