Persona Non Grata Part 1

“I just… can’t bear this anymore…”

I look over the side of the bridge and down at the river several feet below. With this, I won’t be causing problems for Onee-chan and the others anymore. I’m not cut out to be a mother either…

I climbed up on the side of the bridge and prepared myself for the end. This is goodbye… My heart will no longer hurt after this.

I felt gravity bearing down on me down as I began to tilt forward and into oblivion...

“NO! DON’T!”
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“*sigh* Another fruitless day at job searching… I may have to become a professional adventurer for the Guild if this keeps up.”

“Here’s your tea, sir.”

“Oh, thank you.”

It’s been about a week since I… arrived, shall we say, in this land, Gamindustri. Unfortunately, I didn’t exactly have any money, nor official documents to prove how educated I was for prospective jobs. Fortunately, this land has methods to make money even without an actual career by accepting requests at a place called a “Guild.” It doesn’t pay much, but as long as I have enough for a cheap inn and food, then that’s fine for now. I do job searching in the afternoon, hoping someone will give me a stable income, but… well, it’s only been a week. I can’t let myself get too down.

I took a sip of my tea. I was at a cafe on the outskirts of town which had a great view of the nearby forest. The scenery was quite exceptional. You could hear the birds chirping, smell the fresh air not found in the city, and hear the soothing sound of water from the river… huh?

There was a bridge crossing the river, which isn’t really a novel scene by any means, but what was noteworthy was that there appeared to be someone standing on the railing of the bridge… looking down at the river… oh shit!

I bolted out of my seat, much to the surprise of the waitress, who then tried to follow me thinking I was leaving without paying my bill. Had I the time to explain, I would have, but there was something more important going on right now.

I sprinted as fast as I could toward the person on the bridge as she began to sway forward.

“NO! DON’T!”

Too late. The person was now plummeting towards the water.

“Well, guess I’m getting wet, as well.”

I dove into the river and made my way to the girl who was quickly sinking to the bottom. Luckily, I’m not a fatass, so this much swimming isn’t that much of a bother for me.

I reached the girl and grabbed her, but we were still sinking. I realized she had something bulging in her pockets, so I quickly reached into them and pulled out her inventory, a bunch of rocks. Of course, she tried pushing me away and pulling my hand out of her pockets, but as she saw me pull the rocks out of her pockets, she just seemed to give up and accept that she was going to have to live at least another day.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and began swimming upward until we reached the surface.

“*cough* Why? Why did you save me?”

“Why? Because you would’ve died had I not.”

“But… no. Don’t take this from me. Please…”

The girl began to sob as I pulled her to shore, not an easy feat by any means, but at least she wasn’t actively hampering me. At shore, I was greeted by my waitress who looked puzzled, but then told me to bring her back to the cafe, which I complied.
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“Here’s your coffee, madame,” the waitress said and walked away.

All the other patrons were watching our table; presumably stunned by the two of us being drenched. Luckily, it was summer so the temperature was quite warm. The cafe lent us a pair of towels as well. The girl I had saved hadn’t spoken a word since we came to shore.

“If you don’t try to warm  up, you’ll catch a cold,” I said as I gestured at her coffee.

At first, she looked at me with contempt. But after watching me, she seemed to let her cautiousness slip a bit, and she grabbed the cup and brought it to her lips.

“I hope it’s to your liking. I didn’t exactly know what to order you,” I said apologetically.

She put the cup down and began staring at me again.

“Heaven knows what you’re thinking right now. Though I can probably guess: you wish to know why I stopped you from going through with it?”

More silence.

Finally, she answered, “I’m wondering why you stopped ME from dying. Everyone hates me; I’m just an eyesore. So why would you go out of your way to prevent me from doing everyone such a service?”

A few more moments passed as I thought of a reply

“You’re not serving anyone by getting yourself killed. Besides, an eyesore? I find that hard to believe.” I took a sip of my tea. “Now, pray tell, what is your reasoning for this?”

“It’s bad manners to pry into something that isn’t your business.”

“I’ve never considered myself to be well-mannered by any stretch of the meaning,” I replied with a stoic stare, examining her expression as she heard my reply.

Suddenly, there was a commotion as a gang of delinquents came into the cafe acting loud and obnoxious. One of them looked at our table and seemed to recognize the girl, making his way toward our table with his group in tow.

“Well, if it isn’t the little harlot herself… oh, what’s this? A man? You really are a whore aren’t you? Well… you’re body might be the only redeeming quality you have,” he said as he reached out toward her.

She winced, but didn’t try to move away, as if accepting this as some sort of punishment for whatever is making her so depressed. However, the guy’s hand never made it to her. She opened her eyes a bit, but saw the stranger that had saved her holding the guy’s arm back.

