Alice woke up in her bed in her dorm room. Her whole body was sore and she had trouble moving. She saw a gift box next to her bed. It was a present from Yoshi. When she opened it, she saw the 1st volume of Solo Leveling, a manhwa she talked about wanting to get into, but never had the time to. It seems like he bought it as a present for her before they got back from their mission.
Her heart began to race as her hands glided across the surface of it. Then, the previous battle began to flash through her mind. She couldn't stop thinking about what happened and an overwhelming feeling of guilt washed over her. She grew concerned and rushed out to find Yoshi, but stopped once she saw Taiyo come out of her bathroom. Her body was wet and she was wearing nothing but a bath towel.
"Hey, you, you're finally awake." said Taiyo smugly.
"D-Did you just use my shower?"
"Yeah, what of it? I saved your life. Oh, and by the way, I clogged your drain with hair, so you're gonna have to clean that."
"..."
"Hey, don't look at me like that. I gotta keep this perfect, succulent body in check."
Alice facepalmed and sighed deeply. She was an emotional rollercoaster from happy, to worried, to annoyed. All she wanted right now was for Taiyo to get out of her room.
"Hey, how are the other's doing?" Alice asked concerningly.
"They're in pretty bad shape right now, but they should fully recover in a few weeks time." Taiyo walked over to her and sat on her bed. Alice scooted over to get away from Taiyo. "You know, Yoshi gets you a lot of manga. Don't you want another gift like... a purse or a necklace?"
"He knows I like manga and he gets me them... though, if he wanted to get me another gift, I wouldn't necessarily complain."
"What, like sex?"
Alice's face turned beet red in embarrassment. "No, you pervert!"
"You know, originally Yoshi wanted to buy you a necklace as a present. It had a golden chain and a lovely sapphire in the middle. I really liked it, but Yoshi was scared that you wouldn't, so he went the safe route instead."
"S-Should I buy something for him?"
"Well, I don't know. Boys like compliments and video games, so that's a starting point. Anyway, I came here to tell you that I was impressed by your showing against the aether class anomaly. You're obviously beyond seraphic class. If it were up to me, I'd make you an echo class like Yoshi and Belle, but I can't skip ranks with students. So, here's what I'll do. I'll give you the promotion to mirage class, and if you continue to do well, I'll negotiate to give you the echo class promotion."
"Where are the others now?"
"Pinoy recovered and is currently training to get stronger. Belle is still healing and moping in her room. Yoshi is in the infirmary, but we just call it the nurse's office."
Alice got up and walked off her soreness. She first wanted to head to Belle's room to see why she hated her so much. But when she got there and knocked on her door, she refused to answer. When Alice called out her name, she screamed at her to go away.
She decided to go check up on Yoshi next. She was concerned, so she got there as quickly as possible. On the way, she saw Pinoy at the track field, sparring with another female student she didn't know. Eventually, she entered the room Yoshi was in. He was watching Kingsman: The Secret Service. He looked over to Alice.
"I'm glad to see you're ok?" Yoshi said, smiling under his mask.
Alice sat by Yoshi's bedside. His spine and ribcage were both broken and his left leg was contorted. She stared down at him in regret. She looked back at Yoshi with eyes filled with remorse.
"Don't look at me like that..."
"T-This is all my fault... i-if I just hadn't fallen unconscious, maybe... maybe things could have been different. I'm sorry."
"Hey, I'm still alive, right? That's a positive. Plus, I should be able to make a full recovery in... 2 weeks."
"C-Can I stay by your side? I know it's a bit selfish, but you're kind of my only friend and... I want to be here for you."
"S-Sure."
Every day, morning, noon, and evening, Alice would go by the nurse's office to check up on Yoshi. She'd cook his favorite meals. Although she wasn't that good at first, she quickly improved by following Yoshi's instructions. She also talked to him for hours a day, sharing anime she was watching, training she was doing, and other small things she did. She was worried she was boring him, but he was just happy to hear her voice and know she cared about him so much. He loved that she could be so passionate about something and she trusted him enough to share it all with him.
The two weeks quickly passed and Yoshi's body had recovered. However, his body itself was still relatively weakened, so he underwent some intense training and physical therapy to get back in the swing of things.
As a thank you for all her comfort and support, Yoshi made Alice a delicious home-cooked meal, which made her squeal with joy as she ate it.
Alice went back to the gym later that day. She was bench-pressing 6.5 tons now. She could notice herself getting stronger. She wanted to get stronger, not only to protect Yoshi but to protect the humans who despised her as well. She wanted to make her father's hopes for her come true and to do that, she needed to get stronger.
As she exited the gym, she saw Belle talking with Yoshi. She listens to their conversation.
"There are two terrorist organizations," Yoshi said to her firmly. "There's Derozues, which believes anomalies are the true lifeforms and worship them as gods. Their goal is to help anomalies grow and take over the world. The second is Yerlen, who is the polar opposite. They are keepers who believe they are gods and should rule over humanity. They believe their power makes them right. Their leader is also one of the only 3 zenith class keepers in the country."
"I see... so that would mean-"
Belle noticed Alice spying on them out of the corner of her eye. Her face showed visible anger and she stormed off from her conversation with Yoshi. Alice was not only curious about why Belle was so mad with her, but she was also curious about how far this world of keepers really stretched out.