Chapter 43

About three hours later, everyone else had left the home, leaving only Eden, Amano, and, oddly enough, Aguri.

"Tasku is sooo dumb," she sighed, resting her head on the dining room table where they were still seated.

Aguri had left, and Amano had stayed behind, explaining to Eden that he was receiving texts from Aguri about their dinner plans. Amano mentioned that they were going to discuss their relationships and related matters. Understanding Amano's intentions, Eden offered to leave, but Amano insisted that he stay.

"Yeah, I don't know why he's so fixated on team arguments," Aguri continued.

"Well, maybe..." Amano began, sharing a theory about how Uhara might want to start a harem with Tendo and Hoshinomori and how that might be why he didn't want Amano on the same team as Tendou. 

"That could be it, I guess. Do you think Uhara could be the type of guy to have a harem or something?" Eden asked.

"Well..." Aguri hesitated, "Me and Tasku have never, you know, kissed." Eden's mind nearly went blank at that revelation. They had been together for a year, and they had never kissed. Eden had likely kissed more people in a single week than Uhara had in his entire life.

"Do you think he might be...well, gay?" Eden suggested.

Aguri shot a strange look at Amano before burying her head in her hands. "Okay, maybe he's not gay, but maybe he's not satisfied in the relationship. Maybe you guys should try going out more," Eden offered some realistic advice.

However, Amano chimed in, "No, this is my fault. I was supposed to make Uhara come to his senses."

"What do you mean, all..." Eden began before they started arguing again, but this time, like before, they eventually ran out of breath.

"Well, I think the only thing you can do is try to talk to Uhara more and maybe have more physical intimacy," Eden suggested as he walked both Amano and Aguri out of his home.

"So, are we doing this again?" Amano asked.

"Well, I really didn't get anyone else's numbers, so..."

"Oh, here's mine. Let's all start a LINE chat," Aguri said, offering Eden her LINE ID and phone number before they both left.

After they had departed, Eden remained in the dining room, waiting for Asia to return home. He used the time to review his notes and think about what he wanted to achieve before embarking on his first adventure in another world.

First, he needed to improve his Aeromancy skills and have Serafall teach him some Hydromancy for large-scale weather manipulation magic.

Second, there was the recurring issue of souls. He could practice many aspects of magic, accumulate money and material resources, and even work with corpses for experiments, but he couldn't practice with souls. He needed souls for two reasons: to advance his Animacy studies and to replenish Fateweaver. Fateweaver's abilities were connected to the weaving of fate, and the "strings" it used were actually made of souls. Eden had used Fateweaver's abilities to incorporate many of his current special abilities, and the souls he used were harvested over millennia of bloodshed. Retrieving that many souls would be a monumental task, but perhaps the other world could provide a solution. Fantasy worlds often featured powerful adversaries with hordes of faceless minions in need of defeating, potentially providing an excess of souls.

However, as he contemplated this, Eden realized that the chances of encountering such a situation were quite slim. So, he refocused his thoughts on magic until Asia returned home.

When Asia walked through the door, she was not in her usual nun attire but rather a lovely white dress she had chosen from the infinite wardrobe.

"Asia, you're back. Did you have a good time?" Eden asked, and they engaged in a conversation before Asia changed and requested Eden's help with Animacy, which he gladly provided as it also aided in his own learning.

Afterward, they enjoyed a homemade dinner prepared by Asia, and once again, she asked if she could sleep in the same bed as Eden. He agreed, finding it increasingly difficult to sleep without someone else in the bed. Even though he didn't require sleep, he was beginning to appreciate it once more. So, getting into bed with Asia marked the end of another day.