Taking off the blue-white headset, I put it on the charging platform before stretching for 5 minutes. Since my mind was a bit messed up thinking up some past events, I then sat down on my bed in a meditation position. Putting a 15-minute timer, I closed my eyes and then began erasing all incoming thoughts, emptying my mind as much as possible.

Once the 15 minutes were over, I then opened up my eyes, took a few more deep breaths, and then opened up the hidden drawer behind my table. Taking out the diary in which I had written the information about the future, I opened up the page containing the information about the Vincents.

Reading a few things related to the Vincents that I thought were worth remembering, I recalled a few more memories that I had about the events and situation they had.

Everything was slowly reforming in my brain so I then put the diary back to where I took it out from. Closing my eyes, I began thinking deeply about the information that I was just recalling, focusing on every moment as much as to revisit the entire thing once more in my brain.

This was a method I had developed to let my subconscious slowly recall everything that I had seen or felt in my life. The stronger the emotions that I had at that time, the easier it was to recall the events.

After repeating this exercise once more, I then opened my eyes with a slow breath.

Well. The first event regarding Vincents is 2 years ahead. Though the changes in this parallel timeline might shift the events somewhat. Hmmm… the closest contact time with them… at least not within this year, until I get to meet with them in a stroke of luck-

It was then that I recalled something that I had forgotten.

The Ball invitation of the Masquerade Party.

I still had to call Silva about accepting the recommendation.

Opening up the phone and typing the phone number that I had already memorized, I waited for her to pick the call.

-Click! Hi, you sure took your time calling me! A sweet, melodious voice came from the other side. Something that would surely mellow the hearts of many.

"I accept your task. But I have a few conditions of my own," I said in a serious tone without any chit-chat. The voice on the other side turned silent for a few seconds, before a playful tone was heard again.

-Are you sure that you are in a position to negotiate?

"It's about my identity. No matter how I think about it, if those hungry sharks get to know about me anyway, it will make things really messy for me. I am fine on my own, but I would rather not involve my mother in this. That's one thing that I can't compromise on," I said without hiding anything, as I waited for her answer.

-Filial piety, huh? Do things like that a few more times and even I would fall for you. Anyway. All right, if that's the reason. I will hear you out.

"All right. So listen… " and then I explained everything that I had planned for hiding my traces, without missing a beat. There were countermeasures for almost anything, backup plans for failures and backup plans for the failure of backup plans.

Since Silva was someone who was smart enough to arrange spoken information properly in her mind, I did not need to repeat anything, and the entire conversation was over within 5 minutes.

And 5 minutes later…

-Mikael… are you sure this isn't your second life or something?

It is.

"Why do you ask?" I asked curiously.

-What do you mean,' why do you ask?' I didn't even know something like that could be done at a masquerade party. If I had not told my best friend about my coming, and a few more people knew me because of my body features, even I would have gone and done that!

A pause of a few seconds.

-But man, you sure are putting effort into this. I suppose you are going to stay in a quiet corner without doing more than the task, huh?

"Yeah," I lied.

I am doing this because I might end up showing more than normal. Something that would make my existence known. So, erasing my traces completely would be the priority. In that case, even if people were to get interested in me, they wouldn't be able to trace me back. The only link would be Silva, but if done properly, I doubt there is anyone capable enough to trace me back through her.

-Hehe! Whatever. I accept your conditions. Let's meet in a week, then?

"Sure," I answered before cutting the call and then erasing the number from all records using my laptop. I thought about erasing it even from Silva's phone, but decided not to in case she needed something from me for the party.

Once done with that, I calmed down my thoughts, and pondered the next most important task.

That is to find ways to earn some money in real life.

I can think of only two things right now.

First is opening up a part-time mechanical fixing shop in the house with fixed hours. I can charge to fix people's machines and mobile phones, and charge them based on the work done.

The other thing was to open up a website for creating websites. I can create about a dozen websites that are going to work best in the near future, and then use social media to promote the prompts. Interested people can pay me money based on the details added to the website, or if they want their own ideas to be put into life.

Both the ideas were time-flexible, and can earn me some money that I can use to buy smaller items for home. Perhaps make things easier for Mom.

Thinking that it wasn't a bad idea, I then opened up the laptop and created a small banner image for the mechanical work that I thought would attract a few customers. Copying that image to my phone, I went out to a nearby shop.

10 minutes later, walking with 20 coloured prints costing 2$, I then moved to a few key locations in the area and planted them on the public bulletins. Keeping the distance in mind, I decided to put the banners within 500 metres of the apartment.

As for the last one, I put it on the front door of the apartment, in case someone would notice it.

Now we wait for a few customers.

"Can you fix my phone problems?" A voice came from behind as I saw the neighbouring brown-haired aunt looking at me with a curious but hopeful expression. Wearing a pink sweatshirt and a green long skirt, she carried a vegetable basket in her left hand.

"The voice does not work unless it's on speaker. It has been bugging me for a few weeks, but I had no time to go to a nearby shop," she explained as she showed her old, slightly cracked, phone to me.

It seemed to be an old model, perhaps about 3 to 4 years old.

"Sure," I smiled before taking the phone and saying,

"It should take a few minutes."

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