Tenma would wake up coughing up a large amount of water, taking breaths of air to avoid drowning.
With teary eyes, he tried to make out his surroundings, standing up carefully.
However, he would bump into someone behind him, turning to see.
It was Dave. He was lying next to him, not breathing and completely soaked.
Tenma began to worry again, looking around trying to understand where they were even.
Everything was dark, if it weren't for the moonlight bouncing off a spring. Gradually, feeling the ground, he noticed he was in a rocky place. Most likely, a cave.
But he didn't have time for that, but to try to save the life of the squirrel that helped him escape danger before. So he tried to give improvised CPR to the squirrel's chest.
He tried shaking her, but it didn't seem to help at all.
["She's dead. Let it go."]
The angel would appear again in front of him, this time sitting on a rock while looking at the canine with the squirrel on the ground.
"This... this is still a dream then, right?"
["I'm sorry to say, but no."]
"But I see you. I clearly see you, you're just trapped in my mind, right? So this is just another dream. Another nightmare."
Tenma was exhausted from being surrounded by so many deaths. His breathing became labored as he saw the squirrel's corpse. Finally realizing, that she was already cold.
["Both drowned. I saved you for the sake of both, but I couldn't do anything for your friend there."]
"He wasn't even my friend, it's just that... even if he was just a simple squirrel..."
The angel stared at the pup, who would lift his head, crying.
"Seriously, seriously, I'm tired of this new life."
["Miss Rotenmeyer is still waiting for you, don't you plan to go find her?"]
"She'll think I'm still with Eva. And, on the other hand, Eva must think I hate her."
["But wasn't that what you thought?"]
"I don't know. I don't hate her... I'm just... terrified. I just run away or I'm used or eaten. I'm supposed to be a puppy, a fragile animal. I'm immortal, but it's a bitter thing that I only have it to keep dying all the time."
The pup curled up into a ball, taking his own tail, staying on the cold ground.
"I'm... fragile. I always have been..."
The silence would become more present with the passing of time in that place.
The angel would start pacing back and forth, while the pup wouldn't move from beside the squirrel despite the angel's words.
The truth was that seeing the boy like this weighed heavily on the angel. He couldn't just leave him alone, especially since he had already tried and found himself immobilized within 5 meters of him. The only difference now was that he could see him.
["!!!!!"]
["That's it!"]
The pup would lower his head, but lifted an ear upon hearing the angel's shout.
["Now you can see me, right?!"]
Tenma would raise his head, looking at the angel, who was cheering in front of him. He nodded, and the angel clapped her hands.
["You've obtained a unique ability! I'm sure no one else can see us. We are a different kind, I'm an ancestral being, who doesn't even belong to this plane."]
"And what... what's your point?" —Tenma asked, still feeling down.
["What decision did you make before waking up?"]
"I decided to stay alone. I don't have enough to accept a peaceful life... or a life of trouble."
["But what if you stopped being so weak, quickly?"]
The angel's words caught the attention of the pup, who would stand up somewhat confused.
["The fact that you can see me now must have something to do with something you did. Some mysterious achievement, like surviving death most likely. Getting abilities that make you strong costs millions of points, something we know you couldn't achieve. But if you gain abilities through achievements, even you could be the strongest and life wouldn't be tough on you anymore, don't you think?!"]
Tenma's eyes sparkled, walking towards the angel.
"And why am I supposed to want to be so strong?"
["Not just to survive, think about it. There might even be an ability that takes you back to your old world. Don't you think? And in passing, I would return to heaven."]
The pup recalled memories of when he had arrived in heaven, just before he died rescued by the angel.
"You... Do you want to go back there? Wasn't it all chaos? By the way, what was...?"
["That's exactly why! We can't waste time. Both you and I have a different world we want to go to. And I'm attached to you, and you to me. If we work as a team, we can do it."]
Level up, obtain abilities, powers... All of that was mere fantasy.
Fantasy that was now his reality.
Fantasy that might just free him from everything that was happening to him.
The angel's words seemed coherent, and he conveyed great confidence in himself.
So he accepted.
"I'll go back to my world."
The angel smiled, congratulating the pup's decision.
"But, if not before, revive everyone I've seen die. If I can't achieve that, then I won't believe there's an ability that can take me back to my old world."
["Let's do our best to achieve it."]
Said and done, having bid farewell to the squirrel's corpse, Tenma took a deep breath and sighed.
"Wait, how do I get out of here anyway?"