According to Shinji's expectation, a calm and clear answer should come at this time, such as "OK" or "Come in", and even if there is really any inconvenience, she will say "Wait for X minutes" with a little apology. It is hard to imagine that Fiore will give such a somewhat incoherent and flustered answer, unless there is something unexpected.
"Fiore, what's wrong with you?" Shinji put one hand on the door handle and was about to open the door.
"No, nothing, ah—" followed by a "thump", like the sound of a heavy object falling to the floor.
"Fiore!" Shinji no longer hesitated, turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.
Then he froze.
He originally thought that Fiore had met with some kind of accident, a personal injury, but he did not expect to see such a shocking scene.
In the room, Fiore's upper body was lying on the ground, face down, back up, with her calves resting on the bed.
Well, that’s actually nothing. Shinji has done even more bizarre things. After all, when he was resting, the seal of the bed and the quilt was extremely strong.
But the problem is that Fiore is only wearing pajamas.
As we all know, pajamas are definitely baggy and definitely not as fitted as other clothes. Fiore is not wearing any underwear, and with this pose...
Ahem, in short, all Shinji could see was white, so white, so white.
Whether it was the white of the exposed back, the white of the smooth neck, or the white of the loose neckline that was squeezed out by the floor...
Anyway, Shinji kind of misses poetry now—the clouds in the sky, the frost on the ground, the girl's... ahem, luckily before he finished reading, some of the white began to turn into red.
When Fiore saw Shinji standing at the door, her face immediately turned red, starting from her cheeks. The blush quickly spread to her entire face and then quickly spread along her neck to her entire body. It was obvious that she was extremely embarrassed.
"Oh, no, don't look."
This was the first time Shinji heard Fiore speak in this tone, panic, shyness, anger, pleading, and a hint of hysteria, like a basin of cold water poured over his head, extinguishing the distracting thoughts in Shinji's mind.
"Okay, I won't look at it." Shinji turned around immediately, and because of his violent movements, some of the medicine spilled out.
"Well, it's not convenient for me to stay here. Can you please leave first?"
"But you..." Shinji was worried that Fiore's legs were not working properly and she couldn't get up with just her hands.
"Get out."
"Okay, I'm out."
Hearing that Fiore's emotions were becoming unstable again, Shinji said no more, put the tray with the medicine bottles on the floor, and walked out of the room quickly, not forgetting to close the door.
Shinji left the room and stood in the corridor for a long time before he uttered doubtfully, "Am I being given benefits?"
After saying that, he slapped himself for no apparent reason.
"What the hell is going on here? That's your Master, don't let your imagination run wild! Wait, in this kind of situation, isn't it usually the girls who slap the boys? How can I hit myself?"
Rubbing his temples and gathering his thoughts that were like a wild dog running away, Shinji asked while leaning against the door.
"Fiore, are you really okay? Can you get up?"
"It's okay. I can get up. I have a costume that can assist me."
Perhaps because of the door, Fiore's voice sounded a lot more normal. Listening carefully, he could sense the operation of a special technique.
"Is that so? I'm relieved. Um, I'm sorry about what happened just now. I..."
"It's okay. I know you're worried about me. It was my own carelessness."
There was silence again inside and outside the door.
After a few dozen seconds, Shinji felt that the stalemate could not continue and spoke to break the silence.
"medicine-"
"Yeah, I'll drink it..."
"... "
"... "
"Well, it's getting late." X2, yes, both of them spoke almost at the same time.
"... "
"You speak first."
"... "
"Let me speak first."
"It seems that there is no need to say it anymore."
This time, they no longer spoke in unison.
"yes."
"I'm right across the street, just call me if you need anything."
"Yeah, okay."
"Goodnight, Fiore."
"Goodnight, assassin."
The awkward conversation behind the door ended, Shinji sighed and walked into his room.
When the corridor returned to calm, another door quietly opened a crack, revealing the face of a freckled boy. The boy looked at the door across the street, then at the door that was in a blind spot and could not be seen, and sighed heavily.
"Two idiots, hopeless. But this kind of thing really happens in real life. I thought it only happened in anime. Sure enough, art comes from life. I'd better continue watching anime. Maybe there's a solution in it."
Coles sat in front of the computer, skillfully opened a CD package and pulled out a disc. The cover of the disc was a popular anime that had just been released.
Judging from his energy, he probably won’t be able to sleep in the first half of the night.
◇◇◇
Shinji suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.
Unlike yesterday, neither Sieg who occupied the bed nor Astolfo who occupied the sofa would come back, leaving the room empty.
"It's noisy when she's here, but lonely when she's not. I'm really hypocritical. The same thing happened with Fiore. She's taking advantage of me and still acting cute."
Shinji stretched out his hand to open the window and stared out blankly. The night wind blew past, ruffling his hair and confusing his thoughts.
"Yustisa, do you think I'm a bitch?"
"Why do you say that?" The "Winter Saint" who always kept in touch with Shinji responded immediately.
"I chose Fiore as my Master because I planned to take advantage of her naturalness and innocence. But the longer we get along, the more guilty I feel. Is it really okay to deceive and use a girl like this to achieve my own goals? If she knew the truth, would she be sad and hate me? Although this has nothing to do with me, I still don't want things to turn out like this - isn't it contradictory?"
"Well, it's contradictory."
"This kind of contradiction and entanglement belongs to the category of hypocrisy. Haha, I don't know if you have ever heard of this saying - bitches are hypocritical, so I say I am a bitch."
"No, you got it the other way around." Yustisa's voice had a gentleness that was similar to Fiore's, yet different. "Just because a bitch is pretentious doesn't mean that all pretentious people are bitches. That reason doesn't hold true."
"You're worried about this." Shinji wanted to laugh.
Yustisa asked seriously: "Is this also a kind of hypocrisy?"
"Forget it."
"Then we are all hypocritical."
His mind remained calm, but Shinji sensed something different.
"Thank you, Yustisa, for comforting me in this way."
"No need to thank me. If I really want to thank someone, I should thank you. You have done much more for me than I have done for you."
"That's not how it works. Without you, there would be no me."
"Then no one of us needs to say thank you from now on."
"Well, that's it. That's good."
Shinji closed his eyes and stopped talking.
The debt of favor is the hardest to repay. When the favors of two people are involved and cannot be calculated, the two will share the same fate.
PS: The elder sister is great. What makes me most satisfied with A1 at the moment is the elder sister’s Doctor Octopus form, which is so handsome.
PS2: A1 also modified Cowles' room. It was originally just a simple magician's room with a computer. A1 added three American comic posters such as "The Powerpuff Girls". As expected of Webber's student, he has become a homebody before he even entered school.
PS3: For the needs of the plot, Jian Shao also modified Colles' room. In the original book and the animation, there was only one computer, but Jian Shao changed it to three computers. This makes it more stylish and also makes it convenient for Shinji and Colles to play games and for Chiron to enter the house.