<em>"Where do I go? To the left, where nothing''s right; or to the right, where there''s nothing left?"</em><strong><em></em></strong>


    <strong>*****1</strong>


    The sun was bright and the sky was clear. As the morning breeze swept into my room, Iy in my bed, slowly opening my eyes. I felt a familiar warmth embracing my right arm, so I looked down to investigate. When I saw the beautiful long red-hair of Mei Gui, I knew exactly what had happened, and quickly pulled my arm away. This sudden force startled her, and the otherworldly beauty rose from her sleep.


    "Mei Gui...didn''t I tell you not to climb into my bed when I am sleeping...?" I sighed, rubbing my eyes.


    The beautiful girl stared at me for a couple of moments before bowing her head slightly and replied, "Apologies, master...it was out of instinct."


    <em>You have an instinct for crawling into my bed at night? I don''t even want to think about how many misunderstandings that single sentence is going to cause if anyone else heard it.</em>


    Luckily, no one else was in my dorm, so my dignity was protected for the time being. With this walking time bomb around though, who knew when that woulde to an end?<em></em>


    "Well, whatever," I muttered in response. "At least you aren''tpletely naked this time..."


    Thest time she had done this, she wasn''t wearing a thing, meaning I very well could''ve subconsciously groped her bare skin. Just the thought made me shudder. There was so many things wrong with that, I couldn''t even begin to list them all. One of the major ones being how young she looked...close to Qing Yue''s appearance, to be honest. I didn''t know what her real exact age was, but she was a legal loli...probably. If not, well, my life ends the moment she identally spills the news.


    In any case, I got out of bed and got ready for the day. Brushed my teeth, took a shower, all that stuff. I checked the time using the clock on the wall, and panicked for a moment when it read 9:00, since sses started at 8:30. But then I remembered that today, along with the three days after today, were all ss-free. It was our rest period from participating in the Advancement Exams. I sighed in relief and opened the fridge out of habit...only to find nothing.


    "Uh, sorry, Mei Gui..." I hollered out to the crimson-haired girl, who was sitting on the couch, rxing. "There isn''t any food in the refrigerator, ahaha..."


    Laughing awkwardly, I shut the fridge door. However, Mei Gui didn''t seem to mind this at all, but instead shook her head calmly. "No need to apologize, master. We can simply eat outside, or skip breakfast in general."


    <em>Despite not beingpletely human, she seems quite familiar with human practices and terminology like ''breakfast'', huh...but wait, does she even need to eat? She does, right?</em>


    Just to confirm my hypothesis, I decided to ask for rifaction. "Hey, Mei Gui...incidentally, do you even need to eat food or drink water?"


    "No, I do not, master."


    "Ah, yeah, I knew you needed to as wel- Wait, what?!"


    Ipletely expected her to say ''yes'', so I didn''t even realize what she had responded with until I was already half-way through my sentence.


    Seeing my surprise, Mei Gui began exining. "Master, I do not to consume human food or water, since I get my energy and mana from another source."


    "And that source is...?"


    "It''s you, master."


    "...Hold on, what?"


    <em>Wait, was that why she climbs into my bed at night?! That can''t be, right?! If food and water are to energy and mana in her case, then...she needs to sleep with me to be able to live?! What kind of messed up biology is that?!</em>


    I decided to take a step back and regte my own thinking, since right now my mind waspletely jumbled, and no, it wasn''t because I just woke up. "W-Wait, so in other words, you have to climb into my bed every night in order to restore your own energy?"


    "That is correct, master," Mei Gui answered casually. "However, if you do not wish for me to do so, I will obey your orders."


    I nced at her skeptically. "But won''t you die then, without any energy?"


    "No, master. I can obtain energy from human food and human water as well, though it is just less efficient."


    "..."


    <em>Say that sooner, dammit! You had me all worried about your health for</em><em>nothing...</em>


    <em></em>I wanted to yell that out loud, but decided against it since I knew she would just begin apologizing again and feeling guilty, so I eventually just settled with sighing and letting bygones be bygones. She was just that kind of girl (?), after all.


    For better or worse, I was able to, in the end, find out the truth about her climbing into my bed for apparently no reason. I knew better now, though. But if she eats food and water in the daytime like humans, then she wouldn''t need to sleep with me at night for energy and mana. And so, the first thing on my to-do list in this four-day break from school is to procure some food.


    "Mei Gui, you just stay here, I''ll go get us some breakfast," I said, slipping on the usual hoodie I wore.


    "Understood, master."


    However, as I was putting on my hoodie...a faint yet pleasant aroma tickled my nose.


    <em>Wait a minute...this hoodie...did someone wash it? Mm...yeah, this is the smell ofundry detergent, alright. I''ve used the school-provided one before, and this has the exact same fragrance.</em>


    <em></em>"Hey, Mei Gui, did you wash this, by any chance?"


    She nodded. "Yes, master. Once you had fallen asleep, I used the interesting machine on the balcony to ''wash'' it. Was that what they call ''doing theundry''?"


