翁公和媛媛在厨房里猛烈进出

As she was about to hit the ground, I softly grabbed her shoulders and hoisted her upwards, preventing her from hitting the ground.

*BAM*

*BAM*

*BAM*

Helping Ruby stand up, I kept my hands on her shoulders until she was finally able to stand up again.

Moving around her, I saw her eyebrow raise for a moment with a dead-serious expression on her face, and she had a hand on her wand, which was in her pocket.

Not wanting her to completely destroy the cave with another phoenix spell, I quickly whispered.

"It\'s me, Ren."

Almost immediately, her expression changed to a slight smile while her eyebrows returned to neutral, but in turn, a faint red, matching her eyes, could be seen on her cheeks.

Did she not recognize my voice?

Turning around in circles to face me... or where she thought my face was, she was actually looking straight at a wall, her eyes shined a dangerous blood-red.

Glancing away from the Ruby for a moment, I immediately noticed the other three girls sprawled out around the cave.

Lying on the cold, hard, and rough floor of the cave were Lily, Alya, and Irene, with expressions that did not look so positive.

Should I tell them about the loop not ending now... or later?

Ruby, who couldn\'t see through the darkness, threw her hands around for a moment like a lost puppy before finally feeling the fabric of my clothes to the right of her.

Seeing him swing her arms around in an attempt to slap my sweatshirt, I laughed and whispered into her ear.

"Two times in a week, really?"

Hearing my voice again, Ruby immediately found my new location in the darkroom before grabbing the top of my sweatshirt right below my chin.

"Both those two times were your fault, you know?"

Allowing her to continue holding onto my sweatshirt, I raised my hands like a caught criminal and said.

"Oh, how will I ever repent for my sins!?"

As Ruby pulled me upwards by my sweatshirt and hoisted me up in the air, I saw a smile appear on Ruby\'s face in the darkness.

"Maybe like this!"

*BAM*

The next second, I was sent flying downwards to the floor, just like the four girls a moment ago.

Anticipating the reaction and punishment from Ruby, I raised my hand and slowed time, ready to catch myself with my corrupted tentacles before I hit the ground.

However, as I gazed up at Ruby\'s face, a couple of feet above me, I slowly de-manifested the corrupted tentacles and allowed myself to descend.

How could I ruin the cute smirk on her face?

Maybe it was the fact that my hope was at an all-time low due to our destruction of the tree not ending the loop... but the weirdest things brought me solace.

That smile was one of those few things.

It was weird; I had never been like this when I first started hanging around Ruby or any girls, for that matter.

I had always put up mental boundaries stopping myself from getting too close... but now that those boundaries were down, weird things started happening to me.

From seeing Ruby\'s way of trying to save me during the World Tree incident to the recent memories with her and others in this loop, I was starting to change.

Normally, my mind would only consist of planning and ways to get stronger, but some foreign memories were starting to slip in.

It was weird... I could dismiss distractions such as this, but these memories came back no matter how much I avoided them.

After saving the World Tree, I had just given up on trying to avoid them, but at the same time, I hadn\'t fully accepted them.

They were just there...not doing anything or having any purpose, but they were still there.

Yet, they seemed to emerge at the weirdest moments.

How could I be feeling happy right now when the only escape plan we had managed to come up with failed?

Why was there a smile on my face right now, even though I had just learned that escaping this loop now was practically impossible as the end condition was gone?

Of course, this wasn\'t the first time as Raven, Zeng, and I had grown close enough to where I didn\'t feel any need to act around them, but at the same time, this feeling was something different than that.

Rather than a fun and happy feeling like when I joked around with Zeng... it was more of longing.

A remembrance.

A desire to see that smile remain on her face.

Shaking my head as I fell, I closed my eyes and prepared for the impact of the ground.

The mind really was a strange thing...

If I couldn\'t even understand my mind and feelings sometimes, then who could?
powered-by-MVLeMpYr

Dropping to the floor, I held in my yelp as my head hit the rough floor before lying down on the floor for a moment, staring up at the cave roof.

Looking upwards, I saw the four girls had gathered while Ruby pointed at where she thought my lying body was with a smirk on her face.

Putting her hands on her head to make bunny ears, Ruby winked at me... but she wasn\'t me as she was staring at the ground next to me.

What an idiot!

*PFFT*

Feeling a smile and laugh involuntarily come out of my mouth as I stood back up and joined the girls, I decided not to question it anymore.

At a hopeless time like this, where the end seemed so far away, maybe a bit of smiling and fun wouldn\'t be so bad...