Little Battlers eXperience

Kaidou Jin

After introducing Arata to Ban, we had a battle and we left the island the next day. I got a video recording from Eva showing Kirito and Niara arguiing again.

Her email said, '😅These two have been at it since yesterday. I could barely sleep at all last night.😵' So they stayed over at Kirito's place again, huh?

I emailed her back. 'I'll be back soon. See you.'

'🙌😘' Hehe. Her habbit of using emoji is cute.

On the boat, Arata and Ban had a heated conversation about their battle on the school roof and such. Oh, and if you're wondering why Arata went back to Kamui Island, the headmaster hasn't sign Arata's resignition from the island. Or something like that.

After saying our goodbyes, I went back to my own place in town. It was quite near where the Kaidou Mansion used to be. That's right, 'used to be'. It had been taken down and renovated to a special lab for studies. That and a landmark where middleshoolers would have a tour.

Inside, I found Eva on the couch sleeping with a Hello-Kitty doll in her hands. I remmember when we went to an amusement park with Kirito, Niara for our double date. Gouda, Sendou, Mika and Jessica were there too on their own double date, but we ended up joining together on a quadriple date.

Gouda had come with Mika, though back then he still seemed pretty clueless about her feelings for him. Sendou and Jessica on the other hand seemed like they were comfortable with each other. Kirito and Niara argue with each other every ten minutes. Though Eva suggested to come because there were a lot of things she wanted to try there.

I remember how her eyes widen when we got there. Everyone else got surprised that we haven't been to an amusement park before.

'We had a though childhood. So shut it.' Eva had snapped at them back then. She wanted to try the shooting gallery first, to get one of the big cat dolls, but only managed to win a medium sized Hello-Kitty doll instead, but she was happy no-less.

I hung my jacket on the rack and placed my bag nearby the tv in the living room. I walked over to Eva and poked her cheek lightly. She flinched and twisted, it didn't look comfortable though. I poked her again and nearly laughed when she rubbed her cheek repeatedly like how an actual cat would. After another round of poking, her eyes slowly blinekd open.

"Hm~?" Her face still looked sleepy when she looked up at me. After a few seconds they shot wide open and she jumped me. "Y-you're back! W-when did-" she stopped herself short and blinked. Then from happy, her face turned into a child-like pout. "You were poking me again, weren't you?"

I sat next to her on the couch. "Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't."

She nudged me. "I'm not a kid anymore."

"You're not an adult either." I replied.

"I am to!" She replied.

"You're only turning 17 next week." I told her.

She looked away and started pouting again. "Shut up..."

An idea popped into my head. I stood up and lifted her up bridal style. Then I walked into my room and placed her on the bed.

"H-hey! That was cheating!" She said, blushing.

I laid down beside her on my side and smirked. "How so?"

She stayed silent for a bit and then hid herself under the blanket. "I hate it when you ask me that."

I patted her back and a bit of her eyes peeked out. "You're troublesome, you know that?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but so what? I like being the way I am."

"I know." I replied. I felt her arms around my waist and her face is in my chest.

"I'm sleepy..." She said, yawning like a child.

I shook my head and wrapped my arms around her back. She fell asleep just like that and I kept my head on hers when I fell asleep.

~~~~~

I woke up with the smell of teriyaki and got up from the bed. When I checked the clock, it was almost 7 pm. When did I fall alseep again? Oh right, at 2. Well, I had my beauty nap.

I walked into the kitchen and found Eva cooking there with her headphones on. She hummed a song while working her way around the kitchen. When she was done washing up, she lowered her headphones and jumped when she noticed me.

"Nice song." I commented. "What's it called?"

She blinked then stood up straight. "It wasn't necessarily a song since it was completely instrumental. It's called Death By Glamour... A song from a game Niara and I play at Kirito's place."

I nodded. "Okay then. So when's dinner?"

She smiled. "I'm just about done."

We took our seats. "Itadakimasu~"

After dinner, I sat on the couch and turned on the TV. She sat herself down next to me, doll in her hands, cuddling it tight.

"Cute."

"What?" She shot her head up at me and blinked.

I blinked too. "What?"

"You said something."

"I'm pretty dure I didn't."

"Oh okay then..." Her eyes went back to the screen. Interest began to spark in them as she watched the movie, 'Winnie the Pooh'.

"You're 17 and you still like this thing?" I asked.

She tensed and a shade of pink appeared on her cheeks. "The animals look cute... The plotline is good... The story is childfriendly... Y-you get the idea." She cuddled her doll so tight I thought its head might pop out.

I patted her head slowly. "Relax. I was only messing with you."

She shrunk. "You're making that scary face again."

I blinked. "What scary face?"

She looked away. "That face you make when you're really serious about something. It's scary! You look like Cobra!"

I blinked. And blinked. And blinked. "What."

She shook her head. "Nevermind. You're not making it anymore."

I slowly nodded, still in confusion. Well this has been quite the day...

~~~~~

The next morning, EARLY morning, I got out of bed quietly so that I won't disturb Eva's sleep. I turned on my computer and found an email from Reina.

She said that everything is fine with her father so that's a relief. I gave her a report about Seredy and then discussed about the children on the island. Niara joined in the conversation too and it somehow became a group chat. After that, Niara stole Reina away to talk about business as Niara calls it, but I wasn't too sure.

I began writting reports about what happebed during me time on Kamui Island when I felt arms drapped over my shouldeds.

"What are you doing up so early?" Eva asked, still with a sleepy face.

"Work." I replied, still typing.

"You're boring." She said.

I chuckled. "I suppose I am."

"I want you to take a look at this." She went forward and began scanning through the Infinity Net. There were data records of Kamui Island and the ERP system. "Do you think this will come in useful for the government?"

I blinked. "How did you even get this data?"

"Kirito helped." She said, seemingly half asleep. "You did ask for help to find out more about... ERP..." She stood up and swayed on the spot. When she regained her balance, she made her way back to the room and dropped to the bed.

"You slept at 10." I stated. "And now it's nearly 7, how are you still sleepy?"

"I just had a nightmare... Nothing to worry about." And then she fell asleep again in no time.

I blinked. Do people normally have dreams at her age? Cause I know I don't. Memory maybe?

I sighed. "Let's just see." I smiled. Troublesome kid.