Riches and Bitches: I have a gate to an isekai and leveling-up system!

"We need to talk."

Two drops of sweat trickled down my forehead when both girls dropped their argument and looked over.

And as childish as it might be, I outright refused to even look at my ex.

Cassie being here was just an irrelevant coincidence. And I wasn't going to treat it as anything more than just that.

Turning my eyes over to Irene instead, I looked as deeply into her face as I could without actually staring. I searched for even the tiniest hint that my long-standing worry, theory, and belief could be wrong.

A single clue that I was actually wrong.

But, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't see a thing.

'So I was right.'

I closed my eyes and sighed only to take a long breath later.

"Wait, we?" Irene jumped a little, her anger, annoyance, and whatever else she was acting out subsided by a genuine surprise. "Not with…"

There wasn't a single clue or whisk of proof to confirm Irene was indeed the source of the darkness that permeated the last few years of my life. In fact, I couldn't sense a single drop of the familiar, darkness aura.

And that in itself was the greatest proof that regretfully, I was indeed correct.

"Could you please drop the act?" I asked in a tired voice.

I was here, trying to somehow deal with an unfathomably powerful devil. With that in mind, playing mind games or keeping up an act…

Useless, waste of a time, unnecessary.

'What's going to happen is going to happen anyway.'

Why waste time on playing pretend if I would rather be anywhere else in the world right now? And unless I toppled this act, dealing with this matter would take even longer…

Or rather, what was my actual concern, any delay here would mean a delay in my return to my rightful place within Fay's sweet, fairy-like embrace.

"Hey… P-Pet…"

"I know."

Before Cassie could even duke out an extremely nervous greeting, right as she was in the middle of spelling my name out, I cut her off.

And without a single glance wasted on her, I kept my tired eyes locked on Irene's startled expression.

"Hey, is everything okay?"

One of the passersby approached with a look of concern.

'Not the best time to play the good guy card,' I looked over Irene's shoulder and at the stranger with an empty look cold enough to root him in place.

"I… I think it will be better if we move somewhere a bit more… private," Irene strangely calmed down, as if putting her entire being back in a lower gear.

Everything about her diminished, decreased. She now appeared shorter, her entire presence nearly halving as she pretended to calm down.

I slowly and ostentatiously raised my eyes at some of the strangers who were either stopping nearby or outright following the example of the first guy to approach. We were mere seconds away from turning this encounter into a public event.

And given my intentions, I would rather there be fewer innocent bystanders around in case I would have to activate my triumph card of desperation.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Getting the message from how openly I've ignored her, Cassie lowered her face and tightened her fists. She pressed her lips together so hard they turned white, in the end though, she opted not to try again.

"Good thinking, I fully agree."

I turned to the side and cast a quick glance, pretending as if I didn't plan out every possible detail of this encounter that I could predict way before I even stepped out of Leon's car.

"How about there?" I reached out and pointed at a massive glass panel revealing the inviting insides of a random cafe.

Irene raised her eyes and looked over before turning her attention to her friend.

"That place will do," she remarked silently, reaching out for Cassie's hand and pulling her ahead as she stepped towards the craft coffee bar I'd mentioned.

I had every intention of getting seated right by the window, in a perfect and unobstructed view of all the gunmen hidden in the cars within a nearby side alley.

Still, after making a mere step, Irene suddenly stopped and looked back at Cassie's startled expression.

And for a moment, a strange, weirdly genuine look sparked up in her eyes.

"It looks like this is a talk between him and me, after all," Irene remarked, letting go of Cassie's hand and turning her face to the front as if to hide a look of slightly regretful rejection.

'Is this still an act?' I asked myself, moving my eyes over Cassie as if she were just a street lamp or postal box. And without further ado, I followed Irene to the very location I suggested.

'I wonder if she will stay?' I thought as we crossed the street in silence, perfectly aware of how Cassie raised her hand after her friend and even opened up her mouth… Only to end up lowering both her hand and her face as she closed her mouth back up.

To see what kind of face she made, I would actually have to look over… But in all honesty, I didn't care in the slightest.

Soon, we went inside and after a short delay of acting all normal and ordering a coffee each like your run-of-the-mill couple, we sat down.

As if to show that she'd read my intentions, Irene didn't protest my choice of location.

'Or maybe she somehow has no clue what I'm planning?' I thought… Only to throw such a stupid idea away.

From how she acted and from how long I knew about her… Or to put it bluntly, from how far into the past the influence of her darkness appeared to affect my fate, she had to feel as comfortable in this reality as me, a damn native.

I didn't try to hide my intentions to deal with her at all, so she had to be aware something was brewing. In fact, being a woman, she was naturally bound to notice the stiffness of my face and notice that there was something amiss about this situation.

Sure, she might've been one of the reasons why I broke up with Cassie, she might have a troubled relationship and history with both me and my ex, her close friend…

But none of those would warrant the way I've approached her and demanded to talk.

"So, then?" Sitting down, Irene stretched her hands up before lowering her elbows on the table and cupping her hands together. She then leaned her chin over her interweaved fingers and put on a huge, chillingly cold smile. "What did you want to talk about?"