With a last effort, Clarc leaned back and the screw grazed his hair where his forehead had been less than a second ago. Clarc fell to the ground and was unable to get up. Sora looked at him without seeming to want to deal the final blow directly, with an expression halfway between sadness, anger and pity:
"You know dad, I was really sad when I learned that all this around us is just a story, he said. Mr. Shinki, Mr. Mike and I can go out and when I found out, I was so happy! But then I said to myself... you can't go out, does that mean you're not real, like the people in the stories mom told? And so, mom too?"
Clarc was still almost able to speak, but he found no answer to his son's question.
"It's not fair, is it? Don't you agree, dad?" Sora asked. "I worked as hard as I could with the king and now I can even use this cool Imagination thingy, it's really cool! Even Mr. Shinki admitted that I was more talented than him"
Clarc couldn't get up no matter what he tried. Sora continued:
"But even like that, I can't bring mom back, or help you get out, or make everyone happy. Sob, you see dad, I became stronger than you, haha" Sora laughed weakly "But why do I feel so sad? Why don't I have my happy ending like in mom's books? I'm not hurt, so why am I in so much pain?"
Clarc managed to get onto his stomach, started pushing on his arms as much as he could, and finally managed to get back upright.
"You're probably right, Sora, your poor old father isn't as great as you: he can't get out of the story, or even realize he's in a story without being told" Clark said.
He forced himself to smile despite the pain:
"It makes me even happier to have had such an incredible son"
Under his son's stunned gaze, Clarc spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Da… dad?" Sora asked.
"Yes son, I'm here" his father replied, coughing up more blood. "I'm sorry, it looks like I won't be able to play with you much longer..."
Clarc's eyes were gradually losing their shine. At that moment, Sora completely forgot the situation and his previous emotions and ran to hug his father:
"Dad!"
Clark did not answer.
"It's not fair, you can't leave me again!" Sora yelled.
Clarc closed his eyes slowly, his head tilting to the side.
"I'm sorry, Dad! Sniff, I was wrong, don't leave me!"
Clarc fell to the ground with a loud noise.
"Dad? Dad? DAD!"
Sora tried to use Imagination to heal his father, but he had never learned that from Shinki and was therefore unable to replenish Clarc's blood faster than it flowed. He then reacted as any child of his age would in such a situation and burst into tears while clinging to his father.
Below, as Mike prepared to write a word on his paper, he and Shinki watched the scene. The first was upset, and would surely have fallen backwards if he were standing and not sitting in a chair, but the second seemed relatively indifferent to the scene, simply commenting:
"Well, it's not a big loss, he's not a Traveler so he'll come back after the next Fate anyway. Oh! Wait Mike, do you know what Fate is? Hmm, now that I think about it, maybe I should have explained it to you... well, you'll see for yourself anyway, since normally it will be in about a month.
Hehe, yes, a nice little month where you will be able to see lots of other pretty little worlds bursting like balloons pricked by a fork. Thrilled?"
Shinki no longer even completely hid his contempt, his smile having partially become a grin. However, he quickly recovered:
"Sorry, haha, I'm getting a little carried away since we're at the end of the game" he apologized.
However, he quickly realized that Mike's attention was not directed towards him but towards the transparent cube above where Sora and Clarc were. Using all his concentration, he used Imagination to try to save the latter.
It seemed to be a success as Clarc's wounds healed, slowly, just enough to keep him alive and slowly get him back to normal. Sora cried a little less hard when he saw this. Mike flashed relief in his eyes but the relief didn't last long as something began to interfere with Mike's attempt to heal, causing Clarc's condition to begin to worsen again: it was Shinki who was using the Imagination to block Mike.
"Sorry, but the fight only stops when one of them is dead or when our game ends. And in the meantime, I can't let you bring help to one of the two fighters" Shinki said." Of course, you'll be free to do whatever you want once our game of "true or false" is over"
"Only, it's going to be my turn to guess and I think I'm going to have to think a little, since it's the last round. Would you like to bet on whether the captain of the guard will survive? You know, since if you win this round, it will be three to three. It'll be a good way to decide between things, right? Of course, that's assuming I'm wrong in guessing, hehe"
Mike knew that with every second he wasted listening to Shinki instead of giving his statement, Clarc's chances of survival were diminishing, but panic overtook him and prevented him from thinking about a statement that could possibly push his opponent to the mistake.
