"You were so close!" Sue clapped as Aida reconvened with her, Caleb, and Levi. "You actually managed to surprise him!"

  "Your reaction time is much faster as well," Caleb said approvingly, his fingers brushing Sue's waist discreetly. Ever since Levi called it out, Aida couldn't stop noticing the small gestures of intimacy between the two lovebirds.

  I think I owe Levi an apology for not hooking him up with Sue, Aida thought in amusement as Levi mimed gagging behind them.

  "Where's my congratulations from you?" Aida teased Levi, forcing him to straighten up as Sue and Caleb turned to him.

  Levi stroked his chin as he pondered. "I don't know, I don't think you executed on any of the strategies I proposed..."

  "What strategies?" Sue asked brightly. They got into the lunch line.

  "I could barely think when fighting him," Aida said, annoyed. "There was no way I had the brain capacity to try to set him up for a counter and engage him in a mana resistance fight at the same time."

  "You didn't try all your options," Levi chastised her, wiggling his torso in a very disturbing way.

  "I had no time for that," Aida said stubbornly. Fortunately, Levi relented.

  "Yeah, yeah, you did well. You've showed a lot of improvement."

  "Are you worried about the rest of your matches?" Caleb asked, oblivious to Aida's embarrassment. "I think Lara is your last tough match, right?"

  Aida nodded, grateful to Caleb for moving the topic away from Dev. "How would you evaluate Levan and Lyn's abilities? Have they improved a lot?"

  Sue tapped her lips thoughtfully. "Lyn's still timid in fights, but Levan seems like he's improved quite a bit."

  "Is there anything about him I should watch out for?" He was her first win during the preliminary matches, but that had more to do with his generosity in forfeiting against her instead of continuing to fight, which would certainly have ended in his victory since she had such a dismal mana pool size at the time.

  "Not at all," Levi interjected. "Don't let your guard down, that's all. Just keep doing what you're doing."

  Aida nodded, looking around the dining hall as everyone began placing their orders. Weyn still looked sulky, but he didn't seem like he had a vendetta against her. Lyn, who was hovering in his orbit, seemed skittish, refusing to meet anyone's eye. Aida was interested to note that Tera wasn't with her, and instead seemed to be obstinately facing away from Lyn as she chatted with Ruth, Bella, and Natalie.

  Levan seemed unworried, laughing along with the rest of his Class 3 friends as one of them told a joke. His easygoing attitude was in line with all of their previous interactions, which made Aida wary. It would be poetic if she underestimated him due to his kindness from their previous match; after all, these ranking matches were a lot more important than the preliminary rankings.

  Lara was sitting quietly among her younger friends, focused on eating her meal while her fanclub chattered incessantly around her. She seemed unbothered, though Aida thought she detected traces of the girl's mana wafting through the air, gently probing everyone else. She's still on her guard.

  Finally, Aida turned her gaze to where Dev was sitting with Pritchard, Myk, and Shon. Dev was still reserved, but his quietude reflected more of a quiet confidence than his laissez-faire attitude from earlier in the school year.

  He looked up from his meal, making direct eye contact with Aida.

  Swallowing, Aida turned back to the pickup counter before she gave herself away, though part of her wondered if Dev was aware of her internal conflict.

  Is his familiarity with me because we became close as classmates, or...

  They had gone through several significant events together, so it wouldn't be surprising for them to have become close. But were they close enough to become something more? She thought she had detected some traces of that kind of interest earlier, but lately, though he still treated her well, it had seemed to have cooled off - especially after that talk with Professor Bruce.

  Guilt swarmed through Aida as she berated herself for thinking about something so inconsequential when they were facing the end of society as they all knew it - and especially with Ezra still unconscious. She didn't owe him anything, he made that clear; but she still didn't have the closure to move on.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Aida spent the rest of lunch avoiding looking at Dev. Levi was a helpful distraction in that regard; he seemed to have a neverending stream of topics to talk about, Aida eagerly participating in the inane conversation while she hoped her distractions would fade with time.

  ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  "He still hasn't woken up," Healer Luk said warily when she saw Aida standing at the door.

  "I figured," Aida said humbly. "I'd just like to sit with him for a bit...please."

  Luk sighed as she let Aida in. Before Aida could slip past her to take her spot beside Ezra's bed, Luk snatched her wrist, feeling her pulse.

  "You seem to be doing better," Luk noted as she used her other hand to grip Aida's chin, turning her head this way and that as she took in Aida's countenance.

  "Yes, I ate all of my lunch today," Aida informed her. Luk tsked, giving her a withering look.

  "Not that. Your heartache seems to have abated."

  Aida looked at her, flabbergasted. Luk nodded sternly. "If that was true, then why do I still feel so guilty?"

