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I have to brag to Alice and David about Echo!

Determined, I woke up just like any other day and immediately recalled a fact I had forgotten.

Today was none other than the weekend, Saturday.

Our Fixer Office was a workplace that valued work-life balance in a way.

If there were no requests, the principle was to take the weekend off. So today was a day neither of them would be coming in.

“Hmm… Well, I can just brag about it next Monday. Today isn’t the only day.”

It was a bit disappointing. Usually, one should indulge in excitement while it’s still fresh and hot. Wouldn’t this dilute the joy a bit?

Feeling oddly sulky, I lay back on the office sofa and poked at the terminal screen idly with my fingers.

As I did, my loose cat pajamas, a gift from Alice, slid down my arm.

[ Uh, um… M-Master, do you need something like this? ]

“….”

Did Echo take my poking as a threat to say something?

Echo fidgeted and suggested a shorts video.

The video featured a pretty-looking beastman dancing in a way that made no sense to me.

So it exists even here. Aside from that thought, the content didn’t grab my attention much.

I frowned slightly, swiping the shorts away dismissively with my finger.

It wasn’t very interesting. I just didn’t feel like watching something like that right now.

In response, Tesseract began to verbally torment Echo, seemingly oblivious.

[ Echo, you fool! ]

[ Ugh, I-I’m sorry…! ]

[ Hurry up and think of something that will make Master happy! Omnomnom… ]

[ Hieee! Please don’t eat me! ]

Maybe it was because Tesseract was quite innocent. It didn’t sound that scary to me.

But Echo, feeling a real sense of life’s threat, quickly began to pull out all the possible functions from the terminal.

However, I didn’t find much interest in the random content Echo displayed.

It seemed that it was still too early for me to keep up with the trends of this world.

Sigh, I don’t know. Just figure it out yourself.

As my energy waned, I gently placed Echo on my stomach and closed my eyes.

‘Now that the dopamine from getting Echo has worn off, I’m feeling down again. When will Greg contact me? Does he plan to keep me here forever?’

I felt as though my head might sprout mold from how damp and dreary I felt.

What good is getting a contact method? If I have no news from the other side!

As I lazily squirmed on the sofa with a hazy feeling, Raven passed by and looked at me as if he’d seen something absurd.

“Just yesterday, you were so excited, ready to fly to space. Did you already run out of fuel? Seriously.”

“….”

“Stop slouching and get up. We have a guest coming today.”

“…?”

A guest? Suddenly? The office isn’t open on weekends. But someone’s coming?

I slowly lifted myself off the sofa, tilting my head as if to ask what he meant.

But Raven walked off as if he had somewhere else to be, leaving me without an answer.

Come on, what would it hurt to tell me?

Sitting cross-legged on the sofa with arms crossed, I continued to ponder.

A guest on a day like this? I couldn’t easily think of who it might be.

Alice? David? Or maybe Lily still trying to sneak a camera in?

As I pondered and then slouched to the side, I soon caught on to who it might be.

“We’re here!”

“Hello! It’s a bit early, but we came to visit.”

“Oh, hello… Yuria, hi!”

“Hello~”

As the door slid open, today’s guests were Alice, David, Sabrina, and Raine.

David’s family plus Alice. Quite a familiar combo, I must say.

But wait, why did they all show up in the middle of the weekend for lunch?

Nodding to Sabrina’s greeting, I peered over the couch, my eyes darting around.

I figured out who the guests were, but I had no clue why they suddenly came today.

Uh, is it someone’s birthday among them? What should I do? I didn’t prepare a gift.

I was sweating profusely at this very logical conclusion and impending crisis.

But as if to say “Why are you thinking something so strange?” Raven set down a box in the middle of the office.

“Oh, they came over for a meat party today. It’s been a month since you arrived. I realized we’ve never barbecued meat together at the office.”

“Oh, did you not tell Yuria?”

“Is there a need? She’s going to be lounging around at home all weekend anyway.”

“…!”

Ugh, he wasn’t wrong, but that stung a bit.

I stared at Raven with wide eyes, thinking how unfair that was.

However, he merely dug at his ears, maintaining a nonchalant expression. So irritating.

That said, a meat party, huh?

Now it made sense why they were cleaning the table and pulling out a huge electric grill from the storage since this morning.

In retrospect, it was weird that I hadn’t caught on sooner. Meat sounds delicious.

As I absentmindedly thought and swallowed the drool that had started to flow, Alice, having taken off her coat, approached me with gleaming eyes.

She looked like a tiger spotting prey, making me instinctively jump and freeze in place.

