It had been four hours since Kazuki had managed, for the first time, to avoid an attack from Enea. The sky was still cloudy, but the brightness had decreased a lot, as if the sun, or whatever had the same role on this planet, was setting. Kazuki was lying on the ground, breathing hard; his clothes were full of dirt and tears, his body covered in purple bruises more than doubled compared to before. He had some broken ribs, as well as his nose.
Enea approached, walking slowly and, looking him in the face, said: "Since it's about to get dark, I think that's enough for today."
But Kazuki, gathering the little strength left in his body, replied: "No... I can still... continue... I must at least... manage to avoid... another... attack!"
Enea let out a light sigh, then said to him: "No, persona, it's obvious that you can't. You're not even able to get up anymore. I expected you to be stubborn, but not to this extent."
Even after these words, Kazuki did not give up: "Didn't you… say… that… you would heal me…? If you do that… I can… still… continue!"
"Yes, and that is my intention. But what I am about to use to heal you only works on physical damage, it does not also cure tiredness. The reason why you cannot get up is simply that you are too tired, both physically and mentally. Your legs do not have any particular wounds that prevent you from getting up; I was careful, in case I hit them, not to cause damage that would prevent you from walking. So now shut up and open your mouth and I will heal you. Otherwise you will force me to make you faint again."
Kazuki wanted to answer again while he tried to use the last of his remaining energy to stand up, but he realised that no matter how hard he tried, he was obviously no longer able to do so. He gave up and opened his mouth as Enea had told him to. Seeing this, Enea said: "OK, don't move and I'll heal you right away." Then he placed his fingers parallel to Kazuki's mouth and used his nails, which were unusually long for a man, to make a cut at the bottom of his index finger. A drop of blood came out of the wound and fell directly into Kazuki's mouth. He swallowed it almost without noticing.
Seeing that Enea had just forced him to drink his blood, Kazuki was about to use the little breath he had left to complain, but in that moment, all the excruciating pain he had felt a few seconds before disappeared. He touched his nose to check and found it back to normal, as if it had never been broken. Even his ribs, which had been broken a moment before, seemed perfectly healthy. However, as Enea had warned him, he was still too tired to get up.
"Since it's getting dark now, I think it's best if we go to the place where we'll be staying for these seven days. Do you want me to carry you or do you want to wait until you can walk on your own?" Enea asked.
Kazuki thought for a few seconds. It was definitely embarrassing for him to be carried around by another man, but it wasn't the first time that he had trained so hard that someone had to help him get home. Usually it was Yuto who did that. Considering that today's training had probably been the most exhausting of his life, he decided, albeit reluctantly, to accept Enea's offer. When he found enough breath to speak, he said, "Let's go. Just lend me your shoulder and I should be able to make it."
Hearing this, Enea helped Kazuki up and let him use him as a support. "I imagine you've already noticed the wooden house in the distance. When I untied you, I saw that you were already heading in that direction."
"Yes, so that's where I'll be staying for these seven days?"
"That is correct. This house was created by that bastard just for us. According to the information he gave me, it should have everything we need to survive and relax."
The word 'relax' made Kazuki anxious to get there right away, because even if he didn't want to admit it, he absolutely needed it.
The house wasn't far away, just a few minutes walk from where they were. During the walk, Kazuki finally managed to find some peace. Since he had been kidnapped a few hours ago, there had been a series of shocking events and information. Now, he could think about everything that had happened up to that point and several questions began to form in his mind.
"Can I ask you a few questions?" Kazuki asked Enea.
"Sure. If it's something I know, I'll do my best to answer you."
"I see you keep calling the guy you technically work for a bastard, an asshole or just him. I suppose you know his name. Why don't you use it? Wouldn't it be easier?"
"Yes, you're right, it would be easier to call him by his name. But there's a little problem: he doesn't have a name. From what he told me, he appeared in the middle of the non-existence, completely alone, in a place where nothing existed, let alone the concept of a name. It's something he learned from observing universes and the beings that inhabit them. Of course, he could have given himself one at any time, but when I asked him why he didn't, he replied: 'Why should I care about something that concerns me?' So since he doesn't care, I decided to call him what he is: a bastard and an asshole. Don't worry about what to call him, just pick whatever name you want. He doesn't care anyway."
"Okay, I'll think about that later. But I have another rather important question."
"Go ahead, shoot."
"I'm stuck here training for the next seven days, right? I don't mind missing school for a few days, I'm even happy about it. But sooner or later, if no one sees me and I don't answer the phone for seven days, someone will call the police."
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. If what that asshole told me is true, time in this universe moves much slower than in yours. One day here is one second in your universe."
Reassured, Kazuki walked on with Enea's help towards the wooden house.
