Gifts

In response to Jack's enthusiastic waving, Jessica waved back in a similar manner.

"Hi Jack! He didn't treat you badly, did he?"

"No, it was really fun!"

As for Lilith and Lily, the two of them waved back sheepishly, almost like they weren't sure if they were allowed to do such an egregious thing.

Brian let out a soft laugh and held up a hand.

"You lot seem excited so I'll leave you all to it. I'd love to talk to you again, Jack. But right now, there are a few things I must attend to."

Without waiting a second longer, he began walking away. Despite the fact he was facing his back, Jack continued waving with both hands.

"Goodbye and thank you for everything! I want to talk again soon too!"

Brian didn't turn around, but lifted one hand to wave, acknowledging his parting words. Shortly after, Mia smiled somewhat awkwardly before pointing at a honey badger pelt lightly wrapped around her neck along with a sash that was notably larger where the heart was.

"While you were gone, we decided to do some shopping. The two... newcomers had already known quite a bit about the place and showed us around. I was able to get some craftsmen to make this along with several... er, I think it was remotely detonated poison bombs among other things. Everyone got you gifts, but um, I was a bit tight on cards so I wasn't able to get the best thing."

She awkwardly held up a croissant which was on a napkin. Jessica proudly extended out her palms with her gift on it, a small and elegant crystal dagger. While the usefulness wasn't too clear, it looked very elegant. The handle was a vibrant yellow, while the blade itself was a shining light blue.

"I got you this! This dagger automatically generates fake images of you swinging in different directions!"

Lily got on her knees while holding up a suitcase like it was medieval times and Jack was the King.

"I-I got you this suitcase. The things put inside are perfectly preserved, so... you could put my eye in here before it rots if you wanted. Of course, you don't have to!"

Lilith awkwardly held up a donut within a carton. She was pouting and mumbled.

"I got you a donut... it was my idea first to get you food, and I got the more expensive one."

Mia ignored her comment, despite the fact it was clear who the target was. As for Kenji, he held out one hand wordlessly.

And in his palm was a rock.

Not any sort of special rock. It was quite literally just a rock.

He didn't seem particularly ashamed of his gift either.

Jack was quite surprised by all of the attention he suddenly received. He briefly turned to Jessica.

"You said that just giving things was bad, but I don't know what to give back..."

In turn, her face twitched awkwardly. While quite flustered, she quickly tried explaining herself.

"I-I... I didn't mean that receiving things for free was bad. It's just that when you give away things, you should be careful not to give too much, and not to people you don't trust. Else you might end up with nothing!"

Jack thought for a little while before nodding.

"Ah! I get it now. Thank you, everybody! Now that I think about it so that everyone can have something, you can all come to my place whenever you want!"

Jessica blinked a few times.

"Eh? What do you mean by that?"

Jack turned right around, pulling out a black card. After a moment of confused fumbling, the card automatically gravitated towards a spot on the wall like it was magnetic and the walls began opening again.

"Come in, come in!"

He hurriedly got into the elevator, while the others did after a short period of confusion. Several other bystanders tried to get in as well but were blocked by an invisible wall, much to their dismay.

"Shit! I just want to see what it looks like..."

The doors promptly closed, after which Mia raised her questions.

"Did that guy give you his pass to this place or something?"

Jack shook his head.

"He said that he would help me get one in the future, but he helped me do it even faster than he thought!"

When the doors opened, it once again revealed an awfully large interior that was more than enough to house every one of them. Jack took all of the gifts that the others gave him, including the literal rock.

Then, he walked on ahead with his arms at his sides.

"Hmm... it's a little bit different from before."

As Jack said, his house was notably different from Brian's. Despite still being unnecessarily large, it was somewhat smaller. There wasn't a bar within eyeshot and several places that held doors before were instead just bare walls. Although it was a relatively minor detail, there were no windows.

Brian's place had several windows, although the only thing that could be seen was a generic blue sky and some clouds.

Though Jack didn't think about it for too long before giggling.

"Go and have fun! I still don't know everything that is inside here either!"

All of them were quite enamored, with Jessica, Lilith, and Lily exploring around, some going to the second floor. As for Kenji, he walked over to the pool. While at the shallow end, he jumped in.

Like a piledriver, he remained straight like a rod and landed inside with a splash. From there, he just closed his eyes and stood there, seemingly enjoying the experience. The dirt from his clothes was coming off but somehow vanished in the water completely, keeping it crystal clear.

 Before Mia ended up getting driven by her curiosity as well, Jack called out to her.

"Hey, I think there's something I'm supposed to talk to you about."

Mia was quite surprised but nodded.

"Ah, alright then."

Jack ran over to a very long table in the distance and arbitrarily sat on one of the chairs. Mia followed after him and chose to sit across. She was expecting it to be quite serious if it required a sit-down.

Though Jack ended up putting down the donut and croissant on the table before pointing at them.

"What are these things?"

Mia didn't respond immediately, at first thinking she just misinterpreted what he was saying. However, after repeating it back in her head a few times she realized there was no other realistic explanation.

"Ah... the one I gave is a croissant while the other is a donut. They are food, just like the jerky and lemon."

She was quite confused, but soon wrote it off by assuming his family must've been poor and made sure he never saw any of the somewhat better items available. Jack looked between the two for a little while before cautiously reaching over to the croissant.

He pinched it between two fingers and held it up, letting the pastry dangle for a while. Eventually, he tore it into strips, making it a similar shape to jerky before eating it. There was a surprised look on his face, but he clearly didn't find it unpleasant.

Then, he reached for the donut and then tried to peel off the top layer like it was an orange.

 Mia hurriedly spoke up.

"No, no... you aren't supposed to peel that."

Jack stopped, but gave a questioning look back at her.

"But Dad said that eating too much peel is bad. This thing has way too much of it already!"

Mia opened and closed her mouth a few times, unsure of how she was supposed to explain.

"Um, a donut isn't a lemon. There is no peel, you are supposed to just take a bite into it. Just like how you normally eat food."

After a moment of befuddlement, Jack did so. He seemed mostly confused, but also enjoyed it as well. A smile soon formed on his face as he continued chewing. Mia found herself smiling as well and going into a daze.

However, she quickly snapped out of it.

Internally, she noted that Jack's charm appeared a bit stronger than normal. Though whether or not that was her imagination she couldn't be sure.

And while she was lost in her speculations, Jack swallowed and spoke up.

"Oh yeah, I called you over because there was this person asking about you when I said your name."

Mia froze up after hearing that.

"Wh-What?"

She immediately assumed that it was one of the debt collectors. However, after thinking about it for a while, she calmed down. In here, there was no law to abuse and she was no longer powerless. Not to mention, collecting debt should be the least of their worries in this place.

But...

"She said her name was Emily-"

Mia immediately slammed her hands down on the table, standing up, and sending the chair she was sitting on flying back, landing with a crash.

"E-Emi?..."