Leona slowly opened his eyes. He instinctively raised his hand to block the harsh sunlight from the outside of the windows. His other hand touched the fabric he was lying on, and he immediately realized where he was, the infirmary of NRC.
Why would I be here? Leona asked himself. He was still having a headache but it couldn't stop him from trying to recall his memories. The last thing he could remember was his whole body feeling powerless and unmovable. The only thing in front of his eyes was nothing but darkness. "Got stuck in the Enchanted Forest... The three-headed gigantic dog... Red-eye Tarhan and the Forest Tribe... We were escaping... and... I was shot by a dart... We- I got shot... because... she-"
A person appeared in his mind.
"Herbi-!" He was about to yell, and he stopped when he saw the one he was searching for was sleeping silently next to his bed.
You were probably too tired to realize that Leona was awake. You were sitting on a chair next to Leona's bed, head lying on your arm which was resting on the bedside. The other arm of yours was well wrapped with a bandage. Under the warm sunlight, you were snoring softly.
He couldn't help to relieve himself and weighed his mind when he found that you were safe. Taking all those darts where worthy after all. The situation was desperate back in the forest. If he was late for even just one second, you would be the one who was shot. Leona lay back onto the pillow with a hand covering his eyes and forehead. "Fortunately..." He sighed.
"...Kingscholar... Leona... no..."
Leona took away his hand and looked towards the direction of the bedside when he all of a sudden heard someone mumbling. It was you. Your eyes were still closed, yet you were mumbling intermittently. Apparently, you were sleep-talking.
"... Leona... please... don't die... Leona... please... don't close your eyes... please..." you murmured while your eyes were still closing, but your brows slightly frowned. Leona could see a small drop of a tear falling down your cheek from the corner of your eye.
Your hair was shining under the sunlight. Leona unconsciously reached his hand towards your hair when he saw you crying. The only thing he could think of was comforting you. You must have been tired, after all those running. You didn't deserve any of these, being stuck in a forest and on the verge of death. You shouldn't be going through all of these.
Just before his fingers could touch your hair, a sudden tiny movement of you startled Leona and made him lie back on the pillow and pretend to be asleep again immediately.
You rubbed your teary eyes and slowly sat up straight. You were having a nightmare, in which the moment Leona was shot was repeating nonstop, and no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't wake him.
You looked at Leona who was still closing his eyes and lying on the bed, just like yesterday, and the day before yesterday. It has been two days since you two were rescued from the forest. After applying the first-aid and medical treatment, it's said that Leona had become stable. However, even the doctors couldn't tell when he would wake up.
"He's lucky. If he were being sent back here even just a minute later, the poison would have entered his heart through the blood, and there's no way back." the school-based doctor had told you.
Since then, you refused to leave the infirmary except for taking a bath or going to the washroom. No matter how many times the Heartslabyul students, Vil or Trein sensei had tried to persuade you to go back to your dorm and take a rest, you just couldn't. You didn't want to leave Leona here, alone in the infirmary when he got hurt because of you.
"If it weren't me, you wouldn't have got hurt..." You looked down and mumbled. "If I had noticed that guard sooner, you wouldn't have had to save me..."
"I should be the one who's lying here... I am sorry, Leona..." you closed your eyes. Drops of tears rolled down your face and landed on the white bed sheet. You quickly wiped it and took a deep breath.
You had been trying to talk to him. Back in your original world, people always said that talking to an unconscious patient could help them wake up faster. When they heard the voice of their beloved ones, they would have the motivation be wake up and continue their life. You might not be someone important to him, but you still wanted to give him a try by supporting him.
But days of speaking to someone who wouldn't even answer you was torture.
You reached your hand to Leona's. You could feel his pulse, but his palm was cold.
"You know, Leona? Everyone on the Spelldrive Team was worried about you, and your dormmates from Savanaclaw. They came here yesterday. A few of the Savanaclaw students were even sobbing." You smiled a bit. "Everyone is waiting for you to wake up."
"Ruggie-san said you love lazing in bed, and it's hard to wake you up. I can tell that's absolutely true" You joked.
"But it's really time to wake, Leona..." you snuffled and kept the tears in your eyes. Leona told you not to cry back in the forest, and that's the only thing you could do, keeping the promise.
