房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

"...Teo...?"

"Yes, sir Zoemi...?"

The black-haired boy opened his mouth and asked and the short girl nodded her head and asked back looking up at him...

"No – never mind – jus... I am having the storngest déjà vu ever..."

He ended up shaking his head again and waved his hand, smiling apologetically for unnecessarily getting her attention...

...although it wasn't as if she was doing anything useful, to begin with – after all she spent the last dozen minutes glancing over at Patishi and Veo...

"...ah... I... I see..."

*sniffle*

Teo by his side twitched and lowered her head and sniffled, taking out a handkerchief and drying her eyes from the excess moisture.

"..."

Zoemi glanced over at her and sighed internally...

"Even if I ask you won't tell me anything, will you?"

He asked the sad Teo who sniffled once more and nodded her head.

"Indeed - I would appreciate you not asking to begin with..."

Even her voice was kind of hoarse.

"...alright..."

Zoemi sighed and patted her head.

"You're a good girl, stubborn, but I kind of like that."

The words came out of his mouth on their own before Zoemi could close his mouth.

"S-s-s-si-sirZ-Zoemi...?!"

Teo raised her head, her face was completely red from embarrassment and she looked at him with disbelief.

"Ekhm! Let's get back to work, shall we?"

Zoemi fake-coughed awkwardly and returned to preparation.

|I'll just ask Patishi about their quarrel tomorrow...|

He decided, feeling that this whole scene had already happened and he was merely reliving it...

The food was ready and Teo looked a lot happier than before, she took the tray before Zoemi could make a move for it, and even though she tried to keep an emotionless expression and yet her eyes were smiling.

"Hmm~"

That also lifted Zoemi's mood a bit.

|Wait... a got a really weird feeling that Miriette will not want to have me in her room...|

Still, as he was exiting the kitchen looking at Teo's back.

|Now that I think about it... since Teo is willing to help now and she is the second attendant too, maybe it's okay for me to just skip serving Miriette supper and just go straight to Burushi and have that talk...? That should be okay, right...?|

Something was telling the black-haired attendant that he should be going to the blond heroine as soon as possible – it was odd – he really felt as if he was already late for the meeting even though it was still before the curfew and all...

...but still...

"Listen, Teo..."

After much thought, Zoemi nudged the brown-haired girl and leaned towards her so he could whisper directly into her ear.

"Y-yesh...?!"

She flinched so hard that she bit her tongue and ended up blushing - thankfully she didn't drop the tray or anything.

"Listen... I'm not feeling too well – I will apologize to my master later, but could you be a doll and tell her that I'm returning to my room?"

"Eh...?"

"Please...? For me?"

At his words, or rather his hot breath on her skin, the short brown-haired girl froze and blushed so much that her face looked like it caught on fire.

"Y-y-y-y-y-yes...! O-o-of course...! I-I mean... Indeed...!"

Teo felt as if her tongue-tied into a knot, her heart was beating so fast as if it wanted to bust out of her chest and her head was about to explode – the extremely handsome face of the black-haired attendant was dangerous for the health from such close proximity...!

"Hmhm~!"

Zoemi chuckled seeing her reaction, went ahead, and poked her cheek...

"!!!"

"See, you're so much cuter when you don't try to act cool all the time."

He said and passed her on his way.

"I'll be in your debt!"

The black-haired boy smiled brightly and waved at her before leaving in a hurry...

"...fuaaaah...!"

Teo looked at his back until he disappeared around the corner and even when he already did she still just stood there and watched the spot where he disappeared before lowering her head and letting out an embarrassing noise.

|M-maybe if I'll be more assertive I won't have to keep the promise with the mistress and Zoemi will be only mine...!?|

She even ended up thinking to herself such an audacious thing, with her face so hot that she would be able to fry an egg on it.

--------

*knock* *knock* *knock*

Zoemi arrived at the door of the heroine's room without any stops or interruptions and knocked on it.

"Miss Burushi, are you there?"

He asked in a friendly manner – although he kept his voice relatively low as to not get the attention of the blond girl neighbors...

But forget about answering him – absolutely no sound could be heard from the inside that would suggest that anyone was in there in the first place...

|Didn't she say that she would wait for me to come by...?|

The black-haired boy furrowed his brows blinking in confusion.

This time he activated the shadow enchantments before reaching out towards the door...

*knock* *knock* *knock*

...and he knocked again, fully concentrating on even the slightest sound...

...but there really seemed like the room was empty – and since he has been able to overhear the soft steps of someone tippytoeing their way towards the door right behind him, he was reasonably sure that his augmented hearing was now strong enough to pick up on the breath of the blond heroine in case that she simply fell asleep...

|Maybe I am too early and she is having a meal at the cafeteria...?|

Zoemi tilted his head and thought to himself with a concerned expression.

*click*

Then, all of a sudden the curious neighbor that has been caught sneaking in to listen on the reason for knocking seemed to just go all out and straight-up check it out, as the door behind Zoemi opened with a soft sound.

"Zoemi... you are late - if you are looking for the commoner girl, she went on a date with Xeonith."

"!!!!"

The black-haired attendant flinched and instantly turned away as he recognized the voice without any trouble although he had heard it only once before...!

"My lady...!"

Zoemi gasped and instantly kneeled down towards the platinum-haired girl who looked a little too young to be a student in the Aspakeony Academy.

...to make things even more confusing and suspicious, the girl wasn't even wearing the oversized uniform with the flower-in-full-bloom pin signifying her being a third-year student, and instead was wearing an oversized crimson red pajama set, which made her look like a little girl...

"We... I am very happy to see you – but as I said, you are too late – the commoner went out of her room a bit earlier -I saw passed her when I was going back from the evening exercises, she looked very scared for some reason – do you know anything about it...?"

The platinum-haired girl's smile seemed to be rather forced – but it was her words that shocked the black-haired bo the most.

"Burushi did...? But... my lady, how come do you know that she went to see lord Derizno...?"

Zoemi raised his head and gasped in shock.

"I overheard her muttering something about following another route to doge the bad end, and then she mentioned Xeonith's name and something about capture targets..."

"!!!!"

The platinum-haired girl's words made Zoemi's jaw drop.

"You... you heard her use those specific words...?! Route, bad end, and capture targets?!"

He called out staring at her intently.