Chapter 89: The Open Door

A few days had passed, and the cosplay contest was finally only a day away.

I spent my mornings training with my sweet angel, Yukie, and my afternoons training with Eris. When I returned home, I sat at my computer and streamed. Trying to fit so much into a single day made it hard to notice how quickly time was passing.

My streaming account had reached two thousand seven hundred followers. At least I was still making progress there.

As for my stats…

Only my Agility had increased, and only by one point.

The increases I used to see after a few exercises were now much harder to earn. No matter how hard I tried, the other values stayed the same. I had almost hit a wall.

But I hadn’t come away from all that training empty-handed.

I had gotten much better at using Storm Heart. I no longer tripped over my own feet when activating it, and I could change direction without losing speed. I was also beginning to recognize when I needed to slow down before my body sent me crashing to the ground.

I wasn’t sure whether I could call that mastery. Still, considering that I had fallen flat on my face during my first attempt, I was doing pretty well.

Right now, however, I was sitting on the ground in the mansion’s training area, drinking water with my sweaty T-shirt clinging to my skin.

Lasting a few seconds longer against Eris hadn’t stopped me from ending the session on the ground again.

When I lowered the bottle, I noticed that she was still watching me.

She was frowning.

“Did you awaken some kind of speed-type Nexus?”

“No.”

“Liar.”

I looked at her after that immediate response.

“If I had, I would’ve told you.”

Eris took a step toward me.

“Then did you steal an artifact or something?”

“No…” I put the cap back on the bottle. “And why is your first assumption that I’m a thief?”

“Because you don’t have enough money to buy something like that.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it when I couldn’t find a decent answer.

It was annoying how much sense that explanation made.

With a sigh, I raised my head.

“How would I use something like that without Nexus energy?”

Eris’s lips parted, but she didn’t speak. After watching me for several seconds, she folded her arms across her chest.

“I’m sure you’re hiding something.”

“Who, me?” I placed a hand on my chest. “You’re breaking my heart. You know better than anyone how honest I am.”

Eris’s eyebrow twitched.

When she clenched her right hand into a fist, flames appeared around her fingers. The smile on her face was enough to tell me that staying seated wasn’t a good idea.

“Maybe we should train some more. You still seem to have plenty of energy.”

I swallowed.

Picking up my water bottle, I stood.

“I’m going to shower and head home. Make sure you get plenty of rest too. Tomorrow’s the big day, you know.”

Eris kept her eyes on me. After a while, the flames around her fist went out.

“Stay here tonight.”

“I need to go home.”

“Why? We can leave together in the morning. I can help you get ready too.”

“I have a few things to do at home.”

“Can’t you do them here?”

I shook my head.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be ready on time.”

Eris continued watching me suspiciously, but this time, she didn’t insist. I headed toward the mansion before she could change her mind.

—

After showering and changing, I set off for home. The lemon soda I had bought from a store along the way was still cold when I entered my apartment building.

I fixed my hair in the elevator mirror. Running my fingers through the blue strands, I thought about the white wig that would replace them tomorrow.

I still hadn’t figured out what felt missing from the costume.

I needed to take another look before the contest.

When the elevator stopped on the seventh floor, I stepped out. Switching the bottle from one hand to the other, I walked toward my apartment and reached into my pocket for my keys.

I stopped when I saw my door.

It was ajar again.

After staring at it for several seconds, my shoulders slumped.

“Again…”

My first thought was that my angel had arrived before me.

The thought of seeing her made the corners of my lips rise, but I sighed when I looked at the lock. I had only just had it repaired.

Having a key made for Yukie might be cheaper than repairing the door every time.

You could at least have told me you were coming…

I pushed the door open and went inside.

The lights were off. No sound came from the living room either.

I placed the soda on the shoe cabinet by the entrance and put my keys beside it. After taking off my shoes, I looked down the dark hallway.

So she was playing games with me.

“Hmm, hmm…” I raised my voice enough for her to hear. “I can smell an angel in my home.”

There was no answer.

“Where could she be?”

I tried to hide my smile as I walked down the hallway. I waited for her to appear from somewhere and surprise me with another hug, but nothing happened.

When I reached the entrance to the living room, I noticed a dark figure on the sofa.

The curtains were drawn. I couldn’t make out the person’s face, but someone was sitting there.

I reached for the switch on the wall.

“Found you.”

I turned on the light.

My smile froze.

One corner of the coffee table was broken, and pieces of wood lay scattered around its tilted frame. One of the chairs lay overturned on the floor. It took me a moment to realize what the small, colorful pieces scattered nearby were.

My anime figures.

The heads and arms of figures that should have been on the shelves in my room were scattered across the living room. One figure’s face lay near my feet, while its body was beneath the sofa.

My computer tower had been taken out of my room and thrown onto the floor. A crack ran all the way across the screen of the monitor beside it. Torn posters lay among the broken plastic and shards of glass.

My gaze moved over my belongings as I tried to make sense of what I was seeing.

Just a moment ago, I had imagined sitting here and talking to Yukie.

Now I was looking at my home, struggling to recognize what remained of the place I had left a few hours earlier.

The person on the sofa sat comfortably in the middle of it all.

He was in his early twenties. Black roots showed beneath his dyed blond hair. His blue eyes were fixed on me, and he watched my reaction with a wide grin.

My hands slowly curled into fists.

I clenched my teeth so hard that my jaw began to ache. The emotions building in my chest made it difficult to breathe.

The first thing I felt was fear. I didn’t want to see that grin again. The longer I looked at his face, the more I hated him, and whenever my eyes drifted to my broken belongings, my fists tightened further.

This was my home.

The place I could return to after getting away from them, where I could relax once I closed the door.

Even if I picked up the pieces on the floor, I knew the feeling inside me wouldn’t go away. The way he sat there, in my home, among my own belongings, made me sick.

I wanted to scream.

But the lump in my throat wouldn’t let me make a sound. Beneath the anger was a helplessness I couldn’t shake. Knowing that face, recognizing that look in his eyes, hurt more than the broken belongings.

I knew this person.

Very well.

After all, he was my older brother.

Ron Evernight.