I was still deeply asleep when Aika's voice suddenly echoed in my mind:

'Punk?'~~

I groaned and rolled over in my sleeping bag. But then her voice came again.

'How long do you plan to sleep for?'~~

I mumbled some nonsense but didn't give a definite response. Surprisingly, she let me be this time and didn't bother me anymore.

A few minutes... or hours, I wasn't sure... passed, and then my eyes finally fluttered open.

I slowly, groggily sat upright. My long hair was a tangled mess and looked completely dull. Even my eyes had dark circles under them, as if I had not slept in days.

'Why do I always feel like this after using Chrysalis on another person?' I thought, rubbing my temples as if that would ease the slight headache I was feeling. Then I rubbed my face for a moment before smoothing out my hair and tying it back.

At that moment, I heard Aika's teasing voice beside me, "You look like shit."

I turned to look at the raven that had just landed on my shoulder, then I replied flatly, "I feel like it, too."

I stretched, and as I did, I could feel aches everywhere. They were especially bad in my neck, my lower back, and my shoulders.

"I need a full-body massage…" I muttered as I rubbed the back of my neck.

…Then a naughty thought suddenly occurred to me, and I snapped my gaze to Aika. The corner of my lips curled up as I asked, "Hey, would you mind giving me a full-body ma—"

I didn't even get to finish before she cawed, flapped her wings, and immediately flew off into the sky.

"Shucks." I muttered as I looked away from the raven hovering above. Then I immediately began crawling over to the dying embers of the campfire. "Gosh, I need a hot drink."

'…Maybe a cup of coffee?'

I bent down and began blowing air softly into the gray ash, trying to coax a flame out of the few orange coals left at the bottom.

The other members of the party had been chatting and getting acquainted with Audrey a few meters away near the stream.

Right at that moment, Dion's voice drew my attention. "Oh, you are finally awake."

I slowly lifted my ash-streaked face to Dion and the others.

Then he spoke again. "Are you okay? You honestly look like horse shit. Plus, we all tried to wake you, but you wouldn't budge. It should be already past noon by now."

The only thing I heard was "past noon," and when I heard that, I frowned in confusion.

'Past noon?'

At that moment, a small screen appeared in my vision, displaying the time:

[02:37 p.m.]

I gasped with wide eyes.

Shit!

We had planned to reach the puppeteer's grove today.

My gaze shifted to a map that appeared beside the small screen upon command. After studying it for only a few seconds, I looked back to the group.

"We should be able to make it to the Puppeeter's Grove if we leave now."

Ino nodded in confirmation, but her expression immediately shifted to one of concern. "We can, but... are you sure you're okay for the journey? You look like you've been through a meat grinder."

I brushed the ash off my hands and stood up. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Ino gave me a skeptical look and sighed. "Alright then. We can leave after you have had something to eat. We've all already eaten, so I'll quickly make something for you."

She nodded to the others, then returned to the edge of the campfire, quickly set it up and began cooking the remainder of the rabbit that she had set aside earlier while I was still sleeping.

While she busied herself with the meal, the others continued their conversation with Audrey.

I walked over to the stream to wash my face with the water.

As I stared at my reflection in the water, I couldn't help but hear Dion continuing his stories, doing his best to make himself look good in front of Audrey:

"…and so, we finally reached the top of those mountains over there," he said, gesturing vaguely toward the desert. "As soon as we got there, these rabbit creatures suddenly swarmed us from every direction. But we didn't panic, mostly because I was there. I just swung my spear. Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh... and I cut both rabbits in half, but then they immediately split into four rabbits! Everyone else was terrified, but then I quickly slashed again. I'm telling you, it was a bloody mess."

He kept mimicking the movements of a spear with his hands as he spoke.

Audrey kept nodding sheepishly and fidgeting with the hem of her sleeve as she murmured, "Is that so?"

"Of course," Dion said, puffing out his chest. "I'm literally carrying this entire party on my back, you know. What would these bastards do without me?"

I chuckled and splashed the cold water onto my face, trying to block out his bragging. He went on to fill her in on the rest of our journey, including the ordeal with Yami, though he didn't mention anything about his brother.

While he was still talking, I left them by the water and went back to the campfire to eat, as Ino had finished cooking the rabbit.

It was a full rabbit and my appetite at the moment was really large, so I didn't waste any time digging in.

While I was eating, I noticed Aika drop into her human form, after which she began boiling something on the fire. I didn't pay much attention to her since I was feeling so famished, and so I kept stuffing my mouth like a starved child.

I felt slightly better after the large meal, though a dull headache was still lingering behind my eyes. At that moment, a hand reached out to me with a cup of coffee.

"I noticed that you needed some coffee," Aika said in a voice that sounded a bit softer than usual.

Her face still had her usual expressionless look that made her hard to read.

"Thanks…" I smiled and reached out to take the cup from her, after which Aika tucked her hair behind her ear, turned, and walked away without saying anything.

I watched her go for a second before looking down at the cup. The steam rising from it hit my face, and the bitter, familiar scent was exactly what I needed.

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