"Arrhg… My head."
The next morning, Eria rolled out of bed and fell to the carpeted floor. The girl's head was pounding fiercely, but she hadn't thrown up at all over the course of the night.
After gulping down some of the lukewarm water she found on the nightstand and switching into some clothes she found folded next to the bed, the hungover girl stumbled out into the unfamiliar hallway.
Even despite the massive migraine paining her, she still creaked out a small smile.
'It worked. It looks like Elric must've brought me back to his place. It should be quite a bit easier to get in from here… I should be careful, though.'
Eria had a goal.
Discover the inner workings and plans of the Villainous channel of The Boys chat. She'd hung around in the common chat for long enough, but she never heard anything of importance. It was just a bunch of dudes chatting about daily life or making plans to hang out.
Even after she reached C rank and gained access to the regional chat as well as a few private channels, she couldn't really gain any more information on her goals.
What would a 'Cosplay channel' have to do with villains?
But after agreeing to go along with West's request for the party, she realized another avenue of attack. If she befriended someone who was already a villainous, then she could potentially glean information from them.
'I need to be able to get information out of Elric, but I shouldn't go too far. I don't want to end up in a compromising situation.'
Eria's hand slowly massaged her head as she walked out to the kitchen area of the house, but when she arrived there, she was surprised to see someone who was not Elric.
"Hm, you're up. Headache?"
Ember passed a glass filled with a pink liquid over to Eria, then poured another one for herself.
'Wait, did he send me home with Ember instead?! Maybe this guy really is too faithful… it's probably good for me. Even if he is handsome and nice, I don't want to lose anything because I got drunk. I wasn't myself last night. I need to be more careful.'
After thanking Ember, Eria gulped down the strawberry-flavored milk.
"Thank you for giving me a place to stay. In retrospect, what I did was really dumb, and I'm lucky you were there. Thank you."
Ember nodded and started walking over to the living room. Eria followed behind her, sitting down on the couch next to the girl.
"It's what anyone would have done."
The two sat in silence for a moment before Ember spoke again.
"I'm heading home for a week, please don't do anything to Elric. We've only recently gotten together… I don't want anything to happen."
After thinking for a moment, Eria nodded.
'I think I can still get info out of Elric, even if I don't try to seduce him. It might take a bit longer, but Ember seems like a nice person. Hmm… Maybe I could even invite her to help me out… Nah, I don't think she'd agree. I doubt she would do anything that might hurt him.'
As the girls were chatting, a bumping noise sounded from over by the garage.
Both of the girls stood up in surprise, and Ember walked over to peek through the window.
The Melov family car had pulled back into the garage, and Peliston was stepping out, along with another grizzled man.
"Ah, Elric's dad is back!"
Eria looked a bit confused.
"Why is his dad coming to your house? Wait… the two of you live together?"
Ember nodded, but she didn't have the time to explain before Peliston entered the house.
"Hello, Dad!"
Pelsiton grinned as he heard Ember's works, chuckling as he let the other man enter the house behind him.
"See? I told you my boy finally found himself a girlfriend!"
Peliston quickly noticed Eria's presence, and he looked at her inquisitively.
"And you are?"
The girl's mind blanked out for a moment.
"Hi, Dad… I'm Eria. Ah, Wait-!"
Peliston frowned as he looked back at Ember.
"A second one? Are you really ok with this? I thought my boy was a faithful one!"
Ember had no idea what to say, and she had no idea why Eria had responded the way she did. Seeing the blank look on her face, Peliston's heart twisted.
'This girl is so great, and I've already accepted her as my daughter, only for that brat to run off and pick up another girl? Like hell!'
Ignoring Eria who was trying to explain, Peliston walked over and pulled Ember into a hug.
"I'm sorry for what my son did, you'll always be welcome in my house. Now, then. I'll go have a chat with Elric. I guess I never taught him to be properly faithful."
Peliston started marching toward the young man's room, but Ember and Eria both stepped forward to stop him.
"Wait, I just misspoke! We were at a party together, I got drunk, and he let me sleep over. He didn't touch me!"
Peliston turned to glare at Eria, and a shiver ran down the back of her spine as she sensed a tiny bit of murderous intent.
"He's going around to parties now? And even bringing home random girls?"
Ember was the only one who could save the situation.
"Eria is one of my friends! Elric didn't do anything wrong."
The aura of anger surrounding Peliston dimmed down in an instant, almost as if it had been false.
"Are you sure he doesn't mean anything bad, Ember? If you have any concerns, please tell me. That brat is way too lucky to have found you, and I'm not going to let him do anything to mess this up!"
Ember nodded, and Peliston let out a sigh of relief.
The man who'd entered the house with Peliston finally spoke up as he walked into the living room area. He had a thick Russian accent.
"Well, it sure looks like you've got an exciting home life now. Where's that young Casanova now?"
"Still sleeping."
"Hmph. I'll need to have a chat with him once he's up."
Peliston entered the kitchen and started working on preparing breakfast, while the two girls sat back down in the living room with the dude Peliston had invited in.
The grizzled man looked to be in his early fifties, and something about him felt vaguely dangerous. Still, since Peliston was the one inviting him in, Ember decided to trust the stranger.
After chatting with him for a bit and learning that his name was Ivan Petrov, they decided to watch the news.
When Ember flicked on the TV, a section of breaking news was immediately revealed.
"The CEO and President of the NexRu Talent Agency, Marvin Woodstock, was found dead in his mansion in southern Annandale. Early reports show evidence of intense violence at the scene, and the investigation is still ongoing."
Ember tilted her head as she saw the news.
"That Melody girl, isn't this the grandfather she was bragging about?"
Internally, she also remembered that it was this NexRu agency that supported Angeline, the singer who had been behind much of the conflict in her short career.
"Huh, serves her right. That girl was a bi- was nasty."
Ember frowned, but she didn't say anything. Even if she suffered injustice from their agency, she wouldn't wish death on the people who competed with her.
"Let's watch something else."
Ivan spoke with a thick accent as he picked up the remote and changed to a different channel.
The group watched the weather as Peliston finished cooking breakfast, and soon forgot about the news story that they'd begun seeing.