Everyone Else Has a System

Inside the restaurant, I see her sitting opposite to me completely still. Her eyes were lowered before she slowly lifted them up and spoke,

"I… I am sorry for the commotion… what just happened?"

Hearing her hesitant tone made me wonder whether she was the same person whom I met a few minutes back… perhaps there is more to her than what it seems?

"It is fine… though, do you really not know what just happened?" I ask her with a bit of curiosity and she slowly nods. I then pondered a little before speaking,

"Well, what happened was actually quite simple. When you shouted my name, the guards thought that I was someone who had offended you in some form, so both of them acted vigilantly against me while also trying to win your favour, they basically took action without confirming anything."

I spoke with her eyes turning wide-eyed before she spoke,"but that is…" She speaks and I finish her sentence as,"... absurd. I know. But this is how normal people think, miss smart ass."

She looks at me as if to confirm my words before she sighs and then speaks,"but even still. They could have just waited a little bit more and not just immediately jumped to a conclusion? Wouldn't it have made more sense that way?"

"And let someone else snatch their chance to take advantage of helping a Leeway?" I ask with a slight smirk and she shuts up again as she mulls over something while looking at me with a keen look.

"Then… I suppose I owe you an apology-" she tries to apologise again but,

"It's fine. Though, if you really feel that bad about it, why not do me a small favour in return?"

I wondered why she was fixated on apologising, but if it all works in my favour, then I guess I could care less about it. I looked at her expression turning slightly serious as she asked,"what favour?"

"Show me around the town. I need to collect some herbs, so help me out with that… also, if I am not intruding, what business do you have in this town?" I asked and saw her expression getting normal again.

"I am here to meet someone. You already know her," Irene speaks, and I understood who she was mentioning.

"Linda Brown?" I ask and she nods before speaking," do you want to eat something from here? The bill will be on me."

I look through the menu before speaking,"I guess I can have some coffee. What about you? What will you take?" which made her shake her head as she speaks,

"I don't eat anything from outside. All my meals are prepared by my cook or my assistant with utmost cleanliness."

"OCD?" I ask with a slightly raised eyebrow and she nods before I ponder over something before speaking,"how about if I prepare something for you?"

"I wouldn't even see it," she smiles before speaking as she chuckles a little and then continues,"thanks for the sentiment, though."

"Not getting too personal. Have you ever thought about treating your OCD?" I spoke and she answered,"I have tried, but it doesn't seem to be working. It's not like I hate food or anything, but it's my body… if it senses anything dirty or even minute contamination it starts reacting to it… While my OCD can be cured with some treatment, because my body continuously keeps rejecting the food, it hinders the treatment making my OCD recur."

'This…. sounds a bit too familiar,' I thought before recalling some memories and then finally I sigh a bit before speaking,"all right then, I wanna check something. Would it be alright for you to take a minimal sip that shouldn't create any problem for you?"

At my words, she looked at me with a sudden serious expression, but I just called the waiter and ordered two cups of coffee. I then turn at her and speak as my eyes turn red,

"You don't have an OCD."

I use slight charm magic to temporarily make her forget about the OCD. She looks at me strangely before speaking,"what are you babbling about?"

"I am just trying something. Maybe I can provide you a temporary solution for you to ignore your OCD and bodily conditions," I answer and she glares at me, but before she can speak anything, the waiter comes with two hot cups of coffee and places in front of us.

I then wave my hand towards her cup and mutter,"Life Magic: Purify, Light Magic: Purify," and then I pass it on to her. She looks at the cup for a few moments before shaking her head as she speaks,

"I am not doing it. This is idiotic."

Though I smiled at her before speaking,"Do you want to know why I came to the Iredale Castle? My real purpose?"

I threw a bait, and she stopped as she turned to look at me. I looked at her complex expression mixed with seriousness as she asked,"What are you getting at?"

At this I just pointed at the cup and she sat there a bit annoyed before she began pondering a lot about it. She then takes off her glasses and presses her forehead as if her head was hurting from all this but in the end she just sighed before muttering,'Truth or lie, one sip won't kill me,' and then picked up the cup and took an extremely small sip. Her eyes turned a bit wide open before she took a bit larger sip and then finally a normal sip.

A bit dumbfounded, she then puts the cup down before speaking,"now that I have drunk the coffee, tell me…? What happened to you?"

While I just looked at her with a flabbergasted expression before finally realising why she had that OCD and stuff. Her body… okay, it does make sense now…

"Well… can I ask you, Irene, about your parents? Who are they? Is Elric your real father? Who is your mother?" I ask her and she looks at me with a slightly dumbfounded gaze before she speaks,"No.. Wait!! How did you know?!! Who are you?"

Her eyes looked at me with a deep gaze and an extremely complicated expression and I sigh before speaking,

"Irene… do you know about the Luna Clan?"