In the end, they still didn't get up until eight o'clock.
The alarm rang, stopped, rang again—screeching loudly a total of five times—until Phaga finally couldn't take it anymore.
Dragging along the huge shark sprawled across his chest, he slowly shuffled over to the bedside table. Reaching into Ellen's maid skirt, he fished out her phone and swiped the alarm off.
"Phew!"
Finally. Silence.
His bare arm slid weakly down from the nightstand. Phaga let out a long breath, a rare sense of peace settling in.
He lowered his head and looked at Ellen, who was still lying on top of his chest, and said flatly, "Hey. Don't you think it's about time you got up too?"
Ellen had actually been fully awake for a while. She just didn't want to move. She'd been curled up and silent like a turtle, hoping Phaga wouldn't notice her so soon.
Unfortunately, she was caught anyway.
Her pretty face flushed faintly as she sneakily grabbed the blanket and tugged it down to cover herself more tightly.
A moment later, an annoyed, muffled voice came from beneath the covers.
"Hmph~ I know already. So annoying."
"Bring my clothes under the covers. No peeking, you perverted vampire!"
Phaga's mouth twitched as he muttered under his breath, "I haven't even looked yet and I'm already a pervert…"
But there was nothing he could do. Ellen had sealed herself in so tightly that whether he wanted to peek or not, he had no choice but to behave like a gentleman.
After neatly folding her clothes, Phaga brought them over to the bulging lump of blanket. He gave the tall, upright tail sticking out a light pat and chuckled.
"Hey. Clothes are here."
Almost instantly, a shark tail shot out from under the blanket, hooked the clothes, and vanished again—start to finish in under a second. By the time Phaga turned his head, there was nothing to see.
"…That fast."
Phaga's lips twitched again. He silently found his own clothes and changed quickly.
Less than three minutes later, he stood up.
When he glanced back, the lump of blanket on the bed was still wriggling nonstop. Clearly, Ellen still hadn't finished getting dressed.
Shaking his head, Phaga slipped on his shoes and headed for the door.
With a click of the lock, sunlight poured in. The Outer Ring sun was always warm—autumn or not.
Though perhaps because of the lack of water, the wind in the Outer Ring was exceptionally dry. When it blew across your face, it felt like someone had smeared sand all over you.
Maybe that was the real purpose of washing your face—to get more water on your skin so more sand would stick. That way, when the wind hit, it wouldn't hurt as much.
It even helped keep mosquitoes away.
Although… the Outer Ring probably didn't have those kinds of biting creatures anyway.
Wait.
Phaga turned his head and looked back.
There was definitely one on the bed.
"Ellen, I'm going to get breakfast. Take your time—no rush."
After calling that out, Phaga stepped outside.
Not long after, a faint voice drifted out from under the blanket.
"Okay… I want cold noodle soup."
"They don't have that in the Outer Ring. And your stomach's not great—eat less cold stuff."
"Oh, and your perverted vampire is gone. You can crawl out and change now."
Phaga shook his head and gently pulled the door shut.
Creak—thud!
The instant the lock clicked, Ellen suddenly popped her head out from under the blanket. Her eyes were dull and unfocused, her lips pouting. Her smooth, pale arms stretched straight forward, fingers cracking loudly as if she wanted to strangle someone, her tone full of displeasure.
"Zero sense of romance. What a waste of a good-looking face. Serves you right that no girls chase after you!"
"Hmph!"
…
"Two hot dog buns and two cups of hot milk, please."
Phaga glanced at the menu, then slapped his bank card down on the counter.
"Alright. Please wait a moment."
After swiping the card, Kasa—the owner of Cheesetopia—immediately turned away. From start to finish, he didn't dare raise his head, and by the end he practically fled the counter.
It left Phaga feeling baffled. He scratched his head.
What's with that guy? His face was bright red.
He thought about it for a moment, but couldn't come up with an answer.
So he gave up thinking altogether, picked a seat at random, and pulled out his phone.
The moment he did, an incoming call popped up.
The Class President?
Phaga raised an eyebrow and answered.
"Hello?"
"Phaga, where are you? Have you eaten yet? If not, I'll treat you to duck congee made by the gentlest maid sister in the world!"
"…What?"
Phaga was completely stunned.
The gentlest maid sister's cooking?
Wait.
Don't tell me it's the one I'm thinking of.
His hand twitched uncontrollably. He hadn't eaten anything since waking up—hadn't even had water.
Yet his stomach suddenly cramped, and a deeply unpleasant memory surfaced.
"Hey, you don't know? Your guardian—the world's most beautiful, purest being, Rina! After Ruby ate the porridge she made, she got so excited she started twitching all over and even blowing bubbles!"
"That's poisoning, you idiot!"
Phaga shot to his feet. The innocent chair screeched as it slid back, drawing startled looks from the other Cheesetopia customers.
Even Ellen—who had just finished changing and arrived late—froze in surprise.
She rarely saw Phaga this flustered. She hurried over, tugged his sleeve, and asked softly, "What happened? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. But your best friend might not be."
Phaga gave a quick explanation, then turned and headed for the exit.
"Hey—wait! Your hot dogs and hot milk!"
Kasa had just come out of the kitchen with the tray when he saw the customer already leaving.
Ellen glanced over, recognized the order as Phaga's, and helped Kasa set the tray down.
"Could you get us two bags? We'll take it to go. He already paid, right?"
"Y-yes… he's already paid. I'll get the bags."
Meanwhile, Phaga stepped outside and moved to a quieter spot to continue the call.
"What about you? Are you okay?"
The Class President's voice quickly came through the phone.
"Okay? How could I not be okay? Look, Phaga! There are goddess big sister's stockings flying in the sky! And they're white!"
"…Those are clouds. What kind of mushrooms did you eat?"
Phaga pinched the bridge of his nose, at a loss for words.
Good news: he finally had a clear picture of the Class President's condition.
Bad news: the situation didn't seem great at all.
Suddenly, his hand froze.
He remembered something and asked suspiciously, "Wait. That duck congee you mentioned earlier—are there even ducks in the Outer Ring?"
Phaga clearly remembered that when he first went to see Pompey, the table had more than just hotpot. There were several cooked dishes as well, and they looked no worse than anything in the city.
But among all of them, there had been no duck.
If he remembered correctly, that ingredient wasn't exactly common in the Outer Ring.
"Huh? You didn't know? There are lots of ducks in the Outer Ring! They're small, black, love playing with their little pincers in the sand, and their tails are curved and stick way up!"
Pincers. Curved tails.
That's a scorpion, damn it!
Rina put scorpions in the porridge?!
"Hehe, Phaga. Ruby and I are at Executive Khors' place right now. Miss Rina and Mr. Big White Wolf are both here. Mr. White Wolf being naughty—he absolutely refused to eat Rina's food and found an excuse to slip away."
"So there's still some duck congee left. Want to come over and have some?