Riel and Lydia were already at the entrance gate to the subdivision where Riel’s residence could be found. It was still raining hard, and given the size of the umbrella, the two had to be really close to one another. The guard who was familiar to Riel showed them a thumbs up for whatever reason which made Riel feel embarrassed, and as if to tease him further, Lydia added more things for Riel to think about.

“We look like a couple under this umbrella, don’t you think?”

She said those words as she poke Riel on his sides with her finger.

“S-stop that..! I’m quite sensitive there. It’s really ticklish. Also, the age difference is pretty huge. No way in hell anyone would assume we are a couple.”

Lydia could be seen wearing a naughty expression followed by “ahehehei” as she continued to tease Riel.

“But you look like you’re still in your teens. I’m sure that those who are complete strangers to you would see you as an 18-year old young man.”

Riel was making quite the blush which allowed Lydia to enjoy her time with him better.

“S-stop teasing me, Lumara.”

“Hmm? Call me again?”

“I-I said, Lumara.”

“No. That’s not what I’d like to hear. Would you call me by name, please?”

She attempted to whisper on Riel’s ears, but he managed to avoid her fortunately.

“Tch. LYDIA, stop playing with me. My home is close.”

After a few more steps, they had finally reached Riel’s refuge. His sanctuary and haven. The Miurick Residence.

*Ding, dong*

“Yes? I’m coming! Wait just a moment.”

A voice could be heard speaking from the inside. It was Ruelle.

*Opens Door*

“Took you awhile to get home. It’s raining hard so I was a bit wor-”

Ruelle wanted to express her worries to Riel, but she was stopped by the realization that Riel was together with an unknown girl. This had never happened before. Riel had never brought a girl before except the twins which usually would help themselves in rather than Riel bringing them. Ruelle brought her palm up to her mouth as a way to hide her playful smile.

“Heh heh… What do we have here? Such a cute girl. Come in, come in!”

“Good afternoon. I’m Lydia Lumara. Thank you for having me.”

“I’m Ruelle Miurick. Riel’s loveable big sister. Nice to meet you, Lydia! Such a cute name. Reminds me of the twins. Well, you guys enjoy your time!”

Runa and Luna weren’t unknown to Lydia. After all, those two were among the elite of the elites in terms of popularity.

“Hmm? You’re bringing those two here, huh? What a playboy, but I’m willing to be the mistress.”

“Come on, we are not in your typical harem rom-com garbage.”

“Says the one who has a harem fetish.”

“H-hey, shut your mouth…!”

Of course, Lydia would know many things about Riel’s preferences. After all, Riel had blurted out all kinds of nonsense whenever he would talk to his editor via chat. She even knew about what kind of doujins Riel had, and it was her goal to find and expose those dirty books out so she could tease Riel even more.

“Anyways, just sit on the sofa. I’m tired, so I’m not going to go out of my way to offer you anything, but if you are to visit me on weekends, it won’t be a problem.”

Lydia took Riel’s offer and helped herself to the sofa. Riel, on the other hand, went for his room so he could change clothes. After a couple of minutes, he came out wearing a plain white T-shirt and grey shorts.

“Ohh! You’ve got sexy legs…”

Riel got self-conscious when Lydia spoke those words.

“S-stop harassing me already. I’m thinking of something that we can enjoy. My inviting you was too sudden and I don’t know what to do now.”

Riel was being honest, but Lydia already has something in mind.

“Will you let me see the computer that you always use for writing?”

“Uhh, well… It’s in my room. It’s a desktop computer though.”

“Will you let me in on your room?”

Riel had doubts about letting her run free on his room. After all, she had done nothing but tease him and he was afraid of what she would do next, but he was kind of confident that things would turn out alright if he can find something that Lydia can truly enjoy.

“Sigh, very well. Come on in.”

Riel’s room turned out to be quite tidy. Something that was truly unexpected for Lydia as she had always thought of Riel as being more on the lazy side. His shelves that were filled with books to the brim, the bed that was screaming “sleep on meeee!!!”, the computer chair, desk, monitor and everything else was devoid of dirt and dust.

“Hmm… So you do care about hygiene…”

“W-was your impression of me that bad?”

“I thought of you as a caveman before. Ehehe!”

“Ehehe my ass! You don’t trust me at all!”

The conversation stopped when Lydia laid her eyes upon Riel’s gaming keyboard.

“Whoa! Isn’t this keyboard a Japan exclusive model?!”

“Well, yeah. That model of alienware is Japan exclusive. I got it second hand at a very cheap price.”

