Chapter 39: Friendly Fire

On my way home, I stopped at a grocery store to pick up a few things we were missing. I also bought the ingredients I would need for the sandwich I had promised to make for Angel tomorrow.

Thanks to the recovery provided by White Snake, some of the fatigue in my muscles had already faded by the time I reached the apartment.

Standing in front of the door, I took a short breath as I wondered what kind of scene was waiting for me inside.

Eris’s last message was still fresh in my mind.

[Good morning, traitor.]

I knew she would sulk a little because she thought I had abandoned her to run off to Angel. Still, I wanted to believe that the sandwich and note I had left behind would lessen my punishment.

Just as I was about to insert my key into the lock, a rapid burst of gunfire came from inside.

My hand froze.

I stared at the door for several seconds, briefly considering the possibility that someone had attacked my apartment. Then I heard a game announcer speaking over the gunshots.

When I opened the door, I found Eris sitting at my computer, exactly as expected.

She had put on one of my T-shirts and tied her crimson hair carelessly behind her head. The shorts beneath the shirt were almost invisible from where she sat. One of her bare legs was folded on the chair while her other foot rested against the computer tower beneath the desk.

One of the socks she had thrown across the apartment yesterday was still lying over the arm of the couch.

She was clearly pretending she hadn’t read the final sentence of my note.

Eris was so focused on the battle royale game I had played during yesterday’s stream that she didn’t seem to notice me entering. When I saw that the number of surviving players in the upper-right corner had fallen to nine and her kill counter read seven, my eyebrows rose slightly.

"What are you doing on my computer?"

"You’re making too much noise," she muttered. "I can’t hear the guy’s footsteps."

"Are you playing on my account?"

"Yes."

"Eris!"

Just as I started toward her, another player burst out of the bushes on the screen. Without showing the slightest sign of panic, Eris snapped her aim toward him and put a bullet through his head.

Her kill counter rose to eight.

She continued looting the defeated player while speaking in an exceptionally casual voice.

"Welcome home, traitor."

I left the grocery bags on the kitchen counter, then walked over and sat beside her. Leaning forward so I could see the screen clearly, I gave Eris a suspicious look.

"Have you played this game before?"

"No."

"You killed eight people in your first match?"

"This isn’t my first match. I played twice while you were gone."

"What happened in the other two?"

"I died right after spawning in one of them. In the other, I accidentally stood next to my own grenade."

That was much more believable.

As Eris made her character run toward the safe zone, I focused on the screen. Her playstyle was completely different from mine. I moved carefully, checked my surroundings, and tried to secure the best position possible. Eris ran straight toward the fighting whenever she heard gunfire in the distance.

Considering how she behaved in real life, expecting her to play any other way had been my mistake.

"So you finally managed to tear yourself away from your angel," she said.

Her tone sounded perfectly casual, but she placed far too much emphasis on the word finally.

"We were training together. She didn’t hold me hostage in the park."

"How many hours were you there?"

"A few."

Eris’s fingers continued moving across the keyboard, but her eyes narrowed slightly.

"A few hours?"

"We ran nonstop for the first hour, then moved on to other exercises. I also managed nine proper pull-ups."

This time, she briefly turned away from the screen to look at me.

"Nine?"

The surprise in her voice brought back all the pride I had felt that morning. Trying to look casual, I folded my arms over my chest.

"Yes, nine. And I didn’t get any help with a single one."

"You were surrendering your soul on the fifth one yesterday."

"I perform much better in environments where people don’t slap my butt."

Eris returned her attention to the screen without trying to hide the smile at the corner of her lips. At that moment, another player opened fire on her. She moved behind a nearby rock, restored her health, and tried to determine the enemy’s position.

"So, did you tell her you’re a guy?"

I looked away from the screen.

"I haven’t found the right opportunity yet."

"You were together for several hours."

"We had other things to talk about."

"Such as?"

"We talked about you."

Eris’s fingers froze for a moment. At the same time, her opponent stepped out from beside the rock and opened fire, cutting her character’s health in half.

"Me?"

"I told her a friend had stayed at my apartment."

"And?"

"At first, she thought you were my boyfriend."

Eris suddenly turned toward me, leaving her character motionless in the open.

