"Umm... can you repeat that?"
Eiden blinked rapidly, wondering if he’d misheard. "I think I heard it wrong."
"I think Crysty likes you," Sasha repeated without hesitation. Eiden stood dazed, his brain pausing like a poorly-loaded video. Then suddenly, he broke into a disbelieving smile and chuckled. "You almost got there hahaha, good one." But Sasha didn’t laugh.
Instead, she frowned, stepped forward, and grabbed Eiden’s head with both hands, forcing him to look straight at her. "I’m not joking, and I’m not pranking you. I really do think Crysty likes you."
"Wha what do you even an by that?!" Eiden flailed slightly in her grip, caught off-guard. "I ant what I said," Sasha replied firmly, letting go of him. "I think she likes you. I haven’t confird it yet, but I’ve got this strong feeling."
"On what basis!?" Eiden nearly shouted, waving his hands as if trying to shoo away the ridiculousness of the idea.
Sasha sighed, folding her arms as she explained. "The thing is... whenever I bring up sothing about you like if I talk about how we hang out or ntion sothing you did her mood shifts. It’s subtle, but it’s always there. She acts jealous. Grumpy. She either changes the subject or distracts ." Eiden blinked. "Seriously?"
"At first, I thought I was overthinking. But just yesterday, she ca over for a sleepover." Sasha lowered her voice slightly, casting a glance around, even though they were alone. "She thought I was asleep, but I wasn’t. That horror movie had too creeped out to sleep." Her voice dropped into a quieter mumble as she recalled, "She got up, checked if I was sleeping, then went to the corner of the room. I watched from the slit between my eyes. She didn’t know I was awake."
Eiden leaned in instinctively, curiosity spiking.
"She took out her phone," Sasha continued. "And she was grinning like genuinely grinning and then... she whispered your na. ’Eiden.’ Just like that. Smiling." Eiden’s thoughts began to spiral. Crysty likes ? No, that can’t be right. I barely talk to her! We’ve never hung out alone. I don’t even rember any specific mont that could’ve led to that.
And she’s not the type to fall so easily... is she? Also, didn’t she give Lyra my number? If she liked , wouldn’t she have kept to herself instead? Wait... there’s a chance she was the one who sent that weird ssage from Lyra’s phone too. That would actually explain...
His inner monologue halted when Sasha nudged him lightly with her elbow. "Hey," she said, softer now. "Don’t tell her I said anything. And don’t ntion this to anyone else either. Let’s just... observe for now, okay?"
Eiden looked at her seriously. "Got it." They shared a small nod of mutual understanding. Sasha turned to head toward her own house. She didn’t enter his gate but waved as she walked away, leaving Eiden standing silently by the entrance, watching her retreat.
He remained there, eyes lingering in the direction she disappeared into, his thoughts swimming in confusion. After a few minutes of zoning out, he shook himself awake from the trance and walked into his house. "Eiden!" his mom, Mrs. Dally Mores, greeted him with a warm smile. She was vacuuming the living room, the loud hum pausing as she turned off the machine.
She leaned the vacuum handle against the wall and placed her palms against her cheeks, tilting her head as she scanned his face with a slight frown. "Did sothing happen?" she asked. "You’re frowning a lot. You look completely out of it." Eiden forced a small smile. "Today’s lecture was tough, that’s all."
Mrs. Mores narrowed her eyes for a second but didn’t press further. "Alright. Dinner’s in a couple hours."
"Thanks," Eiden mumbled as he headed upstairs. He entered his room and closed the door behind him. The mont the lock clicked, he flopped onto his bed and exhaled heavily. "System-chan," he called.
Ding!
The familiar blue screen appeared. "Is Crysty a target too?" Eiden asked directly. No, System-chan replied instantly. He frowned. "Does she really like ?" I don’t know.
I cannot determine emotions unless the person is marked as a target. Eiden leaned back, staring at the ceiling as thoughts started looping through his mind. He began reviewing every interaction he could recall with Crysty. There weren’t many.
Ding!
He looked up, expecting another reply from System-chan, but it gave a slight shake indicating it wasn’t the source. It was his phone.
He picked it up and checked the notification.
ssage from Deuel: Hey, wanna co to a mixer tonight? Eiden typed quickly: No, I don’t have any interest at the mont.
Deuel replied almost imdiately: Ok, your loss~
Eiden tossed the phone beside him, groaning softly. "Why would I want to go to a mixer with everything going on..." He stood, changed out of his clothes, and was just pulling a hoodie over his head when
Ding!
It wasn’t the system again. "Now what..." Eiden mumbled, grabbing his phone. A ssage. From an unknown number.
Thank you.
Eiden blinked. He clicked the profile no picture, no na. Just a blank default icon. His eyes narrowed. What... who... He decided to get straight to the point.
Sorry, but who is this?
A few seconds later, a reply ca : I’m Arin.
"Arin?!" Eiden almost dropped the phone. He straightened himself, staring at the ssage as if expecting it to vanish. He quickly typed back.
How did you get my number?
The reply ca two seconds later.
Crysty gave it to . She said you wouldn’t mind. Do you?
Eiden’s brow furrowed. "Why is Crysty giving my number around like this?" His fingers hovered over the screen, hesitant. But curiosity won out.
Why are you thanking ?
Arin took a minute to respond. Then: The video you showed helped realise who Ruel actually was. I avoided a lot of trouble thanks to that. Eiden’s eyes widened. "Wait, that thing I showed Arin?"
He typed hurriedly: I was just ntioning it because I saw it on the internet... Before he could even finish the next ssage, another ca in. You don’t need to bother making excuses. You’re a bad actor. I could tell you were lying the whole ti. I’m in acting class, rember? It’s kinda my thing.
Eiden’s eyes widened for a few seconds before becoming normal, he didn’t bother sending or completing the incomplete ssage as he just layed down to his bed and slept .
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