Kairos looked at Tiana strangely.
“Alright. Well, it was just an offer.”
In response, Tiana pouted.
“Why did you offer to be a friend to me of all people?”
Kairos rolled his eyes.
“Well, for starters, I don’t think you’re a bad person. And second, I kinda felt you were isolated. I don’t know, maybe you just wanted someone to talk to.”
Tiana paused.
“Well, I feel insulted.”
Kairos let out a small sigh.
“My bad then.”
Tiana pressed her lips together.
“Well, I guess I can kinda take your offer.”
Kairos blinked a few times.
“What in the world is that supposed to mean?”
Tiana tilted her head to the side.
“Like… half friends. How does that sound?”
Kairos stared at her blankly.
“I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean, but if that’s what you want, sure.”
Tiana smiled after hearing that.
“It’s not that complicated! Like just think of friends, but then half of that.”
Kairos rolled his eyes.
“You only made me more confused.”
Tiana clicked her tongue.
“Come on, just think about it a little.”
Kairos’ eyelid twitched. He attempted to think about it, but really didn’t understand how a friendship could be halved, when it wasn’t really a quantitative thing.
As for Tiana, she didn’t really understand what she was talking about either, so she just put up a strong front and pretended she perfectly understood.
By now, the two of them were close to reaching the ground floor.
Noticing this, Tiana spoke an offhand comment.
“Just think about what it means. I’ll talk to you later.”
Kairos took a deep breath.
“Alright then.”
Though, despite saying that, he didn’t really plan to think about something like that. It was basically a concept Tiana made up, so chances were only she really understood.
He then went to his own room while Tiana did the same.
Upon entering her room, she contemplated her weird actions. She gradually began to realize that being friends with Kairos strangely made her feel quite painful. Yet, at the same time, she also really did want to be friends with him.
It was perhaps that strange dynamic that she had to label their relationship as half friends.
As for Kairos, he took a quick shower and changed into new dry clothes. From there, he searched his room until he found some paper and a fountain pen. From there, he began drawing diagrams of how he saw the mana flow while casting spells.
Though Kairos wasn’t sure if that would be helpful, he decided to try anyway.
Since he saw things twice with his future vision, it wasn’t too difficult for him to recall the memories of what happened not too long ago. That let him make relatively detailed diagrams.
Unfortunately, one tiny problem was that Kairos was pretty bad at drawing. As such, he found himself frequently needing to discard what he had drawn due to it essentially being inaccurate. These inaccuracies wouldn’t actually be noticed until he had gotten quite far in drawing, which was quite frustrating.
In the end, he became more and more careful with how he drew.
Time quickly passed as he toiled away.
Then soon enough, he finally finished a diagram he was more or less satisfied with for the basic pulse spell, which was also the easiest one to draw. But by now, it was already night.
Kairos deliberated over it for a moment before deciding that sleep was unnecessary due to the high stats he had. At least, not for now.
And so, he continued drawing as it got dark. Using two candles he had found for light, Kairos continually worked at it. He felt the sun gradually rise, which was only notable because the light coming from his window gradually brightened.
In the middle of his drawing, he heard a knock on the door.
He set it down without too much hesitation and got over to the door to answer it.
And on the other side, was Nicole.
She scratched the side of her cheek.
“Um, some of us got enough points to rank up. Do you think we should do it?”
Kairos rubbed his chin.
“Were there any difficulties when you tried to kill those monsters earlier?”
Nicole shook her head.
“Um, it felt even easier than last time, because we kinda knew what to expect. None of us was really a clear leader, but we all made suggestions when we felt it was right and it mostly worked out in the end.”
The way she had put it made Kairos a little curious, but not curious enough to ask.
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, if there are no difficulties, then there’s no need to rank up so quickly. Getting points at a higher rank is far more difficult, so I would take advantage of this while you guys can.”
Nicole nodded.
“Ok.”
There was a moment of silence. Nicole had finished with what she needed to say, but wasn’t willing to leave just yet.
She cleared her throat.
“U-Um, could I come in?”
Kairos had an inkling that Nicole didn’t have any real business here, but in the end he relented.
“Alright, sure.”
He stepped out of the way, and Nicole timidly stepped in, almost like this was actually her first time being here.
She followed Kairos, who just decided to sit on the couch, prompting her to follow suit next to him.
Nicole turned to look at him.
“You… took a shower.”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“I was testing spells, and one of them was the water spell. I got all of my clothes wet in the process, so I decided to take a shower.”
Nicole slowly nodded.
“I-I see.”
There was a brief moment of silence. Nicole furrowed her brow slightly.
“Um, but didn’t you say that you were trying to save up mana?”
Kairos nodded.
“That was the original plan, but it turns out that Tiana can use some sort of ability to give me mana. I’m not sure about the cost, but she didn’t seem that unwilling to use it.”
Nicole’s eyes brightened up slightly.
“So… that means you can come with us?”
Kairos let out a soft sigh.
