Eiden stared at the notification on his phone, wide-eyed. It was her profile and a message. Just a red heart emoji. He blinked. "Was the performance last night that effective?" he muttered aloud, sitting up straighter. "No way she fell for me already... right?" Without hesitation, he barked, "System-chan, show me Lyra’s progress!"
Eiden tilted his head, confused. "Huh? It didn’t go up though... then why did she send a heart?" He stared back at the message, the lone red heart glowing on the screen. And then poof it vanished.
"...Huh? Deleted?" he muttered, rubbing his eyes. "Was it a mistake?" More importantly "Wait a sec. Why does she even have my number? I don’t remember giving it to her..."
He stared at his screen, then quickly typed a simple message:
Meanwhile, in a quiet, sunlit room somewhere else... "OH MY GOD!!! NOOOO!!!" Lyra screamed internally, clutching her phone in pure horror. She was pacing her room, fresh out of the bath, her damp hair wrapped in a towel. Her phone screen still had Eiden’s name open, the chat window showing her sent and now deleted message. "Nooo... he saw it! I deleted it but he saw it! GAAHHH!!" she groaned, flopping onto the bed.
Her fingers flew across the screen.
"I’m sooo sorry! I was taking a bath and some water sprinkled over the phone and wrote the message on its own!" Eiden, reading the message, blinked in disbelief. "Water wrote the message on its own...?" he muttered, scratching his head. "...Well, I guess that makes sense. Still..." His thumbs moved. "How did you get my number?"
A few seconds later, her reply came.
"Crysty gave it to me." Eiden paused. "Crysty...? Crysty gave it to you?" He typed again. "Why?" Lyra replied quickly,
"I don’t know. At the party, she suddenly asked for my phone and typed your number in without explaining."
Eiden furrowed his brows. "Why would she do that...?" he murmured, thinking hard. A smirk crept onto his face. "Well... whatever her reason, nice job, Crysty. Now I don’t have to go through the trouble of asking for Lyra’s number. Heheheh... sometimes I feel like the universe wants me to win." He quickly typed a casual response: "No worries, it’s okay. It happens."
On the other end, Lyra sighed in relief as she read his reply. She sat back, pressing her palm to her chest, cheeks still flushed. That could’ve gone horribly wrong. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard again. She wanted to say something more... but stopped. She gently placed the phone down.
Eiden, noticing the lack of reply, didn’t push. He stared at his phone a moment longer, then locked it. He changed into casual clothes and plopped onto the living room couch, waiting for Sasha. Out of boredom, he opened his group chat. The entire feed was chaos.
Clips of his performance from the party filled the thread. People were posting wild theories like: "Bro’s been a hidden idol all this time???"
"He surgically implanted vocal cords from an opera singer, I swear."
"No no no, he sold his soul to a singing devil."
"Alien confirmed. Government hiding facts."
Eiden laughed under his breath. "What the hell are these idiots talking about? They might as well say I’m a shape-shifting frog." He scrolled past a meme where someone photoshopped a halo over his head with the caption: Saint Eiden, Patron of Heartbreak and Harmony. "Damn," he chuckled, shaking his head. Just then, he heard footsteps from the hallway. He turned and saw Sasha approaching. She wore a hoodie and a skirt, her pink hair tied into a ponytail. Casual, comfy classic Sasha. Eiden was also in his usual relaxed wear, a simple tee and jeans.
He stood up, slipping his phone into his pocket. They stepped out of the house together. As they walked down the street under the morning sky, he asked, "By the way, what were the gifts you received yesterday?"
Sasha shrugged, "I haven’t opened all of them yet, so I’m not sure." Eiden glanced at her, then looked up at the scattered clouds. "I wish I had that many gifts on my birthday," he said wistfully. Sasha side-eyed him. "Then maybe try making more friends instead of just goofing around with the ones you already have."
"Excuse me? It’s called deep connection, thank you very much," Eiden retorted. They both chuckled lightly and made their way to the bus stop.
They boarded a public bus and rode into a nearby city one of the busier, buzzing districts with lively streets and glass buildings. It was obvious where they were headed. They didn’t even discuss it beforehand, but both knew: the cinema theatre. A new, highly anticipated movie had just released. It was a mutual, unspoken agreement.
As they entered the crowd near the multiplex, a sudden Ding! rang in Eiden’s mind. "Detected Target." Startled, he blinked. "Target?! Here? Now?" He glanced around. The place was packed people of all ages, shapes, and styles. "System-chan," he whispered under his breath, "Can you be more specific? There’s way too many people here. I don’t even know where to start!"
Suddenly, Eiden’s vision highlighted a girl in the crowd. Above her head hovered a red arrow, pointing directly at her. He squinted. "Who’s that..."
The girl looked young. Petite. Uniform. "Wait... is she a high schooler?!" He froze. "What the hell she looks like a first year or something." A sinking suspicion hit him.
"...System-chan... you never told me the age limits for these ’targets.’ Is there like... a minimum? Or do I need to worry about police sirens?"
"Target Age Range: About 8 years younger or 30 years older than you."
Eiden’s eyes widened in horror.
"Eight years younger!? That’s like... middle school! What do you want me to do, flirt with a minor?! I might as well flirt with prison bars!"
He rubbed his temples. "And 30 years older? That’s like a grandma! That’s even older than my mom!"
"No worries~ I’ll pick targets that are worth your time. Chill." Eiden narrowed his eyes. "You say that so casually..."
He was about to rant further, but Sasha’s hand waved in front of his face. "Hey! Hey! Earth to Eiden!" she said, waving frantically. He blinked back to reality. "Huh?"
"What were you thinking so deeply about? You were walking like a robot." Eiden’s gaze flicked from Sasha... to the highlighted girl in the distance.
He thought for a moment. Then, with a perfectly straight face, he said: "...What if I dated a high schooler?" Sasha stared at him. Her expression shifted slowly from confusion... to horror. Without saying a word, she pulled out her phone and dialed a number.
"...What are you doing?" She turned the screen toward him.