Jon felt slightly off-put, with how forward Claire’s line of questioning was.

  He was sure that the three of them had been drinking before he arrived, if the scent of wine and beer on their lips was anything to go by. His expression didn’t change, courtesy of his Fragment Of Mind and Fragment Of Spirit; thoughts bubbling to the surface of his Three Seas Of Knowledge, thinking of something smart to reply with.

  Minerva-Infiltration Eyes observing the interested expressions on Claire and Amy’s face, giving the two a polite smile before-.

  “Claire! You can’t just ask someone that!” Kate almost leaped out of her seat, cheeks flushed pink as her hands rose up to cover her friend’s mouth. Claire avoided her hands with a deftness that that suggested she wasn’t inebriated, mouth curling upwards into a smile that seemed far too mischievous to suggest anything nice.

  “I can go first if you’d like?” Claire replied, winking at Jon, smiling as Kate childishly fumed at her friend’s antics. Her eyes roamed all over her face, towards her pale-blonde hair and bright blue eyes before moving towards the scattering of faded freckles across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose.

  Eyes moving downwards, towards the form-fitting black dress she had on before swiftly moving back up towards her face.

  “I love your cute, faded freckles. It reminds me of the time when we were younger, back in Year 7 and Year 8. When we first met and when we first became friends.” Claire responded honestly, watching as Kate squirmed under all the attention she was suddenly receiving.

  Having Jon sit right next to her was always the plan but having him, alongside Kate and Amy all stare at her face caused her cheeks to flush an even deeper shade of red. Her hand reaching towards the wine glass placed before her, placing it to her lips as though she intended to hide behind it.

  Shaking her head from side-to-side, Kate glanced towards Jon beside her.

  Although she did not expect either Amy or Claire to bring up such a topic, she could not help but wonder what Jon would respond with, if he decided to-.

  “This might sound weird but…”

  Jon raised his pint glass towards his lips, pausing to sip on it.

  “But things have been kind of ‘different’ since I’ve come out of hospital. It has only been two months since we’ve all graduated high school but for me, it feels as though several years have passed. Losing an arm, was ‘difficult’ but I just haven’t been the same since I was discharged.”

  Jon placed an emphasis on the word ‘difficult’ watching as Claire, Amy and Kate all listened intently. Placing his Tabitha-Cedarspear Arm on the table in front of them, he saw Kate’s two friends move their gazes downwards to look at it, before swiftly moving their eyes away from the wooden-limb.

  “See? Couldn’t help yourselves?” Jon continued, tilting his head towards Kate beside him.

  “I guess, the thing I like most about Kate is that she didn’t care.”

  Jon placed his pint back down on the table, realizing that he had drunk more than a quarter of it. His usual “sips” back in the System Introduction were from Mortal Ranked beers and spirits, which were not nearly enough to inebriate someone that had achieved Knighthood.

  Truthful-Scales tipping further away from falsehood.

  He sighed, tilting his head backwards ever-so-slightly, meeting Clarei’s gaze with an almost provocative glint behind his eyes. Minerva-Infiltration Eyes piercing through her non-existent mental defences, gleaming emotions such as guilt, regret and strangely… joy.

  Amy sharing said emotions, flashes of disorganized memories flickering all at once. Jon was not capable of sorting through them without focusing, leaving the images behind to float atop the surface of his Three Seas Of Knowledge.

  The tension around the table weirdly subdued, as though someone had poured ice over burning coals. Steam and emotions clouding mannerisms and rational thought.

  Jon grinning before nudging Kate with his knee under the table.

  “Also, I absolutely love blonde-haired, blue-eyed girls.”

  “Can’t get enough of them.”

  Kate’s two friends visibly twitched at his words, both possessing dark hair colours. The grin on his face made it seem as though he was joking, although he quite obviously allowed his gaze to linger on the pale-blonde locks that swept across Kate’s shoulders and back.

  The girl in question felt her cheeks warm but was not quite drunk enough turn speechless or flustered.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “Oh? That’s funny, because I rather prefer men with hair only a single colour.” She retorted, smiling despite her rather pointed words. The Truthful-Scales within his Three Seas Of Knowledge detecting another falsehood.

  Jon ignored it, giving her an exasperated sigh.

  “It’s a genetic thing, I promise. I started greying rather early all things considered.”

  “I blame my Dad for it.”

  The tuft of white-coloured hair that sat around his forehead was blatantly eye-catching. Although Jon said that his hair was quite clearly ‘greying’, pure, unblemished, white-coloured locks sprouted from his forehead, contrasting heavily with his normal rust-coloured hair.

  Their appearance and structure was the same as the rest of his hair. Neither frail, nor damaged, nor even thin and splitting. The white-coloured locks did give Kate the impression that he was older, a sentiment that she shared with Claire, Amy, and several of their coworkers.

  Kate did not appear undeterred despite his response, merely grinning, enjoying the playful banter that rocked back-and-forth between them. She did not even notice the presence of a woman standing behind Jon, staring up at his face, completely ignoring Claire and Amy sitting opposite her.

  Her fingers trailing across the surface of her wine glass.

