Page 2042

~((National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day Special - page 6 of 6))~~
"Well," said Ibai after swallowing his food, "I suppose there were a few other titles that also sounded interesting, like Emergent Phenomena, The Composure of Fate's Arbiters, The Theory of Empty Worlds, and The Hypothetical Evolution of Friendship."

Chergoa needed a second to process all of those.

Ibai had more, though. "Oh, or maybe The Little Grape That Tried His Best, Kaleidoscopes for Kaleido-dopes, and Little Jimmy and the Pear-Shaped Pear."

'...That first batch sounded a little more to my tastes.'

"Hmm. Really? I also saw How to Climb the Ladder of Success by Only Cheating a Little Bit, How to Program a VCR, and Learning to Read Your Own Thoughts."

'Yeah, uh. Still prefer the first ones.'

"Oh, but you might also like--"

'Have you actually read any of these books yet?'

"I usually just skim. Reading titles is super fun, though!"

'Uh-huh...'

"Truthfully, I'm always a little reluctant to actually sit down and try to get into a new book," said Ibai, "because I can't tell you how many times I've ended up disappointed. I see a title that sounds super neato-burrito, only for it to get boring really quickly. It's super unfortunate when that happens."

The reaper paused. 'And how often DOES that happen for you, exactly?'

"Oh, I don't know, maybe ninety-three percent of the time or so."

'I see...'

"Hmm. You think that's too much?"

'Maybe a tad, yeah.'

Ibai resumed eating.

'Well, I don't suppose you happened to skim through any of those first books you mentioned, did you?'

He thought back. "Emergent Phenomena by Roberto del Otoya. That one talked about famous historical instances of emergence among servants. Apparently, it's a bit of a bad omen when lots of people find out you've achieved emergence, because in many of those cases, the servant and reaper pairing were either killed a few years thereafter or otherwise ended their relationship for some reason."