Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 343: Arc 5, - 37: Perilous Business

As the rain turned from a drizzle into a deluge that thudded against the window and roof within a matter of seconds, the two looked back to each other.

"I’m not an idiot," Fumeko’s eyes softened. "It must’ve been tough on you, sorry to hear it."

"I thought I told you not to say sorry!" Tiffany scowled like an angry puppy.

"It’s just something people say, alright, you don’t have to take it sincerely or anything," Fumeko crossed her arms and groaned.

"So," Tiffany sighed and took up an eyeliner pencil, "Thou wish to be sincerest with thy initial remark? That I, Stella Vespertillio, the Child of Void within the Sea of Stars, am awesome?" she smirked.

The brunette rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah..."

"I shall accept thy praise in behalf of the void~ Now, come-hither and receive mine gratitude," she shook the eyeliner pencil.

Fumeko pouted to the side... "Ugh, fine, since it’s raining anyway." She allowed the blonde to apply eyeliner and mascara at a leisurely pace.

She watched Tiffany carefully trace over the skin of each eyelid and pressed a finger under Fumeko’s eye to steady the brunette’s face. The blonde’s touch was delicate—akin to handling the petals of a flower.

Minutes went by before Fumeko fluttered her eyes in the mirror. She squinted at her reflection and tilted her head... "I’m still not into this stuff..."

Tiffany shook her head in a sigh, "Fine, suit yourself," she turned to arrange the things on her vanity.

Thunder roared out the window as Fumeko walked around and took a gander of the blonde’s room. Her eyes glued onto a short-haired woman in a pearl necklace, advertising some lipstick.

Red string connected together in the brunette’s mind; through all the items and posters, there was, surprisingly a lack of many things somehow.

There was some gummy residue left on the walls in certain spots, the textbooks were not a lot and yet arranged neatly and tied up, as if to carry at any given time... "So, what’re you gonna do?" Fumeko turned to ask.

"Arrange my makeup, since someone’s not entertained," Tiffany rolled her eye.

"I meant after today—after graduation."

"Hm. Well, it’s complicated," she shuffled a bunch of items into plastic boxes.

"What? The Child of Void is suddenly shy?" the brunette mocked.

"An adventurer; and no, it’s nothing to do with you being one," she shut the boxes. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"I, didn’t think that." Fumeko’s brows furrowed, "But you seriously wanna be an adventurer? There’s, a lot of risks... To your life, mainly."

Tiffany’s hands sunk in between her knees, "I know," her voice barely overcame the pouring rain. Her bluish-grey eye glanced to the reflection of Fumeko behind her, observing the blonde with reservation in her gaze.

"Ahem!" Her back went straight and her hands came out of hiding to proclaim, "Surely thou dost not deem me, Stella Vespertillio, to be unworthy of such an occupation!"

"...That’s where it starts—the overconfidence," Fumeko faced the window to the rain the was abruptly dying down. She watched each drop trail down the glass, "You’ll learn the hard way."

"What of thou, adventuring detective? Dost thou intend to reside in Burnetrout now that the ceremony of basic ascendance is fulfilled?" Tiffany side-eyed.

"I... yeah, I think. It’s the main reason I came back, but I’m staying for adventuring reasons I guess... I thought, something like theatre would suit you better. Isn’t there an opera house in Orchid Borough that does plays?" Fumeko tried to recall.

Tiffany smiled, "I do love that place—Winnefred Opera House. The atmosphere’s enchanting and the plays, magical. But my talents are wasted there."

"You’re leaving here, right? It’s one of the last days you’ll be spending at this dorm," Fumeko approached the window.

The blonde went silent as her eyebrows bent up, staring into the mirror to take a deep breath. "Yeah."

The brunette unlatched the lock on the window and slid it up. Crisp and clean, the storm blew a breeze into the room to fill their lungs with the cold.

Fumeko blinked out onto the windowsill and looked up. Tiffany pushed her chair back and rushed over, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Come on," Fumeko gave a hand through the window. "If you wanna adventure, this should hardly be scary."

Tiffany watched a few dark brown strands in Fumeko’s braided hair free themselves from the breeze blowing through—the unworried look on the brunette as she gave her hand, it was almost stoic for but a moment.

The blonde took the hand offered to her and was pulled out the window and onto the windowsill. Light grey clouds swirled above and the rain had changed its course for the time being.

Fumeko stared up to the gutter from below, "Spider Walk," shadows trailed down her fingers into her palms, forming such tiny little hooks across, like the thorns of a rose. "I’m not that strong so, you know, hold on tight."

Tiffany found her own palm practically attached to Fumeko’s by the shadowy forces. "Y-you wanna go up there?" she darted her one eye up.

"What? Scared? Adventuring’s about risks," Fumeko planted her free hand and foot onto the side of the outer wall.

"Just-" Tiffany refused to look down and gulped before she placed her delicately polished nails and fishnet gloves onto the surface of the concrete wall to have a grip whilst Fumeko held both their weights up the side.

Tiffany landed a hand into the gutter, "Euck," and grimaced as Fumeko pushed her up onto the wet roof. She stabled her footing on the slanted roof.

Once the blonde made it up, Fumeko simply blinked onto the roof next to her. Leaves and muck—a few sports balls that got thrown up here from hell knows when.

Tiffany flapped her hand and shook off the grime, but nothing would solve the dampened fabric of her fishnet gloves.

