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“Come on, princess~”
“No.”
“Do you know how many men would kill someone just to talk to you once? Girl, you’re too stressed out. I’ll get you a blind date, I know a guy who—”
“Effie. Stop it.”
It was the third denial, but it was also the only denial which caused the room temperature to go up.
“Woah woah woah—Relax~~~ I’m just kidding,” Effie held her hands out in a placating gesture, conveniently hiding the smirk on her face.
“Is it because you want it to be Sunny?” Cassie asked with an “innocent” tilt of her head.
This was just after Nephis had gotten out her Second Nightmare, currently living in Sunny’s house alongside Effie, who had proposed a “Girl’s night out”—which neither was outside nor at night—and kicked Sunny out his own home under the pretense of needing him to “spend more time with his cute, charming disciple outside of class”.
Nephis had to choose her words carefully, Kai was also here after all, for some reason...
She was starting to suspect there was something going on here, but Kai would never do something as low as whatever she would’ve suspected Effie to do.
“I never said anything about Sunny.” A truth, but also not answering her question.
Effie looked at Kai, who nodded.
Nephis’s eyes narrowed by a fraction. Suspicious…
But before she could dwell on that any further, Cassie quickly realized her trick, and clapped back. “We know. We were asking if you wanted to go on a date with Sunny. Silly Neph, you must’ve misheard!”
Nephis had to actively put in effort to prevent any hint of emotion from showing on her face, though a slight tint on her ears broke through.
I told you that in confidence, Cassie!
T-the brazenness of this woman! Wasn’t this her so called “Best friend”?! Throwing her under the guillotine (Effie) like that without hesitation... this is war, Cassie.
“Why would I want to go on a date with Sunny?” She played dumb.
Cassie’s and Effie’s smiles only grew wider in response, seems like they had more cards up their sleeves.
“Don’t you like him?” A shameless question.
“Of course I do, he’s my best friend.” Nephis responded, giving a pointed look to Cassie.
“Do you want to be more than friends?” Another absolutely audacious ask.
“I don’t think I get what you mean.” She picked up her tea, drinking it leisurely.
Cassie shifted in her spot on the sofa, making way for Effie to be the one to face Nephis. Choosing to substitute Effie in to begin the next set of inquiries.
She had tread carefully, Nephis would be hard pressed to find even a Nightmare Creature with a mouth more vile than hers.
Effie allowed her to take another sip, seems like she had some manners under all the—
“Have you two fucked?”
Nephis spat out her tea, trying her best not to cough and choke.
After a while of Nephis struggling and Kai—gods bless him—wiping off the spat-out liquid from the table, Nephis was able to regain her bearings.
“No.” She calmly answered, as if she hadn’t almost choked to death.
She felt the tiniest sense of irritation when Effie and Cassie both turned to Kai with skeptical expressions.
Nephis started to wonder how long this plan was in the making.
“Have you thought about it?”
Burning your friends is bad, burning your friends is bad.
She closed her eyes and let out a steady, measured breath through her nose. Ignoring the growing heat on her ears.
Then, in a tone that she only used during diplomatic exchanges, “I did just now, because you mentioned it.” Only a tiny bit of embarrassment managed to shake her voice. With Kai here, any lie would’ve been automatically detected so she had to admit some truth, that man couldn’t hold a poker face to save his soul.
The women’s smiles in front of her widened, knowing her well enough to recognize such minute fluctuations in her speech.
Nephis briefly considered running away, but running away meant exposing her back to the enemy. If Sunny returns without her here, then the outcomes would be catastrophic.
She needed a plan. Quick.
Effie seemed to have decided to let Cassie take over for now, choosing to charge up for an extra brutal attack later on no doubt, she’ll have to remember that. Right now though, she had to go for the kill, in a situation like this she couldn’t afford mercy even to her “closest” friend.
When Cassie opened her mouth to undoubtedly tease her, she struck.
