The Incubus System Chapter 1233. Emotional Support Incubus

The Incubus System Chapter 1233. Emotional Support Incubus The room quieted. I felt Larry stand beside me, slower now. His spoon still in hi

The Incubus System Chapter 1233. Emotional Support Incubus

The room quieted.

I felt Larry stand beside me, slower now. His spoon still in his hand.

He looked at the screen.

Then looked at me.

Everything that had been warm and light just minutes ago was now ice in my spine.

“Should I… answer it?” I asked.

No one replied.

Larry's face was unreadable.

Not panicked. Not calm either. Just… frozen. Like his brain had quietly evacuated and left behind a decoy expression to buy time. His eyes flicked down at the glowing screen in my hand.

I felt the whole room shift. The TV was still playing, but the sound didn’t reach. Yuffy tilted her head, clearly listening now. Celia peeked in. Even Puriel glanced up from her teacup, brows slightly raised like this was suddenly interesting.

Larry blinked at me.

I lifted the phone. “Oi. Should I?”

He cringed immediately, curling slightly into the couch like someone who just remembered they forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer. “You might be able to answer her… but this late?” he mumbled. “Supposed to be… not a good thing.”

“Meaning?”

He sucked in a breath through his teeth. “My mom is nice. Like, bake-cookies-and-give-warm-hugs nice. But not when she’s mad. Then she’s like a fire elemental with a daycare license.”

I squinted at him. “So I just don’t answer? She has to know you’re alive.”

He huffed, like every molecule of oxygen in his lungs hated this idea. “…Just answer it.”

I raised the phone to my ear and tapped to accept.

A breathless voice came through instantly, layered with panic and maternal intensity.

“Hello? Ethan? Is Larry with you?!”

I cleared my throat. “Yes, uh—Hello, Mrs. Grandroar. Yeah, he’s here with me.”

She didn’t hesitate. Her voice came through the speaker sharp with worry. “He didn’t answer my calls. I’ve been trying all night. Is he okay?”

“Yeah. Sorry,” I said quickly, glancing at Larry. “I don’t know where his phone is—he kinda forgot it.”

She didn’t even skip a beat. “Can I talk to him? Please?”

“Sure,” I said, already turning toward the couch and holding the phone out. “It’s for you.”

Larry’s entire face crumpled like a dying origami swan. He shook his head vigorously, eyes wide with nope.

I glared.

Pointed at the phone.

Raised a brow.

“Take it.”

He groaned like a sitcom dad and slowly peeled himself off the couch, dragging his limbs like they were made of shame.

“Hey… mom,” he muttered into the phone.

We all sat back and listened.

Yuffy whispered, “This is better than most reality TV.”

“Shhh,” Celia hissed from behind a cushion.

I leaned back again, half-eaten dessert bowl in hand, watching the emotional fireworks spark across Larry’s face.

“…Yeah,” he said. “I saw it. I mean... The rooftop thing. The news. The big scary demon prince. That whole thing.”

His mom must’ve been yelling, because he flinched. “I didn’t! I was eating rice! It was a dramatic surprise for me, too!”

A pause.

Larry pulled the phone away slightly, cringing again. Then brought it back to his ear.

“I’m fine, okay? Like—alive and stuff. I swear. I’m at Ethan’s house. Yeah. We’re good. Safe. He gave me a lot of food. And we… uh… play together a lot.”

I froze mid-sip of my drink.

‘Play together?’

There was a pause.

A long, terrifying pause.

Larry suddenly stiffened.

He held the phone slightly away again, his eyes wide in dawning horror. “Wait—no! Not like that! We’re not—! No, Mom, it’s not—! Oh my god, no! I meant we played games! Like video games! Card games! Normal games! No body pillow is here! Not—ugh—Mom!!”

He looked at me, pale with the haunted expression of someone whose soul had just left their body.

He mouthed, ‘She’s freaking out.’

I stared at him, stunned. “Of course she is! Me too! What the hell, man?!”

“I didn’t mean it like that!” he whisper-hissed, covering the mic with his hand. “It just came out wrong!”

“Everything you say comes out wrong!”

He turned back to the phone. “Mom—please, no. Oh my god—stop Googling things! We’re just eating rice and watching TV! That’s all!”

He stood up like the crisis required full mobility, pacing near the sofa.

“There’s no ‘Nana-Chan’ here! No candles! There’s a talking cat here for crying out loud!”

Shadow raised a paw lazily from the floor. “Don’t drag me into this.”

“Not now, Shadow,” Larry muttered into the phone. “Mom, I swear, there’s nothing weird happening—”

He paused again.

Then turned to me, whispering. “She’s asking if I’m in denial.”

I stared at the ceiling, my hands lifting in silent agony. “Why is this happening?”

“She wants me to go home,” Larry said to the room.

Then back into the phone. “Mom, c’mon, it’s late. Ethan’s house is safe. Demon-proof. Magic-reinforced. He has a tea kettle that hisseslike an angry cat—what more do you want?”

Another pause.

Then Larry whined, audibly, like a toddler denied dessert.

“But I wanna stay here!”

I raised an eyebrow. “Hey,” I interjected, “I don’t even have a spare bed, dude.”

Larry covered the mic. “I can sleep on the couch.”

I leaned closer. “The couch is cursed.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You are sitting on it.”

“I’m immune.”

“Convenient.”

He turned back to the phone. “Mom, listen. I promise, just one night, okay? Just to chill.”

Celia snorted behind me.

“Fine, mock me,” Larry snapped, flipping a couch pillow into her lap. She caught it and grinned.

I sighed and rubbed my temples. “Why am I involved in this?”

“You’re the host,” Yuffy said sweetly. “Also, the emotional support incubus.”

“Incubus doesn’t do emotional support.”

“Your aura disagrees.”

“Ugh...”

Back on the call, Larry was still negotiating like a child pleading for an extra hour of screen time. “Please? I’ll text every hour. I’ll come back tomorrow morning. I’ll do dishes for a week. Just let me stay.”

Silence.

Then—

“…Yeah. I love you too. I’m sorry.”

His voice had softened.

Genuine again.

He handed the phone back without a word and flopped dramatically into the couch like he’d just faced his final boss.

“She said okay,” he muttered.

I raised a brow. “She let you?”

“For one night,” he said. “But if she doesn’t see me tomorrow morning, she’s going full exorcist mode.”

Shadow muttered from the floor, “Honestly, same.”

Buni clapped once. “Yay! Sleepover!”

Miranda just nodded. “That was surprisingly wholesome.”