Why was she acting so nonchalant? What was she thinking?
'Did she come here to... to condemn me, or to embrace me?'
He gulped and asked cautiously:
"I.. I hope everything is fine. After what happened yesterday."
Nephis nodded curtly.
"It's fine."
Then, she frowned a bit and mumbled quietly:
"No, actually, now that I think about it... after what happened last night, I'll need to replace some furniture...'
Sunny flinched.
"... What?"
At the same time, Aiko's eyes widened even more.
"What? !"
Nephis looked at them in confusion.
"Oh. Sorry. I was just talking to myself."
She paused for a moment, noticing their expressions, and then added hesitantly:
"Uh... did I say something wrong again?"
***
Eventually, Sunny managed to leave stunned Aiko behind and lead Nephis to somewhere more private.
And now that they were there, he was silently cursing himself.
'No, but... am I an idiot? Why didn't I go downstairs, to the Memory shop? Why did I bring her upstairs instead? !'
Currently, there were... in his bedroom.
While Sunny was berating himself, Nephis looked around with curiosity.
"Is that where you sleep? This version of you, I mean."
Sunny forced out a smile.
"... Ah yes. At least one incarnation of me has to, from time to time. The others don't sleep, but since I am supposed to be the most human one, I do."
He silently evaluated his bedroom and thanked the dead gods for the habit of always making his bed first thing in the morning. The room was clean and cozy, with a beautiful view of the Mirror Lake beyond the window. The Castle was bathed in the golden light of dawn... and there, above it, the Ivory Island was shrouded by clouds.
Nephis stared at his bed for a few moments, as if trying to remember something, then turned away and looked out of the window.
A hint of a smile appeared on her lips.
"I think I can see my window from here."
Sunny would lie if he said that he had not spent plenty of time staring at the distant silhouette of the Ivory Tower, so he kept silent.
Instead, he gestured to a few items decorating his room.
"These are some curios that I collected in the Dream Realm over the years. They are... nothing much. But exploring the past is one of my hobbies."
Nephis studied them for a while, then turned to face him and said simply:
"I know."
Sunny raised an eyebrow.
"You... know?"
She hesitated for a few moments.
"The Exploration Report on the Tomb of Ariel, written by Nobody. You are Nobody... aren't you?"