CHAPTER 262: CHAPTER 262

As a storm brewed in the outside world, many of the Glacial Sphere Academy’s students found themselves confined to St. Benedette Hospital. Injured students were grouped in clusters of five per room, the sudden emergency overwhelming the facility’s capacity. Beds lined the walls like sardines in a can, patients groaning softly or staring blankly at the ceiling, their wounds bandaged and their spirits bruised from the Rogues’ brutal invasion.

But Whitney pulled strings behind the scenes. As the secret owner of the hospital, she’d discreetly advised the head administrator to grant special accommodations. Angela and Cypher were each given private rooms. The others had gathered at Cypher’s bedside as Whitney slipped away to check on Angela.

She approached the door with a gentle knock, then carefully pushed it open. The room was bathed in the soft glow of afternoon light filtering through the blinds. Angela was already awake, sitting propped up against the pillows, her gaze fixed on the window. Her usually lively eyes, looked especially withered today, dulled by exhaustion and the ghosts of near-death.

"Angela, are you feeling better?" Whitney asked softly, pulling up a chair beside the bed. She settled into it with a sigh but her voice carried genuine warmth.

Angela turned her head slowly, meeting Whitney’s gaze with a weak smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. "How’s the others?" she replied, deflecting the question as if her own well-being was secondary.

Whitney hesitated for a moment, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her sleeve. "Rex and Christian are fine, for the most part," she said, choosing her words carefully. "Except for Cypher and Edge. They almost fought one of the Diablos head-on—barely made it out alive."

"How’s Cypher?" Angela asked, her voice soft and worried.

"He’s fine," Whitney said, smiling. "He got thrown around a lot, but he’s okay overall. Anyway, enough about him. Why do you look so weak?"

"Weak?" Angela let out a small laugh, but it faded quickly, leaving an awkward silence in the room. "Whitney... about that tattoo you showed me last time..."

Whitney froze, her breath catching in her throat like she’d just been punched. "Y-Yeah?"

"Was it fake or real?" Angela pressed, her voice steady but edged with something unspoken.

"W-What do you mean?" Whitney stammered, her mind racing. Has she found out already?

"W-What do you mean?" Whitney said. Has she found out already?

"Tell me—is that tattoo the real evidence of the culprit? Can I really trust your source?" Angela asked, her eyes searching Whitney’s face.

Whitney didn’t answer right away. She swallowed hard, forcing her pounding heart to slow. "Why... are you saying this all of a sudden?"

Angela glanced down at her hands, twisting them in her lap like she was trying to hold onto something slipping away. "I just had a strange dream... Remillia had that same tattoo just above her chest... It was glowing brightly." It was almost as if she couldn’t believe what she was saying, her voice trailing off into doubt. "No, I think I’m misremembering things. I must have had a strange dream because of my obsession over it."

Unlike Angela, Whitney didn’t doubt what her friend had seen. In fact, it looked like Angela was still only suspicious, not fully sure. Whitney’s mind raced with hidden truths she couldn’t share yet.

"...It’s too vivid to be a dream, but it doesn’t make sense. Why would Remillia...." Angela kept mumbling to herself, her words soft and confused. She dug deeper into her blanket, pulling it up to her chin like a shield. "Whitney, I’m going to sleep now. I’m tired."

"Y-Yeah, s-sleep well," Whitney said, her voice shaky. "I’m going to check on Cypher and the others."

"Yeah..." Angela replied, her eyes already closing as she turned away.

Whitney stood up slowly, her heart heavy with worry. She left the room quietly, the door clicking shut behind her. The hallway felt long and empty as she walked to Cypher’s room, her mind still on Angela’s words.

As she raised her hand to knock, the door opened first. Cypher stepped out in a hurry, his face full of panic. But when he saw Whitney, he stopped and looked at her closely. "Where is she? Have you seen her?"

Whitney frowned, her brow knitting in confusion. "Who are you talking about? Who’s ’her’?"

"Remi! Have you seen her?" he blurted, his voice cracking with urgency, like he was on the verge of panic.

