Ellie stood at the courtyard gate, peeking inside with open curiosity.
"How can you look so happy just plowing land by yourself?" she asked. "Is farming really that fun?"
"Yeah," Felix replied simply. "Farming makes me happy."
Ellie snorted. "Oh, come on."
She glanced at him again—and suddenly froze, her eyes widening.
"Wait… what happened to you?"
She stared as if she were looking at a completely different person.
Felix's heart skipped a beat. Did she notice something? He had already reverted to his usual appearance.
"What's wrong?" he asked calmly.
"It's like… your aura changed," she said slowly. "You look refined now. Like a movie star. Or a comic book hero. Did you unlock some kind of cheat ability? I knew it—Felix, I've seen through you!"
Felix burst out laughing.
After spending enough time with this strange girl, he'd realized she had a remarkable talent for jumping to the wildest conclusions.
Even though his appearance had returned to normal, the subtle shift in his demeanor—his composure, the weight in his gaze—was harder to hide.
He reached out and flicked her forehead.
"My dear girl, you're imagining things. Stop letting your thoughts run wild."
Ellie blinked, momentarily stunned. Was she really overthinking it?
She quickly recovered and changed the subject.
"Anyway, aren't you bored? Want to hang out sometime?" she asked. "Go on a date or something."
Felix raised an eyebrow. "A date? Are you serious?"
"Of course!" Ellie nodded, trying to act casual, though a hint of pride crept into her voice.
"What about your ex? The really pretty one."
"We broke up," Felix said plainly. "We were coworkers. I had to quit because of my illness, and we drifted apart."
Ellie's smile faded. She grew quiet for a moment.
"That's… really sad," she said softly. "Terminal illness at the peak of your life. Lost your job, lost your girlfriend, and came back here to wait things out alone."
Then she straightened up.
"How about this—I'll be your girlfriend. I'll keep you company during your final days."
Felix blinked.
"…Are you pitying me?"
He had pitied himself once. Back when the world felt gray, when everything he'd built collapsed overnight. But things were different now. Even if he was dying, he had hope.
In the sandbox, months in reality meant thousands of years inside.
That was more than enough time to change everything.
"I do feel sorry for you," Ellie admitted. "But that's not all."
She took a deep breath, her voice unusually sincere.
"You were always my idol growing up. Now that I don't have to be embarrassed about it, I can finally say it. I just want to make your last days a little warmer."
She counted on her fingers.
"I can cook, go shopping with you, chat, keep you company. I won't let you be lonely."
Felix stared at her, half amused, half speechless.
"My final days, huh? You're seriously offering to take on the role of a girlfriend?"
Ellie jumped back, clutching her chest dramatically.
"Hey! Don't get weird!" she snapped. "It's a pure relationship, okay? Are you trying to steal my first time just because you're dying?"
Felix: "..."
So that's what all those meals were about.
She added casually, "It's just a temporary thing. Casual boyfriend, casual girlfriend. A brief, beautiful romance. If you don't say no, I'll take it as a yes."
Felix shrugged.
"Fine."
He wasn't particularly interested in her romantically. Maybe she felt too familiar—too much like home. His heart didn't race around her.
But she was earnest, strange, and cooked decent food.
That was enough.
Ellie clapped her hands. "Great! Then come with me to my high school reunion in a few days?"
She fiddled with her fingers, clearly excited.
"You're really handsome now. The girls will definitely stare. If I bring you, my friends will be so jealous."
Felix: "???"
So that was the real reason.
"Let's go shopping!" she declared. "We'll buy expensive clothes and I'll show off like crazy. You've been farming all this time—you must have saved money. Might as well spend it on me before you die!"
…Did she even have a conscience?
Felix realized, blankly, that he'd been completely scammed. She wanted a walking fashion model and a shopping sponsor.
He ended up riding pillion on her scooter as they zipped into town.
After careful budgeting, they each bought a stylish outfit—three hundred a piece. By the time they finished wandering the shopping district, both of them were exhausted.
They rode home in silence.
Felix leaned back and laughed quietly.
"So… I have a casual girlfriend now."
Maybe "caretaker" was a more accurate word. Despite her chaotic personality, she was consistent with meals and refused to let him eat takeout.
And with stomach cancer, nutrition mattered.
Back home, Felix returned to his courtyard sandbox.
He'd been observing the Evil Eye species—the ones that still lingered despite the player's death.
They were nearing extinction.
Naturally so. Their oversized eyeballs consumed most of their nutrients, all for slightly improved vision. Evolution had no patience for inefficiency.
"Still…" Felix murmured, "could they become a supernatural species?"
The Mother Hive replied:
"Yes. Despite their deformities, their enlarged eyes grant them abnormally high mental energy."
Felix paused.
Left alone, they would die out. But if guided—like the Bugapes—perhaps they could become something more.
He considered transferring them to the larger sandbox.
That would require new terrain. The big sandbox was too uniform. No deserts. No swamps.
Time to diversify.
He decided to add a swamp roughly ten square meters wide.
To ant-sized lifeforms, it was a vast marshland—an entire world of mud and decay.
"And how would that terrain form…" Felix muttered.
"Post-flood stagnant seawater turning into wetlands makes sense. With all that silt, it'd be incredibly fertile."
He needed fertilizer.
Farm fertilizer.
The idea of using his own waste made his stomach twist. He imagined future intelligent species exploring the swamp, unaware they were trudging through what was essentially a giant toilet.
No thanks.
Instead, he went next door and asked Ellie's neighbor—Mrs. Lee—for animal manure. Chicken, cow, anything that wasn't human.
Armed with a shovel and a wheelbarrow full of organic material, Felix began terraforming.
The sandbox was about to get a lot messier.