By the time Camellya stepped into the café, Leon was already seated at a table with a menu in his hands.
She took a seat on the chair opposite him, and he slid one of the menus towards her and spoke.
"Order what you like."
Camellya glanced at the menu without a word, then back to him, and just before she could speak, Leon continued, "We're likely gonna be talking for a while, and I'd rather you not do that on an empty stomach. So, order something."
With those words, he turned and called a passing waiter to take his order, and after placing his order, he glanced at Camellya, who silently pointed at two items on the menu.
Once the waiter left and was out of earshot, Leon turned his gaze back to Camellya and then said, "You seemed surprised to see me earlier. Fan of the Raviaz family?"
He spoke with a calm smile, but Camellya didn't go along with his attempt at a joke and went straight to the point.
"I know who you are. And I know what you... become."
Hearing her words, Leon then raised an eyebrow.
"What I become, huh?" he said, drumming his fingers on the table. "I suppose that works both ways. I also know who you are and what you will become in the future.
But that much was already obvious to both of us."
Meeting her eyes, Leon leaned a bit forward and then asked, "The real question here is how much do you know?"
There was no need to clarify that they were aware of the game Deity Rising and its similarities to this world. That much was already clear from their actions and reactions earlier.
What Leon wanted to know now was if Camellya, or whoever reincarnated as Camellya, only knew about Deity Rising, or if she knew of the DLC as well.
"How much do I know…? Everything," Camellya responded in a cold voice.
"Ah! So you played the DLC as well," Leon responded, his tone satisfied at what he'd heard.
Camellya, on the other hand, was momentarily confused when she heard Leon. That confused look on her face turned into one of realisation, and then she heaved a sigh, pressing her fingers to her temple, all while Leon looked at her, confused.
"What's up with you?" Leon asked, but Camellya just shook her head and said, "Nothing."
'It's really nothing. Turns out I was worried for nothing. What I was scared about isn't the case. Even so, I have to be sure…'
Such were the thoughts crossing Camellya's mind before she looked up at Leon and responded.
"Yes, I did play the game Deity Rising and its DLC. That's why I know about you. Is that not the case for you as well?"
To her question, Leon nodded, "Yeah. I did. Right up to the last damn minute…"
His tone turned a pitch darker for a moment, and Camellya noticed this. But before she could comment, Leon quickly controlled himself and continued speaking.
"Sorry about that. Was just reminded of something…displeasing."
He clearly didn't want to talk about it again, but Camellya seemed to have thrown tact out the window on this occasion, as she straight up asked him.
"You…did you…die?"
Leon gave her a look that questioned why she still thought it wise to ask this, but after a soft sigh, he nodded.
"Yeah."
For a moment, he considered whether to discuss the circumstances of said death with her, but ended up deciding to, with every intention of extracting just as much information from her as well.
"I was shot in what I think was a mall robbery. If the damn bastards wanted to rob the place, they should have done so without having to shoot up the fucking place...!"
The moment Leon said that, he felt this small sense of relief, like a load had been lifted off his chest, and he took a deep breath, magic power circulating through his body as he calmed himself.
While he did this, Camellya, whose expression had turned strange from the moment he said 'mall robbery, then said.
"I think I may know what you're talking about…"
"?"
Seeing Leon's questioning look, Camellya explained, "My last memory in the world where I played the game called Deity Rising ends with me getting shot by men in masks who barged in and opened fire when I was paying for my groceries at a mall counter."
Leon's eyes widened at the description Camellya gave, and raising a finger at her, he muttered, "I was at the counter too… and there was a woman in front of me. That was you?"
Camellya shrugged lightly as she responded. "It might have been."
When she mentioned the name of the mall that she was in right after, Leon immediately burst into laughter.
"So we both logged off life at the same place and time, and now we're in the world of a game we both played as the protagonist and final villain, respectively."
Meeting her eyes, he asked, "Coincidence?"
"I think not," Camellya responded immediately.
"So what do you think is the reason?" Leon asked.
