Chapter 374 Volume VI - 7: Two More Visits
When I pushed the door, what I found was usually... a dimly lit room. Not completely dark, but certainly not bright.
This time, unexpectedly, I was greeted by a quite bright room. The layout was exactly the same, just as I remembered it. The only difference was that the lamp overhead was lit.
Ah, no... the only difference was not the lamp.
"Huh...?"
I couldn't hold back the sound that came out of my mouth, I looked in front of me, dumbfounded. More precisely toward the bed, and... the figure on it.
I blinked and blinked, rubbed and rubbed my eyes several times to test if I was seeing it wrong, but I wasn't.
Celine was sitting cross-legged on her bed. Her back was against the wall and her eyes were closed. She looked like she was... meditating.
The strange thing was... she looked fine. Really fine... She was emaciated after months in this room, doing nothing, not eating anything properly. But now... she was just like before.
Gone were the blue patient clothes she had been wearing. Instead, she wore casual clothes, the ones that everyone would wear.
There was only one thing that made her look different from the way she was before, before the incident. And that was... her hair. Celine normally had shoulder-length hair. But now, it was almost down to her waist, even touching the bed.
"Ah..."
Is she practicing her mana? The way she seems to be meditating, cross-legged...
Well, of course she is...
Then... is it better if I don't disturb her?
It's amazing to see how far she's come. I feel very good, really... All this, everything I'm seeing now shows how much she has improved and healed.
I'm as happy as I am surprised... and maybe even more.
But I feel like it's better not to disturb her here when she's focusing on her mana...
"Do you expect me to say something? I know you're there, just so you know."
Even her voice, which had always sounded tearful before, was now... confident. Just like she always was. It was so amazing that it was like I was dreaming. The fact that she had recovered this much... it seemed like an impossible thing.
But I couldn't focus on it too much.
Because as her words replayed in my mind, I remembered a truth I had forgotten.
This girl... she could sense my existence - or rather, that I didn't belong in this world - because of her skill... How could I have forgotten?
"Well... sort of? Just... surprised, I guess."
And with that, Celine slowly opened her closed eyes. Her violet eyes first fixed on my feet and then rose to my eyes. Like everything else, even her gaze had changed. Just like her voice, her posture, she seemed much more... confident and strong.
She looked at me for a while, locked her eyes on me. As if there was something she wanted to confirm. Then, her lips curled upward and she placed both hands on her chin as she tilted his head.
"Why are you surprised?"
"I'm surprised that... how much you've changed."
"Didn't I say I'd be much better when you came back? Did you think I was lying?"
Oh, right... she said she'd try. I seem to have forgotten that too...
Her eyes left mine for a moment. First, she went to my right hand, stopped on the jet-black glove covering my skin. Then she went even lower and looked at my cane. There was a momentary change in her confident eyes, like worry... and her eyebrows furrowed at the same time.
"But you didn't come back in a better way, it seems."
"Well... you could say that."
I walked slowly, and she didn't react as I approached her. She didn't even move as I sat down on her bed, right in front of her. She just... kept looking at my cane.
"It's not that big of a deal."
I paused for a moment.
As far as I found out, Celine... was doing really well now. Her only problem was that she had trouble looking people in the eye, but she was getting better at that too. She was able to go out in the community, to be discharged at any time.
But she chose not to. Until the start of our second year at the academy, she would train non-stop, getting stronger, trying to catch up with the others. Also, she had too many absences in the first year, so she was supposed to fail her year, but a window was left open for her and she was going to take an exam. And because she wasn't very good at her studies, she spent her time preparing for it.
And that was it. After a few things we talked about, like a few things that happened in Holar and how strong I was, it was time for me to leave. And I did, I was absolutely satisfied with what I had seen and that's why I had a big smile on my face when I left the hospital.
I almost couldn't wait for the summer to be over and the second year to start.
But I was careful to keep it inside and not do more than smile. The time I spent with Celine... it was almost half an hour. So I still had plenty of time.
So I had my next destination, and that was... the training building, of course.
Where else would I find Adrian in this huge academy...? After all, I was pretty sure that he didn't take any time off and spent the whole time from waking up until he went back to sleep practicing! I was so sure that I entered the building without slowing down my steps, made it to the front of the usual room, and pressed the button next to the door without hesitation.
First, a deep silence fell in the hallway. Then the door opened wide... and I saw the sight I exactly had expected to see.
A sweating half-elf training maniac!
I covered my nose and pushed the air between us around with my hand, simultaneously putting a smile on my face.
"You stink! I knew it!"
Adrian looked at me confused at first, as if... something was wrong with him. He took a few steps back and looked me up and down. Then he rubbed his eyes a few times.
"What are you looking at? I'm real."
I stepped inside and closed the door behind me, then made my way to the armchairs in the corner of the room. I plopped myself down in a comfortable one, saw an uncapped bottle on the table, poured cold water down my throat, and then slowly turned my head back to where Adrian was still standing.
"What are you standing there for, come here. It's not healthy to train all the time. A little rest won't hurt you."
And at this moment, the surprise on Adrian's face slowly disappeared.
He took a deep breath first. Then he approached me with a big smile on his face. After placing himself on the couch opposite me, he took a bottle of water and drank half of it.
"I thought you might come a little later, like the beginning of the second year..."
"I'm a busy man, I have a lot to do... If I had come at the beginning of the second year, who knows what I would have been doing with both classes and tons of work."
"I see, I see..."
And then a deep silence fell between us.
At first neither of us said anything, we just... looked at each other.
And then...
"Aiden..."
"Yes?"
Adrian leaned in slightly, asking in a low voice.
"Do I really... stink?"
I paused for a moment, looking at him with a blank expression. Then I processed the question again in my mind.
My face twitched for a moment, and then...
"Pfft, ahahahah!"
I laughed so hard that tears came out of my eyes.
"You can't be serious, I just... can't... Ahahahahah!"
After a few seconds, he too joined in my laughter, as if he had done it on purpose. However, he was the first to recover, as he was the one who joined in later. With the traces of laughter still on his face, he took a deep breath, this time speaking in a very calm and... somehow contented tone.
"It's good to see you again like this after so many months."
As I was slowly recovering from my laughter, I wiped the tears from my eyes and replied in the same tone.
"Likewise."
