After the silence settled, Carla Brown cleared her throat softly, trying to regain her authority in front of the students who were still frozen in place.
She spoke in a quiet but steady voice:— "Adam… stay behind after class for a bit. I want to talk to you."
He didn't open his eyes, only nodded slowly, as if agreeing just to end the discussion.
Heavy minutes passed, then the bell rang to end the lesson. The students left in an odd silence, even Krista, who usually never lingered, found herself moving slowly. She felt a curiosity she couldn't ignore.
She stood at the door, pretending to arrange her bag, but in truth she was listening to what would happen.
Carla waited until the room was nearly empty, then approached Adam's desk, sat in the chair opposite him, and took a deep breath.
— "Adam… are you aware of what you said earlier?"
He lifted his head slowly, his eyes half-extinguished, and replied in a neutral tone:— "Yes."
— "And why would you say something like that in front of everyone?"
— "Because that's how I felt."
She fell silent for a moment, then continued in a very soft voice:— "You know… you matter. And your death wouldn't be a solution. Even if it feels otherwise to you."
He didn't reply. He was staring at the table as if he didn't see it at all.
Carla felt a vague ache in her chest, so she spoke in a less formal tone, almost pleading:— "I want you to understand something… I don't expect you to be okay. After what happened… no one would blame you if you weren't okay. But… at least, stay here. Even if you don't know your purpose. Just… stay."
He remained silent, staring into space.
Then he moved his lips slowly:— "…Alright."
His voice was faint, nearly a whisper, but it sounded sincere in a way that made Carla's heart tighten further.
Outside, Krista had stopped pretending to arrange her bag.She was hearing everything.
She closed her eyes for a moment, then sighed awkwardly."…What is he really feeling?…"
She didn't know the answer.But in that moment, she realized that Adam… was too far away for anyone to easily understand.
Carla stayed silent a moment longer, then stood slowly. She rested her hand lightly on the desk and spoke in a softer tone, almost tender:— "If you need anything… even if you don't know what you need… come to me."
Adam didn't lift his head, only moved his fingers a little as if sensing the cold in the air, and said without any emotion:— "…Maybe."
Carla hesitated to answer, then preferred to leave him with his silence. She turned and left the classroom with quiet steps.
Outside, Krista realized too much time had passed. She quickly left the school, placing her hand over her chest, her heart pounding in a way she didn't understand.
…
Later, when she arrived at her small house, she threw her bag near the bed and sat on its edge, placing her hands over her flushed face.
"Why did I say that…? Why did I say I wanted to become a princess in front of everyone?"
She remembered the moment of the classroom's silence, the students' laughter, and Adam's blank eyes as he looked at her without laughing.
Her face grew even redder until she felt heat in her ears.
"And why… why didn't he laugh like the others?… Did he think I was… serious?"
She turned over on her bed, pressing the pillow over her face to hide her embarrassment.
"Oh God… it was such a strange day…"
But in the heart of her confusion… a faint curiosity slipped in.A question she couldn't shake off:"What makes him seem as though… he doesn't belong in this world?"
Neil awoke slowly.
At first, he saw only the whiteness of the ceiling. His eyes fluttered as he tried to focus, while his breathing was ragged as if his chest couldn't hold air.
He raised a hand to his head, feeling a faint prickling inside his skull and a metallic taste on his tongue.
Then he heard a soft voice beside him:
— "You finally woke up…"
He turned with difficulty toward the source of the voice. Carla Brown was sitting in a chair near the bed, a closed book in her hands, her face tired but her gaze steady.
Neil tried to lift his body, but his muscles betrayed him, so he lay back down, exhaling sharply.
— "…What… what happened…?"
His voice came out hoarse, as if he hadn't used it in days.
Carla tilted her head slightly, watching him intently:
— "You tried to kill yourself during a raid on an A-rank creature. Your body was nearly torn apart. If I had been a few hours later… you wouldn't be here now."
Neil closed his eyes, as if replaying that battle in a flashing instant: the poison, the shadows, the pain unlike any he'd ever felt…
Then he whispered without opening his eyes:
— "…I was close… so close to killing it…"
Neil suddenly opened his eyes, and a strange smile spread across his lips, a smile Carla had never seen before. It wasn't a child's smile…
It was something else.
