Gratitude

Sometime later at the infirmary

Rheyya slowly regained her consciousness. She was lying innocently by the bed, with a blanket covering her undefended body. The room was lit by the evening sun. It was already at the time when afternoon shifts to evening.

Without her glasses, everything was blurry. As Rheyya tried to get up, there were two things that she felt. The sharp pain from the wound on her back was now mild. Unlike before, she felt that there was a resisting force on her blanket when she tried to get up. She glanced around, looking for the cause and instantly saw Quare, laying her head on her arms by the edge of her bed while sitting on a different chair and was sound asleep.

Rheyya smiled gently as she watched Quare sleeping, then moved her hand atop her head, stroking it gently.

"Thank you..." she whispered.

"Finally awake, stubborn girl..?"

The sudden voice that spoke startled Rheyya, causing her to trace the source and saw Dright by the door, leaning his back on the wall.

". . ."

". . ."

Both of them stared at each other for a minute. The atmosphere was awkward.

"By the way..." Dright spoke first

"Your buttons are open..."

As Rheyya heard his words, she immediately inspected her attire. She wasn't wearing her blazer anymore, and her buttons were open, showing her bare skin. The bandage used to treat her wound on her back covered her chest. As a result, her face lit up, and reflexively pulled the blanket to cover her body. Embarrassed, she looked the opposite direction from Dright and grumbled "...pervert..."

".... anyway, the school is about to close. Do you have a ride home..?"

Dright asked, having the intention of escorting her to her house, and as if replying to his question, she shook her head.

"Then, would you like me to take you home..?"

Hearing this, Rheyya glanced at Dright slightly then looked at Dright with a narrow-eyed glare, indicating Dright that he is about to cross a boundary. And because of what happened earlier, it seems that Dright had claimed unwanted hatred, not that he cares about it.

As Dright saw her glare at him, he didn't flinch. Instead, he asked again.

"So..? Do you want a ride or not..?"

Then Rheyya looked in the opposite direction and replied, "No, thank you... I don't need your help..."

As she said that, she placed her feet from the bed to the floor and stood up carefully, stumbling slightly at the process as she has not yet made a full recovery. Gathering her strength, she stood up straight, then closed her buttons, took her bag and blazer by the chair beside Quare, then walked towards the door, passing by Dright.

Little did she know, Dright made an invisible portal by the door that connects to the school gate, which Rheyya just walked into. This startled Rheyya, but as she remembered Dright's blessing, this kind of thing is not impossible. And so, Rheyya walked forward, not looking back.

Meanwhile with Dright

Dright did that because he felt sorry for what he did earlier to her. Normally, he wouldn't feel any sympathy but because Quare nagged him on how he did was wrong, he tried to repent. He thought that he could at least be nice to her to repent, making him do what he did just now. But something was bothering him.

"I wonder why she didn't use her blessings this morning when that Oblivoid attacked..."

By connecting the event from this morning and Rheyya's wounds, he has deduced that she was the girl that was about to be eaten. The reason why he thought she has a blessing is that her hair color wasn't black, and her eye color was different. Dright's instincts also told him from the moment he saw her that Rheyya was very strong, strong enough to beat that Oblivoid. But the fact that she was almost eaten proved that she didn't use her blessing, just her Zed, which she cannot wield at its best. Knowing these facts, there was another thing that bothered him.

"And her wounds should have been more severe..." he pondered. This argument was also valid, after all, when Dright finished off the Oblivoid, he scouted the area with his sniper shaped Zed first for inspection before he stored it away. He saw Rheyya with many more wounds and bruises.

When Quare was treating Rheyya, he secretly took a peek at her and only saw the huge wound at her back.

Dright pondered and pondered when he suddenly heard someone yawning. It was Quare. She had woken up and was stretching to knock some of her drowsiness then lightly scratched her eyelid on her uncovered eye.

"Huh..? Where's Rheyya..?" Upon noticing this, she looked around and saw her brother instead.

"If you're looking for the girl, she already left, saying how grateful she is to you."

".. I see..." Quare replied with a gentle smile while looking downwards, and she was a bit disappointed because she wasn't able to walk home with her.

"It seems like she hates me, though...."

"..."

"That's to be expected..." was what Quare thought.

"Well then, ready to go home..?" As Dright asked this, Quare nodded then got up from her seat. After that, Dright reversed the portal's invisibility, showing the scenery in front of the gate, then Quare went in, followed by Dright. As it was getting dark, Dright made use of his portals to travel faster. His portal's range is only at a maximum of 500 m radius away from him, and if he tries to exceed that range, the teleportation would be inaccurate.

But upon stepping out of the portal, Quare became somewhat worried, looking around for Rheyya. Dright noticed this.

"Are you worried about your friend..?"

"Mm.." Quare nodded at her brother's question.

"Don't worry about her. I'm sure she's fine.."

After that exchange of words, they left through the portal that Dright made, with Quare, still looking a bit worried.

After two portals, they finally made it home. It was a regular western-styled house with a wide garden at the front yard. Several drones and robots designed for cleaning and security were found on sight, most probably, Dright's creations. Some bots were cleaning, and some were patrolling.

Upon entering the house, they were both welcomed by a girl-shaped-automaton in a maid uniform, with black curly hair. Its skin was as clear as a human's. One could mistake this machine as a real person.

"Welcome back, master Dright, master Quare." Then she bowed, and the two responded appropriately.

"Mm.. we're back, Ophelia," Dright said

Quare bowed.

After such, the automaton girl, Ophelia, handed Dright an envelope with their family seal. Upon seeing this, Dright instantly realized.

He sighed.

"What a pain..."

. . .