Meeting Again

Faye sat behind the counter that faced the shop's door and tried to focus on her book, while the players were upstairs shouting at the top of their voices as they conversed with their companions.

There hadn't been a moment of peace since the day those players from before had entered the shop. Word had obviously spread about the bookshop, and it went from being quiet and basically empty to being the new meeting place for players to discuss their quests and the spoils they had received from completing a dungeon.

On one hand, Faye found it intriguing as she listened in on their stories and a part of her wished she could have been there to experience it all first-hand. However, another part of her hoped they wouldn't spend all their spare time in the bookstore so she could read her books in peace.

Business was good, of course, but someone like Faye wasn't made for too much human interaction, and she preferred peace. So when the players did eventually leave, she would sigh with relief and make some tea to soothe her overworked nerves.

Today was supposed to be the same, except it wasn't. The friendly guy from before had stayed behind and was now approaching the front desk. Seeing as the shop was now full to bursting with players, Faye couldn't sit in her favourite window seat and had to spend most of her time at the front of the shop. Her disgruntled look might've been undetectable by the ones who hadn't been paying attention to her, but the man who was now close to the front desk could see every frown that she was doing her best to hide; he cracked a smile in amusement and suppressed a laugh.

"Good evening, miss." He politely greeted her and leaned against the front desk, giving himself a careless appearance. "Thank you again for the last time. I hope we aren't giving you too much trouble."

"It's fine," Faye said briefly, before going back to reading the book in her lap.

Seeing that Faye would not respond anymore to him, the man tapped his fingers on the front desk and said, "well see you then." He sighed and gave up trying to communicate with her. After he left, Faye looked up from the book and watched him walk past the shop.

It was strange.

If it was a normal person in a game, wouldn't they ignore the NPCs or only speak to them when it was convenient for them? So why did this man speak to her like a normal person? Unless he thought she was a player, just like them. But then wouldn't it be obvious just from looking at her that she was nothing but an NPC who shouldn't even understand him when he spoke to her?

"..." Faye paused in her reading and thought for a bit.

"This is going to be troublesome." She muttered, before going back to her book.

☽

Nearly every day, the man would appear in the shop, either with his companions or on his own, and each time he would try to speak with the girl at the front desk. Even if she appeared irritated or unwilling to talk to him, it didn't deter him.

"Keep that up and you're going to get banned from this place." One of his friends, Ayda, remarked after watching him fail for the hundredth time; it was getting kind of sad to watch, and she couldn't help but try to stop him from humiliating himself further.

"Why not leave her alone? She obviously doesn't want to speak to you, and can't you see she's not like us?"

"What do you mean?" The man obviously didn't catch the implications behind her words, and just looked at her innocently.

Ayda couldn't resist patting him on the head, and said, "never mind. Just don't go overboard."

"Don't worry." The man grinned and said, "I know what I'm doing."

'It's best to just give up,' thought Ayda. For the life of her, she couldn't understand his fixation on the female NPC. What's the point? It's not like he can become friends with a person who is nothing but computer data. 'Just leave him to do what he wants. It's not like anything bad could happen, right?'