"Big brother."
In the early morning, half-asleep, Naoki heard someone calling him.
"Hmm… Don't be so loud…"
Turning over, he mumbled softly.
At the edge of the bed, seeing Naoki still lazing around, Gray let out an impatient sigh, then went straight to the window and pulled open the curtains. The blinding sunlight immediately shone into Naoki's eyes.
His vision turned red, and Naoki covered his eyes with his hand, looking at Gray helplessly. "Every day it's like this… Gray, that's not good for your eyes."
"But Miss Mary said if big brother is lazing around, I should wake you up like this."
"Damn her… I told you not to imitate her…"
Every day, cursing Merlin behind her back, Naoki rubbed his eyes as he sat up in bed, yawning loudly. "Hoam... What time is it, Gray?"
"It's already noon. Miss Mary told me to call you for lunch, and you also have an afternoon class today."
Gray said while picking up Naoki's clothes from the chair and handing them to him.
Taking the clothes, Naoki couldn't help but laugh. "Ah, I see. Thanks for waking me up, Gray—And, good afternoon."
"Yes, good afternoon, big brother."
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
First floor, the apartment dining room.
Seeing Naoki enter with Gray, Waver, who was already seated, immediately teased, "Oh, Gray woke you up again today, Naoki. Am I seeing things? Ever since Gray moved in a month ago, you've become lazier."
"You should ask the mastermind who keeps giving me so much schoolwork and extra assignments."
Sitting across from him, Naoki glared at him in annoyance.
Waver raised his hands innocently, "But didn't you ask me to tutor you after school? You're so diligent in your studies, so as your teacher, of course, I have a duty to respond to your hard work."
"Waver, I want to f××× you—Ah, thanks Gray, please get me some rice."
"No problem."
"You still say you're not getting lazier? Gray, this is just my suggestion, but maybe you don't need to be so attentive in taking care of his daily life, or else he'll become useless."
It had been a month since Gray moved into the apartment. After getting through the initial fear and discomfort in the first week, she quickly adapted to life here with Merlin's help and even started assisting Merlin with some simple apartment management tasks, like cleaning, cooking, and taking care of Naoki's daily life.
Naoki's life had been quite orderly before, but after becoming a Magus, due to various school assignments and practical experiments, he gradually became someone with a messed-up sleep schedule, especially in the last two months.
To help Naoki, Gray willingly took on the task of looking after him, specifically acting as his alarm clock and personal assistant, and cleaning up his messy room when he wasn't around.
Hearing Waver's suggestion, Naoki couldn't help but let out a cold laugh. "Heh, I think you're just jealous. If you want, go find someone to take care of your life too."
"I don't have the money for that, and besides, outsiders aren't allowed here. Gray is a special case—And I'm not jealous."
"Who would believe that."
Still, seeing Gray standing beside him and Waver across from him, Naoki felt a little touched. It should have been Waver being taken care of by Gray, but because of his intervention, Waver ended up being the one left alone.
Pausing for a moment, Naoki picked up another piece of bread and threw it at Waver's face.
"Why did you do that?!"
"No reason, there's too much bread, can't finish it. Help me eat a little."
"Did you have to throw it at my face?"
"Who told you to have the face of an overworked office worker since morning? It's tiring just looking at you."
"You…"
Waver immediately glared at Naoki and decided to double his school assignments for the day—A student daring to defy his teacher? Then he wouldn't give him any high heels?
Seeing the two of them bickering as usual, Gray, standing beside them, couldn't help but laugh. This relaxed and harmonious dining scene, even though she had seen it for over a month, still felt very new to her, because in that gloomy village, such a scene was almost impossible.
And at that moment—
"Is anyone there? Please help me carry these things~"
Merlin's voice calling for help suddenly came from the door.
Taking turns heading from the kitchen to the entrance, seeing Merlin carrying several large pumpkins and a big bag of apples, the three of them were stunned.
"Why did you buy so much stuff?"
"Ask later, help me carry these to the kitchen first, they're so heavy!"
Seeing Merlin pretending to struggle, even holding her breath until her face turned red, Naoki and Waver exchanged glances, then sighed, each taking the pumpkins and apples from Merlin's hands. After receiving them, Naoki noticed there was also a large bag of sugar mixed in with the apples.
Pumpkins, apples, and sugar…
"Ah? Halloween?"
"Bingo!"
Merlin clapped her hands and laughed.
"Next week is Halloween. Even though it's still a while away, I want to start preparing now. It's also a good chance to throw a party for little Gray, celebrating her first month living here."
"Eh?" Gray was immediately startled and waved her hands. "There's no need to go through so much trouble, a party or anything, really, there's no need to trouble yourselves for me!"
"It's rare for you to talk like a human."
"A party sounds nice."
Unlike Gray's panic, Naoki and Waver easily accepted Merlin's suggestion, making Gray even more flustered.
Naoki patted Gray's head through her hood. "Relax, Gray, it's just a celebration. Besides, Halloween is meant to be celebrated. Strictly speaking, celebrating for you is just a coincidence—Waver, why did you hit me?"
"You're an idiot, can't you speak properly? You can't explain it like that to a child."
"As if you could do better."
"Hmm…"
Seeing Waver fall silent, Naoki immediately looked at him mockingly—Why?