After about six minutes of walking, the two of them arrived in front of the house. It was huge, completely made of wood and three stories high. It already looked big from a distance, but now that Kazuki could see it from close up, he realized just how gigantic it was, especially considering that only the two of them were supposed to live there.
"You can leave me, I should be able to walk alone now," Kazuki said to Enea and freed himself from him.
The two of them entered the house and started to explore it. The first floor consisted of a kitchen and a large living room with a sofa and a television. The second and third floors were more or less the same, each with a medium-sized bedroom and a large bathroom. In the closet of the bedroom on the third floor, Kazuki found clothes that were the same as the ones he usually wore, including copies of his school uniform, and thought that this would be his room.
After a cursory exploration of the house, the two met again in the living room and after deciding that Kazuki would have the third floor and Enea the second, Enea asked: "Kazuki, can you cook?"
"No. Since my sister went to study abroad a year ago, I have been surviving on cup ramen, take out and a senpai of mine who comes over to cook me something from time to time."
"Okay, then I'll take care of the cooking. I'm not an excellent cook, but I can do something."
With that, Enea went into the kitchen to check the available ingredients. In the meantime, Kazuki sat down on the sofa to wait, but when Enea saw him there, he said: "I guess you want to take a bath. Don't worry, go ahead. I'll call you when it's ready."
Kazuki noticed his condition and realized that he really needed a bath. He was covered in sweat, his uniform was dirty and the smell was certainly not the best. He gladly accepted the offer and went to the bathroom on the third floor. Once there, he began to fill the large tub with hot water. In front of the mirror, he undressed and carefully checked to see if there were any bruises or wounds on his body. After careful inspection, he found nothing.
"He really healed me perfectly. Even my nose, which provably should have been operated on in the hospital, is as good as new, without any scars. The idea of drinking someone else's blood disgusts me, but I should ask him if I can take some for the mission. It would certainly come in handy," he said to himself.
When he saw that the tub was full, he climbed in. The hot water took away some of the accumulated fatigue, both the one from the boxing training and the one from the training with Enea. For twenty minutes, Kazuki risked falling asleep several times, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. He heard Enea's voice: "I suggest you get dressed, it's almost ready".
Kazuki got out of the tub, put on a bathrobe he found in the bathroom and dried his hair with a hair dryer. Then he went to his new room where he put on a white short-sleeved shirt, boxer shorts and blue sweatpants.
When he returned to the living room, he found the table already set. When Enea saw him arrive, he said, "Sit down, I'll be right with the food. I hope you don't mind Italian food because it's the only one I know how to cook."
Kazuki nodded and sat down to wait. A few seconds later, Enea returned with two plates of spaghetti with a tuna-based sauce. Hungry from the training, Kazuki took a bite immediately. It was different from what he usually ate, but it was good. However, he sensed an additional flavor and asked, "The pasta is good, but it's not just with tuna, right?"
Enea replied with a smile, "I'm glad you like it. Yes, there is one more ingredient: anchovies in oil. You don't see them because they melted while I was making the sauce. It's a recipe my father taught me. It's simple but effective. If you want, I can teach it to you."
"No thanks, I have no interest in cooking."
"Okay, but I still recommend that you learn to cook sooner or later. You never know when it might come in handy."
Enea finished eating first and stood up: "Excuse me, but I'm leaving now. In the last universe I was in, I found two very interesting anime, but I haven't finished them yet. So I'm going to lock myself in my room and watch them. Don't disturb me until tomorrow morning." Then, heading for the stairs leading to the second floor, he added, "Oh, don't worry about the dishes. Put them in the sink, I'll take care of them later."
When Kazuki finished eating, he did as Enea told him. He put the dirty plates and silverware in the sink and then went to his room. Once there, he lay down on the bed to relax and as soon as he lay down, all the tiredness that had accumulated during the day hit him and he fell asleep immediately.
The next five days of training were harder for Kazuki than the last. On the second and third day, he was able to dodge several of Enea's attacks, but Enea increased his speed significantly with each attack, forcing Kazuki to return to the wooden house too tired to do anything. The fourth day was very similar to the third, except that Kazuki, now more accustomed, was able to maintain enough energy to experiment with his ability during the evening. During the fifth and sixth day, Enea decided that there was no need to increase his speed any further, but that Kazuki should get used to constantly moving at the speed he had managed to dodge the fastest attack. For this reason, Enea began to use a katana, aiming each attack in such a way that if it hit, it would cause Kazuki a great deal of pain. Luckily for him, Kazuki was able to avoid most of these attacks during these two days while still continuing his evening training to improve the use of his ability.
And now it was the morning of the seventh day, the last day of training.