n

n

nKairos looked at Tiana strangely.

n“Alright. Well, it was just an offer.”

nIn response, Tiana pouted.

n“Why did you offer to be a friend to me of all people?”

nKairos rolled his eyes.

n“Well, for starters, I don’t think you’re a bad person. And second, I kinda felt you were isolated. I don’t know, maybe you just wanted someone to talk to.”

nTiana paused.

n“Well, I feel insulted.”

nKairos let out a small sigh.

n“My bad then.”

nTiana pressed her lips together.

n“Well, I guess I can kinda take your offer.”

nKairos blinked a few times.

n“What in the world is that supposed to mean?”

nTiana tilted her head to the side.

n“Like… half friends. How does that sound?”

nKairos stared at her blankly.

n“I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean, but if that’s what you want, sure.”

nTiana smiled after hearing that.

n“It’s not that complicated! Like just think of friends, but then half of that.”

nKairos rolled his eyes.

n“You only made me more confused.”

nTiana clicked her tongue.

n“Come on, just think about it a little.”

nKairos’ eyelid twitched. He attempted to think about it, but really didn’t understand how a friendship could be halved, when it wasn’t really a quantitative thing.

nAs for Tiana, she didn’t really understand what she was talking about either, so she just put up a strong front and pretended she perfectly understood.

nBy now, the two of them were close to reaching the ground floor.

nNoticing this, Tiana spoke an offhand comment.

n“Just think about what it means. I’ll talk to you later.”

nKairos took a deep breath.

n“Alright then.”

nThough, despite saying that, he didn’t really plan to think about something like that. It was basically a concept Tiana made up, so chances were only she really understood.

nHe then went to his own room while Tiana did the same.

nUpon entering her room, she contemplated her weird actions. She gradually began to realize that being friends with Kairos strangely made her feel quite painful. Yet, at the same time, she also really did want to be friends with him.

nIt was perhaps that strange dynamic that she had to label their relationship as half friends.

nAs for Kairos, he took a quick shower and changed into new dry clothes. From there, he searched his room until he found some paper and a fountain pen. From there, he began drawing diagrams of how he saw the mana flow while casting spells.

nThough Kairos wasn’t sure if that would be helpful, he decided to try anyway.

nSince he saw things twice with his future vision, it wasn’t too difficult for him to recall the memories of what happened not too long ago. That let him make relatively detailed diagrams.

nUnfortunately, one tiny problem was that Kairos was pretty bad at drawing. As such, he found himself frequently needing to discard what he had drawn due to it essentially being inaccurate. These inaccuracies wouldn’t actually be noticed until he had gotten quite far in drawing, which was quite frustrating.

nIn the end, he became more and more careful with how he drew.

nTime quickly passed as he toiled away.

nThen soon enough, he finally finished a diagram he was more or less satisfied with for the basic pulse spell, which was also the easiest one to draw. But by now, it was already night.

nKairos deliberated over it for a moment before deciding that sleep was unnecessary due to the high stats he had. At least, not for now.

nAnd so, he continued drawing as it got dark. Using two candles he had found for light, Kairos continually worked at it. He felt the sun gradually rise, which was only notable because the light coming from his window gradually brightened.

nIn the middle of his drawing, he heard a knock on the door.

nHe set it down without too much hesitation and got over to the door to answer it.

nAnd on the other side, was Nicole.

nShe scratched the side of her cheek.

n“Um, some of us got enough points to rank up. Do you think we should do it?”

nKairos rubbed his chin.

n“Were there any difficulties when you tried to kill those monsters earlier?”

nNicole shook her head.

n“Um, it felt even easier than last time, because we kinda knew what to expect. None of us was really a clear leader, but we all made suggestions when we felt it was right and it mostly worked out in the end.”

nThe way she had put it made Kairos a little curious, but not curious enough to ask.

nKairos shrugged his shoulders.

n“Well, if there are no difficulties, then there’s no need to rank up so quickly. Getting points at a higher rank is far more difficult, so I would take advantage of this while you guys can.”

nNicole nodded.

n“Ok.”

nThere was a moment of silence. Nicole had finished with what she needed to say, but wasn’t willing to leave just yet.

nShe cleared her throat.

n“U-Um, could I come in?”

nKairos had an inkling that Nicole didn’t have any real business here, but in the end he relented.

n“Alright, sure.”

nHe stepped out of the way, and Nicole timidly stepped in, almost like this was actually her first time being here.

nShe followed Kairos, who just decided to sit on the couch, prompting her to follow suit next to him.

nNicole turned to look at him.

n“You… took a shower.”

nKairos shrugged his shoulders.

n“I was testing spells, and one of them was the water spell. I got all of my clothes wet in the process, so I decided to take a shower.”

nNicole slowly nodded.

n“I-I see.”

nThere was a brief moment of silence. Nicole furrowed her brow slightly.

n“Um, but didn’t you say that you were trying to save up mana?”

nKairos nodded.

n“That was the original plan, but it turns out that Tiana can use some sort of ability to give me mana. I’m not sure about the cost, but she didn’t seem that unwilling to use it.”

nNicole’s eyes brightened up slightly.

n“So… that means you can come with us?”

