The restaurant Silver Charm picked was stylish and quiet. The soft lighting and mellow jazz should have been relaxing.
Yet the air around their corner table felt so heavy it could drip.
At the long table, Myriad Dreams sat in the middle.
To her left, Yaeno Muteki's jaw was clenched and she sat up straight. To her right, Silver Charm smiled brightly, hidden barbs in her eyes.
Touch Gold had chosen the seat farthest from the storm, wishing she could shrink into the chair.
The food was exquisite, but apart from Silver Charm's occasional comments and Muteki's mechanical, elegant steak-cutting, Dreams barely tasted a bite.
Throughout the entire meal, her head was lowered. She focused on her plate, praying the meal would end.
Touch Gold ate as if chewing wax, every mouthful a mission.
Regret pounded louder in her mind.
'If I'd known what I was getting into, no matter how pitiful Dreams looked, I'd never have agreed to this!'
When the waiter removed the main plates, Silver Charm dabbed her lips, eyes glinting with triump
h. She leaned across the center— ignoring Muteki's sudden razor stare— and cooed warmly, "It's getting late, Dreams-chan. Are you tired from the trip?"
"Why not stay at my place tonight? It's quite spacious, the guest room is always ready."
Her tone was light, as natural as could be.
"No."
Yaeno Muteki's voice rang out, colder and sharper than any knife.
She set her glass down with a soft clink.
Her eyes were like icicles skewering Silver Charm.
"Who knows what schemes that girl is plotting?"
Silver Charm's smile vanished, her azure eyes narrowed dangerously. "Hey, who're you calling 'that girl'? Watch your mouth."
"Isn't that what you are?"
Muteki didn't yield, fingertip tapping the table, voice lower and heavier.
"Ever since the contest ended, you've clung to Dreams-chan with that absurd 'promise.' Now you want to take her home? I won't allow it."
As the powder keg between them neared detonation, Dreams's forehead beaded with sweat, desperate to stop the clash yet at a loss.
At this critical instant—
"Um…"
A weary, I-really-don't-want-to-speak-but-I'd-rather-not-see-the-restaurant-turn-into-a-battlefield voice piped up.
It was Touch Gold.
She had somehow finished her steak and now raised a hand like a student forced to answer.
Under three simultaneous stares (Dreams pleading, Muteki and Charm glaring), she forced herself to speak.
"Actually… I already booked hotel rooms for Dreams." She paused, then added under twin murderous looks, "One for each of you. It's nearby, has good reviews, and offers full privacy."
Silence settled over the table.
The sweet mask on Silver Charm's face evaporated, replaced by shock and irritation at being outplayed.
Muteki's brows furrowed.
Her eyes bored into Touch Gold, looking extremely angry at the other girl for meddling and wrecking her plans.
Twin waves of pressure pinned Touch Gold, making her squirm, cold sweat trickling down her back.
She could even feel Dreams's grateful yet 'you're-on-your-own' gaze.
"Ahem…" Touch Gold cleared her throat and shot to her feet so fast the chair nearly toppled.
Avoiding the two lethal stares, she stared at a ceiling corner.
"W-Well… I just remembered— I left the stove on at home! I have to go now! I'll text Dreams the hotel details!"
With that she practically skimmed across the floor toward the exit, leaving only a single sentence behind her.
"Dreams! Transfer me money for the room! Bye!"
She burst outside, the cool night air let her finally exhale in relief.
Striding toward her car, she raged inside:
'Myriad Dreams! You'd better remember my self-sacrifice! Next time, even if you cry, I'm staying out of it!'
'Ugh… the back of my neck still feels their glares…'
Back in the restaurant, the remaining trio's atmosphere grew even stranger.
Silver Charm watched the direction Touch Gold had fled, pouted, then re-attached a thinner smile.
"Oh? You've got a hotel book booked… Touch Gold certainly is… efficient."
It was unclear if this was praise or sarcasm.
Muteki stayed silent, lips tight, gaze still clamped on Dreams.
The hotel compromise displeased her, but Touch Gold's sudden move had only stalled her plan.
She was already calculating: Rven at the hotel, her room must adjoin Dreams's— or even better…
Dreams stared at the message that arrived simultaneously on her phone.
It was booking details and a terse "Good luck, pay me."
Looking up at her two "guardians," she knew the trip to the hotel would be longer (and tougher) than the journey here.
The covert war over Dreams's "ownership" and company, jolted by Touch Gold's timely escape, had merely shifted battlegrounds.
It changed from "who stays where" to a skirmish over adjacent rooms and tomorrow's schedule.
Meanwhile, Touch Gold was probably on her way home, thanking her lucky stars she'd escaped alive.
(T/N: Check out the Author's note at the end of the chapter.)