My eyes opened slowly.

I tried to gulp down the dryness in my throat, but… I hadn’t had anything to drink in so long that it wasn’t that successful.

Still, I didn’t care.

And… I waited to hear the same sound again.

As it had been for days.

…

…

“…?”

But nothing came.

Then I realized that the screen that should have been open in front of me was not there.

Instead… there was a note hanging on the wall in front of me.

“Wake up…?”

There were three exclamations at the end. It was handwritten, and I could more or less understand who had written it.

Celine…

When did she enter my room?

Was she the one who turned off the video?

Is she still… in my room?

I slowly got out of bed, then checked all over my room, but… nothing.

There was just… another note somewhere else.

Right next to my door, with an arrow pointing to the handle of the door and writing in big letters next to it.

GET OUT OF HERE!!!

I slowly turned around, looked where the window was, and… next to it, I found a note.

There was an arrow pointing to the window and next to it was a writing, again in capital letters, but this time… with an additional big cross.

NOT FROM HERE!!!

“…”

I just stood there on my bed for seconds of complete… silence.

When I saw my cane, which should normally be somewhere in the kitchen, right next to the bed, I let out a deep, really deep sigh.

I slowly got out of bed, picked up my cane, and followed the arrow to the hallway.

There were three notes on the walls of the hallway.

One of them pointed to the opposite side where the bathroom was. It was the only one that wasn’t capitalized.

Take a shower, please… you stink.

I looked at the other notes. One pointed to the kitchen, the other had a warning on it.

Don’t even think about going into the kitchen without a shower.

“…”

’I think you should.’

A turquoise glow suddenly appeared in front of the notes.

Sith… was looking at me with an expressionless face. He had never spoken to me after that day. He had left me… to myself.

Now, though, he looked quite serious.

I said nothing, turned around, and went into the bathroom.

It was a strange feeling to take a shower after days.

It wasn’t something I wasn’t used to, as in Holar I sometimes had to go from battle to battle for weeks without a shower. Still… it made my skin feel fresh and my overly greasy hair feel clean.

So… after putting on new clothes, I followed the other arrows into the kitchen.

There was a wrapped plate on the table. Things like honey, salad, cheese were out in the open. A loaf of bread, cut in half, and juice were ready.

I sat quietly at the table and slowly opened the wrapped plate.

Inside… were two pieces of toast that looked like they were still warm.

I picked up the toast and was about to take a bite when… I paused at the note I saw right next to the balcony door.

Don’t jump down, you’ll die.

“?”

The toast remained in my hand, my eyes on the note.

“…”

I didn’t say anything. I took my eyes off the note and then took a bite of toast.

It wasn’t… bad.

But it wasn’t the best toast I’ve ever had either.

I took a forkful of salad and then a piece of cheese.

Meanwhile… I couldn’t stop thinking.

If it was Sue… what kind of breakfast would she prepare?

Sometimes she’d set the table with food I’d never seen before. And it would all be… some of the best food I’ve ever eaten in my life.

Always.

Without exception.

I squinted, my mind went completely blank for a moment. And… I kept eating until I finished everything on the table.

And, when I finally finished… I didn’t bother to clear the table. I slowly returned to my bed, lay down.

I started to watch the ceiling.

Thinking nothing.

Not feeling anything.

For minutes.

I raised my hands, pointed them at the ceiling.

I thought.

I tried to think.

But soon… my mind was just a blank space.

“Sith.”

Sith, with his turquoise glow, appeared in front of me. As he looked at me… he seemed calmer than usual.

’Yes, Aiden.’

“When did Celine leave?”

Sith was silent for a while, as if… thinking. About what kind of answer he should give, rather than when Celine had actually left.

Then he sighed, rolling his eyes.

’Just after sunrise.’

“When did she arrive, then?”

’Around nine o’clock last night.’

“Was she here all night? Did she sleep?”

’Yes, no.’

“I see.”

And… silence fell over the room again.

’Aiden…’

I turned my eyes back to him, waiting for him to speak… knowing more or less what he was going to say.

’You’ve just been in your room for a week now, watching a single video, rewinding and rewinding. Isn’t that enough, don’t you think? Don’t you think… it’s time to go back? Why don’t you… target those who caused this in the first place, Saligia, instead of throwing your life away like this?’

He doesn’t understand what I’m thinking…

Or rather, he doesn’t understand that I can’t think.

’For now… I’m leaving. But I really think… that you should make up your mind.’

One thing…

I just want to feel one thing…

Anything is fine, it doesn’t even have to be just about Sue.

