Chapter 165| Curfew After A Loud Night

Chapter 165: Chapter 165| Curfew After A Loud Night

Nil was the first to laugh.

It started small, a breath through her nose, and then it took over her whole body. She pressed the back of her hand to her mouth and shook against the mattress until the bed frame creaked.

"What?" Zane asked, turning his head on the pillow.

"Your hair." She wheezed. "It’s standing straight up."

"Yours isn’t any better."

"Mine’s supposed to look like this." She wasn’t convincing anyone. A damp strand was stuck to her forehead and the other side of her head looked like she’d lost an argument with a fan. He started laughing too, and then neither of them could stop. Zane pressed his forearm across his eyes. Nil kicked the blanket and tangled her feet in it.

When it finally wore off, the room felt different. Quieter. The fairy lights were still humming above the window, and the rest of the world had gone back to being far away.

『 System Note: Familiarity update incoming. 』

’Not now.’

『 The system waited eleven seconds. That was generous. 』

He sighed.

『 Nil Valkyrie — Familiarity +12% 』

『 Current: 35% — Acquaintance tier reached 』

『 NEW BOND TARGET CONFIRMED — NIL VALKYRIE 』

『 Bond depth metric — ACTIVE 』

『 NIL VALKYRIE — Bond depth: 24% 』

『 Bond depth increases through genuine intimate activity. 』

『 Gacha meter +10%. Current: 32% 』

『 Reward: +2 Gacha spins 』

『 HIDDEN REWARD UNLOCKED 』

『 Bonus for establishing a second bond target without system assistance. 』

『 Reward: +20% output on a Sigil of the host’s choice. 』

『 Status: Available 』

Zane read it twice and let it fade.

’A hidden reward,’ he thought. ’For doing it myself?’

『 System Note: The system would have issued a quest for this sooner or later. The host got there first. The reward stands. 』

’So I skipped the homework and still got the credit.’

『 The system would not put it that way. 』

Zane read it twice and let it fade.

’Hidden reward,’ he thought. ’So that’s a thing.’

『 System Note: The host was always going to receive this reward sooner or later. He satisfied the conditions, and the system was not bored. 』

"You went quiet," Nil cut in. She’d rolled onto her side and was watching him with her chin on her fist.

"I’m thinking," Zane said, staring at the ceiling.

"About what?" Nil asked, propping her chin on her fist.

"Nothing."

"That’s a bad liar’s face." She raised an eyebrow, her smile pulling sideways.

"It’s my only face," Zane said, turning his head to look at her.

"You keep saying that." She poked him in the ribs, right where the bruise had been, and he flinched. "Oh. Sorry. Is it still sore?"

"Only when you poke it."

"Noted." She tucked the blanket up under her arm and studied the ceiling for a while. When she spoke again the teasing had gone out of her voice. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What happened at the end of the duel? When that sphere hit you."

Zane didn’t answer right away.

"Everyone’s saying you got lucky," Nil said. "I was in the front row. I watched your hands. It wasn’t luck."

"Nil," Zane said, turning his head slowly on the pillow.

"I’m not going to tell anyone." She said it lightly, but her eyes stayed on his. "I’m just asking."

He thought about Vael’s warning. About a man in a grey jacket leaving the third tier. About the way Nil had held his wrists when he first touched her, steady and unembarrassed, like she’d already decided what she was going to trust him with.

"I’m figuring something out," he said. "I don’t have all of it yet."

"Okay," Nil said, tucking the blanket under her arm.

"That’s it?" Zane asked, glancing sideways at her.

"That’s it." She shrugged against the pillow. "I’d rather you tell me when you’re ready than make something up now."

He didn’t know what to say to that. So he reached over and brushed the hair off her forehead, and she let him.

_ _

At 9:10PM his communicator lit up on the floor beside the bed.

He fished it out of his trousers, which were somewhere near the desk, and checked the time. Then he sat up so fast the blanket slid off his shoulders.

"What?" Nil asked.

"It’s after nine. Maren’s session ends at ten."

"So?"

"So she walks back past the annex."

"She walks back by the main path, not the annex. Nobody uses the annex." Nil propped herself on her elbow and watched him hunt for his shirt with a smile she was clearly trying not to show. "You’re panicking."

"I’m not panicking."

"You put your sock on the wrong foot."

"That’s my other sock."

"That is a sock that belongs to me." She held up a small purple one and swung it from her finger. "Yours is under the bed."

He took the purple one out of her hand, looked at it, and dropped it on the mattress. She laughed into the pillow again.

By the time he’d found everything, his shirt was buttoned wrong and his uniform jacket was inside out. Nil straightened the collar for him at the door, taking her time over it, her fingers light under his chin. She’d put her hoodie back on and the oversized hem hung almost to her knees.

"Tell me when you get back," Nil said.

"I will."

"Don’t get caught."

"I never get caught."

"You got caught by Ryan in the corridor last Monday."

"That doesn’t count."

"It counts." She grinned and pushed him gently over the threshold. "Go."

The door shut behind him. He heard the lock turn.

_ _

The night air was cold enough to make him shiver.

Zane kept to the wall, the way he had on the way in, checking the lamps at the end of the walkway. A patrol was circling the main path, two flashlights and a pair of bored voices, and he waited behind a stone planter until they’d moved on. Then he ran. Overdrive at B-rank 10%, short and quiet, the grass blurring under his shoes.

He didn’t stop until he reached the shadow beside the boys’ dorm. His heart was going hard and the cold had started to find its way inside his jacket.

『 System Note: The host made it back without incident. 』

’Don’t congratulate me.’

『 The system is not congratulating. It is observing that the host is tired. 』

’I’m fine.’

『 The host walked past his own dormitory door twice. 』

He stopped. Looked up. He was, in fact, standing in front of the door.

His communicator buzzed again.

Maren: Done early. Nil didn’t show up so I cut it short. Walking back now. Are you awake?

He stared at it.

’She’s coming back,’ he thought. ’Right now. She’s going to walk past this building.’

He typed: Barely. About to sleep.

Maren: Okay. I’ll be quiet. Thanks for watching me today. It helped.

He read it a second time. It was a perfectly normal message, short and kind, with no suspicion in it at all, and somehow that made it worse. He stood there in the cold holding the phone while a little spot of guilt grew heavier in his chest.

’She trusts you,’ he thought. ’And you just..’

He didn’t finish the thought.

He slid inside, climbed the stairs without turning the lights on, and eased the door of Room 714 open. Dex was asleep with his headband half off and one arm hanging over the side of the bed. Gerald wheezed from the vent.

Zane undressed in the dark and lay down on top of the blanket.

Tomorrow, 8:00 AM, Arena 3. Nyx would be waiting, and that was a whole other drama.

He stared at the ceiling and listened to the vent for a long time.