“If it takes that long, why don’t I stay over and we can have a cozy chat later?”

“What?”

For a moment, I doubted my ears. Alan spoke as if it were no big deal.

“Why, I used to sleep over often in the old days. I think it would be nice to stay over tonight too. Like when we were kids. It might be more comfortable for me as well.”

Suddenly, I felt my blood run cold and my hair stand on end.

Belatedly, it occurred to me that tomorrow was Saturday.

Alan seemed to be leaning against the doorframe as he spoke.

Perhaps conscious of his parents’ gaze, his voice through the door crack became more secretive. For some reason, I could picture him speaking excitedly with his eyes closed.

“Why, when I lived next door, I often slept over at your house. We even made a tent inside the room with a tablecloth.”

The sound of low chuckling tickled my ear.

“When are you talking about…”

I grumbled.

“If you’re really busy, I’ll wait in the living room, Juno. I’ll tell uncle and aunt I’d like to stay over for the night too. They’ll probably like that. And we could reminisce about old times all weekend. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

It would really be like Alan said.

If Alan stayed over at our house all weekend, my parents would welcome it with open arms, saying they could take a trip down memory lane after a long time.

As expected of those who passed on their bright and lively disposition to Timothy Huntington.

But that wasn’t what I really wanted.

“Ah, I just remembered I can wash up late at night and the homework isn’t due until tomorrow! What did you want to say?!”

As soon as I flung the door open, my eyes met Alan’s again. Alan was leaning against the doorframe, standing slightly askew.

“Oh, you’ve found time to talk already?”

Alan tilted his head slowly.

“Yes. On second thought, I can spare enough time to talk with you. So state your business and leave. Our house has gotten too old and we haven’t cleaned the guest room in ages, so it’s in terrible shape! I’m also really busy and don’t have time to play with you.”

I’m aware that I’m being too prickly to a friend who’s come from far away.

But Alan exuded a strange, inexplicable aura. I can’t exactly explain what it is, but…

I do have vague memories of Alan. However, it was uncertain whether I could perfectly act like the Juno he knew from the past.

The only real image I have of Alan is from his New York high school team activities broadcast on the news.

Recalling again the sight of him swinging a sword without the slightest hesitation, I feel my nerves on edge and my whole body tense up for some reason.

Alan looked me up and down intently with his arms crossed.

Then he blurted out.

“You’ve really changed a lot, Juno.”

“Me?”

“I heard from uncle and aunt before you came. You joined the Connecticut high school dungeon team? They said you changed a lot even before joining the dungeon team.”

Ouch.

I blinked my eyes rapidly. The back of my neck stiffened without me realizing.

Alan looked at me with a smiling face and said.

“You couldn’t even handle spicy food before, but I saw you eating the spicy soup aunty made quite well today. I also heard that you go out to eat Asian food with your parents on weekends. When did your tastes change like that?”

“…Do my parents talk about such things?”

I asked, trying to hide my bewilderment.

Though I said that, Alan had changed a lot too. His shoulders had broadened and his once average height had shot up enough to easily fill the doorway.

If I had to describe it, he had a lean and slender build like Adrian.

However, compared to Victor, who wasn’t intimidating despite training his body as an athlete, Alan gave off an even more impressive sense of pressure.

I swallowed hard, feeling somehow overwhelmed by his presence. Then I forced out a calm voice.

“Um, isn’t it strange not to change after so much time has passed? Even people’s tastes are variable and change every few years. I saw it in a science column recently.”

“Is that so. Well, when I said I was coming to meet you, the kids at school said something.”

Alan conceded surprisingly easily.

“The New York kids?”

Alan seemed to ponder, chewing over someone else’s words, then sighed deeply with his hand on his cheek. Somehow, the chilly atmosphere changed noticeably.

“They said that even if we were childhood playmates, you would have forgotten someone like me, and you would have grown up into someone I don’t know. They were going on about it. Hearing that made me feel a bit hurt, so I suddenly came to Connecticut. Kind of childish, right?”

“…Huh? Hurt? Childish?”

I had been listening to Alan with my nerves on edge, but suddenly felt puzzled.

Alan lowered his gaze slightly, as if embarrassed by his own words.

Then, with his head slightly bowed, he raised his green eyes to look at me and smiled, lifting the corners of his mouth.

“So I guess I got impatient. Wondering if you really had forgotten me. To the point where I wanted to come find you and check for myself.”

“…”

“That’s why I came, Juno.”

Alan looked at me with a sulky face.

