Want to be human, but cube-like

Only a few small footprints, moistened by the heat, remained on the wooden floor behind him, appearing briefly in the air before slowly disappearing.

　"...?"

Looking at the closed door, Alex tilted her head in confusion.

She didn't quite understand why Xiangzi looked somewhat depressed.

…………

P.S. Xiao Xiang, feeling a strange sense of crisis due to Ai Yin and Alex's conversation that afternoon, tried to make amends by launching an offensive elsewhere, but ultimately failed miserably.

Just kidding, she wouldn't have the courage to do something like that. Their relationship didn't progress that quickly; it was just a coincidence that she stumbled upon it.

Volume 1: Chapter 87 Late Night Chat

"Hmph~ Hmph~ Hmph~ Hmph~"

Humming a popular song, Ai Yin dried her hair as she returned to her bedroom and closed the door.

Having just finished showering, Ai Yin felt refreshed. She sat on the sofa, picked up her phone which was charging on the table, unplugged the charging cable, and glanced at the time.

Ellie should be free right now, right?

Thinking this, Aine couldn't wait to open Line.

But just as she was about to message Alex to ask her, Aine suddenly stopped what she was doing.

"I almost forgot, I need to dry my hair first. Oh, and should I put on some light makeup?"

She muttered something under her breath, leaned out, reached into the drawer under the coffee table in front of the sofa, took out a hairdryer, thought for a moment, then took out a mirror and looked at herself.

"Hmm~ Ellie is right, it's still quite pretty."

She blinked at herself in the mirror, put on a cute smile, took off her glasses (which weren't very strong), and looked closely at her face.

Her fair face had a rosy glow, and looked tender under the light.

She had agreed to video call Alex tonight so that Alex could help her practice her spoken English.

Xiangzi initially suggested a voice call, but Aiyin subtly changed it to a video call when consulting with Alex.

She had a little ulterior motive. If they had a video call, would she be able to see what Alex's room looked like? Maybe she could even see how Alex looked after taking a shower.

I didn't think much about it at the time; I just used it as a little way to get closer to the other person. Now that I think about it, the other person can see me during the video call, and I suddenly feel a little shy.

There's no problem meeting in person during the day, but when we video chat on my phone in the room at night, I start to feel nervous. What could be the reason for this?

As Aine gently dried her pink hair with a hairdryer, all sorts of thoughts began to pop into her mind.

A few moments later, after drying and combing her hair and adjusting her pajamas, especially the neckline, Aine sent a few messages to Alex on Line.

She hesitated for a moment, but decided to just go makeup-free. It was too much trouble to put on and take off makeup before going to bed at night. Besides, the light makeup she usually wore wasn't that different from Ai Yin's bare face, so there was really no need for it.

On the screen, the other party almost instantly marked the message as read, and then immediately sent back a message saying "No problem".

Was Ellie waiting in front of her phone for my message?

"Hehe~"

Thinking of this, Ai Yin suddenly felt a little smug.

She opened the chat window's function bar, sent a video chat request, and a video window popped up a few seconds later.

What appeared before Ai Yin was an exquisitely beautiful and delicate face, with a few strands of loose silver hair. This face was extremely close to the camera, and below the chin, only a sliver of skin on the neck could be seen, making it impossible to discern her current attire.

She was probably tilting her head slightly, her two light red, clear eyes pressed against the phone screen, one near and one far, making them appear to be different sizes. Her face was expressionless, and she looked blank and quite adorable.

"Pfft...!"

Upon opening the video call, Aine saw this somewhat comical scene and couldn't help but laugh out loud, amused by Alex.

Good evening, Ellie~

However, she quickly recovered and greeted them.

Alex, who was on the other end of the video call, was about to speak when she suddenly froze. She blinked, and because the distance was so close, even the amplitude of her long eyelashes trembling could be seen clearly.

"Ellie?"

After receiving no response for a long time, and seeing Alex's frozen expression, Aine called out again in confusion.

"...Aine, good evening."

At this moment, Alex, who had just finished showering, was sitting on her bed, holding her phone in both hands, looking somewhat bewildered.

She replied blankly.

Just now, the voice that said that... sounded like...

"Did Ellie just finish taking a shower too?"

With her eyes darting around, Ai Yin decided to find some topics to chat about before getting to the main point.

Coming back to her senses, Alex glanced at her own camera feed on the screen, then moved the phone a little further away before looking at Aine.

It really seems like...

Ai Yin's sweet voice, slightly distorted due to the processing of the phone's microphone, traveled a great distance to reach her phone, and then was output from the earpiece to Alex's ears, giving her a strange sense of disorientation.

My mother's voice was also somewhat distorted, but compared to Ai-yin's voice on the phone, my mother's voice had a slightly husky quality, and sometimes it was accompanied by a strange electrical sound.

But apart from that, her voice is almost exactly the same as Aine's.

"Yes...yes, I just took a shower."

For some reason, Alex suddenly felt a little flustered, and she answered Aine's question in a low voice.

"Well……?"

Aine felt that Alex's condition was a bit strange, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She pinched her chin and thought for a few seconds, but decided not to dwell on it.

"Why don't you dry your hair first? Keeping your hair wet like this will make you catch a cold, and you might also have a headache the next day."

