Chapter 616: Stomach Cramps
Opening the door, Lucas saw a familiar head of red hair and asked, "Big Sister Eris, is something wrong?"
In an unusually quiet response, Eris just shook her head, the nodded, then scrunched up her face a bit like she wasn’t sure.
Now confused, Lucas invited her in and pulled up a chair for her while he sat down on the edge of his bed.
Silence filled the room for a minute or so before Eris finally said, "I couldn’t sleep."
I can see that, Lucas thought to himself, but continued to wait patiently for his big sister to explain.
"It’s..." Eris thought hard, trying to pinpoint exactly what was keeping her up, eventually settling on, "It’s too quiet."
Ah, that, Lucas immediately understood and nodded, "It has gotten quite a bit quieter lately."
"En," Eris muttered, looking a bit lost.
About a month ago, Christina had departed for Amherst.
Landon and Zara had left shortly after that as well, returning across the Misty Bridge to Gateway City.
Eris’ paternal grandparents and cousin had arrived in-between those departures, but the older couple had swiftly been absorbed into the ’elders’ group, not that Edward and Amalia Newton were particularly rowdy individuals from the get-go.
Braden, Eris’ cousin, was actually quite similar to her in terms of personality, especially when it came to martial pursuits; however, he too had left just a couple of days ago.
As the eldest son of a baron, Braden couldn’t exactly just loiter around Misty City forever. He had already been away from home for many months, but that was because he had been given an official task by his parents, one that was related to the lives and safety of their family. Now, however, that mission was over, so the reasons for him to remain outside had disappeared.
In that regard, Braden actually should have left long ago, probably just days after arriving in Misty City and delivering his grandparents to the Balfour Family. Fortunately for the boy, Celestina had generously offered to fly him home to the Firth Barony in the North Province, which allowed him to delay his departure over half-a-month.
That extension, though, was now up.
There were, of course, many others still living in Disciples House, including Toby, Mabel, the bakery siblings, Danika, Elly, Sasha, and now Eris’s eldest sister, Princess Louise had also moved in, but it still somehow felt less lively.
Even so, Lucas wasn’t convinced that this was the whole reason Eris was here tonight. That said, for all his talents and abilities, reading the mind of a young girl, even one as close to him as Eris, wasn’t one of them. As such, Lucas decided the best course of action was to just ask, "Is that all, Big Sis?"
Pursing her lips, Eris seemed to ponder the issue for a bit before shaking her head, "No."
"So, there’s something else bothering you?" Lucas continued, wondering just what had gotten into Eris tonight.
Was her prosthetic acting up?
Had she run into a problem with her cultivation?
Was there trouble at the Rising Phoenix Guild?
Did she get into an argument with someone?
Did she get into a fist fight with someone?
Just what could it be that was upsetting her?
Was it something serious? Something she wanted to confide in him about?
Short answer?
No.
"I’m hungry," Eris complained as she rubbed her growling tummy.
Lucas literally fell off his bed when he heard this, his face twitching hard as he screamed internally, Give me back my concerns! My needless worries!!!
"Ah, you okay, Lucas?" Eris asked with genuine concern as she saw her Senior Brother collapse to the ground in a puddle.
Seeing the heartfelt worry on his hungry Junior Sister’s face, Lucas didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so he just sighed, "I’m fine, Big Sis."
Shaking his head wryly, Lucas forced himself back up and asked curiously, "I did see you eating less at dinner tonight. Were you not feeling hungry earlier?"
"Ah... er..." Eris blushed slightly and looked away, "I was... My stomach was feeling a bit upset."
Tilting his head, Lucas wondered if his big sister was feeling unwell, which would certainly be worrying, but seeing her fidgeting and averting her eyes so awkwardly, that didn’t seem to be likely.
What other reason could there be for a teenage girl to lose her appetite? Lucas pondered before hitting on a certain possibility, "Did you gain weight recently?"
"Haa... I really shouldn’t have put that new scale in the bathroom, it’s only going to cause problems," Lucas muttered as he shook his head.
"If that’s what’s bothering you, you really shouldn’t worry about it, Big Sister Eris," Lucas crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and nodded in a sagely manner, "You’re in rapid growth period now and you’re constantly training, so if your weight has gone up, it’s probably because you’ve gotten taller or put on some extra muscle. That’s nothing to be ashamed..."
*BAM!~*
Lucas never saw the fist coming, probably because his eyes were closed, but he certainly felt it when it struck.
"Stupid Lucas! Can’t you be a little bit more sensitive!" Eris snapped as her face flushed bright red. She then stormed off, turning right when she reached the hallway, towards the kitchen, rather than left, towards her room.
Now also having a cramp in his stomach, Lucas belatedly realized, Ah, there’s one other reason a girl Big Sister Eris’ age would get stomach cramps, one that would make her a bit more emotional and comes around once every month or so...
Letting out a long sigh, Lucas debated going after Eris to apologize for being so dense, but thinking the chances of him being punched again for bringing up the topic eventually convinced him to let it go for now.
He could apologize in the morning, when, hopefully, Eris was in a better mood.
Picking himself up for the second time and dusting himself off, Lucas sat back down at his desk to finish planning out the next month or so of his activities, but now that he was alone again, his mind couldn’t help wandering.
Perhaps because Eris had brought it up, he mostly thought about how his friends who had recently departed were doing, but there were other random thoughts going through Lucas’ head as well.
It seemed it would be a while yet before the young boy got to bed tonight, unlike a certain 3-tailed white fox who was slumbering peacefully nearby on his bed.
Looking at the silly little grin on Yuki’s face as she lay there snoring lightly, Lucas really couldn’t help envying how carefree her life seemed to be.