“But somehow I feel even more hurt than I expected. The high school you is already full of things I don’t know. From your tastes to little details.”

“Is that… how it works? You feel hurt about that? You came to meet me to confirm that?”

I looked up at Alan with a bewildered face.

Until now, I had thought of Alan as an unknown entity to be avoided, a person of interest.

Because he was a fellow awakened one and someone who knew the young Juno inside and out.

Timothy and my parents are inherently soft and easygoing people, so it wasn’t difficult to get along with them.

Meanwhile, Alan leaned against the doorframe with a slightly sulky face, looking at me.

Sulky… of all things.

For an awakened boy who could split a goblin in half with one hand.

“You didn’t really forget me, did you? You just missed my texts by accident, right, Juno?”

I stared at Alan with a dumb expression before belatedly coming to my senses.

“Th-that’s right. I was going to reply but I forgot. I’ve been busy with the dungeon team lately.”

‘…Was I treating him too coldly?’

Belatedly, I became aware of my actions. Not that I regret it, of course.

Alan’s expression softened a bit at my words that I hadn’t forgotten.

The atmosphere was quite different from just moments ago when he had been looking at me with a mysterious face, saying I had changed and trying to see through me.

I glanced sideways at Alan and then suddenly raised my head.

‘Right. Now that we’re alone, I should take this chance to figure out his grade.’

Since we were face to face anyway, I decided to open Alan’s status window right away.

‘According to rumors on the internet, he’s supposed to be a fairly high-ranking awakened one.’

They said Alan was one of the top-ranked awakened ones even at his school.

His skills at closing dungeons were so perfect that even the US military coveted him.

I was too distracted during the meal with my parents to think about checking Alan’s information.

This is an opportunity, if anything.

And the familiar blue window appeared before my eyes.

‘Name Alan Jade, grade is…’

I quickly scanned Alan’s character information with my eyes. And just as my gaze was about to fall on Alan’s grade-

“What are you doing?”

“Eek!”

Alan must have thought it strange that I was silent for so long, as he suddenly thrust his face close. His handsome face abruptly intruded through the blue window.

Absorbed in the status window information, I unconsciously took a step back at the suddenly closer distance.

And I stepped on a towel on the floor. I must have left it out before taking a bath.

It happened in an instant – my foot slipped on the towel and went between Alan’s legs.

Ah, come to think of it, something similar happened earlier today too.

Back then, Adrian caught me.

But I don’t make the same mistake twice.

Unlike earlier when I flailed and fell backwards, this time I quickly grabbed Alan’s collar.

“I’m saved!”

Though Alan was on the lean side, he was bigger than me. In many ways he had a nimble impression, but judging by his height and shoulders, he seemed like he could easily lift a shrimp like me.

So even if I suddenly grabbed him, he should be able to support me, right?!

That’s when Alan’s eyes widened.

And contrary to my expectations, Alan’s body, which had been leaning askew against the doorframe, crumbled easily.

‘Ah, this wasn’t in the calculations.’

Unlike my expectation that he would stand firm, Alan came along too easily with my grip.

The two of us fell onto the rug just like that.

Thud―

As we fell with our bodies entangled, I squeezed my eyes shut. Fortunately, it didn’t hurt that much since we fell on the soft rug.

When I barely opened my eyes, I could see the bed mattress and the wooden sliding door closet right next to it open.

And the black shadow cast over my body too.

“Are you okay?”

Alan asked.

Thankfully, he must have managed to plant his feet as we fell, because Alan didn’t crush me. He was braced above the rug.

I tried to calm my pounding heart.

“…I think I’m okay, but maybe not. At least I don’t think I have a concussion.”

As I felt the back of my head while quietly giving my assessment, Alan chuckled.

“You really have changed a lot.”

There he goes again with that.

I narrowed my eyes and put my hands on Alan’s shoulders, trying to push him off. This position didn’t seem good after all.

That’s when it happened.

With the vibration on the floor, the clothes hanging on the rack above came tumbling down one after another.

Flutter―

Alan and I stared with wide eyes as we were buried under layers of falling clothes.

They were all the checkered shirts Juno had collected.

Blue, yellow, navy, brown, and even black with white grid stripes…

Considering Juno’s default settings, I hadn’t thrown away a single stereotypical checkered shirt. It was the result of compromise to maintain the nerd setup.

As I was about to push Alan off me, with a shirt draped over his head, I casually asked.

“…At least my clothing taste hasn’t changed, right?”

“…”

Alan said nothing.