Ray was led into a room with a long table filled with food by Maria and Harry. It was the first time Ray had seen food again since the last time he had dinner with Jimmy and the others. That dinner together made Ray's heart happy, even though it was disrupted by the black-robed people who wanted the heroes dead.
The hunger made Ray's stomach rumble and tremble. He suppressed the pain to wait for the food to be served to him. Seeing Maria looking worried about him made Ray want to be spoiled.
"Ray... Are you okay? I've cooked some food, hurry up and eat to get better."
As Ray expected, he was treated like a king. Even though the treatment given to him was actually out of pity, he didn't care.
Ray was too lazy to do anything, and he still wasn't sure if this was not a dream. The peaceful situation around him didn't make him comfortable, but rather made him feel more restless.
Anxiety attacked him and made him constantly break out in cold sweat. Mixed with the sweat produced from the fever he was experiencing, his physical condition worsened.
Ray tried to eat with his own hands and slowly lifted the bowl in front of him. He looked at the food carefully and realized that it was a soup. He also realized that it was a soup. The reflection of his face appeared on the surface of the soup in his plate, allowing him to see his own face.
Slowly, his own face that was faintly reflected in the soup turned into the shadow of someone he knew. The shadow that appeared there was the class president, someone who often bossed around his classmates.
Seeing this strangeness made Ray confused and asked, "Where is the class president?"
Harry, who was sitting next to him, turned to Ray, who was staring at the bowl he was holding. He answered, "Why are you asking about him? He's still there."
"There? What do you mean by there?"
"Do you still remember the place where we first came to this world?"
"The place Elaina called us?"
"Elaina? Who's that? The one who called us in this world is a princess."
"Oh yeah, I mean that."
Harry looked at Ray with suspicion in his heart. But he sighed and continued his words, restraining himself from asking other questions, "The class president is still there to protect the others."
Ray slowly began to understand the situation, and he asked with doubt, "How many days have passed since that day?"
Without any doubt in his heart, Harry answered, "You mean since the first time we came to this world? Well... It's been 5 days since our journey started, and we've been here for 3 days. So, 8 days..."
Ray regretted asking because now he knew something he didn't want to hear. In an instant, he realized that once again, he had failed to save that kingdom.
But behind that, Ray felt happy. Because this time, he succeeded in not getting caught in that circle of death. But the guilt and his desire to save that kingdom still lingered in his heart.
In the midst of wanting to escape, he failed at that moment and ended tragically. In the midst of wanting to save, he failed because of his own foolishness. And now, when Ray wanted to fix his mistakes from his own foolishness, he failed because of the situation unknown to himself.
Harry's explanation also made Ray realize that he was currently hallucinating. The evidence was right in front of him, he saw his own reflection in the soup turning into his class president.
The class president smiled while spitting out blood from his mouth. The red liquid reminded Ray of his bad memories. He remembered the tragic fate of the class president right in front of his own eyes. It made him feel nauseous and want to vomit right then and there.
Ray panicked and screamed while throwing the bowl in front of him into the air. He moved backward, away from his original seat.
The soup in his plate spilled on the floor, along with the shattered bowl that was also thrown earlier.
"Ray, are you okay? What's wrong? Why did you suddenly act like this? Ray?..."
Maria looked panicked and helped Ray sit back in a clean seat. She left the room to get cleaning supplies to clean up the spilled soup.
Ray sat there, looking at his hands. Memories of previous deaths haunted him. Even the image of Elaina's death reappeared in his mind. His breathing became heavy and irregular, and a sense of restlessness, fear, and guilt enveloped his heart. It made him unable to calm down even when he did nothing.
Harry, who saw this, calmly observed from a distance. After a while, when Ray started to look a little calmer, he said, "Ray, eat this bread first from the table. Fill your stomach, maybe you'll feel better after eating. And you haven't eaten anything in the past 2 days."
Ray furrowed his brow, surprised by Harry's statement.
"2 days?"
"Yeah, even during the journey to this city. You only ate 3 times during the journey."
"Is the cause exactly the same as this?"
"Yeah, you always look panicked after seeing everything. Even when a stranger scolded you, you would scream and move away."
"Me?"
"Who else is named Ray other than you?"
Me? Is it really me? I don't remember any of those things. Even during that long journey, I can't remember.
As Ray came back to reality, he found Harry trying to wake him up.
"Ray... Hey, Ray wake up... Oooiiii, sigh. Hey wake up, eat this!"
Harry forcefully put a piece of bread into Ray's mouth. Ray couldn't refuse and immediately chewed the bread in his mouth.
After successfully swallowing the bread, Ray glanced at Harry.
Harry realized he was being looked at and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's just... thank you."
Harry looked surprised, "I didn't expect you to say thank you. Usually, you would apologize."
Ray smiled, "Someone has aware me."
"Well then, you should thank that person too."
"Yeah, definitely."
With a happy feeling, Ray started to take another piece of bread that was provided there and planned to eat it.
Ray, with both hands still holding the bread, tried to open its contents in hopes of finding something delicious inside. As Ray had hoped, there was a thick filling visible inside the bread.
Unfortunately, he saw the liquid resembling flowing blood. Once again, Ray hallucinated, and now the liquid coming out of the bread filled the room and engulfed him.
Ray closed his eyes to calm his shortness of breath caused by the hallucination. He forced himself to eat the bread he was holding and realized that the thick liquid inside the bread was just peanut butter.
Ray shed tears upon realizing how strange and sad his current condition was.
With a sense of arrogance, I had promised to save others. But in reality, I couldn't even handle my own problems...
Why is this happening to me again? Shouldn't I have resolved this in the previous world?
Why am I experiencing this again...
Ray still forced himself to eat more bread, hoping that his hunger would disappear. He continued to eat while closing his eyes to prevent further hallucinations. However, even though he couldn't see, he could still sense that strange things were happening around him.
Unfamiliar voices haunted him, constantly urging Ray to rest. He couldn't comprehend the meaning behind those voices. He tried not to dwell on it too much and focused on staying calm.
Ray now realized that his mental state was unstable. Tears welled up in his eyes as he expressed the sadness he felt towards himself. He knew there was something else he wanted to accomplish, but his current condition made him realize that focusing on solving other people's problems would only be a futile effort.
Harry observed Ray's peculiar behavior as he struggled to confront and control the strange situations that were plaguing him. Harry chose to remain silent and watch, understanding that there was little he could do to help Ray.
Maria approached with cleaning supplies and began tidying up the area. As she cleaned, Maria kept an eye on Ray, who had been keeping his eyes closed. Seeing that Ray was able to eat now brought her relief and joy. She even let out a small laugh, finding Ray's attempt to face his own illness amusing, especially when he ate with closed eyes and his facial expressions constantly changing.
Several minutes passed, and when Harry was certain that Ray had eaten enough, he said, "Ray... Can I ask you something?"
Ray, who was eating with a serious expression, promptly responded, "Of course, but after this... It's your turn to explain everything to me."
Maria gave Harry some body language signals indicating her disagreement with that agreement.
Aware of Maria's intentions, Harry shook his head and said, "Alright, Ray, I promise I will provide an explanation about everything you want to know. I also feel that it's time for me to stop keeping this to myself."
Ray felt relieved upon hearing that response, but also a bit saddened, as his suspicions had proven to be true. His friends had been hiding something from him, and now he was certain of it.
Ray let out a sigh of relief and said, "So... What do you want to ask?"