The caged bird met Alain's questioning gaze with a patient air. "In this situation," she said, her voice calm and measured, "I'm the only one you can trust."
She lifted a fingertip, tracing a slow circle in the air. "Because, dear, I am the kindest, gentlest Mita you could possibly meet here."
The girl in the jail... Kind Mita, he should call her. The contrast between her words and their inherent irony lent her a strange sort of cuteness, a world away from the mischievous girl.
At least outwardly, Kind Mita presented no obvious cracks in her façade. Though doubts lingered, and Alain couldn't help but notice the biases embedded in her vocabulary...she had called him "dear."
He sighed. "Alright. What do you need from me?"
Even as he spoke, Alain discreetly opened his Security Guard app, checking the system panel.
"First," Kind Mita said, "please, extend your hand."
While he scanned the panel, Kind Mita produced a ring from her pocket. A proposal? Already? The thought flashed through Alain's mind, but she continued, "I know you might still be suffering from her poison, and you probably don't entirely believe me."
Kind Mita's eyelashes lowered, her eyes, like hidden pools in a deep forest, fixed on the ring resting in her palm. "So, consider this a token of my sincerity."
Her expression was earnest, prompting Alain to continue his surreptitious scan of the Security Guard panel. He wasn't naive enough to blindly trust a beautiful woman's words. However, he was currently at an impasse, desperate to move forward. And this Kind Mita clearly possessed valuable information about the mischievous Mita and the game world itself. Besides, his Security Guard offered both offensive and defensive capabilities.
"It's the key to defeating Crazy Mita."
Hearing this, Alain reached his hand toward the cage.
He was met with a look of pure bewilderment from the girl, as if she were completely lost.
"Weren't you going to... you know, put the ring on me?"
"...No, I must have explained it poorly. You're supposed to— Never mind, this is quicker." Kind Mita, he noted, was strikingly different from the mischievous girl; her thought processes seemed far more rational.
She quickly adapted to Alain reaching into the cage and took his hand. Holding the ring delicately between two fingers, she noticed his intense gaze.
"...Um, may I ask why you're staring at me like that?"
"I believe my gaze is perfectly normal." Alain averted his eyes. To have a beautiful girl place a ring on his finger – to claim he felt nothing would be a lie.
In contrast, Mita, under that intense scrutiny, felt the simple act growing less and less innocent.
A soft exhale escaped her lips. When she looked back at Alain's fingertip, a distinct solemnity had settled in her eyes. Alain found himself caught up in her seriousness, swallowing involuntarily.
A man and a woman, separated by the bars of the cage, their attention focused solely on the fingertip and the ring. Slowly, the ring slid from her fair hand onto Alain's index finger.
"Huh? Don't rings usually go on the ring finger or middle finger in TV shows?"
"Eh? Is that right? I wouldn't know... Well, let's try again."
Mita nodded seriously, accepting Alain's suggestion. She gently removed the ring and moved toward his middle finger.
"So... I'm putting it in?"
"If it gets stuck or feels too tight, just say so."
The ring passed the tip of Alain's middle finger and settled at the first knuckle.
"It's in. Does it hurt?"
"Then, I'll go a little deeper."
"...You truly are Kind Mita. This gentleness can't be faked."
Hearing this, the girl glanced at Alain, then refocused on her important task. The ring slid further, reaching his second knuckle. A slight resistance became noticeable.
"No. Your touch is very light; you can apply a little more pressure."
Reaching the third knuckle, a relieved Mita finally relaxed, wiping a fine sheen of sweat from her forehead. "Phew... I was so nervous. But it's finally done!"
During the prolonged, almost agonizing process of putting on the ring, Mita and Alain had reached a new level of understanding. Every delicate, meticulous movement from Kind Mita felt genuine to Alain.
Crucially, his internal "lunatic radar" remained silent. Alain felt he could lower his guard further, treating her as a potential ally. He was about to inquire about the ring's specific function when she spoke.
"By the way, player..."
"Okay. Then, Alain, you were also poisoned by that crazy woman... I mean, Crazy Mita, right?"
Alain detected a flicker of heartache in her gaze.
"After all... you seem so tense."
"Not entirely." He was primarily sensitive to potential lunatics due to past experiences.
Now, with the likelihood of Kind Mita being a lunatic significantly diminished, Alain felt ready to share his own information.
"Actually, my conflict with the mischievous girl... no, her, isn't as intense as you might believe." It was difficult for Alain to reconcile the image of the girl who often smiled softly at him and called him "idiot" with Kind Mita's label of "Crazy Mita."
However, the fact remained that she had intended to turn him into a cartridge. He briefly recounted his encounter with Crazy Mita in the small room. When he mentioned the mischievous girl's moment of shyness, Kind Mita showed slight surprise, but not outright disbelief.
But when Alain revealed that Crazy Mita had kissed him, the girl's incredulous response reached his ears.
"Wait, wait, wait, you're saying..." Kind Mita blinked her large eyes, gesturing upwards, clearly referring to the mischievous girl somewhere above. "She kissed you?"
"Unprecedented, unprecedented... She actually... would do that?" Kind Mita crossed her arms and began pacing restlessly in the small room, circling like a trapped animal, her thoughts a mystery.
"No, I can't—I can't figure it out at all! I don't understand..." She grew increasingly agitated, verging on a breakdown.
Alain, his eyelids drooping, interjected dryly, "Is it so strange for me to be kissed? Or am I like one of those faceless male protagonists in harem novels who can only find a girlfriend through an app or a magic pocket watch?"
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