“It doesn’t look like she wants to be touched to me. Do you mind letting us be alone? We’re kind of busy here.”

“Get your hands off me! Anyone who hangs around with this slut is just as…”

I stopped him mid-sentence by grabbing my hot tea and threw it into his face.

“Agh!”

I quickly punched him in the gut and he fell over screaming in pain. His gang began to approach us, so I quickly pulled a knife off the table and held it to their friend’s throat.

“Look, I don’t want any trouble. Leave now and we can all forget this ever happened. You can get your friend some ice and everything will be fine and dandy. But if you continue your acts of aggression, I will retaliate in self-defense,” I warned them, giving them a cold stare.

“L-let’s get out of here, guys.”

The group left and I let go of their friend.

“Look, sorry that I injured you, but you forced my hand,” I said, genuinely apologetic.

“I won’t forget this!” he yelled as he ran out after his friends.

I glanced back at the girl.

“Sorry, about that. Are you okay? They’re gone now so you don’t need to be afraid.”

She seemed a bit shaken, but then nodded her head.

“So, where were we? Oh right, it looks to me like your business is now mine in some regard,” I went to take a sip of my tea, but then remembered I just threw it all on someone. “*sigh* Oh well. An explanation would be nice, but I won’t force one out of you. Though I think I get the gist of it from what those guys were saying. But it would be a disservice to not hear it from you.”

“It’s… it’s as they said.”

“I feel like you’re just saying that because you’re trying to get me to hate you. Yet I see great grief in your eyes. Not something you’d see in someone who as promiscuous as they claim you to be. Besides, why should I care about your past relations with other people? It’s not my business.”

She seemed shocked that I wasn’t looking at her in disgust. Or maybe due to the irony of my last statement. Though, her next response seemed to suggest the former.

“B-but I’m dirty. I’m ‘used goods’ that nobody wants around!”

“As I said, why should I care about that? Besides, you’re the first person I’ve sat down and had a chat… er… a cup of coffee with since I came to Gamindustri. Even if it’s just for this moment, I prefer having you around than being by myself.”

“Huh? You’re not from Gamindustri?”

“Nope. Got here about a week ago.”

“I see… So that’s why you tolerate me.”

“If all I was doing was tolerating you, I wouldn’t be treating you to coffee.”

She looked at me, examining me once more.

“I suppose… most people know about it already…”

She took a deep breath before continuing.

“Firstly, my name is Nepgear. I am the CPU Candidate of this nation, Planeptune. Basically, I’m a princess. Yet, I’ve soiled my good name. Several months ago, a traveler from a distant land came here. He… he had a lot of charm to him which made him well known in the Guild. He ended up partying up with my sister and me… *sniff* and he was really nice to us. He began hanging around the Basilicom and hanging out with us and our friends from the other nations. He… had a way with words… *sniff* and knew exactly what to say. So I thought he loved me.” Tears began to come down from her eyes. “So I gave myself to him, because he told me he loved me. But when I woke up, he was gone. I had no idea what happened to him. At first, I thought maybe something important came up. But I couldn’t find him anywhere. And then… then… I found out I was pregnant. And the father of my child had disappeared. I continued to search for him, but to no avail. And the people of the nation saw me in my state and it didn’t take long for them to realize I was pregnant. They all belittled me, calling me a manner of horrors. The shares in this nation took a huge dip… it’s all my fault!”

She began bawling, so I placed a hand on her head and began to pat her, trying to calm her down. It took a while, but she began to calm down again, so I brought out a hanky for her.

“Here.”

“...Thanks,” she said as she wiped her tears away.

“So, if you’re willing to continue… what happened to your baby? You're obviously not pregnant anymore,” I said.

“I gave birth to her. But I had already done so much damage. I pushed away all the people trying to help me: my friends, my sister. Some still help out, but I’m only causing more trouble for them. So today, I went to apologize to my friend over in Lastation, but then… *sniff* then…”

This reaction is much too strong for her friend to simply have not forgiven her… Oh, I see...

“He was there?”

She nodded.

“I found out that he only wanted me for my body. Once he had that, he left to who he actually loved… and had a child with her. He called the baby his ‘real’ daughter, not the one from some loose girl he just had a one night fling with. And my friend… *sniff* Uni… she wouldn’t even meet my eyes. I lost the man I loved and my best friend! I’m all alone in the world!”

She burst into tears. I put my arms around her in an effort to comfort her, not knowing what else to do.

“Not quite,” I said, to which she looked up at me in tears. “I’m sure your sister still cares for you. And I doubt your friends just abandoned you. Also, you have a child now, you can’t just abandon her.”

“She deserves a better mother. Someone who knows what she’s doing; not me. I’m just going to be a failure of a mother at this rate!”

