Valerie and Alissa went to each of his sides, took up his arms on their shoulders and supported him.
They could clearly tell that even though he was on his feet and was able to walk, he was barely able to do so.
His lethargic movement, trembling lower limbs, bent posture and low tone of voice all gave out what he was really feeling and how much pain he was hiding behind that tough exterior.
So when they moved forward to support him, there was not an ounce of rejection or false bravado like: "I am fine, you don't need to trouble yourself."
He silently nodded towards the two of them which they took as gratitude for understanding his situation.
Valerie and Alissa took him to the infirmary to get him treated for the physical and mental injuries he suffered during the match.
Contrary to Alissa, Valerie was not just doing this because she was worried about Zavier.
She was doing this mainly to relieve the guilt that she felt for bringing this harm onto him.
Although she had never intended for him to get hurt, it had to be known that she was responsible for dragging him into this situation.
Knowing Zavier, he would never have participated in such a match unless he was forced to do so by Valerie. Someone who was able to hide himself for such a long time, someone who was able to bear the stigma of being a waste for so long would definitely not want to be out in the open without any reason.
But instead of understanding his reasons, Valerie had pushed him out in the open and then this had happened. Her conscience would not have let her sleep if she didn't do something to help him.
Their reasons were different but both the girls in their own way were worried about Zavier and were remorseful of the fact that they couldn't do anything to help the target of their worries.
When a loved one is in trouble, you would sometimes wish that it would have been better if you could have taken their place. Then it would have all been rainbows and unicorns.
But they forget the one fact that the situation would have just been reversed had they been in the place of their loved ones.
Wouldn't their loved ones wish for the same?
Alissa was having the same thoughts all the way to the infirmary.
She thought that it would have been better if she could have taken his place and gotten injured.
She even allowed some shameful thoughts in her head: "How good it would have been if Zavier carried her off to the infirmary like this and how would it feel if he worried about her the same way? Wouldn't she have died of happiness?"
But she didn't understand that Zavier would have felt the same way she had been feeling, had he been in her place.
Both of the girls supported him until they were directed to a bed in the school infirmary by the school nurse.
They carefully helped him sit on the bed and gathered around him to see if he was any more injured than they already knew.
At this point, Nadia who had watched the fight in the playground previously and was worried out of her wits for Zavier, rushed into the infirmary with an almost hysterical look.
After carefully checking all around, Valerie directed both Alissa and Nadia to gather to one side rather than gathering around him in a circle.
She said that they needed to give Zavier some breathing space and some space for the nurse to check on him.
Valerie seemed calm and composed at the moment but her fingers that she had hidden behind her back couldn't stop trembling. She was the most worried out of all of them after all she thought of herself as the responsible party that had harmed Zavier.
But being the oldest on scene, she had to take control. She had to be calm and more composed than anyone else so they wouldn't panic.
At this moment she felt how terrible it was; not being an adult and yet having to be one. People tend to forget that she might have been a teacher in the school but she was only twenty years old; not more than two years older than her own students.
Zavier was feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment.
Although the injuries caused him pain, they could not have been worse than what he had gone through in his past life.
He had already felt all the pain, there was in the world, lying on a lonely bed in a hospital ward with no one to worry for him and no one to care for him but the hospital staff.
Once again he had come to a hospital but this time he felt that the experience wasn't quite bad, he almost felt pure bliss this time.
Two beauties supported him and practically carried him off to the infirmary. Third had rushed in because of how worried she was.
All were now gathered around him looking for any injury they didn't know about, worrying and gushing all over him to look for any trivial damage that might have remained untreated.
"What more could a man want from his life?"
But life was not all about the good things. Sometimes you needed to take care of others despite how good it felt to have them take care of you.
"Both of you should go back to your classes. I can heal on my own. You don't have to stay here with me."
Valerie thought that it seemed quite reasonable.
"But you need someone to look after you at least until you get better. What if you need something and nobody is here?"
Although Valerie was quite worried and wanted to show her concern, her voice remained stoic and emotionless which hid the overflowing guilt that was chewing her from the inside out.
She wanted to stay to take care of him because he had suffered these injuries because of her whims.
Even she herself didn't think that the feelings she had at the moment were not normal. She was taking the initiative to stay close to Zavier when she knew that he would be cared for in the infirmary. She was feeling this dull pain at the back of her chest when she looked at the fatigued face of Zavier. She wanted to stay until he got better and could move about again.
But all this, she contributed to the guilt that she was feeling. She never for a moment took time to think that what she was feeling might not have been guilt but something else.
"It's ok, Alissa can stay with me. You two can go back now."
While Nadia was happy that Zavier was all right, Valerie cast a resentful glare at Zavier for not understanding her good intentions.
Zavier felt that she was blaming him for making her lose face and the bet with Calista in front of the whole school.