“How lucky! May I check your computer’s specs?”

“Hmm? So you’re into computers?”

“Yup!”

“Very well. Just be careful. I can’t risk my computer being broken just because I let someone misuse it.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. I’m quite knowledgeable about computers!”

Riel decided to boot his computer up, and in a matter of just a few seconds, the operating system was already fully loaded and ready for use. The first thing that Lydia did was open CPU-Z as well as GPU-Z in order to check the specs. She planned to get Riel to do some benchmark and stress test at a later time.

“Woaahhh!! You’re using AMC Ryzan 5 2600?! Can you even make use of all its logical cores?! Oh, and it’s overclocked just like a 2600X.”

“Well, I do game every now and then. Modern games are getting more and more optimized for multithreading, and if ever I decide to do something that requires raw CPU muscle, at least I can be ready. I also plan to stick to that same PC for the next 5 years, so splurging a bit isn’t so bad.”

“16GB of RAM clocked at 3466mhz… How did you get your RAM speed this high?”

“Overvolting, of course. Well, overvolting isn’t always a solution. My RAM is just of quality that’s why I managed to get it that high.”

Lydia then noticed something. If Riel had his CPU overclocked, what kind of cooler could he be using?

“Say, what cooler are you using for your CPU?”

“Huh? AMC’s stock cooler is pretty competent. It’s capable of handling moderate overclocks as long as the overclocker is willing to hear a little bit of noise because of the increased fan speed.”

“How about your maximum temperature?”

“Oh, I usually cap at around 70-72C during stress tests. On warmer days it can get up to 75-76C, but I wouldn’t worry unless I’m hitting 80C.”

She laid her eyes upon Riel’s video card next.

“What…? Nevidius Vulcanforce GT1030? Disappointing…”

“H-hey… At least try to hide your disgust towards my GPU.”

Riel then decided to open a box under his bed as he scratched his head.

“Here are my gaming cards. I don’t use them unless I know that I’m going to game A LOT because otherwise they are just going to consume power meaninglessly. GT1030 eats a mere 30 watt which is great not just for my wallet but also for the environment.”

Riel showed Lydia two shiny dual-slot, dual-fan cards that he had been hiding.

“Ohh! AMC Radiator RX580 and Nevidius Vulcanforce GTX 1660 Ti!!”

Riel kept his head held high as he wore a smug look. He was being showy, but Lydia truly was astonished and amazed.

“So, how about you? What’s your PC’s specs?”

Riel decided to be the one asking questions now. Lydia didn’t want to answer until Riel had personally visited her home, but she wanted to talk more with her favorite author. It was also a nice thing that Riel wasn’t lying about being a computer enthusiast.

“I bought my computer parts last year. Just AMC Ryzan 2400g though.”

“Hmm? What’s wrong with that? The APU is super nice.”

“But compared to yours…”

“Well, I’m sure budget wasn’t a problem for you. You were concerned about power consumption right? Also, GPU price has been really high due to cryptocurrency mining these days. It’s probably better to wait until crypto-hype goes low and GPU prices return to normal, or just buy a second hand GPU from a generation ago like the GTX1060 or 1070. RAM speed is absolutely important for APUs though. After all, your iGPU relies on your system RAM to perform. You need all the bandwidth that you can get.”

“I’m envious… GTX1660 Ti is power efficient enough that I can probably use it without worrying about electric bill, but yep. It’s too expensive right now and I’m not sure if it’s worth it at its current price especially when the RX580 is so cheap. GDDR6 memory must be nice, though.”

“Nah. I’m more of an HBM2 fan than GDDR6, but AMCs vega gpus run hot and consumes power like krakens would. Well, would you like to borrow my 1660 Ti?”

Lydia’s expression became light and filled with hope when Riel brought the possibility of borrowing up, but she has her hesitations.

“I might break it though…”

She looks quite down which made Riel think about how she can be cute regardless of her playful personality.

“You’re quite knowledgeable with PCs. I don’t think there will be a problem, and I’d rather have someone use the card than let it sit somewhere just collecting dusts. Anyways, it’s already getting late. I guess it’s time you go home.”

Lydia agreed to the fact that she needed to go home, but she won’t go home without Riel as her escort.

“Will you walk me home?”

Silence filled the room for just a few seconds before Lydia continued speaking.

“It’s not far. If we just walk normally, we would be there in 15 minutes.”

Riel didn’t waste any more time and gave Lydia what she wanted. In the end, Riel had to come inside Lydia’s home so he could help her attach the GPU to the motherboard.