"What if I liked Emma? Would that be a problem for you?" Klaus asked Jayaa, looking into his eyes.
Jayaa looked back at Klaus, and his face tensed for a moment. Then he sighed and scratched his head. "Klaus, I was an idiot to think that. If you two liked each other, it shouldn't be a problem for me. It was my mistake not to trust my sister and you. I was just a bit angry that you could choose to stay here in the apartment just for her sake, not for our friendship..."
Klaus nodded, appreciating Jayaa's honesty. "I understand, and I appreciate your sincerity. But really, Emma and I are just good friends. Nothing more."
"You've never been together?" Jayaa asked in surprise.
Klaus smiled slightly, as if this was a funny secret that could finally be revealed. "Actually, no. We've never stayed, never dated, nothing like that. We're just friends."
Jayaa seemed relieved by Klaus' answer. "Good, because I really value our friendship too. I just didn't want to spoil anything between us."
Klaus put his hand on Jayaa's shoulder. "And why would our friendship be ruined by something like that?"
"Oh, you know. Even though I'm younger than her, I'd have to act like every brother and tell you off, say you shouldn't date and things like that. It would be really crazy for me if you two were dating."
"Yes, it would..." Klaus said, looking at Emma.
At that moment, Jayaa looked at Emma too, then at Klaus and realized that it really wasn't his imagination. "Wait, Klaus, don't tell me you asked all this because..."
"Don't say anything to her. I don't think this is the most opportune moment, because, you know, everyone is living in a different state, but who knows in the future." Klaus winked at Jayaa.
Just then, Emma returned from the kitchen with a warm smile. "Coffee's ready, everyone!" She placed the coffees on the coffee table in the living room and took the opportunity to ask Klaus: "By the way, you mentioned that a candidate from your guild is coming to New York, didn't you, Klaus? If you want, you can invite him here and Jayaa will get to know him."
"Actually, I'd rather do it in a public place, because I understand she's from another country and it'll be safer for her too. Besides, it's the first time I'm going to see her in person, it wouldn't be polite to introduce her like this. It's better for them to get to know each other inside the game."
"If that's what you think, leader..." Jayaa said, taking a sip of coffee from the cup marked 'Best boyfriend in the world', given to him by his girlfriend, which made Klaus and Emma laugh a little.
The atmosphere in Emma and Jayaa's apartment became lighter after the frank conversation between the friends.
The laughter they shared dissipated any remaining tension and reinforced the complicity they had with each other.
While sipping their coffee, they chatted about old times and Kaito and Emma talked about the challenges that campus life had brought. Jayaa also shared the possibility of moving in with his girlfriend, which made his sister and best friend very happy.
Eventually, Jayaa had to go and change because she had spilled some coffee on her shirt while laughing and, as it was getting late for Klaus to leave, Emma offered him a lift.
When Klaus got into her car, he admired it and said:
"That's a nice car."
"Thanks, I recently won it from a sponsoring brand. I'm still getting used to driving it."
"You got a car from a brand? Shit, it's for things like this that I sometimes regret not having accepted a contract with any organization or agency."
"Why didn't you? You could still own a guild." She asked in surprise as she adjusted her seatbelt.
"I think it's because I'd have too many commitments and, frankly, I'm only thinking about evolving at the moment."
"Evolve? But in Rise Online it's not very good to evolve too quickly, you lose a lot of attribute points that you can gain without evolving."
"I know..." Klaus said with a slightly downcast tone.
Indeed, Emma was right and perhaps it was because he didn't evolve as quickly as most at the beginning that he achieved such a high disparity in strength even with players who were at the same level as him, but what other option does he have? He needs to get to Level 200 as quickly as possible.
When they left the garage and Emma started driving through the busy streets of New York, she took the opportunity when they stopped at a traffic light to ask:
"Hey, can I ask you a question?"
"Of course you can. What is it?"
"Why is it that when you told everyone what happened at the Myth2 championship final, you didn't mention your family's accident or what happened to your older brother?"
Klaus sighed, looking out of the window as the cars drove past. It was a question he had expected, but it was still difficult to talk about.
"Well, Emma, it's a part of my life that's still very painful for me. I didn't want people to see me as a victim or treat me differently because of it. You know how people are... they'd try to turn all this into something that's none of their business."
Emma nodded understandingly. "I understand, Klaus. It's a difficult personal story to share... And it's somehow related to your Guild, isn't it? You never showed any intention of creating a guild, otherwise you would have made a lot more allies."
Klaus smiled, admiring Emma's cleverness. He took a deep breath, looked into her eyes and said:
"I can tell you, but I think you'd better lean back somewhere and listen."
Immediately, Emma knew it was something even more serious than she had imagined.
...
Edited by: DrHitsuji
If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske
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