"It’s not to say, all about risks," Fumeko amended her statement and continued. "It’s, choosing the risks to take. And in most cases, you might not even know the consequences."

Fumeko walked up the roof of the dormitory building. Water gushed down the gutter, "If you can handle a little dirt on your gloves, don’t expect to handle the bigger adventures."

"I’m allowed to have a normal reaction to my gloves being soiled," Tiffany took it off with a sneer and stretched her pale fingers.

Fumeko poked the tip of her shoe against the damp roof tiles and looked back. She disappeared in shadows off the roof and came back up with a blanket. "You don’t mind if we use it as a carpet, do you?" she waved it.

"Hm, tis fine," Tiffany walked up to the peak of the roof as Fumeko set the blanket over the cold wet tiles.

Once the blanket was laid out, the two took their seats and surveyed all that was above and below. From the clouds to the wet grass—from roof to roof, to the hastily shut down booths.

Umbrellas were the only figures visible from this high up, however Orchid Borough was for their perusal. The drizzle drearily shadowed over the buildings outside the perimeter of the school.

Shopkeeps wheeled remaining crates of fruits into their stores. Carriage wheels dipped into puddles in the road as the coachmen made the horses gallop faster down the streets, whilst a car honked in the distance.

They noticed a tall clocktower, so far away from their gaze that it might as well be a speck. Tiffany took a glance to Fumeko to her right, then smiled... "I’ve never been up here before—in all my years of studying here..."

"It would’ve been a nice view to hang out with every day," the brunette remarked; she stared and surveyed the ground for her friends or her father to no avail. "Why do you wanna be an adventurer anyway?"

Tiffany exhaled into the cold. "..."

Fumeko could already take a few guesses in her head. Knowing the goals of her closest companions, she knew Tiffany’s wouldn’t be far off.

"Because I’m capable," the blonde answered.

The brunette turned and fluttered her lashes... Certainly not the answer she expected. "It’s not to, earn respect? Write your name on this world?"

"Don’t those come with the package?" Tiffany uttered with a chuckle.

"I guess. I just, hm." Fumeko took a look at the scenery once more.

"Art thou dissuading one such as I to stave off this path?"

"No, do what you want. I’m sure you’ll do great, I’m just..." little bits of red painted across her cheeks, "A little worried about you."

"Worried about me?" Tiffany faced the other way.

"Only a little," Fumeko grumbled back. "It’s, not easy."

"Pray tell of thy experiences and perhaps I may acknowledge them."

"For one thing, the danger. And well, if you’re anything like me..."

"Anything like you?" Tiffany raised a brow.

Fumeko closed her eyes and hugged her knees, "You know how I was mystery name cause of my dad. And you also know I ended up helping in Kria; that’s cause I ran away from home.

The thing is, I didn’t have friends and I didn’t really know how to act around people. Even so, I was really confident in what I’d do; but instead, the world knocked me on my ass...

I easily grew attached to the people I met. And I couldn’t really tell the difference between a friend and something more than a friend in the past.

I know better now, but I’m too- Never mind. Point is, they’re an important part of my life I don’t wanna lose. But with adventuring, comes that risk of losing them—all the time.

And you have to watch them writhe in pain or suffer sometimes too. You just have to watch them make some decisions that you have no control over or watch them take on the consequences of your risky decisions.

You risk a lot. And sometimes, you just stay awake at night, wondering if you made the right choice or not despite not having a say in the matter anymore. Not to mention, the risks to your own life."

"Fumeko..."

"Sorry," Fumeko turned to face her. "I’m not trying to discourage you; I’m just saying, you’ll have to consider these things too. Of course, if you’re just on your own, that risk’s a little less," she shrugged.

Tiffany took a moment to ponder and closed her eyes. She opened them back up to look to the brunette, "I’ll consider what you said too; but I also think I’ve already made my choice."

Fumeko smirked, "Yeah, don’t let your dreams die. But what do your parents think?"

The blonde went silent and peered to the tiles of the roof... "Hmph~! I’m Stella Vespertillio, the Child of Void within the Sea of Stars. Tis the void from whence I came and descended into this world anew," a ripple of transparent white waved up her eye.

Fumeko peered and peered to Tiffany... Her brown eyes darted around and around as red strings connected the dots. She pouted, "Sorry."

Tiffany flinched, "I told you not to say sorry! There’s no need!"

...

...

Fumeko blinked closer and sat next to her, "Did you, ever know them?" she hushed.

"...Ever since I can remember," the blonde’s shoulders fell. "I’ve always been in Orchid Borough Orphanage."

"Hm... My step-sister said a little about it; but what’s it like there?"

"...It’s," she shrugged, "a building that hosts orphans. There’s good reason why I prefer to spend most of my weeks and months in my own dorms."

"I see. Well, I’m an orphan too, just to add," Fumeko attempted some form of comfort it seemed.

"But, your dad?"

"Not actually my dad. I thought so too, since he took care of me since I was a baby," the brunette admitted.

Tiffany tilted her head, "Somehow I still see some resemblance."

"Well, I can see that too. The reason I was trapped in that house for seventeen years..."

Tiffany hummed, "You’re such a bitch."

"The hell d’you say to me twit?" Fumeko glared to her left.

"Must be nice to have a dad to complain about and still looks after you after so many years," the blonde sighed.

The brunette glared away...