I Became a Raid Boss-Chapter 168: Love’s Match (5)

“Da-eun.”

“....”

Baan-

Da-eun, staring at me intently.

Since I had spoken directly to her, she must have heard me, but Da-eun just kept staring at me without saying a word.

“Da-eun.”

“If you call me 'noona,' I’ll answer~”

“....”

“...No, don't look at me like that... it was a joke.”

Da-eun’s face was full of disappointment as she said this.

‘Noona...’

It’s not a title I can’t use.

When I appeared on Da-eun’s stream briefly to help her out before, didn’t I call her 'noona'?

Normally, I couldn’t call her 'Da-eun,' and calling her 'Joni' felt a bit awkward, so after discussing it with Da-eun, we agreed that I would call her 'noona' during streams.

I practiced calling her that a few times before the stream to avoid making a mistake, and she was so happy, she almost died from joy.

I didn’t understand what was so special about the title 'noona' to make her so happy...

With a full smile on her face, she looked so pleased, and I considered calling her that more often, but...

‘Nah. Not happening.’

I shook my head without thinking too long.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t imagine it, but it just didn’t feel right—wasn’t sticking to my mouth.

Anyway, it felt a bit... uncomfortable, so I gave up.

It’s not that I couldn’t call her if asked, but I didn’t want to do it.

“Da-eun.”

This was the third time I called her.

The saying "three calls and you get the response" comes to mind, and I had been patient, but if she didn’t answer this time, I wasn’t sure what I would do.

Fortunately, Da-eun answered on the third call.

“What’s up?”

“Hmm...”

I had managed to catch her attention as I wanted, but when it came to actually addressing the matter, I didn’t know how to phrase it.

Da-eun tilted her head as she watched me fumble for words.

Then, suddenly, she narrowed her eyes.

“...Kana, are you...?”

Thwack!

“Do you have someone you like?!”

“...What the hell—”

I was about to say, “What nonsense is this?” but I couldn’t finish my words because Da-eun grabbed my shoulders with both hands and started shaking me.

“What kind of guy dares to...! No! Kana isn’t ready for romance yet!”

“L-let go of me!”

“I don’t want to see you suffering from falling for a bad guy!”

I wasn’t dizzy, but from the frantic shaking, I couldn’t speak properly.

My voice came out all stretched and distorted, like a video played at the lowest speed.

‘How troublesome.’

In the midst of the rapidly shaking scenery, that thought flashed through my mind.

If she didn’t stop soon, I was seriously considering kicking her shin.

Just as I made that resolve, Da-eun stopped shaking me.

Her survival instinct was impeccable.

“So, who is it?”

“...What do you mean, who?”

“The guy who seduced Kana.”

“Do you keep talking nonsense even though you know there’s no one?”

I had no intention of dating anyone, but I decided to correct her misconceptions first.

“And what’s so early about it? I’m practically an adult by this world’s standards.”

“On the flip side, that also means you’re not quite an adult yet. You still need a guardian! Especially Kana, you need to be more careful.”

“Why?”

“Your looks... Ahem! That’s a secret!”

“Isn’t that basically saying it already?”

There’s no law that says you can’t date unless you're an adult, and I know that without even having to look it up.

Even with my imperfect memory, I still have that much common sense.

...But then again, if my memory is imperfect, should I trust that knowledge?

That question popped up for a moment and then faded away.

The issue here was that “Da-eun started spouting nonsense again,” so that thought wasn’t particularly important.

“You’re not even going outside, so what’s with the talk of romance?”

“Oh my? Kana, that’s such an outdated statement. Haven’t there been so many cases of people meeting online and getting married? Humans can form bonds even without ever seeing each other’s faces, you know?”

“....”

She has such an oddly frustrating tone.

“Of course, the chances of failure are higher than meeting in real life. There’s a higher possibility of meeting weird people. That’s why I’m more worried.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m worried Kana might have met some weird person online... I know you don’t go outside, but I don’t exactly snoop through your phone. Not that I would want to.”

“Really unnecessary worries.”

There’s a saying for this kind of talk.

When the sky’s falling or the ground’s cracking, unnecessary worrying.

“You’re talking about Ki-woo, right?”

“Ah, yeah. That’s what I meant.”

“Kana really knows everything, huh. So smart!”

I let Da-eun’s fuss roll off me without much care.

“Enough with the jokes.”

As I said before, Da-eun would know I don’t have a significant other, so all her chatter was probably just for fun.

“Jokes?”

“....”

It probably wasn’t a joke.

“Hmmm.”

But thinking about it, Da-eun’s words weren’t entirely wrong.

It wasn’t about romance or a man, but...

The fact that we met online was somewhat true.

Though, of course, that’s only true if we consider Silia a kind of “online world.”

After all, from the perspective of an Earthling, this world does seem like an “internet world.”

Even a broken clock is right twice a day, and that saying fits perfectly here.

“The big sword chick... Yuki, you know?”

