Room 304 of Arvia House felt incredibly quiet. Only the sound of soft chewing could be heard from the corner of the room. Rent sat cross-legged on his thin mattress, finishing the last bite of the dry peanut butter bread given by Mr. Arvia. Beside him, Fyra-Bunn was sound asleep, forming a warm orange furball.
The young man brushed the crumbs off his hands, then walked toward the small, open wooden window of his room. Lumeria's night wind blew coolly, carrying the faint scent of fireplaces and the distant forest. In the sky, two moons—one light blue and the other reddish—hung watching over the city. Two moons that appeared to merge, forming something like a sleeping number eight or an Infinity symbol from above.
Three days. It had been three full days since Rent was thrown into this absurd world. Three days filled with an aggressive encounter with his 'other self', giant rats, smelly sewers, a fried rice debt, and a killer giant pudding.
Slide... Click. The sound of a window being forced open was heard from the building next door. Luna Manor. Rent turned his head to the left.
Across the way, a girl with long purple hair was resting her elbows on the windowsill. Kaensista. She had already taken a bath. Her clothes had now changed into a simple, pure white nightgown. The scent of lavender perfume—which for some reason she always wore excessively—could be faintly smelled all the way to Rent's room.
The girl's purple eyes met Rent's deadpan purple eyes. Silence befell them for a few seconds. Only the sound of night crickets filled the void.
"Hoo... how unusual," Kaen gave a small condescending smile. "Yesterday you kept your window closed all day."
"Just getting some air," Rent replied briefly. "My room needs outside air once in a while, it's just a coincidence."
"Heee... is that so."
"By the way..." Kaen continued speaking. "Still counting your pathetic remaining coins, Mr. Kaenda?" she mocked with her signature arrogant tone.
Rent leaned his back against the window frame. "I'm just being grateful that I don't have to see your annoying face up close tonight, Miss Spendthrift."
Kaen snorted harshly. The ahoge on her head swayed softly in the night wind. But strangely, this time the girl didn't immediately fire back with a long string of insults. She stared at the two moons in the sky.
"Hey... about that rabbit of yours, is it... tame?"
Rent raised one eyebrow slightly. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm just curious," Kaen rested her chin on the windowsill. "I don't really understand creatures like that. And also..." Kaen looked back at Rent with a smirk. "I want to know how a stone-faced man like you could tame a rabbit that destroyed a giant slime in a single attack."
Rent let out a long sigh, crossing his arms over his chest. "Don't ask about how I brought this monster rabbit," Rent glanced at Fyra who was sleeping curled up. "I accidentally stepped on something, and also because of something else, this stupid rabbit is now following me just to ask for food rations."
Kaen raised her eyebrows slightly. "Stepped on something? What do you mean by something?"
"No. It's nothing. Forget it."
"Hmph..." Kaen snorted softly. "Fine if you don't want to tell."
Kaen stared at the palm of her right hand. "You know, Rent... when that giant water whip was about to hit me this afternoon..." Kaen bit her lower lip, looking hesitant.
"Hmm? What about the whip?"
"Ah!" Kaen shook her head quickly. "N-Nothing, I'm just tired right now! So my mind only recorded a bit of that sudden incident! Yeah! Ahahaha!" she answered, her face flushing red again.
"Hah... you're so weird," Rent replied with a deadpan face.
"Tch. You jerk," Kaen looked away, a red flush still visible.
Even though I was just intending to treat him to a cup of tea tomorrow morning with my leftover laundry money. But it seems I'll postpone this plan for now, she thought.
"Alright, we're done talking, right?" Rent replied.
Rent closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the night wind. "Go to sleep. Tomorrow I have to figure out a way to get 20 more coins to pay off the Fried Rice debt. I hope you don't cause any trouble tomorrow."
"Hmph! I'll look for my own mission tomorrow! Don't expect me to work together with a fake doctor like you again!" Kaen stuck out her tongue, then closed her window with a loud slam. BLAM!
Rent just shook his head slowly.
"Haaah... she really is weird."
Rent still hadn't closed the window; he stared towards the Lumeria city square in the distance. The square looked crowded and was filled with bright enough lights to illuminate the central area of the city.
"This city seems to have its own way of staying alive even when night falls," muttered Rent while staring at the lights over there.
Moro, who had been inside the small desk drawer all this time, finally came out. The blue furball saw its Master observing something at the window.
"Master Rent?" Moro flew closer, floating right beside Rent. "Still not asleep?"
"Not yet," Rent replied without turning his head. "I want to enjoy tonight's wind a little longer. Before I go back into the hell of annoying missions tomorrow."
"Oh, I see," Moro observed Rent's eyes, which were focused on the crowd in the central square. "Is Master... curious about what's in the city square?"
"Hmm, no," he answered briefly, but his eyes softened slightly 3 seconds later. "Maybe... a little."
"Heee..." the furball's mouth, wherever it was, formed a faint smirk. "If Master wants, we can go there! This city has a lot of cool festivals, one of them is a music festival."
"Music..." Rent chimed in with a hoarse voice.
"But I don't know when that festival will happen; what's certain is that it exists and is very good!"
"Hmmm... some other time, when I have a schedule other than sleeping," Rent chimed in once more.
"Alright, that's enough night wind for today, I'm going to sleep." Rent pulled the window closed slowly, drawing the curtains inside.
He immediately laid his body down on the mattress, right beside the sleeping Fyra.
"Hopefully, there won't be any weird incidents tomorrow; at the very least, my debt has to be paid off tomorrow," he muttered before closing his eyes to end this long day.