After I had showered and brushed my teeth, I stood in front of Elise's room in fresh clothes. I was wearing a light blue hoodie with two pockets, jeans, and black socks. It was around 5:45. I still had a few minutes of assured free speaking time before the possibility of a spying shadow became a reality again.
I knocked on Elise's bedroom door.
"Elise, can I come in?"
"…Yeah, you can!" she yelled from inside.
I opened the door and entered her room. I looked around briefly.
It was basically the same as the guest room I was staying in, only more lived in. The closet and desk were bigger. There was a bookcase with her schoolbooks and novels. Some personal decorations were scattered around the room.
All in all, I found it a bit sparse for her own bedroom. But, my bedroom at my home was basically the same as hers, so I couldn't judge her.
I saw Elise sitting at her desk. She had been fiddling with two phones in her hands. I supposed one of them was meant to be given to me, and she had been preparing it. She was still in her cream nightgown, and had now turned her attention to me.
I got a full view of her. My instincts forced me to look, and I was completely stunned. I couldn't think, only speak.
"You're even more beautiful."
"Huh?"
Elise also became stunned and started turning as red as a tomato.
Ah, I should probably explain. Although it is still the truth. Even though I don't really care about beauty, what she looked like almost made my heart race, and now she made my heart race even more.
I lifted my left hand. Elise stared at it, and froze. She saw the inconsistency.
I told her what I noticed about myself in the bathroom, and that I now noticed that she was the same as me, as pretty as we could be.
I said that I suspected she had used her power on both of us. But, when I asked her, she said that she hadn't been aware of doing anything special. We came to the conclusion that she had probably used her power unconsciously on us.
We then started talking about what her power exactly did to us. Well, I mainly talked, she just took all of it in. I could only state the obvious, that she just turned us as pretty as could be, probably in her image. She agreed that she'd rather see my hand without a scar, so it seemed logical for now.
But there was a way to test our hypothesis. Only, I should first confirm with Elise before I give her a heart attack.
"Hey, I've thought of something we could try to get more insight into how your powers work. But I'll have to take my shirt off for that. Is that alright?"
"…Huh! Oh, uhm, y…yeah. Th…that's fine. Go ahead."
I nodded, and immediately took off my hoodie. Elise was stunned, and could only stare with a blush forming on her face once my midriff was exposed.
The moment my hoodie covered my face, a smile slipped onto it.
Her expression was so cute!
I took the hoodie off completely, my face now filled with calmness again.
Elise was turning even redder, but her gaze immediately shifted to my chest. I looked too and saw the bruise on it disappearing before my very eyes.
"I think that confirms it. Your power makes me and you as pretty as possible, as long as you know what can be improved."
"…Yeah. …Does… does it hurt?"
Mmh. She made a good point. I poked at my old wound, and was pleasantly surprised.
"No. It feels as good as new. Maybe you'll turn out to be an even better doctor than your dad."
"…Maybe. ….I'm… glad you're not in pain.
…Elise kept staring at my body. I saw her thoughts churning. …Was… was she enjoying the show? …I started to feel a bit objectified. But, I endured and waited, because I also felt a bit… proud?
I still had a bit of muscle left, but maybe I should train again? It helps me handle my powers, and I was curious to find out how Elise would look at me then.
Eventually, after a lot of hesitation, Elise started speaking again.
"Hey…, Jack. Do you think we've… stopped aging?"
…What? I did not expect that. I… stayed silent for a bit while thinking.
It was a massive leap in logic to just assume that now. I would normally immediately say that something like that could only be concluded after some time has passed, but the subtle emotion on her face and voice stopped me briefly.
I saw that she was… trying to hide what seemed like absolute sadness and joy.
I…couldn't place why she was feeling that way, or why she came to that assumption. And, something in me yelled that this was not the right moment to ask her to explain.
With that thought in the back of my mind, I responded.
"I don't know if that's the case. But if it is, we can only tell after some time has passed."
Cold reality hit Elise upon hearing my answer, and her expression returned back to neutral.
"Yeah…, yeah, you're right."
I nodded. A silence filled the room. The atmosphere felt heavy. I… wanted to ask what she was keeping to herself, but an unidentifiable fear withheld me from speaking. I was somehow both glad and dissatisfied when Elise continued the conversation.
