Chapter 144: Boring Sofa Time

On the first morning after her discharge from the hospital, Ephnel spent almost all of it resting on the sofa.

For Ephnel, this was a rare moment of rest.

Her past self would have probably rested quietly, recuperated, and waited until she was fully healed before returning to her post, right?

But everything was a little different now.

The threat of the Apostles, the secret of the Angel, and the truth of Seiran disappearing and becoming the Angel—all of it pressed down on Ephnel’s heart like a giant stone, making it impossible for her to ignore.

After finally getting together with Yukina, Ephnel didn’t want their life to be obstructed by anything.

If she wanted the two of them to reach the end together, then Ephnel still had countless things to do.

She absolutely did not want her time to be wasted away on “healing” like this.

But right now, she was truly powerless.

Unable to do anything but stare into space, just sitting or lying there limply, was without a doubt, incredibly boring.

This boredom scorched Ephnel’s heart like a flame.

‘Not doing anything is just slacking off.’

A voice in Ephnel’s heart was constantly shouting this.

She was anxious.

But being anxious couldn’t change her current situation.

Ephnel could only sigh silently in her heart.

She turned over, subconsciously pressing her legs together, hiding the resentment and affection in her eyes as her gaze fell gently upon her cute little sister.

She asked in a low voice:

“Yukina, can I use the tablet?”

Yukina looked up at Ephnel.

“What’s wrong?”

“There are some things I’m concerned about… I want to see if anything has happened recently…”

Yukina thought for a moment, then got up and brought the tablet over, placing it in Ephnel’s lap.

“No more than half an hour, okay? I’ll time you.”

“Ngh…”

Ephnel’s face showed a bitter expression.

Just sitting around was an exceptionally boring thing to do.

Moreover, Ephnel was very concerned about whether anything had happened during her stay in the hospital, and whether there had been any progress in the investigation of the Apostles and the Angel.

If possible, Ephnel wanted to go to headquarters right now.

But she also knew that in her current state, she likely couldn’t help much even if something did happen.

Compared to blindly wanting to help and becoming a burden to others, it was more realistic to rest peacefully until her body recovered.

“The doctor said you should avoid activities that strain your eyes as much as possible, so just bear with it…”

Yukina found Ephnel’s expression a little funny, but she showed no intention of yielding.

“Only half an hour…”

“That’s right, not a minute more. I’ll be supervising Naoko very carefully!”

When she was discharged, the doctor had advised her to “reduce time spent using phones and computers.”

Using computers and phones would put a strain on the eyes.

Although only Ephnel’s right eye was injured and she was using her left, the body’s accumulated muscle memory would unconsciously activate the nerves in her right eye along with the movements of her left.

This would undoubtedly be detrimental to the healing of her right eye’s injury, so she had to use her eyes in moderation, with each session preferably not exceeding an hour.

Since the doctor had said so, Yukina enforced it even more strictly, shortening the one hour to half an hour.

Ephnel could only nod.

Yukina went back to burying her head in her writing, while Ephnel held the tablet and browsed the Order Organization’s main page.

Only then did she discover that during the few days she was hospitalized, another Erosion disaster had occurred in the eastern district.

The Order Organization had dispatched an agent named Aysha to resolve the matter together with the agents stationed in the eastern district.

Just looking at the official updates posted by the Order didn’t reveal much.

Ephnel switched over to the forum’s comment section and scrolled through it.

After looking around for a while, Ephnel found no trace of the Apostles in this Erosion incident.

It was just a common Erosion disaster phenomenon that occurred a few times every month.

Ephnel even felt that she might be getting a little paranoid.

But those Apostles were a bunch of lunatics.

Who could say when they might appear again?

“Naoko, what do you want for lunch?”

In the quiet room, Yukina suddenly asked.

Ephnel’s thoughts returned. After a moment, she said, “I’ll go see what vegetables we have… I remember there should still be some in the fridge…”

It was too late to go grocery shopping now, and most of the vegetables they could buy at this hour wouldn’t be very fresh.

Compared to buying food outside, cooking directly was a more viable option.

A few days ago, her parents had come home and bought a huge pile of ingredients.

But before they had a chance to eat, that incident happened.

In the end, her parents left without ever having the chance to use them, and some even had to be thrown away.

If they were talking about ready-made ingredients, there were probably still plenty in the refrigerator.

So Ephnel wanted to check the fridge.

As she spoke, she prepared to get up, but was immediately pushed back onto the sofa by Yukina.

“Naoko, you should just rest properly. Can you leave lunch to me today?”

“Eh?”

Ephnel blinked.

Leave it to Yukina? What was she leaving to Yukina?

“You’re going to cook?”

“Of course.”

But in Ephnel’s memory, Yukina had no cooking experience.

Yukina probably noticed the doubt in Ephnel’s eyes.

She raised her eyebrows slightly, with a small hint of pride.

“Don’t look at me like that. My grade in home economics isn’t bad, you know. So, don’t worry, Naoko. I won’t destroy the kitchen for you.”

Yukina was full of confidence.

Only then did Ephnel remember that Tomosumi Girls’ Academy offered a home economics class.

Without realizing it, Ephnel nodded without a second thought.

She had quite a lot of faith in Yukina.

Her trust in Yukina was without reason and needed no explanation.

If Yukina said she could do it, then she could.

Of course, this was definitely not because she wanted to see Yukina in an apron.

“Alright, lunch is on me then. It’s settled!”

As if she had just claimed a wonderful prize, Yukina smiled with satisfaction and glanced at the time.

“It’s only ten o’clock now. I’ll do some more homework first.”

Ephnel couldn’t help but start looking forward to lunch.

But the wait felt exceptionally long.

‘Yukina in an apron…’

Ephnel held the tablet, her fingers swiping as her mind began to wander.

She accidentally let a smile slip onto her lips, then immediately reined it in.

Fortunately, Yukina hadn’t noticed.

After scrolling for a while with no new discoveries, Ephnel opened her social media account.

Back at the hospital, she had updated her status according to the template Yonomori Nami had given her.

It didn’t include a direct photo of herself, but rather a processed image of her likeness.

The identity of “Yanase Naoto” was still not public, and that wouldn’t change.

Agents rarely revealed their original identities directly, and this was also to avoid unnecessary trouble.

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