"She thought I was a guy?"

"I only said that a friend had stayed over. I immediately explained that you were my childhood friend and that you were a girl."

"How did she react?"

"She was a little surprised, that’s all. She’s never seen you, so the misunderstanding was perfectly normal."

Without responding, Eris turned back to the screen. Her opponent had taken advantage of her standing still and moved closer, but Eris raised her weapon at the last moment and somehow won the fight with a rapid burst of gunfire.

When she saw her opponent fall, she didn’t look relieved. Instead, her lips formed a small pout.

"So she was surprised when she learned that the friend staying at your apartment was a girl."

"It was innocent surprise. You don’t need to read anything else into it."

"I’m not reading anything into it."

"Your expression says otherwise."

"Watch the game."

"I’m already watching."

As Eris looted the defeated player, her gaze shifted toward the grocery bags I had left on the counter.

"What did you buy?"

"Chicken, rice, some vegetables, and a few things we were missing."

"I also noticed an unnecessary amount of sandwich bread sticking out of the bag."

My shoulders tensed slightly.

The fact that she could fight other players while inspecting my groceries at the same time wasn’t normal.

"I bought it for tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Angel was curious about the sandwich I made, so she asked me to bring one for her too."

Eris’s weapon opened fire repeatedly, filling a distant tree with holes.

"The enemy was on the other side of the tree," I said.

"I know."

"You just fired twenty bullets into the tree."

"My hand slipped."

"How strange that it slipped the moment I mentioned the sandwich."

Rather than answering, Eris reloaded her weapon. The safe zone had grown much smaller, and only three players remained alive.

"So you’re using the sandwich you made for me to flirt with another girl."

"The recipe belongs to me. I can make it for whoever I want."

"I’ll be performing quality control on the ingredients."

"You already ate yours this morning."

"I need to make sure tomorrow’s sandwich is of the same quality."

"This has nothing to do with quality control. You just want a second sandwich."

"Look, there’s someone on the roof of the building to the right."

My attention returned to the screen when I saw the glint of a scope.

Eris threw her character sideways just as a bullet passed a few inches over her head. After throwing a smoke grenade in front of herself, she started running away from the safe zone.

I frowned.

"You’re going the wrong way."

"No, I’m drawing him toward me."

"The zone is closing."

"I know."

"You’ll start taking damage in five seconds."

"Do you always talk this much?"

"I’m talking because you’re about to lose on my account!"

Once she escaped the enemy’s line of sight, Eris changed direction, climbed the nearby slope, and entered the safe zone at the last moment. While the player on the roof still thought she was hiding behind the smoke, Eris had already reached the side of the building.

She pulled out a grenade and threw it through an upstairs window.

After the explosion, the number of surviving players dropped to two.

I instinctively leaned closer to the screen.

"How did you do that?"

"It was easy."

"Weren’t you the one who said you accidentally killed yourself with your own grenade?"

"Intelligent people learn from their mistakes."

We both fell silent for several seconds while searching for the final opponent. The safe zone was extremely small now, with only a few rocks large enough to hide behind.

When I noticed a faint movement among the bushes on the left, I pointed at the screen.

"There!"

The moment Eris turned her aim, the enemy opened fire. Her health dropped rapidly, but instead of retreating, she charged straight at him, emptied her entire magazine, and brought him down with the final bullet.

When the victory message appeared in the center of the screen, she leaned back comfortably in the chair.

"See? This game is too easy for me."

"You wouldn’t have noticed the last player if I hadn’t pointed him out."

"We used teamwork."

"This was a solo match."

"I still won."

Before she could close my computer, I lightly struck her shoulder with the back of my hand.

"Don’t play on my account without asking again."

"Fine. I’ll let you know next time."

I knew that answer didn’t mean she would stop using my account. Still, rather than continuing the argument, I stood and headed toward the kitchen. I was seriously hungry after the morning’s training, and I doubted Eris had eaten anything besides the sandwich.

As I began unpacking the grocery bags, she closed the match results screen and opened the browser.

"I did some research on the cosplay contest," she said.

I involuntarily sighed as I placed the chicken on the cutting board.

The reality I had managed to forget for a few hours settled over my shoulders with all its weight once again.