"And...I'm done!

" Qing Yue suddenly exclaimed, nearly giving me a heart attack.

I let out a deep breath.

"Oh...god, you almost gave me a heart attack, Qing Yue...

"

"Hm? What did you say? I can't hear you!!

" she continued, unfazed.

I shook my head.

"Never mind. You're done listing all the ingredients?

"

She nodded happily.

"Yep! I've just sent the file over to you, Big Brother Xuan Kai. Check your messages.

"

I pulled open my phone and indeed saw a PDF file she had emailed over to me. I wonder how she managed to make this so quickly on a phone, but hey, all the better. I nodded in satisfaction and closed up my phone again.

"I'll take a look at the full list later,

" I said.

"For now...what do you say we get some rest? All of us. Yu An Xue and Yu An Yan as well.

"

Qing Yue shrugged.

"I'm still as awake as ever, but if Big Brother Xuan Kai wants to sleep for a little, I'll gladly accompany you~

"

D-Don't! Don't say things that can lead to misunderstandings like that...!

Feng Mian sighed.

"What time is it?

"

Mei Gui spoke up.

"9 AM, Master.

"

I chuckled awkwardly.

"Ah, man...my biological clock is going to be completely reversed after this.

"

"If we start counting from midnight, when all of this first started...that's 9 hours we've stayed up for already,

" Feng Mian mused.

"Yeah...I didn't feel it when I was outside the safe zone thanks to the adrenaline rush, but now that I'm back in here, the exhaustion is really starting to kick in,

" I added.

"Where will we even sleep, though?

" Qing Yue asked.

"It's not like there's a hotel in this mall. There's one close by, Starry City, but that's outside the designated the safe zone.

"

Lan Xiao Su, who had been watching all this quietly, raised her hand timidly.

"U-Um...we could try going to a mattress store or something?

"

Oh, I completely forgot she was here. She's kinda like Flaria in that sense...n-not that it's their fault. I'm fully aware it's mine, but...they really just kind of blend in with the background and don't have much of a presence at all. In Flaria's case, it's probably because this energy-conserving form of hers is small, but Lan Xiao Su...I'll just chalk it up to her introverted and nervous nature.

Wait, doesn't that mean she saw my weapons too, and heard everything about Chaos and stuff? Uh...crap. Now I have to silence her, hopefully in a peaceful way.

About the sleep thing though...she does have a point.

"Okay, let's try our luck at a mattress store for now. Chances are, other people are looking for a place to rest as well, so hopefully we can actually land ourselves a spot,

" I said at last.

"What are you guys talking about?

" another voice joined in.

I turned to see Yu An Yan and Yu An Xue, along with Flaria, walking towards us.

"Finished already?

" I asked.

Yu An Yan nodded.

"The stuff here is all good quality. I was able to find a weapon that suited me pretty quickly.

"

"Mm...me too,

" Yu An Xue murmured.

Meanwhile, Flaria still wasn't talking to me. I sighed.

"Oh yeah, what was that light earlier? We saw it coming from over here,

" Yu An Yan continued.

"Put simply, Xuan Kai got a weapon of his own,

" Feng Mian replied, giving me a slightly jealous glare.

"One much better than whatever this store can offer. The owner here said it himself.

"

Yu An Yan raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? I want to see it now. Can it beat An Xue's and my Divine Weapons?

"

Mei Gui was the one to respond.

"As of right now, Master's weapon should be on equal footing with your Divine Weapons. However, as time goes on and Master's understanding of Chaos becomes even deeper, his weapon will naturally surpass yours in no time.

"

"It's that strong...and can level up too?

" Yu An Yan gasped in disbelief. Then, turning to me, she continued.

"Hm...now I want to have a spar with you sometime, heh. No magic allowed, only cold steel.

"

'Cold' steel my ass! Your weapon is literally a massive flaming axe!

"A-Ahem,

" I cleared my throat.

"Moving on from this topic...we should probably head to a mattress store now. Anyone know one nearby?

"

Qing Yue fell into thought.

