Our drinks arrived like we had summoned them with a spell.

One by one, they were placed on the table by a guy in a long black robe who looked like he'd just crawled out of a B-grade horror movie.

The guy didn't speak a word. Just nodded, bowed, and disappeared behind the glowing bar at the side.

Dario raised his glowing mug, which literally had green smoke coming out of it. "To ghosts, goblins, and girls who ghost you!"

Erza raised an eyebrow. "That was lame."

"I try," Dario grinned, sipping on his Revenant Root Beer and immediately choking.

"Ugh—okay, that was…strong." He stuck his tongue out dramatically and shook like he was possessed.

"Yup. I just saw my grandma waving at me."

Aurelia laughed so hard, she nearly spilled her Mana-rita. "Stop it, you idiot! I can't!"

Seraphina, calm as ever was sipping on her Skull-chai like it was just plain old green tea. "It's not bad," she muttered, glancing into the floating cup like a possessed bitch. "But it tastes like it was brewed using dust and regret."

"Isn't that just normal tea?" I asked, half-laughing, half-confused.

Erza was too busy checking herself in her spoon's reflection. "This is too goth for me," she said.

"I need more sun and swords, not skulls and sarcasm."

I leaned back, watching the whole group with a stupid smile I didn't realize I had on my face.

Dario, being Dario, suddenly stood up. "Let me check out the loo. Pretty sure even the urinals there are shaped like coffins."

"Don't go!" I yelled as a joke. "We won't be able to hear you from the outside!"

But the moment he stepped out of the skull-booth, it was like someone pressed mute on a remote. His mouth moved, but there was no sound.

I stood up and shouted, "DARIO, YOU ARE THE DUMBEST GUY I KNOW!"

…Nothing.

He just gave me a thumbs-up and walked off.

Huh?

I sat down again, chuckling. "Damn, this soundproof stuff really works."

"Maybe we should build our mansion like this," Seraphina muttered. "It'll stop Dario's midnight screaming about snakes in his pants."

"What?!" I gave Seraphina a strange look.

"How do you kn—"

"I literally live next door to him okay!" The girl almost blushed and pushed her drink at my face as she muttered stuff about how she could hear him from his bedroom sometimes due to his extremely loud voice.

I could see Aurelia giving Sera a look as well as she turned back to where Dario had gone off to.

With that dumb idiot who wouldn't stop talking and making weird jokes, I realised that everyone had become too quiet.

It was peaceful. Too peaceful. The kind that made you forget the real world was chaos waiting to explode.

Maybe that's why I suddenly blurted out, "Okay, real question."

They all turned to me.

"We're sitting here, drinking fake blood, talking ghost tea and mana cocktails, in a skull-shaped booth in a spooky-ass café, that's trying a little too hard to be edgy. Right?"

All 3 girls nodded at me.

"So what if…" I looked around dramatically, trying to make sure to keep my voice as low and spooky as possible, "what if this world we are living in isn't real? What if we're just characters in someone's fantasy book?" I asked, not expecting anyone to answer as the lot blinked.

Dario had just teleported back to our skull shaped seats with something purple glued to his hands.

Seeing that everyone was staring at me, I repeated the same question again.

"What if the world we were living in wasn't real?"

I thought I got them thinking too hard as everyone blanked out.

It was then that Dario, now back in the booth and slightly sticky from touching something in the bathroom, raised his hand. "Honestly?" He leaned forward.

"I'd live it the same way. Book or not. At least it's not boring. I mean, imagine being stuck in a 9-to-5 job with no mana. I'd rather get stabbed by Lucas every other weekend than think about how to shock my readers 24/7."

I blinked. "That was…not dumb. Huh."

Erza shrugged. "Same. If it's a story, I'd rather be the battle-crazy side character who dies in a cool way. You know—explosions, blood, fireworks, screaming…maybe a one-liner before I go."

"Of course you would," Aurelia muttered, shaking her head, trying not to laugh.

Seraphina smirked. "You wouldn't get a one-liner. You'd probably die shouting, 'Is that all you've got?!' and then boom, done."

That made everyone chuckle.

Aurelia, relaxed with her drink, leaned into the cushion. "If it's a story…I'd want the author to write me a good ending. Nothing fancy. Just… peace. No drama. No politics. Just a quiet life with people I care about."

Seraphina nodded slowly. "Yeah. Same. Let me have a library, a big bed, and no one trying to force their decisions on me for once.

That's my ending."

Their answers hit me harder than I expected.

Here I was, constantly overthinking—about the Book of Sin, about my grandparents, about Pixie, about every damn danger that could possibly come our way while all they cared about was living a comfortable life?

Then there was me who wasn't even living.

I was surviving.

They weren't clueless, I realised.

They know this world is tough.

But they still chose to live in it fully?

How does that work?

Why was I the only one so caught up in protecting everyone that I'd forgotten how to breathe?

I glanced at Aurelia, who was now poking fun at Erza's hair. Seraphina was pretending to be a vampire with her cup, fangs out.

Dario was narrating his ghost-toilet adventure with Erza was rolling her eyes every often, but not denying how fun this place actually was.

And me?

I had always been the one to pretend that I was fine.

Maybe I needed to stop pretending.

Maybe I needed to actually be fine.

Just for a bit.

'Take a break, Noah!!' I thought, berating myself.

Smile.

Joke around.

Live.

Even if it was just a pause.

Even if I'd regret it later.

Because right now?

This—whatever this chaos was…this felt like something worth remembering.

And maybe…just maybe…

My life was better than that fucking Author's who couldn't help but continue making weird plots for me to die.

Lol.

***

P/S: Here's the promised bonus chapter for the 15 Golden Tickets!!

The daily 2 chapters will be uploaded a little later today.