"By the way, I've been meaning to ask, but why do you always address me as Miss Aria instead of just calling me by my first name? You look about the same age as me." As Aria and Eric sat together in a cheap ramen shop she had offered to treat him to as thanks for everything he had done, she sipped her drink and couldn't help but feel curious.
"I'm just being formal with you. That's all." Eric gave a short answer while leaving out the fact that he was worried that speaking casually to her might've upset her a lot when she still hated him back then.
"You can drop the formalities then... it's sort of awkward having you call me that." Aria stated with a bit of embarrassment in her tone.
"Okay." Eric answered and didn't say anything else as his mind was entirely focused on something else.
Now that his mind was completely clear again, thinking back to the fight he had with Aurora about two days earlier, it didn't come as a surprise to him that Aurora had survived the entire ordeal.
After all, all he had done was strike her head once, ruin both her hands, and break one of her legs.
That was mild in comparison to what some people have endured, and besides, she was probably growing used to the pain after dying so many times anyways.
And while Aurora still being alive was already a big problem enough problem for him to begin with, there was now even a bigger problem that he had to deal with.
And it's the fact that...
'I pretty much told Aurora I knew about her regression.'
Like the bumbling idiot that he was.
Seriously, if his earlier lie about being justified in killing her didn't tip Aurora off that he knew about her regression already, then him directly mentioning it definitely did.
And now that she's aware of the fact that he knows about her secret, it was safe to say that she was going to be even more cautious against him from now on, even if it seems like she hasn't been doing so to begin with.
The only bright side he could see from all of this, aside from being able to live a little longer, was that he could still use Aria to unknowingly plot against her.
But since he didn't know how Aurora had found him at the hospital in the first place, Eric wasn't entirely convinced that he could rely on Aria to get the job done anymore.
For all he knew, Aria could have gone behind his back and told Aurora everything that had happened, even after explicitly telling her not to before.
The only thing Eric could think of doing now to resolve this entire mess was to go after Aurora while she was still injured and make sure she stays dead this time.
"Miss... sorry, Aria, your best friend Aurora is in the hospital currently, correct? I'd like to pay her a visit after we're done eating if that's fine with you." Eric calmly asked as a waiter suddenly came out with two hot ramen bowls and placed them onto the table before leaving.
"Um, I mean... I don't mind if that's what you want to do, but may I ask why?" Aria slightly tilted her head as she grabbed a pair of chopsticks and began eating her ramen.
"Out of curiosity." Eric casually lied.
When Aria heard this, she immediately stopped swirling her ramen, put her chopsticks down, and stared at Eric quietly with a distraught look on her face.
"What is it?" Eric figured that he had been caught lying but still pretended to be clueless about it.
"…I'm not stupid you know. I know there's something going on between you two. Leaving aside that she tried killing you the other day, on the first day I met you, I told her about our encounter, and she started bombarding me with questions about you after that. It didn't make any sense then, but it does now." Aria lowered her voice and talked quietly.
"I see." Eric looked down at this untouched ramen bowl for a brief second before looking back up at Aria again, "What are you trying to imply then?"
Seeing the look on Eric's face, Aria bit her lips hard and avoided making eye contact with him.
Even though his expression didn't change whatsoever, she could immediately feel that the tension between them quickly became tense after what she said, and she wanted to avoid making him upset even further.
But she knew deep down that Eric wouldn't do anything to her unless if she truly was asking for it.
So eventually, Aria found the courage to make eye contact with Eric again and spoke in a gentle voice, "I think you want to kill Aurora."
"Hmm." Eric was slightly taken aback by this.
It didn't come as a surprise to him that Aria knew exactly what he wanted to do.
Oh no, given Aria's character, that was to be expected at this point.
But it was also because of her character that he was surprised by how straightforward she was being.
After all, even if she was comfortable around him now, that wasn't the kind of thing people openly accused others of, even when they were certain, and she should understand that as well.
Or at the very least, she could be more vague about it if she really wanted to confirm her suspicions.
So the fact that Aria had blatantly stated this pretty much out in the open meant one thing, and one thing only.
"Do you think I'm justified in doing so?"
"No." Aria answered almost immediately and without any hesitation in her voice, "Even despite what happened, I'd like to say that I know my best friend better than anyone, and I don't think she would ever harm others without reason. You must have done something to force her hand, but…"
"But?"
"There's no stopping you, is there?" Aria had a smile on her face, but it was clearly out of resignation or some odd sense of acceptance.
Upon hearing this, Eric had confirmed his suspicion.
'She believes the outcome is completely out of her control.'
There was a similar scene actually like this in the novel.
It happened much later in the novel, when another close friend of Aurora and Arias they had met during a previous regression cycle was suddenly killed off by a ridiculously overpowered villain.
With Aurora's regression ability, both Aurora and Aria thought that eventually, they could save her as long as they were strong enough to kill this villain early on and in a single hit.
However, even when that did happen, and they killed that particular villain within the first week of Aurora's regression again, their friend still ended up dying due to a curse that she mysteriously carried since before the point Aurora always regressed to.
It was a scene that Eric found somewhat sad, but in a way, he understood why that character had to go.
Anyways, the point is that Aria felt powerless but had to accept that there was nothing she could do about it, just like what was happening now.
It was definitely weird here though.
Aria didn't even try to convince him, much less stop him from going through with it.
So how does she know that this situation was out of her control if she hasn't even tried stopping him yet?
Eric stared at Aria as she silently ate her ramen again, her expression faintly gloomy, and thought about it for a while.
But since he couldn't come up with any other explanation for why she accepted his intentions as if he were someone she couldn't oppose, he pushed the thought aside for now.
As long as Aria doesn't interfere with him when he kills Aurora in the end, then that's all it matters.
With that in mind...
"Don't concern yourself with it. Whatever happens next, happens." Eric casually avoided Aria's question and ended the conversation there by lowering his head and slurping on his ramen.
And if he was lucky, then Aurora should still be in the hospital by the time he finished eating, allowing him to end this cat and mouse game of theirs this time.
Permanently.