"Wait, calm down," Whitney said, placing a steadying hand on his arm. She leaned forward and peeked into the room. There sat Christian and Rex, their eyes glued to a crumpled piece of paper, with Edge slumped beside them, his arm encased in a bulky cast. All three wore blank expressions, as if the world had just tilted off its axis.

She stepped inside, her curiosity overriding caution, and snatched the paper from their hands. "Why are your faces—" Her words died in her throat as she scanned the big, bold words scrawled across it. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "like that..." She lifted her gaze to them, her eyes widening in shock. "Is this real?"

As if the universe itself was answering, their phones chimed in unison—a sharp, insistent chorus. They fumbled to unlock them, and there it was: Remillia had left the group chat.

For a heartbeat, they stood there in stunned silence, the weight of Remillia’s sudden departure crashing over them like a wave. They knew she was leaving but this? So abrupt, so final? It was impossible to just accept it.

"Whitney," Rex said, his voice cutting through the tension, "you own this hospital, right?"

"H-How do you know?" she stammered, her eyes widening in surprise.

"It’s obvious," Edge chimed in, gesturing with his good hand. "All the chief doctors bow to you with respect, and you waltzed in here and got Angela and Cypher exclusive rooms like it was nothing."

"Call security and dig up the footage," Rex ordered, his tone sharp and urgent. "We need to see Remillia coming in and leaving the hospital."

Whitney nodded, her mind racing. "Cypher, you should stay here with Edge since you’re still injured—" She glanced back, only to find the spot empty. Cypher was gone. She sighed, rubbing her temples. "Christian, go look for Cypher. While you’re at it, check all the exits. I don’t think Remillia has gone far yet."

Christian met her gaze, his expression conflicted. "What about Angela? Should we tell her?"

"I’ll go," Edge volunteered, reaching out to take the dropout form from Whitney’s hand.

As they sprang into action, scattering through the hospital corridors, the same thought echoed in each of their minds, ’No matter what the situation may be, with everything we’ve gone through together, you can’t just disappear without even saying a proper farewell...!’

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

I lounged on the rooftop, perched on the cool concrete ledge with a box of pastries balanced on my lap. Macaron, was perched on the railing while Glacier sprawled out beside me. My whole body ached but I could manage, pushing through the pain like it was just another hurdle.

I sighed as the memory of the earlier report flooded back. A total of 5,495 people had been yanked into the Kaleidoscope Effect. Of them, 103 were dead, 88 had been kidnapped, nearly 500 suffered injuries and Instructor Jude, who had been attacked by Berserk, was currently fighting for his life in surgery.

Another sigh escaped me, heavier this time. "This novel..." I muttered to the fading light of the sunset. Should I even call it that anymore? It felt like something more like the future unfolding before my eyes. ’Or maybe fate?’ I shook my head, a wry smirk tugging at my lips. ’Fate?’ Hardly, not when some infuriating thief kept meddling, twisting the original plot into knots I could barely unravel.

And then there was Matthias Owen. I’d been the one to summon him, after all. After a brief time of recovery, I’d started heading back to the central building when Berserk appeared out of nowhere.

Berserk—or rather, his true name, Malak—wasn’t supposed to be there. He was one of the Diablos, those elite apprentices of the Demons. A boss-level character, no less, who effortlessly ranked among the top 500 strongest beings in this world.

I quickly ducked into hiding and almost screamed in pain from my wounds as I activated my Spectral Seal, channeling its power to unleash Cybersky. With fumbling fingers, I fired off an anonymous message to Matthias, embedding the precise coordinates and typing a frantic warning: his daughter was in grave danger, every second counting against her.

After hitting ’send’ on that desperate message, I nearly blacked out right there. But Macaron and Glacier were there by my side once again, Macaron carefully carried me as let out a sharp, scolding chirp, his eyes gleaming with reproach as if to say, ’You fool, pushing yourself like this,’ while Glacier moved quickly with me on his back, as we made our frantic escape.

Even though I knew I needed to stay put back so the others would find my body later and to keep my friends from noticing I had slipped away, my body betrayed me, too weak to keep my eyes open.