Chapter 138: The First Night
Girls usually take longer to bathe, especially those with long hair.
Eriri was the same. After nearly half an hour, Kaede, who was playing on his phone, finally heard movement outside.
Soon, the workshop door opened. Eriri, wearing white pajamas, her long hair still damp, and her fair face glistening with the moisture from her bath, shyly said, "Kaede-kun, it's your turn to wash up."
"OK."
Putting down his phone, Kaede walked toward the door.
"Eriri, your hair isn't dry yet?"
"Hehehe~~"
Eriri said with an awkward smile, "Kaede-kun, could you help me blow it dry later? My mom always helped me dry it at home, and I can't manage it myself."
Seeing the length and thickness of Eriri's hair, he nodded, "Then wipe it dry yourself first. I'll help you once I'm done bathing."
Going to the bedroom to grab a change of clothes, Kaede arrived at the bathroom.
Then, as expected, he saw the clothes Eriri had left behind in the bathroom, which included her undergarments.
"Sure enough, her heart isn't calm at all. She even forgot to hide her clothes."
Fortunately, Kaede wasn't a pervert who would react just by seeing some undergarments. He immediately turned on the shower and started bathing.
The weather was hot. Unlike Eriri, who insisted on taking a soak, Kaede quickly washed up. After changing clothes and drying his own hair, he walked out holding the hairdryer.
Returning to the workshop, he saw Eriri sitting at the computer desk, having opened a run of a deck-building roguelike game, deeply engrossed in playing a Warrior character.
That's right, it was the deck-building game, Slay the Spire, which had been out for over half a year. Although it wasn't a massive production and was just a niche game, it was very well made, highly replayable, and an excellent choice for killing time during leisure hours.
Hearing Kaede walk in behind her, Eriri turned her head, gave him a silly smile, and then went back to playing the game.
Walking over, Kaede playfully tapped Eriri's little head, "Didn't you say you needed your hair dried? Stop playing."
"Ugh... Just one run! I finally got a good deck this time; I might clear it!" Shaking her head, Eriri cheekily said, "Kaede-kun, just blow it dry while I play."
It looked like Eriri wouldn't give up until she cleared the run.
Furthermore, under Kaede's constant straightforward "corrections" over the past few days, Eriri's usual tsundere behavior had significantly lessened and was rarely seen during their daily interactions. It would only reappear if Kaede did something that left Eriri unable to cope.
Seeing this, Kaede could only plug in the hairdryer and stand behind Eriri to start drying her hair.
Eriri's blonde hair was very well maintained, smooth, glossy, and completely free of split ends. The investment required for this could be understood by the various bottles and jars Kaede had seen in the bathroom, which included specialized shampoos and conditioners.
Because her hair was long, Kaede took his time, drying it slowly, bit by bit, while occasionally glancing at Eriri's game screen.
Indeed, the luck with the deck was quite good.
"A strength build?"
"Hehe, yeah! I'm super lucky this run!" While speaking, Eriri successfully defeated another elite monster and was only a few steps away from the third-floor boss.
While playing, Eriri said, "I usually play a lot of big-budget games, but now I find these less extravagantly produced games, or those pixel-style indie games, quite interesting and many are very replayable."
"That's true," Kaede nodded. "There are only one or two major titles released every month, and sometimes there's a game drought where no big new games come out. For people like us who play a variety of genres, we often end up playing these types of games more."
Kaede said this while recalling his Steam library. Many past major titles were bought during historical low discounts, added to the collection, and then ignored because he had already played them once on console.
Take Monster Hunter World, for example. The Iceborne expansion was coming out soon. Although he could play it on PC with 4K high quality and high frame rates, Kaede had already logged two hundred hours on the console version, so the Steam version was just bought to sit in his library. He had only tested the graphics and frame rate when he first bought it and hadn't touched it since.
After ten minutes of careful drying, Eriri's beautiful hair was finally completely dry. Meanwhile, after a few minor hiccups in the game, she successfully completed the run.
"Yay! I finally cleared it with the Warrior!"
"Hmph, you still have a long way to go. I cleared it ages ago."
"I only bought the game recently! Kaede-kun, you can't compare us like that!" Eriri turned around and looked at Kaede with dissatisfaction.
"Oh? Is that so?" Kaede put down the hairdryer and gently pinched Eriri's soft cheek, saying, "Then tell me, who taught you the strength deck build for the Warrior?"
"I... I looked up a guide online myself, is that not allowed?"
"Playing the stubborn duck, are we?" Moving closer, Kaede looked at Eriri and smiled, "Think carefully before you answer!"
"Ugh... W-what do you want?" Eriri looked at Kaede warily, subconsciously crossing her arms over her chest, looking like she was defending herself against a pervert.
Seeing this, Kaede simply rolled his eyes, then reached for Eriri's mouse and shut down the computer.
"Alright, time to sleep!"
"Aww!!!"
Eriri looked regretfully at her turned-off computer. She had wanted to play one more run while she was on a roll.
"What are you sighing about? Look at the time."
Kaede picked up his phone and showed it to Eriri, "It's already past midnight. Time to sleep. Don't blame me if you can't wake up tomorrow!"
Seeing Kaede's manner, Eriri knew she couldn't resist, and since she really did have to host classmates tomorrow, she couldn't sleep in.
"Alright then."
Getting up and leaving the workshop, the two arrived at the doors of their respective bedrooms.
Before opening his door to go in, Kaede turned to Eriri, who had already opened her door, and said with a smile, "Eriri, I won't lock my door tonight. If you have trouble sleeping in a new bed, you can come over!"
Eriri's little face instantly turned bright red. Without even looking at Kaede, she quickly rushed into her room and slammed the door shut.
However, no sound of the lock being engaged followed.
"Hmm..."
Touching his chin, Kaede mused, "Is she hinting at something? No, given Eriri's personality, this is probably her limit. She must have done this out of trust, especially since locking the door would be redundant anyway."
Yawning, Kaede didn't have any further thoughts. He went straight into his room, set his alarm, lay down on the bed, turned off the light, and went to sleep.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to him, Eriri was lying in her bed, silently staring into space.
Trouble sleeping in a new bed... she actually had a bit of that.