The next morning, the sun didn't just rise; it seemed to explode through the curtains of our bedroom, hitting my eyes with a brightness that made my head throb. I groaned, trying to roll over and shield my face, but I immediately realized that I couldn't move. My right arm was pinned, my chest felt heavy, and there was a soft, rhythmic warmth pressing against my side.
I looked down and saw Elphyete. She was still hugging me exactly the same way she had been when we fell asleep the night before. Her arms were locked around my waist, her head was tucked perfectly into the crook of my shoulder, and she was breathing so softly that I could barely hear it. I stayed absolutely still. I didn't want to wake her up, but mostly, I just couldn't move an inch. It was like being caught in a very soft, very fragrant trap. Her silver hair was fanned out across my chest, smelling like the wild jasmine and honey spices she had used for dinner.
I stared at the ceiling for what felt like an hour, my heart hammering against my ribs. I tried to stay calm, but the proximity was overwhelming. Eventually, I felt her stir. Her grip tightened for a second as she began to drift out of sleep, and then she went completely stiff. I could feel the exact moment she realized where she was.
Slowly, very slowly, she peeled her face away from my chest. She didn't look at me. She just turned her head sharply in the opposite direction, looking at the far wall as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. Even from the side, I could see it—her long, elegant elven ears weren't just purple anymore; they were a deep, vibrating red. The color was spreading down her neck, visible even in the dim morning light.
Neither of us said anything for a long minute. The silence in the room was so thick you could have cut it with one of Euphyne's training swords. Then, with a sudden, shaky breath, she started to untangle herself. She stood up from the bed with agonizing slowness, her movements stiff and careful. I don't know why, but watching her slowly stand up, seeing the way her silhouette moved in the morning light, made my face feel like it was sitting next to one of Sir Vael's sun-puncture fireballs.
I was suddenly, incredibly embarrassed. I couldn't even look at her. I snapped my head to the side, staring at a random wooden knot in the bedpost.
"Elphyete," I said, my voice sounding a lot scratchier and more strained than I wanted it to. "We should... we should hurry up and finish everything for today's class. You know how Sir Vael gets if we're late. He might teleport us into a volcano just for a laugh."
I could practically hear her face getting redder. "Oh... oh yeah," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "Class. Right. We should go."
The walk to the kitchen was the most awkward walk of my life. Every time our shoulders brushed or our footsteps synced up, we both flinched away like we'd been shocked.
When we reached the dining room, Euphyne was already there. He was halfway through a mountain of eggs and thick-cut bacon, looking as energized as a man who had spent the night wrestling bears. Snowball was perched on the table next to his plate, batting at a stray piece of crust.
"Good morning, my friends!" Euphyne boomed, his voice vibrating the silverware. "You both look like you've seen a ghost! Or perhaps you've been practicing that mana folding in your sleep? Your faces are very colorful today!"
"Shut up and eat, Euphyne," I muttered, sliding into my chair.
Euphyne didn't mind. He lived his life at a different speed. He finished his entire meal faster than we could even take a single bite of ours. He was a whirlwind of productivity, clearing his plate, checking his gear, and standing by the door with his arms crossed before I had even finished my first cup of juice.
"Hurry! The path of greatness waits for no one!" he shouted, laughing as he stepped out of the mansion.
We followed him out, but the walk to the university was a blur. I wasn't looking at the scenery. I wasn't thinking about the universe-sized dungeons or the fact that my stats were locked by some god-like being. All I could think about was the weight of Elphyete's hug and the way the room had felt in that quiet, embarrassing morning light.
By the time we got to the classroom, I was a mess. I sat at my desk, staring at the chalkboard, but the words Sir Vael was writing looked like gibberish. He was talking about the flow of mana through the meridians, drawing complex diagrams of how to stabilize the body during a fold, but my brain was stuck on a loop. I kept replaying the moment she woke up. I kept thinking about how red her ears were.
"Sogha?"
The voice cut through my thoughts like a knife. I jumped in my seat, my hands flying up as if I were about to cast a shield spell. I looked up and realized the entire class was staring at me. Sir Vael was standing right in front of my desk, his arms crossed and a knowing, slightly predatory smirk on his face.
"Sogha, are you okay?" he asked, tilting his head. "You've been staring at that smudge on the wall for twenty minutes. I was starting to think you'd had a stroke, or maybe your locked stats finally decided to scramble your brain."
"I... yeah! I'm fine! Just thinking! A lot of thinking!" I blurted out, my voice way too loud for the small classroom.
Sir Vael chuckled, a low, rumbling sound. "Right. Thinking. Well, try to do some of that thinking about the lesson. If you don't learn how to anchor your soul during a fold, the next time we go to the backyard, you'll end up as a very shiny puddle on the grass."
I nodded fervently, trying to look studious, but as soon as he turned back to the board, my mind drifted right back to the morning. I stole a glance at Elphyete, who was sitting two rows over. She was hunched over her notebook, scribbling so fast I thought her pen might catch fire. She wasn't looking at me, but I could see the very tip of her ear was still a faint pink.
The rest of the class was a total write-off. I didn't hear a word about mana stabilization or the history of the Fhajin continent. I was trapped in my own head, drowning in a sea of embarrassment that I couldn't explain. Why was I so bothered? We were friends. It was just a hug. But it didn't feel like "just" anything.
Finally, the bell rang. I practically bolted out of my seat, but before I could reach the door, Sir Vael snapped his fingers.
The familiar, dizzying sensation of teleportation washed over me, and in a blink, I was standing in the middle of our living room. Sir Vael had skipped the walk home for us, probably sensing that we were all exhausted—or in my case, mentally compromised.
Dinner was even worse. Elphyete had cooked something that smelled incredible, but I couldn't even tell you what it was. I sat at the table, staring at my plate, my face still feeling hot. Euphyne was talking about some new training technique he wanted to try involving jumping off the roof, but his voice sounded like it was coming from underwater.
I couldn't take it anymore. The tension, the silence from Elphyete, and the booming laughter from Euphyne were too much. I shoveled my food into my mouth, eating even faster than Euphyne usually did. I didn't even chew half of it.
"I'm done! Going to bed! Goodnight!" I announced, standing up so fast my chair nearly tipped over.
Euphyne paused with a drumstick halfway to his mouth, blinking in surprise. "Already? But the sun hasn't even fully set, my friend! We haven't even discussed the strategy for tomorrow's dungeon simulation!"
"Sleep! I need sleep! Long day!" I shouted over my shoulder as I scrambled up the stairs.
I practically dove into our bedroom and threw myself onto the bed, pulling the covers over my head. I felt like a total idiot. I'm supposed to be strong, and here I was hiding under a blanket because a girl hugged me.
I lay there in the dark, my heart finally starting to slow down. I tried to tell myself to get a grip. I needed to focus on the locked stats. I needed to figure out who had messed with my system. I needed to be ready for the danger the Seer talked about even if it's just fake. But as I started to drift off into a restless sleep, all those big, world-ending problems felt very far away. The only thing that felt real was the quiet sound of the door opening a few hours later, and the soft, hesitant footsteps of Elphyete as she walked across the room to her side of the bed.
I closed my eyes tight and pretended to be dead to the world, praying that tomorrow would be a lot less complicated.