Chapter 87: Are You Sure?

It was seven in the morning.

I sat on one of the benches in the park, looking at the System window in front of me. The morning chill hadn’t faded yet. People occasionally passed along the path, their footsteps mixing with the birdsong.

My angel had chosen this park as our new meeting spot. According to the location she had sent, I was in the right place, so I had decided to check my stats while waiting for her.

My Strength had increased by another point.

That was good progress, but I felt that improving wasn’t as easy as it had been during the first few days. The same exercises no longer challenged me as much, and I had to work harder to see another increase in my stats.

I clenched my hand into a fist, then opened it again.

There was a huge difference between my body now and the one I had when I first opened my eyes in this world. I could feel it when walking, running, or even lifting something ordinary. I had long since surpassed the limits of an ordinary person.

Still, that didn’t mean I was as strong as my angel.

My ribs had learned that lesson well enough when she hugged me yesterday.

I looked back at my Strength.

I probably needed a few more points to do forty proper pull-ups. I knew I was making progress, but I wouldn’t know how much it would help at the bar until I tried.

After checking my phone, I turned toward the path.

When I spotted blonde hair, I closed the System window.

My angel was walking toward me. She had tied her hair up, and watching the blonde strands sway behind her with each step brought a smile to my face.

I got up from the bench.

“Good morning, Angel.”

I expected her to return my greeting in the same way. Instead, when she reached me, she wrapped her arms around me.

I forgot everything else I had been about to say.

“Good morning, Noctis.”

Hearing her voice so close, I kept my hands in the air for a brief moment. Then I gently hugged her back.

This time, my ribs weren’t in danger, and I wasn’t struggling to breathe. There was only a warm girl hugging me in the cool morning air.

I think I could get used to this.

When my angel pulled away, I didn’t try to hide my smile.

“So, what should we do today?” she asked.

I turned toward the exercise area a little farther ahead.

“First, I need to remind you of the promise you made me.”

Her eyebrows rose curiously. When she looked at the metal bars, she understood what I meant.

“Forty pull-ups?”

“Yes.” I stretched my arms a little and turned back to her. “I’m going to learn your name today.”

The corners of her lips lifted.

“You sound pretty confident.”

“The Great Noctis never forgets his promises.”

I would tell her later that her father had mentioned her name last night. Besides, already knowing her name didn’t mean I no longer wanted to keep my promise.

I wanted to see the expression on her face if I managed all forty pull-ups in front of her.

Standing beneath the bar, I rolled my shoulders a few times, then reached up and gripped the cold metal.

My angel stood a few steps in front of me.

“I’m ready.”

I lifted my feet off the ground and pulled myself up.

The first few repetitions were easier than I had expected. I raised my chin above the bar, lowered myself until my arms were straight, and repeated the movement. When I passed ten, my angel’s smile faded slightly. At twenty, her gaze shifted from my arms to my face.

I could see her eyes widening as I continued.

Things became harder after the thirtieth repetition. My arms burned, and my fingers couldn’t hold the bar as comfortably as before. Gritting my teeth, I managed four more, but when I tried to pull myself up again after the thirty-fourth, my body stopped halfway.

I pushed a little harder.

It wasn’t happening.

I let go and landed on my feet. Rather than struggle to stay standing, I dropped onto my back and took a deep breath.

“Thirty… four…”

With my arms lying at my sides, I turned my head slightly toward my angel.

She was still standing in front of the bar, staring at me.

The surprise on her face made all the exhaustion worthwhile.

I might not have reached forty, but seeing her like that made it impossible not to grin. With my chest rising and falling rapidly, I tried to look as confident as possible.

“What… did you think?”

She blinked. Trying to compose herself, she approached and bent down over me.

She pressed her index finger against my cheek.

“You really are incredible. I didn’t think you could improve this much in a week.”

I kept smiling despite her finger gently pushing against my cheek.

I wanted her to say it again.

My angel must have noticed my expression, because the surprise in her eyes slowly gave way to amusement.

“I guess you’re pretty eager to learn my name.”

“Isn’t it… obvious?”

My breathless answer made her smile widen. She took her finger away from my cheek and tilted her head slightly.

“But our deal was forty pull-ups. You failed, so you don’t get to learn my name.”

I stared at her for several seconds.

She looked completely certain she had won.

Pressing my hands against the ground, I slowly sat up. My arms were still trembling, but I had no intention of holding back the teasing grin spreading across my face.

I looked directly into her blue eyes.

“Are you sure, Yukie?”

My angel’s blue eyes widened in surprise.

Her lips parted as though she wanted to say something, but no sound came out. She closed her mouth and opened it again, still staring at me.

She must have been trying to figure out how I had learned it.

Ahh… She looks so cute like this.

