Chapter 67: Staying the Night

After dinner, we spent some time talking in the living room. Eris’s mother asked about my preparations for university, whether I had gotten used to living alone, and when I planned to join them for dinner again.

When I checked the time, I realized it was getting late.

"I should probably head home."

The moment I started to rise from the couch, Eris’s mother frowned.

"Stay here tonight."

"There’s no need. I can call a taxi."

"This is the first time you’ve visited in months, and you’re already trying to run away after only a few hours."

"I’m not running away. I have things to do tomorrow."

"You can leave early in the morning."

While I tried to think of another excuse, Eris took her mother’s side.

"Just stay. Your room is already prepared."

I turned to her.

"You too...?"

"I wanted to watch anime with you tonight."

"You didn’t mention that before."

"I’m mentioning it now." Some of the cheer faded from Eris’s voice as she moved closer to the edge of the couch. "Once I join the Academy, my training will become much more intense. I’ll probably spend most of the week on campus, so we won’t see each other as often as we do now."

I hadn’t thought about that before.

I knew Eris would soon begin attending the Nexus Academy, but I hadn’t considered how much it would reduce the time we spent together. I would also be starting university soon, and there was no way to know when the System’s next mission might appear.

We had spent almost every day together recently. I hadn’t realized I was beginning to get used to it until I heard that I would be seeing less of her.

"There’s no harm in staying for one night," Eris said. "Besides, we can start that new anime I found."

Her mother was also watching me expectantly.

If I continued resisting both of them, I would genuinely start to feel bad.

I let out a long breath.

"Fine. I’ll stay."

Eris’s face immediately brightened.

"Great."

Her mother smiled in satisfaction as well.

"I’ll have your room prepared."

There was no turning back now.

---

After dinner, one of the staff members carried my new clothes to the guest room and took the cosplay supplies to Eris’s room. Eris accompanied me upstairs.

Family photographs and old paintings covered the walls of the wide hallway. As I walked through it, small fragments of Noctis’s memories surfaced in my mind.

Behind one of the doors stood the decorative suit of armor Eris and I had knocked over while playing hide-and-seek. We had escaped into the garden through the window at the end of the hallway, covered ourselves in mud, and then hidden from her mother for hours.

Even though they weren’t memories I had lived through, every corner of this place felt strangely familiar.

Eris stopped in front of one of the light wooden doors.

"This is it."

When she opened the door, I found myself looking into a medium-sized room decorated in shades of blue and dark gray. Beside the large bed stood a desk and a bookcase, while a wide window overlooked the garden.

Even though no one had used the room in a long time, everything was perfectly arranged. There wasn’t a single speck of dust on the desk, and the bed looked as though it had only recently been made.

Several old books, small figures, and framed photographs stood on the shelves along the wall.

I picked up one of the photographs.

It showed Eris and me as children, standing side by side in the garden. Both of our clothes were covered in mud. Eris had one arm around my neck, while I stared at the camera with a scowl.

"You still keep this?"

"Mom never throws anything away."

In another picture, I was sitting in front of a birthday cake. Eris stood behind me, making rabbit ears above my head while her mother smiled at the camera.

Eris leaned against the doorframe.

"Mom has this room cleaned every week. She thought you might change your mind and come back one day."

A heavy feeling settled in my chest as I looked at the frame in my hands.

"I didn’t know that."

"You did. You just didn’t want to accept it."

She was right.

The Noctis of this world had known they loved him, but his pride hadn’t allowed him to stay here. Now I stood among his memories, feeling the warmth of a family that wasn’t truly mine.

I carefully returned the frame to its place.

"They had no obligation to take me in."

"It was never about obligation." Eris entered the room and came to stand beside me. "They see you as family."

I tilted my head slightly.

"Do you?"

Eris stared at me as though she were trying to understand why I had even asked.

"Do you really still need to ask?"

A small smile appeared on my lips when I heard her answer.

"I suppose not."

Eris sat on the edge of the bed, placed her hands on the blanket behind her, and leaned back.

"I’m sorry about what my father said."

"He threatened to burn me."

"That’s his love language."

"You have an extremely healthy way of communicating as a family."

Eris laughed softly, but the cheerful expression on her face soon softened.

"What I mean is, he trusts you. If he had seen that picture with anyone else, the conversation wouldn’t have ended so quickly."

I couldn’t decide whether that was supposed to reassure me or frighten me even more.

"So he’ll only burn me a little?"

"He’ll probably only warn you the first time."

"Great. I feel much better now."

A brief silence settled between us. Eris looked toward the old photographs around the room, then stood and headed for the door.

Just when I thought she was about to leave, she turned back to me.

"By the way..."

"What?"

