"Huh...? Do you have the power to do that?"

The blond finally pulled away from me and his eyes, now shining with a strange glow in them, looked straight ahead into the distance.

"It was a... refreshingly simple plan, actually," he said, his tone eerily level. "After one accumulates enough power to shake the universe, everything else becomes surprisingly easy."

Uh-oh. Why am I feeling like there's an unfortunate tradeoff involved here?

"What did you do?" I asked, my voice coming out weak and small.

Aventurine turned to look at me with amusement in his eyes. That playful look of his calmed me down a bit, but definitely not enough that I didn't care about his answer.

"I've already told you, Dreamball," he murmured. "It was a rather straightforward strategy. So you don't need to worry for my sake."

I let out an awkward laugh. "Don't take this the wrong way, but this is exactly why I'm worrying. Haven't you tried to kill yourself a few times in the past?"

Aventurine gave me a cryptic smile in return. "More times than I can count, actually. But don't tell me you don't feel even the tiniest bit of admiration for me when you think about where it's all brought me. I could never drag the body and soul of a human from another realm here using conventional means. If it wasn't for the unusual nature of my destiny, I would have never accumulated enough power to get Fuli to talk to me."

"W-What? As in the Aeon, Fuli!?"

The tone of my voice had risen unusually high, and I immediately regretted yelling something like that in public.

To my surprise, Aventurine didn't seem to be bothered by it in the slightest. If anything, he seemed to enjoy watching the quick succession of emotions passing from my face.

"Aventurine, what... What in the world did you say to convince them? Did you offer them something?"

His purple-blue eyes narrowed a bit, his tiny little smile growing unhinged. "Since you really want to know, then why don't you wager on it? And let's raise the stakes for this: If your guess is close enough, I will share every little detail of my talk with them. Guess something completely irrelevant, and I will never tell you a thing."

My eyebrows knitted helplessly. "Do we really have to do this? And if I lose, are you really never going to tell me?"

...Not that I know how much longer I have in this place anyway.

Aventurine raised a hand and caressed my cheek tenderly. "Scared, are we? Well, you should have thought of that before falling in love with me."

Tingles spread through me from the spot where the blond was touching me.

Of course. Of course he knows how crazy I am for him.

Was he suggesting a game that I might lose because this was a very private matter of his... or because he knew how important this was to me?

"A-And is it either this or nothing?" I asked.

The man grinned at me. "Precisely. See? You know me too well. That is why I could bet that you already know the answer."

I do? Could he have perhaps attempted to bargain with them? But if he did, what could he even offer them?

Oh man. I'm really scared of disappointing him now.

Aventurine casually fixed the watch on his wrist while repeating the question for my sake:

"What did I do to convince Fuli to get you here...?"

Letting out a tiny whimper, I tried to gather my thoughts and think of the answer. Fuli was the Aeon of Remembrance, mainly representing memories. So at first thought, the obvious answer was... offering memories.

I threw Aventurine a guilty look, ashamed of even entertaining this idea. Why he had dared to reach out to an Aeon for my sake was beyond me. Perhaps he liked the idea of striking a deal with him and aiming for a win which transcended the limits of his own world. But to exchange his precious memories, especially the ones from his homeland...? He wouldn't—and shouldn't—give up something this big. I clearly remembered Aventurine saying that he wouldn't strike a deal where he'd be on the losing end, so it had to be something else. Something unrelated to Sigonia-IV.

The blond broke into a tiny little smile as if he'd sensed my thoughts shifting. I had no clue what was going on in that beautiful head of his, so I tried to avoid the trap of trying to gauge his reactions to find the answer. I didn't think he was beyond throwing me off course deliberately, and besides, he deserved to have my honest opinion. So I averted my eyes from him and turned to gaze outside the window in an attempt to calm my racing heart.

What could Aventurine give Fuli in exchange for me besides his memories?

Despite myself, I let out a laugh at this last thought. The idea that someone like Aventurine would even give up anything for a nobody like me was hilarious! Even now I had a hard time believing that my body was right here with him, instead of rotting away in my grave.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, little Dreamball," his charming voice suddenly interrupted my train of thought. "If I knew that you'd be having so much fun with this, I'd suggest this kind of game more often."

I turned and looked into his eyes, incredulous. He had to be kidding now, right? What sort of game would he suggest next? Russian roulette?

"I-I think I'm ready to answer now," I said, no longer bearing to think about this horrifying scenario. The possibility that this man had to part with something to bring me here was causing me to feel sick.

He raised an eyebrow, slightly taken aback by my words. "Oh? Are you quite sure now? There's no going back after you give me your answer."

I sighed as I lowered my head to rest it on my palms. "I just can't bear to think about this anymore!"

Aventurine remained silent for a second, almost reluctant to speak, when he finally said, "Very well. Do tell me then, because I am very curious."

Before answering, I took a long moment to gather my thoughts again, bringing forth in my mind all those things that he'd said and done until now which could justify my conclusion.

"You offered... your good luck," I said finally, hating myself for even having to say this.

His face remained impassive after hearing my answer.

"My good luck," he repeated before falling silent again. "Do you happen to have any reasons for choosing this answer?"

"O-Of course! So, let's see: First of all, I remember your past self doubting whether your good fortune was a really gift or not and claiming that, except for this, you had nothing. So maybe, you could try parting with it to see what really remained in the end.

"Also, beside this, good luck is an asset that any entity would desire, regardless of their status—even an Aeon. Aeons might not be as fragile as humans or, um, whatever the people in this world are, but this doesn't mean that they're not vulnerable. So yeah, I guess I could see Fuli desiring your good fortune, just as any Aeon would. And the reason that you turned to Fuli instead of anyone else is not because of what you could offer them, but because of what they could do for you. So I guess that if there was an Aeon remotely capable of finding a link between my world and yours, that would be them. Right...?"

By the time I had finished laying out my thoughts, Aventurine was looking me with a soft gaze that made my heart melt.

So does that mean that I guessed right?

"My, my, Dreamball," he purred. "I never expected you to come up with such an intricate theory to explain your answer." His eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Too bad that its essence is all wrong."

"What!?"

Aventurine chuckled as he raised his hand to caress my cheek again. My heart pounded faster as he did that, but at the same time, I couldn't believe I was so far off.

"Did you already forget how I got us this wonderful table here today?" he asked, his eyes looking a bit darker now for some reason. "How could I have ever predicted that this table would be vacated as soon as we got here?"

"I-I don't know! Perhaps you haven't handed over your ability yet. O-Or if you have, it wouldn't all go away immediately."

"Tsk, tsk. Why don't you just admit you were wrong, Dreamball? You really can't stand to lose, can you?"

I gazed at his pretty face pleadingly. "You know that's not the case—especially when it comes to you. I—"

I bit my tongue. I had no right to tell him I loved him. Not after messing up again.

"...I just can't bear the thought of you losing something important," I said finally. "So please tell me, Aventurine. Perhaps I can help you get that thing back."

His purple-blue eyes seemed to darken even more. "Now let it go, my sweet little human," he said, any trace of a smile left on his face gone. "You made a wager with me, and you lost."

But I... I never wished to play this game with him in the first place. I was just hoping we could be honest.

Studying my expression for a bit more, Aventurine leaned over and brought his face next to my ear. My body couldn't help but shiver as his alluring fragrance once again wafted to my nostrils and filled my senses.

"Now, now, don't be sad~" he purred. "If you still want to stay with me, you're going to have to get used to these games. And since it's me you'll be playing against, you will need to come to terms with the idea of losing. Can you handle all that for me?"

Eh...? Why do I have this gut feeling that his proposition is more dangerous than it sounds?