Rin woke up inside an unfamiliar room.
“... Is this the hospital?” She surveyed her surrounding slowly as she seated up. “Why am I here?”
She thought to herself, before an intense pain suddenly crept out from within her, causing her to lower her gaze. She could see her entire body covered in bandages. The pain left after a few second after, but Rin's breath accelerated because of it. She clearly lacked stamina. Not only that, she also felt like the air around her was heavier than how it should be normally.
‘Looking at my current state,’ Rin laid on her bed as she concluded that staying seated would bring more harm than good. ‘I guess it's no wonder I was sent here.’
She closed her eyes as she began to remember the event that happened inside her school.
The unconscious student, the immense pressure, the destroyed schoolyard, and most importantly, the monster that caused it all. She recalled it all so vividly. She after all, fought against that devil. She was even almost killed by it. In fact, she still wondered how this hospital managed to maintain her alive, considering that at the time an actual hole was present inside her stomach.
All these thing aside, though, what was reigning inside Rin's mind right now, was one single thought. She had lost.
“At least now it's clear,” Rin spoke up with sorrow and resignation. “I can't reach the Elite.”
She worked so hard her whole life, yet, the result was heartbreaking. She fought the monster, but it could be hardly said that the monster fought against her. It was more akin to a devil crushing a pitiful ant. Every move, every attack, simply everything she did, wasn't even enough to phase the thing. She had completely and utterly lost in all point of view.
No amount of training could have ever permitted her to bridge that kind of gap in strength. No matter how much effort she would put in it, it would all be useless. Now, she understood that fact. After having tried with everything she had, she finally acknowledged the simple and obvious fact that it was, indeed, impossible.
The objective that she set to herself when she was young could never be achieved. Her dream could never be achieved. All the thing she had done up until now was for nothing.
“...” Rin was engulfed with despair. Her expression filled with sadness, a single streak of tear quietly ran down her cheek.
◇
A little while later, a doctor came in and informed Rin of her state. Apparently, she seemed to have been unconscious for two whole days. The wound she received from the monster was the worst out of all her fellow student, so it was to no surprise. In fact, if it wasn't for the person who healed her using a singularity, it would have been doubtful for her to even wake up again, or so the doctor said.
‘So someone did heal me.’ Rin thought, looking at the bandage on her body. ‘I guess I still have some luck.’
As she was still in the process of healing, she guessed that she would have to stay in the hospital for a long while before being discharged.
The doctor left her alone after doing a quick check up on her, and she fell into thought. She looked outside the window, a gentle breeze caressing her smooth skin. Her dream was now out of reach. She didn't know what to do from her on out. Nevertheless, she didn't want to think of anything difficult. She just needed a little break.
Sunlight entered her room, and she felt drowsiness invading her. Welcoming it with open arm, Rin slowly closed her eyes. There were still many things that she needed to sort out in herself, but for now, she decided to sleep quietly.
◇
It was already three o'clock from the afternoon, when Rin finally woke up. She slowly opened her eyes, but shut them out immediately as the sunlight attacked her. She let out a little moan as a result, notifying someone that was seating beside her, that she was awake.
“So you finally decided to wake up, huh?” That person, who was visibly a girl, said with a voice that seemed to be pouting. “You damn sleepyhead!”
Rin turned her head toward the noise, and was greeted by none other than the sight of her precious friend,
“Celia,” A smile slowly appeared on her face. It was clear that she was really happy to see her. “Shouldn't you be going to school?”
“The school is currently closed, so no. Plus, there's no way I'm leaving you unatended, with the way you are at right now.”
“The school is closed?”
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“Evidently.” Celia's complexion became gloomy. “The school need some reparation, and even if that wasn't the case, everyone need some time for themselves after what happened.”
Many people talked about the incident while Rin was unconscious. After all, for a monster to be left alone for such long while was unheard of. Ark's Elite should have dealt with it the moment it left it's rift. Moreover, their excuse for what happened was unsatisfying. Apparently, the Ark organization as a whole was extremely busy these recent time, thus delaying their response to the threat. What was occupying them so much, however, they were adamant to make it stay confidential.
“...I see.”
“Fortunately,” Celia continued. “No one died during that incident.”
Be it some kind of luck or something else, the monster that attacked Rin and Celia's school only managed to render the people present unconscious via its pressure. Of course, the weakest one still suffered some minor injury, but nothing really serious that could be fatal were sighted in them. There was also heavy material damage, though they could always be repaired anytime.
All in all, the devil's assault ended with the least amount of casualty possible. After all, it could have ended with a much more different outcome, were many people would be dead. However, this time, a miracle happened and brought to everyone a happy ending. Except for one single detail.
“You!” Celia recovered from her gloomy mood and sent a death glare toward Rin.
“...Me?” Rin responded, pointing at herself.
“Among all the student and teacher present, you were the only one that nearly died!”
Hearing Celia's shouting, Rin looked toward her own body. She was covered in bandage from head to toe.
‘Right,’ At that moment, Rin remembered something important. ‘I nearly died.’
“What were you even doing to end up in that state?!”
“I-I'm sorry.”
Faced with Celia's incessant preach, Rin couldn't do anything but slowly and quietly apologize. Around one minute after, however, she felt a wet substance suddenly touch the back of her hand. Her eyes spread open when she saw that her friend was crying.
“You! Do you know what exactly I felt, when I saw you in that state back then! Do you know how much I was worried for you?”
