The café visit had been… interesting. Lila was still a mystery to him. Even after all this time, Elias couldn’t predict how she would react to things. She found amusement in the simplest of moments, turned everything into a game, and sometimes—like when she blushed—her reactions didn’t seem logical at all.
But if nothing else, Elias had confirmed one thing.
Spending time with Lila was never boring.
—
The next day at school, Lila greeted him in her usual enthusiastic way—by throwing herself across his desk first thing in the morning.
“Elias,” she sighed dramatically, resting her cheek against her folded arms. “I am so tired.”
Elias barely glanced at her. “You should have slept earlier.”
She groaned. “I tried! But then I started reading, and you know how that goes.”
“I do not. You are the one who constantly stays up too late.”
Lila pouted. “You’re supposed to say, ‘Oh no, my dear Lila, what can I do to help your exhaustion?’”
Elias stared at her. “That is an unnecessary question. There is nothing I can do.”
She whined. “Elias.”
He blinked, watching as she stretched across the desk like a cat refusing to move. A thought occurred to him.
“Do you expect me to be considerate?”
Lila lifted her head slightly, smirking. “That depends. Are you capable of being considerate?”
Elias processed this. Consideration was not something that came naturally to him, but Lila had pointed out before that emotions were not purely about instinct. People made choices based on their emotions.
If that was true…
He slowly reached for his bag, unzipped it, and pulled out something.
Lila’s eyes widened as he placed a small packaged snack on the desk beside her. “…Huh?”
“You tend to complain about hunger when you are tired,” Elias said matter-of-factly. “This is a logical solution.”
For a second, Lila just stared at him.
Then, much to his confusion, she made a high-pitched noise, grabbed the snack, and dramatically flopped against the desk again.
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“Elias!” she squeaked.
“…What.”
“This is—this is—” She peeked up at him, cheeks slightly pink. “This is unfair.”
Elias frowned. “Providing food is unfair?”
“You just—you just casually do something cute like this and act like it’s nothing!”
Elias tilted his head. “It is nothing. It was the simplest action to fix your complaints.”
Lila groaned, covering her face with her hands. “You don’t get it.”
Elias observed her. The reaction she was having now was different from before—it wasn’t embarrassment in the same way, nor was it frustration. Was this another one of her emotional puzzles he had to decipher?
Lila peeked at him again, pouting slightly. “Listen, Elias. When a guy gives a girl something unexpectedly, especially if it’s thoughtful, it’s cute.”
Elias processed that. “Then… you are saying I was cute.”
Lila made another small, flustered noise before looking away. “I’m eating this now. Conversation over.”
She quickly unwrapped the snack and took a big bite, aggressively avoiding his gaze.
Elias studied her for a long moment, then turned back to his book.
Lila was acting irrational again.
But somehow, he didn’t mind.
—
Later that day, in gym class, Lila was still complaining about her exhaustion.
“Why do we have to run laps,” she whined as they stood at the starting line. “Why can’t we do something fun instead?”
“Exercise is necessary for maintaining physical health,” Elias said.
Lila gave him a deadpan look. “You sound like a textbook.”
“That is often what people tell me.”
The coach blew the whistle, and students took off running.
Elias, as usual, kept a steady pace. Lila, however, barely made it one lap before groaning dramatically and slowing to a jog beside him.
“I hate this,” she muttered.
“You said that already,” Elias pointed out.
“I hate it more now.”
Elias didn’t respond, simply keeping his pace. Lila groaned again before giving him a sly look.
“You know, if you were a real gentleman, you’d carry me so I wouldn’t have to run.”
Elias glanced at her. “That is illogical.”
Lila smirked. “Oh? Are you saying you can’t carry me?”
“…That is not the issue.”
“Then you can?”
“Of course.”
Lila blinked, then suddenly grinned. “Alright. Prove it.”
Before Elias could question what she meant, Lila suddenly stopped running, expecting him to react.
Elias, who had not intended to actually do anything, had two choices:
1. Let her fall behind and lose her challenge.
2. Give her what she wanted.
Logically, he should not encourage her.
However—
In a single motion, Elias stopped, turned, and—without hesitation—lifted her off the ground.
“Wha—Elias?!” Lila gasped, her arms instinctively grabbing onto him as he adjusted his hold.
The class turned to stare. The coach whistled loudly.
But Elias ignored them all.
“You issued a challenge,” he said simply, carrying her effortlessly as he resumed running.
Lila’s face turned bright red.
“Th-That was supposed to be a joke!”
“You should be more specific next time,” Elias said.
She squeaked. “Put me down!”
“You asked me to do this.”
“I was teasing!”
“You were unclear.”
“Elias, I swear—”
He heard the coach yell something about “inappropriate behavior,” but Elias merely adjusted his grip to keep Lila from flailing too much.
Lila, face still burning, buried it into his shoulder with a groan.
“Elias,” she muttered, “I hate you.”
“As I said before, that is untrue.”
“…Shut up.”
—
After gym class, Lila refused to look at him.
“You’re so annoying,” she grumbled, tugging on her gym shirt.
“You should be grateful,” Elias said.
“Grateful?! People are never gonna let me live this down!”
“You did issue the challenge.”
Lila groaned. “Ugh, I should have known better.” Then she peeked at him, her face still slightly pink. “…You’re really strong, though.”
“Yes.”
She huffed. “Don’t be smug about it.”
“I am simply stating a fact.”
She stared at him, then shook her head, muttering, “Unbelievable,” under her breath.
Despite her grumbling, she still walked beside him as they left class, still smiling even as she complained.
Elias still didn’t understand emotions.
But he was beginning to think—
That perhaps he didn’t mind spending time with Lila, even if he never figured them out.
