房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

*click* *rustle*

"..."

Zoemi woke up immediately upon catching the sound of someone sneaking into his bedroom.

It was still the middle of the night, or even barely the middle. Actually, there was over an hour left until midnight.

And that very brave burglar opened the door using a key, at least judging by the smooth sound the lock made. The idea that it was Aspakeony, her light puppet Moxeoni, or Kierul – since those were the three that could have legitimate access to the spare keys and could possibly want something from him...

Although the red-haired girl was automatically out of the list even though Zoemi himself gave her the key to his bedroom. The reason for that certainty was simple – thanks to his copy being on guard the black-haired attendant could see his master peacefully getting her beauty sleep in her own bed.

Zoemi was already familiar with the sound of Moxeoni's footsteps, and he could tell that the intruder was shorter than her, which also eliminated the possibility of her being the one.

Still, just by the vague sound alone it still could be Aspakeony, she was shorter than her gold-haired corpse puppet and definitely had access to every key in the entire building.

Still, in case it wasn't her either and instead it was someone with some bad intentions, even if Zoemi didn't wake up most attacks would fail since the scarred attendant kept at least the law of Aries and the law of Sagittarius active to prevent any sort of outside influence.

The outsider gulped down their saliva and stopped next to Zoemi's bed. The black-haired boy stayed quiet acting as if he was still asleep.

"...it really is you..."

"...?"

The intruder whispered quietly in a trembling voice making Zoemi surprised.

It was a girl but not Aspakeony, that's for sure, instead, it was...

*rustle*

To Zoemi's surprise, the girl actually snuck into his bed. Not just laying beside him but straight up getting in the sheets!

"What happened to you...? you disappeared and we could not find you anywhere... I was so worried... and Leveo and mom too... and of course your dad... Thanks to Roiso we knew you weren't dead, and she even came in contact with young lady Espine and she said that you were hiding under the name of Aku as the attendant of young lady Helterose... We all wanted to contact you but the Tallaran territory was in great danger and a huge mess. And then everyone said that young lady Helterose and you died in a fire and then all the attacks on the Helterose family members started and... I'm sorry... I... I thought you died... Young lady Espine and Roiso always believed in you but I just tried to forget about you... and now... you are here..."

...the girl began talking, and not just any pillow talk either – she was pouring her heart out as if Zoemi's bed was a confessional and she was a sinner yearning for absolution.

And it was none other than the variant metal attribute magician, Teofee Tallaran, the very same girl who confronted Zoemi after the cafeteria accident.

|Huh. So she did know me from before... and did she just say something about a father? Now, this is an awkward situation...|

The black-haired boy thought to himself trying to keep an expressionless face. The room was dark but Zoemi himself placed his bed in such a way that the star and moonlight would shine on his face – it might or might not have something to do with him being the star power user, even though he wasn't quite sure.

"...what happened o you...?"

Teofee repeated herself and Zoemi could feel her getting closer to him and inspecting his face from up close focusing on the exposed jawbones and teeth.

For the obvious reason of being annoying and uncomfortable, Zoemi would always ley on the healthy left side of his head, mainly to prevent an overflow of saliva from escaping through the nonexistent cheek.

"I knew it... we should have tried to talk you out of participating in the knight training... just look at you... You could easily brush off most fire spells... if you weren't taken by surprise by someone you trusted, this had no chance of ever happening."

"..."

|Excuse me...?|

Teofee continued in a hushed voice and said something that made Zoemi's heart skip a beat, but not in a good sense.

"You know, the first version that the Victureo family tried to push on the Perserios family was that Cat went mad and killed everyone, but after realizing that keeping up that version would be too bothersome, they switched to claiming that it was a monster that descended the mountains... Why didn't you return to us? Were you worried that we would not take your side? Or were you trying to protect us from messing with the high noble families...? ...stupid..."

The short girl breathed out and her voice broke as she hurriedly wiped off the tears that began forming in the corner of her eyes.

"..."

"Zo... AH...!"

The black-haired boy had too many questions to continue playing asleep so he opened his eyes and made eye contact with Teofee the moment she composed herself enough to speak again.

"!!!"

The brown-haired girl immediately turned red from embarrassment and hid...

Yes. She went into hiding instead of getting out of bed. And the spot she chose as the place of her exodus was... beneath the blanket.

She also curled into a cute little ball, but that made her position, even more, compromising for certain reasons...