He was about to say something when someone else ran into the infirmary that was already crowded.
It was someone whose arrival Zavier would never have been able to anticipate. It was none other than Kacie, his elder cousin who had been apathetic to him for as long as he had known her.
Other than some perfunctory words everyday, they hardly ever talked to each other. Whenever they did talk, it was very formal and minimal words were used to get the meaning across.
Therefore, he could have never imagined that Kacie would have come to see him when he was injured and lying in the infirmary.
To him, only Nadia and Alissa had come here because they had a good relationship with him and were genuinely worried for him.
Valerie was only here because she was the teacher responsible for him and not because she was worried for her nephew, as evident from her daily behavior with him.
The only one he was unsure about was Kacie. He didn't know why she would come here at this time. He kept thinking that maybe he had misunderstood her until now and their relationship was not as dry and apathetic as he remembered.
Kacie saw the other girls around Zavier and a fiery color passed through her eyes that went unnoticed by the rest of the girls and Zavier himself.
She avoided talking to Zavier directly but looked him over from top to bottom.
"Where are his injuries? Are they internal?"
This question was intended for Aunt Valerie and not for him.
"Most of his injuries have healed after the nurse treated them. He will be fine as long as he takes sufficient rest."
Zavier felt that somehow it was because of the other girls in the room that Kacie had restrained herself.
A thought caught a hold of his mind. Maybe Kacie is very shy and he had been misinterpreting her.
Otherwise why would she avoid talking to him directly, in front of others.
Their relationship had always been that of normal kins according to what Zavier thought. But even then she had never been this quiet. She would have at least offered some form of formal greeting to a person in recovery.
Zavier unconsciously restrained himself from showing the smirk that was gradually showing itself on his face. He had never known this cute side of Kacie.
She was definitely worried about him from the way that she had arrived but was reluctant to say anything in front of the others.
As per his wishes, Valerie didn't stay to bother him anymore and herded the pair of girls out of the room. Only Alissa was left behind to take care of Zavier.
Nadia kept looking back in an attempt to force Zavier to allow her to stay back. But to her disappointment Zavier just smiled and shooed her away.
Nadia stomped her way out in anger while Valerie smiled watching her antics.
Valerie instructed Nadia and Kacie to go back to their respective classes. She herself didn't move for a while. She was thinking of a way to go back inside but didn't even know why.
She came up with some weird ideas but rejected all of them as they came. She eventually shook her head in disappointment and hurried off in the direction of the class that she was supposed to be teaching at that moment.
While there was worry and guilt laced with something unknown in someone's heart who was busy waiting outside the infirmary ward.
Something similar was brewing on Alissa's side as well. Alissa was steeped in guilt and regret. For the first time in her life she felt that she was truly useless.
Despite having been bullied all her life, and being called out for being useless in front of crowds, she had never felt truly useless. She had never given any worth to their harsh words. Yet, today she had come to know how close to the truth those words had been.
She hadn't been able to help the person that was her closest friend and ally.
The person who had encouraged her to stay in the school and persevere; the person who had stood up for her when she was being bullied; the person who was the only magic in her world devoid of all magic; the only person that was dear to her in the whole school had gotten hurt and she had looked on like a spectator.
The feeling of uselessness that she had felt at that moment was something that she might never be able to wash away. Alissa vowed to herself that she would never let something like that happen ever again.
She had a burning desire to get stronger and protect the person that was closest to her. She wanted to protect Zavier with her own power.
"If only I knew how to use magic, I would have never let you take that girl on. I would have challenged her myself. Then this situation would not have happened at all."
Before she knew it, she had uttered out loud what she had been thinking on the inside. She felt incomparably embarrassed by the fact that she had unintentionally revealed her thoughts to Zavier.
But Zavier only smiled in return and replied:
"Then the situation would have been reversed and I would be sitting where you are and you would be lying in my place. I would rather have this situation than that one."
Even if Shiranui didn't look like it because of how easily Zavier had handled her, she was pretty powerful.
"Hmph…if I could sense magic, I would have been far better."
Both of them burst into laughter and couldn't stop for a while.
Zavier knew that Alissa was only trying to cover up her real thoughts with a joke.
Zavier once again felt how incredibly kind a girl she was.
"Don't worry. Didn't I tell you that I would teach you how to use magic? Don't you believe me?"
Alissa let out a smile that could have outshone the starry sky in the night.
"Of course, I believe you."
Zavier nodded in approval as if he liked the answer.
"Wait for me to recover from my injuries. Then I will fulfil my promise to you, okay?"
"Mmmh"
Alissa let out a small voice like an excited little girl.
She couldn't wait to learn from Zavier. On the one hand, she wanted to learn magic to protect him, and on the other hand she was incredibly ecstatic that she had gotten an opportunity to learn from Zavier.