nKairos let out a soft sigh.

n“Perhaps, but it sounds like you all have it handled, so maybe it’s not necessary.”

nAfter he said that, Nicole proceeded to hold onto his arm.

n“…But I really want you to come with us. What if something bad happens? We will need your help.”

nKairos blinked a few times. She did have a point. Although everything was fine last time, that didn’t mean they could just push their luck again and again. If he told all of them to remain at the E rank so that they could gather more points, it would also leave them in danger if something truly dangerous did happen.

nKairos let out a helpless sigh.

n“Alright, I will join you guys from now on.”

nNicole smiled brightly before burying her head onto his shoulder.

nAnother thing that Kairos had thought about was that he could observe how mana flowed when other people casted spells, allowing him to make more sense out of things.

nThus it wasn’t really a waste of time for him either.

nNicole suddenly retracted, before clasping her hands together tightly.

n“Um, I will be gone for just a moment!”

nKairos raised an eyebrow.

n“Alright.”

nHe assumed she needed to use the washroom.

nOnce she left, Kairos realized that he was getting really hungry, thus began eating a lot of the readily available stuff he could find.

nAfter roughly an hour had passed, there was once again a knock on the door.

nKairos went to answer it promptly, and behind the door was Nicole once more. Except this time, she had clearly taken a shower, and put on a change of clothes.

nKairos smiled bitterly.

n“You didn’t have to be concerned about how you smelled. Weren’t you the one that said we should get used to bad smells?”

nNicole was already blushing by the time the door opened, but only did so harder after he said that.

n“W-Well, it’s still not good to neglect showering all the time! Hygiene is important…”

nShe brushed her hair.

n“Plus, it was really uncomfortable with how rough my hair was getting.”

nKairos nodded.

n“Alright, alright.”

nNicole stepped in and closed the door behind her before grabbing onto Kairos and bringing him to the couch once more.

nThey were once again seated there. Nicole spoke up rather quickly this time.

n“Um, can we hug?”

nKairos sighed.

n“It’s pretty weird for two friends to be hugging all the time, right?”

nNicole puffed her cheeks up.

n“No! That’s totally normal! I’ve seen so many people like that.”

nKairos let out a light chuckle.

n“Alright.”

nBefore he could even reach his arms towards her, Nicole had already clambered on top of him before wrapping her arms around him tightly.

nKairos was slightly taken aback by how different it felt compared to the last time. Because of how dirty the two of them were before, the contact between them was quite rough, and the smell was also a little off-putting.

nKairos was able to put up with it until he fell asleep last time, but now, he was overwhelmed almost instantly. The smoothness of skin wasn’t something he was used to, making him feel quite uncomfortable. On top of that, the smell of shampoo from Nicole was very clear, along with her natural scent.

nKairos realized now why Nicole wanted to shower. Although it was only relative cleanliness, that got in the way of their contact considerably. At the realization of this face, he regretted taking a shower. He would rather stab himself in the liver than experience this discomfort.

nOn the other hand, Nicole’s embrace was only getting tighter, which quickly made Kairos feel more alarmed.

nAfter perhaps only thirty seconds, he spoke up.

n“Um, Nicole?”

nNicole had her eyes closed and muttered in response.

n“Mm?”

nThe corner of Kairos’ lip twitched.

n“Er, could you get off of me for a second?”

nNicole pouted slightly.

n“Why?”

nKairos took a deep breath.

n“Um, there’s something I want to talk about.”

nNicole muttered in acknowledgment.

n“Then just tell me like this.”

nKairos pressed his lips together.

n“…It’s something that will only work if you get off me.”

nNicole furrowed her brows.

n“…Ok.”

nAfter a few seconds, she reluctantly got off of him and sat down next to him. There was a drowsy expression on her face, like she could fall asleep at any time now.

n“What is it?”

nKairos didn’t respond immediately. He really didn’t want to say that he just wanted her to get off of him. Though he wasn’t sure why, he felt that it would hurt his pride in some way. And perhaps more than that, he was sure that it would make Nicole cautious around him, which was also something he didn’t want, as he knew Nicole was the type to overthink things.

nKairos’ thoughts quickly raced. Dots began connecting one after another as he gradually came to an excuse.

n“I can see mana.”

nNicole rubbed her eyes, and gradually shook off her sleepiness.

n“Hm? What do you mean?”

nKairos coughed.

n“Er, I would like to see how mana moves around in your body when you cast the spell that makes you invisible.”

nNicole blinked a few times.

n“Um, ok. It will take a little bit before it activates though.”

nKairos nodded.

n“That’s not a problem.”

nWith that, he stared at her intently, while Nicole began casting the spell.

nYet, while Kairos was originally just feeling relief from being saved with a believable excuse, his eyes widened in surprise.

n“Are you casting the spell right now?

nNicole blinked a few times.

n“Um, yes? Why do you ask?”

nKairos took a deep breath.

n“…Do you feel any strong emotions right now?

nNicole stammered.

n“E-Eh? What is that supposed to mean?”

nShe began blushing.

nAs for Kairos, he sucked in a cold breath.

nHis new discovery would mean that learning how to cast spells was even harder than he originally thought.

n