"Hm...well, I suppose the closest one would be Sleepless Starlight, right above us.

"

I sighed.

"Okay...An Yan, An Xue, after you two checkout, we can go upstairs.

"

However, the two sisters remained frozen in place, blinking at me in shock.

"What?

" I asked in puzzlement.

"Y-You...did you just call us by our given names...?

" Yu An Yan asked in return hesitantly.

"Uh...yeah? Is there a problem? It's shorter and easier,

" I replied stoically, not sure what she's so surprised about.

"E-Eh, no...we don't particularly mind, but...it's just...only people close to us have ever called us by those names...

" Yu An Yan explained, averting her gaze with a blush on her face. Yu An Xue did the same.

I blinked.

"I literally just called you by those names because it's shorter and easier. Nothing more.

"

"R-Right...as stoic as ever...

" Yu An Xue murmured.

"Hurry up and go checkout already,

" I instructed finally, getting a bit impatient.

The Yu sisters sighed collectively and began heading for the single cash register in this entire store (which made sense considering there was only one employee).

Just as I thought things were finally about to be over, I felt a tug on my sleeve. I turned around to see Lan Xiao Su with her head tilted, an anxious look on her face.

"What is it...?

"

"U-Um...c-can I talk to you...? Privately,

" she said after briefly glancing at the other girls present.

I followed her gaze, then looked back at her.

"Sure. Let's go.

"

The two of us headed for the corner of the store after I explained to the other girls what I was doing.

"So? What do you need to talk to me about?

" I asked, initiating the conversation.

"Um...it's about this 'Chaos' thing...what is it?

" she asked.

Oh...**. Hm, okay, how am I going to do this? Silence her the forceful way, or talk nicely to her about it? If I just kill her right here, that would probably get me killed as well. Okay, option 2 it is.

I took a deep breath, then spoke.

"First, you have to promise me you won't tell anyone else what I'm going to say to you right now, no matter what.

"

She nodded immediately.

"Don't worry! My lips are sealed.

"

"Well, you see...this Chaos thing is actually...just my fantasies.

"

"H-Huh?

"

"Yep. Like I said, it's nothing more than the fantasies of a 14 year old high school boy.

"

Please believe me please believe me please believe me please believ-

"U-Um...then where did those two swords come from?

" she asked.

I cleared my throat, and did my best to speak as seriously as possible.

"Look, first of all, those aren't swords. They are katanas, and really, all I did back there was pull a little magic trick to try and uh...impress the shop owner. Which I succeeded in, fortunately!

"What about the girls...? They seem to know about this Chaos thing as well...

"

"Oh, them? They're just playing along to my fantasies,

" I explained - a blatant lie.

"I imagine myself a hero here to save the world, and they just pity me too much to correct me.

"

"O-Oh, I see..

"

"Yeah. So uh...please don't tell anyone about this,

" I said in conclusion.

"Mhm...don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I support you in your dream to become a hero!

" she suddenly exclaimed at the end, pumping her fist into the air. This action nearly made my heart jump out of my chest.

O-Okay then...she may have believed that a little bit too much. B-But hey, this is for the better, right? I don't trust her enough to tell her the truth yet...and honestly? If it were anyone else, I sincerely doubt they would've have believed my bull**. But being innocent like her, she'll just trust what anyone tells her, for better or worse. This worked in my advantage in this case, but this also means she's going to be very vulnerable to strangers, especially with her beauty...

Well, that's not my problem though.

The two of us walked back to the other girls, where the Yu sisters had finished checking out already.

"You guys all ready?

" I asked one final time.

The girls all nodded in return, and I sighed.

"Okay, let's go then.

"

The seven of us - eight counting Flaria - got on the escalator, and headed upstairs. Soon enough, we arrived at the mattress store, Sleepless Starlight.

Funny name...you want your customers to be able to sleep when they buy your products, but name yourself 'sleepless'? Nice logic there. But whatever, who am I to judge?

There was a crowd of people inside the store - looks like my guess hit the mark. We couldn't have been the only tired people, after all.

Hm...what should I do, if this place is full?