Varian's smile faded and he nodded stiffly. "I saw your heart pierced with a sword and Sarah…her…head."
Sarah and Sia both sighed. Now they understood why Varian was in a frenzy.
Sia pointed to the third chair, which was intentionally placed ten feet away from hers.
Varian sat on it without a word. Sarah and Sia also fell silent.
"I thought you two were sleeping?" He asked after a while.
"After the Valos debacle, I was having nightmares about you, so…" Sarah scratched her cheek. "Sleeping is kinda scary."
"And I…I have a very bad history with nightmares." Sia shook her head.
Sarah held Sia's arm and patted her on the back. Sia gave her a weak smile and indicated it was alright.
"…My bad." Varian apologized. "I thought we could relax if we slept like…normal people but failed to consider this situation."
Even now, his heart was still beating hard inside his chest. That nightmare was very realistic since he was an awakener.
He could only imagine how Sarah and Sia must have felt when he pushed them to sleep without knowing it.
Still, he thought it was a pity. Even though they didn't 'need' sleep, having a good sleep kept mind refreshed the mind and lowered mental anxiety.
"It's not like your idea is bad. The problem is nightmares." Sarah said as she crossed her legs on the chair.
"Using mind power, nightmares can be prevented, but then, it won't feel like sleep anymore. It will be meditation." Sia muttered as she focused on Varian's red eyes.
"D-Did you cry?" She suddenly asked.
"I…" Varian looked at Sia with a blaming gaze and finally sighed. "I was half-crazy, I don't know."
"Hm." Sarah walked to him and rested his head on her bosom.
Varian let himself be hugged as the fear in his heart slowly dissipated.
"I…I was the one trying to help you guys, but now, I'm the one being helped. Feels weird." He muttered.
"Does it matter? We all want to help each other." Sarah gave a gentle smile and rubbed his hair lovingly.
Sia looked at the two of them and tapped her comm frantically. The count of hugs he owed was going up.
Sarah noticed Sia's actions from the corner of her eyes and her lips twitched. 'Doing this in front of his official girlfriend, can you be any more direct? Just confess to him already!'
Seeing Varian's face that was slowly relaxing in her chest, Sarah sighed. 'But if you do confess, I wonder how he'll respond. Maybe he'll feel conflicted about how to deal with both of us?'
If it was Varian before the ruins, she could say for certain that he'd have felt conflicted about how to deal with the situation.
She saw the hesitation on his face every time the topic was brought up.
But she didn't know anymore.
After coming out of the ruins, she was certain. Varian changed. She wasn't sure the extent of his change, but from the normal things, she could pick up that change.
His inhibitions were gone. He was acting much more freely than before. If it was before, he'd have hesitated about introducing Sia to Sarah or at least worried about what they'd feel when they meet.
But now, he showed no such worries.
Even when they met, he didn't stay with them to ensure they didn't fight. Rather, he simply left them to themselves.
If it was before, he'd be training all day instead of touring the city, and watching movies. He wouldn't be holding himself back after Julius' provocation. Even if he intended to chill now, he could've used Boo's hacking and damaged Xanders.
He did none of that.
"Still," Varian's hot breath hit her chest through her thin clothes and Sarah shivered. "No sleep is a pity."
Sia looked at Sarah with intense eyes and her mind worked above 100% of its capacity. Then, she snapped her fingers with a hurray. "I think we can make sleep work!"
"Huh?" Varian left Sarah's hug and looked at Sia in confusion.
Sarah stepped back and placed her hand on her chest. Her heart was throbbing hard. So hard that she worried they'd listen to her heartbeat.
Thankfully, Varian's focus was on Sia.
In her cute pink pajamas, Sia assumed a serious expression. "To sleep, we need to hold hands."
"…What?"
"Our subconscious, especially that of powerful awakeners is very capable. It can analyze what we're in contact with. Since our subconscious is also the one responsible for our dreams, it can't contradict itself. It already knows you're holding us, so it won't show that you're in harm. The same goes for us." Sia clapped her hands and said.
"Well," Varian had a troubled expression. "How do I hold your hand though?"
"Like this." Sia's brows frowned and she pressed her hands together.
The wind blew lightly and Varian felt someone gripping his hand.
