"You… what are you doing here?"
The shock hit Dylan full force. He'd only stepped outside to scold his careless housemate, but instead, he found himself caught in an utterly baffling scene: standing half-naked in front of a girl nearly ten years younger than him.
He didn't even have time to feel embarrassed; the sheer surprise wiped away any trace of modesty.
When no immediate answer came —since Haru remained frozen, growing paler as she lowered the hand that had been covering her face— he took the silence as a chance to dive into his racing thoughts.
'How did she find me...? No, I gave her my real name when I parted ways, so that was predictable. But then, why did she come all the way here?'
Dylan hadn't expected to see her again for many years, when she would eventually reach a key position in the government. That was when he had planned to reappear and negotiate a deal more favorable than what was offered to the general public. He believed he could easily take advantage of their brief encounter, since in his long life he had come across many similar cases.
Enemies or mere acquaintances who, upon reuniting in Craelos, greeted each other as if they had been best friends before the Transfer, driven by a shared nostalgia for their days on Earth.
That's why seeing her just a month after their first meeting was unexpected in so many ways.
'What's more… why did she come alone?'
Even though he asked himself why she was there, Dylan could actually piece together the likely reasons. She had probably seen through his lie once she asked her father about him. After that, she investigated using the name he gave her, and with that, found his home address thanks to the data he himself had uploaded to the network.
All of that made sense.
What didn't make sense was why she came here herself, instead of contacting him by a more cautious route.
'Did this brat really come alone to the house of an adult she suspects is her stalker...? I'm not sure if that's brave or just plain stupid.'
No matter how much he looked around her, he didn't see anyone else —no father, no bodyguards, no escort. And considering how any parent would react to the situation described by their daughter, that meant she hadn't told him the whole truth about the night they met.
Honestly, he wouldn't even have been surprised to spot a police car parked discreetly down the block, considering her wealthy background. But no, there was no sign of anything like that.
Haru had come completely alone. Despite being a short, slender, and clearly vulnerable young woman.
'Is she armed, then?'
For a moment, he considered that this might be the source of her courage, but soon dismissed the possibility. From what he knew about Haru, she was an intelligent woman. If she had a gun, she would've already shown it. It wouldn't make sense for her to risk being overpowered by him before she could even pull it out from wherever she was hiding it.
That line of thought made his expression change: from surprise, he shifted to looking at her the way one looks at a street lunatic.
'Wait, don't tell me that was it?'
He frowned, eyes narrowing sharply. That's when he noticed a figure lurking at the far corner, half-hidden behind a lamppost. Suddenly, everything clicked into place; the uneasy feeling he'd had for weeks whenever he left his house now had a reason.
'I see. So that's how it is… How absurd!'
Although Dylan had previously taken advantage of Haru's recklessness and her tendency to get swept up in the moment without thinking things through, he now realized he had underestimated her. Her bad habits were even worse than he thought.
'Worrisome. Very worrisome that someone like her ended up as one of humanity's leaders. How many people must have suffered because of the way she acts?'
As he thought that, memories stirred: conversations he'd had with Diane, a woman who'd once been close to both of their future selves.
Every time Dylan returned alive from a mission, Diane would rush to meet him, pulling him out of the barracks under the stunned, envious eyes of soldiers, lieutenants, even captains. After that, they would go eat together in different places depending on their schedules: when they had little time, they'd go to restaurants; when they had more, they preferred cooking together at home; and when she was swamped, she'd bring him to her office to share something light over paperwork.
That little ritual had been their constant, no matter what was happening.
It was during those moments that he heard countless stories about people he would have never dared to approach. Through Diane, he learned how Haru had stormed the angels' territory all on her own just to keep one of them as a pet; how she had pestered her for weeks to take her to the dragons' nest so she could learn magic from them; and how she had even traveled to the elves' kingdom, despite the political tensions being at their peak, just to capture their beautiful appearances with a new ability she had developed. Why? Simply to add them to the video game she was working on.
Theft, kidnapping, property destruction, and labor exploitation. He heard it all straight from Diane.
And while many of those acts weren't as severe as they sounded —except for pushing her subordinates to keep up with someone who had surpassed human limits— they were still absurd behaviors for someone with so much power.
In fact, those stories were mostly Diane venting: a poor woman crushed under the weight of cleaning up her superior's messes.
'At least she was lucky enough to be a powerhouse herself. Otherwise, she probably would've gone bald just like her male colleagues.'
Recalling the scene where Diane burst into tears after seeing a white hair on Dylan's shoulder when they hugged, he couldn't help but smile faintly.
But beneath the amusement, there was a faint undercurrent of sadness and longing.
'Diane…' he thought, exhaling a heavy sigh thick with emotion.
Unfortunately, that gesture was completely misunderstood by the girl standing in front of him.
"Eek."
Letting out a soft, stifled gasp, Haru took two steps back. Seeing him frown, stare off into the distance, smile, and sigh… all within seconds, seemed to her like the behavior of a madman.
Thus, a creeping sense of resignation began to fill her chest.
'Oh no.'
Dylan, who had seen that look of hopelessness many times before, quickly understood what was going through her mind. So, he decided to act maturely. After all, he was the older one between them.
"You know what? Forget what I just asked. Wait here for a few minutes while I get dressed, alright? Then we can talk about whatever you want."
Drawing a broad smile on his face, one that resembled the one he'd given her when they parted ways outside the store —at least that's how it appeared in her distorted memories— Dylan tried to calm young Haru's nerves, somehow managing to do so.
"Ah… o-okay. Please, take your time, sir."
Her reply came out more polite than she'd probably intended, but she accepted, allowing Dylan to nod and retreat back into the house.
Closing the door behind him, he hesitated for a moment before ultimately deciding to lock it. After all, with the unpredictable behavior Haru had shown so far, it wouldn't have surprised him if she decided to barge into his house and grab a kitchen knife to attack him while he was getting dressed.
'Well, maybe I'm exaggerating, but better safe than sorry.'
With that, he dropped the towel around his waist, now fully naked, tossed it onto the couch, and made his way toward his bedroom.
As he walked, a firm determination settled in his chest.
'Whatever reason she came here for, I need to handle this carefully. I can't afford to scare her any more. I can't afford to make an enemy of her.'
By this point, the idea of taking advantage of her influence once the Alliance was established had vanished from his mind. All he wanted was to avoid, at all costs, creating an obstacle to his future growth.
"Under no circumstances can I afford to earn her hatred," he murmured aloud, solidifying his resolve.
. . . . .
Meanwhile, back at the entrance of the house, once Dylan had gone inside…
"Aah..."
Haru let out a long breath, finally releasing all the air she'd been holding in her lungs, then ran a hand through her hair in frustration.
"Why do these things always happen to me?!"
Nothing —absolutely nothing— had gone according to the plan she'd spent weeks preparing.