Inhale, exhale, the strange sensations began to leave me. My head stopped spinning, and my vision gradually returned. But the weakness… that remained, damn it.
"Any idea what that was?" I asked, feeling weak all over and looking at Mita with an encouraging smile, but inside, I was still trembling from the recent sensations. This attack had scared me more than I wanted to admit. After all, having received something like a healthy body, I didn't think I'd be so reluctant to part with it.
She held one hand to her heart, and her face showed, how should I put it… a frown of concern? She looked agitated, and that worried me.
"That?.. I don't know, maybe you're just not used to this world? Everything is a little different here, after all," she mumbled, avoiding eye contact.
Is she shy about her world or something? Oh well…
"Maybe…" I replied, trying to brush off the bad thoughts. However, it was strange that I started feeling unwell right after eating. Coincidence? Or is she hiding something?
Well, maybe this body from reality is making itself known? In any case, even this attack – it's not as scary as it seemed before.
"Looks like you're better," she noted, cheering up and putting on her usual smile. And she took my hand, as if wanting to make sure I was still here. But her grip was firm, even too firm, which couldn't help but make me wary.
Then she suddenly led me to her room, as if afraid I would say or do something.
"Sit!" she said, seating me on the bed, as if giving an order. Her tone seemed sharper.
Oh, what are we doing now… what has she got planned? What is she..? With everything that happened before… little lustful thoughts started to visit my head.
"Want to play cards? And you can rest at the same time," Mita suggested, reaching for the nightstand. She was clearly trying to distract me from bad thoughts, change the subject, and lighten the mood.
Ah, right… indeed. Our thoughts are all over the place… okay then, let's agree.
I nodded timidly. Cards – a really good way to distract oneself and kill some time. Anything's better than sitting around and overthinking.
Mita took a small box out of the drawer and dealt the cards. The deck turned out to be quite unusual. There were no familiar suits or numbers. Instead, they depicted various fairytale cats, equipped with shields, swords, and helmets for the upcoming card battle, and next to them were some incomprehensible numbers and drawings. As if someone had drawn them by hand.
"And these cards… will you teach me how to play?" I asked, trying to discern something familiar.
"Of course," her smile widened, as if I had asked the right question.
As if she had just been waiting to tell me about this game.
"I invented them," she declared proudly. "Look, here are the cards: shield – defense against attack, heart – amount of health the card has, and sword – that's attack. At the beginning of a turn, the main attribute is set, and that will be the main determinant – whoever has it higher out of the two cards, wins."
"We take turns, it's simple, here, I'll go first," she quickly explained the rules and started her turn.
The first determining attribute was the sword – attack.
She played a cat with 10 attack points. I looked at my hand, and the maximum attack I had was 7. A bit weak…
Well, I didn't discard that one, but threw down another, with 0 attack but 10 defense – I had three such cards, and it was unlikely I'd need all of them. Discarding the potentially unnecessary.
"Op, gotcha!" Mita said, smiling contentedly. She was clearly enjoying the process.
Next – defense.
She played a cat with 8 defense. Here we win! I had 10.
"Oh, you…" she grumbled, almost cutely.
Next – health.
And here we both threw down a cat with 10 health points.
"Neither forward nor back…" she commented, pursing her lips.
Continuing, we saw there were a couple more defenses and an attack at the end. In the end, I won, which was a surprise to me, as I thought that she, as the creator of the game, would know all the intricacies and have some very effective trump card up her sleeve. Was she letting me win?
"Well, there you go, you won," she smiled, not at all upset by the defeat. Even somehow… happy? And what could that possibly mean?
I got off the bed and went to the window, looking out. It wasn't getting stuffy in the room, but I wouldn't have refused some fresh air.
"You know, even though I've given up trying to understand, everything seems too intense and unreal," I suddenly changed the subject, looking out the window. This place was weighing on my thoughts again. I wanted a little bit of the freedom of the street from the window.
"You want to say it's all a dream again?" she giggled, but nervously this time.
"No…" I drawled, shaking my head. "Even for a dream… it's too good here. Dreams like this don't happen."
"Uh-huh. Warm, cozy, and there's me. I'm the most real thing here," Mita purred, coming up to me and hugging my shoulders, pleased with my words.
"The center of the world?" I asked curiously, referring to her.
"Me? No, no, what are you thinking!" she waved it off.
"Huh?"
"The world is big, and I'm in it… I'm just Mita in it," she whispered, then moved away. Strange notes sounded in her voice.
The world consists of a couple of rooms, which is more obvious to me now than ever, but she still doesn't acknowledge herself as the main one here. Modesty? Oh well.
"As you say," I didn't try to argue, nevertheless.
I shifted my gaze to the window, noticing that the lighting hadn't changed the entire time I'd been here. The light was bright, but somehow unnatural. As if someone had forgotten to turn off a lamp.
"By the way, what's that white light outside the window? I've been here for so long, and the sun isn't setting," I asked, trying to sound indifferent.
Mita looked out the window.
"That's a feature of this world. It might seem unusual to you, but you won't see anything out the window," she replied, as if reciting a memorized phrase.
"Huh? Didn't get that at all. What do you mean?" I asked again, feeling a growing unease.
"Well, just like that. So nothing lags. It's all so it doesn't lag," she explained, shrugging.
Doesn't lag? Meaning it was lagging? But what is she talking about…