"Raj, tell me what exactly happened here," Aryan demanded, his visage serious.

I opened my mouth to speak, but before a word could leave my lips, another voice cut in.

"Let him rest for a moment. Just look at his condition," Sister Aisha said, who was sitting in the back seat with Jasmine sleeping soundly in her lap.

I didn't know she had also come, as she must have moved to where Jasmine was lying and brought her inside the car.

"No, I'm completely fine, Sister Aisha," I said, giving her an assuring look before continuing. "When we entered the Pandeshwar Temple, a D-Ranked gate suddenly appeared inside the temple's boundary and forcefully pulled us inside. So, being excited about the gate, I decided to venture in and..."

My brother trusted me deeply, and I also didn't like lying to him, so I explained everything about how I wiped out the entire gate myself with the help of Shinku no Sabi.

My explanation made Sister Aisha and Aryan gape, their jaws almost falling to the car's floor.

"You are telling me that you wiped out a D-Rank gate alone after waking from unconsciousness just fifteen days ago?" Aryan mumbled, completely dumbfounded.

"Brother Raj, are you lying to us to escape punishment?" Sister Aisha asked, looking at me with suspicious eyes.

"I swear on Maa's name that I cleared the gate alone!" I announced, immediately clearing their suspicion.

Both of them knew that I would never lie on Maa's name, so their expressions only became more baffled at my ridiculous explanation.

"I'm sure of it now. That rank detection device was definitely malfunctioning. I should have realized it when it showed your mana at E-Rank even though you are a blessed awakener," Aryan sighed, as the faulty device was the only logical explanation he could come up with.

Well, the ranking device was completely fine, but if I had told him that, he might have fainted from shock, so I decided to let it be.

When their emotions finally settled, I continued my explanation and told them how Rudra confronted us outside the gate, every word he said, the clash that occurred between us, and how Saya saved my life.

This time, instead of shocked expressions, both Sister Aisha and Aryan listened silently, their faces darkened as they suppressed the raw fury inside.

"I don't want to doubt your words, Brother Raj. But if it really happened as you said, then how are you completely uninjured?" Sister Aisha asked, her eyes scanning my crimson yet healed body.

"I was about to come to that part, Sister Aisha," I said as I told them about the appearance of the mysterious sage.

"A sage who could teleport two S-Ranks with a wave of his hand and heal the injuries with a mere touch… Even I'm having a hard time believing that," Aryan murmured, his eyebrow raised in suspicion.

Before I could insist that they believe me, another unexpected voice spoke.

"He is telling the truth!"

Aryan slammed his foot on the brake, instantly stopping the Wrangler, as everyone's faces turned toward the trunk of the car from where the voice had come.

The back door of the car opened with a click, and from inside, Saya crawled out.

"Saya!?" Both Sister Aisha and Aryan exclaimed, their eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

"What were you doing there?" Sister Aisha asked, quickly opening the door to let her in.

"I would also like to know that," Saya sighed, holding her head as she came inside. "As Raj said, after that sage teleported me, I found myself in the trunk of this car and couldn't move until now."

While Sister Aisha and Aryan were once again utterly dumbfounded, realizing that there existed someone against whom even S-Rank awakeners were like mere ants, I spoke up, turning around from the driver's seat.

"How have you been, Saya?"

"I'm good," she replied, tucking her hair behind her ears before continuing in a low voice. "Thanks for protecting me twice that day."

"Don't thank me. Aren't we friends?" I chuckled, a smile tugging at my face.

"And what do you mean by twice?" I asked, confused.

"You already forgot? First, you protected me with your body when that monster destroyed the house, and you protected me again by jump—"

Her lips trembled slightly as the memories of that day resurfaced, and she couldn't continue.

"Then I should also thank you for protecting me by stabbing the knife into his arm when he was about to cut me down," I replied with a soft smile. "You were very brave that day."

She stared at me for a few seconds, a faint redness appearing on her cheeks.

"Th-that means you were really attacked by a monster that day!?" Both Sister Aisha and Aryan exclaimed again.

The continuous shocks and surprises had completely turned their heads upside down.

"So you really didn't believe our words, Mr. Aryan," Saya frowned, clearly offended.

"Well… the story was too ridiculous to believe after all. But wait a minute!" Aryan suddenly shouted, turning to me.

"That means your heart was truly pierced by the sword!? How in the world did you survive—"

Smack!

A loud punch landed on Aryan's head, instantly forming a lump.

"Is this what you should be asking your brother!?" Sister Aisha snapped, steam almost rising from her fist.

"Aghh! It hurts!" Aryan muttered, clutching his head.

Seeing him get beaten up, both Saya and I burst into laughter, not even trying to hold it in.

"I knew you would still be the same as back then," I said, a wide, uncontrollable smile spreading across my face.

"There were all kinds of rumors about you circulating on the internet, but I didn't believe a single one."

Another wave of blush spread across her face, even redder than before, but her expression quickly turned serious.

"I cannot stay here any longer," she said hastily, opening the car door.

"And about those rumors… they are all true!"

She didn't give me a chance to say anything and suddenly jumped off the flyover.

I quickly opened the door and rushed to the edge of the road, but when I reached there, she was already gone.

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