The next morning arrived with a clear sky.
Hope had already left early, saying she needed to handle so guild matters. She looked slightly awkward when saying goodbye but didn’t ntion anything about last night. Now, only Andrey and Lisa remained in the van on their way back to the apartent.
Lisa sat quietly in the passenger seat, staring at her lap. After several minutes of silence, she finally spoke, her voice small and full of guilt.
"Andrey... I’m really sorry about last night," she said softly. "I was too drunk... and I beca really annoying and clingy. I even forced you into doing all that... I’m sorry."
Andrey kept his eyes on the road, both hands on the steering wheel. His ears were visibly red, but his voice remained calm and steady as usual.
"It’s okay," he replied. "I enjoyed it too."
Lisa’s head snapped toward him, her eyes widening in surprise. Andrey continued speaking in the sa casual tone, as if he was comnting on the traffic.
"So don’t worry about it. We were both drunk anyway."
Lisa stared at him for a few seconds, her cheeks slowly turning pink. She quickly looked away again, a shy little smile forming on her lips as she bit her lower lip.
They arrived at the apartnt building not long after. Andrey parked the van and the two of them went upstairs. When they opened the door, Sarah was already awake. She was sitting comfortably on the couch, legs crossed, scrolling through her phone.
Sarah looked up when she heard the door open.
"Oh, you guys are back," she said casually, putting her phone down. "How was it? Did you get anything useful from Lumy?"
She stretched her arms lazily, still wearing the oversized t-shirt from yesterday. Her hair was a bit ssy, but she looked much more refreshed than the day before.
Lisa smiled gently, trying to act normal. "We got so leads. Lumy said she’ll start investigating the golden-eyed man right away."
Andrey closed the door and nodded. "We’ll discuss the details once Sein wakes up."
Sarah raised an eyebrow and smirked a little.
"Sein is still sleeping like a dead log in her room. She complained about her head hurting so bad last night. Serves her right for acting all tough."
She looked at both of them for a mont, then tilted her head slightly.
"...You two look a little weird though. Did sothing happen?"
Lisa tensed up slightly, while Andrey kept his expression neutral.
"Just tired," Andrey answered calmly. "It was a long night."
Sarah shrugged, seemingly satisfied with the answer, and went back to playing with her phone.
"Whatever. There’s still so coffee left if you guys want it."
"I think I’ll drink sothing else today," Lisa said softly. "I’ve had too much coffee these past few days. Maybe so tea or juice..."
Andrey sat down on the single armchair, leaning back comfortably as he checked his phone. After scrolling for a mont, he spoke up.
"While we’re waiting for news from Lumy, it might be a good idea to clear a nearby gate," he said. "There’s a B-rank gate not too far from here, about 30 minutes by van. It’s still in the early stage of ergence, so the difficulty shouldn’t be too high. We can use it to train our coordination while we wait."
Sarah looked up from her phone, raising an eyebrow. "Now?"
Andrey nodded. "Yeah. It’s only B-rank and still in the early phase. Should be manageable. Plus, Sein has been complaining about being bored while resting."
Lisa ca back from the kitchen holding a glass of cold orange juice. She took a sip and nodded gently.
"That sounds good. We haven’t done any gate work for two days already. A light mission might help us refresh."
Sarah stretched her arms above her head and grinned. "Fine by . My body is finally starting to recover anyway. As long as we don’t run into anything crazy, I’m in."
Andrey put his phone down on the table. "Let’s wake Sein up and brief her. We’ll depart in an hour. Make sure you’re all properly equipped."
Lisa smiled softly. "Understood."
Sarah stood up from the couch and headed toward Sein’s room while muttering, "Ti to wake the sleeping princess..."
Once there, she knocked on the door loudly.
"Sein! Wake up! We have a gate to clear!"
No response.
She knocked again, louder this ti. Still nothing. Sarah sighed and opened the door. Sein was completely buried under her blanket, only a tuft of ssy orange hair visible.
"Oi, Sein. Get up." Sarah shook Sein’s shoulder.
Sein only groaned and pulled the blanket tighter over her head, completely ignoring her.
Sarah’s patience ran out. She put her hands on her hips and raised her voice.
"Sein Alphis! If you don’t wake up right now, I’m going to pour cold water on you!"
Still no movent.
"SEIN!!!" Sarah finally shouted at the top of her lungs.
From the kitchen, Andrey’s calm but firm voice rang out.
"Sarah, don’t shout so early in the morning. You’ll wake up the whole building."
Sarah pouted and turned toward the kitchen. "She’s the one who won’t wake up!"
Andrey was standing at the counter, preparing a simple breakfast scrambled eggs, toast, and so fruit. Lisa was helping him, arranging the plates.
Lisa smiled softly as she placed the plates on the table. "Sein usually needs a bit more ti in the morning."
She looked at Andrey curiously while handing him a glass of water.
"By the way, Andrey... how many Affection Points do we have in total right now?"
Andrey thought for a mont while flipping the eggs.
"Around 1,127," he answered casually.
Lisa’s eyes widened. "That’s... a lot."
Andrey nodded, a small smile appearing on his face.
"It accumulated quickly because we’ve been doing it almost every day. At this rate, we’ll have a strong reserve. It’s good, we can use it as a trump card if we ever need to activate Synchronized Heart Mode in a tough situation."
Lisa blushed slightly at the ntion of "every day," but she nodded in understanding.
"That’s reassuring. Having that much stored up gives us more flexibility."
From Sein’s room, Sarah’s shouting could still be heard.
"SEIN!!! I’M COUNTING TO THREE!!"
A muffled groan finally ca from under the blanket.
"...so noisy..."
Sarah looked like she was about to explode.
Andrey sighed from the kitchen. "Just drag her out if you have to. Breakfast is almost ready."
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