Wonderer's Wish World 2: Evolutionary Rebirth

Fun for the Whole Family

Day 10

Time: 6:30 PM

Location: 18th Guard Tower, Fourth Moon Quarter

"Um... okay, let's see here," Darius hummed, tapping the screen with his finger, being the last one to do so. Instantly, the screen flashed the last green checkmark, and changed to a couple of lines of text. Unfortunately, most of them were red, and Darius inwardly groaned. That did not bode well. "So, apparently, because it took you two all day to finish you tasks, we get a 30 percent deduction to our pay. Fifteen percent each."

Ai groaned. "Oh, no! I'm so sorry, I should have asked for help earlier! I thought I could do it on my own..."

"It's fine," Darius told her, cringing as his eyes scanned down the rest of the page. "I mean, I lost us... fifty percent from listening to banned radio stations and leaving my post, so if anyone should take the blame..."

Instantly, Ai attitude changed. Darius could still see some worry in her eyes, but there was kindness, too. "Oh, Darius, don't worry about it! We wouldn't blame you!"

"You didn't do anything!" Greg added in, and Darius wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a comfort or if it was a mere observation.

"Right," Darius said, turning back to the screen. There was some other lines of text, too, probably important information, but Darius didn't understand any of that, so he didn't bother reading it. Instead, he went right down to the bottom, to their collective pay. "Um, so if I did my math right, we still have twenty percent of our original pay, we have... forty cents?!"

Ai's eyes widened, and she peeked over his shoulder, checking the screen herself. "I... really?"

Her voice was tight, and Darius gulped, shuddering. Back in their world, forty cents wouldn't buy anything.

"How much would we get normally?" Ai asked him, her voice shaking.

"Um..." Darius started, but Greg, who was apparently bored with the conversation, started moving towards the door, still hugging his horrifying creature to his chest.

"Can I go start making supper?" he asked, loudly. The creature (what even WAS that?) in his arms screeched loudly. Darius winced, but he nodded, not really bothering to glance over.

"Yeah, go ahead," he mumbled, staring intently at the screen. Ai leaned back, giving Greg a reassuring smile.

"Make whatever you want!" she told him. "We'll be right out."

Greg turned and left, and as soon as he was gone, Ai's smile dropped. Once again, she looked worried. Darius was still trying to figure out this calculation.

"So fifty percent and thirty percent is eighty percent," Darius mumbled. "And eighty percent minus one hundred percent is twenty percent, and so forty cents is twenty percent so one hundred percent of that is..."

Darius' mind went blank. He had no idea what in the world how to do this kind of math...

"I give up," Darius eventually groaned. Ai shrugged, too.

"I'm not very good at math, either," she admitted. "Or anything else like that."

"Me neither, apparently," Darius said, laughing. "But I guess it's not important. What's more important is that even though we don't know the exact number, it can't be that much. So..."

"So you were right," Ai finished. She didn't sound very happy about it, but Darius couldn't blame her. "There really is no way we are going to pay for a way to Night Light City."

Darius stared at the screen, troubled. "Yeah..."

Ai frowned. Darius could feel her eyes on him, despite his own avoiding her face.