"What exactly was your internship about?"
Mrs Clint's smile was sarcastic, her eyes staring into mine as if she already knew that I was lying.
I gulped.
Nancy had simply whispered to me the idea and gave me a few details about the internship.
Such as, its name was The Zephyron Beats.
A glorious name for a small group of ragtag youngsters who wanted to make their own band.
Regardless, that's the story I was flowing with so it had to do.
"I was on guitars during the internship, mam." I tried to keep my tone as formal and polite as possible, "But I was there just for learning."
"I see, was it a paid internship?"
"No ma'am, as I said, just for learning."
"Do you have a certificate?"
"I haven't received it yet, but I can show it to you once I receive it."
"What kind of guitar were you on?"
I paused, feeling a cold bead of sweat on my forehead.
Who knows? There were too many kinds of guitars, but I personally know only 4 kinds.
Bass, Acoustic, Electric and Semi.
Though I don't know if the names of the guitar remained the same in this world too, after all.
I don't even know how the guitar is called a guitar here, because as far as I know it got its name from some ancient greek instrument or something.
I doubt that this was the case here.
Then how?
Shaking my head inwardly, I removed the thoughts from my mind.
This wasn't the time to worry about the rich musical history of Solaris.
Mrs Clint was still waiting for my reply, and I had to give one fast, lest I get caught and have more issues.
"During the time of internships, I was playing a semi, ma'am." I replied with a casual, confident smile.
Semi was a name that sounded ambiguous, so it seemed like the best option.
"Semi, huh?" Mrs Clint looked squinted a little, judging my face before shrugging.
"Whatever. You better not fail at the exams after getting such good practice, Mr Cross." she scoffed, sending me off with a wave of her hand.
I stepped back, speed walking out of the room before anyone could stop me or ask more questions.
Her overbearing, erotic scent was still in my mind, bothering me and making me feel as if I should go back and stay close to her.
But I held back my thoughts, standing near the exit door as I waited for Nancy to come out as well.
And sure enough, she walked out with a swagger, her bag slung behind her as she moved with a lazy gait.
Her eyes brightened when ours met, lips curling into a small smile.
"Semi, lalalala." Nancy strummed her fingers against an imaginary guitar, laughing as she moved closer to me.
I was just going to laugh at her adorable antics, but then her next words made me shut the fuck up.
"What's a semi?" she asked with a grin.
I blinked, gulping down my saliva as I looked into her smiling ash-grey eyes.
Nancy looked happy and casual, but her words were still worrisome.
What's a semi?
This could mean two things, one that Nancy was simply ignorant about the topic and was genuinely asking.
But fuck, we were 4th years of a freaking school of music.
How would she not know the types of guitars?
Which led me to the second meaning behind her question.
The one that I actually feared.
What if semi guitars didn't exist in this world? I had taken a risk clearly, thinking semi was a safe answer.
There was not a single safe way in which I could answer this question, without drawing doubts about myself.
"Come on," I laughed it off, acting chill as if my heart wasn't racing, "It's done. And thank you for the assistance inside there."
I smiled, putting my right hand around her shoulder in a side hug, while inserting the left in my pockets, searching for the mute-ring slider on the side of my phone.
Most phones, when shifted to the ring mode from silent, made a notification beep that sounded quite close to the original.
And that was my aim.
After a couple seconds of fumbling, I found the groove of the slider under my thumb, swiftly sliding it onto the silent side, before sliding it back on the ring
*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*
Just making a few more beeps to show urgency, I faked a frown and pulled the phone out of my pocket.
"I am sorry, I need to check this."
Smiling at Nancy while making some distance between ourselves, I could finally breathe in peace.
God-damn it. I hate not having the memories of the original Aaron.
It would have been much easier that way.
But, beggars can't be choosers.
I turned on the voice mode of the ai search engine, placing it on my ear as if I was on a call.
It was a great excuse to make further distance away from her, swiftly asking the ai for types of guitars.
"Of course, sir Aaron. Some common guitar types for music students are:
Hollow Songwood– (Acoustic Guitar)
A hollow-bodied instrument made from resonance wood. No mana required. Best for beginners and lower levelled instrumentalists.
Manachord Guitar– (Electric Guitar)
Requires mana or crystal amplification. Best suited for professionals.
Gravebass– (Bass Guitar)
Deep-toned instrument, used to support the music. Keeps the grooves and timings steady.
Please let me know if you wish to expand on any type of guitar or go deeper into other kinds of guitars."
"..."
I stood frozen for a good few seconds, before cold sweat began flowing down my forehead in torrents.
How would I have known that the names were this different?!
Though in hindsight, I should've at least searched about this considering that I found out about my guitar interests way back in Ruby's car.
Clearly, there was nothing like a semi in this world.
Still, I tried to ask the AI.
"What about the average proficiency? Is there a semi version which uses less mana?"
I hope there was.
Or my identity would be in danger, maybe.