“Did you—”
“What would you even know? You never even had a boyfriend either.”
Critical hit.
Cassie recoiled, holding her heart as if Nephis’s words damaged her physically; but Nephis wasn’t done. She turned her head to Kai—who was gawking at the ruthlessness of her words—then asked:
“Am I correct? I can’t seem to remember her mentioning any man other than you or Sunny…” She faked a pitying tone at that last part, causing Cassie to spasm on the ground from the unrelenting assault.
The defeated look on Cassie’s slumped body filled her up with spiteful glee. She felt a bit bad, but she also felt that it was only fair to even the playing field with it being two on one. Sunny’s influence was getting to her.
Effie—who didn’t even spare a glance at Cassie’s total, and utter annihilation—merely changed her posture to lean down with her chin parallel with her two hands, which she made some sort of interlocked finger dome with.
Effie narrowed her eyes at her, as if seeing her in a new light, like a threat that she had underestimated. Her predatory eyes glinting with promises of embarrassment and humiliation.
Nephis had to reel in a gulp, she could not show any weakness to a huntress as skilled as Effie.
Their eyes met in an electric clash, neither wanting to lose. Nephis, her dignity; Effie, her entertainment.
There was nothing she had on Effie that she wouldn’t admit herself, so the only option Nephis had was to wait and defend. Which wasn’t optimal by any means, but it was her only option.
The air was thick enough to match one of Rain’s textbooks (Which nearly gave Effie a heart attack), with neither opponent making a move.
Effie seemed to be waiting for something, or possibly even some—
Nephis’s heart plummeted, no!
So this was her plan all along! Effie was more shrewd than she gave her credit for, this blunder might’ve just cost her the fight.
A hidden glance at the clock told her Sunny was about to return—since Rain had caught sight of them and wanted to have in on the fun, Sunny reluctantly promised her to return immediately after getting some ice cream. Nephis knew that he also wanted to join in but was too shy to say it, simply using Rain as a convenient excuse.
She resisted the urge to laugh at the memory, lest she arm Effie with even more ammunition.
Her situation had taking the turn for the worse. Either let Rain and Sunny come back and expose them to Effie’s poison, or escape through the windows and leave to the Dream Realm.
Both options seemed to paint a bleak future.
She caught her in a pincer formation right underneath her nose.
Damnation.
Nephis had to make a decision fast. Weighing the pros and cons of both scenarios in her head with judicial precision.
If Rain and Sunny were to hear this... no, she would never live it down. But she also wouldn’t be able to protect them if she left...
Nephis was trapped, there was nothing she could do.
At that moment, the door creaked open, revealing a teenage girl and a man barely above her in height.
Rain was holding huge plastic bags, carrying snacks and ice cream.
Seems like the decision was made for her.
“We’re bac—what happened to Cassie?!”
“An incident happened, but she’ll be alright.”
“Wait what—why’s Kai here?”
“Hello Sunny!”
Hoping the mayhem and food causes Effie to forget about their current state of affairs. Nephis casually stood up and took the bags from Rain’s hands, helping her set it on the counter.
“Why did Sunny make you carry all the bags, Rain? If he’s bullying you don’t be afraid to tell me.” She joked.
Sunny made an indignant squawk in the background, already poised to refute her claim.
Effie beat him to the punch.
She whistled, “wow Princess! You’re like her actual sister, maybe you should consider applying for that position.”
Sunny choked on air, snapping his head so fast towards Effie that Nephis worried for his neck.
He sputtered for a moment before he could form a coherent sentence, “shut it! You crazy woman, she already has a happy family you kn—”
She waved off his words like one would a noisy fly. “Yeah yeah, what if she becomes her permanent neighbor then?” Heavily emphasizing the “permanent neighbor” part.
Sunny turned red at the implication. It was quite endearing honestly, seeing him all flustered...
She chuckled, forgetting herself for a moment.
