Chapter 75: Two Doors Down

I pushed the apartment building’s entrance door open with my shoulder and lifted the grocery bags in my left hand a little higher.

I had left the mansion that afternoon and stopped by the grocery store before heading home. After the days Eris and I had spent at my place, I remembered there wasn’t much left in the fridge. I had gone in for a few essentials and come out with two full bags.

The end of a loaf of bread stuck out of one bag, while the boxes in the other knocked against each other as I walked. When I reached the elevator, I adjusted my grip to keep the handles from digging further into my fingers and pressed the call button.

The number on the display slowly began to drop.

I waited in front of the doors for a while without doing anything. After lunch at the mansion, the thought of returning to my own apartment felt good. I would put away my groceries, turn on my computer, and decide how to spend the next few hours without anyone interfering.

At least, that was the plan.

I felt someone blow gently just behind my ear, and my whole body jolted.

I jerked my shoulder up and quickly turned to the side, making the bags in my hand bump against my leg. Before I even understood what had happened, I had taken a step back and was already frowning.

A girl with short black hair stood in front of me. Her black eyes watched my reaction with amusement, and a lollipop stick poked out from the corner of her mouth.

Her face was familiar.

Familiar enough for me to recognize her immediately, even though I hadn’t expected to see her here at all.

Rose raised her hand and smiled.

"Hello, Noctis."

I stared at her face for several seconds.

"Rose?"

"Yes, I’m Rose."

As her smile widened, a faint dimple appeared in her left cheek. She had worn a similar expression the last time we met, and just remembering it was enough to make me tense up.

"Why are you here?"

Rose tilted her head slightly.

"What do you mean, why am I here? I live here."

My eyes moved from her to the building’s entrance, then back to her face. It was as though I expected to find some sign that I had come to the wrong place.

But this was my apartment building.

Meanwhile, Rose looked perfectly at ease, as though what she had just said was completely ordinary.

Just then, the elevator doors opened.

Rose walked past me and stepped inside. Since I was still standing in place, she held the door with one hand and turned back to me.

"Come on. What are you waiting for?"

Pulling myself together, I followed her into the elevator. I drew the bags closer to my side so they wouldn’t hit the wall and was about to reach for the floor buttons when Rose’s finger moved first.

The button for the seventh floor lit up.

My hand stopped in midair for a moment.

I looked at the button, then at Rose. She leaned against the wall, watching the elevator doors close.

"Do you live on the seventh floor?"

I had tried to make it sound like a casual question, but I wasn’t sure I had succeeded.

Rose took hold of the stick and pulled the lollipop from her mouth.

"Yes. We’re practically neighbors, actually. I live two doors down from you."

Two doors.

She lived behind one of the doors I walked past every day.

"I see," I muttered.

In truth, I didn’t understand a thing.

Two doors down from me? Does that mean she already knows where I live?!

Since when...

As the elevator began to move, I turned my eyes toward the floor indicator above the doors. Rose put the lollipop back in her mouth while I tried to process what she had said.

She was the first person I had met on the day I arrived in this world.

She had bandaged the hand I injured by punching the mirror and started teasing me before I had even properly learned her name. Then the System had given me that ridiculous mission to get a kiss from Rose.

I grimaced as I remembered what I had said in the pharmacy that day.

As a reward, I’ll allow you to kiss me.

So it really was possible to say something like that and still go on with your life.

I kept my eyes on the floor indicator, trying not to remember Rose kissing my cheek and teasing me afterward. With her standing right beside me, I was afraid that looking at her for too long would make her say something to remind me of that day.

But that wasn’t what bothered me most.

The System had put me in plenty of ridiculous situations by now. It had asked me to stream, gain followers, and enter a cosplay contest. Yet the only time it had tried to bring me close to someone like that was the day I met Rose.

From time to time, I had wondered why I hadn’t seen her again since then. The pharmacy was close to my apartment, but living in the same neighborhood didn’t mean we would run into each other every day.

Still, the same floor, only two doors down...

I turned my head slightly to look at her.

Rose raised an eyebrow when our eyes met, and I immediately looked away.

So why is the System, or fate, trying to tie this girl to me?

It could have been a coincidence. Rose living here might have had nothing to do with me. But after everything that had happened since I opened my eyes in this world, it was becoming harder to explain everything away as coincidence.

Besides, I still didn’t know what the System was doing or why.

The elevator stopped, interrupting my thoughts.

When the doors opened, the familiar hallway came into view. As Rose began to straighten up from the wall, I adjusted the bags and stepped outside.

"See you, Rose."

My goodbye had come out a little rushed. I noticed it too, but I wasn’t in any state to slow down and try to act more natural.

"See you, Noctis."

Ignoring the faint amusement in her voice, I headed toward my door. I pulled the key from my pocket with my right hand and reached for the lock.

At that exact moment, a blue window appeared in front of my eyes.

[New mission assigned: Spend a night at Rose’s apartment.]

My hand stopped before the tip of the key reached the lock.

I stared at the words in front of me, then read the mission description again. It was as though I expected the words to change if I looked closely enough, revealing that the System was actually asking for something completely different.

But they didn’t...

As my jaw slowly tightened, I heard the sound of a key farther down the hallway.

I turned my head.

Rose had opened her door. When she noticed me looking, she raised her hand in a small wave before entering her apartment.

I watched until her door closed.

It really was only two doors down from mine.

When I turned back to the window in front of me, my surprise had been replaced by anger.

’Oii, System! What’s with this damn mission?!’

I didn’t have to wait for an answer.

[The current mission was created for the Chosen One’s development.]

My expression froze.

’How do you expect me to grow by harassing a girl?!’

The hallway was quiet. While waiting for the System’s answer, I had gripped my key so tightly that its metal edge began digging into my palm.

No further explanation came.

The same mission remained in front of me.

I had only run into Rose again a few minutes ago. I had spent half our conversation trying to understand why she lived here and the other half trying not to look at her face. Was I supposed to go over now and tell her I wanted to spend the night at her apartment?

Besides, my own place was two doors away.

I couldn’t even say I had nowhere to stay.

I lowered my head and looked at the key. All I had to do was put it in the lock and turn it. I would leave my groceries in the kitchen, sit down at my computer, and spend the rest of the day at home.

The window still in front of me wouldn’t let me enjoy that thought.

I had learned well enough on the first day what ignoring the System’s missions could cost me. Just remembering that headache made me want to rub the space between my eyebrows.

For a while, my eyes moved between my door and Rose’s.

I had no real idea what to say. Before I had even opened my mouth, thinking about how she might react was already making me feel embarrassed.

Finally, I let out a long sigh.

I adjusted the grocery bags in my hand and started walking toward Rose’s door.