The air…it was compressed to form a hand. Since it's his subconscious, Sia needed to be extra careful to create a replica of her hand.
It wasn't easy even for a level 8. From the sweat rolling down Sia's forehead and her ragged breathing, it was also quite taxing.
But Sia didn't seem to care.
"Sarah, you too." Sia gestured with an enthusiastic expression.
"Oh." Sarah dragged her chair next to him, sat on it, and held his hand.
"Now try sleeping again," Sia said in a gentle voice.
"…How about we teleport to ghost ship? Sleeping outside is not safe." Varian said after a moment of thought.
"Fine, but replicate this environment there." Sia compromised.
With a flash, they teleported into the ghost ship and in a few seconds, the exact atmosphere was replicated inside.
Varian gripped Sarah's hand in the right and Sia's 'virtual' hand in the left.
After laying down in the soft grass of the 'garden' while holding hands, Varian called Boo.
"…"
Boo looked at him with resentful eyes but started its speech anyway.
Beyond its expectations, not only Varian but even Sarah and Sia fell asleep.
"When Boo sings, the speech is so cute that omelets became eggs and humans became apes~" Boo finished its speech with no audience.
"Zzzz~"
"ZzZ…"
"Z…"
Boo looked at their sleeping faces with a bit of resentment. But in the end, it sighed and waved its hand.
The floor under the three of them floated up and carried them to Varian's bed. Then, it gently slid them onto the bed without disturbing their postures.
The overly large bed fit the three perfectly.
"I knew it! Master bought the bed on purpose." Boo stomped its foot and ran off to the command room.
Boo would rather read some comics than watch Varian's sinister plans succeed.
Varian shifted in his sleep slightly towards Sia. The distance just crossed the ten feet mark.
A repulsion came from his body and it tried to force him back.
His subconscious resisted that repulsion. If it did that, then it'd lose the relaxing sleep.
After a short but intense clash, the subconscious won.
Varian's body didn't feel any repulsion at the ten feet distance. It didn't vanish, but it certainly shortened.
The guy and the two girls slept to their heart's content after a long, long time.
When the sunlight shone on Sia's beautiful face, her eyebrows quivered and she slowly got up.
Looking down, she felt a bit embarrassed about her current state. Her hair was disheveled, her pajama was slightly pulled down, revealing the upper portion of her right breast. Her shorts were pulled upward, revealing her slender thighs.
Under the sunlight, it was a scene out of a painting.
"Good morning~" Sarah rubbed her messy hair and yawned. Her clothes were also in a similar state, though not as much as Sia's.
"Morning." Sia nodded while shooting a glance at the sleeping guy.
Varian...he looked very handsome. Even more handsome than a year ago. Even the last traces of immaturity were gone from his face and he now seemed like a prince from the old times.
Sia's gaze was transfixed on his face and leaned forward when she suddenly noticed something was off.
They slept at a distance of ten feet. But even when she leaned forward, he showed no signs of repulsion.
Wait!
He seemed a bit closer than the ten feet distance.
Wait, really!
Sia's eyes widened as she yelled in surprise. "Eight feet!"
"Hm?" Varian's eyes cracked open at the noise.
The first thing he saw was messy brown hair, then Sia's golden eyes that widened in shock for some reason, her smooth shoulders, and her chest…most of her beautiful right breast.
Now that he noticed, she had truly grown in a year.
With a proud smile, Varian gave Sia a serious thumbs up. "Beautiful!"
"Haa?" Sia opened her mouth in confusion.
Then, he turned to Sarah and witnessed the beauty who had just woken up. She had a different kind of charm compared to her usual noble temperament.
A lazy and pretty charm.
"You're very pretty, Sarah." He gave her a thumbs up too.
He didn't discriminate.
"Wha—"
Sarah and Sia looked at each other in confusion before their jaws dropped in realization.
They quickly arranged their clothes and ran off the room.
"…This is the best morning~" Varian smiled and stretched his arms.
Looking at the rising sun, he felt a complicated emotion. "I guess we all had a good sleep for the whole night."
"For a night and a whole day!" Boo appeared in the room at some point and said.
"A day?" Varian blinked in confusion.
"Master, you slept a night, then you also slept through the whole day. This is the next morning."
"!"