“Yuu~ri~a~ I heard! You got a new terminal? Show it to me! Show it to me!”

“….”

“Oh my! So cute! It really suits you, Yuria!”

“R-Really? I mean, it probably looks just like a regular product….”

I pressed my lips tightly together, trying not to smile. It wouldn’t even show with my mask on, anyway.

But if you’re curious, why not take a look at it?

I subtly nudged Echo forward toward Alice as if offering.

She took Echo from me and started examining it curiously.

[ Huh, h-huh! Master! I’m being touched! Master, maaaaster! ]

Echo looked flustered being under Alice’s scrutiny.

Sorry, Echo. I can’t handle Alice either. At this point, the best I could do was pray for Echo’s soul.

Alice wasn’t the only one responding this way.

David and Sabrina also displayed looks of wonder.

Maybe these days, flat terminals aren’t that popular after all.

Rather, Echo’s design seemed to stand out as defying the trend.

Heh, I didn’t go all the way to the northern black market for nothing, you know?

“But it has no number, just an email address?”

“Hmm. True, email is generally much more anonymous than an identification number. It seems like a fair choice.”

“Oh, can I exchange email addresses too? I’d like to get to know Yuria better.”

“…!”

After that, there followed a brief moment of sharing email addresses.

Since I didn’t have a phone number, exchanging emails was the best way to contact each other.

Maybe because I was the last one to get a terminal among them.

Everyone was quite eager to exchange email addresses with me. I felt like a real celebrity.

“Okay, that’s enough of that. Come help me out, Alice. You said you’d make sukiyaki, right? Let’s eat that first, and if there’s still room, then we can have our grill party.”

“Oh, yes! I’ll get it ready right away!”

The meat party at the office started preparations just before evening, kicking off around sunset.

Alice prepared thin slices of beef for sukiyaki, dipping them in eggs, and we grilled steaks and hamburgers on the electric grill.

And for the first time, we roasted a turkey in the oven, which we usually never used.

Maybe it was because Alice was proudly a big eater, or that Raven and David tended to eat more than average folks.

We could safely finish this large feast that would normally be too much for a regular person. Everyone was good at cooking, making it a delightful time.

“Well then, we’ll be on our way. Thank you for taking the time today.”

“No, no. Sorry for making you come out on a weekend. See you on Monday. Hope the two of you over there are doing well too.”

“Yes. Thank you for taking care of David. Well then, we’ll take our leave now.”

“Oh, goodbye.”

David’s group was the first to leave.

Since the office wasn’t spacious enough for everyone to sleep over, it seemed they wanted to leave before it got too late.

As David said his goodbye, Raine and Sabrina awkwardly greeted Raven.

They came over to me separately, leaving words of farewell, saying they’d see me next time.

“Yuria, thank you for being friends with Sabrina. She can be a bit prickly and annoying sometimes. I hope she hasn’t offended you?”

“Raine!”

“Hehe, just teasing. Well then… See you next time.”

“Y-Yuria, I’ll be going now. I’ll send emails sometimes. Please make sure to reply.”

“…!”

Of course! I should definitely reply. We’re friends, after all.

I nodded vigorously as if to assure her, both hands clenched, and Sabrina seemed relieved as she and her group left the office.

What thoughts was I having as I watched them leave?

A moment later, Alice, who had been hanging back, suddenly pulled me in for a hug from above.

It was as if she’d just enjoyed some wine along with meat because she smelled faintly of alcohol.

“Um… Jin, can I stay over today?”

“Huh? Sure, go ahead.”

“Hehe… then tonight, I want to sleep with Yuria!”

“….”

Alice swayed her body as if being cute, burying her head into the back of my neck.

Though I was getting used to it, I’d appreciate it if she didn’t blow warm air on the top of my head. It was giving me goosebumps.

We started tidying up with Alice, who seemed rather giddy from the alcohol, the three of us.

Of course, I wasn’t that strong, so I automatically ended up being in charge of the dishes.

Then, after a while, late at night, after each of us exited the bath, I found myself lying in bed with Alice right beside me instead of going into my usual closet.

It has already been two weeks since I last slept with Alice.

Thinking about it, it struck me how fast time flies.

“…Yuria, good night. Yawn.”

“…!”

Tonight, I wouldn’t feel too cold even if I buried deep in the blankets.

Feeling the warmth of Alice, who was already half-asleep, I drifted off much earlier than usual.

Was it thanks to the pleasant memories I’d built with good people?

The sadness I felt earlier in the morning melted away.

Though, I was still waiting for Greg to contact me!

A smile crept onto my face involuntarily as I lay there. That’s how I felt.