"I've had many theories over the years, but—"
"Wait a moment!" Leon exclaimed, cutting Camellya off. "Did you just say 'over the years'? How long have you had your memory of your…previous life?"
"Ever since I awakened my core skill at age 10," Camellya replied.
As at the start of Deity Rising's prologue, the protagonist was 17 years old, and if Camellya in front of him was currently 17, that meant that she'd had her memories by 7 years.
With the way Leon cut her off and his surprise at her response, Camellya realised that he'd had his memories for a much shorter time, and then she asked,
"How long have you had yours?"
His response left her jaw dropping in shock.
"A few hours."
"Hours!?"
Her loud shout attracted a few eyes from other customers in the café, but she didn't pay them any mind as she stared at Leon in shock.
"Did you forget the beginning of the DLC? Leon gets healed at the end of August while he's in Asteau to get a new combat class."
"Oh..yeah…that did happen…"
"It was quite the hassle, the sudden influx of memories," Leon continued. "I feel like I was close to having a split personality,"
Camellya nodded at his words, placing a hand on her chest as she spoke.
"I understand the feeling. I suppose it was even worse for me since I was just 10 and had to deal with the sudden influx of 20 years' worth of memories."
Right after she said that, she went silent for a moment, then looked up at Leon and then asked, "I want to confirm something. Do you believe you're really Leon Raviaz, or you're someone who took over his body?"
"Huh?" Leon blinked at her question, then shook his head as he responded. "I'm Leon Raviaz. I was simply someone else before I was Leon, and when I recovered those past memories, the 17 years I've lived as Leon didn't just vanish into thin air."
Camellya seemed satisfied with his answer, nodding to herself as she said.
"It seems we're of the same mind. I did a lot of spiritual research and the like over the years, and I've reached the same conclusion. I am Camellya Seradain, who just happens to have the memories of the life my soul had lived before.
Granted, some are quite vague now, considering it has been 7 years."
She paused for a moment, then continued, "I did put down the important bits about this world first before I started inevitably forgetting smaller details as time went on."
Leon nodded in approval at her decision, making a mental note to do the same as well.
"I know a lot about Deity Rising because I was constantly on it due to work, but I'm not going to remember everything with as much clarity as I currently do forever."
"You were on the game for work?" Camellya asked, picking up on that detail, and Leon nodded.
"Yeah. I was in college, but I was a streamer on the side. Deity Rising was one of the games I focused on the most."
This was why Leon knew so much information about Deity Rising's lore, events and items, including things like Genevieve's briefcase that was only shown once throughout the entire game.
"What about you, Camellya? What were you?"
"A college student, who interned in a game designing company," she replied.
At this, Leon nodded, and just then, the waiter came by with their orders, setting things on the table before leaving with a bow.
"We've kinda digressed," Leon said the moment the waiter was out of earshot. "We were talking about how it's not a coincidence both of us ended up in this world."
"Yes, we were on that," Camellya said, picking up her spoon to stir her coffee.
"So, yeah. Why us? I mean, besides being a streamer for the game, I don't see anything else that was special about me that would warrant me becoming Leon."
If anyone from Leon's past life as Alex heard him say there wasn't anything 'special' about him, then they might come at him with bamboo spears to beat him up, but luckily, none were present to hear him say that.
"That's one question I haven't been able to answer. Why we're here," Camellya responded, the tired sigh that followed making it clear how much effort she'd expended to try and figure it out.
"Maybe…a whim of the gods?" Leon suggested, and at this Camellya frowned lightly.
"I really don't like that possibility…"
The world of Citera had existences called 'gods' who had religions under them.
Camellya, however, seemed very uncomfortable at the mention of gods, and seeing how her expression darkened, Leon didn't press that topic and instead pivoted to a different question.
"May I ask what it is you intend to do?"
"What do I intend to do?" she echoed, expression a bit confused.
"You know the future that awaits if you let things continue as they have over the years without interference…"
Leon's violet eyes seemed to glow as he stared at Camellya, tone completely serious as he asked.
"So what do you intend to do about that?"