When Zhong Yan opened his eyes, his thoughts were a mess.
At his bedside stood a panicked Pei, and beside it—Anby, her expression dark enough to kill.
"I got up too fast. Let me sleep a bit more…"
Just as he tried to lie back down, a sharp pain in his abdomen reminded him this wasn't a dream.
And then, seeing Anby clearly before him, he cautiously said, "An... Anby?"
He had no idea why she was looking at him like that, but one thing was certain—she must've found out something.
What exactly, he didn't know. And frankly, he didn't want to. He just knew… he had to apologize.
"Zhong Yan, this is a very serious matter," Anby said, her voice steadying just a bit as she fixed her gaze on him. "Tell me… what's the nature of your relationship with that girl Ellen and with the Proxy?"
Zhong Yan froze.
He knew who the Proxy was—Belle, obviously—but Ellen? Where the hell did that name come from?
Damn it. If he ever found out who the rat was, they were going to suffer three days and nights of Tsukuyomi comprehension.
Still, that wasn't the priority right now. What mattered was calming Anby down.
He had intentionally kept Ellen from Anby. He wasn't sure yet how to handle things between the three of them.
As for Anby and Belle, they'd worked together before. As long as he didn't go overboard, he figured things could stay under the radar.
But now... it was all ruined.
With no way out, Zhong Yan knew he had no choice but to face this head-on—otherwise, he wasn't leaving the bed today.
"Well... you already know about Belle. We're friends. As for Ellen... she's just someone I know from school. I don't see why having friends at school would be a problem, right?"
Zhong Yan rambled through an explanation, trying to clear himself of suspicion.
But Anby was no fool. When it came to emotions, she was careful—very careful. There was no way she'd let him off the hook that easily.
"I don't mind you being friends with Ellen or Belle. But I need your promise. You will not have... vague, ambiguous relationships with them." Anby's voice softened, almost back to her usual calm.
But inside, she was anything but calm.
"Right, I get along with both of them. They're rare friends."
"I said—promise me. No vague relationships."
"Right, right. I met Ellen at the beginning of the semester. She's… kind of a quiet type."
"Promise me."
"You already know Belle. We met on my first Hollow commission with her team—the legendary Proxy, Phaeton."
"I said—PROMISE ME!"
Zhong Yan kept dodging the point, and Anby's tone escalated from calm to shouting, then full-on yelling.
It was obvious now—his evasiveness had only confirmed her worst suspicions.
Seeing her so emotionally shaken, Zhong Yan realized this couldn't continue.
He had never seen Anby this agitated before. He remembered the first time they met—she'd been abandoned in Old Eridu, wary like a frightened kitten, refusing to let anyone near her.
He'd had to drop his Uchiha disguise just to approach her—only to nearly be sliced to ribbons for his trouble. If not for a surprise Lightning-Style ninjutsu move, his identity might've been blown right then and there.
Fortunately, Anby wasn't heartless. She was just scared of getting hurt. All it took was a gentle tone and a little kindness to earn her trust.
His chosen method? Burgers—Anby's favorite. It was the simplest way to close the distance between them.
From that moment on, Zhong Yan had become someone irreplaceable to her.
He understood the weight he carried in her heart. And he also knew... he'd already built something with Ellen. Maybe the cleanest solution would've been to stick to the original plot—let Nicole pick Anby up.
That way, their paths wouldn't have overlapped so much. He wouldn't be stuck in this miserable situation.
But human desire has no bottom. When you yearn for something too deeply, you'll chase it—even if you know it's wrong. You'll reach out. Take it. Try to own it.
And Anby… was something Zhong Yan had yearned for. Otherwise, why would he have risked his life just to get close?
He'd known this day would come. Just hadn't expected it to arrive... while he was asleep.
Truly—there's no such thing as too much caution. Your guard should never go down.
"Zhong Yan…"
As he tried to plan his next move, Anby acted first.
She leaned forward, crawling up onto the bed, supporting herself with both hands while staring straight into his eyes.
They were so close; He could feel the warm breath from her nose on his skin.
The soft scent unique to her enveloped his senses completely.
His breathing and heartbeat began to accelerate, body temperature rising fast. His face flushed red under the sudden tension.
And before he could respond—Anby kissed him.
Her lips pressed softly against his.
The sensation, so warm and gentle, instantly wiped his mind blank. He couldn't think. Could barely breathe.
A few seconds passed.
Then Zhong Yan moved—no longer passive.
He pulled her into his arms, embracing the girl whose body felt like warm cotton. The kiss deepened.
Minutes later, their lips slowly parted.
Zhong Yan, still reeling, looked at Anby—whose face remained unreadable.
And then she asked:
"Movies say kissing creates a sense of dependency. Zhong Yan... do you feel that with me?"
Anby was still Anby—translating movie lines into real-world experiments.
She didn't seem too shaken.
Maybe to her, as long as she occupied some important place in Zhong Yan's heart, that was enough.
As for dependency…
Zhong Yan wasn't sure if he had developed it.
But Anby's dependency on him—that much was impossible to ignore.