"I... I still want to play chess with you... I still haven't beaten you on the checkerboard. There're so many things you haven't taught me..."
"So please... wake up..." you held his hand tightly and murmured, but it's heard in the empty infirmary.
"Give me one more minute."
You stopped and widened your eyes when you heard that familiar voice. Was that an illusion?
"The sunlight is harsh. Still wanna sleep in for a minute."
You heard it again, and this time, you're sure that it was real. You immediately looked up from the ground, and that's when you saw Leona looking at you with one eye closing.
"Seven rounds of chess, at least. You said that" he added with a raspy and weak voice.
You were too startled to speak and your mind went blank when you saw he was finally awake. The only thing you could do was looking at him, with widened eyes and slightly parted lips, not knowing how to react. You didn't even realize the tears in your eyes gush out and run down your cheeks.
Leona was a bit shocked by your reaction, especially when he saw your tears. "Oi oi oi Herbivore. It's my fault for not waking up at once. Alright, alright, it's a tiny joke, I-" He was still thinking about how to calm you down, but he was suddenly cut off.
"Finally... finally! You're awake... you're... you're..." you finally couldn't control yourself and burst into tears like a frightened little girl. All the stress and pressure you had been suppressing were released at once.
"I... thought you... you would never wake up..." you buried your face into your palms and cried. "Even the... the doctors couldn't tell when you... you will wake up from the coma... and... I thought I could never talk to you again..."
"Why did you take the darts for me...?! You could have died...! Baka Leona! If... you couldn't make it... what should I do...!" you cried while speaking. All of a sudden, you were pulled by a strong arm, and the next second, you found yourself being held in Leona's arms and close to him.
You couldn't even say a word. Everything happened too fast that you could only widen your eyes with red and warm cheeks when a side of your ears was literally on Leona's chest. It was early in the morning, and there was no one else in the infirmary, which made it even more quiet than usual. "Thump-bump. Thump-bump." You could hear his every heartbeat. Was that a little beat faster than usual? This thought of yours came out from nowhere, and you couldn't even tell why it would pop up.
Same as you, the lion boy didn't know what to say. His body moved before the action was processed in his brain, and when he came back to sense, he was already holding you tightly. Not even the clever prince himself could tell why he was doing this. This is absolutely out of his expertise. He could feel his cheeks becoming a little bit warmer than usual, and his heart beating a little bit faster. This was nothing familiar to him.
Back in Sunset Savanna, no one would even let Leona get close to them, let alone allow him to hug them, but here you were.
Seconds turned into minutes, but neither of the two of you said anything or pulled away. The sunlight passed through the window and shone on you two,
but somehow it seemed to be a little bit warmer than usual.
After thinking and struggling for don't know how many minutes, Leona finally parted his lips and tried to speak. He didn't understand why it took ages for him to think of a sentence, and why, why would he feel nervous just to say anything.
"Herbivore, I want-"
"LEONA-SAN, YOU ARE AWAKE!!" a yell broke the silence of the infirmary when Ruggie all of a sudden appeared with a rattan bucket in his arms filled with Leona's daily necessities.
"Ru- Ruggie...!?" Leona was startled and widened his eyes when he saw his dormmate, and so were you. The two of you pulled away and immediately sat straight on the chair and laid back on the bed respectively, looking away and hiding from Ruggie's eyes.
"LEONA-SAN!! YOU ARE ALIVE! YOU ARE ALIVE!" Ruggie cried when he saw his housewarden finally woke up from the coma after days. You could even see tears in his eyes. Even if the Savannaclaw students seemed to be competing with each other all the time, deep down, you knew they respect and value each other, of course, especially their housewarden.
Leona probably had not expected that from any of his dormmates, especially Ruggie Bucchi, whose eyes could only see the money. If you didn't tell him, he would never know that almost all of his Savannaclaw students burst into tears when they first heard the news that their leader was poisoned and had fallen unconscious.
However, Savannaclaw's heart-warming moment could never last long.
"Oi oi oi, Leona-san, Y/n-chan, don't you think I can't see that? Why are you two... hugging? Shshsh..." Ruggie's lips curved into a mischievous smirk as he asked.
"It's a culture from Sunset Savanna!" You and Leona yelled at almost the same moment. That's the only excuse you could think of, the hugging culture of Sunset Savanna Leona told you back in the Enchanted Forest.
