To Live Again, For the First Time!

Emilin didn't hesitate to dial her Brother Theo's number right after hanging up on her unreliable Big Brother Nathen.

Hopefully, he would be more helpful than Nathen.

But on the other side, rather than hearing her brother's voice, Emilin heard another one before it.

"Oh, man! Are you bailing again? Didn't you say you would carry our team?"

"How come you AFK mid-game?"

Two different unknown male voices sounded, one jokingly and another seriously at the same time from the other side.

Theodore seemed to have covered the mic mid-way as Emilin could hear a muffled "Shut up Dyson! Even if I'm AFK I still contribute more than you, Beeme so shut it!" from a voice that she couldn't know any better.

[AN: (Chapter 42) For those who don't remember Dyson is the Guildmaster of MMXLV Guild while Beeme is a member of the guild.]

"Sorry about that," Theodore said sheepishly.

"Was I interrupting anything?" Emilin was in fact more concerned about something else.

"Nah, they were the ones interrupting," Theo said shamelessly, shooting a glance to the people seated at his sides.

For those who could make it from the guild, they were currently in a private room in an internet café and for those who couldn't, they were connected on a video call.

This was also why everyone could immediately tell when Theodore picked up the phone mid-game.

The ring tone for this phone call was also different from those set for everyone else, so at first, these people weren't even sure whose phone it was that was ringing, that is, until Theodore picked it up without another second of hesitation.

"Are you getting along well with your friends? Play nice okay?" Emilin said worriedly from the other side.

That was the thing that she was most concerned about.

She was worried that she was getting in the way and then her Big brother's friends would get upset with him.

With her relative lack of experience, she was sure that her big brother Theo's friends were probably mad at him because of her just from the tone of their voice.

That was upsetting to her.

Theo was dumbfounded and silent.

He also knew of his sister's problem, so he didn't know what to say at this moment.

"Can you put it on speaker?" Emilin asked.

Theodore did as he was told without thinking it through.

"Is it on speaker yet?" Emilin's soft voice echoed throughout the room.

There was no other sound so everyone there could hear her clearly.

They all stopped playing since Theo went AFK.

There was a tacit agreement that these other people came to.

If they lost this game and blemished their records, they could blame it on Theo and then make him carry them for another 20 rounds.

And if the call somehow ended before they lost the game, well, they could blame Theo for emotional trauma.

It was a win-win situation.

So everyone just stopped playing in unison.

But this tacit agreement and understanding didn't exist for the other team that they were going up against as they were completely befuddled as to why a team playing in the upper ranks were going AFK all at once.

The best they could come up with was that the other team's wifi was probably sh*t.

They didn't know what to do either, hesitant to kill Theo's team.

Anyways.

These people all sat there staring at Theo intently and their ears perked up at the pretty voice of a gentle girl.

"Yeah... it's on speaker," Theodore said a little dimwittedly.

"Dear friends of my Big Brother, I am sorry for having disturbed you. I hope you won't take this matter to heart, and you won't be upset with my big brother. I hope you will get along really well with him so that you can be friends for a long time to come," Emilin's clear and cute voice sounded from the other side of the phone and everyone was immediately dumbfounded.

???

???

???

In the end, it was Theodore who snapped out of it first.

In a split second, he glared at his "friends" with murderous intent and turned off the speaker, putting his phone to his ear and speaking into his hand that was next to the mic.

Emilin may or may not have said anything else after that, but they wouldn't know.

They all stared at Theodore's phone with a strange desire to hear this person's voice a little more. It just came and went too quickly, and it somewhat felt like Theodore really didn't want them to hear her, which is also what made these people want to listen all the more.

To the people who couldn't hear what Emilin was saying anymore, all they could hear was Theodore's soft voice.

"You don't have to apologize to them, they don't deserve it."

…

[People seated there: Excuse me?]

"Oh, you're right, that's not what I meant. What I meant was that they're really nice people and they won't mind that much."

