Tales From The Kronos

The three friends sat silently on Silva's bed, surrounded by all the paintings she painted. The heavy atmosphere prevented anyone from saying a word, instead staying near each other quietly. Neige bandaged Silva's arm under the eyes of a worried Sepide, and after a moment, the man finally decided to break the tension in the air.

"It's been a while that I noticed, but... I never knew what to do. I don't know why I found the courage to talk about it this time."

"It's okay." Said Silva "I didn't want help. Well, I think I don't... I don't really know anymore to be honest."

Sepide felt a bit overwhelmed, she didn't know how to deal with that situation. She wanted to help her friend but couldn't find a way to make her feel better. She was afraid to make the situation worse, but the thought of losing her friend was even scarier. Sepide gently took Silva's hand and squeezed it, hoping to calm both her friend and herself.

"Silva, why do you feel bad? Is it because of what happened in your world?"

"Well... Maybe. I just feel like I'm never enough, that if I disappeared, everything would be easier... But lately, I don't even know what's better anymore." Silva took a deep breath, trying her best to gather her strength "I always was a burden for my parents, they said I was a disappointment. And... One day everything changed..." She tried her best to talk, but despite all of her efforts, she couldn't. Seeing that she was staying silent for a moment now, Neige decided to do something to cheer her up.

"You can take all the time you need, we'll be here to listen. But you must be exhausted of our mission, we should do something fun."

"Like what?"

"We could... come in my room? I'll show you what I've been working on in my spare time."

Silva thought for a moment, and asked shyly "Do you have a secret stash?"

"I might."

Still unsure, Silva looked at Sepide next to her. Her friend nodded her head with a smile to convince Silva to accept Neige's proposition.

"Okay, fine."

Happy that they managed to convince Silva, the group headed toward Neige's room.

Silva never really came into the room of her friend, she saw it, but it was mostly when she came to talk to Neige. it was really well organized, books were both on the shelf and the desk, as well as many papers with writing in other languages pinned on the walls. But one thing was taking the attention of Sepide, it was a drawing, it looked like it was drawn by a child. It looked eerily similar to the anomaly and it was pinned with the name Ada written on it. She knew that it was their goal to stop her, but for some reason, the thought of it made her a bit sad.

"What's going to happen after we get rid of the anomaly?"

Neige came next to her and looked at the drawing she was staring at. He quickly understood what was worrying her, and put his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to make her feel better.

"Maybe we'll play video games together until one of us can beat Polyetta. But whatever happens, we'll stay together."

"But, how can you know? It seems all so... Uncertain. If we succeed, then will we feel happier?" Sepide contemplated the drawing on the wall for a moment. Neige himself didn't know what to answer, and both stayed that way until Silva's voice got them out of their thoughts.

"Ah-ah! I found what I was searching!" Silva showed a box, it was very small and locked with a code, with the words 'FOOD' on it.

"It's just a box with his food in it, it's marked on it." Explained Sepide, but Silva kept shaking the box, trying to hear inside.

"Of course, and you believe it? I don't know about you, but I don't lock my food behind a code."

Neige chuckled a bit and started talking mockingly.

"I just like hiding my food from nosy people. If it was unlocked, you would have stolen some."

"Of course." Replied Silva "Not because I'm hungry, just to annoy you. But now that it's locked, I'm going to annoy you even more and take everything for me and Sepide."

"But I'm not hungry." Sepide was feeling a bit bad for Neige. But she also was curious to see what's in the box.

"It doesn't matter, you can't find the code anyway."

The two girls looked at the box for a moment, there were four numbers necessary to open the lock. But no matter how hard they thought, they couldn't figure out what to input. They tried everything they could, and after an hour, Neige decided it was enough.

"Okay, you tried, I applaud your determination. So I wanted to show you the new language I'm learning, it's from the world the anomaly is from, and I think-"

"Neige, you're a great friend, but can you stop talking? We're focused here."

The man was getting tired, not because they tried to open the box, but because he wanted to show them many things. All Sepide and Silva wanted was to open this box, it wasn't even the box itself, they just couldn't accept that they could be defeated by a simple lock.

"I swear, we put every possible number, why doesn't it open?" Silva aggressively shook the box out of frustration. Sepide took it from her hand, so she wouldn't break it, and inspected the box all she could. She noticed something weird at the bottom, it was a removable part, like a false bottom, and behind it was hidden another four numbers. She shared her discovery with Silva, putting even more despair in her friend.

"Eight? Eight numbers? We'll never get it. At this point, nothing in this little box could be satisfying!"

"See?" Said Neige, tired "You can't find the code, just give up."

Sepide wasn't going to listen to him and instead tried inputting random numbers.

"Eight numbers, just like the worlds."

"What do you mean?" Asked Silva

"To go to another world, we need its ID, and it's always eight numbers, I think it's not a coincidence."

"Oh, I see!" Silva felt energized again, and together with her friend, tried to open the box once more. They tried every possible world they could think of, and after another hour, the ticking of the box opening was heard. Neige was half sleeping, but after hearing that, he quickly woke up, suddenly worried.

"You-You did? How?"

"14102001, what world is that?" Asked Silva to Sepide, amazed that her friend could find the code.

"I don't know, I just thought of it, maybe it doesn't mean anything."

They looked in the box, and they found a key in a bunch of cotton, probably so it wouldn't make noise when moved around.

"What's the key for?" Neige pretended to not know the answer to Silva's question, annoying both of his friends "We'll find, it's okay."

