Hesa was on his way to the boarding house gate when he accidentally bumped into someone, causing the items they were carrying to fall to the ground.
"S-Sorry—"
"No problem,"
Kayn instinctively picked up the scattered items himself. He felt bad letting Hesa help, especially since the older boy was still walking slowly.
"It's okay," Kayn said.
Hesa suddenly felt awkward, realizing that Kayn might be pitying him.
"I'm already feeling better," Hesa protested.
"I know," Kayn replied. "But I still don't feel right making things harder for you."
Hesa could only sigh at that answer. He felt a little disappointed, but there was nothing he could do.
"By the way, where are you going?" Hesa asked, noticing that some of the belongings from Kayn's unit had already disappeared.
"I'm moving back to my family's house," Kayn answered. "My job here is finished."
Hearing that, Hesa scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"Thank you. If it weren't for the three of you, maybe the rest of us would've died."
"Thank you too. Because of you, I was able to get my revenge, and all of us can finally live peacefully again," Kayn replied.
"I-It..."
Hesa suddenly remembered Heeseung leaving his siblings behind, and Jungwon's words—that Hesa's journey wasn't over yet.
Could Heeseung's next targets be Kayn and his friends?
Hesa wanted to tell him the truth, but he was afraid of frightening Kayn over something that wasn't certain yet. Besides, Kayn probably wouldn't know how to deal with a spirit like Heeseung.
Hesa's journey wasn't over.
It seemed that now it was his turn to protect the red-haired young man.
"W-What's wrong," Kayn asked after noticing Hesa staring blankly into space.
"N-Nothing." Hesa forced a smile. "Just... be careful from now on. Take good care of yourself."
Although confused, Kayn simply nodded.
"Oh, right. I couldn't make it to the funeral yesterday. I wanted to ask you directly... where is Kala buried?" Hesa asked hesitantly, as if trying to gather his courage.
"You want to visit him?" Kayn asked.
"Y-Yeah."
Kayn smiled.
"That's perfect. I'm planning to visit him this afternoon too. How about we go together?"
"That sounds good," Hesa replied.
"We can message each other later about it. For now... you're heading to school, right?" Kayn asked.
"N-Not really. I'm still not allowed to go back yet. Probably another day or two until I don't need these crutches anymore."
Kayn nodded in understanding. "Then where are you going now?"
"I'm going to grab some breakfast."
"Oh, okay."
"Well, I'll get going first, Kay."
Kayn could only smile faintly as he watched Hesa walk away before returning to carry the remaining boxes onto the moving truck.
~~~~~~
Hesa ate breakfast alone at a small food stall in front of the convenience store near his boarding house. He glanced around.
"Why does this suddenly feel like déjà vu? I thought that feeling would've disappeared after running into Kayn earlier."
His thoughts drifted back to the past, to the first time he had accidentally met Kayn.
Back then, he and Jaehyuk had joked that Kayn looked like an easy target.
Then Jaehyuk mentioned seeing a mysterious figure standing in front of Hesa's boarding house and immediately suspected Kayn because of his red hair.
Hesa had even followed the boy for a while. At first, he found nothing, convincing himself that Kayn had absolutely nothing to do with the series of attacks surrounding him.
Then a mysterious girl appeared and helped Hesa and the others when they were attacked at school.
"Before all the attacks started... I witnessed something strange in the dance club room. Could that have been a glimpse of what happened to the Kaze gang?"
Hesa stirred his instant coffee absentmindedly, so lost in thought that he didn't notice someone had already taken the seat across from him.
"How did I only remember this now?"
"Remember for what?"
Hesa nearly jumped out of his seat, clutching his chest in surprise.
"Good grief. Since when were you sitting there?"
"Just now. I haven't even opened my bread yet." Arkha held up the unopened bread in his hand.
"I thought you'd already gone to school."
"In a bit. I heard you still can't come to school today."
"Only for a few days. Until I don't need these crutches anymore."
Arkha nodded.
"By the way, what were you daydreaming about? You were talking to yourself."
"I was thinking back to when we were attacked at school and Jihan saved me. Before everything started, I saw something strange in the dance club room."
"Oh, the one where you said you saw two students being attacked?"
"Yeah. We accidentally met Jihan afterward, and he mentioned someone's name, saying they were his friend. When I checked later, the name he mentioned turned out to belong to one of the Kaze members."
"So Jihan had actually been telling the truth from the very beginning. It's just... all those plot twists made us doubt her."
"Yeah..."
"Speaking of that Indigo girl... where is she now?" Arkha asked.
"Kayn told me she finally passed on peacefully after helping Setta and me meet in that other world."
"We were really lucky to meet people like them," Arkha said with a smile. "From now on, we should live our lives well so all the help they gave us won't be in vain."
"Yeah... I hope so," Hesa replied.
"'I hope so?' Why do you sound so unconvinced?"
"We'll be okay," Hesa said, forcing a reassuring smile.
It would be better to tell Arkha later...
After the next attack truly happened.
~~~~~
The sky outside was already bright, but Hesa could only stay inside his boarding house.
"I'm so bored. Maybe I should go outside and buy some snacks."
He picked up the crutches beside him, slowly stood up, and made his way toward the door.
"Hesa!"
Hesa jumped again when he suddenly saw his friends outside the window.
"That's the second jumpscare I've had today," he grumbled before opening the door.
Once it was open, his friends came inside and gathered in the living room.
"Oh, Double S is already out of the hospital?" Hesa asked.
"Hehe, yeah. We're still recovering, so we're not going to school today either," Setta replied.
"And yet you still came all the way here."
"We insisted," Satya said with a grin. "We missed you."
"Tch. Just admit you're still too lazy to go to school."
"Don't expose us like that."
"Just let it be," Joan laughed. "The important thing is that we're all together again."
"Not everyone. Jio and Niki are still missing," Arkha reminded them.
"They'll be discharged in a few more days," Joan added.
"How about we have a small celebration later?" Setta suggested.
"That's a great idea," Hesa said.
"Exactly. Let's celebrate the three of you getting healthy first," Satya agreed.
"Hm... yeah..."
For some reason, Hesa suddenly remembered what had happened outside the ICU room.
His chest began aching again as the memory resurfaced.
Bzzz...
Hesa picked up the phone lying beside him.
It was a message from Kayn.
Hesa had completely forgotten that they had promised to visit Kala's grave together that morning.
Still trying to calm the pain in his chest, Hesa apologized through text, saying he couldn't make it after all because his friends had come to visit him at his boarding house.