…

[People who were listening in: How can your face change so quickly? You should go perform at a face-changing opera…]

"Yeah, we weren't doing anything important either, just playing some Mobba."

…

[People who had nothing left to say: Nothing important? It's very important, okay?!]

"Nah, they don't like shortcuts like that."

…

[People: ???]

"Yeah, since they are so honest and kind, I'll be sure to treasure my friends."

…

[People who wanted to interrupt but were just too speechless: Why do I not believe any of this crap you're spewing? Where is the Theo I know and what did you do with him?]

"Mhm, mhm."

…

…

"Oh about that? Is that why you called? Um, then I'll make a list of some choices right now."

Theodore suddenly closed the screen on his computer and started writing up a list at the speed of light, sending it off before the others could even take a good peek at what he had written.

"Yeah, I just sent it."

"Mm, be careful over there. Okay, love you, bye."

The others felt like they heard so much, yet understood too little.

When Theodore put his phone down on the table, he looked around to realize that everyone was staring at him.

"Hey, when did I become a nice and magnanimous person?" Beeme asked teasingly.

"So you know that you're trash," Theodore retorted without missing a beat.

Beeme's face soured as he realized that he really dug that one for himself.

"Shortcuts? I love shortcuts!" BBAD, real name Ba De, said with no shame.

Not even knowing what shortcuts they were talking about.

Really, all he knew was that Theodore seemed to be saying that since they were nice and honest people, which they weren't, they didn't like using shortcuts.

Theodore ignored him.

"Was that the legendary little sis of yours?" Kayden asked knowing full well the answer.

"Mm," Theodore grunted in acknowledgment before silence ensued in the whole room.

Theodore flipped back to the page with the online version of Mobba on his computer and resumed playing, even though his teammates were all still a little bedazzled.

Everyone silently exchanged a few meaningful glances with each other.

While they weren't sure of many things and they also couldn't understand much of what Theo said since it was very much out of context, they were able to understand one thing.

Something that Kayden had long understood.

And that was that Theodore could clearly do absolutely nothing about this younger sister of his.

It was actually rather refreshing to know that there was always someone who could deal with another, no matter how strong or impressive they are.

And that was that.

They weren't incredibly meddlesome people either and they weren't actually upset either.

They would just make Theodore pay up later, and now, they had one more chip for negotiations to use in the future.

As for the game that they were in the middle of, well the call didn't take that long and they floored their opponent who soon came to regret that they hadn't killed the other party when they were AFK.

***

Emilin finally made up her mind after looking at the list that was sent to her along with some contemplation of the words of her big brother Nathen.

And her final decision was to make jelly beans.

They were the right size, tasty, and she could make them of multiple flavors.

Three birds with one stone.

And thus, she took out a sheet of paper and started writing a graph of all the possibilities so that she could pick and choose later.

As for Xander, who had been watching and listening in this whole time.

No words.

He watched as his Master started writing (what he thought to be) the medical terms of her medicine, some of which he had never heard of, accompanied by the flavors she was considering…

But then again, he didn't think he wanted to know anymore.

Just from the terms, he did know, he felt like he didn't want to know.

At least, he didn't want to know what "Diarrhea jelly- chocolate flavored?" meant.

***

Mini- Theatre

Negotiations between Theodore and Guild Members in the near future:

Beeme: why don't we play a few more rounds, I don't know 20, 30?

Theodore: You mean to ask me to carry you another 20 rounds?

Beeme: 30 will do too. *Toothy smile of pure shamelessness jpg.*

Ba De (BBAD): Yeah, didn't you say that you would look out for us more in the future? Isn't that what you told your sister? That you'll treasure us?

Beeme: Well, you better treasure me quickly or I might leave. Your sister will be sad to know that you have no more friends.

Theodore: I think you are mistaken.

Theodore: I said I'd treasure my kind and honest friends.

Theodore: There are clearly none among the two of you, so that is not applicable.

ONE HIT K.O.

TT-TT