Just as he raised his hand to draft a trade message to initiate a portal hop, the sudden, sharp chime of the doorbell cut through the quiet.
Assuming it was probably Gabriel stopping by again to ask for a favor, Haruto casually pulled the door open—only to blink in genuine surprise at the visitor standing in the hallway.
"Yukinoshita-san?"
"Haruto-kun?" Yukino Yukinoshita stared back at him, her ice-blue eyes widening in sheer disbelief.
"Do you... live here?"
Haruto offered an easy nod, leaning against the doorframe.
"Yes, I moved into this building a few days ago. What about you...?"
His gaze naturally drifted downward, locking onto the neatly wrapped gift box of fresh fruit she was holding in both hands.
Recovering her composure, Yukino cleared her throat and lifted the box slightly.
"Ah. This is a housewarming gift. I just moved in today... into the apartment right next door."
She tilted her head, gesturing subtly toward the door directly to his left.
"Oh, so you rented the unit right beside mine,"
Haruto said with a warm, welcoming smile, effortlessly taking the fruit basket from her hands.
"Well, looks like we're official neighbors now. Let's look out for each other."
He extended a hand toward her in greeting.
For a fraction of a second, Yukino hesitated, her cheeks flushing a faint, delicate pink before she tentatively placed her slender hand in his for a brief, polite shake.
They both pulled back simultaneously, hyper-aware of the sudden domestic intimacy of the greeting, leaving a lingering, awkward silence in the hallway.
Just as Yukino was searching for something appropriate to say to break the lingering tension, the door directly to the right swung open with a soft creak.
Out stepped Gabriel, her golden hair hopelessly messy and sticking out in all directions, looking as though she had just rolled out of bed after a three-day gaming binge.
Clad in an oversized, wrinkled t-shirt, she let out a long, groggy yawn.
Yukino blinked, instantly recognizing her as the exact same girl who had opened the door awkwardly when she had gone to drop off a welcome gift earlier that morning.
Gabriel blinked sleepily against the hallway light, finally registering Haruto standing right there.
She scratched the back of her head with a sheepish grimace and mumbled, "Ah... Haruto-kun... could you come over to my place for a second?"
Watching the scene unfold, Haruto couldn't help but chuckle internally at Gabriel's meteoric descent into absolute, unadulterated laziness.
Gone was the pristine, angelic aura of the model heavenly student he had originally encountered; in her place was a full-blown, hopeless digital hermit.
He turned back to Yukino with a mild, apologetic smile. "If you need any help getting your boxes unpacked or settling in, just knock on the wall or feel free to ask me."
"Ah... thank you," Yukino replied mechanically, a subtle crease forming between her brows.
With a brief nod, Haruto slipped past the threshold and followed Gabriel straight into her chaotic, screen-lit apartment as the door clicked shut behind them.
Left standing alone in the hallway, Yukino felt a growing swirl of quiet perplexity.
Just how interconnected was this building?
Not only did she accidentally move right next door to a mysterious classmate she knew from the Service Club, but another girl—one who looked strikingly disheveled and overly familiar with him—lived just on the other side.
Turning on her heel, Yukino walked back into her own newly rented apartment, her mind racing with a tangle of unexpected thoughts.
Moving out to find a quiet, independent sanctuary for herself was supposed to bring clarity.
But realizing she was sandwiched between Haruto and this peculiar girl felt like an unpredictable twist she hadn't signed up for.
Inside Gabriel's apartment, the air was thick with the scent of instant ramen and the relentless, electronic sounds of an MMORPG blaring from high-end speakers.
Without a word, she dragged Haruto straight over to her dual-monitor setup.
Pointing a trembling finger at the screen, she highlighted a flashing, neon-lit in-game advertisement:
'Holy Divine Staff—Available now for only 19,999 credits!'
Gabriel is genuinely getting completely sucked down the gacha rabbit hole, isn't she?
Haruto thought, a deeply amused smile tugging at his lips.
The game's economy was blatantly engineered to fleece heavy-spending players, slapping absurd price tags on digital pixels.
He couldn't help but wonder if the game was secretly developed by fallen angels specifically designed to bankrupt naive, video-game-addicted seraphim.
Leaning against the edge of the desk, he raised an eyebrow. "What, do you need to borrow more money from me?"
Gabriel nodded with fierce, unyielding vigor, her golden hair swaying.
"Don't worry, I'll pay you back right on schedule according to our strict contract!" she insisted, patting her flat chest with absolute, unwarranted confidence.
She had clearly spent the last twenty-four hours agonizingly calculating how to scrimp on utility bills, cut down her food budget to bare-minimum ramen rations, and maybe even pick up a desperate part-time gig if things got truly dire.
"Well, alright. I'll transfer it to your account, same as last time,"
Haruto agreed easily, pulling out his phone and tapping a few buttons to push the funds through.
"Thank you so much! The noble people of Valhalla will be forever grateful for your generosity!"
Gabriel squealed, referencing the game's fictional fantasy kingdom as she eagerly clicked the checkout button to secure her shiny new digital weapon.
Watching her excitedly dive right back into her chair to equip her virtual prize, Haruto couldn't help but shake his head with a soft chuckle.
"You're really hopelessly hooked on this, aren't you?"
Without taking her eyes off the glowing monitor, Gabriel raised a fist in triumph.
"Hey, don't look at me like that—I'm literally in the middle of saving the world!"
She declared with utter, deadpan earnestness, completely ignoring the fact that she hadn't even logged in long enough to test out what her overpriced new staff could actually do.
Just as Gabriel was happily admiring the glowing pixels of her newly purchased staff, the sharp chime of the doorbell suddenly echoed through the apartment.
"!!!"
Gabriel froze, her eyes widening in sheer panic. "Ah—wait! It's probably Raphiel and the others!"
She was instantly caught in a frantic dilemma.
On one hand, she desperately wanted to log into a dungeon and test out the ridiculous power scaling of her new staff.
On the other hand, she couldn't let her angelic classmates find out about her total descent into a NEET gaming addict.
Making a split-second, desperate decision, she spun around to face Haruto with puppy-dog eyes.
"Haruto-kun! Could you please, please answer the door for me? I need to, uh, frantically clean up and look like a responsible student!"
"Your friends?" Haruto guessed with a knowing smirk, figuring it was probably Raphiel, Vignette, or Satania stopping by for an unannounced check-in.
Nodding good-naturedly, he turned on his heel. "Sure, I'll get it. Go ahead and pretend you've been studying hard."
With a sigh of immense relief, Gabriel scrambled back toward her PC setup, desperately trying to hide her open game window as Haruto walked over and pulled the apartment door open.
•
[Gabriel]
•
*****
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