At least once in their life, everyone has probably experienced this—

    That moment when you go out of your way to obtain a limited-time item, thinking this is my only chance...

    Only to realize afterward that it doesn’t fit into your life at all, turning into nothing but an inconvenient burden.

    It’s a frustrating situation.

    In the worst-case scenario, you don’t just waste money—you waste time, effort, and opportunity costs.

    If you’re lucky, you can at least sell it off as a second-hand item or an unopened collectible.

    In a similar vein—on the early morning of the day after our trip—

    As always, I slipped into Raven’s closet, arms crossed, lost in thought.

    ‘Did I... bring this back for nothing?’

    The dim closet was illuminated only by the faint light seeping through the door’s cracks.

    My gaze was fixed on a curved piece of metal, shaped like a crescent moon.

    It wasn’t particularly ornate, nor did it look expensive. It wasn’t even very large.

    At first glance, it seemed like one of those cheap souvenirs you’d find at a tacky tourist trap.

    But if you knew where this thing came from, you’d reconsider your judgment immediately.

    Because this crescent-shaped metal fragment—

    It was a shard from the Grand Mage’s Orb!

    ...Wait, you’re asking if I stole this from Tamamo?

    Well... to be honest, I was originally planning to.

    Unlike magic, telekinesis leaves no trace of mana, making it virtually impossible to track.

    And with Echo, who specialized in information gathering and manipulation, on my side—

    Theoretically speaking, it was possible.

    Besides, this was an object related to the Invaders, so I had a valid reason for taking it.

    But, as luck would have it, I didn’t have to go through all that trouble.

    Just as I was quietly plotting in the shadows—

    Tamamo approached me first.

    —"Yuria-chan, hey there! What are you doing all alone in a place like this?"

    —"...?"

    —"Nihaha! I heard about you! Alice sees you as a little sister, right? That means you’re my little sister too! Hey, wanna exchange contact info?"

    As I quietly tilted my head, listening to her chatter—

    I realized that she seemed quite interested in me.

    Well, of course. Alice was the most important friend in Tamamo’s life.

    And if Alice treasured me, then it made sense that Tamamo would be curious about me as well.

    For me, though, this was nothing but a stroke of luck.

    Now that we had this direct connection, I no longer needed to sneak around and steal anything.

    No one else could recognize the true value of this thing anyway.

    So I could just shamelessly ask for it outright.

    —"Oh, uh? S-Sorry, could you gesture again? I don’t think I understood properly...."

    —"...!"

    —"Huh? What does that mean...? A ball? A gem?"

    —"...!!"

    Of course, Tamamo had no idea what I was trying to say. She was sweating bullets, completely lost.

    Communicating with only gestures was harder than I thought.

    Alice and Raven could understand me even if I just jumped in place, but—

    Not everyone had god-tier intuition like those two.

    For the first time, I genuinely appreciated just how perceptive they were.

    Still, after a long struggle of desperately trying to convey my meaning—

    Tamamo finally got it.

    She handed me the fragment, saying that the Grand Mage’s Orb was already shattered and useless anyway.

    She was probably planning to keep the broken remains as a decoration at home.

    It wasn’t like she had any other way to use it.

    ‘Getting it without any hassle was great and all, but...’

    Trading my contact info for the fragment had been an excellent deal.

    But there was just one problem—

    No matter what I did, the fragment wouldn’t react.

    I was certain it was an Invader-related artifact. Tesseract even confirmed it.

    And yet, when I tried to communicate with it—nothing.

    Why isn’t it responding?

    When I asked Tesseract and Echo, they both gave me the same answer.

    [ Mama, it’s definitely asleep. ]

    [ I agree. The most likely reason is an energy deficiency. ]

    "Asleep"...?

    Was it in the same energy-depleted state as Tesseract had been before?

    If so, the solution was simple—

    I just needed to feed it Rift energy until it woke up.

    But... that posed a problem.

    I couldn’t afford to waste energy on this unknown fragment right now.

    The Saint Maria incident had drained a significant amount of both Tesseract’s and Echo’s reserves.

    ‘You never know when danger will strike. Who could’ve predicted that we’d run into Morte while on vacation?’

    Think about it—

    If Tesseract hadn’t been there, could I have done anything against Akashmir or Morte?

    Yeah. No way. Absolutely impossible.

    So refueling Tesseract wasn’t even a debate—it was a necessity.

    And Echo, despite her usual antics, was critical for hacking devices, manipulating information, and creating diversions.

    In her own way, she was just as invaluable as Tesseract.