Thinking that perhaps it was because of her that Alex was so engrossed in her phone and not doing anything else, Aine chuckled softly and said something.

"……hair?"

After a slight pause, Alex raised her left hand, her slender fingers gently brushing aside the stray strands of hair that fell beside her shoulder, revealing her fair and rounded shoulders. The still damp silver hair also gave her fingers a slightly cool, moist feel.

Do I need to blow-dry my hair?

Alex never seemed to care about the state of her hair after taking a shower.

Not to mention that she never had the concept of paying attention to her hair before, she never needed to care about her body after getting wet. Her body would automatically dry as soon as she was out of the liquid. Unlike now, she still needs to dry her body, and her hair took a long time to dry with a towel to get to this point.

Compared to the previous blocky body, it is indeed much more troublesome now. The cost of using water upon landing is also greater. The feeling of being completely soaked is really unpleasant.

Fortunately, there is a sword that can replace the effect of water upon landing.

"Hey? Ellie, why don't you go change into your pajamas? Aren't you cold staying like this?"

It was Alex's hair-flipping gesture that made Aine see...

Seeing that she was still wrapped in a bath towel and not wearing anything else, Ai-yin quickly reminded her, remembering that it was winter.

"It's alright, it's not cold at all in the room."

As she spoke, Alex subtly tugged at the front of her bath towel in front of the camera.

These movements loosened the knot in the bath towel, and her ample breasts, which made Aine's eyes widen, almost seemed to stretch the towel open, swaying precariously in front of the camera.

"Wait, wait... Ellie!?"

In an instant, Aine, her face flushed with embarrassment, hurriedly tried to stop Alex's actions with words.

Chatting with your webcam on and watching such disturbing footage, isn't there a risk of something going wrong?!

…………

P.S. Actually, Japanese people are quite awkward communicating on their phones. For example, they absolutely will not make phone calls unless it's something extremely urgent. And if they send a message on Line and the other person reads and replies instantly, there's a high chance they'll be misunderstood as liking them. Most of them also avoid using voice messages, and voice and video chats are practically taboo.

It's really awkward, so I won't use Japanese chatting habits here; it's impossible to write like that.

Volume 1: Chapter 88 This will be a fierce battle with Aine.

After a chaotic scene, Aine finally convinced Alex to turn off the camera, change into a set of pajamas, and then return.

Actually, Alex didn't do it on purpose. It was just that she had just finished showering, dried her hair, and walked back to her room when she happened to see her phone light up.

Since changing pajamas wouldn't make much difference anyway, I started chatting with Ai-yin.

Alex has always been indifferent to many things. She doesn't get cold and never cares about other people's opinions, so naturally she doesn't care much about clothing. As long as she can cover herself up in front of the opposite sex, that's enough.

That's why the scene described earlier occurred.

When the camera was turned back on, it turned out that the rear camera view was being used, and Aine was able to see the entire view of Alex's bedroom.

Apart from a wardrobe, a bedside table, and a bed, there were no other decorations or furniture in sight; the walls were pure white, and even the curtains were plain white.

The colors of the wooden floor and ceiling light slightly neutralized the cool tones, making the room look less cold.

"Sigh... Ellie's room is so simple."

Aine only had time to let out a soft sigh before the camera switched back to Alex's beautiful little face.

She had changed into a pale yellow nightgown. Below the light-colored collar, the towering peaks that Aine had almost seen in their entirety were now stretched taut by the loose fabric in front of the camera. With Alex looking down at her phone, Aine had a strange feeling of looking up at the peaks.

"Gu..."

For some reason, Aine suddenly felt a little offended and puffed out her cheeks slightly.

However, Alex quickly sat back on the bed, the camera angle returned to its original position, and the atmosphere of their conversation returned to normal.

"Ellie, isn't there anything to decorate the room?"

After a moment's thought, Ai-yin continued the previous topic.

She was still quite interested in the mysterious daily life of Alex, the noble lady from England in her memory.

However, I was somewhat disappointed after seeing the view from Alex's room.

"Decoration... I have no talent for aesthetics."

After thinking for a moment, Alex replied.

“My mom used to decorate my room and decide how to put the decorations and other things.”

"Oh, I see. So, Ellie, you don't know how to decorate your room, right?"

Nodding in realization, Ai Yin asked again.

"In that case, how about I go with you to buy some decorations another day, and I'll help you decorate your bedroom properly?"

Her eyes lit up, and she offered a suggestion.

"Okay."

Alex nodded in agreement.

Faced with Aine's voice, which was now almost identical to her mother's, Alex found it difficult to say no.

In fact, they do have quite a few things in common.

Although I don't know my mother's surname or how it's written, their names are both pronounced Anon, their voices are almost identical, and they have very similar language habits.

Previously, when chatting face-to-face during the day, Alex could distinguish between Ai Yin and Ma/Mom by the slight differences in their voices.

But now, when communicating via mobile phone, she feels a strange sense of disorientation towards Ai Yin because of these slight distortions in her voice.

Even though reason told her that Aine and her mother were two completely different individuals, Alex couldn't help but try to find that feeling that belonged only to her mother in Aine's words.

“…Ellie? Alex?”

The increasingly familiar voice in her ear brought Alex back to her senses, who had been lost in thought.

"……what?"

She blinked blankly, staring at Ai Yin on the screen.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you suddenly spacing out?"