Author's Note: Just like with my other fic, Monster with No Magic, changes in perspective are indicated by italicized text.
Reminiscing
“What’s that?” She asked curiously.
From the howls earlier, I’m sure Cielle could already guess what I was dragging into the room, but merely asked out of obligation.
“It’s a Werewolf.”
Regardless I answered.
“It was part of the group that was howling just now. I dragged it in because I feared that leaving a dead body of a monster out there would attract the others this way.” I further explained while I finished moving the creature to the teacher’s lounge.
I shut the door behind me and twisted the lock.
I then maneuvered the body meticulously on the floor, just so that it would lie to the right of the doorway.
Afterwards, I wiped my brow in an exaggerated manner, and stood up.
I turned towards Cielle.
“As long as we don’t make any excessive noise, I’m sure we’ll be safe for the night. The creature’s have sensitive noses, but that pile of corpses you gathered in front had an unexpected benefit. The smell they produce should be strong enough to deter them away.
So just make sure not to make any excessive sounds, since their hearing is just as good as their smell.
Also, a little light is okay, but I still think we should keep it down to the maximum capabilities. While I’m sure those things are closer blind then they are visually able, its best to take several precautions-- Hey, are you listening?”
I pointedly spoke to Cielle.
She was in a daze from before, absentmindedly looking down at the corpse I just dragged in.
Once I called out to her, she jerked up and looked towards my direction with an apologetic expression. I could make out a faint blush on her face, even through this darkness and through the curtain of her hair.
I outwardly sighed.
“You really should fix that scatterbrain of yours.” I spoke
“Y-yeah, sorry…” She apologized, true regret plastered on her face.
“Well… its not really a big deal, just that… its dangerous to be like that in a place like this…”
I trailed off and implied many things with the end of my sentence. From the look of her expression, she fully understood what I left unspoken.
Now that Cielle was paying attention, I reiterated what I had previously explained about the werewolves This time around I got an attentive nod in return.
Afterwards, I informed Cielle of what I found in the other room. I grabbed the backpack I previously filled with provisions and handed it to her. At first, her fragile looking arms unwillingly lowered at the weight of the whole thing, but steadily she grasped onto it as if it were her very lifeline.
“In here, I found some food -- Things like a sandwich, some more granola bars, candy-- don’t eat all of it this time.” I added the last part with a pointed stare towards the girl in question.
I got back an awkward laughter, which sort of surprised me.
How long had it been since I heard laughing? Back then, I found such a noise so annoying, but now…
[No, now’s not the time.]
I shook of my wandering thoughts and further explained.
“I also...acquired some coats and jackets. It’s probably going to be pretty cold here tonight, so its just a precaution...now what else…Did you manage to find anything in here?”
I directed a question towards Cielle.
The straight faced girl, who had just been vigilantly listening looked up when I prompted. She paused for 5 seconds before she spoke in her usual, faint- almost indistinguishable voice. If it hadn’t been the me with good ears who she was talking to, I doubt anybody else could have heard her.
“Ah, um, I found a few protein bars, and a couple of frozen foods in the refrigerator…”
Upon hearing the term, “refrigerator”, my eyes instantly scanned the lounge. Just like Cielle said, off to the corner of the room, was a black cube. It was a mini fridge. Above that, hanging from a nook within the cabinets, was a high edge microwave.
Seeing all this, I couldn’t help but sigh out. Teacher’s sure do have it made…
“Hmm, that’s a good find.” I redirected my attention to Cielle and noted.
Cielle nodded in agreement.
I briefly looked around the room, and my eyes landed on the corpse…
I looked back up towards Cielle, and noticed another round of awkward silence was about to ensue. Just before that could happen, I talked, almost impassively.
“Go take the food and bring it into the other room. Watch over your sister while you’re there. She could wake up at any moment and its important that you keep her quiet.
I’ll look around here some more, maybe there a few more useful items you missed.”
I insisted that she leave the room. At first, I was met with low resistance, she didn’t seem willing to part with me, but it was as if she was afraid to speak this opinion out. Eventually though, she complied and I saw her out the door.
I continued staring until she was a good distance away before I moved to close the door.
Now I was alone.
I looked around the room once more before I locked eyes with the lightless pupils of the Werewolf scout.
In the dark, its lifeless red eyes stood out even more than usual.
“I didn’t really want Cielle to see what I’m about to do…” I half muttered to myself as I bent down next to the corpse. Efhermet was already firmly in my hand.
“It’s not a pretty normal thing to do after all.” I placed the tip of the blade to where I assumed the sternum would be.
“But, its alway useful to know your enemy…” I moved the bladed edge downwards until I stopped feeling the harder surface of bone.
“...both inside, and out.”
I plunged the dagger deep into its chest cavity and with that, I began using [dissect] on the new corpse.
It wouldn’t take a while though. At most, 20 minutes.
*****
Cielle moved out into the art room.
The same one she had spent close to 5 hours in. To her, that was 5 hours too many.
At the time, it was a very boring task to do. She had nothing to do in here but watch over her injured sister. All the while this boredom consumed her, she was filled with turmoiling emotions of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty. It wasn’t really a mix of emotions anybody would want to have.