Ruggie seemed a bit confused when he heard your reply. He scratched his head and turned to his dorm head. "Oi Leona-san, there isn't even such-"
"Urusai, Ruggie! You are interrupting my sleep!" Leona immediately stopped Ruggie by cutting off his question. He then pulled the blanket and covered his whole body including his head with it.
You kept silent and kept your eyes on the floor so as not to increase the embarrassment. Your ears were all red and the only thing you wanted was to run out of the room at once.
"Ano..." You stood up from the chair and tucked the hair to the back of your ear, trying to act calm. "Now that Ruggie-senpai is here, I'm sure you will be well-taken care of. If there's no other thing, I am leaving. Bye!" You turned to the exit before you had even finished the sentence, getting ready to leave.
"Herbivore!" You stopped when you heard Leona called you from his quilt. You looked back and saw Leona peeping out from the blanket with an eye.
"Yes...?"
He stopped for a few seconds, before opening his mouth and spoke, "... See ya around..." He uttered before he moved back into the quilt. You were a bit startled and stood there, not knowing how to react.
"Ano... see you later, Ruggie-senpai!" You said and immediately rushed out from the infirmary.
Seeing you leave, Ruggie turned back to his housewarden who was still hiding under the blanket. "Anyway, Leona-san, it's great to see you come back-" Ruggie stopped when he noticed something about his boss.
Leona's tail was out of the blanket. It was swaying slowly, side-to-side. Having been taking care of Leona for years, Ruggie knew exactly how Leona's tail reflect his emotions. If Leona's tail was wagging at a constant fast rate at an angle of around 45 degrees, which was what happening, it meant that Leona was nervous. With that slightly straight-up end of the lion's tail, Ruggie could tell Leona was a little bit pleased in addition to the nervousness.
Smart as Ruggie Bucchi, he could immediately figure out what was going on. It might seem impossible when the thought first came to his mind, but as he thought deeper, everything seemed to make sense.
"Shishishi... Leona-san, didn't think you would come to this day... shhh..." Ruggie teased in his mind, but he still couldn't hold back that iconic laughter.
"What are you laughing at, Ruggie?" He heard Leona's question from the quilt.
"Absolutely nothing, Leona-san! Shshsh..." He replied at once, followed by another silent laughter.
——
"It's great to see you two being safe!" Crowley cried.
Days after Leona woke up from the coma, you two were called to Crowley's office. You two were asked to tell what had happened after you entered the Dark Mirror.
"I got shot by the poison dart with a blowgun, and I passed out." Leona ended his recall after including how you two were chased by the gigantic dog and the Forest Tribe.
Hearing that, Crowley covered his face and faked another cry, "Ohhhh!! This is a disaster! My dearest students being trapped in some strange and weird forest is the last thing I want to see!"
"Just imagine if the journalists and the public know that such thing happened in Night Raven College during my tenure, I-" the headmage stopped and looked at the two of you who were starring at him with a despising look when he found that he had spoke everything in his mind out loud.
"Ahem," he acted calm and cleared his throat, "I mean, my students' safety is with no doubt my priority. However, as smart as Kingscholar-kun and Y/n, I'm sure you both understand that reputation is important to a school, especially when it's a prestigious one like Night Raven College, so..."
"So you want us to keep our mouth shut about this accident? Am I correct, Crowley?" Leona asked while crossing his arms. He always knew what this cunning principal was thinking of, and Crowley's nod proved that he was right.
"Tsk, whatever, as long as it doesn't bother me." Leona rolled his eyes out of annoyance. Thinking of how his family back in Sunset Savanna might rush to NRC and mess around if they found out what had happened to Leona was annoying enough to make him agree with Crowley's request.
"I have no right to disagree I guess." You shrugged. After all, you didn't believe that someone didn't do that on purpose to set you and Leona up. Although Crewel, who was the one that asked you two to go to the Shaftland, was under temporal suspension, you still believe that he had nothing to deal with this accident. You had read a book in the school library before. It mentioned that sometimes even magical artifacts like the Dark Mirror would malfunction for no reason, and there were actual cases before, though it was really rare.