“Perhaps, but it sounds like you all have it handled, so maybe it’s not necessary.”
After he said that, Nicole proceeded to hold onto his arm.
“…But I really want you to come with us. What if something bad happens? We will need your help.”
Kairos blinked a few times. She did have a point. Although everything was fine last time, that didn’t mean they could just push their luck again and again. If he told all of them to remain at the E rank so that they could gather more points, it would also leave them in danger if something truly dangerous did happen.
Kairos let out a helpless sigh.
“Alright, I will join you guys from now on.”
Nicole smiled brightly before burying her head onto his shoulder.
Another thing that Kairos had thought about was that he could observe how mana flowed when other people casted spells, allowing him to make more sense out of things.
Thus it wasn’t really a waste of time for him either.
Nicole suddenly retracted, before clasping her hands together tightly.
“Um, I will be gone for just a moment!”
Kairos raised an eyebrow.
“Alright.”
He assumed she needed to use the washroom.
Once she left, Kairos realized that he was getting really hungry, thus began eating a lot of the readily available stuff he could find.
After roughly an hour had passed, there was once again a knock on the door.
Kairos went to answer it promptly, and behind the door was Nicole once more. Except this time, she had clearly taken a shower, and put on a change of clothes.
Kairos smiled bitterly.
“You didn’t have to be concerned about how you smelled. Weren’t you the one that said we should get used to bad smells?”
Nicole was already blushing by the time the door opened, but only did so harder after he said that.
“W-Well, it’s still not good to neglect showering all the time! Hygiene is important…”
She brushed her hair.
“Plus, it was really uncomfortable with how rough my hair was getting.”
Kairos nodded.
“Alright, alright.”
Nicole stepped in and closed the door behind her before grabbing onto Kairos and bringing him to the couch once more.
They were once again seated there. Nicole spoke up rather quickly this time.
“Um, can we hug?”
Kairos sighed.
“It’s pretty weird for two friends to be hugging all the time, right?”
Nicole puffed her cheeks up.
“No! That’s totally normal! I’ve seen so many people like that.”
Kairos let out a light chuckle.
“Alright.”
Before he could even reach his arms towards her, Nicole had already clambered on top of him before wrapping her arms around him tightly.
Kairos was slightly taken aback by how different it felt compared to the last time. Because of how dirty the two of them were before, the contact between them was quite rough, and the smell was also a little off-putting.
Kairos was able to put up with it until he fell asleep last time, but now, he was overwhelmed almost instantly. The smoothness of skin wasn’t something he was used to, making him feel quite uncomfortable. On top of that, the smell of shampoo from Nicole was very clear, along with her natural scent.
Kairos realized now why Nicole wanted to shower. Although it was only relative cleanliness, that got in the way of their contact considerably. At the realization of this face, he regretted taking a shower. He would rather stab himself in the liver than experience this discomfort.
On the other hand, Nicole’s embrace was only getting tighter, which quickly made Kairos feel more alarmed.
After perhaps only thirty seconds, he spoke up.
“Um, Nicole?”
Nicole had her eyes closed and muttered in response.
“Mm?”
The corner of Kairos’ lip twitched.
“Er, could you get off of me for a second?”
Nicole pouted slightly.
“Why?”
Kairos took a deep breath.
“Um, there’s something I want to talk about.”
Nicole muttered in acknowledgment.
“Then just tell me like this.”
Kairos pressed his lips together.
“…It’s something that will only work if you get off me.”
Nicole furrowed her brows.
“…Ok.”
After a few seconds, she reluctantly got off of him and sat down next to him. There was a drowsy expression on her face, like she could fall asleep at any time now.
“What is it?”
Kairos didn’t respond immediately. He really didn’t want to say that he just wanted her to get off of him. Though he wasn’t sure why, he felt that it would hurt his pride in some way. And perhaps more than that, he was sure that it would make Nicole cautious around him, which was also something he didn’t want, as he knew Nicole was the type to overthink things.
Kairos’ thoughts quickly raced. Dots began connecting one after another as he gradually came to an excuse.
“I can see mana.”
Nicole rubbed her eyes, and gradually shook off her sleepiness.
“Hm? What do you mean?”
Kairos coughed.
“Er, I would like to see how mana moves around in your body when you cast the spell that makes you invisible.”
Nicole blinked a few times.
“Um, ok. It will take a little bit before it activates though.”
Kairos nodded.
“That’s not a problem.”
With that, he stared at her intently, while Nicole began casting the spell.
Yet, while Kairos was originally just feeling relief from being saved with a believable excuse, his eyes widened in surprise.
“Are you casting the spell right now?
Nicole blinked a few times.
“Um, yes? Why do you ask?”
Kairos took a deep breath.
“…Do you feel any strong emotions right now?
Nicole stammered.
“E-Eh? What is that supposed to mean?”
She began blushing.
As for Kairos, he sucked in a cold breath.
His new discovery would mean that learning how to cast spells was even harder than he originally thought.