Lyon stayed silent.
Cya’s red eyes were locked onto his, waiting for an answer.
'A bat?' he thought, without moving a single muscle in his face. 'Did she just ask me if I saw a bat come in through the window?'
The question was so specific that it couldn’t be a coincidence.
Lyon had entered the apartment exactly like that, in bat form, through the half-open bedroom window less than ten minutes ago.
Lyon knew he couldn’t panic, because if he got flustered, that would only draw suspicion. But the silence was stretching on, so he took a deep breath through his nose, without letting it show, and then slowly shook his head.
"No," he answered, in a calm tone, almost bored. "No, honestly, I haven’t seen any bats come in through the window. Why? Is that what you’re investigating?"
Cya didn’t answer right away.
Her red eyes stayed on Lyon’s for a little longer than was comfortable, as if she were trying to measure something on his face.
Her expression remained the same unreadable expression as before. Neither kind nor hostile. Simply neutral.
"Are you sure?" she finally asked.
Lyon raised an eyebrow, pretending to be confused.
"Yes, I’m sure," he answered, shrugging slightly. "Believe me, if a bat had gotten into my apartment, I’d remember it. Those things are scary. I probably would’ve run out or something."
Cya tilted her head slightly to one side, as if she were processing what he had just said word by word.
Then she slowly nodded.
"I understand..."
Lyon expected that after that, Cya would end the conversation and leave.
That was the logical thing to do.
But Cya did not leave.
Instead, she took a small step to the side, shifted her weight onto one leg, and crossed her arms. It wasn’t a particularly threatening gesture, but it also didn’t look like the gesture of someone who was about to leave.
"Changing the subject completely…" Cya said then.
Lyon blinked.
"My guild," she continued, "needs to commission an advertising campaign in a few weeks. Graphic material to distribute around the city. Posters, social media ads, that kind of thing."
Lyon stared at her.
"...Uh-huh," he said slowly, because he didn’t really understand where this was going.
"You told me you worked in graphic design," Cya continued, with that same flat voice. "So I was wondering, how much would you charge us if we commissioned that work from you?"
Lyon was left speechless.
For one entire second, his brain stopped functioning.
"...Excuse me?" he said out loud, because his mouth clearly had not processed the question yet. "Are you… offering me a job?"
"Yes."
'Is this girl serious?!'
Lyon felt his pulse speed up a little, and not for vampiric reasons this time, but for completely human ones.
Working for a hunters’ guild.
'Okay, wait, wait, wait,' Lyon thought, trying to organize his thoughts at full speed. 'Guilds are the organizations in charge of clearing portals so monsters don’t come out of them. They make a fortune from every operation. A FORTUNE. We’re talking about organizations with budgets most normal companies couldn’t even imagine...'
And now he, Lyon, a university student who hadn’t even finished his degree yet, was being offered the chance to handle the advertising for one of those guilds.
'This is wrong,' he thought. 'This is very, very wrong. I’m still studying. I’m not even a certified professional designer yet or anything. If I accept a job at that level and mess it up, couldn’t they sue me for fraud or something?'
"Pfff—" The voice inside his head almost choked from laughing. "That’s what you’re worried about?"
'Do not bother me right now,' Lyon answered in his mind. 'I’m trying to get out of this.'
Lyon let out a small nervous laugh, one that didn’t sound as natural as he would have liked, and scratched the back of his neck with one hand.
"Look, I really appreciate the offer, I do," he said, choosing his words carefully, "but the truth is, I’m still pretty new to this field. I don’t think I’m qualified for a job at that level. An entire guild trusting me with something that important... no, that’s too much."
Cya looked at him.
And then, for the first time since she had entered the apartment, a small smile appeared on her face.
It wasn’t a big smile, not even close. It was more like something barely noticeable, a tiny curve at the corner of her lips.
But it was there.
Cya uncrossed her arms and took a step toward him.
"You can rest easy," she said, with that kind voice from before. "There is no problem with that. Truly."
Lyon swallowed almost without realizing it.
"U-Uh, yes, thank you, but…" he started to say, taking half a step back without thinking, "it’s just… I’m serious… there are a lot of people out there much more qualified than me for that kind of work. Designers with years of experience, entire agencies specialized in advertising campaigns. I work from home doing simple commissions. Small logos, that kind of thing. My work is modest. Very modest. It’s really not worth hiring me when you have other options."
Cya took another step toward him.
Lyon took another half step back, until his back gently bumped against the edge of the kitchen counter.
Cya took one more step.
'What…?' Lyon thought, feeling his heart start to pound in his chest in a very different way. 'Why is she getting so close?'
But Cya didn’t stop.
She kept moving forward until she was so close that Lyon could see the details of her eyelashes, the intense red of her eyes almost pressed against his, and the distance between them shrank so much that he felt her breath, soft and warm, right against his lips.
