After thinking for a moment, Wakaba Hiiro directly abandoned that idea.
Things like fate meant nothing to her. What she wanted now was simply to enjoy a peaceful life away from work.
"Sawamura-san, thank you for the gift. I'm heading home now."
After giving a slight bow to express her thanks, Wakaba Hiiro turned without hesitation and pushed open the front door, showing no intention of inviting Eriri in.
However, before she could shut the door, Eriri blocked it with both hands.
"Wakaba-san, are you really just going inside alone? I mean, we're not only desk neighbors but also actual neighbors—shouldn't you at least invite me in for a bit?"
Eriri looked at Wakaba Hiiro up close with an exaggeratedly saddened expression, creating a sudden and inexplicable sense of pressure—like not inviting her in would be a grave offense.
Wakaba felt inexplicably puzzled. She was a chaos god—so why was a normal human making her feel this way?
No matter how she probed, she couldn't detect anything.
This was the first time something had escaped her control, which in turn piqued her intense curiosity toward Eriri.
As for wiping Eriri's memory or driving her away—that thought never even occurred to her.
"Fine, I'll just treat this as adding a little fun to my peaceful life. Thinking about it that way doesn't sound bad at all."
With that, Wakaba Hiiro decided to change her attitude. She planned to involve Eriri in her daily life and figure out why this ordinary girl evoked such strange emotions in her.
A faint smile appeared on her normally emotionless face as she stepped back, allowing Eriri to fully push the door open.
"Sawamura-san, you're right. Please, come in."
Without hesitation, Eriri stepped inside.
After entering the entryway, Eriri didn't immediately change shoes. Instead, with her hands behind her back, she leaned close and studied Wakaba Hiiro's face.
"Hmm, Wakaba-san, I finally saw you smile. This is the first time since we met today that I've seen it."
Eriri nodded solemnly and gave Wakaba a thumbs-up with a sweet smile.
"Mm, very pretty!"
Wakaba Hiiro froze for a moment. She realized that this ordinary human had once again stirred up an unfamiliar emotion—this time, joy.
Yes, just because of a simple compliment from Eriri, Wakaba felt a trace of delight.
This discovery made her even more certain she had made the right decision earlier.
"Thank you. You're very pretty too."
Since she'd already made up her mind, Wakaba no longer ignored Eriri's every move or word. She accepted the compliment calmly and returned it with one of her own.
And the faint smile on her lips didn't vanish.
"Alright, go ahead and change into these shoes and follow me."
Wakaba retrieved her indoor slippers and placed a new pair beside them on the floor. After changing, she headed straight up the stairs opposite the entryway.
Eriri didn't dawdle either. She changed shoes and followed close behind as they both climbed to the second floor.
"By the way, Sawamura-san, do you play video games?"
As they walked upstairs, Wakaba suddenly asked.
"Of course I do. Wakaba-san, are you inviting me to play with you?"
"That's right. Gaming is how I usually spend my free time at home. Since you're here to hang out, that's all there really is to do."
"Sounds great! I love playing games too~"
Hearing Eriri's response, Wakaba Hiiro gave a slight nod and said nothing further.
By now, the two of them had reached the second floor and entered the room closest to the staircase.
The room's decor was very plain—it didn't resemble a typical girl's bedroom at all.
Aside from a bed, there was only a wardrobe and a computer desk.
On the desk sat a computer, and next to it, a gaming console with two controllers connected to it.
After placing the gift box she had been holding onto the edge of the desk, Wakaba Hiiro powered on both the computer and the console.
"Here."
While waiting for the system to boot up, she picked up the two controllers and handed one to Eriri. Then she sat down in a lazy single-seat floor sofa angled to the right front of the monitor.
It wasn't a proper gaming chair or ergonomic seat—just a cozy, casual setup.
There was another identical sofa on the left front side of the monitor.
But instead of sitting down as-is, Eriri looked at the gap between the two sofas—about a meter apart. That was too distant for her liking. Not intimate enough.
So she placed her controller on the desk, walked to the side of the left sofa, and used both hands to push it right until the two seats were pressed together like a couple's sofa.
"Mhm, now this feels right~"
Nodding in satisfaction, Eriri picked up the controller again and casually plopped onto the sofa.
Wakaba Hiiro didn't object. She simply selected the game with a calm expression.
Soon, she settled on a classic arcade-style fighting game.
Seeing it appear on the monitor, Eriri let out a playful gasp.
"Oh my, a fighting game? I'm not very good at these, you know."
Wakaba didn't even turn her head. "Want to switch games?"
"No need, this one's fine. I said I'm not good, not that I can't play. Just go easy on me when you're beating me up, okay~"
Eriri turned to the side and winked sweetly at Wakaba, and for a moment, Wakaba's heartbeat sped up.
