Null leaned back on his hands, a casual smile returning to his face.
"So, Sora-san," he said, his voice stable despite the exhaustion. "When are you leaving for home?"
Sora blinked, caught off guard by the abrupt shift. "What? How did you learn—" She stopped, a look of recollection crossing her face. "Ah. Illiana mentioned it yesterday, didn't she?"
"Well yeah," Null said dryly. "You just didn't register it because you were too flustered at the time."
Sora's head snapped toward him. "I was not flustered!" she protested, though her voice lacked conviction.
"You absolutely were," Null replied without hesitation. "But I suppose it's a tsundere's nature to stay in constant denial. Granted, you're only a half-tsundere, but it counts." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "As for your other 'dere' potential... actually, let's skip it. I'd rather not say that dangerous word lest i jinx myself."
Sora stared at him, completely lost. "Tsundere? Dere?" She tilted her head. "What are you talking about?"
Null's lips curved with secret amusement. "They are forbidden concepts from my home world. Only a specific sect of dark entities known as 'otaku' are privileged to hold such knowledge."
"Eh?" Sora's eyes widened, her curiosity instantly sparking. "Wait. Isn't your home world completely absent of mana, Null-san?" She leaned forward, genuinely intrigued. "How do such supernatural concepts exist there?"
"Well..." Null hummed, then shook his head with a faint smile. "On second thought, forget it. You can learn about the cosmic-shattering mysteries of my world when you visit it in the future."
"Visiting your world?" Sora paused. "How?"
Null looked at her, his tone shifting into quiet certainty. "When I become strong enough to travel between realms, I plan to go back."
"If you want, you can come along for the vacation to my home world when that time comes."
Sora stilled.
Null scratched his cheek lightly, almost bashful now. "I'll escort you personally and give you a proper tour. Even though it's a mortal plane without magic, it has its own beauty—mundane wonders that a supernatural world like this could never replicate."
Silence fell.
"Really?" Sora burst out, her usually aloof persona melting away completely. Her sky-blue eyes briefly shifted to cyan, sparkling with pure, childlike excitement. Before she realized what she was doing, she leaned forward, completely breaching his personal space.
Null blinked, slightly taken aback by her proximity. "Yeah. If you want to."
"Then count me in, Null-san!" she said, her voice filled with joy. "I've always dreamed of visiting a mortal plane. I heard mana-less worlds are incredibly peaceful."
Null rolled his eyes. "That's an exaggeration. No world is truly peaceful. As long as wills and ideals clash, perfect peace is impossible, regardless of whether the supernatural exists or not."
Sora stared at him, then her eyes curved.. "My, Null-san. I didn't expect you to be so philosophically mature. What a surprise."
Null frowned playfully, puffing out his cheeks. "That's rude. Even if we're the same age, I possess the forbidden knowledge of my world. It's only natural that I'm more mature than you."
"Only an immature kid would say something like that," Sora giggled softly. Then, her voice softened as she looked at him directly. "But it's a promise, okay? When you find a way back, you absolutely have to take me there at least once."
Null smiled faintly. "Yeah. It's a promise."
A brief silence followed before Null tilted his head. "By the way, Miss Saintess... how much longer do you plan on breathing into my face?"
Sora froze. Realization hit her hard. Their faces were inches apart, their breaths brushing against each other's cheeks. Her eyes widened, her face instantly flushing deep crimson as she scrambled backward, covering her face. "I—I wasn't—!"
Null watched her flustered retreat with absolute amusement.
A minute later, it became awkward.
To diffuse the awkward tension, he casually repeated his earlier question. "So, Sora-san. when exactly are you leaving, and how long will you be gone?"
The tactical subject change worked. Sora composed herself, tapping her chin lightly. "I'll be leaving the day after tomorrow, and I'll return by the end of the month." A small, testing smirk formed on her lips. "What, Null-san? Are you going to miss me?"
It was her first real attempt at teasing him, and it spectacularly backfired.
"Yes," Null said instantly.
Sora immediately stepped back, Flustered beyond recovery. "I—that—"
Null chuckled. "I can't believe the revered Saintess of Living Radiance finally dropped her detached persona and bite back at me like a normal person."
Sora turned away with a huff.
"Actually," her voice softened, a hint of vulnerability bleeding into her tone. "This is how I should have grown up... if it weren't for—" She caught herself and shook her head. "Forget it. This is just the first time I've ever shown this normal side of myself to anyone other than my parents, my master and my senior sister." She looked back at him. "Null-san, you really are something."
