Lucifer's Descendant System
Chapter 397: 397 - A change of heart

"Inside this room?" Alice's father asked, worried. But as soon as his eyes met with his daughter's, his worries vanished. "I see... It seems everything has been taken care of," he told Carlos while bowing.

"I has indeed. Thank you all for always being this careful," Carlos said while nodding, the men leaving at once, and Noah and co. staying behind.

"So... What are the plans for today?" Bel asked, making Noah give him a wry smile.

"I mean, I had planned to go out with Maggie, you and Lilith to buy some things..." he said, his eyes moving over to the sleeping snake, "but with her like this, and it's almost lunch time already... I'm not so sure we can make it today."

"Noah..." Maggie bemoaned, pouting, as she stood up and silently walked behind the couch, hugging Noah's neck from behind him. "Brother, I think you're always trying too hard for us. You should take things more slowly," she said, kissing his cheek, as Noah let himself rest against the couch, turning his face up until he could see her.

"Thank you, sweet honeypot," he told her while holding her face with both hands, pulling it down without much force only to kiss her forehead. "I guess I've been pushing you guys harder than I should too..." he said, his head turning back forward and to the side, watching Bel and Lilith. "Welp, guess we can do it tomorrow.

I'll see the girls and ask whether they wanna go home." Noah stood up, putting both hands on his knees and took a few steps forward.

"But, Noah!" he turned around upon hearing Maggie call him out, and saw her pleading face with his eyes half closing, trying not to run and hug her. "You said we could eat out today," she said, making Noah scratch his head.

"Alright, alright. If I take the girls home, you come with me, then we can have lunch after dropping them off," he said, the girl cheering vividly.

Noah shook his head with a smile, turning around and leaving the room, walking upstairs to the bedroom they had been sharing the last few days, the same Maggie organized the slumber party in. As he started to open the door, the sound of chatter and laughter leaked through the gap, giving him a sense of peace he had forgotten was possible.

"Noah!"

"Yo, No-boy,"

The voices of Sha and Al welcomed him in as he stepped foot inside, to see the three girls cross-legged on the bed, and Khish hurriedly scrambling around to face him, since she was the only one facing opposite of the door.

"Hey, you lot. I was wondering whether you guys want a ride," he told them, walking close to the bed and sitting on its side. I'm taking Maggie out to buy a few things, so I could drop you guys at home and pick you back up at night after dinner." He faced Al, who nodded in agreement.

"Sounds like a plan," she responded,ignoring the other two's confused expressions for a second, and explaining to them as Noah looked down to his phone, which was ringing. "I'm moving to their old house for the time being, so that I can take care of it, remember?" she asked the two, who suddenly remembered it, after not talking about it in three days.

Noah was also aware of it. Having stayed in the house for the time being, while having just reunited... It was clear they had lost the notion of time and space. Especially Sha. "We've been here for a while now, but I think we may be stressing their good will, myself included," Noah said, an 'Ahh' escaping Sha's lips, and she suddenly looked a bit down. "Just confirming things already.

Al and Khish are staying at my old place together, right?" Noah asked, Al looking at him surprised, while tears started flowing from Khish's eyes.

"We never talked about—" Al suddenly asked with her eyes widened, but immediately shut up as she saw Khish's expression and understood Noah's intentions. "I see. It'll be good to live with her under the same roof for a little." Acknowledging Noah's favor, she nodded in agreement, worried about Khish's safety and wellbeing otherwise.

"From now on, the two of you are under my protection," he told the pair of girls with dark hair, leaving Sha to make a bit of a pleading face behind the two, before pouting a little, as she felt like complaining of his unfair treatment. "Sha, I'm counting on you to visit them often. And all of you, be careful."

Noah's warning made all three of them raise their eyebrows, waiting for him to continue, but a complement to his sentence did not come, and Noah simply looked down in silence, as if waiting for something.

