Reunion

After getting some nice fried chicken, Louise and Francis finally went to the latter's place. It was almost 6:00 a.m., and both of them felt a little tired.

Francis simply didn't sleep at all and just read novels until that instance-dungeon happened, while Louise was watching Anna ever since, like it was the most important thing to do.

As soon as they arrived, Louise immediately placed his luggage in the guest room. He then went to take a warm shower before heading toward Francis' room. Along the way, he saw Francis's mom, who was about to leave the house to go to their farm. After some greetings, Louise went on his way.

Unfortunately, Francis was already asleep. Louise wanted to talk to him about the matters of the instance-dungeon, but it seemed Francis was already too tired. He checked his phone and saw that Francis had left a message, asking him to wake up around 8 a.m.

Louise now had nothing else to do, so he went back to the guest room, turned on the A.C., and checked Discord. There, he saw that Anna was still fast asleep, just that she had turned toward her phone. Her blanket didn't cover her entire body anymore, and he could see the yellow t-shirt she was wearing. Hidden inside the shirt… were the plains. Louise let out a chuckle and observed every other detail about her. His eyes landed on her collarbones the longest, allured by the sight.

After a while, seeing that she was still fast asleep, he decided to open the browser on his phone to search for news regarding the three doors.

It was then that he saw a peculiar forum: World's End Clock. It sounded like some fantasy novel forum, but what caught his eye was the detail it had regarding the three doors. In the description, a vivid depiction of the "death" door was given, which simply stated that anyone who had entered the red door would experience real death. Of course, Louise had experienced this firsthand. To put it simply, the person who put up this forum had certainly entered the red door, and he had gained more information about what was to come.

Upon opening the website, he saw a countdown that occupied half of the screen. It said: 5 months, 29 days remaining. Scrolling down, there were a few threads with details regarding what was to come, and the person who made the forum called the event: Blood Red Sky's Arrival. He specifically used the name "ModernProphet17," implying that he was an existence who had foreseen the future.

Louise scrolled down a little more and went back to the thread stickied on top of the website: We Only Have Six Months! He opened the thread and began reading, feeling a little fearful as he already knew some parts of the thread's contents.

"Originally, I said that we only have 2 months before the end of the world. But a miracle has happened, and the world's end clock added another 3 months before the end. This is good news! I, for one, still want to enjoy the peace here on Earth. Unfortunately, what will come will eventually come. I just want to remind everyone about the opportunity coming in 4 days. Please don't ignore it and do your best! I don't exactly know the details, but I believe most of us have already experienced game-like scenarios. I call them instance-dungeons, and we should do our best to clear them to the best of our abilities. Anyway, good luck! I'll update you guys in 4 days."

Upon reading this, Louise decided to make an account on the forums. His username was BuddyofYmir, and the first thing he did after registering was message ModernProphet17. He thought perhaps this name would catch the latter's attention. Louise simply asked where the latter was from and whether they could talk more about what was happening.

Of course, the reason why he did this was because he knew that this man had more details about what was to come. Rather than grasp randomly and form theories from what he had experienced in the red door, it was better to ask what others experienced to create something more concrete.

After reading through everything in the forums, he finally understood some things. He decided that he should let Francis and Fred check them out, too. He took out his laptop from his luggage and opened the website there. Then, he copy-pasted all the important links in the group chat with Fred and Francis. He also sent the link of the site to the Loli Dragon Inc. group chat since many of his friends there had also experienced the three doors.

After doing all this, he felt a little tired. He wanted to nap but saw that it was already 8 a.m. He got up and went to Francis' room and saw that Francis was already awake. It seemed his job was done without needing to do anything.

Louise saw that Francis was looking at his phone, and it seemed he was also viewing the forums he had sent. He said, "I'm gonna rest a while. Fred's already at the airport. It's your turn to wake me up at 10. I've already prepared anyway."

"Bish. Might as well. I'll prepare too. Oh, did you see Mom a while ago?" Francis asked without turning toward Louise.

"Yeah, I already said hi to Aunty."

"By the way, why do you have so much luggage? How long do you plan on staying here?"

"The hell, you only realized now? I'm going to Singapore in 3 days. I'll be riding a plane from the airport here."

This time, Francis finally turned toward him. It seemed like he wanted to ask something, but then he showed a knowing smile. "So you've finally decided to meet up with that 'friend' of yours, huh?"

The emphasis on "friend" made Louise feel a little annoyed, but he didn't deny anything. After all, he had already told them a long time ago, saying that if he ever had the chance, he would meet with her since she had been someone he enjoyed talking with ever since they met.

In hindsight, he also had other reasons to go to Singapore, and that included a meeting with his current boss. Perhaps that guy would also have some incredible means regarding the situation at hand.

"I'll also meet Boss Ren. So yeah, that's it. I'll be staying there for a week."

