The closest food stand was on the ground floor, near the exit to the courtyard. It was a small counter with two people working and a chalkboard with handwritten options. There was a short line of students waiting.

Takeshi checked the chalkboard.

"What do you want?"

Nyx looked at the options.

"Anything is fine."

"Don’t worry about the money."

Nyx blushed and pointed to a sandwich on the list, almost whispering.

"That one."

Takeshi ordered two, plus two bottles of water. He paid and took the bag. He looked for an empty table in the courtyard area just outside the counter. There were a few available toward the back, away from the larger group of students.

They sat facing each other.

Nyx took her sandwich and started eating it without saying anything. Takeshi did the same for a moment. The courtyard had enough noise around them that the silence between the two of them wasn’t obvious.

After a while, Takeshi set his sandwich down on the table.

"Can I ask you something about your family?"

Nyx looked at him.

"Yes..."

"This morning you said they see you as a disgrace, and Sylion said something before leaving about how I don’t know who I’m protecting."

Takeshi paused.

"I’m not asking you to explain everything to me if you don’t want to, but I do want to understand your situation."

Nyx held the water bottle with both hands and looked at the table for a moment. Then she spoke.

"When I was born, my mother died."

She said it directly, with no change in her tone.

"It wasn’t something anyone could have avoided, according to the doctors, but that doesn’t change what happened."

Takeshi said nothing and waited.

"My brother was four years old when that happened. We’re children of the same mother, so for him, it was losing her at the same moment I arrived."

Nyx took a sip of water.

"I don’t know exactly when he decided I was responsible for that, but over the years, it became clear that was how he saw it."

"And your father?"

"My father took longer."

Nyx set the bottle on the table.

"He always treated me with respect and loved me even after the loss of Mom, until he remarried."

"The new wife changed something?"

"Little by little."

Nyx looked toward a spot in the courtyard without focusing on anything specific.

"It wasn’t immediate. It was more like an accumulation of things over time. My father started treating me differently without me realizing it."

"When did you realize what was happening?"

"When enough time had already passed for the damage to be done."

Nyx lowered her gaze to the table.

"I tried talking to my father directly and explained what I was noticing, what I believed was happening. I asked him to pay attention to the situation."

"And he?"

"He listened to me, or at least he seemed to."

She paused.

"Then he told me I was exaggerating and that the problem was my attitude toward the family."

Nyx picked up the sandwich but didn’t bite it.

"A week later, they told me to leave the house."

Takeshi looked at her.

"And since then, you haven’t seen him again?"

"No."

She said it without hesitating.

"He doesn’t even ask about me."

The courtyard continued with its usual noise around them. A group of students at a nearby table was laughing about something. Takeshi ignored them.

Nyx looked at the sandwich in her hand and set it down on the table.

"There’s something I learned pretty quickly when I left home."

She paused briefly.

"That the things that happened to me don’t get much sympathy when people know my family’s situation. It’s easier to assume that if you were kicked out, it was because you did something to deserve it."

"Do you think you deserved it?"

Nyx didn’t answer right away.

"Sometimes I think maybe I did".

She answered, her voice almost breaking.

Takeshi looked at her.

"That’s not true."

Nyx raised her gaze.

"What they did to you wasn’t a consequence of something you did wrong".

Takeshi said.

"Your mother’s death isn’t something you had control over, and the fact that your father made the decisions he made doesn’t mean you truly deserved it."

Nyx said nothing and looked at him with an expression of surprise and confusion.

"I don’t know how all of this is going to continue with your family and with the situation Merwyn explained to us..." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Takeshi continued.

"But what I do know is that if at any point you need someone to be there when things get complicated, I’ll be there to support you."

Nyx frowned slightly.

"That’s going to bring you trouble. Sylion already knows your name."

"I’ll handle that."

"It’s not that simple."

"I know it’s not simple."

Takeshi held her gaze.

"But that’s what supporting someone is about."

Nyx looked at him for a moment without saying anything. Then she lowered her gaze to the table again.

Takeshi had nothing else to add.

A few seconds later, Nyx got up from her chair, walked around the table, and hugged him.

It wasn’t a slow or tentative movement. It was direct, with both arms around his shoulders and her head tilted to one side. Takeshi didn’t react immediately. He processed what was happening for a second and then stayed still, without pulling away.

He could feel Nyx’s shoulders moving slightly. She was crying in silence.

Takeshi looked straight ahead without moving.

’She’s probably never had anyone she trusted enough to vent to... I guess I’m her first friend...’

The chat appeared at the edge of his field of vision.

[Just kiss already]

[Another one for the harem]

[I’m gonna cry]

[We need to see what Aoi thinks about this]

[So when’s the wedding?]

Suddenly, the sound of the confetti cannon rang out.

[You have received an Ice Cola from Thatperson: little by little you’re building an arsenal to fight the god]

’What the hell is an Ice Cola!?’

The hug lasted a moment longer, and then Nyx pulled away. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and returned to her chair. She took the water bottle and drank a long sip.

Neither of them said anything for a moment.

After finishing their food, they picked up the bag with the bottles and got up from the table.

When they left the courtyard area and entered the interior hallway, Aoi was standing beside the wall across from them. She had her backpack on her shoulder and looked at them as soon as she saw them come out.

Her gaze went from Takeshi to Nyx and then back to Takeshi.

"Where were you?"

She asked.

"Having lunch".

They both answered at the same time, which made both of them blush.

Aoi looked at both of them, saw the empty bag Takeshi had in his hand, and then looked back at them.

She opened her mouth to say something, but the bell rang.

The hallway filled with moving students in a matter of seconds. Aoi closed her mouth, looked at Takeshi one more time with an unfriendly expression, turned, and took the hallway toward the north wing.

Takeshi followed her while Nyx took the hallway in the opposite direction toward her own classroom.

Takeshi checked Aoi’s stats as he walked behind her.

[AOI MIZUHARA]

[Life: 100%]

[Sanity: 20%]

[Trust: 50%]

’Oh, shit’.