Chapter 26: Lights out

Haruto took a deep breath. The anger he’d let loose just a moment prior had been quick to build up, but had likewise been quick to burn up as well. It seemed there’d been no one around to hear that aside from Suzuka herself, yet he still felt fatally exposed. He still wasn’t all that used to letting his emotions run awry like that, either.

Unbeknownst to himself, he’d just let out a little laugh. A few more of them came after than, even though laughing should have been the last thing he would have felt like doing in that situation.

“... Well, I guess… we can’t always get everything we want, can we?” he muttered.

He didn’t know why he’d said that, nor why he’d laughed. Maybe it was just the stress speaking louder. It wasn’t that he’d particularly liked his own life much. It wasn’t that he’d had anything or anyone he’d cared particularly about back in the living world, or vice-versa. At least, not anymore. As far as he knew. Thinking about it now, he didn’t remember a lot. Even back when he was alive… He didn’t recall much of anything in his life before the second year of high school. He knew his mother was long dead. His father had died later… At some point. Though he couldn’t retrieve any details. Nor could he say when exactly it had been. It might have been ten years ago, or only two.

It was weird, but he could live with it. It was how it’d always been, as it was all he had left in his memories.

Regardless, this was the first thing that had come to mind, in the end.

And as far as his needs and wants were concerned, it was also the last. He was done with discussions.

“... You don’t want to sleep in the same room? Fair enough.” he sighed. “You can stay outside, then. You’ll be my lookout in case there’s anyone asking for trouble… or something, I guess. I’m gonna take a rest.”

“... Huh…? But… I… wait!”

He went to remove her from the guest list and just get that bothersome night done with, but before he could tap the cross in her icon, she’d forcefully grabbed hold of his sleeve again.

“I… I get it… ... I’m sorry, so…  Don’t leave me out here… Please, master…” she muttered, her face flushed a dark red. She looked about ready to bawl her eyes out. “I’ll go… and… and… sleep with you, master… Anything you want…!”

“.... Yeah? Well, don’t bother me.”

(Afraid of being out alone in the dark, maybe…? Well, it’s none of my concern…)

With a tap of the console screen, the inn’s reception hall had been instantly replaced with a smaller room, built entirely in oakwood, from flooring to walls to ceiling. Or at least, what looked like it, and just like the reception it was brightly illuminated, despite there being no lamps or alternate systems that could allow such a thing. 73,900 credits left. There was a single window along one of the division’s ends, allowing him to see a decent portion of the street to the building’s westernmost side, covered partly by long, white curtains.

There was a large bed cutting through its middle, near the window, its head pushed up against a wall, and the usual small table next to it. Aside from that, the room had no other furniture. It had likely been thought out with the sole purpose of entering, resting and getting out. That was good enough for him.

He immediately trudged up to the bed, and, not questioning its integrity for even a moment, collapsed onto it like a sack of potatoes. It wasn’t anything special. Even for a commoner like him, the mattress felt a bit on the cheaper side. But that wouldn't stop him from enjoying what little downtime he could be able to spend on it.

Suzuka, meanwhile, hadn’t followed after him, lingering behind for a while longer.

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“...”

“... You gonna sleep on the floor or what?” he mumbled, then realizing he was taking up most of the bed with his arms outstretched anyway. “Oh, right. Sorry ‘bout that.”

He moved to the farther side, giving her more space, but she still remained in the same place, a few feet from the bed, looking at it for a few seconds and then looking away, then back at it again, her eyes darting around without any clear sense or purpose.

“Well… Suit yourself, I guess.” he said, turning away from her and laying back with his head on his arms. “Now, how do I…? Lights off…?”

Upon the utterance of the command, the whole room had been nearly submerged in pitch-darkness, with only a faint glint of moonlight coming through the sole window and past the curtain, giving the space the faintest touch of a blue, dim glint.

“Huh. Neat.”

(Now that I think about it, there’s not even a moon in this world. How does…? Oh, who cares.)

He closed his eyes. Now that he was finally laid down, nothing else to bother him amid the room’s sweet silence, could feel his thoughts start to waver, slowly losing their consistency, even though he could have sworn before he did not feel sleepy. Simply exhausted. They didn’t feel the same.

Though, at the end of the day, he supposed, amid a heavy yawn, they all meant the same, anyway…

He could hear faint steps over the wooden flooring, followed by a shaky rustle over the mattress. Her voice reached his ears, near enough that he could guess she’d stopped just at the edge of the bed.

“... M-Master… You’re just… gonna… go to s-sleep l-like… that…?” she stammered heavily, sounding like she’d been locked out in a blizzard for a few hours. “But… I mean… You said…?”

“Yeah…? What…?” he grumbled, now barely even articulate anymore with only half a mind left awake. “... You’re too damn noisy… matchsticks… ”

It felt as though just the remotely soft feeling of that surface against his back had been enough to knock him out.

In his last few perceptive moments before being completely taken hostage by his own dreams’ near-deadly seduction, he had felt a few more final rustles until another body had fully settled its weight right next to his, and then stayed in place, without making a single more movement after.

“... G-Good night… Master Haruto…”

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