Null dramatically placed a hand over his heart and grinned. "I'm honored, O Revered Saintess."
"You should be," Sora replied, twirling a strand of her white hair to offset her lingering embarrassment.
-
The night deepened, moonlight cutting across the training hall.
"Guess it's time to call it a day," Null said, stretching slightly before instantly regretting the movement as his muscles protested. He looked up at her with pitiful eyes. "Miss Saintess, would you kindly help me to my feet and back to my room? My body is completely numb from that monstrous training."
Sora let out a mock sigh. "Geez, Null-san. You really are hopeless without my supervision."
Null regarded her lightly. "Don't worry. I'll make sure to return the favor by ensuring you become just as hopeless without mine."
Sora paused, staring at him. "Are you flirting with me?"
"Yup."
She closed her eyes briefly. "I shouldn't have asked. Really, what kind of abominable world could produce someone as insufferable as you?"
"A world of your wildest imaginations," he grinned, reaching up as Sora extended her hand to help him stand.
Null grabbed her hand, slowly pulling himself upright, but inexplicably, Sora lost her footing. She slipped backward, pulling him down with her.
[...]
In a split-second reflex, Null caught her. He slammed his left hand against the stone floor to halt their descent mid-motion while his right arm wrapped securely around her back, bracing her from the impact.
The violent shock trembled through his exhausted shoulder, but he managed to pull her close, keeping her head safely off the ground.
The brilliant silver moonlight spilled through the high windows, illuminating them in the dead quiet of the hall. Locked in a tangled embrace, their dark-white and sky-blue irises met, holding a sudden, intense weight of unspoken emotion.
Null regained his senses first, his left arm trembling under their combined weight. Gritting his teeth against the lingering numbness from his training, he gently eased Sora onto the floor.
Her white hair spilled across the stone like a halo, contrasting beautifully like liquid silver in the moonlight. Pushing himself up with his free hand, he exhaled a heavy breath.
The position was undeniably compromising. With Null hovering directly over her, anyone walking through the doors would have immediately misinterpreted and assumed the worst.
Null opened his mouth, then stopped. Sora hadn't scrambled away. She was still staring up at him, utterly entranced.
"Miss Saintess," Unable to resist, he teased. "Are you really that bewitched by me?"
The words jolted her back to reality. Pink flooded her cheeks as Sora snapped her head to the side. "As if,"
Null chuckled, the tension between them electrifying. "Don't worry," he said, his voice dropping into a softer, genuine cadence. "You're not the only one."
Sora blinked, looking back at him. "What do you mean?"
"Whenever I'm around you, I get dazed too," Null admitted, his gaze steady. "I feel these unknown emotions I can't quite articulate. It's been happening since the day we met."
Sora's eyes widened, her breath catching. "You too?"
"Yes."
"It's the same for me," she confessed, her voice barely audible over the quiet of the hall.
Null's playful smile returned. "I know. Your reactions usually give it away."
Sora pouted, looking up at him defensively. "Am I really that easy to read?"
"I'm just incredibly perceptive."
"Hmph. Don't brag."
A brief silence settled over them, heavy with unspoken weight.
"In all seriousness, you feel it too, right?" Null asked thoughtfully. "That strange, deep familiarity between us. It's as if we share a mysterious connection that transcends logic and lifetimes."
Sora didn't argue. She just gave a shy, quiet nod.
Null paused, his mind drifting for a split second. The realization nagged at him—he had felt this exact mysterious connection with two other girls before. One was a completely unhinged yandere. The other... he couldn't quite grasp the memory, only a weave of blur.
A sharp sting at his side shattered his thoughts. Null groaned in surprise as Sora pinched his waist.
"Ow—what was that for?"
Sora kept her fingers clamped on his side, her sky-blue eyes turning piercingly cold. "You were just thinking about another woman, weren't you?"
Null stiffened, a drop of cold sweat rolling down his neck. How did she know? The legendary phenomenon of women's intuition was apparently terrifyingly real, even in a magical world.
Oddly, Sora's sky-blue had faintly shifted into a glowing, intense cyan hue.
Null's black pupils locked intimately with Sora's now cyan-hued ones, and he voiced his thoughts wishfully, "Sora, will you please go on a date with me?"