“So, it hasn’t even been a day yet?”
“That’s true, but she disappeared after saying she was going to the bathroom!”
“What about the phone? Did you call?”
“Ah, the phone…!”
Siena’s eyes narrowed.
“So you didn’t even try calling?”
“I was too out of it at that time…”
“….”
Siena let out a deep sigh and muttered, ‘Crazy girl.’
However, Yerna felt around her body a few more times and exclaimed in shock.
“I… don’t have my phone!”
“Come on…”
Siena pressed her forehead and glared at Yerna.
Maybe Yerna was starting to regain her senses, as she averted her gaze in embarrassment.
“Do you still think about that kid these days?”
“….”
Yerna remained silent, still avoiding eye contact and hardening her expression.
Well, it’s understandable.
Maybe she couldn’t help it.
Yerna probably saw that child in Luke.
So it’s not too surprising that she was so seriously fixated on that child…
It would have been nice if she had thought more rationally, as usual…
Siena mentioned her speculations because she wanted Yerna to give up on that child, but Yerna stubbornly insisted that she couldn’t just send the child away anywhere.
‘Maybe she was trying to relieve her guilt with that child…’
Siena sighed and said, “Let’s at least make a call first.”
————-
In a dark room,
two children, wrapped in blankets and hugging pillows while sitting on a sofa, had their faces glowing from the light of the TV.
It was Mary and Luke.
Mary’s eyes especially shone brightly, looking as if she might cry at any moment.
“Ahhh!”
“Mary, you’re being a nuisance. It’s the middle of the night.”
“But there’s a monster…!”
“Come on…”
Luke shook his head.
What they were watching was a horror movie.
By chance, this was what was playing on TV at this hour.
However, Mary didn’t like horror, and none of her friends liked it either. But…
Watching a horror movie with a friend was one of the things she wanted to try.
Since Luke was there and she thought it wouldn’t be scary, she didn’t change the channel.
“Can’t we watch something else?”
“But I think it would be more unsettling if I didn’t see the ending…”
“Hmm…”
Luke shrugged and rubbed his chin.
On the other hand, Mary was trembling, holding her pillow tight as if it were a shield while staring at the screen.
Mary was feeling scared, but Luke watched the movie and thought.
‘Why did they let go at that point? If their goal was to kill, they could have just crushed them with their grip and made sure they were dead…’
Luke had a different perspective than most people.
Unlike the puppet shows with the spirit girl, this had a strangely realistic background, giving it an even more contrived feel.
Was the monster’s purpose not to kill, but to play?
Enemies of this type were all the same—worthless.
They always looked down on others, believing in their own strength.
They were all weaklings, content with their innate abilities and languishing in the present.
Luke couldn’t express any emotions towards such enemies.
‘It’s strange that they only sent four people to a cabin in the woods where people disappeared…’
If they were going to search the area for missing persons, shouldn’t they send at least thirty?
The cabin was quite large, and to send only four people who were not even in the category of ‘superhumans’ was utterly foolish.
It’s needless to say that this was a dumb move.
The content of the movie had already been foreseen from the beginning.
So, its genre wasn’t horror, but merely a recording of a tragic accident.
They would die due to the wrong command of a commander.
While he was thinking, another person died.
“Ahhh!”
Mary screamed again, now able to at least shield her face with her pillow while crying out, which was an improvement.
Doing that reduced the volume of her scream so that it merely sounded like a muffled shout.
If proper judgments had been made from the start, if the commander had been slightly more competent, if the members had been a bit more careful, the situation in this movie wouldn’t have happened.
But the ending was a bit anticlimactic.
After going through so much, the surviving female member escaped and called for backup as the movie came to an end.
When the movie finally ended, Mary trembled and used her shaking hand to press the remote, turning off the TV.
Was she finally going to sleep?
Mary turned her head to look at Luke and said, “That was so scary… You must not have been scared at all.”
“Well, I was scared too.”
“Really? You don’t look like it.”
When Mary tilted her head in confusion, Luke smiled lightly and said, “What’s truly scary isn’t the monsters. It’s the malevolence of humans that’s really terrifying.”
In the middle of the movie, the commander gave the surviving members wrong orders to cover up his mistakes, leading to their deaths.
Yes, in this movie, the real fear wasn’t from the monsters, but from humans.
“That’s always the way it is. Humans are more dangerous and deadly than any monster. So, Mary, you must become a wonderful person.”
“Um… Luke, that sounds very grandmotherly.”
“Haha, does it?”
Mary couldn’t quite understand Luke’s words.
It was just, somehow, a sense of reassurance.
“Phew, I’m just glad you’re here, Luke.”
“Is that so?”
“If I had watched it alone, I wouldn’t have been able to watch it all out of fear, but thanks to you, I could see everything. And when I was scared, you even patted my head…”
Mary’s face turned red as she avoided Luke’s gaze.
But Luke asked back with a puzzled voice.
“Who patted your head?”
“Huh? Wasn’t it you?”
“I’ve never done that. Are you perhaps mistaken?”
Though he had held her wrist tightly because she was trembling so much, he hadn’t patted her head.
It was a bit awkward to reach over to pat someone taller than him.
“D-Don’t lie to me. Why are you…?”
“I’m not lying. I have no reason to do that. Did you really feel a hand patting your head?”
“….”
Mary’s face turned pale.
