Chapter 13 - Let's Run While Holding Hands Under The Rain!

[Doubt may not be the only seed that's easy to plant on someone's mind. Infatuation takes root faster than you think as well.]

Zhe Chouhen jolted when he heard Panda's voice. 'The heck, you just spoke without warning while I'm having a happy moment here! What are you even trying to say all of a sudden? I told you, I won't fall in love with Daniele."

[Just a fair warning. Sometimes, you may think your mind is impenetrable..... but it's only a matter of time before your heart fools your mind. Soon, you will be rendered stupid. Why else would Daniele be stupid enough to forgive you?]

Zhe Chouhen scoffed. (Daniele is not stupid. He's just a good person, unlike you.)

[.....You may have already gone stupid faster than I thought. Remember: love, like all emotions, are just chemical reactions from certain triggers.]

(Pssh, you're just a vinegar drinking author.) Zhe Chouhen shook him off. (Stop annoying me, I know what I'm doing. No matter how cute Daniele is, I'm not going to lose.)

[So it's not your concern that he's fictional and is in love with the character you are possessing, not the real you? You're more concerned about winning a bet? You're even more shallow that I thought.]

(Blah, blah, blah! Talk to your mother if you're so bored, or go watch some porn. I'm feeling pretty good right now so don't bother me.)

Zhe Chouhen rolled his eyes mentally and wrapped his shoulder around Daniele.

He smiled as 'Leandro' from ear to ear. "Hey, Daniele. Do not stray too far from me, the next ring is too dangerous."

"What is the next ring like?" Daniele looked at the road ahead nervously.

"A rain of fire and blood! Burning sands as far as the eyes could see! I'm sure you would not be affected by this, because the sinners of the third ring are blasphemers, sodomites and usurers." 'Leandro' assured him.

"What about you?"

'Leandro' blinked. "What about me?"

"Are you.... not guilty of this violence as well? Specifically.... sodomy? You admitted that you have been distracting yourself from your forbidden love through alcoholism, that is why you were chased by Cerberus. You were also lustful."

Daniele fidgeted his fingers. "Have you not tried to satiate this yearning..... through other means? With other people?"

Zhe Chouhen guffawed. (Is he basically asking me if I'm still a virgin or not!?)

'Leandro' grinned widely, patting Daniele's head. "Look at you, accusing me of sodomy. Didn't you say it is wrong to judge and only God can pass judgment?"

"I'm not judging! I just wanted to hear it from you....." Daniele pouted. "I told you to be more honest. Can't you just answer it?"

'Leandro' pretended to think carefully. "There is one time.... I'm not sure if it counts....."

"What did you do?" Daniele's eyes went eager.

"Do you really want to hear all the dirty details?" 'Leandro's' eyes narrowed mischievously.

"N-No! You sounded unsure if it counts as sodomy or not, so I wanted to hear it." Daniele was flustered then shook his head. "But on second thought, I don't care anymore. You will be punished if you really did commit that crime."

'Leandro' chuckled. "Calling it a crime is too much. The few nasty bunch who harmed animals are criminals, but what about two men or two women who love each other? How else would they show their love?"

"Um..... Hugs and kisses?" Daniele answered innocently.

"Haha, I expected you to say so."

"So..... You've done something more than that with someone else?" Daniele gave him a disappointed look similar to a puppy who was rejected of food.

'Leandro' didn't answer for a while, then whispered to him. "I was just testing you. I would never commit that 'crime' with someone I do not love."

Daniele reddened and pushed him away. "What test? You just wanted to embarrass me!"

"Why would you be embarrassed?" 'Leandro' did not stop whispering coquettishly in his ear. "Oh, my dearest Daniele. Did you know I dreamt of committing that 'crime' with my beloved almost every night? Does that embarrass you even more?"

"You...." Daniele had grown as almost as red as Phlegyas that ferried them across Styx.

(That better earn me back some of the Satisfaction Meter.) Zhe Chouhen said to Panda.

[Fine, fine. Satisfaction Meter raised to 60%. Scum Meter raised to 45%.]

(Why did my Scum Meter raise by 15% while the Satisfaction is only 10%!?)

[Because teasing Daniele about sodomy when you're about to go to the ring where sodomites suffer is really scummy for him, but just normal flirting barely moves the audience.]

(Your audience must be dog blood* drama lovers, huh?)

[Dog blood sometimes has its charms.]

Daniele and 'Leandro' finally saw the Burning Plains.

It stretched out with the air seeming to sizzle, flames falling down the sky and unto the screaming people as they burn. Some are laying in the sand face up like they are unable to move. Some are continuously running but in vain. And some merely curled in the ground and wept endlessly.

"Welcome to the third ring of violence, for those who committed violence to God, nature and art." 'Leandro' gestured dramatically.

"Blasphemers are the ones who are now lying helplessly, so they may not desecrate holiness and representations of God. Sodomites run restlessly like the lustful on the 1st circle, only that they are punished worse because they made love that is against nature. And usurers, who create deals and loans unfairly that it makes people cry and weep all day, shall also cry and weep in a valley of fiery rain for destroying the art of money-lending."

Daniele's mind was adrift from all the wreckage. There was too much carnage all at the same time, and these people are treated as worse as murderers. He remembered what 'Leandro' said about the sodomites, and can't help but pity some of them.

"The rain will not touch us?" Daniele bravely stretched his hand beyond the boundary of the two rings.

