Chapter Four (Part 4): Drowned

While I was taking off my clothes, unbuttoning my plain white shirt, and tried not to look at my own pale skin and thin body in the ridiculously and probably unnecessary huge mirror, suddenly a message was sent to my holowatch, averting my attention to the popped up holographic screen in the process.

[To Mr. Ozwald

This is Nagisa. Please, come meet me at the arsenal by 11:00 A.M.

There will be a blue ray of light appearing outside of your room. Please follow it through. It will lead you to the arsenal.]

After having read all of it, I found myself paused in the middle of slipping my pants off, my eyes were blinking rapidly as I repeated the word 'arsenal' in my mind. What kind of business did she have with me that we have to talk in the arsenal? One could only wonder. And did I have to go back to the guestroom to follow that ray of light she talked about from the start...?

Ugh...

F*ck it. I didn't really care though. Just let me take my shower in peace for half an hour, and then we could get down on whatever Hunters' business this is, for once.

When I was having that thought, all my office clothing had already been slipped off my body, including my briefs, and then they got thrown into the wash-and-dry machine, in which the timer had been set automatically to 10 minutes. After I was done taking a shower, they would be clean as new and ready for slipping in again.

"Ah... Such is the miracle of modern technology. An even more amazing innovation than those silly hologloves these Hunters have got, indeed..." I mumbled that to myself as I walked my naked body into one of the many shower rooms, and then I swiftly flipped my left wrist to turn on the holowatch's screen, my finger pressed on the musical note button... getting that music blasting.

When the water started to pour down from above, it was then that my favorite piece of Chopin began playing, the expressive yet soothing music got resonated through the whole room, calming my psyche down in an instance. And the second those drops of warm water finally touched my skin, I let out a sigh, my hands rubbing my own face, letting my mind be soaked and drowned.

Yes, 'drowned'.

Shower time is always the time for thinking stuff. But there were so many things to think about. I just wanted to drown my mind in a pool of warm water and disappear.

Although, if I really had to start 'thinking', I would start with that 'blessing' stuff first.

What the heck was it all about, really? And what did it have anything to do with me smelling so sweet, the men be staring at me hungrily like I'm a piece of A5 Wagyu steak? Biting someone's neck without their consent would get you a free first-class ticket to Hell rather than a blessing, wouldn't it?

And why did it have anything to do with me getting my ass dragged around by these weirdo demi-gods?

I found myself leaning my head against the wall while fathoming all the reasons behind these mishaps, the touch of cool metal against my forehead felt like the touch of stinging needles, Ugh... This was exactly why I hate thinking so damn much.

For me, thinking never solved anything. It just made all the problems messier.

Guess I need to stop thinking, for real...

And yes, I did have something better to do, such as... checking the unread messages.

So I began staring at my holowatch's screen, which had the names 'Arie' and 'Howie' showing on it, both being marked as unread in the inbox.

"..."

Well, one was my brother, and one was my... ahem, best friend in the office. One must have been pissed from me disappearing for a whole night without notifying him where I could possibly be, and one must have been... Um... I don't know. Worried about me? Since he must have woken up in a hospital and found out that I had been gone?

...

Alright, both must have been worried about me...

Then whose messages should I read first?

Between my adorable little bro and my Café Latte prince, to whom should I care more?

Ahaha...

Did I really have to ask this question in the first place?

No matter what happened, I just had to choose my brother first.

Thus my finger pressed on the name 'Arie', all the while, I was taking in a deep breath, preparing myself for what was coming.

[Where are you?]

Shown on the screen, it was just a single message, but it was indeed packed with so much weight and emotion, there was no emoji or a single sticker. I froze right after I had read it.

...

My brother was really pissed.

God bless me. At first, I thought I should reply to him right away, but that wouldn't be a wise decision any longer, lemme just check Howie's messages and see what he was up to.

[Adel?]

[Where r u, Adel?]

[Adel, pls respond]

[I'm so worried Pls call back to me if you can]

[Adellll]

[R u still alive, Adellll?????]

