The Perfect Run

Lightning Butt’s burns ached on Ryan’s chest, as he parked the Plymouth Fury west of New Rome.

Triton’s Resort was a large complex on a small hill, built between the infamous Colosseum Maximus and Little Lilith, the city’s red-light district. Glass domes and tall white spires coexisted with elevated pleasure gardens, tennis courts, and thermal pools, while the wealthiest clients could enjoy an unbeatable view of New Rome’s coast. Like almost all properties owned by the Augusti, it embraced a Roman architectural style. Statues of Venus and Mars— the gods, not the Genomes—made love on a fountain, right next to the parking lot. Clients walked in through different entrances, based on their status; most of the clientele walked through a large yet elegant stone archway, while VIPs used a glass elevator to skip straight to the higher floors.

Ryan had traded his bathrobe for his usual clothes, though he wore no mask or hat for once. Livia sat at his side, wearing a blue skirt dress that left her legs and back exposed. A silver necklace glittered around her neck, and a white rose ribbon kept her hair bound. She looked great, but Ryan thought she could wear anything and still dazzle him.

“I should come over to your place from now on,” she said out of the blue.

No kidding. “I could get used to the shock treatment,” Ryan mused, but it didn’t make her smile. “Or how about we rent something and move in?”

“We should wait a few months to go down that step, yes?” She giggled. “Ryan, if you think you have seen my father angry, then imagine him with empty nest syndrome. It’s better I go home after our dates from now on.”

“What was your dad even doing standing motionless in the kitchen? Asserting his dominance over the pastries?”

Her gaze turned distant. “Dad is… not well. Sometimes he doesn’t move for hours.”

“Because of his tumor?” She nodded sadly. “That’s why he rarely leaves his house anymore, am I right?”

“I… I would rather not talk about this right now. I would rather talk about us.” Livia sheepishly joined her fingers, hesitating a few seconds before asking a question. “What will we be, Ryan?”

“Someone asked me that before,” he replied, thinking of Jasmine with nostalgia. “Back then, I answered a summer fling.”

Livia frowned at him. “I don’t want us to be a summer fling.”

“Me neither.”

Once, Ryan had been afraid of intimate romantic relationships, and the commitment that came with them. The pain that followed their destruction each time he reset cut deep. But for the first time since he had gained his power, he had a partner that would remember him. Someone with whom he could build a relationship lasting through several loops. It was… exhilarating in its newness. Frightening, even.

He carefully took her hand into his own, and lost himself in her beautiful blue eyes. “Livia, do you want to be my girlfriend, until time tears us apart?”

A pinkish blush spread below her eyes. “You should have asked me that before we slept together, no? You skipped a lot of steps.”

“And now I’m doing things by the book.”

It pleased the princess, he could tell, but her response wasn’t what he had expected. “My answer is no, Ryan.”

The courier opened his mouth in shock. “Come again?”

“I want to be your girlfriend until we decide to break up, if we ever choose to,” Livia declared, her face turning stubborn even though her words were music to Ryan’s ears. “Not until your power resets everything. I want a serious relationship.”

“Livia, you know I will have to reset again? What if I die early, or we can’t transfer your mind back easily?” Ryan cleared his throat. “I want something that lasts too, but… well, there’s always the possibility an unforeseen death ruins it all.”

“People risk dying all the time, and yet they still make plans for the future, Ryan. Our relationship might need more work, logistics-wise, but we will find a way to strengthen it. I am sure of it.”

Ryan could tell that she wouldn’t budge on the matter, so he did it right this time. “Livia Augusti, do you want to be my girlfriend?”

“There, you have it,” she said with a beautiful, heartwarming smile. “Yes I do, Ryan.”

And so, Quicksave was no longer single.

“This changes everything,” Ryan said, breaking the hand contact to search for a notebook and a pen he hid in his coat.

“What is this?” Livia asked, as he opened the notebook.

“My to-do list of objectives before I achieve my Perfect Run. After my last presidential mandate, I thought I should write down all my campaign promises to keep track of them.” Ryan scratched the ‘Fuck the Sun’ line, right between the ‘Kill Psypsy’ and ‘Marry Yuki’ ones. “I’m updating the list to account for my newfound monogamy.”

Curious like a cat, Livia tried to look at the content, but her boyfriend kept the notebook out of reach. “Give it to me, I want to know!”

“No, that’s private!”

“Give it to me, Ryan,” she insisted.

“No!” He felt a chill going down his spine. “No, no don’t you dar—”

Livia skipped time forward, and when Ryan regained consciousness, she had stolen the list and his pen. “So that’s how it feels when I mess with people in frozen time, uh,” he complained. “Are you happy now?”

“A good boyfriend doesn’t keep anything from his partner,” she replied, before frowning at what she read. “‘Marry Jamie and Ki-jung’?”

“I only planned to marry Jamie at first, but since he’s going to propose to Ki-jung soon, I thought bigamy was the only sensible solution.”

It seemed to make sense to her, but then the next item on the list made Livia glare at him. “‘Fuck the Vamp and live through it’? Seriously?”

“I have a revenge to take.”

“She isn’t that good.” Livia was at her cutest when she was jealous.

“How do you know that?” Ryan asked while squinting.