A small spark of flame fell on his hand, and disappeared into a cloud of smoke. He didn't feel any pain or any sensation at all.

"I suppose. Let's go."

'Leandro' took his hand and they stepped one foot at a time at the Burning Plains.

The moment they have come across the sodomites who were like marathon runners circling the burning fields under the fiery rain, Zhe Chouhen felt a weird sensation again.

He had the urge to run with them, despite not being affected by the punishments and fires at all.

"Leandro, why are you running and following them? The exit is that way." Daniele asked worriedly as blood and fire rain bumped out of his skin like he had an invisible umbrella.

"I.... uh.... I just thought it would be interesting to see what they have been going through!" 'Leandro' made a lopsided smile as his feet kept moving on their own.

(This happened back at the River Phlegethon too. I did not commit any murder, and I haven't pierced any chrysanthemum yet or even have someone taste my cucumber*!)

Zhe Chouhen complained in his head. (Panda-laoshi, explain this to me!)

[I don't know the answers either. You're not really being 'punished' since it's not tormenting you externally. But it seems that you are only being half-punished?]

[That's weird. If you did something wrong, you should be punished all the way.]

(I'd rather not be punished all the way! How do I stop this!? You're the system, can't you help me out!?)

[Er.... I'm still new to this system thing. I didn't even get manual or anything. Hold on a bit.]

'Leandro' seem to be thinking of something deeply, too distracted to notice what's happening. Meanwhile, Daniele noticed most of the sodomites are holding hands.

Not just in pairs, but sometimes in groups like a whole community. Some even helped each other stand up when they fall or falter from the fiery rain.

It felt... strange. There was an odd sense of unity to them.

"Are you boys new here?" One of the sodomites asked, a kind-looking man with a long gray beard. He had the bearings and impression of a teacher.

Daniele was surprised to have someone talk to him and approach him first. "We are. We don't really belong here, but my companion wanted to see how you people are coping."

"We are coping quite well, you see. Running together makes the torment feel less bad than the others who chose or were forced to suffer individually." The teacher introduced himself. "You can call me Signore Bruno. This is my lover, Narciso."

Narciso, who looked a few years younger than Bruno, waved at them, making a few gestures.

"He said, 'It is nice to meet you. What are your names?' " Signore Bruno explained.

"I am Daniele, and this is Leandro." Daniele elbowed his companion. "Leandro, they're talking to us."

"Oh." 'Leandro' blinked several times. Zhe Chouhen was still ranting and pressuring Daoist Panda to do something so he didn't notice the two sodomites.

He remembered these two from the novel. Though the interaction was quite short, he really liked this side couple.

He waved happily at them. "Good day, gentlemen. Lovely day for a run, isn't it?"

Daniele elbowed him again disapprovingly. "Leandro, we are in hell. It is never a good day for them."

Signore Bruno chuckled. "That is quite alright, I like your companion's sense of humor! Even Narciso finds it funny too."

Narciso made more signs in quick succession, and Signore explained he was trying to say, "We had been running for quite a while, but this day does seem lovelier than the others, so thanks for asking."

'Leandro' was amazed by the natural coordination of the two. "You seem to be good a translating your partner's signs. How long since you two had developed your own communication system?"

Zhe Chouhen remembered that there was no official sign language in medieval times, but multiple versions that depend on certain groups and individuals. Most were even neglected by society or 'taught' and 'cured' to speak orally by priests and monks through the power of Jesus Christ, and their methods were..... concerning.

To own property, you have to know how to speak and write, so many disabled people were beggars and homeless in the medieval period.

[How do you know all this?]

(I took a lot of majors because I found my college life too boring. One of them is World History. I'm actually very smart, Panda-laoshi, I could have gotten a 150 IQ if I took an IQ test.)

[....You should be the one named Narciso, not the mute.]

Signore Bruno answered Leandro's question: "The truth is....I am actually Narciso's teacher. When I was 21, I joined a group that aims to make a better communication system and actually teach that system to the deaf, mutes, and their loved ones."

Signore Bruno recalled fondly, kissing Narciso's hand. "He was 15 that time, and was left on the streets by his mother with nowhere to go. For five years, we have been good friends, and our group gave him a temporary settlement along with the homeless disabled."

Narciso grinned ear to ear and made a gesture of pressing his fingers over his lips, and then putting them over Bruno's lips. The two lovers laughed and Bruno did the same gesture.

"What does that mean?" Daniele asked.

"Narciso is actually the one who confessed first, you see. Despite having a voice, I was too afraid to use it to reveal my feelings. One day, I thought him the how to sign 'I love you'." Signore Bruno's eyes twinkled whenever he looks at his lover. "That was the sign that we did just now."

This obvious display of pure, genuine affection baffled Daniele, and he start to think about his misconceptions on sodomites. Is God really that benevolent if he would punish people who just love each other so dearly like this?

While the MC is gaining some character development, Zhe Chouhen was fanboying on the side for the two couple. (They're so sweet that it makes me want to chug a whole box of dog food*!)

[I can supply you real ones if you want.]

(Now you're the one sassing me. I prefer it the other way around, when you easily blush with those red circles.)

Zhe Chouhen sighed. (Good times. Panda-laoshi, why did you change so much from that cute little panda and turned into an annoying, totally not-cute panda?)

[....If you think your flirting will make me stop sassing you, you're wrong! Save it for the MC!]

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