“No one just has the knowledge of being a good parent. It’s a growing effort and helps build bonds in your family. The only way you’d fail her is if you gave up. So, do the right thing and go back to her. If you offed yourself, you’d be no better than her deadbeat dad.”

She just looked at me confused for several minutes. Then I realized I was embracing her in a cafe and everyone was looking at us.

“Um… waitress? Can we get the bill?”

The waitress came back with the bill. I looked at it and grimaced. Well, I guess I don’t really need dinner tonight anyway.

“You don’t have the money for it?” Nepgear asked, noticing my expression.

“I do… it just reminded me that I need to look for a stable job that pays decently so I don’t have to go questing anymore.”

I paid for the teas and coffee.

“Anyway, where do you live? The Basilicom? I assume it’s that large tower in the center of the city. I’ll walk you back”

“Wh-what? No, you don’t need to!”

“In the state you’re in now, I’d be more comfortable seeing you home if you’d allow me,” I responded.

She nodded.

“Let’s go then,” I said as I took her hand in mine in case she tried running away once we got outside.
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“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?”

A girl, I’m guessing Nepgear’s sister due to her looking so similar to Nepgear, yelled as she came running to greet us when we entered the Basilicom.

“I was  so worried! Neph’s already been put in bed, but why’d you leave without a word this morning?” the girl asked.

“It might take a while to explain,” I answered.

“Wha-! Who’s this?”

Did she just notice I was there?

“Ah, wait. He’s not suspicious. He’s… um… actually I don’t think you ever gave me your name.”

“Oh, right. I guess I had other things on my mind, my bad. Call me Roy. I saved Nepgear earlier.”

Nepgear seemed shocked that I said that so casually. Or maybe shocked that I didn’t keep it secret.

“She deserves to know,” I told Nepgear.

“Huh? Know what? Saved? What happened?”

I explained that Nepgear tried committing suicide earlier and that I saved her. Then I told her what I knew from what Nepgear told me in the cafe.

“Wait, so you found the bastard? And he’s living with Uni at Lastation’s basilicom with a child there? I can’t believe the Noire and Uni would do that! There has to be some explanation.”

“Uni wouldn’t even look at me…”

“I’ll have to talk to Noire sometime about it. As for you,” the girl, giving her name as Neptune, turned to me, “thank you for saving my sister. I don’t know what I would have done if I found out that she had passed away.”

“See? You are still loved, Nepgear,” I said.

She seemed to smile a little bit that her sister was worried so much about her.

“...You’re right. I’m still a bit unsure about raising a child, but… I won’t run away from this. I won’t be like -him-. So… thank you, Roy.”

“It was my pleasure, Nepgear…”

A few moments of silence passed, which I kind of figured meant it was my time to leave.

“Well, I’m glad you found the will to continue living, so I think I’ll go ahead and leave. Just do your best, Nepgear. I’m sure you’ll be a wonderful mother.”

I turned and left the Basilicom.
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“He seemed really nice,” Neptune said.

“He was. Well, he was a bit nosy… but he really was kind. I wish I could repay him. I don’t know what I could do though. He said he wanted a job, but I can’t help with that…” Nepgear responded.

“Hmm… or CAN you? Wait right here, sis,” Neptune said as she ran out of the Basilicom.
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“Hey, Roy! Wait a sec!”

“Neptune? Is something wrong?”

“Nah. I just had a proposition for you. My little sister tells me that you are seeking long term employment.”

“Um… yes, I am. What’s this proposition? You help me get a job if I do something for you?”

“Haha! Yes and no. What you will be doing for me will be your job.”

“Oh? And what will I be doing?”

“Well, Nepgear has been through a lot, as you’ve come to find out. And today is the first time I’ve seen her even remotely enthusiastic about anything since she found out she was pregnant. That is why, I want you to work for me at the Basilicom.”

“Come again? You want me to do government work?”

“Well, what I really want is for you to support Nepgear. She doesn’t have many people she can rely on right now. I mean, you will be helping me out with paperwork and the like, but I won’t lie; I would like you to work here simply so you could keep an eye on Nepgear.”

“Hmm… Well, I do need a job. I might be getting involved in something way over my head, though… But I suppose I could at least work for you for now and quit if I’m not cut out for it. Okay, sure, I’ll take you up on your offer.”

“Great! Alright, let’s go back to the Basilicom and tell Nepgear! Also, you need to meet her baby, Nephillim. She’s just the cutest little tyke!”

“Wait, isn’t it getting kind of late? I should get back to my room at the inn.”

“Inn? Haha! No, silly. We’ll supply you with room and board here at the Basilicom! Now let’s get going!”

What the hell did I agree to?