Despite my tired arms, I sat a little straighter. The girl who had been looking at me so confidently a moment ago now had no idea what to say. That eased the pain of those thirty-four pull-ups.

“How long have you known?”

“Hmm…” I tilted my head slightly. “Who knows? Maybe I knew from the start, or maybe I just found out. Should I tell you?”

Smiling, I waited for her reaction.

But my angel didn’t protest the way I had expected. She pressed her lips together, looked away, and straightened up. The expression that replaced her surprise made my smile slowly disappear.

Did I say something wrong?

There was no trace of her earlier cheerfulness.

“Oii, I’m joking,” I said quickly. “Your father answered when I called you yesterday. I learned your name from him.”

My angel’s head snapped toward me.

“YOU TALKED TO MY DAD?!”

I flinched at the volume of her voice.

“Huh? Yes… Didn’t he tell you?”

“No!”

She pulled out her phone and quickly opened her messages. After opening our conversation, she tapped the screen a few more times and found the call record.

When she looked at me again, there was clear panic in her eyes.

“Forty-seven seconds!”

“What?”

“You talked to my dad for forty-seven seconds. What did you talk about?”

As though we could have made some life-changing agreement in that short time.

“Well… He said your mom was upset with you. You were cleaning your room, and she had taken your phone away.”

My angel’s lips parted. Then, as her face slowly reddened, she tightened her grip on the phone.

“That senile old fool!”

The aura that briefly spread around her made me swallow. I instinctively straightened my back and looked at her face.

I wanted to make sure she was the same girl who had been poking my cheek and teasing me a moment ago.

Fortunately, the pressure didn’t last long. My angel closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After putting her phone away, she turned back to me.

“You must have had fun making a fool of me.”

“No, it wasn’t like—”

One of her eyebrows rose.

I swallowed the rest of my sentence.

Considering the grin I had been wearing a few seconds ago, denying that I had enjoyed it a little wouldn’t be very convincing.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I only wanted to tease you a little.”

My angel stared silently at me for several seconds.

“You owe me a wish.”

“A wish?”

“Yes.”

“You expect me to agree without even knowing what you want?”

She leaned a little closer, still looking angry.

I sighed.

“Fine. One wish.”

I noticed a slight twitch at the corner of her lips, but this time, I chose not to say anything. My arms were still tired as I pressed my hands against the ground and stood up.

Not only had I failed the pull-up challenge, I now owed her a wish too.

My morning was off to a very successful start.

—

When we finished our run, we sat on one of the benches in the park.

I rested my hands on my knees and tried to catch my breath while my angel settled comfortably beside me. Her face was slightly flushed, but unlike me, she wasn’t struggling to breathe.

I leaned my head back and looked at the morning sky for a while.

Her anger with me had mostly faded during the run. At least, I no longer felt like someone waiting to be interrogated whenever I looked at her.

Still, I doubted she had forgotten about the wish.

After a while, I remembered something I hadn’t asked her yesterday. I turned to look at her.

“By the way, where were you when that Overlap appeared?”

My angel brushed back a few strands of hair that had fallen across her face.

“At home. I was sleeping.”

I felt relieved. Even though she was sitting in front of me, safe and sound, it was good to hear where she had been that day.

But what she said next caught my attention again.

“My little sister got caught in it, though.”

I straightened up.

“Your little sister? Is she okay?”

“Yes, she’s fine now.” After a brief pause, she folded her hands in her lap. “A Guardian rescued her.”

“Really?”

She nodded.

“Someone named Oromaru.”

My eyebrow twitched slightly.

Orochimaru.

Was getting that name right really so difficult?

The correction was on the tip of my tongue when I thought back to what my angel had just said.

Her little sister…

A Guardian…

Oromaru…

My angel continued without noticing the change in my expression.

“But that man is a scammer.”

“A scammer?”

I had repeated the word more loudly than I intended.

My angel turned toward me.

“My little sister had potions worth millions with her. That man stole them.”

I felt a drop of cold sweat run down my back.

Millions?

Suddenly, the face of the little girl who had walked behind me inside the Overlap appeared in my mind. The way she called me “Sir Guardian,” how she said my name differently every time, and the potions she carried…

I slowly raised my eyes to my angel’s face.

Was that brat my angel’s little sister?!

My mouth went dry.

I couldn’t understand how a conversation I had been calmly listening to a few seconds ago had suddenly turned into this. Looking at the girl beside me, I tightened my hands on my knees.

Remembering the aura she had released when she was angry with her father wasn’t helping at all.

“Well…” I cleared my throat. “Maybe he really needed them.”

My angel frowned slightly.

“The potions?”

“Yes. He was inside an Overlap, after all. Couldn’t he have been injured or something?”

I looked at her, hoping my voice sounded casual enough.

My angel shook her head.

“Those potions don’t work on someone like him.”