Anomalous (Yanderes x reader)

[06] Unexplainable Abnormalities

"Am I going to spend the rest of the night playing Anomalous? Hell yes."

You heaved an exhausted sigh as you entered your apartment. After flicking on the lights, taking off your shoes, settling down your bag (very carefully since your laptop was inside), and swiftly changing into something comfortable, you threw yourself in front of your computer. Excitement kindled within you as Anomalous began loading up. After a long day of running errands around the city and working on your book inside a cafe, you were more than happy to relax by playing a game you purchased just the other day.

I think I barely passed the prologue. What happened again?

The game's menu loaded up. The dynamic transitions and stylish design of it gave an exciting welcome. You spared no second to get right into the gameplay.

Oh, yeah! It was after the vengeful apparition possessed me––well, the protagonist––and fled. Let's see, what am I supposed to do next...

The operation had come to a conclusion and the protagonist was at the school gates. On the top left corner, a line of white text displayed 'talk to Caleb'. You decided to do the exact opposite and began wandering around the map, interacting with every possible NPC. As someone who liked to write stories, you supposed it was habitual for you to uncover as many details as possible of another story.

Students hung around the front gates as they anxiously waited for their parents to come and pick them up, AEI members were dealing with the media as well as the aftermath of the operation, and staff members were making phone calls and hastily attempting to set things in order; everyone was too busy to notice the protagonist's odd presence. You spotted a few students and clicked to interact with them.

"Man, imagine if Alastor was here. At least we could've gotten some entertainment."

"Aw, dude. Don't say that, he'd totally die and we would need to mourn him and all."

"True. I can imagine him trying to reason with the AEI members saying 'no! We can save it!' haha!"

"Sucks that he transferred. He was fun to mess around with."

"Mess around? You totally beat him up!"

"Oh, c'mon. What's a few bruises and broken bones?"

You stared at the students. Google, how do I refrain from throwing hands at 2D pixels? There wasn't an option to actually talk to them. A shame. The game could've at least let you insult them or something. After wandering around for a couple more minutes, you finally decided to get back on track with the main story. When you approached Caleb, he smiled enthusiastically.

He patted the protagonist on the shoulder. "Hey, hey. Guess what? Thanks to my fantastic persuasion skills, I got you a potential spot in the AEI! Though, we're going to have to do a background check on you to make sure that you're not some wanted criminal," he said. "But, hey. Usually the process is so much more complex. Thank me later and treat me with the money you make, would you?"

A few dialogue options were available. Judging from them, the protagonist was definitely not a talkative person.

"A process?"

Caleb took his hand off the protagonist. "To put it simply, depending on what position you applied for, there's an entrance exam suited for it. I'll spare you the details for now. It doesn't matter to you anyway." He grinned. "Hey, if things go well, we'll be seeing each other often from now on, huh? I'm looking forward to getting to know more about you."

The protagonist remained thoughtful for a moment. "There's not much to me though."

"Right, right. Because suddenly showing up at an operation and not only having exorcism abilities, but also a special ability isn't something massively interesting. Sure, let's go with that." Caleb laughed. "Actually, I never got your name. Mind telling me?"