All Nova wanted was to return to reality–to return to Arcturus’s side and be able to grant people’s wishes. However, luck wasn’t on his side; it never was. All his life, he knew he had some sort of magnetism when it came to misfortune. Wherever he went, he always wound up in some kind of terrible situation. However, there had been some good things in his life, like meeting Souhait and Arcturus. He could tell that they were some sort of good fortune magnet for him. Despite that, their presence around them did not mean his misfortune would be canceled out.

Even after resting for three days and finally waking up, he wound up having to wake up the moment he felt shaking equivalent to a ship getting caught in waves. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling at all. When he sat up, nausea came to him, draining him of whatever energy he had just replenished.

Your misfortune magnet strikes again. Souhait remarked.

No time for commentary, Souhait. I need you to block this nausea right now.

Before Souhait could respond, a man with black hair placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Are you alright, Nova?”

Nova didn’t question why this man knew his name. He saw everything through Souhait’s eyes while he was asleep. While he couldn’t speak to Souhait like how he does with him when he’s conscious, he was still able to see and think about the people Souhait saw when he was in control of his body, when he was inside Arcturus’s consciousness, and even the stuff that had transpired with Ras in the Contract Room.

That was why he knew who this black-haired man was; he was Murphy Edwards. Normally, he’d be hostile towards any stranger he saw, but the visions he saw during his slumber let him know Murphy was one to trust.

“I’m not fine at all…” Nova muttered.

Murphy then called for a woman named Margaret who rushed towards Nova with a small case. She opened it and handed him some medicine. “Someone, get me a glass of water!”

Margaret is Asteria’s grandaunt, Mebsuta’s mother’s sister, despite looking nothing alike. Although she is here as a member of DUO, be on your guard.

Nova refused the medicine. “I don’t need it…”

“But–

“Nova!”

Nova’s eyes widened as the familiar voice resonated in his head. He turned to see Arcturus standing from a distance. He looked absolutely relieved to see him as he marched towards him and pulled him into a tight embrace.

Nova could feel his heartbeat accelerating and it was making his nausea worse. Souhait. I need you to block the nausea. Quick, or else I’m going to puke on Arcturus’s shoulder…and I don’t want that.

Souhait chuckled. Nova knew he was teasing him. Alright.

Nova could feel the nausea slowly going away, but a numbing sensation had been replaced with it. He then noticed stares that were directed towards them; they all looked quite fascinated and gleeful towards the hug; this got him a bit embarrassed. “You can let go of me now…” He whispered to Arcturus, to which he complied.

Nova took the chance to get up from the couch and scanned everyone in the room. From Souhait’s eyes, he knew that they were DUO and that they’re all cooperating to take down Bellatrix; his own current goal is to reach her as well.

He let out a smile and greeted everyone. “I’m Nova. I hope we all get along.”

Margaret was the first to approach him. She offered a handshake and when he was about to accept it, Nova got tackled to the ground. The sudden attack surprised Souhait that the numbing had become undone. It turned out the person who had tackled him was none other than Asteria who had pinned him to the ground. She looked overjoyed to see him; he couldn’t detect any malice from her visage or behavior. She had a wide smile plastered on her face as she dove down to embrace him.

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“Nova, it’s been such a long time…”

Compared to Arcturus’s embrace, Asteria’s did not feel pleasant to him. In all honesty, he wanted to avoid her. While he was grateful that she was the reason he was able to escape, he still didn’t feel comfortable around her. He was wondering why she was hugging him like they knew each other for years.

Oh? It seems that she actually does know your name. Before, she always called you Charlatan.

It could be due to Arc…

Embracing her back felt too weird for him but he didn’t want to tell her to back off; he didn’t want to be seen as rude. His eyes wandered around until he had noticed something unusual. In the corner of the upper floor, he could see the eyes of a robotic stag peering down and making eye contact with his own. An uneasy feeling came to him; he just hoped it was the nausea from his motion sickness.

From what I saw through Arcturus’s eyes, that is Constance’s Shiftie brother who can change into a stag. He was controlled by a red earring, but it was removed. Why is he moving?

Souhait’s words made Nova believe this Shiftie was bad news. However, this was a good opportunity to break out of Asteria’s embrace as he roughly pushed her off of him as he got up.

“What’s wrong?” Arcturus asked, concerned.

“There’s a stag staring down at me.” He summoned Souhait’s tail and used it to grab onto the ledge of the second floor and lift himself up. However, he launched himself up a bit too fast that his head collided with the ceiling. He crashed onto the floor of the second story and clutched his head.

“Are you okay?” Arcturus asked as he rushed up the stairs with Constance following.

“What did you say about a stag?” Constance asked as she looked at where her brother was. “My brother-bot is deactivated. How can he stare at you when his earring is removed?”

“But I saw him staring down at me from the upper floor…”

Constance shook her head. “You must be seeing things. Shifties are unable to move once their earrings are removed from their ear. There is no way that could happen.”

Nova stared at the direction Constance was looking at; her words were truth. There was a large robotic stag lying idle on the floor. Was I seeing things?

“Is your head okay?” Arcturus asked.

“I’m fine, really…”

He felt the nausea coming. It made Nova wonder if he really was just seeing things due to nausea.

Do you want me to numb you again?

I’ll be fine. I’ll just lay down…

Nova slowly descended back down. He noticed the group of people gathering around Asteria. She looked sad and pouty like a girl.

“There, there.” Esta remarked.

“He didn’t mean to do it on purpose,” Marlo reassured her.

“Anyone would push you off of them if they had been tackled to the ground.” Vanessa bluntly stated. “It’s technically your fault for doing that.”

“You’re very reckless to the point of being aggravating.” Vanessa uttered.

Nova was shocked to hear the passive-aggressive words coming from her comrades. What shocked him even more was that Asteria wasn’t fighting back; she was taking it all in. He could only gape at Asteria’s sudden childishness as he turned to Arcturus who had been standing next to him. He pointed at the scene in exasperation.

Arcturus chuckled and then leaned towards his ear and whispered, “I had the exact same reaction.”

The way his breath tickled his ear caused Nova to cover his ear with his hand as his face started heating up. He took a few steps back.

“I think the nausea is getting to me…” Nova forced out a chuckle as he headed back to the couch. Once he sat down, he lost his balance as the house was caught in another strong wave; fortunately, Arcturus had caught him in time. However, his nausea started to worsen.

He overheard Hilbert muttering to Vanessa, “How unusual. The Emerald Ocean’s waves shouldn’t be this strong. What’s going on?”

“It’s definitely climate change.” She responded with confidence. “The damn wars are polluting the air and causing harmful changes to the world.”

“Yet the government still denies it.”

“Well, screw them!”

His attention went back to Arcturus who kept asking worried questions about his state. While he did like the attention, he was unwell to be enjoying it.

Someone handed tablet medicine to him. Nova looked up to see Margaret who gave him a kind smile. “Take it.”

Nova took the medicine and only stared at it. He had no need to take medicine, yet asking Souhait to numb his pain all the time didn’t feel right to him either.

Margaret was nice enough to give you medicine, so I suggest you just take it.

Alright then…

He opened his mouth wide as he bit into the packaging and consumed the foil, the plastic and the tablet all in one; he wondered how long it’ll take for him to feel the effects. He then noticed everyone in the room staring at him exasperated.

“What?”