Chapter 41: Time Lapse
[And The Winner Of This round is… Nier!] The mascot announced.
[The First Round Of The Second Day Ends Here!]
[The Second Round Will Start After 15 Minutes. And The Players Will Be Informed Of Their Matches And Opponents.]
After Ziro opened the menu to check his battle records, he found that his match had already ended and he had won. But, he had no recollection of that.
Alina's match also ended, and she had won.
Thirty minutes had passed, but for Ziro, only three seconds had passed.
'I saw the distortion in the matrix, was that related to my time-lapse?' he wondered.
At first, Ziro couldn't remember what happened during the thirty minutes.
When he asked Kevin, he replied that Ziro was standing with him.
After a minute, the memories flooded in Ziro's mind, and he remembered everything.
'But what was it, and how did it happen?' he wondered. 'What triggered it?'
Ziro was curious about the glitch he just experienced.
Under normal circumstances, Ziro would have shrugged it off as he always did— to the things he couldn't comprehend or understand by logical means.
However, this wasn't the first time that had happened to him. After experiencing the glitch, Ziro remembered that the same thing happened when he was fighting with the spirit beast after Alina died.
Ziro was certain that he was the one triggering the distortion and the glitch in the matrix, but he didn't know how and what caused it to trigger.
Alina nudged Ziro and knitted her brows: "What are you thinking?"
Ziro moved his hand towards Alina's chest and squeezed her breast: "I have been thinking, and I haven't touched you here and there in the real world for a while now."
"Maybe I should drop by your house after the second day ends?" he sneered.
Alina squinted her eyes and replied: "It's the weekend, so we don't have any school today or tomorrow, or the day after that— on Sunday."
"So?" Ziro asked curiously, wanting to know what Alina was trying to say.
"The event ends tomorrow, so we will have nothing to do on Sunday," Alina asserted.
"So?"
Alina puckered her lips and whispered in Ziro's ear: "It's been weeks since we last went on a date, so let's go on a date this Sunday."
Ziro raised his brows and asked, "In the real world, right? Because we have been going on in-game dates recently."
"Yup." Alina nodded and added, "And…"
"And?"
Alina brought her face even closer to Ziro and uttered with a mischievous smile on her face: "I might give you access to my V-card."
Ziro's mind stopped working for a moment after hearing that.
"Can you repeat again?"
"You might lose your V-card and take my V-card, too," Alina repeated.
"Are you serious?" Ziro asked, still doubting the situation.
Alina nodded in response.
"Are you seriously serious?" Ziro asked again.
Alina squinted her eyes and uttered, "If you keep doing that, then I will take back what I said."
"I get it. But it's just… too sudden and… unpredicted."
"Are you not happy?"
"I am happy, but it's hard for me to comprehend. I can't believe I am hearing that coming from your mouth," Ziro replied.
"Wait," Ziro furrowed his brows and asked, "This is not one of your pranks, right?"
"It's not."
"What if you pretend or play dumb on the date? Because you have done that many times."
"I won't do that."
"What if you blue-ball me like you have done hundreds of times already."
"No blue-balling this time." Alina shook her head and whispered: "If I do that, then you can r.a.p.e me."
Ziro stared at Alina for a while and uttered, "You are acting very brazen today."
"Well," Alina wrapped her arms around Ziro's neck and glanced at Sera and Nier before saying, "I have to step up my game if I have to stay number one."
Ziro looked at the sky and saw a massive timer with the countdown on 10 minutes left.
He bumped his forehead on Alina's forehead and asked, "Are we going to eat somewhere before the second round starts?"
Alina glanced at Nier and Sera from the corner of her eyes and replied, "Ask them. They look hungry."
"Nier! Sera! Wanna go eat somethin'?"
Nero rushed to Ziro and hugged his arms: "Actually, there is something I want to eat."
"Alright."
Nero waited for Sera to reply, but she waved her hand and uttered: "My match is right after the second round starts, So I have to be here. I will join you some other time."
Ziro gave a thumbs up to Sera and turned to Alina: "Let's go."
"I will stay here and cheer for Sera when her match starts. You two go have fun," Alina suggested.
Ziro knitted his brows and uttered to himself, 'Didn't you say you were going to step up your game?'
Ziro and Nier went to the nearest cafe while holding each other's hands tightly.
'I seriously can't understand how Alina, Nier, and Sera's relationship works. Sometimes, they fight like crazy, and sometimes they get along like… crazy.'
SIGH!
Ziro sighed and gave his attention to Nier, so she wouldn't feel like he was forcing himself to come with her.
After eating what Nier wanted to eat, they went back to the arena as soon as possible.
"I hope we haven't missed Sera's match," Ziro uttered.
They both rushed to Alina and asked, "Are we late?"
"Uhh…" Alina pointed her gaze at the stadium and uttered, "I think so?"
Sera was standing in the field, and her opponent was out of the ring.
[And The Winner Of This Round Is… Sera!]
"This match continued for three minutes, huh?" Kevin uttered from behind.
Alina looked back to see Kiana and Kevin standing behind them, wearing new outfits with the same design but different colors.
"You two are back!"
After Sera's battle ended in the first round, Kevin and Kiana logged out for a while as they had something to do in the real world.
"You are back sooner than I thought," Ziro remarked.
"Did you miss me?" Kevin asked with a grin on his face.
Ziro's face twitched as he answered, "Hell's no."
[The Next Battle Is Between Roland And Byldger!]
Ziro's face twitched even more when he heard Byldger's name being mentioned again.
Kevin gazed at the field and uttered, "It seems we are on the right time."
Everyone's attention turned to the field as the match began.
[Three! Two! One! Go!]
The moment the match started, Ronald raised his hands in the air and yelled, "I surrender!"
-- Gift
received