Revealing the truth.

Maria wasn’t very subtle in excusing herself to give us some space, but the smirk on her face and the laughter she was holding told me she wasn’t happy to walk away.

“Wait, wait… Are you serious?” Isabelle asked Fernanda. “That’s you? You’re JustColors?”

Fernanda covered her face with her hands and groaned loudly into them. “God, you remember my comments, too?”

“Of course I remember!” Isabelle told her. “We read them all! I’m usually the one replying, but even Oliver started spending more time on his phone after we started getting more comments.”

“But how did you… Oh, forget it. Not like it was hard to figure out. Ugh!”

I smiled sheepishly at Fernanda. Really, I blurted it out without thinking when I should’ve just kept it to myself. Asking her didn’t achieve much beyond embarrassing her, and that was never my intention. And of course she’d be embarrassed. Fernanda used those comments to open up to strangers on the internet and admit that she was going through tough times, that Cake and the songs managed to cheer her up for a while.

“I’m sorry. But… Like I’ve said before, it really does mean a lot to us that you enjoy what we do. Comments like yours make it easier to continue working after, well… After reading the more unpleasant ones.”

Fernanda smiled, but an awkward silence settled between the three of us. I didn’t know what else to say, and I was fairly sure it was the same for Fernanda, but I would bet that Isabelle was instead restraining herself from saying wherever she had in mind to avoid making Fernanda more uncomfortable. That was when Sarah and Alice came over to save the day.

“Oh? What do you have in there?” Sarah asked, seeing the picture in my hands.

“Oh! Holy…! That’s incredible!” Alice praised, then turned to smile at Fernanda. “Grace and Diana told us you wanted to do this, but… My God! How did you get it done so quickly?”

“And she made me one as well,” Isabelle said. “Seriously, I want to know how you managed.”

“Um… I pulled two all-nighters,” Fernanda admitted shyly. “Had an unhealthy amount of energy drinks, then passed out after I was done.”

“Hey, come on… You didn't have to give it to them TODAY,” Sarah said, still eyeing the picture. “I’m sure they could’ve survived another day or two.”

“But I wanted to. A present isn’t the same if it’s not on the proper day,” Fernanda asked. “Besides, I’m… used to it. Well, to one all-nighter, not two. I don’t think I’ll be doing that again,” she said, giggling.

“Good to hear,” I told her. “I’ll be right back. I’m gonna take it to the van. Don’t want it to break by accident. Again, it’s amazing. Thank you so much.”

Fernanda grinned. “No, it’s no problem.”

I went down a floor and into the underground parking lot while carrying the picture. Before I got it inside the van, I looked at it one more time. It was such a weird sensation. Pleasant, but weird. I mean, it really was me. Cartoon-like, or anime-like, but still me. Cake looked fluffy, too. I don’t know how Fernanda managed that. Somehow, since the last time I saw her drawings, she’d gotten so much better that my limited knowledge of art fell short. I looked at it, and instead of understanding it, I was just in awe. But it was true that I didn’t want something to happen to it, so I opened the van, set it inside and closed the door.

I was just about to go back when I turned around and saw Fernanda coming out of the elevator and walking up to me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her, tilting my head.

“Um… I don’t know,” she said, looking just as puzzled. “Grace and Diana told me to follow you. They… said you had something else to tell me?”

Oh for the love of…! Really? I had so many questions and things to complain about regarding this. I mean, were they seriously throwing me into this all of a sudden? Just like this? Did Diana really…? Well, if they sent her to follow me, then they were all in on it.

“...” Well, might as well take the plunge. “Well, I’m really happy that you came here. I’m not used to celebrating my birthday, and this is the first time I’ve had so many people with me. I’m really glad I can count you among them.”

“No, no. Thank you very much for inviting me,” she told me.

“But beyond that, I don’t have anything else to say.”

“R-Really? Then why…?”

I smiled sheepishly at her. “They’re probably trying to hook us up.”

Fernanda stared blankly for a solid two seconds. Then she narrowed her eyes. Then, right after that, her eyes went wide as her jaw dropped.

“W-Wait…! Huh!?”

“I’ve come to like you, Fernanda. Not just as a friend, but as someone I’d like to have something more with.” I put my hands in my pockets, not because I was trying to look cool and aloof but because I felt awkward and didn’t know what to do with them. Regardless, I kept going. “I have for a long time, but I’ve done nothing about it because it didn’t seem appropriate. Now, the girls seem to have given their green light.”

I don’t know how the words came so smoothly out of me when I could feel my heart in my throat and yet thundering in my ears at the same time. I swear, if I tried to turn my head I’d see the world spin.

“Um…! Um…!”

“I know. I’m sorry to blurt that out all of a sudden, but I see no other way to approach this. You know I’m seeing six other women, so even if I really like you, I… can’t really bring myself to try to convince you to accept my terms. Flirting and the like would just feel… wrong.”

That sobered her up. Any shyness and shock she felt was brought down by that very appealing prefacing. It was what I was hoping for.

“...” Fernanda fidgetted a bit while keeping her eyes on the floor before she looked up at me. “Why… Why DO you date so many girls?” she asked with genuine interest.

“Mmm… A few reasons, some of them more valid than others,” I said with a soft chuckle. “First of all, I’d need to let you in on an important secret. I don’t mind telling you, and over half the people upstairs know about it, but if you start telling others I’ll have to deny everything.”

She narrowed her eyes and looked suspiciously at me. “What are you talking about?”

I opened the passenger seat door and then the glove box to take out my… tools. Some masking tape and a black marker. I cut some masking tape and taped it to the opened door, then wrote the runes for Stillness and stepped away.

“Try closing the door,” I told Fernanda.

Still suspicious and confused, Fernanda did as I asked. She gave the door a gentle push… and noticed that it wouldn’t budge. She pushed harder and the door still wouldn’t close. I tore the masking tape from the car and asked her to try again. The door closed like it normally would.

“W-W-Whaat…?”

“That’s half the secret. Magic exists, and I can use some.”

Well, no going back now.

Patreon.