"I have a question, Crowley, by the way." Leona voiced, "How did you discover our location?" It's difficult, almost impossible he might say, to be honest. After all, all magic traces of Leona and the Enchanted Forest itself were eliminated by the magic barrier that surrounded the forest.
"Speaking about that, we were hopeless at first." Crowley recalled, "We had tried all methods to track Kingscholar-kun's magic trace." He explained that it was the universal method when it came to searching for a mage in Twisted Wonderland. However, it didn't work this time.
"All the teachers and I were so desperate, and we tried our best to think of another way out." Crowley continued. "When we were all stuck at the bottleneck and couldn't figure out the next step, a person pointed out that the fact that the magic traces were nowhere to be found might be the key."
"They may be trapped in a place where magic traces are completely eliminated. That was what he said. Then he pointed out that the Enchanted Forest is one of the few places in the world that can do so, according to the myths." Crowley added. "Although using the Dark Mirror was unsafe and full of uncertainty, it's still the only way to get into the Enchanted Forest. Therefore, Crewel-sensei volunteered to lead the crew and entered the Dark Mirror to search for you two." the rest was the history.
You understood everything told by the principal, but there remained a question mark. "Headmage, may I know who is the person you mentioned who figured out where we are?"
Out of expectations, Crowley shook his head and replied, "Unfortunately, Y/n, I cannot tell you."
"Out of unknown personal reasons, that person required us to keep his identity a secret. Just consider him as a unanimous hero." Crowley explained.
Leona who was sitting next to you hissed out of annoyance, "Tsk, dramatic." he then stood up from the chair and stretched along with a small yawn, getting ready to leave. "If you have nothing else to say, I'm leaving," he said and walked towards the wooden door.
With the question remaining in your mind, you nodded to Crowley and followed your upperclassman to leave the headmage office.
When you and Leona left Crowley's office, the sky had already turned yellow, and it was almost sunset. The two of you walked side by side in the corridor when the warm golden sunlight splashed on you.
"Got anything to do?" Leona first broke the silence with a question, while his hands were put in his pocket and eyes were still looking at the front.
You turned to your upperclassman with a bit of confusion, "Not really, why?"
"Follow me." Leona smiled and fastened his pace, and so did you, to catch up with him.
You two traveled through corridors and left the main school building. You then entered the Hall of Mirror and stopped in front of Savannaclaw's entry.
"Why are we going to your dorm?" You asked. Leona didn't answer you. He just held your wrist and walked into the mirror with you. Having the bad experience, you were a bit afraid of the mirror portal, but still, you didn't let go and followed him.
When you opened your eyes, you were already not in the solemn Hall of Chamber, but the wild Savanaclaw dormitory. The sand and desert weren't unfamiliar to you. After all, the school stadium was located in the dorm of Savanaclaw, and being the manager of the Spell Drive Team, it was a place where you went at least once a week.
Savanaclaw was totally different from Ramshackle Dorm. The charm of the savana could always amaze you, and it was even more breathtaking when it was almost dusk. You could feel the soothing breeze gently touch your cheeks and run through your hair. It felt nice.
This time, Leona led you to a way opposite the stadium. You didn't ask where you were heading, but just follow the person in front of you. You two walked past the dormitory building and arrived at a huge rock, which was the side of the Savanaclaw that you had never visited before.
Leona climbed up the rock and reached out a hand, "Be careful." he reminded and implied that you could hold his hand to climb up. You hesitated for a second before you put your hand in Leona's and climbed up the rock.
The wind was a bit stronger on the top of the rock. You followed Leona and came to the higher end of the massive rock. Suffering from acrophobia, you swallowed hard when the saw the height from the ground. You unconsciously grabbed Leona's palm and took a deep breath before you slowly sat down on the edge as Leona did.
He told you that normally, even the Savanclaw students seldom came to this side of the dorm, as it was far away from the main dormitory building. It took a while to walk back, so they rather not come here. "There was a gigantic rock that looked like this back in Sunset Savana." Leona added, "Some called them the Pride Rock."
"What are we doing here, Leona?" You asked. Not even you had noticed that the way you called Leona had changed since you two came back from the Enchanted Forest. You used to call him by his last name, Kingscholar, but it somehow changed into his first name, and you had already gotten used to it before you had even noticed.
"To give you the thank you gift." was all the beastman answered.
