Chapter 102: New Wallpaper

I was in the middle of a wonderful dream.

I lay beneath the shade of a huge old tree, surrounded by green grass that stretched endlessly in every direction. My head rested in one girl’s lap while another fed me grapes from a bunch in her hand. A third smiled at me as she massaged my feet.

Yukie, Eris, and Rose...

I knew it was a dream, but I was enjoying the moment anyway.

It was such a peaceful, beautiful dream...

’I wish this moment would last forever.’

Just as that thought crossed my mind, I heard the brief click of a camera.

Then came a giggle.

I waited a few seconds before opening my eyes. The sound might have been part of my dream. If I didn’t let on that I was awake, whoever it was might leave me alone and go away.

The camera clicked again.

I frowned and cracked my eyes open.

Eris stood beside the bed.

Her red hair was tied up. The camera on her phone pointed at me, and despite pressing her lips together, she couldn’t hide her smile.

For several seconds, I simply stared at her.

She looked up from the screen and met my eyes.

Then she went back to her phone as though nothing had happened.

Her thumb moved across the screen as she zoomed in and out. While my half-asleep mind was still trying to figure out what she was doing in my room at this hour, she turned the phone toward me.

"What do you think of my new wallpaper?"

I opened my eyes a little wider.

I was on the screen.

My hair was spread across the pillow. The blanket was pulled up to my chin, and I was hugging the trophy to my chest with my cheek resting against its edge.

I looked very peaceful.

I really had been, before someone woke me up...

Eris looked at the photo and giggled again.

"I wonder if you would’ve woken up if I’d tried taking the trophy away."

"I’m glad you didn’t try."

My voice was thick with sleep. I turned my head slightly on the pillow and looked at the phone on the nightstand.

06:47.

I sighed.

It wasn’t even seven yet.

White Snake might help me recover from fatigue faster, but that didn’t mean I’d stopped enjoying sleep. Besides, my body was still repairing itself. My arm still ached, though less than before, and whenever I moved my shoulder, I had to shift around to get comfortable again.

Last night’s experiment with the flames hadn’t helped much either.

I took one last look at the photo on Eris’s phone.

"I understand wanting to see the Great Noctis every time you wake up. But there are better times to take pictures."

"If I’d known you looked this cute while sleeping, I would’ve taken some sooner."

"I’m not cute."

"Of course."

She turned the phone back toward herself and looked at the screen again.

She had no intention of deleting it.

I hugged the trophy a little tighter and pulled the blanket over myself.

"What is it?" I asked wearily. "Why are you here so early?"

"Let’s train."

"I don’t want to."

I closed my eyes as soon as I answered.

Eris stayed quiet for a few seconds.

I didn’t like that silence.

I pulled the blanket a little higher, covering myself up to my nose.

"Liar."

I cracked my eyes open again.

Eris had grabbed the edge of the blanket.

"You’re going to get up in a bit and go for a morning run with that girl. I know you will!"

"Eris, wait—"

She yanked the blanket away.

Since I had wrapped myself in it, my body slid toward the edge of the bed. I tightened my good arm around the trophy to keep it from falling and couldn’t regain my balance.

A moment later, I was on the floor.

I landed on my backside. My head bumped lightly against the edge of the bed, and a brief twinge of pain ran through my injured arm.

"Ugh... Where do you get all this energy so early in the morning?"

I set the trophy beside me and rubbed my head with my good hand.

Eris stood over me with the blanket in her hands. She looked at my arm first, then back at my face.

"If you wanted to sleep, you shouldn’t have been clinging so tightly."

"To my trophy or the blanket?"

"Both."

I stared at her for a while.

Then I sighed and rested my back against the bed.

"I don’t think I’ll be seeing much of my angel anymore, anyway."

My voice grew a little quieter toward the end.

The satisfied look on Eris’s face slowly faded.

"What do you mean?"

I looked at the trophy, running my fingers over the small inscription on its base.

I remembered how surprised I had been to see Yukie at the competition yesterday. The moment I learned she was Caramel, I had forgotten everything else for a while.

But then I had gone onstage.

I had removed my costume in front of everyone, said my name, and talked about my family.

There was no way to keep the misunderstanding going anymore.

"She must know who I am," I said. "She probably knows I’m a guy too."

Eris didn’t answer.

When I looked up, her eyes were on me. She understood what I meant.

I should have explained it to Yukie from the beginning.

A few times, I had waited for the right moment to tell her. Then I had started enjoying our time together and kept putting the conversation off a little longer.

Every morning, she smiled when she came to see me.

Now I wasn’t sure I would see that smile again.

"Haven’t you talked to her?" Eris asked.

I shook my head.

"No."

"Why?"

"I don’t know what to say."

I pressed my lips together.

’Hello, my angel. There’s one tiny little thing I forgot to tell you... I’m actually a guy, hehe.’

It wasn’t a great opening.

Eris put the blanket on the bed. For a moment, she seemed about to speak, but she waited for me to continue.

"Besides..." My gaze dropped back to the trophy. "After confessing my feelings to you, it wouldn’t be right for me to try getting close to another girl."

The hand holding her phone went still.

I looked at her.

A blush slowly spread across her cheeks. Her eyes shifted from mine to another corner of the room.

"You..."

Her voice was barely audible.

She cleared her throat.

"Why are you saying things like that first thing in the morning?"

"You brought it up."

"I was talking about training!"

"Then you mentioned my angel."

She frowned.

But the blush on her face made it a little less convincing.

Remembering the moment she had taken my hand again on the street yesterday, I felt the corners of my lips lift. She still hadn’t given me an answer.

Yet what I had just said didn’t seem to bother her.

She hadn’t immediately protested like yesterday, either.

I hesitated briefly.

Then I said what had come to mind, even though I knew I shouldn’t.

"Well... Of course, if you think the Great Noctis can date several women, that’s a different story."

As the sentence went on, I looked away from her.

The armchair in the corner of the room had suddenly become very interesting.

I was only trying my luck.

Maybe she would say something about my earlier confession. Maybe she would get angry, then tell me plainly what she thought about it.

I turned my head just enough to check her reaction.

Eris wasn’t smiling.

"Do you want to die?"

Her voice was so cold that I instinctively straightened my back.

Flames had appeared around her body. Fire rose from her shoulder, lighting the edges of her red hair as one red eye and one blue eye stared straight at me.

I swallowed.

So she wasn’t exactly warming to the idea.

Without another thought, I leaned forward and banged my forehead against the floor.

"I’m sorry! I was only joking!"

A fresh ache formed in my head.

I had managed to hit my head twice by seven in the morning.

It was an extremely productive day.

"Idiot."

For a while, I could only hear her breathing. Then the light from the flames around her disappeared.

Glancing up, I saw her put her phone in her pocket. Her face was still red, but the frightening look in her eyes had eased a little.

I sat up and rubbed my head.

Eris straightened the blanket on the bed. After pulling out the pillow caught underneath and setting it aside, she headed for the door.

"I’m going to train."

I didn’t object.

As she opened the door, she paused and looked back over her shoulder. Her eyes moved to the trophy on the floor beside me, then to my injured arm.

"Get better soon," she said. "Otherwise, I’ll end up making my childhood friend my slave."

She closed the door behind her.