They walked down the park’s slope toward the lower district, Ark’s distant murmur fading behind them. Thomas carried a small plastic bag with Iris’s dinner; steam still escaped through the opening at the top.
Angel walked beside him, a little too close, barely respecting his personal space. Every now and then, her shoulder brushed against his, like a perfectly calculated accident.
"Tell what your power does," she insisted, as if it were the most casual topic in the world.
"For the sixth ti, I won’t," Thomas replied without looking at her. "I need to know it’s safe."
Angel tilted her head, amused.
"The more you reject , the more interested I get."
Thomas scoffed.
"I’m planning to use it to apply for the Annual Tad Beasts Tournant. It’s still too early to know if they’ll accept , but I’ve got a month and a half to prepare."
Angel pressed her index finger to her lips and glanced up at the night sky, thoughtful.
"So a power related to beast taming..."
She leaned forward, clasping her hands behind her back, peering up at him with a mischievous smile.
"What do you ta? Demons? Monsters? Ghosts?"
"I won’t say anything else. I’ve already said too much," Thomas replied with an awkward smile.
Angel let out a low hum, as if savoring the mystery.
"What an interesting gift my son awakened..." She looked at him directly again. "Tell . In exchange, I’ll answer any question you want. Anything at all. I’ll be completely honest."
Thomas let out a short laugh.
"Stop pushing. I don’t fully trust you yet."
And in that instant, his eyes sharpened.
’It’s true... why am I being so friendly with her? A few hours ago, I hated her.’
He forced his expression to harden.
’Don’t lower your guard. Don’t be stupid. She could be lying... but even so... why do I feel this warmth in my chest?’
He didn’t want to feel it. If he allowed it, the resentnt would start to crack. They walked the rest of the way in silence until they reached the building. They climbed the worn-out stairs, their footsteps echoing up the central shaft, amplifying the unspoken tension between them.
When they reached his floor, Angel stopped and looked at him with a conspiratorial smile.
"I’ll give you all my credit card passwords if you tell what power you awakened."
Thomas raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Or I could introduce you to the top ten heroines."
The nervous smile he had been wearing vanished instantly. His expression turned serious.
"Is that true?"
Angel blinked, surprised.
"Huh? I was just joking..." she said, then added, "Yes, it’s possible. I know all of them. Though I’m not exactly on good terms with them... and I don’t like them knowing about my private life."
Thomas fell silent, thinking.
’That would be useful...’ he admitted to himself. But then he rembered his rank. ’Either way, I wouldn’t be able to ta any of them. I’m Rank D.’
He opened the door and stepped inside confidently.
"Iris, I brought your dinner."
Iris appeared almost imdiately.
"Thanks, big brother!" Then she looked at Angel. "Hi, Mom."
Angel smiled gently.
"Hi, sweetheart. It’s already late. Eat and then go to bed."
Iris nodded.
"I was just getting ready."
Thomas set the bag on the table. Angel took a step toward the door.
"I should get going."
Thomas glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
"Do you have sowhere to stay?"
Angel lowered her eyelids slightly and smiled calmly.
"Don’t worry. I’ve got it covered," she lied.
He caught the lie instantly—or at least the feeling was so strong it might as well have been certainty. He closed the door behind her and locked it for the night.
"You can stay."
Angel froze in the hallway, surprised, watching Thomas walk further into the apartnt. Her pink eyes flickered, as if sothing fragile were being born inside them.
"Are you sure?" she asked carefully.
Thomas answered without looking at her.
"You still need to explain everything to Iris. She’s going to have a lot of questions. It’ll take ti."
Angel lowered her gaze, holding back a faint smile.
"I understand..."
She walked over to her daughter, picked her up in her arms, and between small talk and soft giggles, they headed toward the dining area.
Thomas watched the scene in silence, keeping his distance. He heard Angel whisper to Iris that they would sleep together that night. He wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, but he couldn’t silence the mix of fear—fear of being wrong—and the weakness he felt toward that warmth.
He reproached himself for going soft on her and, at the sa ti, longed for that feeling—that thing he had always lacked, always wanted, and never had. Even if it ant risking regret later, deep down, he wanted it.
He looked away and shut himself in his room. He locked the door, took off his shirt, and tossed it onto the chair. He dragged the small whiteboard over to the wall and grabbed a marker.
He took a deep breath, organizing the thoughts he had been building for a while. After a brief mont of stillness, he began to write:
"Goals..."
He drew three columns: Short Term. Mid Term. Long Term.
Under Short Term, he wrote: Annual Tad Beasts Tournant (1.5 months). He crossed his arms and muttered to himself:
"I need heroines who can win real fights. Not decorative pieces."
He didn’t know how many he could ta at the sa ti; he didn’t know the System’s limit.
"I won’t make the mistake of filling slots without knowing. I think I saw an option to release them..." he muttered as he opened the System.
He entered the Bonds section, tapped Selene’s image, and reviewed the available options. Just as he rembered, they could be released.
He backed out of the interface and looked at Selene and Elvira under his dosticated Bonds. Neither was suited for direct combat; they only provided passive abilities.
’Discarded. This ti, I’m starting from scratch.’
He pulled out his phone and began searching for profiles of young aspiring heroines with combat-oriented gifts. Just to confirm a theory, he put on the Entity Viewer.
To his surprise, when he focused on photos on the screen, they were detected as entities as well; information appeared overlaid next to each image. A faint smile curved his lips.
"Perfect..."
He started writing nas on the whiteboard: locations, rarities, potential gifts. Forty minutes later, after applying all the filters and standards he required, the list had narrowed to nine underlined nas.
’I have two days before I leave with Angel for the Abyss.’
He needed at least two combat heroines before then. He opened his chat with Selene and typed:
"Tomorrow we’re spending the whole day together. Be ready."
The reply ca almost instantly:
"How about saying hi first? At least have the decency to ask nicely. It feels awful getting orders like that."
"Hi, Selene. Tomorrow at 7 a.m."
"7!!!??? Can’t it be later? I have commitnts at that hour."
"No."
"Then I’ll have to cancel everything. I’ll lose money because of you."
Thomas closed his eyes for a second.
"I’m sorry. The ti won’t change."
"I’ll be there. Stop bothering already."
He set the phone down on the table and exhaled slowly.
"I’m really sorry... but I truly need your fortune gift."
He looked back at the whiteboard covered in nas. Nine heroines. Nine young prospects. Tomorrow was Saturday. He crossed his arms, evaluating each possibility and thinking about how to approach them without raising suspicion. He would have to be strategic. Convincing.
"Tomorrow will be a day of hunting," he murmured to himself.
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