SRS 49

Mikael didn’t return, even as the sun went down. That remained true even when it reached 8 p.m., the latest possible time they could stay in the commercial district.

Yohan barely managed to calm their confused classmates, who still couldn’t understand why the spring had been restored, and Suhyeok, who had realized something. When they arrived at the place where the guide had first dropped them off, Yohan’s anxious mood showed in his restless movements. But Mikael was nowhere to be found.

Yohan started to grow nervous. He asked the guide where Mikael had gone, but as expected, there was no answer. Even when he explained that one of their group hadn’t come back, the guide coldly led everyone back to the dormitory, leaving Room 304’s group with no choice but to return without Mikael.

They still received a team reward for restoring the spring, but Yohan couldn’t feel happy. When he opened the door to their room and saw no one inside, his shoulders slumped.

“Yohan.”

Suhyeok put a hand on his shoulder. His eyes were full of questions.

Yohan understood his confusion and frustration, but he wasn’t in any state to explain. Mikael’s unexpected display of divine power, the words he left behind, and the expression he had shown for the first time were tangled in Yohan’s mind.

“I am sorry, Suhyeok. …Let’s talk later.”

He washed his face with cold water, trying to calm his thoughts, and postponed the conversation. Suhyeok looked a bit frustrated and opened his mouth, but Kylus placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. In the end, though it looked like Suhyeok had plenty to say, he remained silent.

He sighed and went into the bathroom.

“Alright. You must be tired too. Tell me when you’re ready to talk. …Just, I hope you remember what I said earlier.”

“…Yes.”

Yohan already knew what he meant, he was telling him to make up with Mikael.

He nodded obediently, though inwardly he was feeling helpless. Even if he wanted to reconcile, there had to be someone to reconcile with. How could he fix things when Mikael wasn’t even there?

Watching the clock with a heavy gaze, Yohan waited for his two friends to finish washing up. He took the last shower himself, and by the time he came out, it was already well past 9 p.m., yet the door was still closed.

The knock he’d been waiting for came during roll call.

“…Mikael isn’t here?”

The dorm supervisor entered Room 304, counted heads, and frowned before clicking his tongue.

“I’ll mark attendance without him. I’ll consider the three of you to have returned on time.”

Normally, absences meant shared punishment, but tonight was different. The supervisor’s behavior made Yohan feel uneasy, as if he knew something. Without realizing it, Yohan grabbed the supervisor’s sleeve just as he was leaving.

“…Do you know where Mikael is?”

“Yohan Herse.”

Instead of answering, the supervisor called his name. Realizing what that meant, Yohan closed his mouth. The supervisor gave him a warning look, then left without another word.

“…As expected he wouldn’t tell me.”

How could anyone tell him after roll call? If they did, Yohan would’ve run out to look for Mikael. Realizing his mistake, he walked back to his bed, and his two friends observed his expression.

“Yohan, you look exhausted. Get some rest. I’ll wake you up at midnight.”

“……”

Yohan couldn’t refuse Suhyeok’s kindness. His head was throbbing so hard it felt like it might explode, so he nodded weakly, closed his eyes, and lay down.

He tried to force himself to sleep, but his overheated mind wouldn’t let him. His thoughts were spinning, replaying the scene from earlier that day. It was like watching it all over again, so vivid that it felt like he’d been dragged back to that moment.

What was that?

Maybe this was what people called shock therapy. The memories with Cheplen that had shaken him to his core were, after all, only the past, only illusion. In the end, it was Mikael, his overwhelming presence, that repeatedly struck Yohan’s mind.

He tossed and turned, unable to sleep, until he heard Suhyeok and Kylus sigh. Only then did Yohan realize he was being thoughtless. They were probably just as troubled, yet he’d been wrapped up in his own thoughts.

He briefly reflected on himself and stopped moving so he wouldn’t keep them awake.

“Yohan.”

After a while, Suhyeok called him. Pretending he’d been asleep, Yohan rubbed his eyes and sat up, then lay back down again a few minutes after midnight with the others.

“Good night, Yohan.”

“…Good night.”

After their usual goodnight exchange, silence filled the room. As time passed, the quiet confirmed that Suhyeok and Kylus had fallen asleep.

Once he was sure of that, Yohan got out of bed and checked the time.

1:42 a.m.

Mikael still hadn’t returned.

