Lysera crossed her arms and glared at the scene in front of her.
"Irielle. Get up."
Irielle, who had her arms wrapped tightly around Kana's waist, simply hummed and pulled Kana closer, snuggling into her like a blanket.
"Mm. Five more minutes."
Kana, still half-asleep, squirmed slightly. Irielle's grip had gotten tighter since Lysera entered the room.
"It hurts."
Kana muttered, though her body, strengthened by her max endurance stat, didn't actually register any damage. Still, the sensation wasn't exactly comfortable.
Lysera's jaw twitched. A pulse of jealousy flashed in her chest before it was quickly replaced with irritation. She stepped forward and grabbed Irielle by the back of her collar.
"I said—get. Up."
Irielle responded by clutching Kana even harder, curling her entire body around her like a protective snake.
"You'll have to drag me off."
Kana groaned in protest, caught between the two forces. Lysera did not hesitate. She yanked Irielle back with all her strength.
The pull worked—but a bit too well. Irielle let go abruptly, causing both her and Lysera to tumble backward off the bed and crash onto the floor in a tangled heap. A loud thud echoed through the room.
"Seriously?"
Lysera muttered, pushing Irielle off her with a scowl. She stood and straightened her clothes with practiced precision, brushing invisible dust from her sleeves.
"You need to get going. If you don't show up soon, your precious establishment might start falling apart."
Irielle sat cross-legged on the floor, rubbing her elbow and pouting like a scolded child.
"You're no fun. Always ruining the mood."
"I'm preserving the peace."
Lysera said, deadpan.
Irielle turned toward Kana, who was now sitting up in bed, her hair tousled and her expression mildly dazed.
"Kana~ Come work with me! I'll be bored out of my mind otherwise!"
"No. She's not setting foot in that place."
Lysera said firmly, cutting off Kana's chance to reply.
"It's not like I'll let the customers see her." Irielle stood and adjusted her skirt.
"She'll be in my private office. Just for me."
Lysera's eye twitched.
"Absolutely not."
"Ugh, you're so possessive. Fine, fine. I'll go alone like the responsible businesswoman I am."
Irielle whined, dramatically dragging her feet as she walked toward the door.
She turned back to Kana one last time.
"I'll miss you terribly."
Then she left, leaving the door swinging behind her.
Lysera let out a long breath and looked at Kana.
"You're free to go wherever you want in the house. But don't step outside."
Kana nodded obediently.
"I won't."
"Good."
With that, Lysera turned and followed after Irielle, the door clicking shut behind her.
Left alone, the room felt strangely quiet. Kana pulled the blanket back over her lap and sat there in silence for a moment.
She was grateful for the peace, but the stillness made her restless.
Too much had happened too fast. She leaned back against the pillows and stared up at the ceiling, trying to mentally sort through everything she had experienced so far.
Escaping her world, the system, meeting Lysera, being dragged around by Irielle, getting an ID…it all blended into a blur. She rubbed her temple.
"I should go over my skills again. Maybe I will have a better chance today."
She murmured.
Pulling up the system interface, she began flipping through the endless list of skills she had acquired. There were dozens. No—hundreds.
But as she scrolled through them one by one, she realized she wasn't absorbing any of it.
The names and descriptions just floated past her eyes like fog, none of them sticking. It was like trying to memorize water. Her mind simply refused to focus.
"…Forget it. I'm not good at this. Even in online games, I just winged it."
She closed the interface and turned toward the bookshelf in the room. Maybe a distraction would help. Something slower. Something human.
Kana stood, walked over, and scanned the shelf. Most of the titles were unfamiliar. She picked one at random, settled back onto the bed, and began reading.
The story was a simple one. A wolf named Rimeru lived at the edge of a vast forest, misunderstood and feared by nearby villagers.
Her longed for companionship, but every time she approached the humans, they would chase her away.
Eventually, Rimeru found a child lost in the woods and helped guide them back home. The villagers, for the first time, saw her true nature—not a monster, but a guardian.
Kana finished the story in one sitting. It wasn't long, but it tugged at something deep inside her.
She stared at the final page for a moment, the image of Rimeru walking alone back into the woods etched into her mind.
She sighed.
The feeling passed quickly. The moment she closed the book, the same dull boredom returned.
With nothing else to do, she flopped back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling again.
"…Now what?" she muttered.
There was no answer.
Kana stared at the last page of the book, her fingers brushing the slightly worn edge. The story of the lone wolf, Rimeru, wasn't anything particularly grand. It wasn't tragic or profound.
But something about it lingered. Maybe it was the quiet loneliness that clung to the wolf's journey—so different from her own chaos, yet achingly familiar.
The image of Rimeru walking back into the woods alone made her chest feel strangely tight.
She closed the book and placed it gently on the nightstand.
A yawn escaped her before she could stop it. Her limbs felt heavy, her thoughts fuzzy. The room grew quieter, the edges of her vision softening.
Sleep sounded good.
She let herself sink deeper into the mattress, her eyes fluttering shut. But just before sleep took her, a strange sensation crept over her body. Like fingers brushing her arm.
A voice—distant, echoing, but somehow urgent—whispered her name.
And then she heard it.
A low, drawn-out howl.
It echoed right in her ear. A wolf's cry.
Her eyes snapped open.
Before she could make sense of what she'd just felt, the front door of the house slammed open with a thunderous bang.
"I'm back!"
Irielle's cheerful voice rang out through the hallway, growing louder as she neared Kana's room. The door burst open a second later, and there she stood, flushed from the heat outside but wearing a wide, smug grin.
"There's no need to be bored anymore, darling! Your favorite person has returned!"
Kana sat up, blinking the remnants of sleep from her eyes.
Irielle placed her hands on her hips and looked her over with pride.
"I wrapped up early because I missed you. Lucky you, huh?"
Kana blinked again, her thoughts still muddled by the cry she'd heard and the touch she'd felt. But she managed a small smile.
Maybe… being around Irielle wasn't so bad.
Irielle walked over and flopped onto the edge of Kana's bed without invitation, grinning like she'd just returned from a grand adventure.
"You have no idea how boring it is out there without you. I nearly died from loneliness."
She declared dramatically.
Kana watched her, still unsettled by the strange sensations from earlier—the phantom voice, the invisible touch, that haunting howl.
But Irielle's presence, chaotic as it was, grounded her. For now.
"I brought snacks. And a deck of cards. So get ready—we're doing something fun today."
Irielle added, pulling a paper bag from behind her back.
Kana let herself relax. Maybe today wouldn't be so strange after all.
___
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