“I am back!”

Atsuku announced his presence loudly as he entered his apartment with Yamada and Rio. All of them were holding big paper bags in each hand filled with food that they had ransacked from some restaurant on their way back.

It was their loot and rewards after successfully assimilating with the Devil. Similar to a game, Atsuku had the rule to reward himself every time he survived the countdown so he wouldn’t get crazy. He was a broken man, but he wasn’t crazy in the literal sense.

When he stepped into the living room with two couches and a long table between them, Gaia exited his room with a stoic expression.

“Welcome back, John. Ah, no, Atsuku.”

“Yo. I brought some food.” Atsuku put the two paper bags in his hand on the table.

At that moment, Yamada and Rio froze, totally not expecting someone to be in Atsuku’s house. The bag in Rio’s hands fell to the floor as she jumped to Atsuku, shaking him.

“W-W-Who is that, Atsuku?!” She pointed at Gaia, who had already approached the table, and looked inside the paper bag.

“She’s Gaia. Didn’t I tell you that Gaia was the one who told me about the countdown an hour prior to it appearing?”

“You did, but you never told me that Gaia was a sexy woman with a pretty face and voluptuous body!” Rio raised her voice loudly.

“Indeed. I initially thought Gaia that you meant was the voice of the world inside your head, not someone like her. I was surprised too.” Yamada recovered from the shock and put his paper bag on the table. “Ah, nice to meet you.” He then greeted Gaia with a smile.

Gaia nodded her head slightly at Yamada’s greeting. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

“It doesn’t matter, right? We can get the Devil that we wanted thanks to her information.” Atsuku pushed Rio away gently as he said that. “Also, she only stayed here temporarily. I plan to move out of the apartment tomorrow.”

“Huh? Why?” Rio asked as she sat on the couch. She looked at Atsuku curiously while Yamada and Gaia took the food, such as fried chicken, burger, and nuggets, out and spread it on the table. The drinks were cola and orange juices, two staple drinks for fast food.

Of course, the blonde boy also took the one that Rio had dropped earlier.

“Is there any serious reason?” Rio continued.

“There is one obvious reason.” Atsuku sat beside Rio.

Across from him, Yamada was also sitting down with Gaia beside her. As expected from Yamada, he knew that his sister was still in a dangerous phase, so he purposely sat with Gaia to avoid her sister from getting jealous.

“This place is too high. I don’t want to live in a place where I can’t go out at any time. It is dangerous now. We don’t know what kind of trial is going on outside, so I want to live in a place with a strategic location. So I am thinking of returning to my home.”

Although Atsuku said that casually, Yamada and Rio opened their eyes wide in surprise. Gaia didn’t know anything, so she slowly ate the food, like a hamster.

“Hey, are you serious, Atsuku?” Yamada asked seriously as he took a piece of nugged from the table and munched it in one go. “Didn’t you run from that house to write a novel? I mean, we even moved to this place to accompany you. Now you want to return back?”

“Yes! You will not be able to move freely if you return to that house, you know? You will be forced to inherit your family business! Do you want to leave us after everything we’ve done together?” Rio added as she held Atsuku’s lap.

“That’s what I want. I need them, so I will return to my home. Also, I am not saying that we can’t stay together. We can all stay in that house.”

‘I need them after all. Not everyone in my house can be trusted too.’ Atsuku added inside his mind.

“I see…” Rio backed away with a smile. “Hehehe, living in Atsuku’s house. I like that.” She murmured quietly.

“If that’s what you decide, then I will contact my father too. It will make things easier, no? I want to make sure they are okay in that place. Also, I can talk to him about Devils, right? I will ask him to tell your family too.” Yamada said, taking out his phone.

Atsuku nodded, “Thanks. That helps a lot, but I think that girl also read my novel, so my family won’t be a problem.”

“Ah, right. But I think my father will inform your family anyway. My father and your mother are drinking buddies, after all.”

“Hahaha, yeah. I can imagine that.”

His family was a bit special, just like Yamada’s family. Yamada’s full name was Gualtiero Yamada, while Rio was Gualtiero Rio. But in Japan, he was called Fueguchi Yamada and Fueguchi Rio, respectively, taking his mother’s family name.

Their family was a cartel based in America. Their father sent Yamada and Rio to Japan with their mothers to form a friendly relationship with Atsuku’s family. In fact, the siblings weren’t too close to Atsuku at first, but they eventually got close enough like this.

Rio gobbled down the food on the side, and Atsuku also ate some while waiting for Yamada to finish texting his father. By far, Gaia was the one who ate the most, surprising Rio.

They began to talk about Atsuku and reached some kind of understanding. Rio had determined that Gaia wasn’t dangerous.

Atsuku smiled, seeing them being close. Their existences were necessary for the future, so he would like it if they didn’t have any bad blood. Thankfully, Gaia was a passive, stoic type of girl, so Rio didn’t feel her position by Atsuku’s side being threatened.

“Alright, done! We just need to wait for the reply.” Yamada exclaimed, then raised his head, seeing that the food on the table had decreased considerably. “Hey! You guys ate too much!” He protested.

“Hahaha, you took too long, brother. Of course, we will eat without you, right, Gaia?” Rio smiled at Gaia, to which the platinum-haired girl responded with a nod.

“Yes. My body needs some nutrition, so I partake in the food without waiting for Yamada.”

“You girls… Sigh…” Yamada let out a sigh as he ruffled his hair. Then, he suddenly grinned, took two burgers from the table, and shouted. “I just need to eat more in that case!”

The group then continued to eat, celebrating their success. The food on the table was gone in just 30 minutes. It was because they needed some energy to replace what they spent by assimilating with the Devil.

It was like a muscle cramp. They didn’t realize that they were exhausted just by the assimilation process. The only one fine among the group was Gaia. Even Atsuku wasn’t the exception; he was exhausted but not as bad as Yamada and Rio.

The sibling fell asleep as soon as they lowered their guard. Yamada slept on the couch while Atsuku carried Rio to his room and put her on his bed. Gently, he grabbed the bed sheet and put it on top of Rio.

“Unn… Atsuku…” Rio talked in her sleep, which made Atsuku smile.

“Just rest for today. You’ve done enough.” He muttered as he slowly exited his room.

Outside, Gaia was waiting for him as she leaned her back against the wall.

“You’re going?” She asked. Her stoic expression fell from her face, replaced with a worried gaze. “Have you recovered enough?”

“Yeah. The countdown almost hit 0, so I need to take care of something first.”

“Indeed. While you didn’t write it in that novel of yours, you realized its existence later in life. Be careful, Atsuku. Take this before you go.” Gaia extended her hand, dropping a simple black earring on his open palm.

He looked at it before looking at Gaia, confused. “What is this?”

“Your space storage. I managed to recover it from Fantasia and remake it into an earring. You will need it.”

Atsuku grinned widely as he clenched his hand, “Thanks. Are all my items in this storage?”

“No. But your favorite one is still inside. I believe there are still around 100 boxes left.”

“Haha, that’s enough. Anyway, thanks for this. Take care of them while I am gone.”

Atsuku walked away to the exit without turning around anymore. He put the earring on his left ear and closed the door of his apartment.

Gaia looked at his disappearing back with a soft smile as she muttered, “Yes. May Arcane bless you, John.”