"I set up my old phone for you. Come here, and I'll show you. But… can you first put your hoodie back on? It's… it's distracting me a bit."
"…How is it distracting you?"
"Shirt on! Now!"
'Pfft.'
I almost burst out laughing seeing her red, embarrassed face. I nodded with a mischievous smile on my face, and put my hoodie back on. I was glad I could alleviate the heavy tension between us.
I then walked to her desk. Once Elise regained her composure, she explained that she had deleted her personal data and told me the passcode, which was the same as her other phone. The SIM card was absent, so I could not call someone with it. However, I could still look up stuff online and text people with a messenger app as long as I had Wi-Fi.
Regarding the latter, Elise set up a sub-account of hers.I could therefore text people in her name or text her via a self-chat. every text we sent or received on one phone could also be seen on the other.
Lastly, she had only saved contacts of people we both knew, like Ken and William, so I could only text them for now in her name.
Hearing it all, I told her it was perfect. She was glad to hear it. The only thing left to do was for me to quickly learn how to text her covertly, so I immediately practiced with the few minutes I had left.
I memorized the digital layout and keyboard of the phone, and the finger motions needed to get to sending and typing a text.
I then moved the phone in a pocket of my hoodie, while still holding it. According to Elise, from an outside perspective you could never notice I would be blindly typing on a phone in that position. You could only assume that I only had my own hand in that pocket.
I tested my theory. I recalled the finger motion I needed, moved my fingers to navigate the phone to the self message chat and typed a text to Elise.
Once I sent it, her phone went off. She looked at the text I just sent her, and snorted with laughter. The text was an incoherent mess…
Why? I was sure I had used the right motions, otherwise I wouldn't have even gotten to the messenger app to send her a text.
…Was I typing too fast for the inputs to register on the screen? Damn, how annoying! I'd have to slow down my textingspeed to the right amount by trial and error.
I tried a few more times. By the end, she was snickering and had tears in her eyes from amusement… Although, the humiliation was all worth it, since I believed I now finally got the hang of it.
For a final confirmation, I sent her one last text. Once she saw it, she froze and turned into a red traffic light.
My text was: 'You're the most beautiful person I've ever seen.'
I watched with glee and mischief at the redness of my cute victim, on whom I had enacted my revenge, because she had been too amused by my honest trial attempts.
Eventually, Elise managed to look shyly into my eyes and speak.
"Thank you. I find you really handsome too."
…I froze. I turned into a traffic light myself.
Mutually assured destruction.
***
After we had regained our normal color, we used the last minutes of our free speaking time to discuss our other friend, Ken. Specifically, Elise asked me if we should inform him of what had been happening.
Elise had texted him yesterday, before she had learned the truth about the shadow, that I was at her house and relatively fine.
Ken had responded that he's glad I'm fine, and to keep him informed of what was happening.
I… hadn't contacted Ken at all. It hadn't even crossed my mind with all the danger we're in.
I could make excuses for myself, like my phone could be tapped, my father gained another potential hostage if I involved him. But the truth was, just like with Elise, that I had thought of him as a liability, instead of a boon.
What a fool I was. I realize it now, that if Elise hadn't been there for me, I would be a total mess at the moment.
So, I told her I thought we should inform Ken. She was really happy to hear me say that. Well, I expected that was the answer she wanted to hear from me anyway.
Our decision finalized, I texted Ken in her name explaining what was going on with the shadow, what I had been doing since I realised the danger at my house and why I was using a lent phone from her, and that he should contact me thus by texting Elise.
But, I ended my world record texting spree by telling him to only involve himself if he's absolutely sure he wanted to put himself in danger for me. I told him our friendship would never be jeopardized if he refused to help me. I valued his life too much for that, and would respect his decision.
Elise thought the last part was more of a formality. She was absolutely sure Ken would want to help.
I… agreed with her. I believed in Ken too.
After that, the clock was about to strike 6. We had to be careful with our communication in a few moments. But for now, it didn't really matter, since we had to kill time anyway until Ken responded, and we guessed that would take a while.
The world having changed this much wouldn't matter to his parents. He would still be forced to study late into the night. A Sasaki has to be excellent, and late nights mean late mornings.
So, Elise and I first wanted to go downstairs. She wanted coffee, and I wanted to eat something.
As the clock struck 6, we went downstairs, Elise still in her cream nightgown. The mood changed between us, since the shadow was once again a threat. But, Elise was behaving with composure, my father would never notice that she was looking out for his shadow.
