Lucas stayed silent for a few more seconds. His chest rose and fell slowly, no longer from embarrassment, but from exhaustion—an exhaustion that finally felt… light.
A few moments later, the System appeared again, the panel chattier than usual.
"You're really noisy today," Lucas muttered, eyeing the panel with lazy annoyance. "You're usually not this bad."
The light panel jolted slightly, as if startled.
---
[Ding…! (｡•́︿•̀｡)]
[Sorry… I just… feel happy.]
[I thought… you might need support.]
(;＿;)
---
Lucas frowned.
"…Huh?"
He sighed, then pushed himself up from where he'd been lying, leaning against the side of the bed.
"Don't do that," he said, his tone instinctively softening. "You're starting to sound like a chatbot, you know."
The panel froze in place.
The next second—
---
[…Chat… bot…?]
(ಠ_ಠ)
[I AM NOT A CHATBOT!!]
[I AM A STRUCTURAL SYSTEM WITH A DYNAMIC PERSONALITY!!]
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
---
Lucas went quiet.
Then—
"…pfft."