“Eh? Huh?”

Da-eun, looking completely surprised as if she never expected that name to come from me, widened her eyes.

“Why are you suddenly bringing up Yuki?”

It was a natural reaction from Da-eun, who didn’t know what had happened the last time I went to Silia.

Even I thought my decision was a bit capricious, so I fully understood her reaction.

“I owe her a favor, and we’re in the same field, so I know her. We don’t meet often, though...”

“So, you’re saying you’re not exactly friends, but you know each other?”

“Yeah. We’re acquaintances, pretty close acquaintances at that. Well, that’s just how I see it, Yuki might think differently.”

She might think of me more closely, or more distantly...

Da-eun added.

“Still, recently, Yuki’s been watching my streams more often because of you, Kana, so she might think of me as friendly.”

“...Me?”

“She said she was completely smitten by your swordsmanship.”

“Aha.”

I nodded.

“Good for her.”

“...? So, why suddenly bring up Yuki?”

“Can you call her?”

“...Call her?”

“Yeah.”

“Where?”

“Here.”

“Aha.”

Da-eun gave a sound like an exclamation, as if she was pretending to understand, then placed her hand on her forehead.

“So, you’re asking if you can invite Yuki over to our house?”

“Yeah.”

I could technically invite Yuki.

After all, when we meet on Earth, I’ll need to explain the situation, and some of the things I’ve been hiding will probably come to light.

Even if I asked her to come here, I didn’t think there’d be any problem.

But the reason I hadn’t done that was because this wasn’t my house.

It wouldn’t be right for someone staying in someone else’s house to invite a guest without permission.

It would be a complete reversal of roles.

I didn’t want to be that shameless.

As soon as I made up my mind, I noticed that Da-eun had stopped muttering while I was lost in thought.

‘Ah.’

I sensed it.

Without resisting my intuition, I immediately covered my ears.

“What are you saying?!!”

As soon as Da-eun’s small hand covered my ear, a loud shout erupted from her.

Once again, my prediction was spot on...

“...Ugh.”

Unfortunately, Da-eun’s shout was too powerful for my makeshift solution to block.

My ears...

The silver-haired woman lifted her head.

A strange scene unfolded before her.

“Is there something that might interest me?”

An unexpected message.

In other words, a somewhat random message.

And the content was half-hearted at best.

‘Yuki might find this interesting.’

...What?

It was a message so lacking in sincerity it could have been ignored if it were anyone else.

But Yuki was different. She had a different sensibility from others in many ways.

“Well, that’s interesting.”

Yuki gladly agreed to the invitation, not knowing what kind of trouble awaited her. If there was really something of interest, that’d be good, and if it was a trap, she’d deal with it as it came.

Her thought process was clearly based on curiosity.

Although her usual sense of boredom had been eased a bit thanks to Silia Online recently, the chronic sense of emptiness was still very much a part of Yuki’s personality.

And that confidence that no matter what happened, she’d be able to get out of it unscathed was clearly on display.

Yuki walked down the unfamiliar streets as though she was perfectly familiar with them.

“....”

The light from her silver hair, catching the sunlight, scattered around her as people’s gazes followed her.

Admiration and envy filled those eyes.

She was undoubtedly aware of it, but Yuki’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.

‘She’s used to it.’

It wasn’t the first time she’d received such attention. Ever since her head grew and she started showing her true potential, she had always been the center of attention.

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She had never really cared about it.

With a natural swiftness, she avoided the men who tried to approach her.

Thanks to modern civilization, she easily found her way without any trouble and soon arrived at her destination.

“A pretty fancy place you live in.”

It was more accurate to say it was elegant...

But Yuki didn’t bother to correct herself as she strode forward confidently.

She answered simply “invitation” when asked about the purpose of her visit at the security office. After a brief verification, she was granted entry into the fortress-like building.

‘...How troublesome.’

Her interest was already beginning to wane.

But, seeing as she’d come all this way, she reluctantly held on to the flickering ember of curiosity and boarded the elevator.

She soon arrived at the floor she was headed for, and as she got off the elevator, she stood before the door.

Then, she immediately pressed the doorbell.

Ding-dong.

The typical, cheerful doorbell rang, announcing Yuki’s arrival.

“Coming~”

A familiar voice echoed from inside.

Though it was Yuki’s first time meeting Da-eun in person, there was no sign of nervousness from her.

Perhaps it was because of the internal familiarity built through watching the streams?

If anyone asked Yuki, she would have immediately shaken her head.

Her attitude came entirely from her personality.

As Yuki waited, she heard the soft sound of footsteps approaching the door.

‘Small.’

Just by hearing the footsteps, she could guess the size of the person.

Even considering it was a woman’s footsteps, they seemed unusually small.

While Yuki thought this, the door was suddenly flung open.

And from inside, a girl with pink hair appeared.

The girl, a few inches shorter than Yuki, looked up at her.

“...?”

Yuki’s face turned blank as she stared at the girl in front of her.