"If it's about our family you can rest—" Sha started speaking, but soon shut herself up, as she saw Noah's expression, and understood this was a matter far greater than just that.

"Things are starting to feel weirder and weirder around Eiryn. Let alone your family and the Nine Families... All this thing about more and stronger fortresses appearing, and even a Boss monster spilling out into our world...

I can't shake off the feeling that this is a problem much greater than ourselves," Noah vented his frustrations onto the only people he could do so without risking Maggie listening in. His worry had been growing day after day, and finally made it out.

"... Are you sure of this?" Khish asked, seeing Allie bite her lip.

"I can't be..." he bemoaned, putting his head between his hands. "And honestly, I hope I'm wrong."

Khish thought of a response, but her words got stuck in her throat, instead looking down and biting her lip, wary of what could expect them. Her family, after all, was behind a lot of bad things already... let alone everything else happening. But one thing made her shiver, as she looked to the side. Al.

"Allie..." she muttered, as she thought of the possibility of losing the sister she had just recovered, and of how hard things could be from now on.

"Don't beat yourself so much." Out of nowhere, a sudden warmth enveloped him, as a soft sensation pressed against his back, and a pair of arms appeared around his neck. Sha hugged him from behind, taking in the mint smell of his hair. "Things are hard, but haven't they always been like that for the likes of us?" she asked him, his tension disappearing.

"Guess you can heal more than just wounds, huh..." Noah muttered, a smile appearing on his face, as he let go of himself a little, surrendering to her embrace. She just stayed there for a long minute, ignoring the glare her sisters threw her way.

For a second, she wondered what the hell she was doing, thinking, 'Just what made me do this?! Why am I hugging him like this?!' The nervous thoughts made her shiver, her trembling immediately transmitting through her body to his. But while Noah felt her nervousness and unrest, it only intensified the image she had of her into his mind.

'She really is going above and beyond for me, isn't she...' he thought, as the memories of her flushing over the most minimal things flashed in his mind. 'For her to gather the courage to do something like this... I wonder how worried she was...' With his reasoning returning after the sudden lapse, he brooded over how much she cared about him.

"Thanks, Sha... I really needed it," he said, putting his hands above hers. The girl kissed him on the cheek by leaning over his shoulder, leaving Noah dumbstruck.

A pair of gasping sounds could be heard from the pair of onlookers but, for a second, the two felt almost as if stuck in their own little world, as Sha slowly peeled herself from him, taking a couple of steps on her knees, before extending her legs over the edge of the bed, sitting by his side.

"It's nothing compared to what you've done for all of us," she responded, a shy smile on her lips, and a gleam in her eyes... before her face turned very red, and she covered her cheeks with her hands.

"Still... Sorry to have forced you to go out of your way... I know you're very reserved. For you to do this..." He took an awkwardly long pause, allowing the girl time to calm down, and lift her face from her hands, instead, looking at his profile with a curious gaze. "I must have made you really worried, or sad," he said.

her expression slowly shifted into a wry smile, as the silence grew almost deafening.

"Yeah... I was very sad and worried about you..." she told him, Noah's face turning towards her, guilt plastered across it, as he watched her lips tuck inwards and back to normal, being bit, as she tried to convey her feelings.

"After all, you are my very first real friend," she said, a sense of oddity striking him, almost as if the words coming out of her mouth were completely disconnected to the facial expression she was exerting. But to him, words were more of a pleasantry than a need, and he could read her real intention from her raised eyebrows and smiling eyes.

"You're very special to me as well. Though I myself can't say just how much," he told her honestly, making the girl's eyes pop, as he second-thought his words, pondering whether they could be taken the wrong way. "What I mean is—" he began, but was silenced by her index finger over his lips, while she shook her head.

"Don't. You don't have to," she said, standing up, and slowly making her way out of the room, closing the door behind her.

'... Did I just get, what Carlos calls, friend-zoned?' he thought to himself, as he stared at the door, blinking, trying to understand what the heck had just left his mouth, and what he'd heard.