Chapter 6-A: Phone Call

"Hum, hum, hum~" Lofie hummed to herself as she drew a picture on the sketchbook. She made good use of the crayon set Eryn gave her.

Iris was sitting next to Lofie on the carpet, waiting for Eryn and Melty's return. He had entrusted her to watch over the house while he was away. She didn't know what to do to pass the time, so she just remained still. How was one supposed to watch the house?

Her eyes darted to the clock. A good amount of time had passed since they left the house. This was beginning to worry her. What if Eryn got into an accident? What if he didn't come back home? She shook her head, trying to rid herself of these negative thoughts. Melty was with him, so Iris knew she'd do something if that was the case.

"Eryn…" Iris whispered his name, longing for his presence. She was rather envious of Melty who seemed to be getting a lot of his attention recently. Unknown to Eryn, Iris was holding herself back from being too selfish. Although, seeing Melty hog him all to herself… maybe she could stand to be more honest with herself.

She turned to look at Lofie who was too busy drawing. Lofie wasn't one to talk much, but she had no reservations about being honest. Her sharp tongue proved that, after all. If she wanted Eryn's attention, she would ask for it. Maybe she can follow her example?

RING! RING! RING!

"Ah!" Iris's eyes flicked to a ringing smartphone on the table. More accurately, it was vibrating intensely with rumbling sounds. Did Eryn always have two phones? She vaguely remembered him taking a phone with him before jogging. Anyhow, she thought it would be rather rude to leave it hanging, so she walked up to it and picked up the phone. From her countless observations at the previous shelter, she knew how to answer a smartphone. Maybe this is what Eryn meant when he told her to watch the house.

"Hello!" Iris greeted cheerfully, holding the phone in her two hands.

"Hey, you finally answered, Eryn! Do you know how hard I've been trying to contact you? Jeez, where the hell have you…" A female voice answered. Her voice trailed off towards the end as the person realized something was… off about the voice answering back.

"… Wait a minute." She stopped. "You're not… Eryn, are you? You sure don't sound like him."

"Ahm, hello!" Iris greeted again. "I am not Eryn!"

"Huh, did I…?" She paused. Iris could hear muttering something about having the wrong number through the phone, but she realized she called the right number.

"Eryn is outside," Iris replied. "He's not at home now."

"Oh? So he's not at home." She answered with a hint of surprise. "May I… know your name?"

"My name is Iris!"

"Iris… that's a lovely name."

"Yes! Eryn gave me that name." Iris nodded.

"He… gave you that name?" Her voice grew confused. "Iris, uhm… do you know when Eryn will be back?"

"I… don't know." Iris bowed her head.

"I see." She stopped to think for a moment. "Iris, what is your relationship with Eryn?"

"He's my owner!" Iris beamed.

"Your owner…?" she asked in a concerned manner, unsure of the context behind her words. "He hasn't done anything bad to you, has he?"

"No, no!" Iris shook her head. "He's the kindest and nicest person! I'm very grateful to him!"

"Huh, is that right…?" her voice seemed to express approval, as if she felt the same way, too. "I'm very… grateful to him, too."

"Oh?" Her ears twitched.

"… So, he's doing well." She sighed in relief. "Thank you for letting me know, Iris."

"O-Oh, okay." Iris nodded.

"I'll be hanging up the phone now." She smiled behind her voice. "We'll see each other soon."

CLICK!

And the connection was cut. Iris put the phone back and scratched her head. She wondered who this person was. Judging by the conversation, it might be someone who knew Eryn well. Maybe it was a close friend of his. And now, she realized she should have asked for her name too.

The sound of a door unlocking caused both Iris and Lofie's ears to twitch sharply.

"Iris! Lofie!" A familiar and comforting voice called their names as he entered their house. "We're home!"

"We're back!" Melty exclaimed cheerfully.

Soon enough, Eryn saw Iris and Lofie running towards him from the living room.

"Eryn! Eryn!" Iris beamed, spreading her arms out to hug him, glad he was okay. The phone conversation already left her mind.

"Eryn is back!" Lofie's ears bobbed upwards in joy.

"Woah, easy there!" Eryn placed a palm in front of him to stop her. "Don't get too close to me. I need to take a bath first."

"Mmhmm…" Iris pouted silently.

"After bath?" Lofie asked and twiddled with her fingers as she looked at him with upturned eyes. "Will you give us attention after bath?"

"I will." Eryn nodded, finding their antics adorable. "Don't worry."

"Look, look!" Melty drew their attention to the box in Eryn's hand. "We bought cake!"

