I woke up in my bedroom bed, with a tube attached to my forearm, and with Hel sitting in a chair next to me, dozing with her head and arms resting on the edge of the bed.
'W-what happened?'
I was dazed, my mind was clear, but in the negative, I couldn't think, I couldn't remember what had happened.
'But wasn't I taking Hel to base ... what happened next?'
I felt a pang in my neck, I tried to feel if I had a scar, but nothing.
'Should I wake her up?'
At that moment, the door to my room opened and Ri entered.
"Oh, you finally woke up…"
"W-What happened?"
"Mmh? Do not you remember?"
I shook my head no.
"How long have I slept?"
"*** days, actually your body only recovered after *** ***, however for some reason you didn't wake up… you made me very worried… You made us worry…"
She said looking at Hel.
"What happened ... was I defeated?"
Ri approached me, taking care not to wake Hel. She activated a device that showed what had happened in a holographic way.
'That's me?!...'
"AHf!"
When I saw how I was "dead" I felt a very strong pain in my neck. That scream woke Hel.
"ZETO!"
Hel hugged me, in addition to the neck, I did not feel any other pain, and, probably, even the pain I felt in my neck was nothing more than psychological pain.
"So I'm dead ..."
I did not know what to think about it, at that moment I felt a sensation that I had never experienced before, deep down my neck had been pierced by a sword, and, despite this, I was still alive.
"Ri… she doesn't seem to be fine yet…"
"Mmh? Well, it's normal, after all our medicine is certainly very advanced, but it cannot heal the damage to the psyche and soul anyway... "
" Look, I'm fine, eh ... "
The two looked at me worried.
"So why are you talking to yourself?"
The faces of the two disappeared.
"EH ?!"
"Are you still asleep?... Wake up, or you'll be late for s..."
The voice was faint, distant, but sweet, familiar.
I opened my eyes, and now I was in a glass capsule, immersed in a clear liquid denser than water. Even "here" my neck hurt a little, but less than in the dream.
I saw on my right, a little lower than me, two people, one was familiar: it was Ri; the other had a white leather jacket and tentacles for hair, presumably some kind of doctor.
'Could she be the real one now?'
She saw that I had opened my eyes and pointed a finger at me, now the other person saw me too and approached a machine that was just below me.
After a while, slowly, the dense substance in which I was immersed was sucked away, and I was teleported out of there.
Ri walked up to me, I was completely naked, which made me very embarrassed.
"Oh, right, your clothes ..." said the slimy-haired guy.
After a while, the clothes appeared on me.
"Ri ... You're the real one, right?"
"Mmh? What do you mean?"
"I-It doesn't matter ..."
"You know Zeto ... you really risked a lot this time," she said in a worried tone "but ... I'm really happy to be your manager ... you know, every time you surprise me ... even if sometimes in a negative way ..."
'She still has a little bit of it with me for that story ... well, how to blame her ...'
"Ah, right ... congratulations on being promoted to Tier"
"W-Wh? For real?"
"Yes, now you are in the Magnolia Tier ..."
"..."
I was speechless with happiness, both because I was getting closer to my goal, and because, well, winning is always nice.
"How far did I get in the standings ... and also Hel ...?"
"You finished 2nd, and Hel… the one you teamed up with, right? Hmm, she arrived, if I'm not mistaken, 4th… "
" She is now in the Magnolia Tier too" She added.
We then talked a little about the event in general. Apparently, I was unconscious for six days, mostly due to psychological problems; I could see that she was treating me with greater kindness than usual, perhaps because she was happy too, perhaps because my victory is also her work victory, or perhaps she was aware that I hadn't quite recovered yet.
While we were talking, a pang began to form in my head, a pain that throbbed and grew more and more, I began to involuntarily "see" images of the future, confused, I could not slow down this continuous roll of information, my brain couldn't process them, pain, pain pain, blue, red, yellow, white, smiles, fear, death, blackout.
I fell to the ground in a faint, amid the worried voices of Ri and the Doctor.
[Top 5 Ranking: Survival Event: Laurel Tier
1o: Hariri with 816 pt
2o: Zeto with 813 pt
3o: Pak with 712 pt
4o: Hel with 648 pt
5o: Bina with 633 pt]