Francis simply smiled weirdly with a nodding expression. Of course, he already had other thoughts in mind.

Louise ignored him and simply went back to the guest room. He checked on Anna again and saw that she was still asleep. He left a message that he would sleep for a bit first. He would come back later. Feeling that his job was done, he looked at her sleeping face once again and was about to put down his phone when he saw her open her eyes.

Of course, she simply stared at the ceiling for a few moments and rubbed her face. She stretched her long arms, which showed just how thin she was. In Louise's opinion, her body was just like a stick, and he had a notion in his heart that he should treat her to lots of food. What he didn't know, however, was that she actually had a bigger appetite than him. Perhaps he would be surprised once he knew that her tummy was simply a black hole.

After a while, Anna finally picked up her phone. Soon, Louise saw her face more clearly under the light of the sun. She wasn't particularly beautiful, but she had this Asian charm on her. This was exactly his "type," and he got lost while looking at her.

On the other side, Anna was just checking the notifications on her phone when she realized something. She quickly opened Discord and saw that Louise had messaged her several times in the past few hours. And checking the video chat, her camera was still on, while Louise's was closed. As such, she could fully see her face on the screen.

She was jolted awake and was about to close it when she heard a chuckle from the other side. She actually didn't remove one of her earphones all this time. She said, "You're still watching? Haven't you seen enough?"

Louise let out another chuckle before saying, "You're just a little too cute while asleep. Haha. I'm just about to rest for a bit. I'll be going to the airport in two hours or so. Anyway, get up and get some breakfast."

Anna unknowingly smiled. At first, she questioned why she let herself get watched by another guy while she was asleep, but now that he had really done so, she felt a little touched. Remembering all the bad things that had happened to her within the past few days, the feeling that welled up inside her caused tears to form in her eyes. She spoke in a rather suppressed tone, "Really, thank you, Moxie."

This was all she could say. In truth, she wanted to say more and ask why he was so nice to her and all the other things, but she felt like it was better to leave things at that. Louise, on the other hand, was shocked as he saw that Anna had once again begun crying. He felt a little panicked and was about to speak when he heard her say, "Don't worry, I feel a lot better. You should rest. Let me also watch over you."

Upon hearing this, Louise was about to say no but decided against it. He felt it was only just that she could do that too since she had let him watch over her. Honestly, he just felt a little guilty, as if he had done a bad thing, so he simply let her have her way. He affirmed, turned on his camera, and put it on the table beside his bed. In addition, he didn't forget to charge it. He felt awkward at first, but soon, tiredness overwhelmed him. He quickly fell asleep soon after he closed his eyes.

...

"Bish, wake up. It's already 10. We need to go."

Louise was awakened by Francis' voice hurrying him to prepare. Well, he was already prepared and only needed to wear shoes. He got up, went to the toilet, washed his face, and finally got out. Soon after he had put on his shoes, he was already inside the car.

Only then did he remember that Anna was supposed to be watching him from the other side. He quickly took out his phone from his pocket and saw that it was still on. On the other side, Anna seemed to be munching on something while looking at her phone. Seeing that he had gotten up and was preparing to leave, she must have shifted her attention to somewhere else.

After a while, she finally realized that Louise was now watching her. She waved her hand but didn't speak, implying that there was someone else inside the room. Louise had also muted his microphone before going to sleep. In any case, they began chatting.

—Moxie: You alright now?

—Kyporith: I'm just getting breakfast la. My mom is surprised that I'm awake now. Haha.

Indeed. She had always been asleep during this time of the day, only getting up in the afternoon.

—Moxie: But don't you need more rest?

—Kyporith: Later. My sis wants to hang out in the mall. We'll leave in a bit.

—Moxie: That's good. It's just a little surprising, though. I feel like you've always declined your sis ever since we met. Mhm. Just be careful.

—Kyporith: You weirdo. Why do I need to be careful? Just felt like going out. Haven't really left for a while, so maybe a good time for fresh air.

—Moxie: Alright. Let's talk later? You should focus on your food, lest you choke. Haha.

—Kyporith: Yes, old man! See you later, Moxie. Thank you. Also, you move too much while you're asleep. I bet you were snoring too. Haha. I don't want to sleep beside you. Latersss.

Louise was speechless upon reading this. However, he didn't retort and decided to just wave to her. She also waved, and then she ended the call. Looking at the prompt in the chat, they had been in a call for more than 8 hours.

Louise had a grin on his face, and Francis, who was driving, noticed this. "Damn. Looks like you already found a new one only after three months. What an asshat."

Louise's grin turned into a scowl. "Bish. You ought to find yourself someone too so you can stop being gossipy."

"Haha. What can I do. No one's good enough for me, and those who are, they simply don't like me."

Louise and Francis joked around for a while as the car drove on toward the airport. Soon, they would meet Fred, and the trio would finally be completed.