***

When Rosaria finally regained consciousness, she was lying down on the stairs she was zapped by Lisa’s magic. Her body was weak due to all the damage done to her, which made moving all the harder.

‘…I respect her punctuality when it comes to closing up for the day and ditching her responsibilites, but to think she was this strong…’ Rosaria thought as she slowly got up to see where they were but instead of seeing them anywhere, she saw nothing but the staircase.

“What kind of place even is this? Is there no way out? Only to go further?” She muttered quietly under her breath.

Rosaria hadn’t realized how long she had been unconscious until now; she had lost track of time. It could have been minutes, or even hours.

With no other way but to go forward, she walked up the steps.

“Those jerks just left me here. I see how it is.”

With a swift movement, Rosaria lifted herself back onto her feet and immediately dashed upwards while keeping her guard up and her senses alert.

Her progress was fast, almost too fast, considering her weakened state. Unlike Yomite’s party who struggled through every single step and wasted minutes to get to the top, Rosaria moved like she would in her own home, going upstairs with ease and grace.

When she reached the top floor, she found a simple corridor with a path leading to a platform. There weren’t any doors or windows, just holes in the walls and the ceiling that let green light inside the room.

The path further seemed to have been blocked off by some invisible barrier, making it impossible for anyone to cross over it.

In the center of the platform, was a giant red key, floating in mid air without being attached to anything else. A purple cube rotated at the top of it in regular intervals.

“A challenge? In this place?” Rosaria muttered once again. “They must have climbed the stairs above as I don’t see them here…”

She paused momentarily before walking towards the big red key.

As soon as she came forward and touched it, the key had disappeared along with the cube and suddenly there were electro slimes together with a yellow mutant electro slime standing on the platform.

“Electro slimes? If they were Cryo, I would have some problems, but Electro slimes? Seriously?” She thought to herself while pulling out her spear and swiftly disposing of the monsters one after another.

Once they were all gone she received some Mora and a currency many called Primogem, although she wasn’t sure what it was for, she took it with herself anyway.

After that, she resolutely ascended the staircase further. The barrier in front of the staircase had disappeared, and she had assumed Yomite’s party went further above.

“He has the balls to bring Barbara into a place like this. He should make sure nothing happens to her. That jerk. I’m going to kill him,” Rosaria muttered under her breath as she started moving up the next flight of steps.

***

**

*

Meanwhile, Yomite and his group were relaxing in the living room; Yomite was sitting on the couch resting while Fischl sat next to him, hugging his arm, with Barbara on the opposite side holding onto him too.

Lumine and Paimon were sitting in one of the leather armchairs by the fireplace, having a conversation about their favorite topic.

Food.

Lisa and Hu Tao were sleeping in their respective rooms and Iris lay on the ground next to the fireplace curled into a ball, absorbing both the heat of the fire as well as the coldness emanating from the stone floor below her with her body.

Barbara was ear to ear smiling and held Yomite’s hand softly without saying anything.

She looked so happy that it almost hurt to look at her. The love she felt for Yomite radiated through her every move: it seemed to glow inside her eyes.

When he moved slightly away from her she closed her eyes as if irritated and shifted over to be closer again. Though she didn’t show it on her face, the smile she wore seemed to be saying “I’m upset. Don’t you dare move away again.”

Fischl, who had been watching this all unfold with an expressionless face, sighed deeply. There was no point in being jealous, after all, she was her friend. But still…Fischl wanted some attention of her own. It had nothing to do with the fact that Yomite was her partner.

“Something wrong?” Yomite asked while caressing Fischl’s hair gently and pulling back a strand of it playfully.

“N-Nothing of note!” Fischl stammered and pushed herself off his arm only to find herself in his embrace once more and before she could make another attempt at an escape, she was trapped against his chest, completely unable to pull herself free.

He was not in any rush either as his arm embraced his girlfriend slowly but surely, giving them plenty of time to enjoy the closeness they shared.

Fischl bit down on her lower lip and let out a soft moan as the warm feeling coursed through her body.

She didn’t know herself why exactly the moment was so perfect. She just knew that it was something special and couldn’t be missed.

‘Why am I so scared all the time?’ Fischl thought as she relaxed into Yomite’s arms. ‘When he pays attention to others, I get insecure, thinking he doesn’t like me, and also get worried about losing him! And when he finally pays attention to me, I freeze up and refuse all contact and intimacy from him…Am I just weird after all?’

At this point, she might truly start calling herself crazy. She knew she wanted the attention, however she refused to accept it and put it on hold.

Unlike Hu Tao, who simply threw herself on him at any occasion, Fischl would always run away whenever her opportunity presented itself; she was also the complete opposite of what someone like Barbara was at first glance: a flirtatious person who was bold enough to pursue her crush even if he showed almost no interest in her.

‘What am I doing!’ Fischl groaned internally while looking up to Yomite as if seeking an answer.

“Paimon thinks you’re all enjoying yourselves too much,” Paimon spoke up, breaking the silence and bringing Fischl back to reality.

“Aww, you want a hug too? Come here!” Yomite reached out towards his emergency food and she recoiled immediately, cowering behind Lumine.

“Keep those grippers to yourself, Mister!” Paimon replied with a frown on her face that said “No touching.”