She was about to kiss him.
'WHAT IS SHE DOING?!'
Lyon reacted purely on reflex.
He placed both hands on her shoulders and pushed her away with a firm but gentle motion, putting enough distance between them for him to breathe again.
"W-Wait a second!" he said, his voice a little higher than he intended. "What is wrong with you?! Why are you getting so close like that?!"
Cya brought her fingers to her lips and touched them for a second, as if checking something, before looking at him again.
Then she took a step back.
"I apologize," she said, in a calm tone, almost as if nothing had happened. "It was not my intention to make you uncomfortable."
"I-It wasn’t your intention?! You were one finger away from—!"
Lyon interrupted himself, because he didn’t want to finish the sentence out loud.
Cya took another step back, until there was a normal distance between them, and smoothed her uniform with her hands.
"As for the investigation…" she said, returning to the topic as if what had just happened had never happened, "I can confirm that I have not detected anything abnormal in your apartment. So in that regard, everything is in order."
Lyon blinked, still trying to recover from what had happened before.
"...Uh… well. That’s good."
"However," Cya continued, "if at any point you see or notice any traces of bats, I ask that you please inform me. It is very important."
Lyon nodded quickly, still a little shaken.
"Yes, yes, of course, I will. I promise."
"Perfect."
And then Cya took her phone out of her uniform pocket.
Lyon looked at it without understanding.
"Please give me your phone."
It took Lyon a second to process the question.
"...My phone?"
"Yes."
"What for?"
Cya looked at Lyon as if it were obvious.
"So we can exchange numbers," she answered. "If you don’t give me yours, I won’t be able to contact you in case you see a bat. That’s quite logical, isn’t it?"
Lyon swallowed.
'Exchange numbers…?'
He had thought the bat thing was just a formality. One of those phrases investigators say at the end of a visit, like "if you see anything, contact the association," with the usual generic number nobody ever uses.
But no.
Cya wanted his direct number.
And right at that moment, inside his head, the female voice started laughing.
"Hehehe… Oh, how interesting," the voice said, amused. "You know what I think? I think this girl is interested in you. Interested in you as a person, I mean. As a man. Asking for your number after almost kissing you…"
'Shut up already!' Lyon answered in his mind. 'Stop saying nonsense! She’s an investigator! She’s doing her job!'
"Uh-huh, sure. Her job. That’s why she wanted to kiss you, obviously. Pure investigation."
'I SAID SHUT UP!'
"Excuse me," Cya said out loud then, tilting her head slightly.
Lyon looked up and realized that he had probably been silent for several seconds, staring off into space with a weird expression.
"Do you perhaps find me unpleasant?" Cya asked.
And for the first time, her voice didn’t sound quite so flat.
It sounded a tiny bit less calm than before, just barely, but the difference was there.
"No! That’s not it!" Lyon said, quickly waving his hands in front of him. "Not at all, seriously. It’s just that… ah… you see, the truth is, I don’t have a phone right now."
Cya blinked.
"...You don’t?"
"No."
"Why not?"
Lyon opened his mouth, closed it, and for one second didn’t know what to say, because obviously he couldn’t tell her the truth.
The truth was that he had gotten into a river in the form of a vampire girl to wash giant worm blood off himself, and his phone had died in the process.
"It broke…" Lyon finally said, trying to sound as natural as possible. "The last phone I had. It broke. Because of… because of a friend. A dumb thing."
Cya stared at him in silence for a couple of seconds, processing.
"...A friend broke your phone?"
"Yes."
"That does not sound like a good friend."
"Yeah, well, it wasn’t on purpose. These things happen."
Cya frowned slightly, not in anger, but with genuine concern.
"You cannot walk around the city without a phone," she said, and suddenly her voice sounded much firmer than it had during the entire visit. "Especially as a civilian. What if something happens to you? What if there is another monster attack in your area and you cannot call emergency services? It is very dangerous."
Lyon raised his hands in a calming gesture.
"Yes, I know, I know. Relax. I’m going to buy a new one soon, I swear. It’s just a matter of stopping by the store and—"
"No," Cya interrupted him.
"...No?"
"No," she repeated, nodding as if confirming something to herself. "I will buy it for you."
Lyon froze.
"...What."
"I said I will buy it for you," Cya said, with complete naturalness. "Consider it compensation for the inconvenience my investigation caused you today. I took up your time and invaded your apartment. It is the least I can do."
Lyon blinked several times in a row, trying to understand.
'Compensation?' he thought. 'For an official investigation?'
Something didn’t add up.