The reply made you even more confused. "Th- thank you? For what I should be the one who-"
"For not abandoning me back into the forest." He continued while looking at the tangerine sky.
"No, I should be the one who-"
"Shhh... It's gonna start." Leona stopped you. "Luckily, we're able to arrive in time."
You followed Leona's sight and looked toward the sky. It was not blocked by any buildings. At this position, you could see the whole spectacular view of the burning sky.
A special feature of the Savanaclaw Dorm was that there was always a blue moon hanging in the sky no matter if it was in the morning, noon, or night. You were amazed by that when you first visit their dorm.
During the sunset, the blue crescent moon was still there in the sky dyed yellow and orange. On the other side of the moon, it was the setting sun which was slowly moving down to the horizon.
It was the first time you had seen such a picturesque view in your life. The blue moon and the setting sun are in the same frame with a breathtaking burning sky, especially when the moon was a crescent one, which made the view even more enchanting. You were astonished by this view that didn't even exist in your original world and your eyes couldn't move away from the scenery.
"It's beautiful..." You couldn't help but admire.
Leona, who was sitting beside you moved his eyes from the setting sky to you when he heard your word. He could feel the sudden heat on his face when he saw that smile on your face under the golden setting sunlight, along with the breeze running through your hair.
"You're right... It's beautiful..." Leona mumbled. He slightly widened his eyes when he realized that he had thought out loud. All your attention was on the firing sky and you might never notice that the boy's eyes were on you instead of the sun when he said that.
Yes, it is beautiful... but not the setting sky.
You wrapped your arms around your bending legs and rested your chin on your knees, enjoying a moment of peace and calm.
"Thank you so much, Leona." This time, you were the one who broke the silence first.
Leona kept his sight on the sky. "Not a big deal. I come here often, sometimes for a nap. Guess it doesn't harm me if I share this view with someone else." he replied.
You slightly shook your head. "No, not only for this gift, Leona. Thank you for saving me in the forest." You said. After returning to NRC, you didn't really have a chance or a suitable time to thank him. After all, he risked his own life to save yours, and he was close to death.
A tiny smile appeared on Leona's face. "You don't have to thank me, Herbivore." He replied with a small smirk. "I'd be vexed if you were the one who got hurt."
You couldn't help but wonder what did that mean. Did that mean he would have been annoyed as you'd have been the burden if you got injured? Or did that mean something else...?
You shook your head to throw those thoughts behind your head. You didn't want your overthought to ruin this beautiful moment. He might only be kidding or talking nonsense, just like he always did.
"One last question. Why did you take the darts? You knew they were poisoned, right? You could have died." You asked while looking at the sun. It had almost completely sunk into the horizon.
"Who knows?" Leona, same as you, kept his sight on the sky while answering. "Guess it's my lion instinct."
"Lion instinct? Is there even such a thing?" You questioned.
"Of course. Beastman stuff. You won't understand that." No, and yes. No, as he simply just made that term up. Yes, because even himself didn't understand why he would do that.
"You better not be speaking nonsense, Leona. I fear that you might fail biology if you did so." You joked with laughter.
"You should trust your upperclassman, Herbivore." He replied with a smile.
Today, the Pride Rock in Savanclaw seemed to be a bit more lively and noisier than usual.
——
That night, back in your bedroom in the Ramshackle Dorm, you couldn't help but continuously recall the beautiful scenery that Leona showed you in his dorm. Mostly it's the view that you were thinking of, but also those things that Leona had said. He always liked to say things indirectly, and you always had to guess what he truly meant in his words. It happened all the time during the Spelldrive training, and his teammates always got scolded because they couldn't get what Leona was trying to imply.
"What a subtle man." You sighed.
All of a sudden, you noticed that there was a faint light outside the window. You carefully climbed down from the bed and looked out. You couldn't but widen your eyes when you saw that familiar firefly light slowly accumulating downstairs outside the building. You quickly ran down the stair with your sweater and rushed out the door.
You turned left and came to the spot where you saw the firefly light from your room. A familiar back figure was already standing there, as you had expected.
"Tsunotarou!" You called with a grin.
Hearing that, the boy with horns turned to you. A big smile appeared on his face when he saw you, who he was waiting for.
"It's been a while, Y/n."