'Come on Mike, think, this is the last chance!' he thought quickly.
Finally, an idea came to his mind and he hurried to say his last statement:
"I'm taking the bet for Clarc, and in fact that's my last statement: I think that Clarc will survive and that with him and Sora, we will have our happy ending while you will continue to rot here" he said. "True or false?'
He wrote the answer on his paper, which he placed face down on the table. Shinki's expression became extremely ugly for a moment before he returned to his usual smile:
"Mike, Mike, Mike, is this your last statement, on which rests the destiny of an entire world, your freedom and the survival of your friends? You realize this is stupid, right? On a statement where the person making it clearly already has an answer in mind, it will be much easier to make guesses. I already know that you really think it, so I just have to deduce if you wrote what you think, therefore "true", on paper and it's won, it's much simpler than with a question where I don't know the real answer" he said. "Did you have something in mind, or did you just make a mistake because of pressure?"
"Oh, sorry, it's just that with my best friend ready to die any second in front of his son without being able to do anything to help him, I'm having a little trouble thinking, does that bother you?"
Mike knew that to increase his chances of winning the bet, Shinki was going to wait until the end of the five minutes of thinking to answer "true" or "false" anyway, so he lost nothing by speaking out to try to mislead Shinki. , or at least prevent him from concentrating.
"What if I say yes?" Shinki asked. "After all, like I said, Fate will bring him back anyway."
"You do realize that I still don't know what it is, right?" Mike retorted. "Have you ever been told it's rude to answer a question with another question?"
"But of course, if my dear guest insists, I agree to inform him. I could give you the long version, but since I know you're trying to save time, I'll be quick: when the story ends, the world where it takes place restarts"
Mike already had some suspicions, but the revelation still managed to make him flinch in astonishment.
"But then, Clarc..." he began, before stopping halfway.
"Exactly" Shinki cut him off. "The story will end in just a month and since he is not a traveler, even if you manage to heal him in time and save his life, he will be reset too. At that point, he won't even have a single memory of you"
As Mike showed a shocked expression, Shinki slammed his hand against his forehead, pretending to be upset.
"Ahlala, that's why I told Sora that he could kill him since he would come back anyway, but who would have thought he would start crying like that" Shinki sighed. "He still has a long way to go before he can become my successor or even be useful to Master Noir! It's really a shame"
As he spoke, Mike glanced discreetly at his paper.
"So, you suspect that your happy ending is off to a bad start, right? I mean, did you even believe it?" Shinki asked, looking closely at Mike.
He could see little signs in his body language that gave him away.
"You wrote "true" on the paper, right?" Shinki asked.
He could clearly see surprise in Mike's reaction, and his smile became triumphant:
"Too bad Mike, this little psychological game was a good idea but unfortunately you remain too inexperienced, you still cannot control your reactions in extreme panic situations. When I saw you looking at the paper in shock after understanding that there wouldn't be the happy ending you wanted, I already suspected that you had put "true", but this time your reaction confirms it to me. that I am right. Sorry but it looks like you lost" Shinki said. "I choose "true", you can flip your paper now"
But when Mike turned it over, they could both see "wrong" written on the paper in capital letters.
"Oh…" Shinki simply blurted out with an annoyed look. "Did you manage to play the game and fake your reaction so perfectly? I was told that you wanted to become a theater actor, you have more than the level for it"
"I thought you'd be more upset than that, honestly. And where do you know that I want to become an actor, first?"
Mike thought about it for a moment before pushing the question out of his mind, knowing he had more important things to think about. He directed his gaze to the transparent cube above: Sora had used Imagination as best he could to keep his father in this state but he simply wasn't good enough in terms of healing.
It was now more than twenty seconds since Clarc had stopped breathing and more than three seconds since his heart had stopped beating.