Night had arrived before Akira even realized it.
He lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, his mind replaying the day over and over again.
It had been… eventful. Way too eventful.
Erika drinking all his blood in her sleep.
Iori's story.
Accidentally breaking into the girls' bath and somehow becoming a legend.
And most importantly, he and Erika had become a couple today.
Not just that.
She had fully moved into his house.
Akira rolled onto his side and stared at the wall that separated his room from hers.
The room next door. The one she always used when she stayed over was completely hers now. She'd already moved in her clothes, her essentials… and an entire reinforcement army of plushies on top of the already existing one. In the end, her bed was completely overflowing, with barely any space left to actually sleep.
…but knowing her, he knew she liked it that way.
Akira let out a slow breath.
He felt strange.
Happy.
Weird.
But mostly restless and excited.
Sure, they'd shared a room before, back in the Demon Slayer world, for a long time.
But that was different.
Now she was his girlfriend.
That single word changed everything.
He wanted to be closer to her.
At the same time, he wasn't sure if that was a good idea.
Earlier, Erika had said she didn't need to drink his blood tonight, still full from this morning.
Akira had agreed immediately… though a small part of him suspected she was just embarrassed. He didn't push it.
…Still, he couldn't deny that he felt a little regretful.
When she drank his blood, she was closer to him, and he wanted to be closer to her, too. To hold her tightly.
That thought alone made it impossible to sleep.
Akira let out a quiet sigh and sat up in bed.
"…Yeah. I need a distraction."
He reached out telepathically.
"Sister, can you teleport me to the castle lab? I want to run some experiments."
There was a brief pause before Selena's voice echoed in his mind.
"Huh? Now?Brother, you didn't sleep properly yesterday either, right?And you do remember you have a meeting tomorrow, right?"
Akira froze.
"…Ah."
He stared up at the ceiling for a second.
"…I completely forgot."
There was a short silence.
Then Selena spoke again, her tone calm.
"Well…That's understandable. Too many things have happened since you came back. Anyone would forget.But you can't just stay awake all night."
Akira sighed and rubbed his face.
"I know. But I really can't sleep right now. My head's too full. I need something to distract myself."
"You could always use sleeping magic," Selena suggested.
Akira immediately shook his head.
"Nope. I am not going down that path."
Another brief silence followed.
In the end, Selena relented.
"…Fine. Do your experiments. Spend some energy.Just don't stay awake too long.And if you do stay up, don't fall asleep completely, otherwise you'll miss the meeting."
Akira nodded instinctively.
"Got it… Then can you teleport me to the castle lab?"
There was a short pause.
Then Selena said flatly,
"Why are you always asking me to teleport you? Go there yourself."
Akira blinked.
"But I can't. My teleportation magic won't lock onto that place for some reason. I can't just teleport there. That place is like… another world."
Selena sighed.
"Yeah, I forgot to tell you.You're already connected to the castle and its realm."
Akira frowned slightly.
"…Connected?"
Selena said. "Yes.The Nexus Castle and the mansion are both bound to you.
You don't need coordinates or spell formulas.Just think of the place. Focus on it…like you want to be there…and you will teleport."
She paused, then added,
"And if you want to return, do the same.But remember, only these two places are connected. You can't do this from anywhere else."
Akira hesitated.
"…Really?"
Selena said. "Really."
He took a slow breath, closed his eyes, and focused.
The image of the throne room filled his mind.
The world folded.
Space twisted.
Akira reappeared right in front of the throne.
Selena was still there, sitting casually upon it, as if nothing unusual had happened at all.
Akira's eyes widened.
"…It worked."
He looked at her, then asked,
"Why are you always here, sister? Do you seriously stay on the throne all the time?"
Selena narrowed her eyes slightly.
"That's rude. I have my own room, you know."
She let out a light sigh.
"I just prefer being here. I can access all castle systems from the throne."
She glanced at him. "Besides, didn't you ask me to research more about that Sacred Gear, Lunar Vows? I've been working on a lot of things, just so you know."
Akira nodded.
"Oh, I see. Thank you. Then work hard, sis."
After a brief pause, he asked,
"So… did you find anything about it?"
He had been curious about that Sacred Gear for a while now.
With how back then, Erika had suddenly took his Eclipse Armor mid-fight, he wanted to understand it better before ever encountering a similar situation again.
He didn't even know what to use it for testing before fully understanding how it functioned.
If it were only himself, he wouldn't think too deeply about it.
But with Erika involved, he wanted to be absolutely sure about its safety before doing anything reckless.
Selena leaned back slightly.
