Heads up, I changed how Stephanie, the girl from last chapter who only had a single line, addresses herself by. From "I" > "Steffi".

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It seems that I’ve been out for about a day.

“A day huh...” I couldn’t help but mutter.

I mean, I pretty much remember everything. How I was supposed to escape to get help, but ended up stopping. Not out of fright, not out of worry for Aran’s safety but rather out of jealousy--excitement.

“Still, I wasn’t really injured at all...I wonder why I slept for so long...” I muttered again.

I was still in my bed, the same one I woke up on earlier. If you look around, right across to me, you’ll find the peacefully sleeping Aran. His right arm was wrapped in some sort of liquid that isn’t liquid, almost like jelly, that appeared to be either green or yellow. It looked quite weird, to be honest. As for his left hand, it was put inside a wooden bowl, with some sort of transparent liquid. (I stood up earlier to take a look inside. I was pretty disappointed.)

“On the bright side, both me and Aran ended up skipping the old demon’s first sword class!”

But then again...thinking of what he’ll do to us for skipping our first sword class is bad news in all itself...

“He won’t blame us, right? Right?! He was the one who found us passed out after all...”

Or at least that’s what Uncle Jim told me.

It seems that he found both me and Aran passed out in the middle of the road, after picking up Aran’s desperate shouts. How he picked up his shouts is beyond me, because we were not near the temple at all! He truly has the hearing of a demon! Further evidence that he fought an immortal to a stand-still.

My eyes teared up a bit. “I can’t believe that Daddy hasn’t visited me yet...”

Uncle Jim did say that he went down the mountains, into the forest at the base of the mountain, to get some herbs for Aran’s arm...

...Still, it was my first time hearing that there was such a thing at the end of the mountain. Can it be that the wolf came from there?

I wanted to ask Uncle Jim that, but ended up refraining in the end. It was not the time to ask such questions. Even I somehow came to realize that...

“Knock, Knock.”

A sudden knocking sound came about.

I stood up from the bed--I was sitting up straight on the bed up until now, too bored to do anything. I’m faking illness so I don’t go to the old demon’s lessons!!--and walked to the door.

I wonder...can it be Daddy?

“Then again, why would Dad knock on the door?”

...I-It’s not like I am expecting Daddy to be behind the door at all!

I slid the door open, and to my surprise, I didn’t find anyone outside at all.

“Huh? I’m pretty sure I heard some knocks though...”

And, as if to report its true existence, another set of knocks rang again.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

“Aha!” I ended up exclaiming, “I knew I wasn’t going crazy!”

It seems like the knocking was coming for the main door! Y’know, the door that leads outside.

I quickly walked to the door while shouting, “Coming~!”

However, I did not receive any response at all, which is quite normal, I think? Well, normally Uncle Jim would shout, “Hurry up~!” or the old man, the village elder, would go like “I’m too old to wither away at your doorstep!” or the few times that the old demon came, “Kehahaha!”

Truly, each one of them were unique.

Oh, but weird enough, I haven’t met the old man for quite some time. Oh well, he must be quite busy.

I pulled on the door(This one works quite different from my room’s, where rather than slide it open, you got to either pull from the inside or push on the outside!) and was met with a smile that was honestly too dazzling.

“Bright!”

I yelled, and immediately closed the door with a ‘Bang’

I was stunned in my place for about two seconds, before hearing another calm “Knock, knock, knock.”

As if the knocker did not care that I just closed the door on their face.

Alright, mental preparations! I’m going to be okay! I’m going to be just as bright someday as well, so getting used to it now is good for me!

“Hii!” I inhaled as much air as possible, and then opened the door.

“Fuuuu!!!” I exhaled, made sure to get as much air to reach that dazzling light, just to have it calm down.

“Hello~!” The voice said, quite cheerfully. “Jee!!”

“Stephanie!” I answered, averting as much eye contact as possible with her enviable, beautiful eyes. “I wonder, why you came...?”

“Hehehe~ Steffi already told you to call me Steffi~” Stephanie skimmed over my rude question and walked in as if it’s her own home.

“H-hey!” I closed the door and turned to face her back.

“Jee~” Stephanie then cutely titled her head over her shoulders, and said, “Steffi was just worried about Jee!”

“We aren’t even friends...” I said, but then followed her around. “So, how did you even realize that something happened to me?”

“Well, Jee didn’t come to school today. Which felt quite weird, since Jee comes to school even when Granpa hands her five times our usual homework! That’s a like, a whole lot of homework, Jee!” Stephanie shouted, turning around and shoving her open palm into my face.

“Five!” She said, “Jee, it’s five times! That’s like, two plus three! So much!!” And then started to giggle.

“And what’s up with ‘Jee’ ‘Jee’ huh?” I asked, just wanting to stop her mad giggling. I know this is not pretty, but I really can’t help but feel this way, y’know? Jealousy isn’t a good thing, I know, but I really can’t help it.

“Ehh~ Jee, is Jee!” She shouted, pointing her fingers at me as her blue hair was swung around, “Jee is so amazing and outgoing, Steffi is almost jealous!”

“I’m the one who should be jealous of you!” I ended up retorting, “So anyhow, want are you planning now anyways? Here you go, I’m all fine and dandy.” I then swung my fists around to prove it.

“Oh, and by the way Jee, where is your room?”

“Over there...why?”

Why does she want to know where my room is...?

To start with, she should hurry up and shoo away.

“Steffi is going to invade Jee’s room!” She shouted, and then ran at a pretty fast speed.

“Waa--” I yelped.

What does she mean by that?