— "…But I succeeded."
He said it while exhaling a short, ambiguous laugh, as if it came from somewhere deeper than his chest.
— "I succeeded… in killing it."
His voice stayed low, but the overwhelming joy was unmistakable in his tone, seeping out like an electric spark in the air.
Carla couldn't answer at once. She stared at his face in silent astonishment.
An eight-year-old boy… smiling because he'd killed an A-rank creature, a creature that even grown knights could only defeat as a group.
A shiver ran down her spine, as if she were seeing something that should not exist at that age.
She whispered without meaning to:
— "…My God… you… you're…"
She stopped, unable to find the right word. Should she say "a miracle"? Or "a disaster"? Or both?
Neil closed his eyes again, the echo of his small laugh still vibrating in his chest:
— "…It was… wonderful."
The next morning, when the students gathered in their classroom as usual, the door opened slowly. Neil entered with heavy steps, his body wrapped in white bandages hanging off his shoulder, while his left hand still moved with difficulty.
The students' whispers fell silent at once. Dozens of eyes fixed on him, some questioning, some staring with a fear they couldn't name.
Krista, sitting by the window, placed a hand over her mouth in obvious worry, whispering to herself:— "My God… what happened to him…?"
But Neil didn't look at anyone. He lifted his head and stared straight ahead, as though he saw no one in the room. Then he smiled calmly, completely at odds with his wretched condition, before moving to his desk and sitting down slowly.
Carla Brown, who was reviewing some papers near the lectern, looked up at him, her face troubled. But she didn't comment, only wrote something quickly in her notebook, as though trying to comprehend the incomprehensible.
In the next seat, Adam was watching the scene with his glassy eyes, without any reaction. He didn't even seem to notice the dried blood on Neil's neck or the metallic smell emanating from his bandages.
He rested his head slightly on the desk and took a deep breath, as if Neil's return meant nothing more to him than a piece of furniture put back in place.
The other students exchanged bewildered, trembling glances:— "Did… did he fight a monster?"— "They said he did it alone…"— "That's impossible… impossible…"
But Neil didn't care. He closed his eyes and began to breathe slowly, while inside him only one thing was whispering:"I did it…"
During the midday break, most of the students went out to the small yard behind the building. Neil sat on a long wooden bench, stretching his injured leg slightly forward. His bandages were already starting to turn pink from the seeping blood.
Moments passed before Krista approached him hesitantly, biting her lower lip. She stood in front of him without finding words at first, but finally she whispered in a soft voice:— "Are… you okay?"
He lifted his head toward her, his eyes holding that strange look mixing pride and curiosity. Then he smiled, despite the pain visible on his face.— "I'm fine… better than I expected."
She hesitated a little, then sat quietly beside him, looking at the bandages.— "I heard you fought an A-rank monster…"— "Yes."
He said it as if describing the weather. Then added with a wider smile:— "It was faster than I thought… and I learned something new about myself."
Krista didn't reply. She felt that the distance between them was too great to bridge with simple words.
Before she could say anything else, Adam came out into the yard, walking slowly toward a shaded corner. He seemed not to see anyone at all.
Neil lifted his gaze to him, staring for a few seconds before calling out in a cautious tone:— "Adam…"
Adam stopped and looked at them. His eyes held no trace of life, only a pale expanse like an empty well.
Neil sighed slowly, then spoke in a serious tone, with a hint of consolation he had learned by heart:— "I… I'm sorry for what happened. Your mother… she was truly strong."
A long silence.
Adam stared at him without any reaction, even Krista lowered her gaze, embarrassed by the quiet.
Then Adam raised his hand slightly, as if to point at something but then stopped, turning his face to the gray sky.
He said in a cold, quiet voice:— "Strength… doesn't matter much after it's over."
Neil didn't quite understand what he meant, but he felt a strange tightness in his chest.He had expected to see Adam as he had been before: withdrawn, but transparent in his grief. But now…It felt as if what was inside him had become something else. Something more complicated than sadness or anger, something no one could easily name.
Adam didn't say anything more. He just kept walking away, dragging his steps across the ground, while Krista watched him with worried eyes.
Neil stayed silent, feeling for the first time that Adam had become too distant to understand.