This unfamiliar sensation triggered yet another ripple in her heart.
Wakaba didn't pursue the thought. Nor did she respond to Eriri's playful remark. To her, gaming was a serious affair—there was no such thing as going easy.
She began selecting her character.
After both had made their picks, the match began.
For the next stretch of time, neither spoke. The room was filled only with the clicks of the controllers and the sound effects from the speakers.
Round after round passed. Nearly two hours flew by.
Finally, Wakaba set her controller down and stared blankly at Eriri.
"That was your idea of 'not very good'?"
"Well yeah, I said I wasn't very good. I almost lost a few times, didn't I?"
Wakaba didn't believe a word of it.
It was blatantly obvious: she had lost every single round.
From the first match to the last, she hadn't won once. It was a total, one-sided defeat by Eriri.
Although Wakaba Hiiro never used superhuman powers while playing, just her peak human reaction speed alone was enough to bring her gaming skill close to world-class levels.
At the start, Wakaba had actually believed Eriri's claim that she wasn't good at fighting games, and Eriri's early performance supported that.
In the first match of the first round, Wakaba easily beat her.
In the second round, she had already reduced Eriri's health by 70%, needing just one special move to win.
But before she could land that final move, Eriri suddenly launched a fierce counterattack, interrupting her combo and draining Wakaba's full health bar with a single chain of strikes.
And that was just the beginning.
From the third round that decided the first match, to all the matches afterward, Eriri completely dominated.
Each time Wakaba was on the verge of winning, Eriri would make a comeback with a sliver of HP and snatch victory away.
These results left Wakaba with two new sensations: frustration and indignation.
She was also deeply curious about how Eriri managed to do this, though she was certain that Eriri was just an ordinary human girl.
Seeing the chaos goddess staring silently at her, Eriri smiled and opened her arms to give Wakaba a big hug.
"Alright, alright, don't be upset. You'll definitely beat me next time. Keep at it!"
Wakaba didn't respond. She just stared at Eriri with a blank expression. Their faces were only inches apart.
If either of them leaned forward just a little, their lips would have met.
After several seconds, Wakaba gently pushed Eriri away and shook her head.
"Forget it. I don't feel like playing fighting games anymore."
"Aww, then what should we play next?"
Eriri didn't try to stick close again. She simply resumed her original seated posture on the lazy sofa, holding the controller and looking at the monitor.
"Let's play something more casual."
Replying offhandedly, Wakaba began scrolling through the game list again.
But before she could choose a game, a pleasant ringtone rang out.
"Ah, Wakaba-san, let me take this call."
Without waiting for a response, Eriri pulled her phone from her pocket and answered it right in front of Wakaba.
"Hello, Aoi-nee?"
"Dinner's ready?"
"Mm, okay, I'll be right back!"
After those three lines, Eriri ended the call and looked at Wakaba with a slightly apologetic smile.
"Sorry, Wakaba-san. Looks like we'll have to pause our game. My maid just called me back for dinner."
"It's fine. You should go."
Wakaba's expression remained neutral, but deep down, she felt something new—a faint sense of reluctance.
Even if it was just a trace, it was astonishing to her. It was yet another emotion she had never experienced before, one she had believed impossible.
And yet, it had come from spending time with this ordinary human girl.
Eriri didn't leave right away. She leaned toward Wakaba with curiosity.
"By the way, Wakaba-san, it's almost six. Why aren't your parents home yet?"
Wakaba wasn't bothered by the question. It was entirely natural.
"My parents work in another city. They rarely come back."
She answered flatly, as if stating something trivial.
Eriri chuckled silently to herself.
Though Wakaba had forged a background identity, it was only surface-level. The so-called parents working out of town didn't even exist.
As one of the most powerful gods in the universe, even if she wanted a lazy life, she would never involve real humans in her cover—not even fake ones.
"I see. That must be tough. Isn't it lonely without your parents around?"
Eriri looked at her with concern and gently placed her right hand on Wakaba's head, stroking it softly.
Even though everything was fabricated, the warmth from Eriri's touch and the concern in her voice brought about yet another unfamiliar feeling in Wakaba.
This one was called warmth.
Since inviting Eriri inside, Wakaba had experienced seven distinct emotions.
Yet she still couldn't understand why Eriri could evoke such reactions from her. It simply shouldn't be possible.
And looking at the chaos goddess not resisting her touch at all, Eriri felt a rush of happiness flood her chest.
That feeling didn't last long though, as Wakaba soon took her hand and gently pushed it away.
"It's not that lonely. I've gotten used to it."
"That won't do. I bet you weren't planning to have a proper dinner, were you? Wakaba-san, why don't you come over and eat at my place instead?"
Looking at Wakaba's blank expression, Eriri extended an invitation.
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