Big mistake.
Feeling a gaze on her she looked back towards Rain, who was looking at her wide eyed, mouth hanging low and face painted in five shades of disbelief.
Oh shit.
“I-is there something on my face, Rain?” She tried to smooth her voice out as much as possible, but that work went down the drain the moment she stuttered on her first word.
“I-I-I...teacher...you???” Poor Rain couldn’t even talk.
“We’ll talk about this later.” Nephis hastily blurted out, already calculating ways to delay “later”.
Fortunately, no one else seemed to notice her momentary mess up, affording her ample time to coordinate damage control during “later”.
Turning her head away with speed considered normal, she observed that Cassie seemed to have recovered with the help of Kai and was now happily chatting away with him on the sofa. Good. She needed Cassie to be in a better mood in case of Effie initiating another interrogation again.
She might also go for Sunny due to his flaw, but she found that she didn’t mind knowing what he thought...
Chasing away the bad thoughts by subtly pinching herself, Nephis contemplated her next course of action, but before she could—
Someone yelled out. “Let’s watch a movie!”
The familiar voice told her it was Rain, who had seemingly shook off her surprise.
Nephis raised a single brow in response to Rain, who only gave her a thumbs up and winked at her in response. Did she want to watch a movie?
“Let’s watch a scary one!”
“Let’s watch a romantic one!”
Rain and Effie’s voice clashed midair, opposing ideals on the genre spectrum. They locked eyes in the silence that followed, electricity bouncing between them.
The younger girl tried to subtly gesture towards Nephis and Sunny with her head, which made Nephis come to a daunting realization.
I-is she trying to set me up?!
She could only watch in pure unadulterated horror as Rain dug her—figurative—grave with excited eyes. Completely unaware.
“Think of all the scary moments that could happen!” Her eyes bounced between Nephis and Sunny.
Effie seemed to get the idea, but wasn’t convinced, she had her own agenda she wanted to happen too.
“What about the romantic moments Rain, wouldn’t you feel in a loving mood after watching one?”
Rain’s eyes widened in understanding, seems like she realized that she and Effie weren’t so dissimilar when it comes to motivation.
“Let’s watch the scary one.” A voice cut in, devoid of any emotion.
There was a dark aura around Cassie, despite looking as doll-like as ever. Though Nephis saw that the slight smile she wore contained a thin shred of spite.
The two arguing girls quieted down, sensing a dangerous warning in the atmosphere. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, after all.
Sunny chose the worst moment to perk up, his flaws timing as bad as possible. “Why would you want to watch a romance movie? Aren’t you sing—
“Finish that sentence and I’ll hurt you.”
“Okay.”
In the end, Cassie didn’t need to move a muscle as Rain immediately smacked the back of Sunny’s head and hissed admonishments as she pulled his ear, lecturing him on how you shouldn’t mention those things to a single woman.
Her reprimands weren’t private enough though, every word rebounding on the walls of the silent room.
“Thats a sensitive topic for women like her! You damn fool! Have you no sympathy? What would you feel if someone pointed out how lonely you are huh?!”
“Owowowow It’s not my fault damn it! How could someone as honest as me lie?! It should be her fault for—”
“Would you care to repeat that, Sunless?”
The teacher-student duo froze, looking like deers in headlights at Cassie’s interruption.
In the background, Effie covered her mouth with both hands, trying—and failing—not to laugh. Nephis would’ve laughed too if she didn’t value her life. They were so similar in behavior and looks it was a wonder how Rain hadn’t realized they were siblings yet, maybe the denseness is also a shared family trait.
Realizing the danger he was in, Sunny swiftly refocused his attention onto preserving his life. “I would care—a lot actually... you know, being alone—”
“Single.”
“—being single isn’t all that bad, I mean—take it from me! There’s always peace and joy in solitude...” Even he himself sounded unsure of his words, trailing off near the end.