It’s just…

I want to prove to myself that I can still feel something…

I want to see that no matter what I feel in the end, the Absolute Mind is still not so ’absolute’.

I want to see… that there is still… some humanity left in me.

No matter in what form it is.

Sith disappeared, the room was enveloped in absolute silence again.

And… all I could do was sigh deeply.

Then… the hours began to tick by.

One after the other, hours I spent just in bed, watching the ceiling.

*******

The time passed relatively quickly in the classes. But… I couldn’t even listen to any of it.

I’m not that good at making toast, making breakfast…

It couldn’t have been bad, could it?

Although… did he even eat?

He must have left his room… right?

The moment I thought about the possibility of him turning on that video again and doing the same thing all day without getting out of bed, I felt a pang of anxiety.

And… from that moment on, the ’fast’ classes slowed down as much as possible.

None of them lasted, my mind was constantly filled with different thoughts.

So much so…

“Celine, are you okay?”

Even others could see that there was something wrong with me.

“Hm? Ah, no…”

I paused for a moment, thinking about my answer as what I had been told flashed through my mind again.

“Wait… yes, I’m fine.”

Lucia and Julian looked at each other, and then at me.

“Are you… sure? You don’t look well, though.”

I smiled, quickly raised my hands, and shook them from side to side.

“No, I’m fine. It was just… something came to my mind, I overthought it.”

That way… I managed to fend them off.

They were unsatisfied, but they stopped pressing.

Finally, after a couple of hours, the classes were over.

I asked my practical teacher if we could skip the training today, and… even though she is normally quite strict about such things, she allowed it.

With the setting sun, I went to Aiden’s building, just like last night.

And, this time, I didn’t even try to go to his door. I walked straight in, just like yesterday, through the balcony.

The first thing I noticed… was that the stuff on the table had been eaten.

I felt a sense of relief. But I didn’t let myself let go of this relief, I took slow steps toward the bedroom.

The door… was not closed. It was wide open, in fact.

And… my skill was screaming at me that he was there.

I swallowed, a strange… nervousness enveloped my body. Instead of revealing myself directly, I first peeked in out of the corner of my eye.

He was on the bed, face up, and… simply looking at the ceiling.

My eyes locked on his eyes.

He always had a ghostly look because of the gray color and the almost hidden pupils. His eyes always looked… a little empty.

But now… they were truly empty.

He was looking at the ceiling, yes… but he didn’t even seem to be looking at it. It was as if his eyes had lost all focus.

I backed away quietly, regulated my breathing, and stepped up to the door, showing myself this time.

Aiden… didn’t notice me, even though I was in a position where he could easily spot me out of the corner of his eye.

“Hey, A- Aiden.”

His eyes lingered on the ceiling for a while. But then… with a small movement, he turned toward me.

He didn’t react at all. His expression didn’t change one bit.

He looked… calm.

Frighteningly so.

“I apologize… for entering your room without permission…”

Again, there was no reaction.

“You finished… the breakfast I prepared. Are you feeling better?”

I took a slow, single step toward him.

And… this time, his eyes narrowed a little.

“Aiden… can you… at least… say something?”

But… he didn’t.

I kept getting closer to him anyway.

At least… his eyes were following me.

“I… I know… it’s not that easy to lose someone you love.”

“…”

“That’s why… I want to help you, I’m trying to help you, just like… just like you did to me. So… can you at least answer me?”

Finally… I arrived right in front of the bed and paused.

Seconds passed in silence.

And… I simply waited for him to say something, I was deliberately silent.

But he… didn’t answer.

Instead… he slowly moved his feet to the edge of the bed and slowly got into a sitting position, facing me. Then… he stood up.

And it was at this moment that I realized something I hadn’t before.

At the beginning of our first year… he was almost the same height as me. I was only one or two centimeters shorter than him.

But now… my eyes could barely reach his neck.

When had he gotten so tall?

“You… want to help me?”

I stiffened as I felt the hoarseness, dullness, and coldness in his voice.

I had never… heard him like that.

Not even once.

It was like… he was someone else.

And yet… I simply swallowed, turned my head up, and looked into his eyes.

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

Why… is he saying that?

“Y- yes…?”

His eyes narrowed again. He slowly raised his hands, put them on my shoulders while I wondered what he was going to do. Then, suddenly, he pulled me to himself.

“H- huh?!”

Before I could react, he tripped me with his foot, made a quick turn behind me, and spun me around.

The next second… I found myself on my back on the bed.

“Then…”

He leaned over me, close to my face.

“Make me feel something.”

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