The lock on door 301 turned with a dry click.
Kaito's apartment was exactly what Mai would have expected from someone whose entire personality was "problematic." It was sterile. There were no decorations, no photos. Just a small TV on the floor, a game console beside it, a modest bookshelf, and, in the center of the room, a single, large, gray beanbag chair.
Kaito didn't play the host. He didn't offer her a seat. He simply walked to the small kitchen, placed the bag of eggs and bread on the counter, and washed his hands at the sink.
Mai stood in the entryway for a moment, her shoulders slumped. The bottle of iced tea was still in her hand. She was exhausted, starving, and now she was in the apartment of the logical idiot who had broken her world and then offered to make her scrambled eggs as an apology.
She looked at the beanbag chair. It was the only inviting place in the entire room.
Her pride told her to stand. Her legs, shaking from hunger and exhaustion, told her to sit.
The legs won.
She walked slowly and sank into the beanbag. It was like being swallowed by a cloud. The relief was so instantaneous she almost moaned. The weariness from days of poor sleep and almost no food hit her like a wave.
From the kitchen, she heard the sound of a drawer opening, the clack of a bowl, the crack of eggs being broken.
Kaito was cooking. In silence. He was methodical, his movements minimal and efficient.
Mai just watched. She was too tired to be scared, too hungry to be angry. She was in a limbo, anchored only by the sound of someone making food for her.
Mai's affinity, which had been at -50, had climbed to -30 when she followed him. Now, as she rested in (relative) safety and the smell of cooking eggs began to fill the apartment, the status bar in Kaito's vision slowly ticked up.
[Affinity (Mai Sakurajima): -25...] [Affinity (Mai Sakurajima): -20...]
And that's when Fia couldn't take it anymore.
"Kaito! It's working!"
The Goddess materialized next to the kitchen counter, vibrating with contained excitement. She wasn't yelling, to her credit, but she was whispering in a high-pitched tone that Kaito found equally annoying.
Kaito, who was stirring the eggs in a small pan, didn't turn. "Fia. Silence. I'm cooking."
"But Kaito! She's here!" Fia floated out of the kitchen, drifting closer to the beanbag where Mai was resting with her eyes closed. "She's in your apartment! This is a 'Dinner Event'! This is worth at least 30 Bond Points if you don't screw it up!"
Mai felt a sudden cold draft, as if someone had opened a window, but Kaito was still at the stove. She opened her eyes, frowning.
"She's so pretty!" Fia whispered, circling the beanbag like a pink shark. "Even pale and looking like she's about to pass out! Kaito, look at her bone structure! It's perfect! And her hair... it looks so silky!"
Fia leaned dangerously close to Mai's face. Mai instinctively pulled back, even though she couldn't see anything.
"Kaito, does the System allow 'guide-on-target tactile contact'?" Fia asked, her spectral hand hovering over Mai's hair. "I just want to see if it's real..."
"Fia."
Kaito's voice cut through the silence. He had turned off the stove and was looking over his shoulder, not at Mai, but at the empty space three feet to her left.
"Stop being weird," he said, his monotone laced with irritation. "And no, you can't touch her hair."
Mai froze.
She looked at Kaito. He was staring at the air and talking to it. Talking to the air as if the air had just asked to touch her hair.
"Who... who are you talking to?" Mai asked, her voice faint and hoarse.
Kaito sighed, the sound of someone whose last nerve was being stomped on. He turned, grabbed two plates (the only two plates in his drying rack), and divided the scrambled eggs.
"The System-Goddess," he answered, bluntly. "Fia. The annoying one. The one I mentioned earlier."
"I am not annoying!" Fia protested, popping up next to Kaito and crossing her arms, indignant. "I am the Divine Guide! Tell her I'm adorable and helpful!"
Kaito grabbed two forks. "She says she's adorable and helpful. She's wrong."
He walked over to Mai and held out one of the plates. The warm, buttery smell of the eggs made Mai's stomach rumble loudly, a sound that made her blush fiercely, even while "invisible."
"She can't see or hear you, Fia," Kaito muttered to the air beside him. "You're creeping out the guest."
"But she's Mai Sakurajima!" Fia was now in full fangirl mode, bouncing in place. "I'm a huge fan of her work! especially that 'Sweet Afternoon' drama! Kaito, you brought a celebrity to your apartment! You're amazing!"
"I didn't 'bring' her," Kaito growled. "I was blackmailed by the System to avoid a 'painful reversal'."
Mai took the plate. Her hands were shaking so badly she almost dropped it. She looked from Kaito—who was having a heated argument with nothing—to the plate of simple scrambled eggs.
The situation was the most surreal thing she had ever experienced. And that included turning invisible.
"Ignore the voice in my head," Kaito said, sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall with his own plate. "She's a fan. Eat."
[Emergency Mission: 'Forced Dinner' COMPLETE!] [Reward: +25 Bond Points. 'Painful Reversal' penalty averted.] [Affinity (Mai Sakurajima): -10 (Status: Wary)]
Mai looked at Kaito, who was now eating his eggs while occasionally telling his bowl to "Shut up, Fia."
She was too hungry to question it. She picked up the fork and took the first bite.
The eggs were... just eggs. A little overcooked. But they were the most real, substantial food she had tasted in days. She ate, and every bite seemed to bring a little of her color back.
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