"Hello? Can you understand me?" the teenage boy asked, Emilia's expression reflecting the spiraling confusion of her mind.
'What happened? The moment I received that message, Ace disappeared. But why? What happened? And… who is he?' her eyes stayed locked onto the young man, and before the tension in the air took an unknown turn, an unexpected yet familiar voice rang out from above, a few meters between them.
"Don't worry. This is all according to plan," Ryu's spectral body descended upon them, hands in pockets as he then took out his left arm and gave Emilia a thumbs up. "Good job!"
"Huh? What? What do you―?" confusion continued to grip Emilia until her dazed mind got taken by surprise from the explosive voice opposite to her.
"WOW!" it was the teenager's voice. "I don't believe it! A ghost? No, maybe a hologram? Haha! So cool~!"
His eyes were filled with stars as he jumped and circled around Ryu, leaving the spectral boy no space to breathe.
'Wha…?' Emilia still couldn't wrap her head around what was going on. 'What is going on?'
As if imaginarily being a boost to his ego, one could swear being able to see Ryu's nose becoming longer and pointer, and the spectral boy didn't shy away from it as he posed as if he was a celebrity on a photo shoot.
"Hehe. Guess I can't hide my greatness," Ryu indulged himself before a chill ran down his and the mysterious young man's spine.
Completely frozen up, the young man and Ryu's necks turned towards Emilia like creaking cogs.
"Uuh… H-hey… I-I can explain," Ryu tried to defend himself as whatever expression Emilia had on her face made them think that they had really fucked up.
"Explain. Now," Emilia's voice came out in a commanding voice, Ryu internally thinking that this little adventure they were on was slowly changing her.
"Y-yes ma'am…" Ryu kneeled, completely surrendering to Emilia's presence as unconsciously, the young man followed in his tracks.
After a few seconds of silence…
"I'm Emilia Windsor and he's Ryu. It's nice to meet you," Emilia began the introductions, trying to keep herself calm to understand the current situation.
"If you don't mind me asking, how should we call you?" she addressed the young man who seemed to ponder for a while.
"My name's Asaru Takayoshi. 16-year-old highschooler and my favorite hobbies are games!" the young teenager, Asaru, introduced himself almost too enthusiastically. "And also…"
His words left the air hanging as if a big revelation was going to be made.
"I have no idea what's going on here!" he tilted his head, scratched its back as he then laughed.
Emilia was left stunned by Asaru's confession while Ryu let out a "Pfft!" trying to hold back his laughter.
"Ryu?" the spectral boy froze up as his laughter stopped and Emilia asked him but a single question. "What is going on now?"
"Well, I guess it'd be faster to show you than explain."
"What?"
"Try and interfere with the ring again," Ryu pointed out, Emilia following his suggestion while Asaru was left completely out-of-the-blue, still being unable to understand the situation at hand.
As Emilia brought her hand up to her line of sight, a blue glow surrounded the ring on her finger. But this time, instead of a thread appearing from the ring, going in a specific direction, something else occurred.
"Whoa! What the hell is this?!" Asaru yelled in surprise as a chain suddenly appeared from his chest, the end attached to it seeming to phase through him while the other one seemed to also extend towards another location.
"I told you, didn't I?" Ryu engaged with Emilia, her face also filled with the same dumbfounded surprise as Asaru. "As long as you have that ring, this little quest of ours will always lead us to Ace. But this time, we'll need to go deeper, and that's where you my friend come in."
Ryu pointed at Asaru who, in his continued confusion, also pointed at himself inquisitively.
"Me?" Ryu nodded to Asaru's question.
"So, here's the deal," Ryu started seeming to be about to explain the next course of action to Emilia while also giving a recap to Asaru. "Right now, we're inside the inner world of a guy called Ace."
"Our goal is to pull him out of it and save him. Now, you my friend appeared because Emilia managed to reach Ace's heart and create a breach we can exploit to reach the deepest layer of his consciousness."
"Mm… I see," Asaru nodded seriously, holding his chin as if understanding the situation. "I don't get it at all!"
"Hahaha…" Ryu gave an exasperated laugh that was also tinged with a hint of amusement.
"But I think I get the gist of everything," Asaru stood up, arms crossed as an excited and confident smirk played on his lips. "To clear the game, we need to find this Ace person, right? And I'm basically the gacha you pulled out when you cleared Level 1, is that right?"
Ryu stayed silent for a while, his eyes wide at how Asaru had interpreted the situation, and after pondering until the bulb in his head lighted up, he gave an "Yep! That's exactly it!"
"Okay," Asaru started stretching out as if preparing for a marathon, a confident grin . "It's my first time playing a game where I myself am a playable character, but this should be fun in its own way."
"So, lady," he gazed down at Emilia, the glint in his eyes bright like a warm blaze. "What's the plan now?"
"Eh? The plan?" Emilia seemed to question herself as the situation still hadn't settled in yet.
But then…
"Ryu?" Emilia also stood on her foot. "Earlier, you said that I managed to reach Ace's heart. Does that mean that the Ace I met wasn't the real Ace?"
Her gaze stayed fixed on Ryu as he simply smiled.
"Nope. Remember what I told you? This place is like Ace's subconscious, and everything within it is an undeniable truth that exists within his very being. Our new friend Asaru is also the same. Just like the kid earlier, he is a part of Ace, but what he represents is something we will have to discover for ourselves."
"So, with that being the case," Ryu jumped lightly into the air, floating cross-legged with both hands clutching his ankles. "What are you gonna do now?"
"I…"