As a result, she ended up scavenging and eating all the food she could find within the room.
Cielle did that often. Stress eat.
It was her own way of coping with difficult situations, and there was nothing more difficult than the current situation. Luckily for her, Cielle had a naturally fast metabolism. No matter how much she ate, she wouldn’t gain any weight.
In fact, she had twice the appetite of a normal person, and that inadvertently led to the fact that it took twice as much food to fill her up. She chided herself for having this once praiseworthy characteristic.
She was reminded of the words the mysterious youth-- Hide, had spoken.
He had criticized her about her appetite, and had reprimanded her about eating all the food. When she recounted this, it only caused Cielle’s head to bow down in shame.
It was a natural thing for girls to feel bad when someone comments on their eating habits. In this regard, Cielle was no different. Especially when the one rebuking you is…
Speaking of the Hide, Cielle’s mind naturally began to wander.
She continued to walk over to her sister, backpack in hand, as she recounted the day’s events.
The thing that stuck out the most out of the day wasn’t the apocalypse-like situation, nor was it the weird gaming interface or the monsters that threatened her life. No, to Cielle, it wasn’t any of these “trivial” aspects of the day, but rather, it was the inconspicuous youth that she had luckily or unluckily bumped into in the hallway, that she pointedly remember the most.
Hide.
She didn’t know his last name, he never told her. But nevertheless, something about him made her gravitate towards the boy.
At first glance, Hide seemed unreliable. Rather, that was the first impression Cielle had on the youth. An unreliable, shifty eyed teenager who, just like her, managed to escape from whatever situation he had found himself in, barely by the skin of his neck.
Back then Cielle wasn’t looking down on Hide, rather, she felt sympathy for him. She knew what he probably went through and he understood the physical and mental pain that causes.
So, upon her first encounter with Hide, she didn’t really expect anything. Rather, she presumed that the shifty eyed youth would hold her back.
So, it was due to this prior first impression, that Hide’s consequent actions shined out even more.
For one, it came as quite a surprise to her when Hide had introduced the concept of [status]. She had a vague inkling of the fact that everything was so… so game like now, but still, it didn’t really sink in, per say, how fucked up her situation had truly been.
When Hide had told her about how she had her own ‘stats,’ she didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. The situation now felt surreal, and with the fact that her sister was on death’s door with no hope for recovery, her very existence felt very much like a dream.
No, rather, she hoped it was a nightmare. A terrible nightmare she would eventually wake up from.
Although she knew it was reality. In fact, when Hide had told her there was a way to save her dying sister, that was what had brought her back and forced her to face the current situation head on.
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His reason was strange, almost unbelievable, but for some reason, she pinned her hopes on it. She found a strange logic in the way he explained the method to save her.
She clung on to this new found hope, all the while, a sort of strange reverence had seeded within her towards the mysterious youth.
Cielle was snapped back into real time and out of her recollection, when she noticed her sister twitch. It wasn’t much, just a slight movement of her brow, that would have barely gone noticed, but to her it was something praiseworthy.
She would have yelped for joy had Hide not explicitly warned her about making noise. Instead, she gingerly sat on the table next to her sister’s head and stroked away the slight strands of blonde platinum hair that fell on her sleeping face.
This was a significant moment, especially since her sister hadn’t moved at all ever since the first time she saw her back when Hide wasn’t around.
In fact, it was this characteristic that had caused her great anxiety when Hide volunteered to visit the infirmary. Her sister was in a comatose like state through the whole time. She wasn’t any medical professional, so she didn’t exactly know how to keep her alive, but nevertheless she tried.
She pinned her hopes on the youth, while she took care of her dying sister.
When two hours passed, a heavy feeling washed over her, but she didn’t despair. She still had hopes for a brighter future. Hide would surely come.
When three hours passed, her hands were shivering with fear. Thoughts like, “have I been abandoned?” or “Did he die?” welled up inside her, but a strange stubbornness persisted, especially whenever she looked down at her pale faced sister.
When the 4th hour passed, she began to accept. She began to whole heartedly believe the fact that Hide had infact, either died or abandoned her with a dying girl that she regretted taking care of. Actually, it was at this time that a strange hatred bloomed within her. She regretted having such an emotional attachment with her beloved sister.
It wasn’t that she wanted Hina dead, rather, it was the first time a thought like “It would have been better off had you not existed” surfaced through her mind. A fictitious reality enveloped within her fragile mind about how her current situation would have been different had she not willingly went to check on Hina. She began to wholeheartedly wish she was the type of person who could abandon someone on a whim.
Of course, when Cielle realized what type of thoughts she was beginning to have, she reprimanded herself.
The subsequent guilt and shame from these thoughts caused her to persevere even more. As if Hina had known what sinister feelings and intentions her own flesh and blood had directed towards her. Cielle frantically pampered her sister’s dying body.
Washing down the splotches of dried blood with water from a scavenged bottle, routinely changing the wet and bloodied gauze, even when her supply was steadily running out, naively inspecting every single scratch and wound on the pale body despite her lack of medical knowledge. This and much more were just among the things Cielle had done on her own road to “redemption”.