Celia's tears continued to drop into her hand. Seeing that, Rin decided to stand up from her bed. A feat that showed difficulty for her current self, as pain immediately coursed through her when she put her feet on the ground. She didn't care though. She suffered much more painful injury in her life to care for such a puny detail.
She didn't stop, and hugged Celia's body in her embrace. The girl's tear momentarily stopped as she felt the warm feeling.
“I'm sorry to have made you worried.” Rin said in a soft voice.
“...Do you think this will make me forgive you?!” To which Celia responded with yet another shout.
“I hope it will, because this is more painful than I thought it would.”
Rin complained a little, but, right now, she was really happy. She came to know that, at the very least, someone was still worried about her.
◇
Around ten minutes later, Celia finally calmed down. Rin put herself back inside the hospital bed, and from then on the two of them returned to how they usually were around each other. They chatted happily together, until the time hit past 4 o'clock, reminding Rin of something she needed to ask.
“By the way,” Rin started. “Do you know which person healed me?”
“...What do you mean?”
“Back then, although my memory blanked out at some point, I do remember my leg being severed from my body.” She said, with a certain curious look as she touched her right thigh. She still recalled the pain she endured when the monster ripped it off from herself. “Reattaching someone's lost limb, I don't think the current medical technology can do that yet.”
“Oh.... You meant that.” Celia tensed up suddenly at the mention of Rin's healer. “I-I don't know anything about it.” Sweat began to create on her forehead, her eyes darted around the room trying to escape her friend's while she said so.
Something that was too obvious for anyone to pass up on.
“...What are you trying to hide, Celia?” Rin questioned.
“I-I really don't know anything.” Celia became agitated. “A-anyway, it's already late so I should probably go home now.” She stood up from her chair, and was eager to immediately leave the room.
“I don't like lies, Kail.” These words prompted Celia to stop moving. Rin had used her family name, and that was bad news. “So, I'll ask again. Who healed me?” Rin's tone didn't change from her previous one, but she seemed to have put some pressure in her word.
Celia knew Rin for more than a year now, so she could, indeed, assert to the word that her friend really didn't like lies. As a matter of fact, she could bet on her life that, for as long as she knew her, Rin never did lie to anyone. She was an honest person. She knew that.
Celia realized that she couldn't be dishonest to such a person any more than this. Thus, she resolved herself.
“It was me.” She murmured.
“...hm?”
“I healed you.” She repeated, a bit more loudly.
For the second time this day, Rin's eyes widened.
“...What? You healed me? How?” Rin was struck with confusion by what her friend has said. “I don't understand.”
“You see...” Celia prepared herself to explain her claim, but was interrupted by someone.
“If I may,” A man suddenly entered the room. “How about I explain it in your stead?”
The man was around his twenties, and was rather tall. He had black hair and black eyes, with feature that could qualify him as good looking.
“Who are you?” Rin glared at him with hostility as the man literally entered the room without permission.
“For my defense, I knocked on the door for a little while now, but you guys didn't seem to hear so...” The man said, trying to lie. Nevertheless, when he felt the glare on him intensify, he stopped. In truth, it was just a bad habit of him to always enter a room without knocking. This time was also the same.
‘I feel like finding excuse now would be a bad idea.' He thought, panicking a little. ‘Is she a lie detector, or what?!’
“It's okay, Rin. I know this guy.” Fortunately for him, Celia came to his rescue. “His name is Fate. He is an Elite.”
After that the three of them had a long discussion. Mostly, Celia and Fate telling to Rin what exactly happened to her during the incident. About how Rin was undoubtedly dead at that moment and about how Celia's power awakened. It seems that when Rin was still unconscious inside the hospital, Celia had undergone many test at one of Ark's facility.
“I came here today to announce the result of those test.” Fate said as he handed a piece of paper to Celia, who, after a while, also handed it to Rin.
Name: Celia Kail
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Date of birth: 09 August ****
....
....
Singularity: Healing
....
....
Of course, the paper contained much more detail, but Rin stopped reading on the singularity line.
“As stated in that paper.” Fate continued speaking. “It has been officially confirmed that, as of now, Celia Kail is an Elite.”
Silence regained the room. Celia began to fidget, a little afraid of what Rin's reaction would be.
“I see...” Rin said quietly and looked toward Celia. “And? May I know why you wanted to hide this from me?”
“T-that is...y-you know!” Celia jolted, unable to find the word.
This has already been said previously, but, to repeat, Celia and Rin knew each other for a long while now. So, naturally, Celia knew that Rin's objective was to reach the Elite's level. She also knew how hard her friend worked to accomplish it. As such, Celia felt like she had done something bad. After all, unlike Rin, she didn't do anything that merited obtaining a power. And yet, she still acquired it.
She felt like she had cheated.
“...”
Celia turned her face around and avoided Rin's stare. She couldn't bring herself to face her. She was afraid her friend would hate her.
*Sigh*
Rin sighed. She had a pretty good guess about what was happening inside her Celia's head.
“Hey, Celia, this outcome makes me really jealous of you.” Rin said, making Celia tense up. “But, seriously, who do you take me for? I wouldn't hate you for something like this.”
Hearing that, Celia turned her head around matching her eyes with Rin's.
“In fact, I'm really happy for you.”
A drop of tear formed in one corner of Celia's face and she ran toward Rin.
“Rin..!” She hugged her, crying out of joy. “Rin!”
“Stop! It hurts!” Massive pain assaulted Rin as her friend touched her.
“Oh! Err...Sorry.” Celia retracted herself and laughed a little.
Meanwhile, Fate was standing in a corner of the room, wondering when would be a good time to leave.