Holy cow, I did have to scroll down for a good 10 seconds to read all of his messages.

Oh, Howie...

Would it be exaggerating of me to say that I almost teared up reading all of these?

Before I realized it, my forehead pressed itself on the wall even harder. My eyes were staring blankly at the holographic screen, and streaks of water flowed down my face, making my vision became all blurry.

There he was, my gentle prince.

Man, even though I felt no need for a knight in shining armor, but a prince on a white horse would always be welcomed as my savior, I just couldn't help it... Well, Leo was ACTUALLY hot. But he was underage and I just wanted something more vanilla, alright.

...

Oh sh*t. Did I just think of Howie as my love interest or something?

Such a f*cked-up thought caused both my hands to lift up and cover my own face. No way, did I just turn gay because of that kitty boy--

Anyway, forget the silly talking! How should I reply to my prince?!

'I'm here, Howie'?

'lol You crying, Howie'?

'Glad you still alive, Howie'?

None of the above sounded good... I wanna die...

"Ah... Hahaha..." At that harrowing moment, I didn't even know why I started laughing, but it was such a peal of dry laughter as dry as a desert. Maybe... I just laughed because I couldn't cry anymore, hahaha...

Hence, I decided to reply to my pissed-off little brother first. At least, our brotherly bond wouldn't be shaken simply because of me having no idea how to receive love and care from a non-family member and proceed to f*ck up the whole conversation.

[I'm so sorry Arie. Something real bad happened. I can't tell you what it was or where I am But when I can get out of here I'll tell you ASAP. Promise]

As I was typing all of that, somehow I began to realize that the tone of the message sounds super suspicious, and my little bro would call the FBI as soon as he finished reading it. I mean, who wouldn't? Good thing I hadn't pressed 'send' yet.

To be fair, I knew I should tell him the truth, but... ONLY if I could. Imagine all these demi-god people finding out that their extremely well-hidden HQ had been unearthed by the FBI just because of some idiot texting with his little bro... Just IMAGINE.

So, I wouldn't risk pissing off the mortal gods, or Leo in particular, and having the whole FBI department burned to the ground. No.

[I'm so sorry Arie. I went drinking and got so drunk last night Now idk where I am]

I'd rather be an idiot in my brother's eyes and piss him off the second time than risk causing a national tragedy. While I was staring at that edited message, I also tried to tell myself that I was doing the right thing. Of course, I was doing the right thing.

However, when I had finally made up my mind, worked up my courage, and pressed that 'send' button...

[ERROR]

The entire holographic screen then got covered by some big ass red letters saying 'ERROR' and my message got deleted almost instantly.

"..."

WHAT THE--

But I was not the type to give up easily when it comes to my little brother, so I retyped all of it again and proceeded to press that send button repeatedly as fast as I could, like I was playing some sort of a rhythm game and I needed to hold that damn combo.

[ERROR] [ERROR] [ERROR]

But oh my God, this ERROR thingy got hands, it fought back by turning my entire screen red and covered every single inch of it under the words 'ERROR'. There were hundreds of 'ERROR's I couldn't even begin to count the exact number on the first line.

Then seconds later, all the 'ERROR's suddenly disappeared, and there came one long ass blue message in a gray letter box replacing them.

[Mr. Ozwald, we must apologize for the inconvenience, but we can't allow you to send messages from your unencrypted device to another device outside of the HQ, as you would risk exposing our location.

After we've discussed your recent awakening and your next objectives, then you would be able to return home as soon as Leo comes back from his quests since he has been tasked to escort you and ensure your safety.

Please rest assured that Arie Ozwald will be informed about your current situation in the meantime.

- Nagisa]

Having read all of that, my sole reaction was to blink my eyes rapidly and watch the screen gradually get turned back to its normal pumpkin orange color palette.

Alright... That was clear and plain enough. So I was allowed to blast music in the communal shower but no texting to the 'outside people', still, I need not worry because my little bro would be informed by the Hunters about how the only family member he had left got trapped here and can't go home. Understood.

...

But how about my prince Howie, ma'am?