Leon found himself lying on a bed at the school’s clinic. All of his bruises and wounds were also cleaned up. As he slowly arose, he noticed the pitch black skies from the window and realized that it was almost eight in the evening.

Panic dawned on him as he reached out for his phone and saw numerous text message and calls from his sister, worried why he isn’t home yet. He dialed his sister’s number but it was busy.

‘Must’ve been work…’ Leon thought. He went over to the nurse’s table and dialed their home telephone to which Stellar answered.

“Leon? Is that you?”

“Yes. Is Lean there?”

“Unfortunately, she left just a while ago. She said some emergency at work happened. She taught me how to answer the telephone and told me to contact her once you got home. Are you alright?” Stellar asked.

“I’m fine…” Leon lied.

“No, stop lying. I know something happened. I felt it. Something terrible happened to you…”

“How did you know?” After a brief pause, Leon continued, “Actually, never mind…”

“You don’t need to hesitate. Don’t worry, I’m here to help you. Just wait at school.” Stellar said as she dropped the call.

‘How did that girl know? I’m afraid she’s going tell me more paranormal things that would inevitably raise more questions in my head so forget it…’ Leon sighed.

It was only a day when he got his ass kicked and now he took yet another beating. ‘Damn it. Why am I so weak?’ Leon punched the nurse’s table causing some of his wounds to bleed out once again.

Yet he felt nothing. His heart ached more than the pain he was feeling physically.

After some time, Stellar and Leon got home while they informed Lean as to what happened. Though she was extremely worried, she said she might stay at her work until tomorrow morning. She asked Stellar to take care of Leon.

‘Now this is awkward…’ Leon thought as it was the first time for them to be alone in the house since then. They settled with re-heated food that Lean made and ate supper.

“Can I help you?” Stellar offered when she saw how Leon struggled to eat his meal.

“Help me with what?” Leon was not able to process the question and asked but realized soon after what Stellar was saying, “A-are you crazy? I’m fine. Go focus on your own meal.” Leon refused immediately.

Time passed as they finished eating the rest of their meal in silence when Stellar spoke, “May I ask a favor?”

“What favor?” Leon answered.

“Can you help me regain my powers?” Stellar looked at Leon with a pleading yet resolute look.

“Why should I help you?” Leon said with a questioning look on his face. ‘I mean look at my state, how can someone as weak as me help you gain something…?’ Leon’s thoughts were racing as to how Stellar came up with such a bizarre request.

“So that we could… both go back to our normal lives?” Stellar said, not as resolute as before.

Leon pondered briefly before asking, “And how could I help you?”

“By defeating another Meister like me…” Stellar said briefly.

Leon responded with “I’ll think about it,” before heading upstairs to his room. He wasn’t sure if it would be possible for him to defeat yet another monstrosity when he just got his ass handed to him by mere humans.

All the more is the headache that has been killing him. He sincerely hoped it wouldn’t mess up his brain, as he need it for studying.

Leon woke up feeling groggy and disoriented. His ears were ringing and his body ached all over the place. ‘Sigh.’ He pushed himself up and started to prepare for school as he can’t afford to be absent twice in a week.

He can’t think of any more excuse for his absences and he heard there will be a surprise quiz for their literature subject today. Something he absolutely cannot miss.

With those thoughts in his head, he proceeded to go downstairs and go to school.

Even though his head is still cloudy, as he set his foot outside, he felt a little bit better. Unlike yesterday, his legs were steady and has little to no aching. He slowly made his way to school and to his classroom.

Despite venturing out early, he still arrived almost late to school as he didn’t want to push himself too hard. ‘I still have a long day to go." He thought.

Besides the attendance points and the surprise quiz, there is yet another reason why Leon pushed himself to go to school. ‘Mark is right, I am defiant. No matter how hard they throw me out, I’ll still come back. I’ll show you my defiance.’

As he entered the classroom, Mr. Rex saw his bruised face and arms and asked him, “What happened, Leon?”

“I… I had a bad fall.” Leon lied. He was not best at lying. But he was not about to reveal anything without hard proof. He doesn’t want to be accused as a liar, this is Mark we are talking about.

“Uh-huh… Please take your seat then.” Mr. Rex said even though his face showed obvious disbelief, he let it slide and pressed no more questions for him.

The whole class murmured among each other, as they discussed how Leon really got his bruises. But the world does not revolve around one person. The class proceeded as usual.

Leon got called in literature class to recite a verse from their textbook, “...The horizon burns red as the lustful generation of men fade to dust. That is the fate of mankind. But what is the connection of living and killing?”

Nothing noteworthy happened for the rest of the afternoon until it was time to go home. Leon asked around if they knew who brought him to the school clinic yesterday but nobody seemed to know.

He wanted to offer his gratitude but he was left with no clues. He had no choice but to drop his shallow investigation as he decided to go home.

He opened the door and saw Stellar eagerly waiting for something or someone. ‘I don’t want to assume, but was she waiting for me to come home? I wonder.’ Leon thought as he removed his shoes by the doorway and passed her without saying anything.

He felt Stellar’s disappointment when he passed by so he said, “Tomorrow.”

Stellar’s face lifted as she smiled at him saying, “Thank you, Leon.”

‘I just hope I feel a little bit better tomorrow…’

Leon’s day ended with his wishful thinking. He rested earlier than usual in attempts to gain great recovery for their mission tomorrow.