"Well, this thing was made by our ancestors. It was originally used to connect two hearts, or rather, two people."
She tilted her head. "I just edited it a bit so it could connect you two. But I'm still not sure about its full powers."
Akira frowned slightly.
"Then why even do that?"
Selena smiled faintly.
"Well, I have my reasons. But most importantly, remember, Erika is your childhood friend. She has a massive debuff. Childhood friends always lose."
She said it casually. "So I offset it by basically giving your heart to her. Now she's sure to win, right?"
Akira stared at her silently.
He honestly couldn't tell whether she was joking or completely serious.
In the end, he sighed.
"…Fine. Whatever."
He straightened.
"Well then. Since I can move freely now, I'm going to the lab. Bye, sister."
Selena waved lazily.
"Sure. Bye."
Akira nodded and vanished.
A moment later.
He reappeared.
Right back in front of the throne.
He looked a little awkward.
"…Sis."
Selena raised an eyebrow.
"…Yes?"
Akira scratched his cheek.
"Does this place have a garden or something? I want to plant Blue Spider Lilies. Can you show me where?"
Selena stared at him.
Then sighed.
Selena led Akira deeper into the castle grounds.
The garden was vast, far larger than he had expected, but strangely quiet.
Wide stretches of fertile soil lay untouched. Stone paths were half-swallowed by moss, and only a few stubborn plants clung to life along the edges, as if refusing to give up entirely.
Akira looked around and asked,
"…Why is it so empty?"
Selena tilted her head slightly.
"I don't know either. Probably because no one was left to take care of it."
She gestured across the garden.
"Most of the plants that were really important were moved to the controlled growth chamber."
Her finger pointed toward a structure near the far end of the garden.
It looked like some kind of high-tech greenhouse.
Akira's curiosity spiked immediately.
"Controlled growth chamber? What's in there?"
Selena glanced at him.
"You'll see."
She guided him inside.
The moment Akira stepped through the entrance, he froze.
Inside the structure were multiple chambers, each one maintaining a completely different environment. Temperature, atmosphere, light, everything varied from section to section.
Rare plants grew everywhere.
Plants he had never seen before.
But what caught his eye the most were three specific chambers.
In the first, black crystal bamboo grew tall and straight, its surface glossy and dark like obsidian.
Next to it was a pond-like environment, where pure white crystal lilies bloomed quietly, glowing with a soft, moonlike light.
And beside them, purple crystal roses, exactly the same shade as Akira's eyes, stood in full bloom, their petals refracting light like distant galaxies.
Akira stared, shocked.
"…Wait. These are…"
Selena nodded.
"Yep. Nocturnite bamboo. Lunite lily. Astrite rose."
Akira slowly turned to her.
"You're telling me the three crystals only our family has… grow on plants?"
"Yes," Selena said simply. "They've always been here. Our family has been cultivating them for generations."
Akira frowned.
"How does that even make sense?"
Selena shrugged.
"Don't ask me. I don't know where they came from either. They've existed since the first generation of our family."
Akira sighed.
He honestly didn't even know what to say anymore.
In the end, he shook his head.
"I can't get distracted with this now. Let's finish the Blue Spider Lily first."
He took out the Blue Spider Lily seeds.
"…Hope it works."
Selena asked,
"Are they evolved ones?"
"Yeah," Akira replied. "These ones produce flowers faster."
"How fast?"
"Well," he said thoughtfully, "once I plant it, it'll grow and produce flowers immediately. After that, I made it so it produces once per week."
He paused.
"I could make it faster, but the plant can't handle it. Even now, it needs specific conditions and continuous nutrients and energy to survive."
Selena nodded calmly.
"Don't worry. This is a controlled growth chamber. It's a greenhouse designed to raise rare plants that need very specific conditions."
She pointed toward a nearby terminal.
"You can use that to set the environment, nutrients, and energy levels. It'll take care of everything automatically."
Akira's eyes lit up.
"Cool."
He moved to the terminal and input the required environment, energy flow, and nutrient balance.
The response was immediate.
The soil shimmered.
The seed sprouted.
In moments, the plant grew, bloomed, and produced Blue Spider Lily flowers right before their eyes.
Akira carefully harvested them.
"Alright."
He turned to Selena.
"Bye."
And with the flowers in hand, he headed straight for the lab to conduct his experiments.
Selena shook her head and sighed. "…I am tired too, you know, brother… You know what, I need a break too. I am going to watch some romance anime, yeah, that will help me deal with my brother."
In the end, Selena nodded to herself and disappeared, too.