I… was filled with admiration for her. She was either very brave or could audition for a major role in a Hollywood blockbuster, likely both.
Once we had arrived downstairs next to each other and entered the living room, I became absolutely astonished to see someone already sitting behind a laptop at the dining table, drinking from a cup of coffee. Elise was however filled with frustration and fury.
"DAD! GOD, THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU THAT YOU SHOULDN'T NEGLECT YOUR SLEEP!"
…My poor ears were almost bleeding. But William the accused looked up from his laptop and took his daughter's words in stride.
"I just got here and I've slept enough. And speak for yourself. Why are you two here so early?"
"Don't change the subject! Jack and I just woke up early, is all! This is about you already doing work stuff at 6 in the morning!"
…They continued bickering for a while, with me in the middle of their battlefield.
…Poor Elise, I could clearly see that this is a battle she would always lose. That workaholic just lets everything glide past him.
…I'm useless here. At least I could already grab some coffee for Elise and make some food. I decided to interrupt the endless war going on here after another verbal assault from his daughter.
"Uhm, William? Can I make some coffee for Elise? And some food for me too? Elise isn't hungry yet, but I can already make breakfast for you if you want?"
"Oh, sure. I already made some coffee, it's still in the coffee pot. You can grab that…"
…? William trailed off for a moment, and his gaze suddenly sharpened. He started looking alternatively between Elise and me.
W… why? Did…, did he hear some commotion last night? No, that couldn't be, his bedroom is on the other side of the house, and he would have mentioned it earlier.
Before I came to a conclusion, he continued talking.
"You can also make some food for yourself. I'm not hungry yet, and I usually just eat some bread before the clinic opens. …Elise, can I speak with you in private for a moment," he ended with, shifting his gaze to her.
…Shit. Something is wrong. William caught onto something, and he was going to interrogate his daughter in private.
I… couldn't think of anything that would let me interfere, so I could only walk away to the kitchen, leaving those two behind. But, I had faith and trust in Elise that she could maintain her composure in front of her father.
As I was out of their earshot, just before entering the kitchen, I almost turned deaf.
"NO WE DIDN'T!!!" Elise screamed like a banshee.
My faith and trust were unfounded…
I turned around in shock, and saw that Elise was red with rage, fists balled, drilling her gaze into William.
Her dad tried to placate her, open palms facing towards her. He had apparently crossed a massive red line with his daughter.
Elise suddenly came to a shocking realization, and quickly turned around towards me.
Once she saw me staring at her, she got even redder, and quickly turned back again towards her father.
A silence fell for the first time since we had come downstairs. All of Elise's rage had subsided into… embarrassment and shyness?
Eventually, William softly and kindly asked her something. Elise turned the reddest she's ever been…, then slowly nodded.
…She then stormed off towards the couch in front of the TV, out of my sight.
Afterwards, William turned his gaze to me, and looked me in the eyes with an indecipherable expression on his face.
But, I am a master of human nature. I could decode the question he was silently asking me.
I realised what William had misinterpreted, and what had caused this whole fiasco.
I shook my head as an answer.
No sir. I haven't taken your daughter's innocence. We only held hands, I swear!!!
***
It was now just after 10:30 AM, according to my internal clock. Elise and I were sitting in her bed, side to side, so close that we were touching each other. We had been reading one of her favourite romance novels together. Although, only I was still reading, because she had fallen asleep on me.
She was slowly breathing, with her head on my shoulder. The coffee she had drunk a couple of hours ago had proven to be insufficient to stave off her tiredness.
I gave it to her after I had made some cheese toasties for myself. Elise drank it, and I ate my meal next to her, on the couch she fled to after that mess with her father.
We consumed our nutrients in awkward silence. William meanwhile just continued working again, abandoning his teenage daughter to the social catastrophe he had caused.
…Elise's heart was severely wounded because of it. She was so embarrassed that she couldn't look me in the eyes again.
So, I stepped in. I joked a little bit with her about how awkward it was, said to just pretend it never happened and that we could go on like how we usually were.
It put her somewhat at ease again, and she told me she wanted to take a shower.
We then went upstairs again. She took a shower, changed clothes to a white v-necked blouse, light jeans and long white socks.
