Everything was white. The ceiling, the walls, and the linen sheets. The biting, sterile air of the hospital was piercing, accompanied by the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor.
I blinked, fighting off a wave of persistent vertigo. Something felt wedged inside my nose and throat. It was incredibly uncomfortable.
"Ishihara! You're awake!"
That voice—so loud and familiar. Before I could even strain my neck, a girl materialized in my line of sight. Bella, my cousin, was sitting beside my bed. Her eyes were swollen, her wrinkled face replaced by relief. Her trembling hand gripped mine tightly, as if I might vanish into thin air if she let go.
"I was so worried," she whispered, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks. "We found you lying in the shed... and you... you've been comatose for two whole weeks!"
Two weeks.
So, my encounter with Syllain and the White Robes had cost me half a month in the mortal realm.
Suddenly, the door swung open. My uncle stepped inside accompanied by a doctor, who promptly began examining my condition. The doctor offered a gentle smile, yet beneath his professional calm, I caught a flicker of confusion and... lingering unease.
I glanced over at my uncle, who was soothing his daughter until her crying subsided into sleep. The face of his younger son, Eido, peeked through the crack of the door—looking far too hesitant to step inside.
"Her vitals have stabilized, Sir," the doctor murmured quietly. "However, her body is severely depleted."
Afterward, my uncle departed alongside the doctor, his shoulders heavy with fatigue. Perhaps there were a few more unsettling details he had to hear about my state.
Their departure plunged the room back into silence.
Mortal world… I'm back.
It was quite a shock to realize the heart monitor was hooked up to my body. Was my condition truly that dire? It had felt as though I was simply sleeping in the corner of the shed, not collapsing or suffering a heart attack.
Had that old cabinet suddenly toppled over onto me? Or... had I just awakened from a state of suspended animation?
All my speculations evaporated as my head throbbed violently once more. I glanced at Bella, who was fast asleep on the sofa, hoping she would wake up and notice my discomfort.
Regrettably, she was far too exhausted.
Alright then, see you later, world. Wake me up when this headache finally clears...
By the following afternoon, I had gathered enough strength to sit up and pick at my lunch. The nasal tube and electrodes had been removed, leaving only a single IV line attached to my wrist.
Bella patiently fed me spoonfuls of bland hospital porridge, even as a steady barrage of school assignment notifications chimed on her phone.
This sweet girl and her younger brother had been looking after me since the day I was rushed to the hospital, whereas Uncle had only arrived on the third day due to work obligations.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
"Sleeping Beauty is finally awake," Eido announced as he walked in, placing three water bottles on the nightstand. His hair was messy, and he was still clad in his pajamas—a clear sign that he, too, had lost all sense of time while waiting for me to wake up.
"Seriously though," Eido said, his tone dropping as he pulled up a chair. "How on earth did you manage to pass out in shed?"
I paused, swallowing a mouthful of bland food. "I... was just tired."
"Just tired? You nearly drove us out of our minds! I had to sprint down the street screaming for the neighborhood chief!" Eido grumbled. Yet it wasn't annoyance etched across his face, but a deep, underlying guilt.
Eido stared at me intently, as though attempting to dissect my inner thoughts. But he didn't press any further. His gaze shifted to the laptop on his lap, while Bella, who was slicing fruit, merely stole quiet glances at my silence.
I had no idea how to explain any of it, so I remained quiet, letting the tangled thoughts in their minds grow into an impenetrable thicket.
Besides, would they ever believe me if I told them I had met them in another dimension? Would they believe my testimony that for the past two weeks I had been wandering otherworldly realms, confronting entities that defied all logic?
"Oh, Ishi," Bella chimed in out of nowhere. "A month ago, Grandma told me that a man came by her house asking about you. He claimed to be a close friend of yours."
My brow furrowed, searched through my fogged memories.
A... man? A friend? Who? Did I truly have anyone I could call a friend in this lonely world?
Eido snorted loudly from behind his laptop. "Oh, please! I definitely don't buy it—especially since he was a grown man, not someone our age. Crazy, right? I'll admit Grandma said he was unnaturally handsome, but there's no way Dad or the other uncles would approve. Ashwini isn't even married yet, and as for Ishi—even though she has her ID card now—high schoolers don't have mysterious, wealthy adult 'friends'!"
A heavy, question-filled silence descended upon the hospital room. I remained frozen in utter bewilderment, trying to process who on earth that stranger could have been, while Bella let out a tired sigh.
"Eido, who knows, maybe it was just—"
"Ishihara, have you eaten?"
Uncle's warm voice cut through the air as he pushed the door open. "Oh, am I interrupting you kids?"
"Dad, you smell like sweat," Eido teased bluntly. "Ishi's going to catch your stench."
"Brat, focus on your homework," Uncle retorted as he approached my bed, his eyes fixing on me with an unreadable warmth. "Has that bastard brother of mine bothered you at all, Ishihara?"
"You worry too much, Uncle," I replied softly. Besides, I hadn't laid eyes on my father since he build his new family.
"Your sister Ashwini couldn't make the trip back," Uncle added regretfully, resting a hand on my head. "She's tied up with an urgent investigation."
Without looking up from his screen, Eido blurted out, "Dad, I'm transferring schools so I can live with Ishi."
Not to be outdone, Bella looked up with sudden determination. "In that case, I'll just apply to a university in the capital so I can live with Ishihara too."
"Huh? What? If you two move, who's going take care of Dad?!" Uncle gasped, looking between his two children with a hilariously pitiful expression.
Eido merely shrugged innocently, while Bella giggled at her father's dramatic outburst.
I sat stunned listening to their exchange. Amid the lingering chill of death still etched into my skin, an unfamiliar warmth began to bloom in my chest.
It turned out that in this fragile mortal world… I wasn't truly alone.
High above, perched upon the towering roof of the hospital building, a figure stood erect, cloaked in a robe as dark as the deepest oceanic trench.
He remained motionless, letting the howling night wind play with the billowing hem of his garment. His dark eyes—as deep as an endless abyss—gazed unblinkingly down at a small, warm-lit window below: the room where Ishihara lay.
From his vantage point, the mortal world appeared fragile and minute—like grains of sand easily swept away by a cosmic gale. Through the glass, he observed Ishihara surrounded by human warmth—a stark contrast to the biting cold he constantly carried.
He kept his silent vigil, ensuring that the pink thread he had once woven around Ishihara's fingers remained impeccably tied, anchoring her destiny forever to his immortal soul.
"Good night, mine."
Under the pale moonlight, his silhouette resembled a solitary guardian—waiting for the precise moment to step back into Ishihara's life.