Chapter 208: Friends (2)

Rewen's face darkened a little. He didn't think that he would be underestimated in social skills to this extent. In their defense, their doubt is justified. His predecessor had rarely talked to anyone in general in the past two years, let alone a stranger. Before he became a victim of interference, he also wasn't a social butterfly and liked to keep everything to himself.

"Hm, I did read a book on how to flirt…" Rewen thought back to the time when his predecessor mistakenly brought a book on flirting made by a popular, more like infamous, pick-up artist.

Zelic and Bianca laughed harder when they heard him say this. 

"Oh, my poor Rewen. Don't worry, we are your wing-women. If you like someone, we will try our best to let her not get close to you. Haha!" Zelic laughed at her own joke.

Bianca seemed to find her joke hilarious and laughed even harder.

Rewen blankly stared at the two of them as if remembering something, then fixed his eyes on Zelic and opened his mouth. "Hm, your dimples really become prominent when you laugh." 

"..."

"..."

All of a sudden, the atmosphere became extremely awkward.

"I-is that so? Bianca, how are your professors? I have heard 4th Grade Class professors are strict." Zelic blatantly tried to change the subject.

Bianca still had the aftereffects of the deadly one-liner from Rewen so she couldn't cooperate instantly. After a few seconds, she came back to her senses. "Y-yeah. They are strict…"

Meanwhile, Rewen had a hard time containing his laughter.

Noticing him smiling in a weird manner, Zelic again turned awkward. "Don't use your stupid lines on us."

"It is true though," Rewen said. He would have been seen as someone who is sincerely commenting but his twisted face of trying not to laugh gave him away.

"What is true? I don't know what you are talking about. Bianca, let's go somewhere else. He is making us uncomfortable." Zelic tried to get up but her friend didn't let her go.

"Just sit." Bianca said, also having the face of 'trying not to laugh'.

Zelic pouted, then sat back folding her arms.

"I heard someone say that I can't flirt… wh0 is it? Do you know the person?" Rewen asked her with a face full of confusion.

Zelic snorted. "Hmph! That person would still say that you can't flirt. What are you going to do about it?"

"Pretty rich for someone who just blushed." Rewen f0und it extremely fun to tease her. 'She is a rare product who has some characteristics of a 2-D girl.' Of course, he didn't have a habit of comparing real women to fictional women but these days, because he had got accustomed to living in the Gruer's Landings, it came to him naturally.

"W-who blushed?" Turning red, Zelic focused on drinking her wine.

When Rewen stopped teasing her, he found Bianca staring at him. "What? Do you want a one-liner as well?"

"No. Thank you!" Bianca vehemently shook her head.

For some reason, Zelic was sour about letting this guy 'win'. "You are all talk. Since you are so confident, why don't you go and flirt with other girls in the bar?"

"Why should I?" Rewen squinted his eyes.

"Hah! As I thought, you are all talk! We're at a bar. No one would call you out for reaching out to a girl. If you don't know how to talk to strangers, you should just say so." Zelic tried to provoke him.

"Yes, yes. It's very common for people to hook up with strangers. Since you came here with the intention to hook up, you shouldn't back down." Bianca also joined in the game.

Rewen rubbed his nose with an arrogant expression. "What kind of an idiot do you think I am? But… I'll take that offer! I'm no shy boy. Tell me, who should I approach?" Saying that he looked around the bar, searching for girls who weren't in a group.

Zelic and Bianca smiled, looking at each other. 

A few seconds later, Bianca pointed to a woman sitting on a table and seemed to film herself. "How about her?"

Rewen looked at her and his face turned strange. The woman Bianca wasn't ugly in any shape or form and could even be considered hot. Wearing a provocative and bold dress, she seemed to be talking with someone. "Her? Isn't she, like, talking to someone?" 

To be honest, Rewen wasn't against the idea of approaching girls and talking with them. It didn't care if she looked like a slut or a godly virgin. The woman who was filming herself had heavy make-up and although he didn't try to be judgemental, he knew that she was probably the former. However, he wasn't against that. Just because someone lives life differently doesn't mean that they are to be criticized for what they are.

Rewen was guilty of judging her from her appearance but he would do the same if it were a man drinking alcohol surrounded by prostitutes. He wasn't completely devoid of having double standards but he tried not to be too obvious about setting double standards.

What he was against was the fact that he didn't want to look like a creep when he approached her. 

Bianca pushed him off the barstool he was sitting on. "She is just live streaming. Just go. If anything happens, we'll save you."

"Yes. Or are you pussy-ing out?" Zelic went full-on provocative mode.

"Who is pussy-ing out? But what do I get in return? This all seems like a high-risk low outcome. I have the possibility of getting called a creep while getting nothing in return." Rewen tried to argue.

"Okay, we'll do whatever you want. Now, go before she leaves!"

Rewen gave one single glance at the two of them, then got up from his barstool and approached the woman who was live-streaming. While she was engrossed in talking with her viewers, he took a seat opposite to her. 

When he sat down, he also noticed a pink purse beside her legs. At the same time, he also found a good conversation topic.

"Excuse me?"

The woman kept live streaming as if he was invisible.

'Well, this is awkward. I'm sort of regretting agreeing to come here.

"Excuse me?" Rewen asked again. This time, he asked in a fairly loud voice. 

The woman again seemed to not see him.

Rewen was puzzled. The fact of the matter is, he didn't believe that anyone other than a person who is deaf and blind could not hear him. He was sitting literally opposite to him. Even if she hadn't heard his voice, her eyes could not notice him. 

'Am I being ignored?' Rewen thought that it was plausible. He wouldn't blame the woman if that was the case. After all, he did come to her personal space as an unknown stranger. While it might come out as rude, he wouldn't get offended over it. 

'Perhaps, this isn't her first time someone tried to approach her. It's understandable then. I'll just tell them to pick another on, err, let's not objectify...' 

It's funny how so many things became offensive to him the moment he came to this world. On CHAOS, he could spew out sexist slurs and no one would care. However, after coming here, he came to know that there are many things in this world that are unquestionably bad things that were not taken seriously in CHAOS. 

Social awareness would be a fitting word. He thought that having social awareness is a good trait to have. He didn't have any solid reason why he thinks that's the case but it does make one communicate more efficiently and non-offensively.

Making a decision, he got up.

Just then, the woman who was live streaming got up as well and pointed her camera towards him. 

"Mmm, come on. Don't leave, yet. Say it!" 

Within a split second, Rewen understood the entire matter. She had noticed him the moment he sat down but pretended to not notice him. The more he would have tried to gain her attention, the more he would be painted in a bad picture. Fortunately for him, he wasn't persistent and just asked two times. 

To be fair, he wasn't completely out of options. If he exercised his rhetorical skills, he could get out of this without appearing as a creep. Sighing internally, he thought. 'Whatever. I'll just apologise. With her appearance, she sure seems like someone who constantly gets approached. It's part of my fault so…'

However, the moment he opened his mouth, he was interrupted.

"Yeah, go ahead. I want to hear what excuses you have. No, let everyone else on this bar hear what you were going to say!" Purposefully raising her voice, she garnered the attention of the people in the bar.

Getting a general overview of what was happening, the mobs appeared interested and slowly formed a circle around them.

"Say it!"

"Say it!"

"Say it!"

Rewen's facial expression turned serious. 'Fuck. This is turning big.'