In fact, it was this crazy persistence that earned her a special skill, even before Cielle acquired [Gemini Blue].
New Skill Earned!
Nursing (Active)
Through constant devotion and persistence, you have acquired the nurturing heart of a caregiver
Skill Type: Regular
Skill Rank: Beginner
Skill Level: 1
Skill Experience: 0%
Effects:
Lowers the effects of detrimental status effects on allies and yourself.
Depending on [Nursing]’s skill level, it will grant a boost in all healing based skills.
Less prone to mental status effects.
Of course, she was shocked at first, she hadn’t expected something like this to happen. She never even assumed such a thing like skills existed, even within this messed up new world.
A stray thought such as, “Does Hide know about this?” floated to her mind when she saw this, but quickly shook it off.
The existence of this new skill was a godsend to her. It filled her up with a new hope. A hope that death wasn’t the outcome for Hina.
With renewed vigor she furiously set about taking care of her sister. A bright smile filled her haggard face when Hina’s complexion brightened ever so slightly.
After 5 hours had passed, Cielle’s once bubbly enthusiasm had all but disappeared. Even with her new skill, Hina’s condition was worsening. At most, all she could do was prolong the inevitable, and it frustrated her to know that that was all she was capable of.
Earlier in the hour, she had moved her sister back behind the desk and created a semi barricade around her. She knew that there was no way she alone could stand up against what waited outside.
She sat there, alone with her sister and what little medical supplies she had left.
By this point, she had given up. She didn’t even know why she had made the barricade in the first place. It would have been much simpler to just wait for death out in the open than making it a bit more complicated in this “prison” she had built.
She accepted that all her efforts were in vain. Her sister was going to die, she was going to die, and there was no chance for survival.
It was at this time, that something unexpected had happened. A hope she had given up on. Something she truly did not consider a possibility.
Hide--
“Cielle.”
A voice rang out from the back of the classroom, abruptly pulling Cielle back into reality.
She looked on at the figure in front of her.
He was standing by the doorway to the teacher’s lounge. He had a rather refreshed smile, which didn’t quite agree with his usual impassive expression. For some strange reason, the boy, Hide, was holding onto his night encrusted dagger on one hand.
He absentmindedly walked over, putting the knife away behind him in an accustomed manner.
“Did you eat all the food?” He questioned, half serious.
[Jeeze, Hide is such a meanie~ Even I wouldn’t do something like that!]
Cielle commented inwards, but on the outside, she simply quietly shook her head in denial.
Hide replied with a simple nod and an “I see…”
He looked briefly over at Cielle, which made her scrunch up within herself, before he turned his attention to Hina.
At this time, Cielle also quietly observed the stoic young man who had saved her sister’s, and her own life. He looked as he was when she first bumped into him His mannerisms and atmosphere remained relatively intact but his demeanor had somewhat changed.
He still carried himself the same way, shifty eyed, and as if lacking confidence, but at times, he expressed an almost impassive and cold, ice-like personality. One that was blunt, crude and straight to the point.
While Cielle sent brief glances over his way, she noticed fresh new blood stains splattered on his uniform. She was vaguely sure that she hadn’t seen these earlier in the teacher’s lounge, when he had returned with the corpse, but she wasn’t quite sure. After all, it was pretty dark.
After a while, Hide turned back to her, and nodded. He took a granola bar from the backpack and moved to a corner in the room.
Cielle noticed that like her, Hide wasn’t one of many words.
As she watched his silhouette darken in the shadows, she quietly reminisced about all the things that had happened after Hide had returned.
From the health potion, to the new skill he “gave” her, even to the most recent event when he dragged the corpse of a rather strong looking monster into the teacher’s lounge. Hide had done so many amazing things, and all Cielle wanted to do was ask about all of them.
The adventure he had outside the classroom, his battle with the werewolf, how he had gotten his previous injury on his thigh, what he was doing before the apocalypse, his favorite color, what type of shampoo he used on his hair, the type of foods he hated, whether he liked summer or winter more, what he liked to do on the weekends, whether he had a girlfriend, whether he would like a girlfriend, where he was born, if he had any siblings, what type of friends he had, his favorite tv show, his most precious childhood memory, whether he wanted a girlfriend, whether he wanted a girlfriend, whether he wanted a girlfriend, whether he wanted a girlfriend….
All these things, and many, many, many more were questions Cielle wanted to ask. But she didn’t. She didn’t bother Hide with such trivialities.
It wouldn’t be any good if he started to think she was annoying. She had already messed up when exchanging conversation with him, so, in her eyes, she was walking on very thin ice.
She hadn’t had the chance to thank him, which made her want to kill herself. She also hadn’t believed in him wholeheartedly when he left, which also made her want to kill herself.
She wanted to do right. She wanted to be on Hide’s bright side. She wanted to fix her prior mistakes.
After all, She didn’t want Hide to hate her.
*****
Author's Note: For some strange reason, I had fun writing this chapter....
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