Evening Game

Chapter 16

"Come on, wake up!"

By the time morning came, the first thing Ethan felt was someone pulling his right foot.

"Huh?"

Ethan felt his eyes heavy, refusing to open. He suddenly lost the feeling of the bed below him, replaced by the sensation of a hard, cold floor.

"Urgh!"

He felt his back hurt from the drop. He forced his eyes open, finding Fiona in front of him, the room's door opened.

"What are you doing here?"

This would be the first time in a long while her sister ever forced herself into his room.

"How dare you make a girl wait for you!"

She said angrily before storming out of the room. Ethan was in a complete loss. He walked out of the room, his right hand holding onto his back which still hurt. He turned toward the living room, finding a familiar face sitting on his living room sofa. He tensed up when he saw her. Noticing his presence, she turned her face toward him and flashed him a friendly smile.

"Good morning, Ethan."

"Wh- what- what are you doing here?"

He asked. He remembered something and swiftly looked down. He felt gracious to his past self who decided to wear something appropriate before entering the game.

"You haven't read the text I sent... so..."

Ethan turned around and rushed back into his bedroom. He opened his smartphone and checked the notifications. Hidden under some unimportant notifications was Chione's message. He opened it and read the contents. He slowly stepped back to the living room.

"Please wait."

Ethan sat beside Chione as the bus sped toward its next destination. Few people occupied the vehicle other than them. Ethan glued his eyes toward the seat in front of him, Chione who sat beside him looked out the windows while swinging her feet back and forth cheerfully. She didn't say much, other than saying some small talk.

"Ah, that's a cute car."

Chione pointed toward a small, pink car with some stickers on it. Ethan glanced at it briefly and returned his eyes to the seat in front of him.

"Yeah... you're right..."

Chione leaned back, her red eyes switching targets to him.

"What do you want to eat?"

"I'm fine with anything... I think."

He had some things he disliked, but he didn't feel like saying them. His mind was spinning faster than this bus' wheels. Chione had just invited him on an outing, after all. It came out of the blue, and since he didn't reply the night before, she decided to just appear on his doorstep.

Her adding Kennard as a friend suddenly made sense.

As to why she did that...

Ethan failed to bring up any reason for her to invite him here. The only reason he could think of was because she wanted his help in tackling the tower, but even that felt weirdly distant. Surely there were a lot of other possible players that she could ask for help with, right? It didn't need to be Ethan. Heck, if they managed to gather enough players, she probably wouldn't need high-level players to begin with.

So why, out of all the things she could do to push herself closer to her goal, she chose to be here with him? He wanted to ask, but he was here as his real-life self. Making a mistake here would have fatal consequences, and unlike in the game where the worst thing would be them parting ways, things could be way more dangerous in real life. The game had reduced pain feelings, someone having their hand sliced off in combat would in most feel a slight discomfort. The same thing couldn't be said here, where a simple slap could leave his cheeks hurting for minutes.