The implication of Kaito's words hung in the sterile apartment air.
"I... I live here now? With you?" Mai asked, her voice a mix of horror and exhaustion. She looked at the beanbag she was sitting on, then at Kaito. "On your beanbag?"
Kaito looked at his beanbag. His throne. His only piece of comfortable furniture. Now contaminated by an existential paradox wearing a hoodie. The thought of sharing his space indefinitely was a direct violation of his life philosophy.
"How. Problema—"
"A FORCED COHABITATION EVENT!"
Fia's ecstatic shriek cut through the tension like a chainsaw. She appeared between them, floating in a lotus position, clapping with a fervor that made Kaito wince.
"Oh, this is perfect! Classic! S-Tier 'Bond' development!" she celebrated. "The System loves this! You're trapped together, forced to deal with proximity, learning each other's habits! This is so much better than I planned!"
Kaito just stared at her with dead eyes. "Fia. Stop."
"But Kaito!" she turned to him, eyes sparkling. "We have to do this right! She's the protagonist! She can't sleep on the beanbag!" Fia's face took on an expression of deep, romantic seriousness. "That's not romantic at all! She has to sleep... in your bed, Kaito!"
A deafening silence filled the room.
Mai, who obviously didn't hear Fia's suggestion, only saw Kaito freeze, his eyes widening slightly before narrowing in pure horror.
"Absolutely not," Kaito said, his voice low and firm.
Kaito's reaction was so vehement that Mai immediately assumed the worst. She shot up from the beanbag, blushing furiously, her exhaustion forgotten and replaced by anger.
"I am not sleeping in your bed, you pervert!" she shouted, grabbing the empty plate from the floor as if to use it as a weapon. "I knew it! You brought me here to...!"
"What? No!" Kaito snapped back, looking genuinely offended by the accusation... and the suggestion. "I never said that! She said that!" he pointed at the empty air where Fia now looked guilty. "I was saying 'absolutely not' to her stupid suggestion!"
"I'm not stupid! It's how it works in the dramas!" Fia protested.
"Well, this isn't a drama! It's my apartment!" Kaito growled. He rubbed his temple. An argument. He was having an argument about sleeping arrangements. It was a nightmare of effort.
"Enough," he said, holding up a hand. "End of discussion."
He looked at Mai. She still looked suspicious and ready for a fight.
"You're sick and weak," he said, his voice flat and pragmatic. "If you sleep on the beanbag or the floor, you'll get sick. Getting sick requires medicine, soup, and complaining. That's problematic."
He pointed to the only other room besides the bathroom. "That's my bed. It's the only decent place to sleep. You take the bed."
Mai blinked, lowering the plate. "...And you?"
"I," Kaito said, walking to a closet near the door and pulling out a dusty sleeping bag, "will take my beanbag. And if the beanbag is uncomfortable, I'll sleep in the sleeping bag. Whatever. Logistics over."
He tossed the sleeping bag onto the floor.
"But Kaito!" Fia whined. "The gentleman gives up the bed and sleeps on the couch! Or the floor! The beanbag is your throne!"
"I'm not a gentleman, I'm apathetic. And the beanbag is comfortable," Kaito muttered, already regretting everything.
Mai watched him. He wasn't being kind. He was being... efficient. He was managing the problem (her) in the way that would cause him the least future problems (her being sick). The logic was so cold it was almost comforting. She wasn't dealing with a pervert; she was dealing with the world's laziest office manager.
"Right," she said quietly. "The bed. For... for now."
She started walking toward the bedroom, looking like a defeated soldier. She was safe, fed, and now had a warm place to sleep. It was more than she'd had in days.
"Oh, and one more thing."
Kaito's voice made her stop in the bedroom doorway. She turned.
"This," he gestured around the tiny apartment, "is not a permanent solution. You living here is logistically unsustainable. You're noisy."
"I'm not even talking!"
"You're breathing," he countered. "And you rustled the beanbag. It's distracting. Plus, the System will just keep creating stupid 'romantic events'," he shot a death glare at Fia, "and I don't have the energy for it."
Mai stared at him, confused. "So what do you want me to do? You said I can't leave."
"You can't leave permanently," Kaito corrected. "The core problem is that you can't interact with the world to get supplies. You can't buy food. You can't pay your rent. You can't even use a vending machine."
He picked up his wallet from the counter and waggled it. "I can."
He had formulated a plan while cooking the eggs. A plan to get his beanbag back.
"So, tomorrow," he said, "we're going to the supermarket. Together."
Mai frowned. "A supermarket... date?"
"A 'Supply Run'," Kaito corrected, wincing at the word "date." "We'll buy food, toiletries, whatever you need. Enough for one, maybe two weeks. You'll give me the money, I'll pay."
He pointed in the general direction of the front door. "After that, I'm taking you back to your apartment. You stay there. You live your invisible life in peace. Once a week, or when your supplies run out, I'll stop by, drop off more food, and check that you still exist. It's the lowest-interaction, highest-efficiency plan."
Mai was silent, processing. He wasn't trying to keep her prisoner. He was giving her an escape route. A very long, logistical leash. He was offering to be her existential grocery delivery service.
It was the weirdest, and honestly, most thoughtful offer she'd received in months.
"...Understood," she said finally, a small note of admiration in her voice.
"Great. Now go to sleep. You need to be ready by ten. I hate crowds."
She nodded and disappeared into the bedroom, closing the door softly.
Kaito was left alone in his living room. He looked at the beanbag. It was empty.
"That was... anti-romantic," Fia muttered, appearing beside him, looking disappointed. "You turned a 'Cohabitation Event' into a 'Logistics Trip'."
"Exactly," Kaito said, sinking into his beanbag.
He closed his eyes. The peace was almost back.
[Affinity (Mai Sakurajima): +5 (Pragmatic Plan)] [CURRENT STATUS: -5 (Tolerable)] [New Main Quest (World) Generated: 'The Weekly Supply Run']
Kaito smiled, a tiny, satisfied smirk. He had turned the main quest into a scheduled chore. This, he could handle.
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