"Cake?" Iris's ears twitched with interest. "Oooh, I want to see it!"

"Haha, let's open it together after I take my bath," Eryn said, placing the box on the table. "Sounds good?"

"Okay!" The monstergirls replied in unison.

"Melty, do you want to take a bath?" Eryn asked, observing her face and clothes. She's… not sweating one bit, huh? The state of her appearance hadn't changed at all since they started jogging. Incredible… meanwhile, he was drenched in his own sweat. For someone who can burn an entire couch, I'm surprised…

"I'm okay!" Melty raised her palm.

"Haha, all right."

Eryn took a small change of clothes from his room and went to the bathroom. After five minutes or so, he finished taking his bath and threw his clothes in the laundry basket.

"Whew." Eryn let out a sigh of relief as he stepped out of the bathroom. That was quite refreshing. His gaze shifted to the living room where he saw Melty and Lofie drawing on the carpet. Ah, she's using the sketchbook… then his gaze fell on Iris who ran towards him.

"Eryn…!" Iris wrapped his arms around him and nuzzled her head against him. "I can hug you now, right?"

"… Haha, of course." Eryn gently patted her head between her ears. She's like a cat… wait, she is one.

Eryn tried to take a step forward, but Iris was holding him in place, not wanting to let go.

"Haha, Iris?" Eryn rubbed the back of his neck. "Could you… uh, let go for a moment?"

"Mmhmm…!" Iris shook her head. Instead, she tightened her grip around him and puffed her cheeks at him, needing his attention.

That's cute… but I need to walk over there. Eryn smiled wryly. He then thought of a simple idea. "All right, how about this…?"

He gently lifted her into his arms. Iris latched her hands onto his shirt and snuggled her head into the crook of his neck. Feeling his comfortable warmth, she began purring within his arms. Her purrs were… relaxing to his mind. This is nice in its own way.

From the notes he read, Iris didn't look like the clingy type compared to Melty. Well, if they've been alone for so long and never had any… nice owners…, I can understand that.

As he walked forward to sit on the couch, or at least where the couch was supposed to be, he was reminded that his couch had burnt down just this morning. I really need to get a new couch soon. Eryn sighed as he sat down next to Lofie on the carpet.

"What are you drawing, Lofie?" Eryn asked while stroking Iris's long hair.

"Oh." Lofie put the crayons down and picked up the sketchbook. She walked to Eryn and sat on his lap. "Look, Eryn."

"Huh…" His eyes scanned her drawing. There were four characters, each of them having different colors. One had cat ears, one had mouse ears, and one had dog ears. I can take a guess who those three are. One figure was taller than the rest. Is that me? In the background, there was a big house. On the top, a yellow ball was shining its rays on them.

"Do you like it, Eryn?"

"It's pretty cute, Lofie." Eryn smiled and patted her head. "I like it a lot!" Her tail wagged back and forth in response.

"Hehe…" Lofie grinned brightly as she leaned into his touch. "This is our happy family."

His body froze as those words entered his ears. "Family…?"

"Yeah!" Lofie nodded, placing her palm on the sketchbook. "We're one big happy family."

Family… Eryn echoed those words in his mind. He never thought of it that way… but she was right, wasn't she? It never struck him as such. He adopted them into his life. Into his family, so they wouldn't be alone anymore. In the short time he's had them, he knew they were precious to him. From the bottom of his heart, he wanted to make them happy… to give them a family.

"E-Eryn?" Lofie's eyes widened in surprise, her gaze fixated on his face. "A-Are you sad?"

"Huh…?" Eryn batted his eyes. He brushed his fingers against his cheek, noticing it was wet. He didn't realize a few tears escaped his eyes, streaming down his face. Am I… crying?

"W-What's wrong, Eryn?" Iris asked in a concerned manner.

"Don't worry…" He sighed with a smile and wiped the tears from his eyes. "I'm just… touched." He wrapped his arms around Iris and Lofie and pulled them into an embrace.

"Eryn…" Lofie rubbed his remaining tears away with her little hands.

"Hey, I want to be hugged, too!" Melty pouted, running to him.

"Haha, get over here." Eryn stretched his hand towards her as she squeezed between Lofie and Iris into his embrace. He wrapped his arms around all three of them as best as he could.

Right…. We're a family now. He found peace within that realization. I never imagined myself doing this. To think just a day ago, he was depressed and didn't have any sense of purpose. I would have never done something like this in the past. These three monstergirls in front of him right now proved him wrong.