I woke up to an empty bed, the sunlight shining through the window in my private suite in the infirmary, casting a soft, gentle glow across the room.

It was a lot more spartan than the dorm rooms, but it had its own bathroom and mini-fridge, as well as a large flat screen TV mounted on the wall. A single door led out to the main hallways, while another led to the private bathroom in the suite. There were also cabinets with medicine and a mirror and a few other miscellaneous things.

A handwritten note had been left for me on the nightstand, along with my Nexus phone and a small tray of food on the table by my bedside.

 Good morning sunshine ♥,

 Sorry 'bout leaving you alone, but I've been up since six in the morning and couldn't wait around for you to get up, too. Besides, I figured you'd want to get some peace and quiet anyway after what we went through yesterday.

You should probably get changed and get some food in your stomach before heading down to the nurse's station at the end of the hall. Ember's gonna be waiting for you.

Also, the others were worried sick, but I told them to let you sleep. I've never seen a bunch of kids more relieved that their classmate was alright than I did with you, Sienna. It makes me happy that we've got such great people here with us. They might be rough around the edges, but they're okay after all.

I'll see you soon.

XOXO - Big sis.

P.S. Here's your dorm room key back, by the way. Sorry for intruding.

P.P.S. That was a terrible pun. You owe me pizza for that.

I snorted at that, rolling my eyes with a small chuckle. That made me happy, honestly. She was trying to act as if nothing had happened, even after the bombshell of a secret she had just revealed.

It was... comforting, and made the reality of what we'd gone through a lot more palatable.

I took a few minutes to stretch out all of my sore muscles before hopping off of my bed and picking up my Nexus device. It was fully charged and ready to go. I turned it on, swiping away the lock screen, and was promptly bombarded with notification after notification.

I had gotten added into a new group chat, and it had blown up with a ton of new messages over the course of the last day or two, most of which were just people checking up on how everyone else was doing, and if anyone else was hurt. It was titled 'Tesseract's Happy Campers Club' and included every single magical knight cadet that had been forced into Tesseract's insane trial.

Everyone was accounted for in the group, even me.

Aurora had sent a series of emojis of hearts, bandages, and a thumbs up to everyone that was hurt to tell them she'd pitch in to heal people when her mana recovered, while a 'Rhea', Willow, and even 'Sunny' had been messaging everyone to check on their well-being. A few people were asking about me and my well-being, too.

Claw Strawberry had also messaged me directly, telling me she was really worried, and that I should message her back as soon as possible. Her last message was sent at about 1 AM, and had been obviously left on read.

I frowned a little at that, and sighed, closing the messenger for now. It was overwhelming and I couldn't even think straight at the moment. It was all just so much to take in.

Instead, I focused my attention back to the note and key, frowning as I looked down at my gown. I stepped in front of the mirror, and did a full-body check over my body.

My skin was completely spotless, as if the attack from the monstrous... wendigo thing had never happened in the first place. I was no longer transformed, and the gash in my throat had been healed. I couldn't see a scar, nor could I see a wound anywhere.

The thought of what I had been through was... surreal, to say the least, and my brain was struggling to make sense of it. I tried not to think too deeply about the events that transpired, and instead chose to focus on the fact that I was still alive, and that... I had a home to return to.

I had people that were worried about me and were looking forward to hearing from me again.

It made my heart ache a bit.

My phone suddenly chimed, and I looked down to see Claw Strawberry's avatar pop up with a new message.

>Hey... I see you finally checked your messages. I hope you're alright... please let me know as soon as you get this message! I'll be here, okay? No matter how long it takes, just send me a quick reply or something so I know you're okay.

> ...

>Pretty please?

My lips thinned into a frown and my brow furrowed.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

She'd been worrying over me since last night. I could tell that from the time stamps of her previous texts.

It made me feel really guilty.

I walked ahead and slid on some slippers that were next to the nightstand, walking up to the door that connected my suite to the hallway. It swung open easily, and I poked my head out.

It looked... pretty normal. Disappointingly so, even.

It was a lot more sterile than the dorm hallways were, and there were no decorations or pictures hanging on the walls. It was pretty barren in terms of decor, but it seemed nice enough, and it was clean.

I looked around, and my eyes quickly landed on a lone girl also in a night gown sitting on a bench not too far away from my room, furrowing her brows at her phone. Her medium-length black hair fell over her shoulders as she leaned forward, and she was wearing glasses that rested atop the bridge of her nose.

She was pretty in a traditional way, with a heart-shaped face, soft jaw, large eyes, and a visibly athletic underneath her gown with well-toned legs and arms poking through. The girl looked like she was about my age, too, and her body language indicated a pretty anxious nature.

When I stepped out, she glanced up at me with curious brown eyes and tilted her head slightly in acknowledgement.

"Oh, er, hey there..." she greeted me.

"Hi."

I blinked, walking up to her. I didn't know what else to do or say.

"Um... nice weather we're having," she said awkwardly, looking around in a slight panic.

"Y-yeah."

"..."

"...So... how'd you end up in here?" I started.

"Oh! Me? Um... this place is only for people in the program, right?"

She glanced up at a sign that I hadn't noticed when I'd first walked into the hallway.

'Transformations are permitted, but please refrain from using active abilities in the ward. Thank you!'

I blinked in confusion, looking back to her.

"Uhh... right." I said.

She sighed in relief, relaxing her shoulders. "I'm still a bit low on mana right now, so it shouldn't be too big of a deal though, right? We're all well... you know. And recovery slows to a crawl when we're transformed."

