Time passed, and White's body still hurt. He could feel the pain even while unconscious, but as his eyes opened, he found himself staring at an unfamiliar yet strangely familiar ceiling.
He was still alive, which meant maybe he had succeeded.
"Hah… haha," he slowly laughed at himself.
Suddenly, a slap hit the back of his head.
"Ouch! That hurts!" he yelled, turning around.
Zen was sitting beside him. As White looked around, he finally realized he was in Zen's room.
"I think after taking those powerful punches of mine, your mind shakes so much that the first thing you did after waking up was laugh," Zen said.
"Well, I can't deny that maybe some hits have damaged my brain cells," White replied.
"I guess so," Zen said, looking at him as White looked back.
After a few minutes of tension, they both laughed at the same time for several minutes—until Aris came from behind and smacked both of their heads.
Covering their heads, they both shouted, "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," Aris said.
She looked angry, maybe because White had never told her how he would convince Zen.
"So?" she asked, looking concerned.
"What?" White asked.
"I'm asking how you feel," she said.
"Well, my face hurts, my hand hurts, and…" he began.
"I mean mentally," she interrupted.
"Why? I'm fine, just like before," he 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.
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…" White wanted to answer them but didn't have any words. It might seem illogical to them, and he 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," he said.
"Wrong path?" Zen asked.
"You mean working part-time is a wrong path for me?"
"Part-time?" White was confused.
"Well, I was working part-time, so if Aris wanted money, she wouldn't need to work for it," Zen explained.
That was it. I felt like he had worried for Zen for nothing, but seeing him cheerful and energetic again, he finally felt relief.
"I… I don't know what to say. And what about not going to school?" White 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," Zen admitted, looking sad.
'I think this is the best time to explain the situation related to Shu, as I don't know how much time I have left.'
"Well, that's aside. Both of you, please listen carefully, and I want you not to tell anybody."
White 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 him.
After a little more talking, White finally stood up. Zen and Aris were worried about how he could go back to his apartment, but he reassured them and left.
On the way, he promised to bring pudding and other things required for dinner, but he thought he wouldn't be able to make himself do it, so he just bought instant noodles.
As he went back to his apartment, he made sure Elsa wouldn't see him in this state, so he silently went to his room.
He called Bell to give her the pudding but got no response.
'Maybe she wasn't here; Aisha must have taken her somewhere. They would probably be back before dinner.'
He took a bath and prepared instant noodles. He waited for them while watching TV, but time passed with no sign of Aisha or Bell. Feeling concerned, he looked for them where he thought they should be but failed.
"Where did those two go?" he said to himself. While waiting, he went to bed hoping to find them tomorrow.
At midnight, White was sleeping, a message suddenly popped up in the notification.
'PRICE RECOVERED'
Next morning.
Birds chirped as his alarm rang. White woke up, freshened up, ate breakfast, applied bandages, and put medicine on his bruised areas.
While eating, White was checking his messages. Soon he read one that said:
"Price Recovered? What is that?"
He frowned. "Someone might be trying to scam me," he muttered, and quickly deleted the message.
As he was about to leave the room,
Hmm…
'I felt like I am forgetting something or someone.'
'It is a very uneasy feeling, like someone important to me who had been with me for a couple of months is gone.'
He wanted to remember, but no one came to mind. Thinking this was due to exhaustion, he left.
In the classroom, everything returned to normal. Zen went back to school. Many of his friends showed genuine worry. Everything felt right. Expect Aris needed more time to recover.
Shu seemed normal too.
To confirm Zen and Shu's condition, White asked Luna to use her eyes to tell him 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, White asked Luna to meet him in the club after school.
Later in the Club room.
"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," he half-joked.
"Yeah, I can see," she said.
"So, you brought Bell to school with you today?" she asked, looking beside him.
"Bell? What do you mean?" White asked.
She pointed beside him, but he couldn't see anyone. As he turned, he noticed she poured an extra cup of tea and placed some cookies.
"Why did you bring an extra cup of tea?" he 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. Your father is a bad person," Luna teased.
"Now you're scaring me," White 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 cra—" While saying this, White's head started to hurt. He could hear "Papa" again and again.
Hearing that, he felt pain in his chest, like he had lost a part of his body. The pain was so intense he could barely bear it. He fell to his knees from the chair as his eyes closed. When he opened them, he saw a girl sobbing and crying while calling him, "Papa, Papa," again and again.