She was already pale, but now she was even whiter.
And in her almost fainted state, she finally.
“Ah, Mary…”
Fainted.
This left Luke contemplating whether he should be on guard.
Could it be that the sensation Mary felt on her head was truly that of a monster?
Even if not, any intruders had to be dealt with.
-…?
And above Mary’s head, a blue spirit began to appear.
Luke sighed and shook his head.
“Py, was it you…?”
Maybe it was Py who had patted Mary’s head.
-Brrr…
As Mary fainted and quieted down, Luke felt a small vibration.
It must be a phone call.
Luke gently laid Mary down by the couch and checked the phone.
It was a number he didn’t recognize.
“Who are you?”
-Ah, I picked up. Ah, hey! Wait…
A brief noise before the voice changed.
-Luke, is that you? Answer me!
Luke was startled at the sudden shout and nearly dropped the phone from his ear.
“That’s right. Is this voice… Yerna? Where have you been? I was worried.”
-That’s what I want to know! Where have you been?
“I’ve been at the restaurant from the beginning… Wasn’t that where you left?”
-That can’t be… Hah, thank goodness… Where are you now?
“I’m at the dormitory of Tig Academy. There’s nowhere nearby to ask for help.”
-Wait a moment! I’ll be there soon!
“Ah, got it.”
He had no idea why there was such a commotion.
True to her word, a little while later, Yerna arrived at the dormitory with Siena.
As soon as Yerna saw Luke, she ran up to him, tears in her eyes, and hugged him.
They had only been apart for a short time, so he couldn’t understand why she was reacting this way.
He glanced back at Siena, wondering why she wasn’t saying anything, but she just shrugged her shoulders without a word.
——
“So… you went into the men’s restroom?”
“Yeah, embarrassingly. I guess that’s when things went wrong.”
“What? I feel really foolish.”
“I packed up everything for you. Yerna, even in a hurry, you shouldn’t be dropping things everywhere…”
“….I’m so ashamed.”
Yerna finally looked more relieved, scratching her head.
Then she looked at Luke’s outfit and said, “That pajamas, did a friend give it to you?”
“That’s right.”
“Should I get you something like that?”
“No, my pajamas at home are enough!”
Luke firmly refused.
He preferred slightly uncomfortable pajamas that felt like they were at least on, rather than ones that were too convenient and felt like they weren’t even worn.
Even that was certainly of good quality compared to the past.
“Then… are you planning to sleep here tonight?”
“For now, yes. Since it’s a holiday, I want to use the music room as soon as I wake up… Ah, right. They say breakfast is served at school.”
“….So it’s really because of the food?”
“That’s not the only reason.”
Luke scratched the back of his head.
He quietly looked at Mary, who was fainted, and couldn’t help but smile.
Her not waking up through all this commotion must mean she was quite tired from watching the horror movie.
“But, Yerna. Are you okay?”
“Me?”
“I saw earlier that you had quite a fever… I’m worried you might have caught a cold.”
Yerna finally placed her hand on her forehead and was startled.
Just as he thought, she did have a fever.
Could it really be a cold?
“I’m fine, it’s just… cough cough.”
Trying hard to pretend like she was okay, she coughed at the worst timing.
Yerna’s face turned bright red as she cleared her throat.
“How about going to the hospital?”
“Don’t worry. It’s really nothing serious. Who goes to the hospital for a cold these days?”
“A cold can become serious if not treated properly. You could end up dead.”
Luke answered resolutely.
In the past, there were so many people who died from a simple cold that it couldn’t be counted.
So, it’s hard not to worry about it.
Seeing Luke’s firm expression, Yerna became a bit worried.
Could it be that someone she knew had died from a cold?
Otherwise, there was no way he would look so serious over something as minor as a cold.
Luke sighed and said, “If you can’t go to the hospital, then brew some Mirif flowers. Two petals in a teapot, and let it sit for 30 minutes. It’s good with honey, but just drinking it alone should be fine. By the way, do you know what Mirif flowers look like?”
“I do. But those flowers are… poisonous.”
“You know it well. That’s the point. Poison can become medicine depending on how you use it. After boiling the water for 30 minutes, the poison will be neutralized enough to use as a medicine.”
“How do you know that?”
Yerna hoped that knowledge had come from books.
However, Luke wasn’t lying.
“It’s from experience. So, the effect is guaranteed. Make sure you brew and drink it.”
When it comes to claiming there’s an effect, there’s nothing quite like experience.
Knowledge from books and knowledge gained through direct experience.
Naturally, there’s a significant difference in reliability.
“….”
On the other hand, Yerna nodded thoughtfully.
This time, even Siena couldn’t help but touch her eyes.
‘This is really insane… How has she been living all this time?’
Luke merely tilted his head in confusion.
It was problematic that she looked at him with such an overt expression of disbelief.
“Don’t you believe me? You can believe it. It really does work well.”
“I believe you. I will, so please stop…”
Luke remained bewildered.
At ten years old, shouldn’t every mage have at least one recipe for their own cold medicine?
This was one of the easiest recipes among those.
Is it too simple to believe? Well, considering Mirif flowers are poisonous, it might cause some hesitation.
“If you find the Mirif flowers unsettling, you could use Dronis dew instead…”
“I’ll drink it, I promise I’ll brew and drink it when I get back!”
She wanted him to stop bothering her further.
