Time passes, and my body still hurts. I can feel the pain even when I am unconscious, but as my eyes open, I see myself looking at an unfamiliar yet strangely familiar ceiling.
I am still alive, which means maybe I succeeded.
"Hah... haha," I slowly laughed at myself.
Suddenly, a slap hits the back of my head.
"Ouch! That hurts!" I yelled as I turned around.
I found Zen sitting beside me. As I looked around, I finally realized I was in his room.
"I think after taking those powerful pouches of mine, your mind shakes so much that the first thing you did after waking up was laugh," he said.
"Well, I can't deny that maybe some hits have damaged my brain cells," I said.
"I guess so," he replied, looking at me as I looked back at him.
After a few minutes of tension, we both laughed at the same time for several minutes.
Until Aris came from behind and smacked both of our heads.
Covering our heads, we both said, "Idiot, that hurts!"
"Well, it must hurt after giving me this kind of school manga drama experience. I want to hit both of you continuously," she said.
She looked angry, maybe because I never told her how I would convinced Zen.
"So?" she asked me, looking concerned.
"What?" I asked.
"I'm asking how you feel," she said.
"Well, my face hurts, my hand hurts, and..." I began.
"I mean mentally," she interrupted.
"Why? I'm fine, just like before," I said.
"No, not that. I mean, at the last moment, what did you mean when you said you wanted to save Zen and Shu... and yourself too?" she asked.
While Zen pressed, "I never saw you like that. I mean, it is my fault also for dragging this matter out so long, but… how can I put this… other than physically, it feels like you are struggling to find something"
"I..." I wanted to answer them but didn't have any words. It might seem illogical to them, and I remembered Aisha once said dragging other people into this matter could harm them.
"Nothing... But one thing is true: I wanted to save you from taking a wrong path," I said.
"Wrong path?" Zen said.
"You mean working part-time is a wrong path for me?" he asked.
"Part-time?" I was confused.
"Well, I was working part-time, so if Aris wanted money, she wouldn't need to work for it," he said.
"I... I don't know what to say. And what about not going to school?" I asked.
"Well... yes, you can connect that. I was angry and didn't want to go to school or talk to anyone," Zen said.
"And I apologized to you. Because of me, you had to go through this. You are right; at one point I was angry—super angry at you—and that anger became hatred towards you," he said, looking sad.
"Well, that's aside. Both of you, please listen carefully, and I want you not to tell anybody."
I explained the situation Shu was going through and that if it continued, she could take a wrong step that might ruin her life.
Hearing that, they were both shocked but agreed to help me.
After a little more talking, I finally stood up. Zen and Aris were worried about how I could go back to my apartment, but I reassured them and left.
On the way, I promised to bring pudding and other things required for dinner, but I thought I wasn't able to make myself do it, so I just bought instant noodles.
As I went back to my apartment, I made sure Elsa wouldn't see me in this state, so I silently went to my room.
I called Bell to give her the pudding but got no response. Maybe she wasn't there; Aisha must have taken her somewhere. They will probably be back before dinner.
I took a bath and prepared instant noodles. I waited for them while watching TV, but time passed with no sign of Aisha or Bell. Feeling concerned, I looked for them where I thought they should be but failed.
"Where did those two go?" I said to myself. While waiting, I went to bed hoping to find them tomorrow.
Next morning.
Birds chirped as my alarm rang. I woke up, freshened up, ate breakfast, applied bandages, and put medicine on my bruised areas.
As I was about to leave the room, I felt like I was forgetting something or someone. It was a very uneasy feeling, like someone important to me who had been with me for a couple of months was gone.
I wanted to remember, but no one came to mind. Thinking this was due to exhaustion, I left.
In the classroom,
everything returned to normal. Zen and Aris went back to school. Many of their friends showed genuine worry. Everything felt right. Shu seemed normal too.
To confirm Zen and Shu's condition, I asked Luna to use her gifted eyes to tell me about their situation.
Luna was shocked for the first time as she saw Zen's emotion-formed creature vanish from his side—something she had never seen before in her entire life. Meanwhile, for Shu, it was not looking good. Her creatures, despite all efforts, still remained and grew over time.
After examining them, I asked Luna to meet me in the club after school.
"So it seems you were able to heal Zen's wounds on time," she said, sipping her tea while seated at the corner of the table.
"Well, it was very painful for me," I half-joked.
"Yeah, I can see," she said.
"So, you brought Bell to school with you today?" she asked, looking beside me.
"Bell? What do you mean?" I asked.
She pointed beside me, but I couldn't see anyone. As I turned, I noticed she poured an extra cup of tea and placed some cookies.
"Why did you bring an extra cup of tea?" I asked.
"Don't joke about it. Don't tease bell.Look, Bell is crying. She came close to me, waving her hand beside me. It feels like she's patting someone."
"Don't worry bell you father is a bad person "
She said while teasing
"Now you're scaring me," I said.
"Don't tell me you forgot about her. Don't you see a little girl with white hair and red eyes standing beside you, holding your shirt and sobbing?" she said.
"Huh.....are you going Cre....." While saying this my heads starting to hurt. I can hear Papa and Papa again
Hearing that, I feel pain in my chest feels like I have lost a part of my body. The pain was so intense I could barely bear it. I fell to my knees from the chair as my eyes closed. When I opened them, I saw a girl sobbing and crying while calling me, "Papa, Papa," again and again.