A fateful reunion

John did not expect a popup of that sort to appear. He really should have, however, as it was obvious that if this was a game such a natural action in one would be translated into a skill. This also furthered a thought John had considered for a moment earlier, that maybe all or at least a significant amount of his actions might be translated into RPG-like skills. The announcement of the skill was not the only popup, however, as another soon followed. One John read distractedly as he was pushed out the door by his mother, bag and money in hand.

John lived in the middle-class part of town in Springfield, so when he exited his house, he saw many medium-sized houses, with well cared for lawns in what seemed like more of a suburb than a real urban area. There was, however, one blemish on that image of suburban wonder: while this street might have looked like a suburban area, you could still see the city’s high rises and commercial centres watching over that street, almost like they were giants preparing to stomp on an ant.

Unlike his middle-class home, John studied at a school named Ashcroft Academy, which housed most of the young adults in the city who were members of the upper-class. Ashcroft Academy was a prep school that was mostly for the rich or the talented. John got in as the latter. Like most other schools in America, it provided a bus to bring the young adults to it from their homes, which is why John’s mother had pushed him out the door so quickly.

John was not **** to wait long before the bus arrived, barely having time to contemplate his newly acquired skill before he saw the yellow bus stopping in front of him. He got on board and proceeded to find a place to sit down.

While he was looking for one, he noticed a few interesting characters that he did not find unusual, given his familiarity with them. What he did notice above them, however, were their names and a strange title floating above their heads. For the couple, Frank and Vanessa, who had been bullying him for years, they were <Bitch Queen> and <Asshole>. The only girl he had ever cared for, Alice, was sitting alone, looking out the window and seemingly contemplating some grand question, just like he was. The title above her head was just as contemplative, <The Lonely Healer>. Strangely for what her social status usually entailed, Alice was not an ugly girl, quite the opposite, in fact; her green eyes and long brown hair lent to her cute face a charm that most would consider beautiful. That, along with her thin build, made her actually quite attractive, though that did not matter to John nor discount the bullying she suffered along with him. When he walked past the group that was sat near Vanessa and Frank, their supposed friends, they began snickering, an act that Frank and Vanessa soon joined as well. After a few more steps, he briefly drew Alice’s attention before she returned to looking out the window once again. He sat down near the back of the bus, suitably far away from the group led by Frank and Vanessa but still close enough that he could see Alice a few rows in front of him.

Before he had sat down, John briefly considered sitting down next to Alice instead and attempting to speak to her, but he realized only a moment later that even with the ability he now had there was no way to fix the relationship. John did, however, decide to use Observe on her, given he still cared for her, and wanted to know what had happened in the long span of time since they had interacted. On the deepest levels of his subconsciousness, he wished to find out that she still cared for him as well.

John and Alice had known each other for a very long time. They met at the beginning of elementary school, then just two normal kids. They quickly became friends, and stayed that way for a long time, until high school, in fact, when they both fell for each other, each without the other knowing. Both of them with their own complexes and fears holding them back. Neither of them believed the other felt the same, their social awkwardness leading them to miss all of the signs they both showed. That was when they had stopped being friends. For Alice it was because she couldn’t bear to stay as only friends with John, he had been the only man she had ever loved and deeply believed that he was the only man she could ever love. For John it was because he could not live with himself having and wasting that opportunity every single day, his self-doubt increasing every time he was unable to express his true feelings to her.

That moment, John felt something in his heart, something he had long since prevented himself from feeling. It was at the same time a warm sense of relief and something deeper, some base feeling that he could not describe. It was love, love for someone whom he had believed lost. It was the feeling of an opportunity he had wasted, but one he now knew was still open to him. At that moment, he made his decision. He would not let this opportunity slip away again. It was not a time to falter or fail before he even tried, it was a time to go at it with all he had because that opportunity might never appear again.

With that understanding, he walked towards the girl, a fire raging in his heart, threatening to burn it if it was not satisfied but also pushing him onwards. He began by speaking the words that he would one day recognize as those that set him on this path, the path he would walk on for the rest of his life.

“Alice, could we talk? I want to tell you something. I’ve realized something I should have realized three years ago,” John said, his voice shaking, strained by emotion. He still mustered enough courage to be ready for either rejection or a continuation, however.

In response, Alice nodded her head meekly, as if unsure what John wanted to say, but her green eyes glimmered with curiosity.

“I’m sorry, Alice, I never knew you felt the same way I did, but now I do. I want us to try again, to forget all the hardship we made each other go through because neither of us was willing to just come right out and say what we felt. I know it’s not going to be easy, and I know I’ve hurt you, even if I didn’t know that was what I was doing, but I want to fix this, to give both of us another chance at a relationship.” There was no explanation to be found, no logical reason that John was capable of saying all this. A few days ago, it would have been impossible. It was as if something inside his mind had switched on. They were his words, his thoughts, but they were flowing out of him in a way he could never have predicted.

“Will you help me do that?” John said, in a way that was much braver than he ever thought he could, seemingly ignoring everything around him but Alice. Luckily, she was used to doing just the same. If it was any other day, her next words might have been a rejection, but instead, John saw a popup appear in front of him.

Charm successful. RP increased by 50.

His heart sank when he saw that, he had not expected to succeed without help, but nonetheless he had wanted to do just that. The next popup, however, did not affect his heart.

Charm level task completed: Charm leveled up.

The mental shock of that popup hit him. He had no idea how Charm could activate on its own. ’Maybe a hint of doubt was just enough,’ he thought to himself grimly. Whether or not that thought was true, however, he intended to continue the conversation. Before he could say anything, Alice responded to his earlier question.

“I never knew you felt the same way I did either, and now I see that I hurt you too. If you want to try again, I would like to as well,” Alice said while proceeding to lunge at John to pull him into the deepest, most meaningful hug either of them ever had in their entire life.

John might have felt the physical aspect of the hug, but it wasn't the most meaningful part of it. His heart was jumping in his chest, deeply affected by the emotions running through him and the fire that was now burning even more passionately in his heart.

To him, that hug signified his promise to himself. To never do something so foolish again, to never go years without addressing his feelings again. That he had seemingly gotten another chance and succeeded in implementing it deeply affected John, as up until this moment, he had not truly believed he would be able to succeed. He also thanked whatever **** gave him his powers, because he believed that he would not have been able to do it without them, and that meant it was all thanks to those powers.

Wanting to know how deeply this had affected Alice as well, John Observed her once more.

What he saw, while somewhat worrying, made the fire in his heart burn even brighter.

‘She’s going to give me a chance, I can’t believe this is really happening. I’ve wanted to be with her again for so long, and now suddenly I can be. It almost feels like a dream. Is this because I made it happen? Or was it Charm?’ John thought to himself, sincerely doubting the possibility that he had achieved that result on his own.

During the entire time that John was thinking, their hug continued, only devolving to them sitting together and holding hands after he had finished being lost in thought. That was how they spent the rest of their ride to school. Sometimes in utter silence, and sometimes catching each other up on their lives since they had last talked. Both when talking and when they were both silent, John enjoyed just being with Alice immensely. He almost hoped the bus would never stop, just so he could spend that much more time with her, just talking, or even just sitting there being together.