    Hearing her innocent question, I chuckled. "Yeah, that''s called doing theundry. Thanks, by the way."


    "No need for gratitude, master. This is within my responsibilities."


    <em>Actually, you''ve done more than enough. I got my ass saved by you plenty of times already, you know? Oh well.</em><em>Least I can do to make it up to her is getting her some delicious food to eat...</em><em></em>


    <em></em>"Thank you anyway," I replied. After putting on the hoodiepletely and slipping on my running shoes, I turned to face Mei Gui onest time. "Alright, I''m heading out."


    She stood up and bowed to me in a maid-like fashion.<em>Hmm...she''s been doing that a lottely. I wonder where or who she learned that</em><em>from...</em>


    <em></em>"Goodbye for now, master. I shall await your return here."


    I grinned, seeing her formal attitude apanied by apletely expressionless face. My smile spread even wider as I remembered how cute she could be when she did let just the tiniest bit of emotions show, as much as she''d tried to hide the fact that she did indeed have human feelings. I didn''t know why she wanted to pretend she was like a machine and nothing more, but I figured now wasn''t the right time to ask her that. It felt a bit personal, and I haven''t known her for all that long yet (despite living together).


    I strode out the door and headed towards the elevators, hearing the nking of a door shut behind me. "Now then...I said I would get her something tasty as a gift for all she''s done for me so far, but..."


    I took out my 99% empty wallet from my pocket, and unzipped the part designated to hold coins. Pouring out its contents onto my hand, I grimaced as I shook it violently, desperately trying to get one more coin toe out of it. But s, no matter how much you wanted to deny it, reality does not change. I zipped my wallet''s coinpartment back up and put the entire thing back into my pocket.


    Opening my palm, I nced down at the three sole pennies lying there.


    "Great...what am I going to do with this...?"


    <strong>*****</strong>


    I soon reached the ground level of the boys'' dorms, and nned to head outside, still with no clear destination in mind. However, in the lobby of the building, I found four girls waiting for me. They were my allies during the Advancement Exams, one of them being my (not blood-rted) little sister.


    Spotting me, Qing Yue hurriedly ran over and leapt up to me. "Heya, Big Brother Xuan Kai!"


    <em>Cheerful as always, I see.</em>


    "...What are you all doing here?" I asked, catching Qing Yue in my arms.


    "Oh, um...the four of us talked a bitst night, and decided it was time to get you some stuff," Feng Mian replied casually.


    "Some ''stuff''?"


    "Yeah," Yu An Yan nodded. "I mean...you don''t even have any food, right? So why don''t we go, um...shopping together?"


    As her cheeks began to turn pink nearing the end of her sentence, I dubiously looked down at Qing Yue. "Uh...you were the one to suggest this, weren''t you?"


    My cute little sister didn''t reply, but instead just beamed at me and snuggled deeper in my arms. I sighed, and patted her head.


    "Well? Do you want toe...?" Feng Mian asked, waiting anxiously for my answer.


    <em>Why are you so nervous? Stop fidgeting with your hair...I''m not going to reject you here.</em>


    <em></em>"Hm...I would be lying if I said I wasn''tpletely broke, so..." I muttered quietly.


    "Then it''s decided!" Yu An Yan dered, pping her hands together happily. All sign of nervousness was gone from all the girls. "We''ll go shopping with you today!"


    "Right..." I sighed dejectedly.


    <em>How pathetic am I? To be letting four girls buy things for me...well, I can''t really help it. I guess I could''ve asked for some money after winning the tournament...actually, isn''t there a Hunters'' Guild somewhere? From what I know, the Hunters'' Guild is an organization that handed out quests for exterminating Monsters and wild Magic Beasts. It was a good source of stable ie, as long as youpleted quests from time to time. Before, I hadn''t even considered joining this organization, since I didn''t have magic back then. I would be killed immediately, even if I was somehow epted into the organization by some miraculous happening. But now...I think I can support myself using this, huh?</em>


    <em></em>"Hey, guys..." I stopped walking and called out to the four girls in front of me.


    "What is it?" Feng Mian asked in curiosity.


    "Have you...ever heard about the Hunters'' Guild?"


    "...The Hunters'' Guild?" Yu An Yan echoed thoughtfully. "Yeah, they''re that organization that pays money to people whoplete specific tasks, right?"


    "Ah...wait, Big Brother Xuan Kai, are you nning on joining?" Qing Yue looked at me with a frown.


    "Precisely. I can''t always have four girls supporting me, y''know?" I replied in unease. Just saying that line out loud was extremely embarrassing.


    "Hm...okay, we''lle with you then!" Feng Mian dered suddenly.


    "Yeah, sounds fun!"


    "Indeed, we can all go together."


    "Mm...agreed."


    I blinked at the four girls in confusion.


    <strong>"...Hold up, what?"</strong> Before a certain someonees and names this as well, I''ll name this one myself (you know who I''m talking to, yes, you, I can see all thements you make c;). I deem this group of asterisks as Poggers. Yes, I''m not capping.