Chapter 26: You (part I)

"Oh, you're awake."

Dashel smiled at me as he walked into the room.

"Thank god, I was so worried because- Hey, you alright there?"

Hearing his question, I snapped out of my thoughts and looked over him. He had quite a confused expression, so I guessed that I stared at him for too long.

I scratched the back of my head and I said nervously. "Um… I'm o- okay. Sorry, I must have… uh... dozed out."

He stared at me for a while, which made me feel uncomfortable for a while. But thankfully, he stopped and smiled. "I'm glad to hear that. I was so worried because you passed out for so long."

"For… how long exactly…?" I asked confusedly.

"Seven hours, twenty minutes and ten seconds." He answered in the it-is-obvious tone.

I stayed quiet for a few minutes. "Do you really need to tell the exact information like that?"

"Well, you did say 'exactly', didn't you?"

I giggled as he grinned and sat at the edge of the bed next to me. "Okay, enough joking around for now. How are you feeling?"

I was going to tell him that I was fine, but the pain in my head made me let out a quiet groan. In spite of my headache, I lied. "I'm okay. Thanks for asking." I tried to smile, but he stared at me again. Then, unexpectedly, he put his hand on my forehead while leaning his face close to mine. I could feel my cheeks getting hot as his breath reached me.

"Hmm…" He said before pulling away. "Your temperature is normal, and you don't seem to have something wrong with you. So I assume that you're really fine… for now."

"Um… What do you mean?" I questioned at his confusing words.

"Well, you must be confused about why you ended up here in my room, right?"

I nodded in agreement.

"Well…" He trailed off for a while, as if he was trying to remember… or thinking of something. "Last night, I wasn't able to sleep so I went out for a walk in the park, which is quite near my house. But as I was doing so, I saw you lying on the ground, unconscious."

"And then you brought me here?"

"Yeah." He answered shortly.

"Hmm… How did I end up there…?" I rubbed my head, pretending that I didn't remember a thing. Last night, for some reason, Herobrine pretended to be Oliver and then attacked me, saying that he guessed The Magic Artist was me. I denied that fact, but he just fucking decided to capture me anyway, although he wasn't even sure if I was the artist.

"You didn't remember?" He asked while staring at me again. "Hmm… I can understand, since you were probably knocked out."

"I think so, too…" I felt so bad lying to him, but I had no other choice if I wanted to keep my safety.

There was a long pause between us. Uncomfortable silence was scary enough, and his continuous stare came as an addition. Great.

I secretly felt relived when he stood up from the bed and spoke up. "Oh, I made you some orange juice in the kitchen. Let me go get it for you."

"Dashel, it's very nice of you but-"

I was cut off when he closed the door behind him without even waiting for me to finish. I was left alone in his room, full of confusion mostly about how I was here. He did explain, but… it just didn't feel right.

"Have you seen Oliver lately?"

"I was about to ask you that. I haven't seen even his sight for three weeks straight."

"I tried to call and text him, but he didn't reply. I even came to his house but he wasn't there."

"I did the exact thing!"

"Does he have some sort of invisible spell?"

"Unknown, you're too possessed with games, I can clearly tell that."

"Hey!"

I stayed silent as Unknown and Raiden started to argue while Tech was trying to calm them down. It was evening and we were sitting in an ice cream shop. Yes, like they mentioned, Oliver wasn't in sight for three weeks. My worry for him started to get bigger every day, especially when they brought up this subject-

"Saku!" Someone waved their hand in front of me.

"Uh- huh?!"

"Are you alright, Saku?" Tech pulled her hand away from my face. "You seem VERY off these days."

I looked away for a few seconds. "Yeah…I'm worried about Oliver."

"C'mon, cheer up." Unknown patted my shoulder. "We're worried too. This world is not a video game that has an end, so we'll try our best to find him, alright?"

"Said the game-addicted boy." Raiden smirked.

"HEY! I HEARD YOU!"

And so, they continued their argument and Tech continued to be the one in the middle. I sighed and looked elsewhere. Normally, I would join Tech to ease down the argument. But now, I wasn't in the mood to even talk.

Suddenly, the sky went dark and I looked up from the ground. The sky was surrounded by black clouds that were coming toward.

"Crap, I didn't bring an umbrella!" I said.

"Me either!" Tech exclaimed.

"Gotta go now bye!" Unknown said before running off.

"Raiden peace off!" Raiden skipped away.

The other three ran home, and I tried to reach home as fast as I could. But unfortunately for me, droplets of rain started to fell down and it rained heavily. Spotted a sunshade of a grocery store, I hid under it and waited for the rain to stop. I was soaking wet. Gosh, how long did I have to wait here? It had been over 5 minutes and it didn't even show any sign of stopping.

"I- I'm so c- cold…" I said before sneezing. "I really need to change…"

More minutes passed by, and I was still standing there like an idiot. I sneezed again. I was going to catch a cold for sure.

"Saku…?"

I heard a familiar voice and looked up to see Dashel standing in front of me while holding his umbrella.

"Why are you alone here? And why are you so wet?"

I was about to answer, but I sneezed instead.

"You didn't run back home in time?"

