Chapter 63
I carefully folded away the fear I had hidden in my heart. Xavier seemed to see through me; he gripped my hand tightly, his expression calm.
He asked me with concern, "Are you feeling unwell? Do you want to lie down for a while? My injury isn't serious, you can rest instead."
I simply shook my head and pulled my hand away. The warmth of his body was replaced by the cold wind, and my heart calmed down.
"Why did you actually come?" The young lady scolded me, clearly finding fault with me. "It was so obvious at the door! I'm so angry! If I hadn't lost my phone, I would have called you already!"
I was quite pleased with her aggressive attitude, as it proved her wound wasn't that deep. But before I could even smile, she started coughing repeatedly, gripping the bed railing, looking like she was about to vomit her lungs out.
I quickly patted her back to help her catch her breath, glancing at Xavier as I did so.
Xavier smiled helplessly at me, putting down his book. "It seems like Tachibana Miki and I are going to be on the same side. There were signs right at the school gate, so why did you come in?"
“I just really wanted to go to school,” I chimed in. “You guys did too, you didn’t even skip class, did you? If you had skipped class, you wouldn’t be stuck here now.”
"Is it wrong for me to study properly?" Tachibana Miki tried to kick me, exasperated, but I was standing, and she was on the hospital bed. No matter what she did, she couldn't move me and it only made her wound hurt more. "Ouch... I'm so angry!"
"Don't be angry, don't be angry." I patted her. "You're already here."
"That's not how you use that phrase!"
Xavier interjected, "But Qinghe, don't worry too much. The teachers are already notifying parents to come and pick up their children. Most people can leave."
"It's so spacious?" I was a little surprised. "That's good. But if I don't have family, am I just supposed to stay here?"
“Yes, we’ll wait for the rescuers to arrive, and we’ll fight them together with the teachers.” His eyes were filled with worry. “They’re very intelligent, they know how to use weapons and tactics, and they can use all sorts of underhanded tricks. But they are surprisingly very trusting of promises, so the teachers tricked them into going to the playground, at least to ensure that if they killed them, they could kill a whole bunch of them.”
"How's the situation now?" I looked around, and to avoid causing further panic, I asked them in a low voice, "Outside... has anyone died?"
Actually, I don't want to know the answer.
I watched anxiously, but Tachibana Miki turned his face away, unable to bear it. Xavier said, "The exact number hasn't been tallied yet." He was also a little embarrassed to say it, "But there are dismembered corpses, bodies beaten to a pulp, and things that are indistinguishable... all sorts of things."
"..."
No one spoke.
I sighed. Something had to be done to give people hope. But I didn't have that ability; a seed sprouting is just magic.
It must have seemed abrupt, but there was nothing I could do about it. Actually, I didn't really need it that much. Could this be considered a kind of "word of power"?
I asked, "Are you happy now? Do you hope to be happy in the future?"
The two of them looked at me at the same time, their expressions clearly saying, "What are you talking about?"
Before the answer came any tap on the head from Tachibana Miki. She was both angry and amused: "How can you be happy in this situation? Have you gone mad, you academic genius?"
She was still joking, but I saw tears on her cheeks when she turned her head away.
The notice had been sent out long ago, but her family hadn't arrived yet. Tachibana Miki lived in a happy and warm family, so she dared not imagine what might have happened. Anything.
Xavier looked at me gently as always, neither saying yes nor no. His tone and expression were calm, giving me the illusion that nothing had happened: "My wish is that we can all be happy."
“But in most cases, happiness is simply doing what you can,” he said. “So I would like to do what I can without harming myself too much. Appropriate giving can help us be happier, but complete giving will not.”
“So you really came to the wrong place.” He sighed. “Until someone can exorcise it, you’ll be stuck here.”
I couldn't help but smile. He looked at me in surprise, but I couldn't hide it at all. I said sincerely, "I also have my own wishes. My happiness is to make those of you I care about happy."
Tachibana Miki stopped crying and stared at me blankly. Their wounds were healing, but because there were other people around, no one dared to speak up now, only gesturing to me with confused looks. I pretended not to see and continued to smile.
The school's rule is that "once someone belongs to the school, they cannot leave until the 'monster's curse' is lifted," so Tachibana Miki's family arrived easily. They also brought a shaman, whom the school had brought as a precaution, who could silently take someone away. I helped Tachibana Miki down, lying that she needed to use the restroom. The other injured patients watched us calmly, and the teacher nodded encouragingly.
We arrived at the back gate of the school, where her family was already waiting. It was the first time I had met her parents, and they looked very much like her.
Before getting into the car, Tachibana Miki called out to me something—a long, drawn-out string of words; I could only see her mouth moving. She didn't know that the barrier preventing people from entering could shut out outside sounds. But I still smiled and waved back at her, shouting back in the same volume, "I will!"
I saw her eyes widen in surprise, as if she didn't understand what I was saying in a nonsensical way. The Taoist priest next to her lowered his head and said a few words to her, and her face immediately crumpled up, as if she wanted to cry.
I didn't look again. I thought she had said everything, and I would fill in the gaps in her words. I would protect myself and keep my promise.
She wanted to get off the bus, but everyone told her to leave. You can probably guess what happened next, and I almost laughed again.
Back in the infirmary, everyone's gaze swept over me before they turned away knowingly. Xavier waved gently at me; someone else was in Tachibana Miki's bed, and I sat beside it.
Xavier asked me, "You've taken so long, you must have said a lot, right?"
“Yes,” I said. “Before leaving, she gave me a blessing: ‘Although I’ve always thought you’re incredibly clumsy in some ways, like today, because you only came in because you knew we were inside, I’m very touched. I know you won’t want to come with me, so when you get out, you must come find me. You have my contact information, don’t forget.’ Why should I go find her? As long as I’m doing well, that’s enough. Going out might be even more dangerous. But if I wanted to check if she was doing well, I might call her family. However, I don’t have her family’s phone number, so I won’t look for them.”
I tried to say something hurtful. Xavier's fingers were somehow under my eyes, gently wiping away the tears that blurred my vision.
"Ah... Ah..." I mumbled what I wanted to say, but could only manage to squeeze out interjections.
"Then you'll call me, right?" he said with a smile. "I don't have any family members to ask for you, so shouldn't we skip the 'family' part? In the end, we can only consider myself, right?"
Meeting his sincere gaze, I was speechless for a moment. He was a kind person, very considerate of me both in life and in my studies. Lying to him made even me choke up.
“Oh dear, aren’t I your friend?” Now he had to pull out a tissue to wipe my tears. “‘Treat me as a friend who will always support you,’ isn’t that what we’ve always said? Still treat me as the friend who encourages you, just remember to say hello to me when we meet again. No matter how long it’s been, I will be happy to hug you when that time comes.”
We were always speaking in hushed tones, whispering in each other's ears, which didn't seem out of place in this noisy environment. But crying was different. I covered my mouth, stifled the sound, and hid outside the door to sob. Was this really all I could do? Couldn't I stop? Was this really the only solution? The figures of everyone appeared before my eyes, ultimately merging into the black mist from which I had appeared. Everyone was swallowed up, without exception. Ward stood at its end, appearing and disappearing. He didn't speak, and neither did I.
There was nothing we could do.
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