The throb in his head woke him up before the sunlight did.

"Hey... Denka..." He stood up and stretched. The first signs of dawn were starting to show. "Wake up..."

"Already did." Denka replied instantly, though he sounded groggy for some reason.

"Do grimoires even sleep?" Tenur went over and picked Denka up. The book felt hot to the touch. "You're hot."

"Thanks, but no thanks." Denka relaxed as it laid in Tenur's hands. The mana deficiency he was facing caused some of Tenur's warm mana to leak into him, soothing his somewhat tensed mind. "We've got a job to do."

Tenur shrugged before heading to the bathroom. He dropped Denka onto a nearby table and began his daily morning routine of washing himself. When he was done, he knocked on Laura's door to wake her up.

"It's morning. we have things to get going." He yelled into the door, hoping his voice would reach her. A sleepy voice came through when he was picking up Denka. "Five more minutes...!" There was a sudden, one-time quake after that.

"Still a pile of shit?" Tenur asked rhetorically as he dusted Denka. "Yeah." Denka muttered lethargically. Something prickled his master's sense of smell when as they reached the kitchen's doorway.

"Pancakes." Tenur's guess wasn't off, considering how used to the smell of pancakes and syrup he was. Daryl was cooking with an apron on, and she looked happy, seeing as how she was whistling to a tune before he arrived.

"Morning Tenur." Daryl looked over her shoulder and gave a warm smile. Tenur found the smile quite fitting on her mother's face. "Breakfast's ready."

He sat at the table before his mother even finished. There was a plate full of pancakes in the middle of it while a stack of plates sat right beside it. There were exactly three plates, and he found it quite considerate of his mother to think about their guest as well, albeit the guest was more like a homeless tenant.

"Where's the fork and syrup?" Tenur placed Denka onto his chair as he stood. The book himself didn't seem to agree lying on the chair, but he had no choice since Tenur ignored his complaints.

"There," Daryl pointed over to the counter beside the stove. "We ran out of syrup last time, so I bought another."

"Aye." Tenur grabbed everything he needed before heading for his place. He was surprised to find himself exceedingly hungry after the first bite went down. His mother joined him shortly afterwards, followed by Laura who came after he finished devouring his meal which could've fed two adults.

"Meet me at Sarah's home later." He told Laura as he grabbed Denka and headed through the doorway.

"Where is it?"

"Its beside the our house. You can't miss it!" Tenur answered without even pausing a step. A slam of the front door made both diners sure that he had already left.

"Is he always like that?" Laura asked with her mouth full. The look on Daryl's face told her she wasn't one to mind table manners too much.

"Well... Only when its a full moon soon," Daryl replied with her mouth full as well. "He gets easily agitated during these times." She chuckled before swallowing.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"That's..." Laura thought about it before remembering something else. "Oh..." She did a mental shrug and resumed eating.

----------------------------------------

Tenur wasn't exactly disappointed when he arrived. Yet at the same time, he felt a little down from not being able to see Sarah still in groggy mode.

"Hey Tenur, come on in." Sarah opened the door, but it was more accurate to say she made a gap large enough for only him to enter.

"Thanks." He got in and looked around. Everything was quite as everything—couch, fireplace, chair, table— was before, though he noticed something peculiar. "Where's Andrew? He'd normally be here to welcome me as well."

"Oh," Sarah panicked a little, before calming down and confessing the truth, though softly. "I... him squat behind... door overnight... punishment... harsh prank." Before Tenur could ask her to repeat, Sarah brushed the topic aside. "Forget 'bout that, how's your back anyway?" Her eyes glistened as she asked him.

Tenur rubbed the spot where the injury used to be. "It's healed a lot thanks to this guy," he pointed at Denka, "releasing a healing wave."

"You could've at least said thanks to me in person." Denka interrupted grumpily.

"Wasn't able to until just now," Tenur shrugged. "And I kind of forgot about the whole back pain incident from yesterday."

"You said Denka healed you by releasing a healing wave?" Sarah looked deep in thought as she spoke the next words. "Perhaps Andrew managed to grow from it..."

Tenur's ears perked up. "Wait, Andrew grew again!?" Shock coloured his face and for a moment, Sarah couldn't decide whether it was disappointment or really just pure shock. "Where is he? No wonder he's not here to greet me today."

Sarah pointed behind the door and for the first time, Tenur noticed the shadow of a person squatting there, drawing imaginary circles in the floor while repeating a mantra. By squinting his eyes, he saw it was Andrew, only several years older than him.

As he got near his son, Tenur caught the mantra Andrew was repeating. His eyes were hollow even though his mouth said "I will not bully my father anymore" to no one in particular. The skin where his finger came in contact with the floor was blistered, and it looked extremely painful to touch.

"Mother of god... What have you done to him, Sarah?" Tenur helped his son get up. His son was unwilling at first, but after his mother gave a slight nod, he stood up himself, joints cracking as they were put into use for another purpose other than squatting.

Sarah shrugged as she answered. "I made him remember what not to do, so he would behave." She walked over and patted Andrew's head, to which Andrew shuddered as if fearing Sarah would hit him. "See, he's obedient."

Tenur stared at Sarah, his emotions a mix of confusion and horror. All he knew was what Sarah did was wrong, and the punishment was too cruel no matter who it was subjected to. "You can't do this, Sarah."

"Why not, Tenur? Is it because it's ethically wrong?" Confusion welled up in Sarah's eyes, followed by anger. "Oh, now I get it. Is it because you've got someone else?"

A look of shock was displayed on Tenur's face. "What? No! It really is ethically wrong, that's why it's—"

"Stop making excuses!" Anger turned to sorrow as her voice weakened but still held its firmness. "...get out..." Sarah lowered her head.

"Sarah, please—"

"Get out!" Sarah yelled as tears streamed. There was a glimmer of depression within her eyes and for a moment, Tenur thought he could see Sarah hanging from a fan.

"Sarah—" Before his words got out, Sarah shoved Tenur in the shoulder, causing the latter to fall back. Andrew's lifeless eyes regained some life as confusion held him down.

"I said," Sarah sobbed. "Get! Out!"

"Okay! Okay! I'm going..." Tenur watched Sarah cautiously while backing to the door, before opening it and exiting with Andrew in toll. The last words he heard before Sarah slammed the door shut was."don't ever return!"

The two stood there without moving, both shocked but for different reasons. As their minds cleared—technically Andrew first, who shook his father awake— Laura approached them, still chewing.

"What're you two up to?" Laura swallowed the food in her mouth. She looked at Tenur and asked, "I thought you said to meet you inside?"

"..." Tenur was silent as his mind tried to make sense of what really happened. Seeing that his father was still partially in a daze, Andrew stepped up, albeit his eyes turning lifeless again. "...mother, she... got mad and paranoid..."

"Say no more kid, I understand." Laura stopped him. Andrew shrunk back to his father's side as his father shook his head to clear any lingering confusion.

"Welp, now that I'm no longer confused, I'll tell you 'bout my plan." Tenur returned to his usual self as he explained the 'great' plan he thought of to Laura, Denka and Andrew, even though Andrew wasn't exactly going to be participating in it.