    Spending their already limited energy on some mystery fragment instead?

    That was just stupid.

    What if I woke it up and it turned out to have some garbage-tier ability?

    I’d be so furious I wouldn’t even be able to sleep.

    ‘Ugh... but if I don’t wake it up, then what’s the point of taking it? Who knows—maybe it even has the power to break the curse that stops me from speaking...’

    Think. Think.

    Lying in Raven’s cramped closet, I rolled around on the futon, arms crossed.

    After much internal debate, I finally made up my mind—right after I bonked my forehead against the wall and nearly teared up.

    I would feed it Rift energy—but at a reduced rate.

    Tesseract would get 70%, Echo 20%, and the fragment 10%.

    That ratio should be reasonable.

    ‘In the end, Tesseract is the most important. As long as Tesseract is fully powered, no enemy is truly a threat. Echo is next. The fragment... meh, I’ll give it 10%. It’s not urgent.’

    Hopefully, it had a game-changing ability, just like Tesseract.

    With that small wish in mind, I distributed the Rift energy accordingly.

    All I could do now was pray that no new disasters popped up anytime soon.

    ***

    After squeezing out every last drop of Rift energy and crawling out of the closet, I found Raven sprawled out on the office lounge sofa.

    His messy pajamas and unkempt stubble made it painfully clear—

    He was fully embracing the fact that today was a day off for the agency.

    Well, just because we had returned from our trip didn’t mean Night Week was over yet.

    So even if he was lazing around like a sloth, I couldn’t really say anything about it. Not that I planned to.

    ‘What’s he watching this time?’

    Making sure my footsteps were silent, I crept closer and peeked over his shoulder.

    On the massive TV screen—

    Yep. Same as always.

    Aeron Racing.

    Giant wyverns, each standing several meters tall, rampaged across the stadium in a fierce race.

    Maybe it was because injuries could just be healed with magic—

    But these massive creatures charged forward without hesitation, showing no fear of getting hurt.

    Raven once told me that was the reason Aeron Racing had become the most popular sport of this era.

    Even as someone unfamiliar with it, I had to admit—it was impressive to watch.

    But still...

    Doesn’t he ever get tired of watching the same thing every day?

    I couldn’t understand how he never got bored of it.

    "..."

    "Huh? Oh. Is it already lunchtime?"

    "...?"

    To avoid disturbing him, I quietly sat down on the couch beside him.

    But, of course, it was impossible to hide from his sharp senses.

    Noticing me, Raven casually turned his head and spoke.

    Since it was already late morning, he probably figured I had come over because I was hungry.

    Like I was some pet waiting to be fed.

    ...Well. He wasn’t wrong.

    So I didn’t bother denying it and simply shifted over to his side.

    Seeing this, Raven lazily scooted over, making space for me.

    "Ah... We probably forgot to restock the fridge before our trip. Should we just order something? How about pizza?"

    "...!"

    "Let’s see... Four large pizzas should be enough, right? You usually eat about a whole one yourself."

    "...."

    Four pizzas. For just the two of us.

    For a second, my brain short-circuited at the ridiculous math.

    No wonder this agency is always broke. How much do they spend on food?!

    Scratching my neck, I hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement.

    I wasn’t picky about food, and pizza was definitely one of my favorites.

    There was no reason to turn down free pizza.

    Raven tapped away at his device, and within moments, the order was placed.

    Estimated delivery time—20 minutes.

    The speed of this world’s delivery system never failed to impress me.

    "Alright, that’s done. Since we’ve got some time to kill before the food gets here... Wanna watch Aeron Racing with me? Today’s match is actually really good."

    "...!"

    "It’s a special event for Night Week. See that T-Rex-looking one? That’s Brutalis—"

    With nothing better to do, I ended up watching the race with him.

    Thanks to Raven’s explanations about the wyverns and their histories, the race was far more entertaining than I expected.

    And that 20-minute delivery time?

    Not an exaggeration.

    We had barely watched a few minutes before the doorbell rang.

    Fast. At this rate, the cheese probably hasn’t even cooled yet.

    Excited, I bolted toward the door to grab the pizzas—

    And threw it open.

    But the person standing there...

    Was not the pizza delivery guy.

    Instead, a tall, silver-haired beauty stood before me, her long, flowing hair reaching her waist.

    A face I knew all too well.

    Even though this was our first time meeting in person.

    "Oh my... Are you... Yuria?"

    "..."

    Sakuragi Lily.

    The single sharp horn protruding from above her right eye made her identity unmistakable.