  “So what was that about living in an enormous-.”

  “Jon!?”

  The man in question blinked, hearing a familiar-sounding voice echo out from behind him. Flashes of memories bubbled up from the depths of his subconscious mind, causing his chair to grate rather loudly against the wooden floorboards beneath him.

  As he stood up, turning around to face the owner of said voice.

  Brows almost shooting up into his eyebrows as he tilting his head downwards, staring at the red-headed girl that stood opposite him. Hair draped across one shoulder and dressed in a rather luxurious-looking sundress, Jon watched as the woman standing before her gasped, eyes widening and expression shifting.

  Morphing into one of blatant shock and clear surprise.

  “S-Summer?!” Jon exclaimed, mimicking the expressions that stretched across her face. Feelings of confusion, shock, surprise and joy pulled at the corners of their mouths, smiles plastering both of their faces.

  Jon did not feel his [Bestial Intuition] even so much as twitch as he felt Summer pull him into a tight embrace. Fragment Of Instincts instead twitching almost imperceptibly as he felt three pointed stares stabbing into his side, one in particular emanating a faint sense of murderous intent.

  “Why haven’t you been returning any of my texts!? Or any of my calls!? If it wasn’t for Lydia and Ariel texting me, I would have thought that you had joined the military alongside Trevor!” Summer shouted, drawing a few eyes form the crowd around them.

  Jon opened his mouth to respond but found himself being cut off by Summer once more.

  “And what the hell is this!?” She said, flickering a few strands of white-coloured hair off his forehead, “You dyed your hair? You look like the member of a reject 90s boy-band! And your eyes they’re-.”

  “Hmm?”

  Summer pausing, peering over Jon’s shoulder towards the three women behind him. If it were not for the fact that she was wearing heels right this moment, she never would have had the opportunity to see Kate glare at her.

  Claire and Amy similarly staring at her with narrowed eyes, the former even raising an eyebrow at her, observing her and Jon with an unimpressed look on her face. Both girls turning their heads towards Kate, who then in turn turned her head towards-.

  “Jon,” Kate began, “Is this a friend of yours?”

  Jon visibly paused, half-turning his head towards Summer. The red-haired girl mimicked his actions, eyes darting upwards to peer back up at him. The shared actions caused Amy and Claire to share another glance the former covering her mouth with the wine glass that she pretended to sip on.

  “Well, Summer and I attended the same-.”

  “Yeah! I’m Summer, Jon’s best friend?” Summer interrupted, grinning as she placed a hand on his shoulder, “Jon and I have been friends since we were in primary school! We attended the same high schools as one another and even shared a few…”

  Summer nudged his shoulder, grinning as she watched Jon sigh. Kate visibly narrowing her eyes with each word spoken, observing how their shoulders brushed up against one another. Long, luscious, red-hair draped across his arm, as though it was the most normal thing in the whole world.

  She did not fail to notice Jon’s shoulders slump inwardly, nor him mouthing the words “I’m sorry” as Summer continued speaking, moving the focus of the conversation away from herself and back towards the three girls.

  She nudged Jon again, much to Kate’s chagrin.

  “But enough about me! Aren’t you going to introduce us Jon!?” Summer smiled, eyes darting from Kate to Amy and then towards Claire sitting in the corner. Her eyes lingering on Amy for a few seconds longer than the rest of them before turning her head back towards Jon.

  The corners of her mouth curling upwards, into a smile that Jon was all too familiar with.

  ‘… She hasn’t changed,’ Jon thought to himself.

  Jon, Summer, Trevor were all friends that had known each other for years, dating back to even before the three of them all attended high school. Each one of them had attended the same kindergarten, primary school, summer camp, and even high school, cementing their friendship over more than a decades worth of memories and experiences.

  Before Jon had entered the System Introduction, he had quite literally said that Summer and Trevor were the only two people in the world that he could count on, without hesitation. Although Trevor was a little more reliable in comparison to Summer, both were people that he would willingly perjure himself for, consequences be damned.

  Trevor was the more introverted of the three of them.

  While Summer on the other hand was the complete opposite.

  Lifting his hand towards his best friend of more than fifteen-years, Jon smiled, staring at Kate directly, ignoring both Amy and Claire completely.

  “Kate. Claire. Amy. This is Summer.”

  “Summer this is Kate, Claire, and Amy.”

  “I work with Kate at a local pub in North Melbourne. Claire and Amy are her friends.”

  Jon took a deep breath, watching as Summer sat down in the chair were he once sat. The red-headed girl extending a hand towards Amy sitting diagonally from her, mouth curling upwards into something in between a smile and smirk.

  “I think I’ve upset your friend a little bit,” she grinned, Claire glancing towards Kate, not sure whether to laugh or physically restrain Kate from attacking Jon’s friend.

  “I’ve got a reservation at a restaurant just across the street from here.” Summer continued, gesturing with her head towards the door on the opposite side the bar. Green eyes cheekily winking at her, eyes lingering along the nape of Amy’s neck.

  “Did you wanna get out of here?”

  Jon sighed, perhaps for the fifth time in almost as many minutes.

  ‘… Hasn’t changed a bit.’