Chapter Text
???: "𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐞, 𝐌𝐫. 𝐈𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐢𝐫? 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮? 𝐈𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝"
I turn to look at the reporter behind me. They were of a chubbier stature. I had to look down at them, frankly because they were very short, around 152.4 (5'0).
"𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘥. 𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤, 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘥𝘶𝘵𝘺. 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶."
The smaller person nodded to me. I looked around, finding a perfect place to go. I poked the shorter person and pointed in the direction of a near-by library. They took the hint and we started walking over to it, though the path was quite crowded. I cannot stop wondering what the smaller person was going to ask me. We got into the library, and we went to sit down. They pulled out a notepad and a laptop, then looked to me.
???: "𝐈𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧? 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜. 𝐌𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬 [𝙍𝙀𝘿𝘼𝘾𝙏𝙀𝘿] 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨. 𝐈𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐣𝐨𝐛. 𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐬𝐢𝐫."
I cannot deny the fact that I was quite stunned by this statement, to say the least. I looked at them to see if they were joking or if they were serious. They did have a smile on their face, but it was not one of a joking manor. They had a serious 'work only' kind of smile on their face, not too pleasant, but not intimidating. I was more stunned, and for a moment, I did not speak. I was taken out of my trance when they waved a hand in front of my face. Apparently they had been talking to me for a few minutes, but I was lost in trance, trying to figure out if this was one of the sneaky reporters, or if they were being honest. I look them in the eye, and I respond calmly.
"𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘶𝘥𝘦. 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭. 𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵, 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘥𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦"
The reporter seemed a little shocked, but then they smirked. They looked me in the eyes and held out a hand for me to shake.
[𝙍𝙀𝘿𝘼𝘾𝙏𝙀𝘿]: "𝐀𝐡𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐈𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐮𝐦! 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭. 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐈 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐳𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬. 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞."
I look at the shorter person cautiously. I do not really trust them... Maybe their not that bad, but I cant be too careful with my trust. I nodded, looking them in the eyes, trying to see if there was anything hidden in their eyes that I couldn't decipher from their words. [𝙍𝙀𝘿𝘼𝘾𝙏𝙀𝘿] "𝐒𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭. 𝐈𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞, 𝐌𝐫. 𝐈𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐬𝐢𝐫." Hearing this shocked me, and I felt a little bad for previous how I reacted to them. I sounded like a total jerk, but they only asked because they need me. I pumped my fist, promising to myself that I will do whatever I can to help them in any way I can. "𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒖𝒅𝒆. 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆. 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏... 𝑼𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒐𝒈? 𝑰𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 ... 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏𝒕 𝒈𝒐 𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒅, 𝒔𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒖𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖." The shorter looked up at him, shocked and intrigued. The smaller started to shake slightly, tears starting to fall down his face. Tenya was taken aback, dropping down to the others height. "𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒚?! 𝑰𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖!" The smaller started to wipe the tears off of his face, though it seem they kept falling, he kept trying to wipe them away. [𝙍𝙀𝘿𝘼𝘾𝙏𝙀𝘿]: "𝐈-𝐢'𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲, 𝐈 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐦 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜, 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐈?" Tenya shook his head violently, taking the others hands into his own "𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍! 𝑰𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈... 𝑰 𝒂𝒎... 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆"
He smiles softly, as well as the shorter.