'...' Holding the doorknob with both hands, Sha stared at her hands in awe. 'What did I just do?!' she asked herself in a daze as she turned and shakenly made her way to the bathroom to wash her face. She herself was still not sure on where she got the courage to get that close to him. She was sure this wasn't something she was keen on doing to anybody.
"I need to calm my—eh?" she interrupted her muttering, as she saw a small flame coming from her fingertip that was touching her face. "Kya!" she shrieked, scared, only to realize the flame didn't burn at all. "Weird..." she thought, as she stared at the flame, that almost instantly vanished, making it appear to be a mirage. 'I must be seeing things...
Why did I even do that...' she thought to herself, as she threw cold water onto her face, the bathroom door closed by her side.
"Bel, Bel, do you wanna play Valorwatch with us?" Maggie asked the boy that was sitting on a couch away from her, deep in thought.
"Sure, Maggie..." he responded half-heartedly, not taking his eyes from the fixed point he'd been staring at for the last half hour.
"Come on, Bel," she cried out his name, pulling the boy from his deep thoughts and his head jerked towards her, startled. "This isn't like you... Did something happen?" she asked, pouting while raising her eyebrows.
"Eh? No, nothing happened," he said, raising his hands and shaking them in the air.
"Then why are you ignoring me all this time?!" she raised her voice, making Bel's eyes widen.
"Oh, I... Sorry, I was just thinking about something else. It's nothing with you... And I'd love to play valorwatch together," he said, making the girl's expression twist into a smile.
"Then you're coming with us, right?!" she asked, getting him taken aback.
"Huh? Where?" He asked, confused, looking around for clues that weren't there to be found.
"To the store, duh! We are buying me a phone and some dedicated consoles for playing it together! Noah wanted to try and see if we could get Lilith to somehow join, despite being a snake," she explained to him, her hands and body bobbing up and down as if she were skipping, though she was still seated.
"That sounds... nice," he said, not really excited about the prospect of playing the game, although he was pretty happy watching others play it.
Seeing his lackluster enthusiasm, a particularly evil plot started to turn the cogs in Maggie's little head. She knew why he was this half-hearted, and how often he bemoaned not having a lot of his power. So, she leaned over to him, to the point he could feel her breath in his ear and kinda froze. And, as if a devil tempting, she muttered into his ear, "You know...
The game system lets you use all your blessings to the full performance you have..."
"Full... performance?" he asked himself out loud, his voice coming out shakey.
"Noah! Are we going now?" Maggie asked as soon as she saw him with the corners of his eyes, skipping on the spot, anxious.
"Not just now, I'm gonna take a bath real quick and make a quick call," he said, his eyes wandering to see the strange expression in Bel's eyes, very similar to the one he saw while he was killing monsters the other day. "What are you kids up to?" he asked, to which Maggie responded immediately and very proudly.
"I was convincing Bel to play Valorwatch with us! It was a little hard but I managed to get him on the boat, hehe..." she told him, sneaking a small laugh near the end that explained exactly what he'd seen.
"It didn't involve any strange bets or promises, did it?" he asked just in case, though he didn't expect much from her, other than... a lot of fire.
"Nope! I just explained how the enemies respawn and you can use aaall of your power even if you are tired in real life," she said while puffing her chest, making her look even cuter, instead of anything else.
"... So you explained to him you can kill others over and over using all kinds of ways without any limits..." he murmured... getting a good image of the conversation that just took place.
"Yep," she said with a grin, making Noah put his hand over his face while shaking his head.
"Oh, well... If it was just this much, it's alright," he said, before turning away. "You too, put on some good clothes so we can go to the fancy stores too. I'm taking you to lunch in a nice place," he told them, Maggie immediately leaning over the sofa and looking at him.
"Is it fried chicken?!" she exclaimed excitedly, making Noah immediately change his plans about where to have lunch.
"Yep, fried chicken," he said, though he had planned to treat her to something different this time.
"Yaaay!" but Maggy's enthusiasm was enough to make him doublethink any previous thoughts in order to do whatever she wanted instead. Such was the kind of brother he was.
But as he turned away, his eyes met with the sleeping Lilith, that the boys had laid to sleep in an armchair. And, instead, he headed towards her, taking the small snake on his arms as he headed to his room.
"Why are you taking her? Won't she go with us?" Maggie asked, making Noah think over what he intended to do by taking her to the bed just now.
"...Yeah. She will, but since she's sleeping, I'll leave her in bed until we are all ready to go. By the way, where's Alice?' he asked, now realizing the missing maid.
"Se went to change into regular clothes. I asked her to come too," Maggie said, making Noah realize they would have to take a nine-seater or a limo.
"I'll talk to Carlos and check whether he wants in as well and which car to take," he said, before heading to his room.