I was worried about the shadow attacking her when she was alone. But, I of course couldn't propose to join her in the bathroom. So, I just endured.
Luckily, nothing happened. Well, my father hadn't yet figured out my defiance, so I didn't expect any interference from him at the moment. But still, I'd rather have her be near me so I could for sure protect her. The tide could turn at any time.
At least, when she came out of the bathroom, she had returned to normal and suggested reading together to pass the time.
…Only to have fallen asleep almost immediately. Well, it was alright. I was glad she had now been sleeping for a couple of hours.
I just kept reading all the while, occasionally glancing at the room for signs of the shadow, and her cute sleeping face.
I kept reading, even though I ABSOLUTELY HATED ROMANCE NOVELS!!!
It's because I find them so boring I avoid them like the plague!
The characters always behave so stupid! It's not realistic behavior at all!
Why waste your time reading that brainrot! If you want something mind-numbingly unrealistic, go read a heart-pounding action novel or something!
But, I endured my disdain in reading this one because Elise wanted to. But, even though she had fallen asleep, I continued reading, because I am now heavily invested.
Not because this novel is a favourite of hers, or because I think the story is good.
It was because this is the first romance story I've ever read that made my heartbeat accelerate.
The story is about a lonely hermit-like woodcutter giving a lost and abandoned woman shelter in his hut, because she has nowhere else to go.
Romance slowly builds between them, as they interact with each other day to day.
It was well written. I found the female lead to be especially charming and strong.
Yet, there was one thing that kept my heart pounding in terror.
The male lead is the complete opposite of me!!!
He's broad, muscled, hairy, bearded, bald, and socially rough! And he basically just ignores the woman the entire time! He's almost treating her like a pest! It's basically the woman that's just one-sidedly after him! It's ludicrous!
Why!? Is this a woman thing!? He gave her shelter, sure, but why even do that if you can't even treat her like a human being! Why is the woman even after that dirtbag!? I couldn't comprehend!
Just like I couldn't comprehend why Elise liked this story! She loved me, right? I was not a useless dirtbag, right?
…Should I grow out a beard and shave my head bald? But I thought her powers made me as pretty as possible in her image! So, it's not about appearance either!
What did she like about the male lead!? I needed to know, but she was asleep! I couldn't ask, so I just kept turning the pages in the hope that it would become clear later.
I could read at super speed, but I held myself back. Because it was also a time-killer.
And just as I was halfway through the book and wanted to turn a new page, two phones went off.
Elise's phone on the nightstand beside me 'pinged' with a notification sound, and the old phone she had given me vibrated silently in my pocket.
Ken, I immediately thought. It seemed about the right time for him to be awake. And damn him for interrupting my reading time! Now I'll have to continue later…
I put the book down with reluctance, grabbed Elise's phone and entered the passcode.
I avoided using the hidden phone to keep it hidden from the shadow, in case it's watching.
And Elise had given me permission to look at her phone for cases like this.
I opened the messenger app and saw that Ken had indeed texted us. It was a long text, which I read, and I was left with one surreal thought.
Goddamnit… Why is it that me and my two friends all somehow have daddy issues…
Ken had written that he understands the danger and indeed wants to help me despite that. But his parents have locked him up in his room. So, he asked me to jailbreak him out of his house.
And his house was on the other side of town. I'd have to cross the dangerous streets and bring him back here.
…I needed my car back, which was still at my house that was being investigated.
I decided to call officer Rock for that with my own phone. He had given me his number to contact him in case I remembered more details about my mother's kidnapping.
Before I did, I woke up Elise and explained to her that Ken had texted us and we'll need to free him from his parents. She understood the hidden message, that Ken agreed to help me, which I avoided saying out loud in case of the shadow being here.
She agreed with me that we should go together to Ken's house after picking up my car. So, I then called the officer and told him I wanted to have my car back to pick up a friend of mine at the other side of town.
He agreed, and then asked me if I wanted an escort, or walk to my house on my own.
My house was nearby, so I opted to just walk. The officer understood, and said he'd inform the people at my house that I would be coming.
But he insisted that I should wait there for him so that he could escort me to Ken's house.
I agreed after exchanging a quick glance with Elise. Kidnapping was a crime after all. Best to have the law on my side while going through with it.
I thought it was settled with that, but the officer continued the conversation, asking me something I never expected.
He asked me if we could now discuss new evidence they had found at my house.