XXII
Caecus turned around, facing the person who just spoke.
"What's wrong? Did I frighten you? Oh– I'm sorry I always forget to turn it off." Nyx said.
Suddenly the blind boy's echolocation picked her up, the full silhouette revealing itself to him.
Nyx was standing not far from him, one meter at best, and he was kind of cornered against the railing of the balcony.
'I don't like this at all… she's… scary to say the least.'
He wanted to take a step back, but he felt the cool metal of the railing come in contact with his back, and froze up.
"Y-Young Lady Nyx, it's a pleasure meeting you again, I just wanted to get some fresh air…" his voice revealed way more of his nervousness than with what he was comfortable with.
"Well… you seem oddly tense. Don't worry, I'll only be keeping you a little company because you piqued my interest." Nyx explained while playing with her hair. She got closer, and sat down on the railing. "I wanted to engage in a little conversation, you know? Making genuine friends here is really hard when you're Rank 2 and also the heir of a big corpus."
"Conversation?" Caecus was confused. Now that she was sitting on the railing, he could put a little distance in between the two of them. "Why me then? I mean… I know you're the heir of Noctis and Rank 2 aswell…"
"Just as I mentioned, you piqued my interest. A blind person getting into the top three hundred? As you probably noticed I have no troubles with concealing my presence. So sometimes, I just like to watch. And watch I did."
Her gaze was boring into Caecus' face, which kind of gave him the creeps.
"You watched me?" Without noticing a frown creeped into his expression.
"Yes. It's kind of odd, even though you're blind, you should've still been raised as someone from the corpora, but you behave differently. At the gathering– so just now– you obviously struggled with socializing, which is something surprising, since it's something anyone raised by the corpora should be able to do. You are short, which normally wouldn't be a problem, but you're from Caelum, who value physical attributes very deeply."
Caecus tensed up.
This wasn't good at all. If it came out he was of the main family, he would most certainly be exiled for ruining the reputation.
The only way to safely reveal it, would be if he were strong enough, and recognized by his family, which wasn't the case now.
Nyx inhaled before continuing, her oddly beautiful voice resounding once more.
"So we have two options." She raised both of her hands, and both of them had her index finger raised. "Either, you are from a junior family which barely has any resources and is extremely poor–" She put her left index finger down, balling her hands into a fist. "Or you were purposely hidden and restricted for being blind." She repeated the same motion with her right hand.
"I wonder which it is?" Nyx said, teasing edge coming back into her voice.
Caecus just kept silent, feeling blood draining from his face. His already pale skin had gained a sickly color.
'I'm in deep shit.'
"Don't worry, you don't have to respond. I already did a background check on you. No records were found in your name, other than the fact that you belong to the Caelum corpus, and your date of birth. No parents listed, or any relatives. If you were from a poor junior family, there would still be records about you, even if they tried to hide it."
The blind boy started getting dizzy.
"So you're from a relatively powerful family from Caelum. If the news came out that they stopped a blind boy from getting resources, which made him turn out short, and kept him hidden, that would be horrid for the reputation of Caelum, right?"
Her previously aloof expression, had a grin etched into it now.
Obviously not being used to being blackmailed, Caecus started panicking, his heart racing and breath catching up.
'I feel like throwing up.'
His thoughts raced, what was he supposed to do?
'Combat is futile, the only thing left is negotiation.'
"W-what do y-you want?" Caecus asked, voice trembling.
"Oh relax. I don't want you to panic." She pushed herself off the railing, and approached Caecus, who didn't dare move.
Nyx stopped a meter before him, and leaned forward so their heights matched, her face inches away from his.
The black haired boy felt her breath tingle against his skin, and her scent became stronger.
'She smells good.' Was the only thought that passed through Caecus' head, whose mind went blank.
"Be my friend."
"..."
Her head turned sideways, as if confused about the fact that he didn't respond.
"What's wrong?"
'There has to be some kind of scheme behind this. Ah shit! It isn't my fault, and I'm supposed to take responsibility? Fuck my life!'
Having no choice but to accept, Caecus asked one more question.
"Nothing else? Only be your friend?"
"Yes. I know you may think I have bad intentions or some kind of scheme set up behind wanting to be your friend, but that's really it." She straightened up, and stretched her arms over her head.
"Why me?" The moment was as confusing as it gets for Caecus. "I'm sure anyone here would like to be your friend, considering your status."
"Didn't I explain it before? It's hard to make genuine friends amongst the people here. They want to be my friends not because of me as a person, but because of my looks, status, and future."
She reached out, index finger poking Caecus' forehead. "You on the other hand struggled at socializing here partly because of one reason: You were trying to make genuine friends, not solely connections that you can use for yourself. And from what I've observed, you don't seem to be prone to using other people to get what you want. A big plus is that you're blind too, so you obviously don't care about my looks." After she finished that sentence, she muttered something about creeps under her breath.
Still extremely confused and suspicious, Caecus nodded hesitantly. "If that's what you wish, we can be friends."
"Perfect." A little smile appeared on her face, and she reached out patting Caecus' head as if he were a little kid.
He flinched together, but she just ignored it.
"So give me your number hmm?" she said, taking out her own soul phone, and handing it to him. "Just enter it."
"I can't see the screen. I'll tell you."
"Oh right…" She took her phone back, and stood ready.
After telling her his number, she seemed to be content, and called him to test if he gave her the real one.
His phone rang.
"Alright, then it's settled. See you then!" she said, vanishing from his echolocation.
'Did I just get blackmailed into being someone's friend?'