Foresight and Preparation

When morning came, I parted from Alyssa, albeit not too willingly. 

"M-Mhh…Manager, please…"

She was muttering something in her sleep. I didn't want to eavesdrop too much, but I would definitely tease her for dreaming about me.

I walked outside, stretching as the sun hit my skin for the first time since last night. The air was cold, the sort of thing I'd expect from the Northern part of the city.

It was quiet. I couldn't see anything odd moving out and about, which honestly…relieved me.

I was about to go through my usual morning routine, until I saw a surprising sight. There was Jay, sitting down on a piece of nearby rubble and…doing nothing.

Their eyes were closed, but I could still see their chest rise and fall, a small mist coming out with every exhale. They were completely concentrated on their breathing, and nothing else.

I was a little sorry to interrupt, but…well, I was curious now. Just what was Jay doing out so early, and…why were they doing breathing exercises?

"You know, I had you figured for the wake up early type, but I never thought you'd come out just to do breathing exercises. Not alone, anyway."

Jay slowly opened their eyes, pools of black taking in the sunlight. They then turned their head to face me, smiling despite the interruption.

"I never placed you as the sort either, Manager. At the very least, you haven't been getting up early while we've travelled together."

I laughed, hopping onto the ruined concrete to sit next to Jay.

"Mostly thanks to getting the crap beat out of me in that dungeon. But since I'm feeling a little healed up, thought I'd get right back to my routine!"

I grinned, but I noticed a complicated look cross Jay's face at the mention of what had happened in the dungeon. They hesitated for a while, bringing a hand to their chin…before signing, letting go of whatever feelings were there.

"I truly do apologize. I…knew it would be dangerous, but not by that much of a margin."

They earnestly apologized, even adding an overly formal bow of the head. I just kept staring ahead, refusing their apology.

"The world is what it is. You can't do anything now without being willing to put your life on the line. We both wanted to help Alyssa. That's enough for me."

That was all I had to say on the matter. Sensing that finality, Jay shifted in place, turning to look forward again.

"...meditation."

"Hm?"

"I was…meditating." Jay explained, a small smile on their face. "I often do so in the morning. It's easy, now that the world is so constantly quiet. Despite the…unusual disturbances here and there."

Jay was right about that. Even if the world was entirely devoid of people, there was still oddities about.

You could hear it if you listened close enough. Weird sounds that didn't quite make sense, the sounds of reality shifting, concepts twisting, and things that should be dead coming to life.

It wasn't intense as it was at night, but in the early hours of the morning, not inside the safety of a building, it was always a nightmarish reminder of what you had just managed to avoid the night before.

"Still, isn't meditation usually done in like…some sort of lotus position. And doing all the humming and everything…?"

I had a feeling Viola, who loved her martial arts and cultivation so much would slap me on the back of my head for saying something so ignorant of the things that she loved.

"No, not always, Mr. Manager." Jay began, a small smile on their face. "Well...if you follow a particular method of teaching, or hope to achieve something, you may meditate in a specific way. But meditation, as a general practice, is less about positions, and more about focus. You could meditate through chanting, you could meditate through sitting in silence...you could theoretically even meditate while you're walking or running. What matters is that, during that time, you focus your mind. An extreme focus."

They waved their arms about, gesturing to the ruined world around us.

"I think that such a focus is especially important, when so much is constantly going wrong or appearing to be hostile. Not to mention, I've always been one to meditate, so...it just comes naturally to me." 

I stared at Jay out of curiosity.

Admittedly, they were right about something here. Focusing now was more important than it ever was. I'd heard stories - seen people go insane just by the sounds of the new, strange world constantly grinding against their ears.

I then wondered about something. 

That 'inner energy' that Viola had been speaking to me about. I wondered if 'meditation' was the key that I had been missing. 

I had continued the suicidal exercises she taught me, but I hadn't done more of the mental training like I had constantly done under the waterfall.

Maybe...I had been neglecting my training. That may be the missing piece to unlocking the mysterious 'inner energy' I had heard about only once from Viola.

"...think I could join you in meditating from now on?" I asked, to which Jay immediately nodded.

"I won't stop you from doing so, Mr. Manager."

I took a seat beside Jay and closed my eyes. The both of us sat there, focusing on our own inner worlds as the rest of the early morning passed...

-----

It wasn't long until Alyssa woke up. Surprisingly, things weren't awkward with her at all. In fact, she just seemed...even closer to me than before? And Jay didn't mind, either.

'They definitely planned last night out.'

That was the only reasonable conclusion. Who would think otherwise seeing how smoothly it all went?

Regardless, I didn't care. It felt good, and I got closer to Alyssa. 

The three of us headed out again, although, this time, our destination and goals weren't unknown.

"I think the three of us should try to focus on getting stronger." 

Naturally, it was Alyssa who suggested the idea, while folding her arms. I looked at her curiously. I wasn't against the idea, but I did want to know where it suddenly came from.

"Stronger? But you're plenty strong already. In fact, you zoomed past my level in like...a few weeks."

Alyssa shook her head, her gaze looking into the sky.

"I...I know I'm strong, of course."

'Not even a little bit humble...'

"-but! I just have...a feeling. This bad feeling that my strength won't be enough in the future...like something big is coming."

"..."

That put me off-balance. I was sure that the Saintess didn't have contact with her 'idea of God' anymore, so...what was with this sudden prediction?

Did her 'Divine' ability have some capability to see the future? Or was this just her natural instincts at work?

"Well, I'm not sure if it'll serve for me to become much stronger. I'm...naturally frail, you see. I doubt that I can do much."

Jay admitted upfront, with a sad smile on their face.

"Don't be such a downer, Jay! I'm sure there's something even a weakling like you could do!" Alyssa immediately dismissed, her frown deepening.

"Ah-! As expected of the Saintess...you're so merciful, even to a piece of trash like myself..."

"Ugh..."

"On a serious note, maybe...you're onto something, Alyssa." I interrupted, thinking for a while.

It was cruel, but...once the Flood Dragon arrived, no amount of training would save us. We had barely a month to accomplish any real results, anyways. Still...

I could take that knowledge, and the results of my training back.

And when the time came, I could re-arm Alyssa and Jay...no, everyone from the Alliance with the information and training that would give us a real shot at the Flood Dragon.

Lilliana, Nozomi, the Lily's Pond guild members...frankly, it may have been better to try and share this information with everyone across the City, but I didn't have the sort of influence, nor the ability to make that kind of mass-communication.

"Sure." I eventually agreed. "Let's go ahead and do some training."

"Hell yeah! Jay, no wimping out, you're joining in on this too!" Alyssa grinned, already out for blood. 

Jay sighed, eventually giving in with a hesitant nod. "If...if you say so, Saintess..."

I was, meanwhile, thinking of the most important matter when it came to this 'training'. 

'If the Saintess is already strong enough to defeat most of the Abnormalities in this area, just how are we going to have anything worth fighting?'

As it turned out...I had been worrying about the Flood Dragon a little too much. Perhaps I had forgotten just how terrifying regular Abnormalities could be, because I had relaxed my guard, thinking I had gotten strong enough to not care about most of them.

I should have taken the difficulty of my fight with the doppelganger more seriously. Maybe then I would have understood the lesson that I, myself, had proclaimed to learn a long time ago - Abnormalities aren't things that can be conquered with the mere strength we had.