Yohan stared at the empty bed across from his. His head was overheated, it felt like he wouldn’t relax until Mikael came back.

There was no way he could fall asleep like this. If that was the case, what was the point of staying in bed?

Knowing his own temperament, Yohan gave up on sleep. After checking that his friends were really asleep, he quietly got up. Moving carefully to avoid making any sound, he took the cloak hanging on the rack. It had been brought by the dwarf elder from the commercial district.

He’d been too distracted earlier to think about it, but right before he and the guide left, the old man had run up shouting, “Wait a moment!” and handed him the cloak, startling him. With all the students watching, Yohan hadn’t dared to say much, so he’d simply gratefully accepted it. This would be the first time he actually wore it.

When Yohan wrapped the cloak around himself, warmth spread through his body. If not for the change in temperature, he might not even have realized he was wearing it, it was so light. Impressed, he recalled the dwarf elder’s confident words that it could block most physical attacks, and he opened the door.

Creak.

He slipped through the door and left the dormitory. The first place he decided to search for Mikael was the Rose Garden where he had first met him.

The place had always brought unpleasant memories whenever he came at night, so Yohan carefully moved forward. The world trembled, and an illusion distorted his sight.

What had been a garden turned into a sea. It was already the third time he had experienced such a change, so Yohan didn’t panic.

“…The essence doesn’t change.”

No matter how real the illusion felt, its essence never changed. As long as he focused on that, he wouldn’t be swayed by the world the illusion created.

He focused and drew a small dot in the air. Fixing his gaze on that imaginary point, he noticed after a moment that the sound of waves had stopped. The sand under his feet was gone, and he caught a whiff of the scent of grass.

As his sense of smell returned, the world turned once, and the Rose Garden unfolded before his eyes again. Yohan gasped in surprise.

“…I didn’t think it’d work this quickly.”

Ever since the dorm supervisor had saved them from an illusion, Yohan had believed that with enough focus and experience, one could escape from harmless illusions by sheer will. But this was much faster than he expected.

Was it because he had imagined Cheplen’s face?

That was the only explanation that came to mind. Yohan laugh when he thought that such vivid imagination, more real than any illusion, had left a powerful impact on his mind. He didn’t know if it was negative or positive.

He couldn’t tell whether to be pleased or despair.

“……”

Erasing his bitter smile, Yohan carefully walked through the garden. He searched every corner for Mikael, but he was nowhere in sight. He must have chosen the wrong place.

So Yohan decided to change his search area.

In the first-year zone, the only other place Mikael might be after the Rose Garden was obvious.

There was no time to hesitate. Yohan turned and headed for the Griffin Hall.

–Prrr!

The griffin greeted him with a soft pur. Yohan calmed the creature with a few gentle pats and climbed onto its back. The illusions of Fantasiademia didn’t seem to reach the skies, and so he was able to fly toward the island more easily than expected.

2:55 a.m.

Just before three, Yohan reached the island. From high above, he had the griffin circle the area while he scanned below, squinting his golden eyes to look for any sign of Mikael.

“…Griffin, down.”

He gently patted the griffin’s back, giving his command. The divine beast spread its wings wide and lowered itself to skim just above the forest canopy.

The closer they flew to a certain spot, the more the atmosphere seemed to ripple. Watching the subtle distortion, Yohan became certain it wasn’t an illusion and told the griffin to move toward it.

–Prrng!

The griffin, fed with Yohan’s divine power, performed a flawless, graceful descent and carried him to the suspicious place.

“Let’s go down.”

Yohan descended with the griffin to the shifting point in the forest. Once he set foot on the ground, he immediately sensed that the atmosphere here felt different from anywhere else.

It was as if something had been covered by a veil.

This was it.

Yohan trusted his intuition with uncharacteristic certainty. Convinced Mikael was here, he carefully moved through the trees until he felt a distinct presence and stopped.

Flash!

Divine light flared at Yohan’s fingertips, he reached into the air as if drawing back a curtain and stepped forward. The air seemed to part around him.

He realized he hadn’t imagined it when, right beyond that invisible barrier, the student who had vanished appeared before him.

Mikael.

The person Yohan had spent half the day searching for was there…

“……”

….with the back of his white shirt stained red.

A strong stench of blood assaulted Yohan’s nose. Mikael, who was sitting crouched on the ground, slowly turned his head, and in the air, the two students’ eyes, each pair with a different color, met.