The pain was white and pure. Kaito's world had reduced itself to three data points: the wooden floor, his throbbing foot, and the stiletto heel acting like an oil drill on his bones.
[System Warning: Continuous damage detected!] [-1 HP... -1 HP... -1 HP...]
"Stop notifying me about the obvious," Kaito growled at the air, his voice so strained it almost came out as a hiss.
Mai Sakurajima didn't move. Her eyebrow remained arched, and the pressure on his foot didn't lessen. Her question hung in the silent library air, heavy and accusatory: "What kind of low-level pervert are you?"
Any normal person would have panicked, stammered an apology, or screamed in pain.
Kaito was not normal. He was the epitome of "problematic."
He looked up, into the cold violet eyes assessing him. She wanted an answer. The System wanted interaction. And Fia... Fia was vibrating beside him like a cell phone on silent on top of a glass table.
"Kaito! Apologize!" Fia hissed, panicking. "Tell her you're the Chosen One and you made a tactical error! Tell her about the paradox!"
Ignoring the goddess, Kaito took a deep breath through his nose, trying to center his mind away from the agony in his left foot. The absurdity of the situation was almost as painful as the injury. He was in another dimension, with a useless goddess, being tortured by an anime girl in a bunny suit.
The universe didn't deserve a serious answer.
He forced his lips, which were white from pain, to curl into a wry, almost maniacal smile.
"I don't lie," he said, each word a small victory against the pain. "I saw a wild bunny girl."
Mai's eyebrow twitched minimally. The pressure increased for a fraction of a second.
"I thought..." Kaito continued, choking slightly as she twisted her heel. "I thought if I tripped her, she might give me an autograph... or tetanus."
The silence that followed was absolute.
Fia stopped vibrating. The distant students seemed frozen in time. Kaito could swear he heard a mental buffer coming from the goddess beside him.
Mai Sakurajima's expression was indecipherable. She stared at him for a long five seconds. She had expected apologies, denials, maybe even more perverted stammering. She had not expected terminal-level sarcasm from someone whose bone structure she was actively trying to reconfigure.
Suddenly, the corner of her mouth twitched. It was tiny, almost invisible. And then, the impossible happened.
A sound.
Pfft.
It was a puff of air, almost a snort, which she immediately disguised as a sigh of irritation. But it was enough.
The pressure on his foot vanished.
Kaito almost cried in relief as Mai took a step back, withdrawing her foot with the grace of a queen sheathing her sword. He pulled his injured foot under the chair, like a wounded animal licking its wounds, massaging the instep that now looked like a purple, angry eggplant.
[+5 Affinity (Mai Sakurajima)] [Mission Bonus: 'Unexpected Response'] [Reward: +10 Bond Points]
"You're an idiot," she said. It wasn't a question. It was a statement of fact. But the ice in her voice had cracked.
"And you," Kaito replied, his voice returning to its usual monotone now that the sharp pain had subsided to a dull, throbbing thunder, "are wearing a bunny suit in a public library. I think we're even in the idiocy department."
"I didn't have a choice," Fia muttered beside him, sounding offended.
"I wasn't talking to you," Kaito and Mai said in unison, both looking at the empty space where Fia was.
They looked at each other. Another moment of awkward silence.
"So," Kaito said, breaking it first. "You're disappearing. I'm here to 'anchor' you. Or something," he said, gesturing vaguely at the mission notification still hovering in his vision. "Apparently, if I don't, quantum bunnies invade my apartment. Which is problematic."
Mai crossed her arms. The momentary amusement was gone, replaced by cautious analysis. She glanced at the foot he was massaging and then back at his face.
"You're weird," she said. "You can see me. You're talking to... someone. And you know my name."
"I have a useless system-goddess feeding me spoilers," Kaito explained, pointing at Fia. "She's the noisy part."
"I'm not useless!" Fia protested.
Mai, of course, heard nothing. To her, he was just pointing at an empty chair.
"Right. A delusional stalker," she sighed, looking tired. "I should have kicked your other foot."
"Please don't," Kaito said, monotone. "Look. I don't want to be here. You don't want to 'not' be here. The System says I have to 'increase bonds' with you to stop you from turning into a noble gas. So, let's speed this up."
He winced and tried to stand, putting weight on his good foot. "What's the lowest-effort plan to solve your existential problem?"
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