I blinked. "...Oh. Er, right."

I... didn't know that tidbit about transformations and mana, but I just filed it away for later.

"Eh, hehehe. My mom would kill me if she knew I got my cover blown Day One, you know?"

I took a seat across from her on a bench, not sure where Emberline's office was, but feeling too tired to care. "Yeah, I know what you mean. So you're here because you were hurt or something?"

"Y-yeah! Yeah. Yeah. You?"

"Mm. Same."

"Nice, cool. Well, not really, but you know what I mean."

"..."

"Sooo... what's your name?"

"I'm... Sienna. You?"

"I'm Ichigo! It's, umm... it's a pleasure to meet you, Sienna," she smiled awkwardly at me. "What year are you in? I haven't seen you around before."

"First."

"Ooh, same!"

"Oh. Nice."

"Yup, it sure is," Ichigo nodded slowly.

We sat in silence for a bit.

"Hey, so, umm... were you with Strike's group or Tesseracts? Both groups wound up with a couple of people in here," she started, giving me a sheepish grin. "I heard Strike had some sort of round robin tournament thing going on with the entire class, and it got pretty wild, and well, I was in Tesseract's group. It was..." Her voice trailed off. "Well. A shitshow."

"Oh. Yeah. Tesseract. Um, I was there." I answered quietly. It was still fresh in my mind, and it made me flinch thinking about how close we had come to dying yesterday. "That'd be my second brush with death, I guess."

"Oh! Oh, gosh. Yeah... I took some pretty bad licks myself," she mumbled, scratching the back of her neck nervously. "Are you feeling okay now? Do you want some water? I can get you some water."

"Nah, I'm alright, thanks."

"Alrighty. Well, let me know if there's anything else I can help you with."

I nodded silently.

"Um, excuse me. I do have some texts to reply to since I've been unconscious all night, so just give me a sec," I said.

I pulled out my Nexus, and she nodded understandingly before turning her attention back to her phone.

"Sure thing," Ichigo said. "Feel free to hang around for a bit, though. It was getting a bit lonely here anyway."

I smiled gratefully at her before typing out my response to Strawberry's messages.

> I'm okay, sorry for the delay! Had a rough night and needed a while to recuperate.

Ichigo's phone suddenly pinged and her head snapped up as she reflexively jerked. She frantically grabbed at her phone and fumbled with it for a second, and I saw a familiar green icon light up her screen before it disappeared behind her night gown as she swiped it open.

I blinked, looking up at her. She blushed, hiding her face behind the phone, and then slowly looked up at me. "Hehe. Sorry. Um. I can be a bit awkward sometimes."

I raised a brow at that. "...Right."

"Uh... you alright?"

"I-I'm okay, just embarrassed," Ichigo squeaked, her voice cracking a bit as she spoke. Her words came out a little too fast and a bit squeaky, almost as if she was trying to hide the fact that she was embarrassed.

I raised an eyebrow at this. She was being very odd, and her behavior reminded me a bit of... someone.

She tapped away at her phone for a minute, her face growing redder and redder, until eventually she stopped typing, took a deep breath, and tapped the screen. Then, she immediately dropped her phone into her lap, burying her face in her hands and letting out a soft whine.

My phone immediately buzzed in my hands, and I glanced down, my brows shooting to my hairline as I read the text Strawberry had just sent.

> Oh, thank God! Don't apologize for taking time to take care of yourself, you dummy! 😭

I couldn't help but smile a little as my phone chimed, my cheeks turning slightly red from embarrassment. Her message made me feel better already, and I quickly tapped a reply.

> Hehe. Sorry for being a dummy 😅

"Eh?!"

I looked up from the screen when Ichigo gave a start and jumped up from her bench as her phone buzzed in her lap.

The two of us just stared at each other, Ichigo's eyes wide open.

"W-wait a minute..." she stammered.

I stared back, my eyes slowly growing wider as a lightbulb went off in my head.

I looked down at my Nexus and opened my chat log with Claw Strawberry again, quickly tapping out another message to confirm what I thought might be the case here.

>Test.

Her phone buzzed again as I hit send, and her eyes went wide as she stared at me.

She picked up her phone and checked her messages, looked at me with a blink, and then checked her messages again.

Then, she turned to face me, and I met her gaze head-on, my lips tugged upwards in a slight smile as her mouth hung slightly ajar, her face completely red and her expression one of shock and confusion.

She picked up her phone and checked her messages, then checked her phone, and then checked her messages again. Then, she turned to face me, and I met her gaze head-on, my lips tugged upwards in a slight smile as her mouth hung slightly ajar, her face completely red and her expression one of shock and confusion.

"Wait. Are you...?"

I shrugged noncommittally with a sly smirk. "Probably just coincidental timing?"

"Oh?" she said, quickly tapping away at her phone. She quirked her eyebrows and flashed me a doubtful frown.

My Nexus chimed as a new message came in, and I checked the screen again, this time seeing an image attached to the latest chat message.

The picture showed Strawberry's avatar with flaming eyes, and underneath it, the words read...

> Your turn to brace yourself, bitch.😒

A feeling of dread suddenly washed over me as I felt my stomach churn, and I quickly glanced back to see Ichigo looking at me with the smuggest grin on her face as my phone chimed.

"W-wait, don't do anything r—" I held my hands up in a panic.

The next thing I knew, I heard a painfully loud 'pop!' sound followed by a bright flash of pink.