I just nodded as I continued to hug myself, trying to warm up at least a little.

"Hey, how about you come with me to my house?" He asked and I looked at him in surprise. "I can't let you here alone while being in this state."

"B- but- achoo! But you can just walk me h- home- achoo!"

"It's raining very hard, Saku, and it's very dangerous to be out here for too long. My house is just a few minutes away from here. Stay with me until the rain stops, alright?"

I hesitated before nodding. He did have a point. "Okay."

"Achoo!"

"Jeez, you're in a really bad condition." Dashel said as he led me into his room. "You keep sneezing, so you must have caught a cold."

"Y- yeah…"

I stiffened before realizing something. I was soaking wet, but the only clothes I had were the ones I was wearing. God… don't tell me that…

"Oh, you need to change, don't you?" I turned his head back to face me. "I nearly forgot about that. Umm… I guess that you have to borrow mine."

Yep.

"Y- you don't have to lend me your clothes, Dashel. I- Achoo! I'll be f- fine."

"No, Saku, I have to. Look at you! He put a hand on my shoulder. "You are wet from head to toes, and you're having a cold. What am I gonna do then? Wait for the rain to stop and simply let you walk home yourself like this? I must at least do someth-"

He suddenly cut himself off. "Oh… sorry. I got a little carried away." He chuckled.

"But… seriously, I'll be f-"

He cut me off as well. "No more talking. Wait here, I'll bring you some clothes."

"D- Dashel, I'm done." I said as I knocked on the door of his room. After a while, I heard the doorknob being turned the door open.

"Oh, you're here Sakuuuuuuu…"

He trailed off when he stared at me and I twiddled my thumbs nervously. I was in his clothes, and it felt incredibly embarrassing. He gave me a simple white long-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of shorts that reached my knees. My hair was still wet, but this time because I washed it, and some of it hung in front of my chest.

God, please stop staring.

"Um… h- how do I look…?" I asked quietly, hoping that I would snap him out.

He did snap out and stuttered out. "Oh, uh… y- you look g- great, Saku! Really!"

"Thanks…" I answered more quietly.

"C- come in! It's very late!" He moved aside to let me walk in. "I watched the news this morning and they said that there would be a big storm coming. I forgot to tell you."

"Oh, so that's why the rain doesn't even ease down."

"I'm afraid that you'll have to stay here with me until morning." He closed the door and locked it.

I looked around his room. It looked the same like it did a few days ago, but now beside his bed was a mattress with a blanket and a pillow that were placed neatly on it.

"What time is it, Dashel?" I asked.

"It's nearly 10 now." He climbed onto his bed. "Oh, I forgot. Did that hot tea helped you feel better?"

"Y- yeah. I don't sneeze so much like a while ago anymore."

"Well, that's good to hear." He said as he pulled the blanket over his body. "Sleep well, Saku."

"You too, Dashel…"

"Why are you standing there, Saku?"

Dashel asked behind me. I sighed as I rested my chin on the palm of my hand while my other hand rested on the window frame. "I… can't sleep."

He stayed silent for a while. "Are you really okay, Saku?"

"…Yeah, I guess so. Don't mind me though."

I sighed again and looked outside. The storm was still continuing and it covered the sky completely. I could see droplets of water on the window.

"How I am supposed to sleep when you keep making me worried like this?"

Being startled, I turned my head around to see him standing right behind me. He had a very worried expression visible on his face. He looked at me. "If you're staying up then I am too."

Knowing that he wouldn't change his mind no matter what, I turned away to look out at the stormy sky. "Thanks…"

We just stood there and an uncomfortable silence went between us again. I had no other choice than to break it. "The storm is big, isn't it…?"

Seemed to catch the topic I was bringing up, he sighed lightly. "Yeah, I agreed."

I wasn't the best silence breaker, so I kind of expected the silence to return immediately. "You told me that your team had a match to compete in. Well, how was it, did your team win?"

"Actually, the match got delayed." He said. "There was an unexpected rain, and we had to delay the match until next week."

"Oh, I see…"

Silence once again.

"Hey, Saku, you remember the girl in my dream that I mentioned?" He spoke up.

"Yes. What's about it?"

"She's The Magic Artist."

I froze in place. What did he just say again? Me? In his dream? How was that possible? "R- really? You meant the M- Magic Artist that f- fight the virus months ago? W- wow, I never expected her to be in your dream. I'm so jealous… haha…" I chuckled nervously.

I sweated as I felt his stare on me once again. I gulped secretly.

"I'm still finding her, and I can tell that she's very close to me."

"T- that's good to hear-"

I was cut off when his hands slammed on the doorframe and locked me between his arms. I turned around to see him staring into my eyes deeply. I gulped again.

"W- what are you doing, Dashel?"

"Don't try to hide it anymore." He said in a low voice. "It's you. You're The Magic Artist, the girl I'm looking for."

To be continued…

Dun

Dun

Dun

DUUUUUUN.

Okay, I told myself not to leave any cliffhanger today, but the chapter got unexpectedly long so… yeah. .w.'

Anyway, thanks for reading. Please leave a review and I'll see you again. Bye!