Gently knocking on the door, Ash waited for a while before he heard the sound of steady steps getting near. Then the door opened. Before knocking, he had already changed back to his original appearance in a nearby alley.
Kai saw Ash standing in front of the door, and a smile appeared on his face. He greeted Ash warmly, after all, this man saved his sister's life.
"Oh, Shiro... I was afraid that you won't find this place." Their house was within a densely populated area, and almost all of them from the outside resembled each other, so it's quite difficult to find it without guidance. Yet Ash managed to find it relying on only a few indications he gave yesterday.
Little did he know that Ash was forced to use absolute order in this seemingly easy search. The order he issued was simple: he commanded his Aura to form an arrow and point directly to the place of Elsa. Since he had previously gotten some information and had a rough idea of where they might live, and the distance between them was just a few hundred meters, the order consumed just a small portion of his Nen.
It can be said that Ash doesn't really need the compass of desires stored in his system space; its function can be easily achieved by his absolute order, and the cost is also not deadly. But Ash doesn't plan on wasting it. After all, the compass of desires doesn't need to consume his energy alone. In fact, Ash deduced that maybe after he uses the compass ability, he uses other people or living creatures in general as a sacrifice. In this way, he will be able to find the things he desires without consuming his own energy. This is one of the reasons that made Ash like it. Another reason is that the compass will lead its holder through the most difficult path, which sounds dangerous yet at the same time exciting for Ash. As long as he is careful enough, then these dangerous paths could also be used to generate some rushes of dopamine.
Entering the simply decorated house, Ash saw that Elsa was sitting on a sofa watching some movie with great attention. She was so immersed that she didn't notice someone had entered the house.
Seeing this, Ash grinned mischievously and walked quietly behind her. Then he covered her eyes quickly.
"Hah... why is it dark all of a sudden? Did a power outage happen? But why do my eyes feel heavy?" Elsa stretched her hands toward the thing covering her eyes. Feeling the touch of skin, Elsa realized that someone is pranking her.
'Who is it? This isn't something my brother would do. Could it be...'
"Shiro-san!!!" Elsa's cheeks blushed as she shouted this name, and like a frightened cat, she immediately stood up and got out of Ash's evil claws that were covering her eyes.
Kai looked at the childish behavior of Ash and sighed helplessly, but after he saw the adorable reaction of his little sister, a warm smile appeared on his face.
Ash chuckled at this reaction and said teasingly: "Yo, Elsa, I saw you so absorbed in the movie to the degree of not noticing my coming, so I decided to wake you."
"Sorry, I didn't notice you. I'm very happy that you visited us. It's been a long time since we had a guest. I'll go prepare a super delicious lunch, brother Kai, I'll write you the ingredients, go bring them for me!" Elsa was hyped to prepare a delicious dish for Ash, not only to repay him for saving her but also to celebrate their first guest in years.
"Wait, Elsa, you are still recovering. Don't do something tedious like cooking. Moreover, I'm not hungry!" Ash quickly waved his hands to prevent Elsa from cooking for him.
"Don't worry, I'm in a very good state now. Moreover, I'm a bit bored, so I thought why not use this chance to prepare something for lunch and at the same time entertain myself." Elsa refused to give up on her intention to cook, so Ash could only helplessly let her cook.
So she quickly found a pen and started jotting down one ingredient after another. Then she handed them to Kai. The latter looked at the long list with a headache. He let out a long sigh before he wore his shoes and left, leaving only Ash and Elsa at home. Ash is the savior of his sister, so it's not a big deal if he left him alone with Elsa. And Kai even hopes in his heart that Elsa and Ash will develop some deep bonds between them. He can see that his sister likes Ash. As long as they are in relation, then Elsa will be protected from any similar accidents like the previous one with the black box.
In the house, Ash sat next to Elsa and watched the movie together. Elsa was explaining the plot of the film to Ash.
"So the protagonist needs to fight two powerful members of that evil organization to protect his wife? Moreover, he had just fought an incredibly strong enemy... interesting. The odds seem against him, so who do you think will win, Elsa?" Ash asked Elsa with interest to know her perspective on this scene.
"Of course, love always wins! So the protagonist will definitely beat the two bad guys and save his lover and then live happily ever after!" Elsa didn't hesitate to support the protagonist. She believes that the power of love can create miracles.
"Really? But that's a bit too... unreasonable? Right? They should die hugging each other; that's more emotional and beautiful." Ash, on the other hand, believed the opposite. If the author is someone with a brain, then he should kill the protagonist and let him die with his lover. Although it's sad, it's more emotionally impactful, and more importantly, realistic! Although people watch movies to escape from realities, Ash thinks movies should also show people the cruelty of reality, not let them always live in fantasies.
"Shiro-san, you are joking, right?! That will be too sad!" Elsa was shocked by Ash's scary prediction. She thought he must be teasing her like before.
Seeing Elsa's big orange eyes looked at Ash as if she's going to cry at any given moment if he said he wasn't joking.
Ash realized this, so he helplessly said: "Alright, I was just joking. Love will surely win."
"By the way, how about I return your life energy now?" Ash quickly changed the subject.
"Eeh? But the movie?" Elsa didn't want to miss the important scene of the movie, so she looked with reluctance eyes at Ash.
"Don't worry, it will take less than a minute. Don't you want to cook something delicious for us? Then you must first have enough energy to stand in the kitchen. I'm afraid that you will suddenly faint from doing a little bit of physical activities." Ash starts convincing her. The reason why he is persistent in returning Elsa's energy is to create an opportunity to present her the flower bouquet he bought and confess his love. Now the situation is perfect; her brother won't return for a while, so they can talk with more freedom.
Hearing Ash's words, Elsa's eyes shone with realization. She definitely wants to cook a super delicious lunch for Ash. She won't allow even herself to be in her way, so she said: "Then I'll trouble you, Shiro-san!"