Snacks

[Hungry. Need food to pump heart. Not want die, you eat food now.]

This was crazy! Cecilia definitely wasn't thinking these thoughts, so why were they in her head?!

Suddenly, it occurred to her that perhaps whatever was thinking in her head besides her had something to do with what happened last night. Maybe it was worth listening to what it said -- would it answer her questions if she proved she was willing to cooperate?

She tapped her toes and leaned over, rifling through her backpack. Granola bar, granola bar, there! She had always grumbled about how her mom made her take snacks every day, but now she was grateful for it. 

Seriously, she really hoped the pain in her chest would go away if she ate, because it was getting hard to keep a poker face. The rhythmic tha-thump, tha-thumping of her heart felt somehow wrong. Usually, she'd have to try pretty hard to notice it, but now, each clearly-felt beat of her heart felt heavy, as if labored. 

She felt a spike of curiosity as she thought about it. While unwrapping and taking a large bite out of the granola bar (blatantly ignoring Mrs. Nordstrom's "No Food" policy), she wondered if hearts were ever supposed to get tired. Not until a person was super old, right? Gray and wrinkly and falling apart?

Oy, she thought. I'm eating. You're not me, so who are you? Why do you need food to keep my heart beating? 

She felt a little foolish when nothing happened.

Hello? Cecilia to Major Tom, are you there?

[Ppph], the other-thinker thought.

HEY! Are you laughing at me?!

[Give second. Don't panic. Eat.]

Hmm? Why would she --

THA-THUMP, THA-THA-THUMP!! Went her heart, pounding so hard she audibly gasped. Her current bite of food nearly fell out of her mouth. A few of her classmates gave her funny looks, but she glared at them and they turned away hastily. At times like this, it helped to have a reputation for a nasty temper -- thank goodness she'd ignored all those motherly lectures on politeness. If she'd grown into the goody-goody princess her mom had hoped for, there was no way her classmates would've missed what happened next.

Clutching at her chest in agony, Cecilia leaned forward, shaking her hair in front of her face so she could freely snarl at the pain. What the f*ck was this?! Her heart wasn't just pounding anymore; something was squirming in there!!

[Do not panic. Is fine. Eat.]

She was supposed to keep eating during whatever this was?! For all she knew, it could be a heart attack! What if the voice was a hallucination? Maybe those drugs from the news had been slipped to her secretly; was it a new tactic to get innocent people hooked?! Well it wasn't working, because she seriously was NOT enjoying whatever trippy concoction they'd managed to inject her with overnight.

[You not think clearly. Eat.]

The other-thinker was right, though. She was hurting too much now to process things properly. She'd decided to try to finish eating and test if that helped; she would see it through to the end.

As the squirmy, painful feeling worked its way from her heart to her stomach, she forced herself to slowly chew and swallow another bite of her snack. She could feel every uncomfortable moment as the swallowed bits of food traveled down her esophagus; it was like the sensation when you ate too quickly and ended up with a large chunk of food that went down all at once, except today, she'd made sure to chew the food well. 

Cecilia grimaced when a sharp pain came from her stomach. Then, it was over. All of the strange, painful sensations, from her heart to her esophagus to her stomach, vanished simultaneously. 

[Good job. Talk during lunch.]

Rude, she thought. How dare it just appear out of nowhere, give me orders, then vanish!!

But, well, I suppose it did explain how to get rid of the pain, and it was right, too. I can afford to be a little bit patient.

It didn't occur to her at all that, perhaps, all of it was an act -- from the mysterious voice's instructions to its very manner of speech.

--

At lunch time, there was one person who could see the changes in Cecilia right away. She noticed the uncharacteristically nervous movement of Cecilia's eyes, the repeated clenching and releasing of her fist, her unusually large appetite, even the way her expression shifted at times as if reacting to some sort of inaudible conversation. All were all laid bare before her uncanny perception. "Cecilia, we need to talk," Guinevere said abruptly. 

"Hm?" Cecilia asked, turning towards her friend. Guinevere's straight black hair and crisply tidy uniform were as impeccable as always.

Guinevere could see the slight tightness in her friend's demeanor. Subtly clenched jaw, flared nostrils, tense shoulders, somewhat accelerated breathing in reaction to her statement. Nervousness, perhaps anxiety. Yes, something had changed. If it was what she suspected, then there was reason to be concerned… however, she wanted to make certain first. In a private place.

"Come with me," Guinevere demanded, grabbing Cecilia's wrist and pulling her after her without further explanation. 

--

Crap, crap, crap, Rogork thought. Have we been caught already??  

Rogork hadn't missed the black-haired young woman's watchful eyes. For once, the System wasn't sure what to do. 

Right, I could do that, it thought. Just because Alesha was mentally indisposed at the moment didn't mean Quests couldn't be issued… right? He could just issue her a quest she couldn't succeed at and design the penalty in such a way that it could get them out of the situation.

Except Rogork wasn't so lucky. While the previous Quest Penalty had been able to be carried out, Rogork found itself unable to issue new quests. Why?? Alesha had gained XP from killing a human; and XP not specific to the Hero Summoning Story world, at that. It had been 'Seed of Chaos' System XP. If she could earn that, why could Rogork not issue Quests?! This was maddening! 

By then, however, Rogork didn't have any more time to try and figure out a solution, because Guinevere had brought Cecilia to an isolated spot outside the school and was facing her down.

"First question: are you safe?"

…Huh?