Instead of going to the cafeteria, **Otilia** stopped by a nearby convenience store, bought a bento, heated it up, and found a quiet spot on campus to eat alone.
> "Wait—Lily-chan! Hold up!"
**Margaret** ran up beside her—bento in hand—and sat down without hesitation.
> "Honestly, Lily-chan, you've been so cold to your big sister lately~!"
> "You're only a month older than me!" Otilia snapped, already exasperated.
> "Hey~ you used to always call me 'big sis' and cling to me when we were little~~" Margaret recalled with sparkling eyes.
> "Do *not* bring up our childhood! That was then—this is now." Otilia's cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "And stop calling me Lily."
> "Sigh~ so heartless~" Margaret pouted dramatically.
> "No matter what happened to you, I'm still the same caring Sister An you knew back then~"
Otilia didn't reply. She simply opened her bento and started eating in silence.
> "I'm hungry too~!"
Margaret placed her own bento on her lap and unwrapped it. The cloth was decorated with cartoon cat paws, revealing a sleek, three-tier black bento box. Each layer was carefully packed with adorable, cat-shaped food decorations—tiny rice balls, vegetables, and delicate cuts of meat worked into cute paw prints and whiskers.
Otilia glanced sideways at it.
> "Your obsession with cats hasn't changed at all, huh..."
> "Of course not! I looove cats. But I don't get it… cats always run away from me!" Margaret said sorrowfully, nearly on the verge of tears.
> "That's fate. Destiny. Clearly divine punishment," Otilia smirked, her voice teasing. Her cheeks puffed up slightly as she continued eating.
> "The food's delicious today. Want a bite?" Margaret offered, holding up a tiny cat-shaped dumpling.
> "Stop calling me Lily! And *definitely* stop adding '-chan' or '-sauce' to it!"
Margaret wasn't fazed. She simply smiled and leaned closer.
> "You've been completely spaced out all morning. Did something happen?"
> "Nothing."
> "Hmm... well, if there's anything you want to talk about, I'm always here for you."
Otilia paused, then glanced at her friend.
> "Your family's in… electronics, right?"
> "Yup! Everything from phones to computers. Actually, the tallest skyscraper in the city? That's our company!"
Margaret puffed her chest with pride, then added with mock frustration:
> "Though lately, I heard some up-and-coming tech startup is trying to build a tower taller than ours on an island somewhere. Hah—what nerve!"
> "I heard your company's been developing some virtual tech, right?" Otilia asked.
> "You mean VR headsets? Of course—we've always made those. Best model on the market. If you want, I can ask my dad to send over one of the new prototypes—hasn't even been released yet~" she offered eagerly.
> "No, I don't mean those... Not VR helmets. I'm talking about *full-dive*. The kind where your entire consciousness enters a virtual world."
> "Oh—*that* mythical stuff?" Margaret frowned thoughtfully.
> "Nope, not yet. As far as I know, the best global tech right now still only goes as far as headset-based simulated environments. It's all optical illusion, 3D immersion, that sort of thing."
> "So if full-dive actually existed, it would... what, break the world?"
> "Pretty much. It would be *huge* news overnight."
> "...I see," Otilia said quietly, returning to her meal.
> "What is it? You binge an anime about VRMMOs or something?" Margaret teased.
> "Or did someone recommend a game?"
> "Nothing like that," Otilia muttered. "I was just… curious."
Meanwhile, **Evan Walker** had been quietly observing the two girls the whole time.
The **Nightmare Lord**, utterly uninterested in small talk, was clearly growing more and more agitated. His restless misty form drifted lazily—half-asleep—until suddenly he snapped upright with a jolt.
> "It's HER!"
> "HUH? Who?" Evan jumped in surprise. The voice had blasted into his mind without warning.
> "That woman! Right there—*absolute superfood*! Register her as **Food No. 2** immediately!"
> "...What??"
Evan looked around in the direction indicated by the Nightmare Lord, but the area was crowded with students.
> "Which one are you talking about?! There's like twenty of them!"
> "Idiot! How can you be this slow?! She's leaving—GRAB HER!"
> "Should I chase after her?"
> "No… ugh. We can't stray too far from Otilia right now. Our spirit body isn't stable yet," the Nightmare Lord muttered with frustration.
> "Tch. Lost another one..."
> *To be continued...*