"...umm... this is kind of awkward, young lady, but if you don't want to get your eye accidentally poked out, you might reconsider getting so close to my abdomen."

"...eh...?

Zoemi closed his eyes and groaned in disbelief over the situation and a muffled voice of confusion responded to his statement...

"What do you...?"

...followed by a confused murmur...

"!!!"

...followed by a panicky rustling upon Teofee getting a bit too close to the reason for cautiousness she was warned about...

*thump*

"...gyuh...!"

For once the metal magician rushed to leave the bed, falling out from the die of it and plopping on the floor with a pitiful squeak.

"Before you accuse me of anything, this didn't happen because of you, I simply connected with a copy that was in a compromising situation so that I could ask some questions, and the sensation was shared."

Zoemi sat up carefully hiding his lower body with the strategic blanket formation and began to explain himself.

"I was told there would be a line drawn with how far things would go, but let me tell you that several lines were breached, for example, sweet Guide, I never even considered that you can... ehem. Never mind that."

The black-haired boy realized a bit too late that he was oversharing and hurriedly let out a fake cough to stop himself.

"Anyway. Young lady Tallaran, I happened to hear your heartful speech. I have several questions but one of the most pressing ones is – where did you get the keys to my room? I sure hope that the spares aren't just available in some easy-access place. I might be an easy man but even I have some boundaries."

Zoemi breathed out and said lightheartedly trying to erase his earlier comments from Teveo's memory by speaking whatever came to his mind.

"Zoemi, I...! Wait... what do you mean by – an easy man - ? Like... a male escort...?"

The short brown-haired girl gasped before furrowing her brows in shock – catching the hook line and the sinker of the black-haired boy's distraction and whispering in an embarrassing voice.

"Well, yeah...? Putting it very lightly... According to my master at least."

Zoemi's eyes drifted to the side as he nodded awkwardly.

"M-master...?!"

"..."

Teofee gasped, covering her face with both hands and gazing at the momentary unaware boy through the spaces between her fingers...

"Yes, my mas... Not that kind of master! Oh my Guide, I swear, I should have expected you to be like this since you snuck into my bed as if it was nothing!"

Seeing her all flustered like that made Zoemi realize what she must have been thinking and he groaned in disbelief, rolling his eyes before falling back down on his pillow.

"...I am completely normal... besides, when we were younger we did sleep together...!"

The short brown-haired girl lowered her head and mumbled defensively.

"Did we?"

"...ngh..."

...but it only took a two-word question from Zoemi to make her fidget in unease as she seemed not used to hide the truth...

"...well... you would always roll me in something you called a safety blanket so that I wouldn't do anything stupid... but we did spend a few nights on the same mattress, you can't deny that!"

She faltered and reveled, regaining enough confidence to boast proudly.

"Oh, wow. Even before losing my memory I still had some self-control and awareness. Not much, but still, good to know."

"Exa...! Wait... You... you lost your memory?!"

The black-haired boy nodded and made a partially satisfied expression while – thankfully – Teveo focused on the important part of his response.

"Yes. Actually, I was quite sure that I was just a survivor of a monster attack that killed the rest of my family, but considering that you seem to know me quite well, I must reconsider all of that. I would be grateful for your cooperation and further explanation, thank you in advance~"

Finally composing himself to get to the important topic, Zoemi waved his hand to get Teofee's attention and bowed his head to her slightly while gazing at her expectantly.

"...wait.. no, but... that means that you don't actually remember me..."

He of course intended for her to tell him more about his past self but the metal magician seemed to have her own problem as the realization settled in...

"I did not. You sure made a hell of a first... well, actually third impression."

"...!"

Zoemi shrugged his shoulders and Teveo tensed up...

"I'M SORRY!" *clank*

"?!?!"

All of a sudden the short brown-haired girl cried out and bolted out of the room, dropping something on the floor before leaving, absolutely confusing the left-behind boy.

Zoemi stood up from his bed and went to close and lock the door. On his way back he leaned down and picked up the object that Teveo dropped.

It was a key, most likely to his room, but the metal used was different than any of the keys that he knew of.

"That's one of the questions answered... Huh? Hold on, did she use her magic to just make a key as if it wasn't illegal? What kind of student Supervisor is she?!"

He shook his head putting the forged key on the table before getting back into bed, choosing to not think about the answer - that honestly was quite obvious although not very nice or appropriate.