Takeshi had been staring at the ceiling for over an hour.

The room was silent. The desk lamp had been off for a while, and the only light came from the edge of the curtains facing the street. To his left, he could hear Nyx’s breathing; she had fallen asleep relatively quickly. To his right was Aoi, who made no sound, but Takeshi wasn’t sure whether she was asleep or not.

’The problem isn’t the futon. The problem is that I’m between two people, and that gives me mixed feelings.’

He closed his eyes and tried to focus on something else. He started doing three-digit multiplications. He picked the first number that came to mind and multiplied it by two hundred twelve. He added partial results in his head, focusing only on the numbers and nothing else.

The chat appeared in his field of vision.

[someone’s nervous hahaha]

[bro has two girls next to him and he’s doing math]

[Takeshi just go for it, when are you ever getting another chance like this]

Takeshi closed the panel and went back to the partial sums.

The chat opened again on its own.

[he’s not gonna do it, too much of a coward]

[I bet he doesn’t sleep all night]

[THREESOME THREESOME THREESOME THREESOME]

[chat asking for a threesome while he counts numbers, iconic]

’Are they enjoying this? Of course they’re enjoying this.’

He closed the panel again. He tried to resume from where he had left off, but the number was gone. He started again with a different one.

Suddenly, he heard movement to his right.

It wasn’t abrupt. It was the sound of someone slowly shifting on a futon. Takeshi didn’t turn his head.

Then he felt a hand on his right arm.

That made him turn. In the darkness, he could make out Aoi lying on her side, looking at him, her arm extended toward his futon.

"I want to do it with you."

Aoi whispered, her voice low and heavy. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The chat exploded.

[I KNEW IT]

[AAAAAAAAA]

[Aoi MVP]

[Takeshi don’t disappoint her]

Takeshi couldn’t respond. His brain was busy processing the sentence, the hand on his arm, the darkness of the room, and the fact that Nyx was less than half a meter away on the other side.

Aoi’s hand moved from his arm downward, sliding slowly across the futon toward his hip. Takeshi still didn’t move. The hand kept moving forward.

Then it made contact with something.

There was one second of absolute silence.

"There’s something hard..."

Takeshi stood up in a fraction of a second, walked to the door, opened it as quietly as possible, stepped into the hallway, and closed the door behind him.

The chat wouldn’t stop.

[HAHAHAHAHAHA]

[he RAN away]

[Aoi’s face right now]

[someone clip this this is historic]

He entered the bathroom, closed the door, and leaned against the wall.

’I need to calm down... I just need to calm down.’

The bathroom was small and had a frosted glass window that let in some light from the street. Takeshi waited until his heart rate dropped to something reasonable.

It worked after a few minutes.

The chat was still active, but the comments had slowed down. Takeshi sat on the edge of the bathtub and rested his elbows on his knees.

’I’ll stay here. The edge of the tub is enough. I’m not going back to that room until sunrise.’

He closed his eyes.

He heard footsteps.

They weren’t coming from the hallway, but from above.

’That’s not an animal. It’s too heavy and too regular to be an animal.’

He stood up, opened the bathroom door, and went straight to the bedroom. He opened the door and warned them.

"Someone’s on the roof."

Aoi was already sitting up before Takeshi finished speaking, while Nyx took a second longer to react, blinking from her futon.

"How many?"

Aoi asked.

"I don’t know. I only heard footsteps."

Aoi was already on her feet and had summoned Eclipse, but Takeshi didn’t have a weapon.

He stepped into the hallway, and in the kitchen there was a broom leaning against the wall next to the refrigerator.

’Better than nothing...’

He focused his attention on the broom the same way Nyx had taught him during the library session, but instead of pushing the flow outward, he directed it into the object in his hand. He felt the transfer, unstable and costing more energy than it should have, but it worked. The broom stiffened and gave off a faint resistance to the touch.

’Remember, it’s unstable. It won’t last long, and I’ll have to use it fast.’

He returned to the hallway just as the living room ceiling creaked more loudly.

Three figures entered through the living room window almost at the same time, shattering the glass. They wore dark clothing without visible markings, and two of the three held short firearms. The third raised an open hand toward Aoi and released a pulse of elemental energy that she dodged by moving left.

Takeshi moved toward the one closest to the hallway that led to Nyx.

He struck him in the side with the broom, and the hit connected with more force than it would have without the infusion. The attacker stepped back.

Takeshi struck again.

On the second impact, the broom snapped in half with a sharp crack. The upper part fell to the floor. Takeshi was left holding the broken handle, with no active charge remaining.

’Exactly what the professor said!’

The attacker recovered and advanced.

Aoi arrived before he could make contact, and Eclipse cut through the space between them, forcing the attacker to step back to avoid the blade. Aoi repositioned herself with flawless efficiency.

What followed lasted less than two minutes. Aoi controlled the rhythm of the fight against the two armed attackers while Takeshi used the broken handle to block and deflect the third, keeping him busy without attempting a direct attack. When the third tried to circle around Aoi from the left, Takeshi stepped in and shoved him against the wall, buying enough time for Aoi to finish the fight.

The three attackers left the house. One exited through the same window he had entered, the other two through the front door after Aoi made it clear that continuing was not advisable.

The living room fell silent.

Takeshi still held the broken handle in his hand. He leaned it against the wall and only then noticed a minor cut on his right forearm.

Aoi dismissed Eclipse and inspected the broken window without saying anything.

Takeshi turned toward the hallway.

Nyx wasn’t there. He scanned the living room and found her in the corner between the kitchen wall and the end of the sofa. She was crouched with her knees pulled to her chest, arms wrapped around them, staring at the floor in front of her without moving.

Takeshi approached and crouched in front of her.

"They’re gone."

He said it to reassure her.

Nyx didn’t respond immediately. Her shoulders were tense, and her breathing was faster than normal.

"Nyx."

Takeshi waited until she looked at him.

"Did they hurt you?"

Nyx slowly raised her gaze. Her golden eyes looked at him for a moment before scanning the room. Once she confirmed no one else was there, she exhaled slowly.

"No..."

She answered in a quieter voice than usual.

"They didn’t hurt me."

She didn’t move from the corner, and Takeshi remained crouched in front of her until he saw her breathing return to normal.

’Now that I think about it, I can see Nyx’s stats...’

That was when he checked them.

[SOLYNMAR NYX]

[Strength: 15]

[Speed: 20]

[Magic: 95]

[Endurance: 40]

[Accuracy: 90]

Takeshi stared at the numbers without moving.

’95 in magic and 90 in accuracy? With stats like that... she could defend herself alone...’

He looked at Nyx, who was still staring at the living room, while an important question formed in his mind.

’Why didn’t she defend herself?’