Date: Three Days After the Bell
Location: Academy – Healing Wing, Room 3A
---
The first thing I heard was laughter.
Not mine. Theirs.
Light, unsteady, like someone trying not to cry and laugh at the same time. I opened my eyes to warm lantern-light and blurred faces.
Gideon was the first to notice.
> "He's awake."
Then chaos.
Anna nearly tripped over her own bed to get to mine. Leander grinned like an idiot and ruffled my hair. Riya clung to my blanket like I was going to vanish again. Alice, arms crossed, didn't speak — but her red eyes softened.
Even Yukari smiled.
The new girl — the young mage Selia — was there too, still bandaged, still bruised. So was the quiet swordswoman whose name I never quite remembered. She stood near the door, watching us like she wasn't sure she belonged.
I knew the feeling.
---
We were all in the same room.
Healing Wing, Room 3A. It looked more like a barracks than a hospital — beds lined up side by side, every corner packed with blankets, salves, spirit crystals, and barely-functioning mana lamps.
I tried to sit up.
Pain flared, sharp and cold in my chest.
Elric was beside me in a second, pressing a warm hand to my shoulder.
> "Easy. You're alive. No need to rush back to war."
He smiled — tired, but genuine. His forehead still had a bandage.
---
My mana… was faint.
But still there.
Using magic to save Selia… It damaged my core again. But the spirit crystal Yukari left behind was still beside me, pulsing faintly. I reached for it with my senses. It didn't hurt this time.
It responded.
Not wild. Not strong. But enough.
---
David entered without knocking.
The room fell quiet like snow.
His coat was burned at the edges. His gloves were still stained with spellmarks. He didn't speak right away — just walked along the line of beds, checking our conditions.
One by one.
He didn't scold.
Didn't praise either.
But when he stopped at my side, he said something I didn't expect.
> "You bought time. Enough for me to arrive."
"The bell was a last resort," I answered.
"And it worked."
He placed a small rune-carved disc on my bedside table.
> "You're all getting a week off. That's an order."
Then he turned to leave — coat swaying, boots silent on the stone. But just before the door closed, he paused and added:
> "You did well."
---
After he left, we sat in silence for a while.
Not out of tension — just comfort.
Like soldiers who survived the same battle.
Like friends who didn't need words.
Leander was the first to break it.
> "So… stew party when we're out of here?"
"Only if you're not the one cooking," muttered Alice.
Anna tossed a pillow at them both.
It hit Gideon instead.
Riya pretended to be asleep.
Selia actually was asleep — poor girl had barely moved since the trial.
Even the quiet swordswoman cracked a grin.
---
That night, I wrote nothing in my journal.
I just listened.
To their voices.
Their laughter. Their teasing. Their life.
We were hurt.
We were tired.
But we were still together.
And in that moment…
…it was enough.