  "Silly girl. I was talking about heartache, not guilt." Luk shook her head at Aida's confusion. "When your heart was broken, your mana and subsequent circulations were sluggish, thick like that horribly sweet syrup the cook likes to use for his desserts. And it took some time, but your circulation has improved. You are nearly back to normal."

  "You can feel everybody's emotions?" Aida asked, unnerved. Luk barked out a short laugh.

  "It is both a burden and a blessing. The best Healers can attune to how their patients are feeling. After all, the body is more likely to fall victim to maladies when the emotional state of the patient is in a slowed state." Luk led Aida towards Ezra's bed in the back, concealed by curtains. "I'll be honest: part of the reason I put all these obstacles in your way whenever you came to see Mister Riolt is because I worried seeing him would keep you in that slowed state. I worried you were clinging to him, clinging to familiarity. Life is all about letting your blood run hot, having a quick flow; when your circulation is slowed, you're more unwilling to let yourself enjoy the ups and downs of life. Less able, I should say, to withstand the rigors and challenges life throws at you."

  Aida gazed upon Ezra, who was looking just as gaunt as when he first started pushing his boundaries with Ascension Meditation. How can he fade that quickly after just three days?

  On Ezra's bedside table was a large bowl of mushed up herbs - the nutrition poultice that Healer Luk infused into Ezra to keep his body healthy. Healer Luk picked up the bowl of herbs.

  "How much mana do you have left?"

  "I wasn't planning on doing further training today," Aida said after a brief pause. Luk nodded approvingly.

  "Let's have you apply the nutrition packs, then. This will be a test of your Mana Penetration and control..."

  Aida followed Luk's instructions quietly, lifting back Ezra's shirt to apply an even layer of herbal cream to Ezra's abdomen. Once Healer Luk deemed the layer sufficient, she folded the dormant mana of the nutrition paste into her own mana, piercing Ezra's thin layer of living mana and sending her needle into his body, where his organs eagerly gulped down the proffered energy.

  Aida blinked, feeling her stomach plummet at the state his body was in. His physical body was still fighting to live, but there was no sign of the golden aura in this meat vessel.

  Hesitantly, she dug deeper, immersing herself in his body to see if there were any traces of his mana anywhere. Everyone else had already impressed upon her there wasn't a case of a comatose practitioner exhibiting Ezra's symptoms, but she had to see for herself how drastic his case was.

  Unfortunately, his body was just as empty of mana as the night she found him. Now the Fire Festival is going to be cursed for me, too.

  "Aida."

  Aida lifted her head at Healer Luk's gentle tone, releasing Ezra's hand at the same time. "Yes?"

  "I think you should go." Aida nodded, remembering the Healer's lesson about how emotions affected mana. I need to focus on myself for now. At least until the matches are over.

  "I'll go now. Thank you for everything." Aida paused at the door, the stray thought finally taking form. "Healer Luk...what's going to happen to Ezra if he doesn't wake up soon?"

  Healer Luk looked at Aida silently before exhaling, her eyes weary. "Mister Riolt is under the care of the school until the academic year is over. After that, should his family request he be transferred to a clinic of their choosing, then we will release him to that clinic."

  "And...what if they don't?" Aida held her breath as Luk looked down at Ezra, her face impassive.

  "I will do my best to ensure he is taken care of," Luk finally said, raising her chin with a solemn nod. "It is my duty as a Healer to be with my patient until the end."

  A lump rose in Aida's throat as she felt tears build at the corners of her eyes. "Can I...visit him?"

  "If his family does not request for him, then yes. You may come back to the school to visit him occasionally," Luk said stiffly, after a long pause. "However, once he leaves the school's grounds I will not be able to share further updates of his condition."

  "I understand." Aida gave Luk a shaky bow before exiting the clinic, her heart clenching.

  The longer Ezra remained in a coma, the less hope Aida had that he would wake up as himself. If she had been able to detect any amount of his mana, she would have been relieved; but with no sign of any of his self returning, she couldn't help but wonder if she had somehow stumbled upon a Bad Ending for Ezra.

  This stupid game system doesn't help me at all, Aida thought angrily as she quickly flipped through several menus displaying her current stats and skill lists. Her current attribute chart was significantly improved from when she first dropped into this world, yet the lack of any sort of progress marker in her system menus was a huge blind spot. She had no idea how far into the story she was, and she couldn't even review past events to see where she might have gone wrong in one of her choices.

  Taking several deep breaths, Aida calmed herself down as she ran through her mental checklist of concrete objectives. I still have three more matches to go, then I have to deal with the Loreh parents, and then I have to get to Burston City safely enough to start my job.

  Everything else will have to come after that.