"I thought you would come home next week, Prof," said Daniel, who had forced a smile. Seeing the tall, well-groomed body in front of him had raised a lot of hope in his heart.
So far only Prof. Ian the one who wanted to listen to Daniel's babble about the monster world that always frightened him. And from Prof. Ian, Daniel finally had a lot of courage to go this far.
When Daniel thought that Prof. Ian would be away for a long time because he had to return to his hometown, which certainly made Daniel sad, not to mention when all the series of terrible events that had happened to him lately, with no one to believe him even including the guardian who had taken care of him since he was a child. Daniel was always thought of as crazy, full of delusions, and insane. Only Prof. Ian dared to come forward to give his trust to Daniel.
Behind his glasses, Prof. Ian smiled softly. "Like what Mery said, I postponed my trip. I don't know why either. Maybe because one of my students is in danger. "
In one gentle movement, Prof. Ian seemed to swing slowly to sit on a chair not far from the bed where Daniel was lying. At that time Daniel felt an oddity. His eyes found several holographic silhouettes around Prof. Ian's face, even though it was very thin and didn't seem real. There was some black and quite dense energy appearing, all of which was happening very quickly.
Daniel held his head, feeling that his eyes were starting to go too far.
"Are you all right, Dan? Is your head dizzy? Shall I get Mery? " Prof. Ian bargained in a slightly panicked voice. As he spoke Daniel was able to smell a very thin burnt smell.
Daniel's eyes, which were now twitching, found a bright red pen cap that had now slipped behind Prof. Ian. So far, Prof. Ian had never worn anything with flashy colors considering his somewhat shy personality even at the age of almost forty. And somehow the red color reminded him of something.
"I'm fine, Prof." Daniel looked up to examine Prof. Ian's face.
Prof. Ian now breathed a sigh of relief and was showing his usual signs. When Daniel's gaze hit the figure of Prof. Ian, the hologram that had covered his face had completely disappeared, and the smell of the burnt twig had started to fade.
At that time Daniel thought that maybe his sensitivity was being disturbed considering how great the battle last night was, even though in the end it all left a mystery. If Prof. Ian who was in front of him was not the real Prof. Ian, for sure Daniel would know before Prof. Ian even approached him and sits beside Daniel. Daniel still quite trusted his sensitivity, which he never knew where it came from.
Prof. Ian sighed. Her gray irises moved indeterminately. "What happened, Dan? Why are you in the middle of the forest with such chaos? When I found you I thought you were dead. "
Daniel's suspicious eyes still dominate. No matter how hard Daniel tried not to suspect his teacher, then with that strong impulse, it said that Prof. Ian in front of him is a fake. Therefore Daniel wanted to give some questions to test it.
"How did you know that I was in the forest, Prof?"
"I went through the road as usual and saw Gavin and his friends scurry from the direction of the forest. So I went there to check. I didn't expect to find you, but yeah, it turns out the opposite happened."
"I met a monster this morning." Daniel peeked slowly to see the response from Prof. Ian's face. If the man beside Daniel was the real teacher, then Prof. Ian would not give an exaggerated response, but that didn't mean he will just ignore Daniel. The real Prod. Ian would keep digging for information to find out what action he needed to take on Daniel next. At least that was what Daniel knew.
"Monster? Again?" Prof. Ian frowned softly. Her shoulders, which had been tense before, were now slightly limp, and he began to slowly massage his forehead. "Where did you find him?" Prof. Ian's tone of voice remained calm, the same as always. Was this proof that Daniel was just mistaken?
"In the forest. He's disguised as a citizen of the city, just like what I've been telling you all this time, Prof. Do you remember who the townspeople were? " A little nervous, Daniel asked. This might be the final question given by Daniel to Prof. Ian he suspected because monsters that ate humans and disguised themselves as victims would usually pretend to be absent-minded and amnesia. So if Prof. Ian suddenly liked that, then….
"I do not remember. You never even revealed his identity to me. Sometimes I wonder if you believe me, Dan." Prof. Ian chuckled as he said this, and he found his student now breathing freely.
Thankfully, it turned out that he was indeed the real Prof. Ian, so thought Daniel.
"I'm just teasing you, Prof. I want to see how you look when you are angry. " Daniel laughed. As he laughed the pain in his chest struck again. At that time he just remembered that there was pain stored in him, which had been distracted because of the arrival of the best teacher in his school.
Prof. Ian came over and tried to check on Daniel's condition. "Your chest hurts again? What happened? Do you need topical oil? "
Daniel also opened his shirt, which was a short-sleeved shirt with three buttons. At that time, Daniel wanted to talk about the pain he was experiencing since a monster ate him last night. However, after Daniel managed to take off his shirt, he was shocked when he saw that all the cuts and bruises, including the gaping hole in his chest, had been completely closed.
Now the skin was completely healthy, even very smooth as if it had never been scratched by anything before.
"There was a wound on my chest, very big and painful," complained Daniel. He tried to check repeatedly, but still, there was no trace he could feel. When looking up and looking at Pof. Ian somehow Daniel saw an expression of disappointment and anger in it. Daniel rolled his eyes again and found that Prof. Ian now has his usual gentle expression.
"Maybe you're just exhausted, Dan. I'll take you to the doctor if you want. I heard that your uncle is not at home today, so I can help you to go to the doctor, "said Prof. Ian as his body was already standing. His gray trousers were slightly bent and wrinkled.
"I will consider it, Prof, thank you."
"Are you going to class now? Soon is my class. If you want to go there together…. " Prof. Ian nodded at the exit. When he did so, the shadow and silhouette of Daniel's father appeared again. In such conditions, Daniel would be very weak and vulnerable in judging someone.
"Of course, Prof. Let's go there now! "
They walked through the classroom corridor to get to Daniel's class. Before the two of them could reach the intended room, Prof. Ian paused for a moment at a wave of a teacher who needed his help.
Prof. Ian asked Daniel to walk first, so he obeyed. Along the way, his mind was preoccupied with many things including how he could survive the fake Mr. Parkin this morning.
If he remembered all these events were as the incident when Daniel survived the monster twig last night, the only difference that Daniel did not find a boy with transparent eyes before he was unconscious.
The classroom was already in front of him. Daniel immediately went in and found dozens of lumps of paper flying towards him and beating him non-stop. Not far from his stand, there was a boy with glasses curled up and trying to avoid the throw of the paper.
As all the throwing stopped, Daniel heard Gavin speak, "Oh, there he is the Storm. You have finally found your soulmate, Puppy! "
Daniel looked up to see who Gavin meant by Puppy. It turned out that he was a boy who had joined Daniel for a while to get attacks from all his classmates.
The bespectacled boy turned trembling to Daniel. The silhouette of his eyes is unfamiliar but also looks familiar at the same time.
"Dan, why are you still standing here?" Prof. Ian came from behind Daniel's back. His eyes suddenly widened when he found the classroom was already filled with lumps of paper. And his eyes grew bigger when he saw a child with glasses now standing fearfully in the classroom.
"Sam, come back to sit down," softly Prof. Ian then nodded.
The confusion hit Daniel harder because he did not know who Sam was. But strangely everyone in the class, including Prof. Ian, liked knowing Sam even more than they knew Daniel.
***