I do,” his girlfriend replied before removing that plan from the list, the way a dictator signed an execution order. In fact, she barred all the ‘Fuck’ and ‘Marry’ goals of the list, except those involving

said, as she kept

Len, but I kept adding new objectives,” Ryan admitted. “It’s

New Rome,’ ‘Take over the Meta-gang,’ ‘Cure the Psycho condition,’ ‘Blow up the Bliss Factory’…” She frowned. “‘Prevent

on

elaborate, but skipped to the next objective when he didn’t. She grinned ear to ear. “‘Reconcile Wyvern and Vulcan?’ Now, you’re

though it took the city’s destruction for it.” Ryan thought that though he couldn’t date Vulcan due

can’t let things progress that far,” Livia replied. “I’m kidding, they

“You’ve seen it happen?”

her former partner. She does so after rethinking her choices,

steal two cashmere suits with

“Does Dynamis have a red

will look great

the list, from the ‘Free Len from her father’s

where exactly,” Ryan said. Truth be told, he had wondered if this vision had been a coincidence. The Violet Ultimate One had left hints to help the courier, so perhaps it

thoughtfully. “Now that I think of it…” she

“Station Orpheon?”

before dropping a bomb. “He was

The Alchemist was a girl? And here Ryan thought she might have been a lizardman, or a grey martian! “You know a guy who met the Alchemist, and you

Alchemist. I’ve tried before, but I can’t find a world where

a

Dad wanted to track her down too, but eventually abandoned that plan after years of fruitless investigation. Bacchus himself wasn’t much help either. All he cares about is Bliss and contacting his ‘God’... whose nature I now understand better, thanks to

God ‘it’ and thought psychotropics capable of affecting even Genomes could help make contact with it. It didn’t take a Genius to figure

struggled

“Obsessive?” Ryan suggested.

According to Dad, he used to be well-adjusted before the Alchemist got to him. Afterward, hallucinogens and later Bliss became his life.” His girlfriend shook her head. “Even the tales he says are

to me too, if I confess my sins? For my heart is

out.” Livia smiled. “I have never been to Antarctica. It

our next stop for

like a true boyfriend.” She flipped the notebook’s page, before blushing upon

‘Make Livia happy.’

looked at Ryan with a pleased face, adjusting her hair. “What, are you surprised?” the courier asked his girlfriend, his fingers brushing against

good list, Ryan,” she said, before hastily scribbling a new

frowned, as she gave him back the

Be happy too.

he said while putting his items back inside his trench

other people, but never yourself,” Livia said. “That’s very noble of you, but you

glorious death is half the fun of a loop!” Ryan protested. “Do you realize how many people fail their lives, but make a success of

makes you value your life less. We’ll find a better, painless way for you to turn back time. Also, no more drugs. I’ve seen the stuff you keep in your car, and it has

“But—”

up your life, whether you want it or not. You will embrace

to make me a vegetarian, I’m dumping

found positively obscene. “You are welcome

answered, breathing on her

his insolence. “You have gone too far, Ryan,” Livia said, unable to hide her embarrassment. “I have

is welcome to whip

had something else

of strawberry, of her perfume and

my first kiss!” Ryan responded with false shock. “I was saving myself

a more wonderful sound. He put his hand in her hair, and the other on her

then his third and fourth. Afterward, the burn on his chest ached, and she put a finger on his lips. “We will take a bath together after patching you up,” she said, her forehead against his own. “I have a private spot in the resort.

today,” Ryan pointed out. The plan was to torch the Junkyard and bury the bunker’s open entrance after the Genius arrived, to make it look as if the Meta-Gang had fled

in the evening,” Livia said, her voice soft and soothing. “Until

couldn’t tell his

his arm as they exited the car, his girlfriend squeezed it tight. The mafia princess liked it very much when he played the gentleman. They bypassed the bouncers and took the elevator, Livia resting her head on her boyfriend’s shoulder as they

leather chairs allowed one to rest while watching colorful tapestries and portraits of celebrities new and old. In

man greeted them, an Italian George Clooney with familiar blue eyes and a white beard. “Livia,” he said, wearing a black suit more expensive than most houses. Ryan immediately identified his

this is my boyfriend, Ryan,” Livia paraded the courier. “Ryan, this is Luca Veran,

condolences,” the courier said. “I admire your bravery, to

far as her education goes.” If Mars was bothered to see his son’s ex-girlfriend with another man, he didn’t show it. In fact, he warmly shook Ryan’s hand as if he were an old friend. “Does Janus

laughter. “That’s what I expected,” he

if she’s

said she’s spending time with that mystery boyfriend of hers.” Mars frowned at the couple. “Do you

disappear at will,” Ryan said.

taking this relationship seriously, and I was worried that she might frequent the wrong kind of

a forced smile. “I am not sure if he is the right person for her,

a chuckle. “I wonder how Narcinia managed to turn

own. She had sensed his unease. “When is Narcinia returning from Ischia island?” the princess asked Mars with courtesy. She probably already knew the answer with her power, but pretended not to for the sake of

the meeting scheduled on the fifteenth.” Mars glanced at Ryan, frowning upon realizing he knew what they were talking about. “Are you… you know, one

a living,” the courier said, and to his joy Mars seemed to understand the reference. “They never run