"You looked pretty serious when you told my father you would never intentionally hurt me."

"That’s because I was serious."

A faint blush appeared on Eris’s cheeks.

"I see."

Without saying anything else, she opened the door and left.

I watched her go, wondering why the mood had suddenly become so strange. Eventually, I shrugged and sat on the edge of the bed.

I took out my new phone and checked whether there were any notifications on my temporary number.

Several messages had arrived from a number I didn’t recognize. At first, I had no idea who it was, but then I looked at the profile picture and saw Miranda, Eris’s mother.

The moment I opened the conversation, I was greeted by several strange stickers of winking cats, hearts, and two small characters hugging each other.

The final message was even more disturbing than the rest.

[Miranda: Have lots of fun tonight~ But don’t stay up too late :)]

I stared blankly at the screen for several seconds.

I wanted to believe it was an innocent message about Eris and me watching anime together, but the tilde and the stickers she had sent made it obvious that she was implying something else.

Where had Eris’s mother even gotten my number?

More importantly, why was she sending me messages like this?

I placed the phone facedown on the bed.

"This family is genuinely dangerous..."

After taking a deep breath, I went into the bathroom. About twenty minutes later, I finished my shower and put on one of the new black T-shirts I had bought.

Just as I was about to lie down, there was a soft knock at the door.

"Come in."

The door opened slightly, and Eris poked her head inside.

She had changed her clothes and was now wearing an oversized pink T-shirt with short lounge shorts. A laptop was tucked beneath one arm, while she held several bags of snacks in her other hand.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Your father spent the entire dinner emphasizing the word ’friend.’"

Eris entered the room and closed the door behind her.

"Just because we’re friends doesn’t mean we can’t watch anime together."

The moment I saw the expression on her face, I realized the night wouldn’t be as peaceful as I had hoped.

I immediately pulled the blanket over my entire body.

"I’m sleepy! I’m exhausted, so good night!"

I closed my eyes beneath the blanket and tried to pretend I was genuinely asleep.

Eris stood silently by the door for several seconds.

I wanted her to leave. Or rather, I hoped she would at least respect my small attempt to escape and return to her own room.

Finally, I heard the door close.

’Did she leave?’

There was no sound for a while.

’Seriously? That easily?!’

The fact that Eris had given up without a single objection was suspicious. Just as I began lifting the edge of the blanket to look outside, a weight dropped onto the bed.

"Ugh!"

Two arms wrapped tightly around me through the blanket. The weight pressing against my back pushed me completely into the mattress as Eris’s cheerful voice rang beside my ear.

"Got you!"

So the sound I had heard hadn’t been the door closing as she left. It had been her closing it from the inside.

"Eris! Get off me!"

"Not a chance. First, you have to beg and apologize."

"Apologize? For what?"

"You know what for," she murmured, her voice almost a whisper.

Eris tightened her arms around me, increasing the pressure on my body. The warm air trapped beneath the blanket and the weight pressing against my back made it increasingly difficult to breathe.

"Oiii, I can’t breathe!"

"Good. Then at least you’ll die an idiot."

"You’re going to kill me because I wouldn’t watch anime with you?!"

"Idiot..."

I continued trying to escape for several seconds, but I couldn’t move my arms properly beneath the blanket. Eris had put all her weight on top of me and pressed herself against my back.

If I kept resisting like this, I might actually pass out from lack of air.

I had no idea what I was apologizing for, but I had no other choice.

"Fine, fine! I’m sorry!"

"Say it properly."

"I’M SORRY!"

Eris remained on top of me for a few more seconds before finally letting me go. The moment her arms released me, I pulled the blanket away from my face and took a deep breath.

"Damn it... You were really going to suffocate me."

"You could’ve held out a little longer."

"How do you know that?"

Instead of answering, Eris planted her foot against my side.

The moment I realized what she was about to do, my eyes widened.

"Wait—"

With a single push, she rolled me off the edge of the bed.

My back landed on the thick carpet, leaving me more surprised than hurt. When I raised my head and looked at her, Eris had already settled in the middle of the bed.

She had opened the laptop, arranged the pillows behind her back, and started the first episode of the anime she wanted to watch. The snacks were spread across the bed, and she sat there comfortably as though she hadn’t just tried to suffocate me a few seconds ago.

She didn’t even care about the angry look I gave her.

"What are you waiting for?" she asked without taking her eyes off the screen. "Come on. Let’s watch."

I sat on the floor and stared at her for a while.

This room was supposedly prepared for me, yet Eris was the one who had taken over the bed, set up her laptop, and thrown me onto the floor.

After letting out a long sigh, I got up.

A small smile appeared on Eris’s lips as she lifted the other half of the blanket.

"Stop complaining and get over here, idiot."