...Wait. Oh god, Aran is sleeping in my room! And more importantly, his hand...well, it’s a mess!! Even if the green/yellow jelly is covering it, it’s still...well, horrifying to look at! I mean, his arm kinda has a huge chunk of flesh bitten out of it.

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I broke out in a run and chased after the giggling Stephanie. This can’t be good, this can’t be good. This would ruin the brightness of her smile! Although, yes, I am a bit jealous of her; I actually quite admire her as well! She is something that I want to be, popular! Awesome! Have lots of friends! Not like how I am, presently, friendless...

This is bad, she reached my sliding door!

“Don’t open the door!” I shouted as hard as I could, but she completely ignored me and entered.

Ahh! She entered!!!!!

I kicked up my feet and went even faster, and finally caught up to the room and entered.

There, I noticed the surprised Stephanie.

“T-this, I c-can explain it!” I shouted as I entered the room.

I looked in panic toward the direction she is looking at--Aran’s sleeping body--and...yeah, his right arm is in total view from the door.

“...” Stephanie remained silent. I then averted my gaze from Aran’s bed, and returned it to Stephanie’s.

I want to see how she’s reacting.  

To my surprise--or rather, as expected--I found her crying.

“U-umm!” I tried to divert her attention, “How about some milk?!”

“Hiii!?” Stephanie jumped back in fright.

Me! Stupid! Why did you shout!?

“T-this isn’t good, this isn’t good! Stephanie, how about we go ahead to the kitchen then we can both drink some milk?!”

...And I ended up shouting again.

Stephanie hurriedly wiped the tears from her eyes with her hands, and then nodded.

I guided her to the kitchen and got her and myself a cup of milk.

“You see, this milk is pretty fresh...I heard that Uncle Jim’s neighbor gave him two buckets this morning, so he ended up leaving one over when he came to visit Aran right after breakfast...”

I tried my best to change the subject...but, ugh, to no avail.

Since she just nodded in response, as tears were still apparent within her eyes.

“Alright, alright! Do you want to hear an interesting story, Stephanie?”

Let’s cheer her up! After that, I’ll kick her out and hopefully never meet again.

...And then she shook her head in refusal...

“Huh? W-why?!”

Why doesn’t she want me to cheer her up!?

C-can it be that she guessed that I’ll be kicking her out?!?!?!

I broke in cold sweat, as I imagined this girl before me blaming every person in the village that I made her cry...

...I’ll get bullied! I, will truly, never ever make friends even after I became cool! No!! I don’t want that!!!

I’m sorry for harboring hidden motives!!!!!!

“O-only after you call Steffi, S-Steffi...”

“Eh?”

Steffi?

Why does she want me to call her Steffi...

“Steffi...” I muttered.

And Stephanie, who heard me, flashed me her bright white teeth.

“I see, Steffi huh.” I then took a sip out of my cup, “So, do you want to hear my story or not?”

“Hehe~ If it’s a story from Jee...” She said, as she wiped the leftover tears from her eyes, “Then Steffi thinks that it must be amazing!”

Hehe, now this is a person who knows her stuff!

However, as a story teller, I must not let her take control over the conversation!!

I dramatically shook my head, “It’s not just amazing, It’s cool. It’s awesome! It’s everything that you might associate with being colorful. This is a story that’s so unreal, that you’ll confuse it for being a dream of mine!”

...Even though this story of mine started out as a dream. But she doesn’t have to know that, right? I’m allowed to lie, for her to cheer up, right!?

“So! Do you know what an immortal is?”

After all, we need to start with the basics of the basics! I can’t tell her a story about immortals, if she doesn’t even know what an immortal is.

“Steffi!” Steph--Steffi, answered my question.

“...Steffi. So, S-Steffi, do you know what an immortal is?”

Steffi, in turn, took a sip out of her milk. She then held her index finger to her forehead, in a very cute way, and muttered. “Mmmmm...Steffi thinks that Steffi knows...”

“Great!” I yelled, “Great great great!”

That’s how it should be. Everyone should know about immortals!

“So! You know the grass plains that are about half way through the road, heading toward the old demon’s temple?”

“Mnn mnn mnnn! Steffi knows! Steffi passes that place everyday after all!”

I clapped my hands, “Good! The other day, I was walking there, and all of a sudden, I heard explosions! Like Kaboom! It was very frightening, I tell you!”

Of course, I could have used any location...however, the first one that came to mind was the place where both me and Aran were hit at.

“Ehh~!? Jee, are you alright!?” Yelled Steffi, as tears returned to her eyes.

“W-what’s wrong?”

Why is she so passionate all of a sudden for?

“No...You went Kaboom! Right? Steffi is just worried for Jee!”

“...W-why...?”

Why, in the world, is she worried about me?

I’m also wondering, why would she cry when she saw Aran’s position? Even though she probably doesn’t even know him. I think. And, to be honest, Steffi is the village elder’s only daughter. She doesn’t really leave home much, aside from going to school. So! I really think they never met before.

That’s why, I can’t seem to understand why she cried for him. Why she is crying for me now, even though all I’m saying is but a story...a made up story.

“Why? Steffi can’t understand...Jee is my friend, if Jee gets hurt...Of course Steffi is going to get sad!”

Friend...

We are? Are we really friends?

This...How did all of this start from trying to tell a story?

“I see. Well, anyhow, Let’s get back to the story!”

So she’s worried about me? So she thinks that we are friends? How can that be...I’m nothing but jealous of her. I keep on getting jealous of her, right in front of everybody. And yet, she calls me a friend? And yet, she visits me when I didn’t go to the old demon’s lessons?

Can I really, be friends with such a dazzling person?

“Un!” Steffi nodded.

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A/N: Another chapter is coming out in a few hours~