They searched around the room, under the worried gaze of Neige. After a while, they managed to find a keyhole under the carpet. Sepide was about to open it, but the man tried hard to find a way to convince them.

"You know, you don't need to open it, you solved the puzzle!"

"Come on, we saw each other's secret." Neige shook his head to show his disagreement with Silva, feeling visibly distressed.

"No, we didn't. You said you had porn, we never saw it."

"I'll show you next time." Said Silva nonchalantly

"No, I meant that we didn't need to know everything about each other!"

"What is hidden there for you to react that way? A body?" Asked Sepide, still trying to open the keyhole. It seemed like it was used a lot since it was loose.

"At least I'd have an explanation for a body, I'm not sure how I'm gonna explain that."

The trapdoor was finally open, revealing a bunch of clothes. They were all girls' clothing, Sepide was a bit confused after seeing them and didn't understand what she found.

"What is it Sepide?" Silva's question stayed without an answer for a moment due to Sepide's confusion at what she was seeing.

"I think it's clothes? For a girl? There are even costumes."

"Oh, I see~" Silva made a pervert smile and looked at Neige with a look full of innuendo "I thought you were asexual, but it seems like the girl that you bring here says otherwise."

"Yeah... That was my secret!" Neige tried to laugh it off, but it made Silva doubt instead.

"You accepted it way too easily. Is there something else Sepide?"

Sepide looked around, but all there was were feminine clothes. She explained that there was nothing else, and the two had to stop here for now.

"Is that it? You have a girlfriend?" Asked Silva, a bit disappointed.

"But... I thought he wasn't interested in love?" Sepide asked, still confused.

"Don't worry about it, I don't have a girlfriend anyway, you can say that... I bought comfortable clothes for a girl, and that's it."

Silva accepted the answer, but Sepide found the wording of her friend a bit weird and quickly asked about it.

"How do you know they're comfortable?"

Neige became pale after realizing what he said and tried his best to change the subject.

"So as I was saying, if I learn the language of the anomaly, we could-"

"Neige, are you actually a femboy?" Silva tried her best to not laugh, but just the thought of her friend wearing feminine clothes was too much for her.

"I'm not a femboy, I just happen to look like a girl"

"I'm sure you really look pretty in your cute clothes." Silva couldn't stop from laughing at Neige's embarrassment. But Sepide still didn't understand what it meant.

"What's a femboy?" She asked innocently.

Silva tried to regain her seriousness to explain to her, but couldn't. So Neige decided to explain it so he could end the situation faster.

"It's when a boy likes to look like a girl."

"So you're a femboy?"

"No, I'm not, I just naturally look like a girl."

"And that pile of clothes came naturally with you too?" Silva was still finding the situation hilarious, and they all had to wait for her to calm down before Neige could explain himself.

"To be honest, I like seeing myself in girl clothes... It's... cut..."

"I'm sorry Neige, you know my hearing isn't great, can you speak louder?" Silva pretended to not hear even though she perfectly heard him, just so she could hear him say it again.

"Okay, it's cute, you're happy?"

"Don't worry Neige, we accept you how you are, even if you are doing weird things in women's clothes." Sepide tried cheering her friend, but it only made him more embarrassed.

"Is that what you're imagining? I just like wearing them, it's nothing sexual or weird."

"Can we see one on you? I'm curious to see what you look like in girl's clothes?" Sepide asked in a very innocent voice. Neige knew she was just curious and wanted to help her friend, but he also knew that Silva right next to her found the idea hilarious. But in the end, he couldn't resist Sepide's demand.

"Okay, but just once."

After a moment, he finally put on the first outfit he found. It wasn't anything particular, it looked like a uniform that some students from another world would wear, with a bow and a blue skirt.

"You look very pretty!" Said Silva, with a big smile on her face, she was clearly enjoying the moment.

"I thought you were blind..."

"I am, but just imagining you dressed as a girl is amusing me! You should wear that for tomorrow's party!"

"No thanks."

Sepide approached Neige and fixed the bow on him. He didn't say anything and waited for her to finish, he didn't really know what to feel, it was the first time anyone had seen him like that.

"There, it wasn't attached well. You look really cute like that!"

"Really?... Thanks..." Neige still was embarrassed, but Sepide's compliment made him feel a bit better "I think... I'm glad I got to share that with you. I don't regret it, but I didn't expect you to actually find this out."

"It's okay." Said Silva "It's just really funny, but it's nothing bad I swear. And femboys are pretty cool."

"Just to be clear, I'm not a femboy, I just like to do it sometimes. I'm just a guy that happens to look like a girl."

Neige was about to remove the clothes, but before he did, the door of his room suddenly opened. It was Emely, holding a toolbox in her hand.

"The door was opened, so I allowed myself in. I'm here to fix the light on the ceiling."

"Emely!? You could knock at least! And it was a month ago! I fixed it since!"

The girl suddenly noticed Neige's outfit and blushed intensely suddenly. She couldn't say anything, and put her hand on her mouth, visibly surprised. She quickly took her phone and took a picture of Neige in the feminine outfit, still blushing.

"C-Cute!" After saying that, Emely closed the door, leaving the room silent for a moment.

"I take back what I said, I regret everything."

Silva chuckled at the situation. She almost forgot how bad she felt a few hours ago and understood what Gwyn said now. Maybe spending time with Sepide and Neige is better than she first thought.