● Illusory ●

Chapter 12

Alex

"Okay, if I mixed coconut water, cucumber water, and hot dog water, would you drink it?"

I sighed as I looked away from one of the books in the lab, feeling a little bored. Remember my words about being productive? Yeah, this is as productive as it gets. We're off to a great start.

"That's disgusting, Ashaki. Why would you even ask?" I questioned. She only shrugged and started placing wires within a frame for some sort of device. 

"Personality test? Perhaps people with abilities answer differently?" she smiled nervously, before snorting. "Okay, sorry, it's just someone at my school actually drank that the other day and their reaction was hilarious."

"I'm not sure why, but for some reason I think hot dog water would actually taste pretty decent," Padma spoke up, stuttering here and there in her sentence. Ashaki stuck her tongue out in disgust.

"Gross. That'd probably taste like ass," she commented, to which Padma and I froze. It took Ashaki a moment to realize what she had said. "W-Wait! I meant butt! I meant butt!"

"Oh dear lord! Did I....just hear...a cuss!?" I faked a slightly higher-pitched voice, making a surprised face before pretending to stumble on my feet and faint next to Padma's wheelchair. "Ah, this is a tragedy Mrs. P! Our dear daughter is speaking swears! Before you know it she'll be summoning Satan himself in her bedroom!"

Padma gasped. "How shameful! Have we taught you nothing, young lady!? I'll have to get the soap!"

"You guys are so overdramatic! Everyone my age cusses," Ashaki sighed, crossing her arms. I pretended to have a heart attack.

"The youth is succmbing to Lucifer's darkness! The apocalypse is near!" I exclaimed in the fake voice. Padma gasped once more.

"We're doomed, Captain A!" she stuttered midway through her exclamation, before we both looked at Ashaki and pointed at her.

"A dollar to the swear jar, young lady!" we both shouted in unison. Ashaki raised an eyebrow.

"You guys can't be serious. You guys cuss around me all the time!" she argued. I knew she was right but we kept up with our act.

"I would never!" I acted offended, "I am a pure-of-heart individual who would never commit such a crime! My mouth would never be filthy like the youth's!"

"Yeah but what about your thoughts, Captain Dingus?" Ashaki questioned, unimpressed. For some reason I felt my cheeks become briefly warm.

"My thoughts are only full of pure things like puppies and baby giggles!" I argued, still playing along. I don't think baby giggles are all that pure though. Sometimes they sound like potential demons.

"But what about your room!? Is it as clean as everything else!?" Ashaki questioned. Okay, she got me there.

"Don't shame me for my décor choices!" I replied. The girl raised an eyebrow.

"How is leaving your clothes and literally everything else all over the floor décor?" she questioned.

"If I call it décor, it's décor!" I argued, to which I heard Padma snort.

"This all is making it hard to believe that you could possibly be ending up with someone in the coming weeks," she stuttered, to which I felt my face grow hot again.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" I exclaimed, to which Padma shrugged.

"I don't know. Ask Ashaki. She's the one who told me you had a crush on someone here," she told me. My head whipped around to look at the girl immediately.