Tobi awoke much later than intended, or at least he did the second time. The first time he woke was brief. The room had drastically changed since then. Few people remained in the library.
The only remnants were the scattered blankets and, of course, Liam, on the floor.
Arising from the ground, Tobi rolled his shoulders and grabbed his blanket. Folding and placing it back down. After sleeping in the same spot three times, it was officially his.
He still felt a little sore, but it was nothing significant.
Across the room were two figures with a wooden chessboard between them, atop a table next to a narrow window. It was the twins.
Kian stared at the board, leaned forward with furrowed brows, and concentrated. His sister looked relaxed in contrast. Her chin rested lightly in her palm whilst she lazily observed the board.
A piece tapped the wood as Kian finished his move, "You've already lost the center. And your white squares are undefended. You should probably forfeit."
Kiki didn't respond; she only waited for him to finish speaking before moving a pawn. Her opponent froze. The thoughts in his head came to a halt. He scratched his head before moving his bishop to the square he had been staring at since her turn.
Faster than he reacted, Kiki moved a knight, opening up an attack on the newly moved bishop. She wagged her finger, "Tsk tsk tsk, you rushed too quickly, I was waiting on this. Seems like you won't get it." Laughing in his face, she taunted him.
"Dang it... You aren't responsible enough. Just lose on purpose..!" Kian's furrowed brows became frustrated.
Tobi approached, hearing the vague words. He pulled out a chair without asking. The wood scraped softly enough to announce his presence without interrupting theirs. A glance was all his intrusion amounted to.
The two's chess match continued, Kian's moves took longer and longer each time. Kiki's hasty responses only applied more weight to each of his moves. Until finally, the board was practically empty...
"Check..." Kiki's eyes met her brother's, "Mate. Loser."
A loud thud resounded from the table as Kian's hands slammed down onto it. He then looked around embarrassedly and quietly repositioned himself in his chair. "Give me a rematch, that wasn't fair..! He- he distracted me..!" He leaned back, dragging his hand across his face.
"No." She replied flatly.
"You can't just..."
She interrupted him, "I can. I did. I won."
Kian tsked quietly, looking away from the board and his sister without saying a word.
Only after having thoroughly shut down her brother's tantrum, Kiki's gaze settled on Tobias. "You've been watching long enough. Do you have something to say?"
Tobi leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table, a slight grin on his face, "Just that I'd like to play a game."
"A game?" Kian laughed softly, then remembered his loss from a minute ago and stopped laughing.
Kiki looked at him through the wavy black hair cascading down. Her bright hazel eyes lingered on him, then the board, and back to him. "No, it's not worth my time."
"What if we both bet something? It sounded like you and Kian were betting on something." In a mischievous tone, Tobi quickly asked Kian to swap seats, and he obliged. "I have some information, and well, you haven't exactly hidden that you have information."
Kiki responded without missing a beat, "But you don't have any?" She tilted her head.
"Well, I know about the restriction ending in two days," Tobi stated, calling the system before him with a thought. Only the part of the screen he needed appeared.
[Transparent Quest]
[Observation:
...
- Interpersonal conflict restricted early phase, two days remaining.]
[...]
With her interest piqued, Kiki began setting up the board. He had proved to her that he really did have some form of information. She smirked, clearly confident about the outcome. The tapping accelerated as pieces moved faster until it was finished being set up.
She turned the board around, giving Tobi the white pieces and thereby the first move. After a few seconds of looking at the board, he moved his first pawn.
The instantaneous response from Kiki didn't surprise him. There were only so many options at the beginning...
A couple of minutes later, Tobi's moves slowed down as options increased, the lack of a timer being taken to his advantage. However, it was unnerving for his opponent not to even think about her moves. Mere glances decided her choice.
Each move put Tobi at an even greater disadvantage.
It was only a few more minutes when Kiki tapped a piece, slowly but loudly, with finality. "Checkmate."
Tobi silently looked at the board, taking in the loss with acceptance. He broke the quiet with a low, "wow."
He studied the position again, tracing the pieces' paths in reverse. "You removed my choices before I noticed they were gone."
Kiki tilted her head slightly. "That's usually how it works." Shrugging at Tobi.
Kian let out a quiet laugh from behind them. "Yeah, welcome to my life."
Tobi exhaled through his nose, then leaned forward again. "A bet is a bet." The moment paused as Kiki didn't speak, simply listening, waiting. Tobi placed his chin on his hand. "The system is observing us and acclimating us to this world. Adjusting our bodies and maybe our minds too."
Kian looked at him and waved his hand for Tobi to continue.
Tobi's posture relaxed, leaning back in the seat. "The first quest wanted us to survive. What I heard from the villagers and most of the others had received some sort of stabilization. Just for surviving."
Kiki's fingers stopped tapping the table as Tobi's eyes focused on the invisible between them.
[Transparent Quest]
[Observation:
- Transmigrators originate from an external temporal system.
- Local temporal field strength exceeds origin parameters
- Temporal alignment pending finalization.
- Alignment ensures synchronization with local causality.]
[Reward:
- Temporal alignment is not conditional on task completion.]
[Note:
- Off-world displacement will invalidate alignment.]
"It wasn't like it was a reward, it is more like the system is repairing the damages brought over by our travel. I received a temporal alignment for integrating. My information says I would have gotten the reward regardless."
"It's acclimating us to this world."
The room stayed quiet for a moment. Then Kiki leaned back in her chair.
"Hm."
Not agreement. Not disagreement. Purely acknowledgment. Then she reached forward and began resetting the chess pieces, "You were right about one thing." She spoke flatly.
Tobi raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to explain.
"You do have useful information." She finished placing the pieces.
As casual as drinking water, she added something else, "In three days, the system unlocks parties. Do with that as you want."
Tobi blinked. Kian froze.