Despite his reassuring(?) speech, his words dragged Cassie’s mood down even more. This might be more worrying than Nephis thought, she should apologize when she has a chance...
Kai chose that moment to cough, getting everyone’s attention as he held up the projector remote, swaying it in his hand slightly.
“Why don’t we pick a movie now?” He said with a smile that looked the smallest bit forced.
In the end, Rain got to take the pick from virtue of being the youngest, much to Effie’s dismay.
After switching the lights off, a movie from the “Top 10 scariest movies this year” began to play, with Effie’s obnoxiously loud chewing already breaking the immersion a few seconds in.
“Quiet down, you beast.” Sunny said under his breath, who chewed louder in response. Only quieting down when Cassie gave her a look.
They were seated in this order: Kai; Cassie; Rain; Nephis; Sunny; Effie.
Sunny’s sofa wasn’t nearly large enough for six people, so they were squished against each other. She even heard Sunny grumble about “ridiculously tall woman”, but didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was just short—not that it was a bad thing.
Anyhow, two “jumpscares” in, the group—minus Kai and Rain—started to all show signs of boredom, instead unanimously decideding to observe Kai’s and Rain’s reactions.
The two in question, were both holding their knees close and had their shoulders scrunched up. Like red pandas hiding themselves from a predator, it would be quite cute if one of them wasn’t a grown man who had slayed a Transcendent dragon before, for him, it was more pitiful than endearing.
Nephis felt disappointment—for who, she did not know—roll off Sunny as he watched them half in incredulousness and half in enjoyment.
Kai yelped as another zombie like abomination leaped at the screen, even staying in the air for a few seconds before sheepishly floating down. Rain on the other hand, shrieked loudly and clung onto Nephis’s side.
Sunny scowled. “Brat, why’re you clinging to her?”
“Why? You want her all for yourself?” Rain shot back, staying true to her principle of giving her teacher snark no matter the situation.
He sputtered, going red in an instant. “W-what?! Nonsense, I already have the other side—I’m worried about my own disciple when she gets scared of stuff like this so easily! Should we increase the training?”
Rain pale and gasped, looking at Nephis for help who pretended not to notice. She bowed down, “I humbly apologize to my great and amazing teacher.”
“Thats more like it.” Sunny said with his nose pointed high.
His ego grew even from that?
Effie snickered on the other side of the sofa, giving her a not-so-subtle wink. “The other side, huh?”
She had ignored that part for a reason Effie, don’t bring that up. “Effie, shut up.”
The movie continued, with Rain not letting go of her arm until the end credits rolled. Which prompted Kai and her to stand up immediately and move to turn on the lights. Seeing that Rain no longer blocked Cassie from her, she took the opportunity to apologise.
“Cassie, I’m sorry for bringing up your relationship status—”
“Stop talking about it.”
“... I see”
Maybe that wasn’t the best way to go about it...
She held back a sigh, communication is so difficult.
Cassie also decided to leave at that moment, with Effie following close behind to move towards the snacks.
Only she and Sunny were left, their thighs still touching each others despite the freed up space around them. A comfortable silence took place as they listened to the others talk in the background.
Sunny yawned, stretching his arms high above his head, only... when they came down, one of them wrapped around Nephis from behind her. Her heart skipped a beat.
Calmly and without pause, she leaned her head down slightly on the side of his head, enjoying the luxury of their height difference.
“So... my other side, huh?” She said with a small smile.
He coughed. “W-what about it?”
“Hmmm, nothing.”
She chuckled when he looked away with red cheeks, “did you enjoy the movie?”
“It was garbage, though... the seat was better than I expected.” A small smile stretched across his cheeks when he responded.
Nephis curved a brow, feigning ignorance “oh? And why’s that?”
His smile grew wider and more genuine. “Well... the company was nice.”
Nephis hummed, thinking over his words carefully. Before long, her smile matched his.
“I suppose it was.”