'Okay. Let’s think about this calmly,' Lyon told himself, looking at her without letting his confusion show. 'If this were an investigation authorized by a guild, it would be an official procedure. Meaning, part of her job. Guilds don’t compensate people with personal gifts for doing their own work. That makes no sense. If they had to compensate someone for inconvenience, it would be a formal process. Paperwork. Signatures. Not buying me a phone out of nowhere, in person, by herself… this is weird.'
"Awww, you noticed?" the voice inside his head commented, laughing again. "My little paranoid human. I’m proud."
'I told you to shut up.'
"Yeah, yeah, I’ll shut up. But I told you, didn’t I? I told you."
Lyon completely ignored the mocking laughter in his head and looked back at Cya, who was still waiting for an answer with that usual neutral expression.
"No, no, seriously," Lyon said, waving his hands. "It’s not necessary. Really, don’t trouble yourself. I’ll buy one myself, there’s no problem. You don’t have to give me anything."
Cya didn’t respond.
Instead, she just stared at him.
And kept staring.
And kept staring.
Three seconds passed.
Five seconds.
Ten seconds.
Fifteen entire seconds without her saying a single word, without moving from her spot, her red eyes locked onto his in a way that was starting to make him genuinely uncomfortable.
Lyon didn’t know what to do.
"...Uh…" he finally said, because someone had to break the silence. "What… are you doing now?"
"I am trying to convince you," Cya answered, without looking away.
"...Of what?"
"To accept my gift."
"...Like this?"
"Yes."
"By staring at me in silence?"
"Yes."
Lyon opened his mouth, closed it again, and ran a hand over his face.
'Is this really happening?' he thought. 'Is an investigator from a hunters’ guild standing in my apartment trying to force me to accept a new phone through aggressive eye contact?'
"Sorry to insist," Lyon said, trying to stay calm, "but seriously, why are you so determined to make me accept that phone? It doesn’t make much sense to me."
For the first time during the entire conversation, Cya lowered her gaze a little.
And for the first time as well, she seemed to hesitate before answering.
"Because…" she said slowly, "I wanted… to have your phone."
Lyon blinked.
"...Have my phone?"
"Yes."
"What for?"
Cya stayed silent for a moment.
And then, with some difficulty, almost as if she had to think about every word before letting it out, she answered:
"Well… so… so that you… can inform me… if you happen to see the bat."
Lyon looked at her.
Really looked at her.
And then he let out a very long sigh from the deepest part of his lungs.
"You know what?" he said, rubbing his face with one hand. "You don’t need to buy me a phone just for that."
Cya looked up.
"Ah, no?"
"No," Lyon answered, still with his hand on his face. "If the only thing you want is to make sure I’ll tell you if I see the bat, we can do something much simpler. You can come visit me whenever you want and check for yourself that there’s nothing strange here. Period. There’s no need to spend money on a phone."
There was silence.
Cya went very still.
And then, slowly, her red eyes opened a little wider than usual.
"...Really?" she asked, and her voice sounded different from any tone Lyon had heard from her until that moment. "I can really come visit you every day, then?"
Lyon, who at that moment still had his hand over his face, froze when he heard the words "every day."
'Every day?' he thought. 'Did I say every day? I did not say that. I said whenever you want. That is not the same thing. That is not the—'
"Hehehehehe…" The voice inside his head was about to cry from laughter. "I told you. I. Told. You."
Lyon lowered his hand very slowly.
He looked at Cya, who was still waiting for an answer with her eyes a little wider than usual and an expression that, for the first time all night, wasn’t completely flat.
He looked at her phone, still in her hand.
He looked at his own apartment, the mess, the empty refrigerator, the window he had entered through less than an hour ago in bat form.
And he let out an even longer sigh than the last one.
"...You know what?" Lyon said. "Maybe I’ll accept the phone after all."
Hello everyone!
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I just wanted to thank you all so much for the amazing reception the novel had on its first day. Honestly, I didn’t expect so many readers to arrive so quickly, and it made me really happy to see so many people give the story a chance.
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Because of that, this Monday and Tuesday, I’ll be uploading 3 chapters a day.
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After that, on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the number of chapters will depend on the support the novel receives through ratings, positive reviews, or even well-explained negative reviews. All of that helps the story grow a lot and reach more readers. (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧
Depending on that support, I’ll be able to upload up to a maximum of 4 chapters a day.
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My idea is to keep this special pace for about 2 weeks. After that, the normal release schedule will be 1 chapter per day.
(╯︵╰,)
I also want to clarify that the number of chapters may increase or decrease depending on the support the novel receives on Patreon, since I can’t neglect my main work, which continues to be very supported and loved by many readers.
(´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡
Even so, I’m very excited about this new story, and I hope you can continue enjoying it with me.
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Thank you all so much for reading and for giving the novel a chance! I hope you have a great start to the week.
(づ￣ ³￣)づ