"All patched up." The nurse stood up after healing the scratch on Jesse's arm: scratches that he had intentionally left out when healing the burn on his neck.
"Do you know these students?"
"Yes."
"Would you like to stay the night and watch over them?"
"I will... If it's fine by you." Jesse answered, tapping his fingers on his knees.
"You can relax, it's just superficial injuries, so they will be fine. And they can leave by tomorrow, when I can heal their injuries completely." The nurse smiled and left the room where the four unconscious boys laid.
A loud bell was rang earlier signifying the beginning of curfew, and most of the medical personnels left.
Jesse glanced at the new syringe that he had swatted away from the tray when the nurse first came in; thankfully, she didn't notice.
Moving to Reid, the ice user whose body was covered in bloody gashes. He inserted the needle close to a gash that had almost completely healed, drawing just enough blood to fill a blood tube.
He left the ward, quietly closing the door behind him. The hallway was empty and the receptionist who was at the front desk had fallen asleep. Quietly walking past her, Jesse walked further in search for the medical lab, and when he finally found a room with the initials "Laboratory", Jesse turned the door knob and contrary to his expectation, the door opened.
The medical lab was a pristine white room filled with rows of cabinets and shelves, all labeled with various medical supplies. A large countertop in the center held an assortment of test tubes beakers and syringes all neatly organized. The room was bathed in bright fluorescent light giving it an almost clinical feel with the unnerving smell of diluted Gatorade and the slight smell of anesthetic mingling in the cold air.
Jesse walked to the countertop where test tube racks were assembled, with names and their ranks written on the blood tubes.
After carefully scanning through the tubes for a long minute, he finally found his name. He picked up an empty tube from the side and filled it with the blood he drew out of Jonah.
Carefully peeling out the specimen label from the original blood tube, he applied it smoothly on the new tube and placed the new blood tube inside the test tube rack. He walked out of the medical laboratory and let out a sigh. Hopefully, no other tests would be carried out.
"Hey." A voice called out, stopping Jesse in his tracks.
"What are you doing out here?"
"Water, I couldn't find the dispenser." Jesse turned around.
"Oh, it's you." The man, who was the security personnel Jesse had met outside earlier, "There's a dispenser right outside the ward your friends are in."
"I didn't see it." Lying through his teeth, Jesse shrugged nonchalantly. He blinked calmly in hope that the man hadn't seen him walking out of the laboratory.
"I understand, this kind of thing makes people extremely nervous. You must be new here."
"Yes." Jesse gulped down a mouthful of air.
"No wonder; the hierarchy in this place affects everybody. The only sane people are the ones who're just coming." The man turned around, waving Jesse over with his hand.
"..."
"It's good." The man nodded, "You should remain good and keep helping people...that's the true virtue of life."
"...yes."
"Do you want to spend the night here? Your friends' conditions has been stabilized. If you want to sleep comfortably, I can accompany you to your dorm."
"Yes...thank you." Jesse nodded. He took one last glance at the direction he had come from before following behind the security personnel.
"My daughter passed the test too and is now part of the academy. My father didn't want her to attend, he doesn't even know that she applied." He paused and chuckled, "But what can I do? I can't say no to my daughter's happiness. I just hope the old man doesn't die of a heart attack when he finds out."
Jesse pressed his lips into a thin line. He didn't know how to respond to the sudden monologue conversation.
The one-sided conversation continued even after they left the hospital building, it went on until they reached the dorm.
-Grumble
The security personnel paused: awkward silence ensuing both of them.
"I'm sorry, I just kept yapping on and on." He cleared his throat and pulled out a nylon bag from his spatial ring.
"Oh no. It's fine." Embarrassed by his roaring stomach, Jesse managed to put on an awkward smile.
"Here, some rice buns my wife made." The man handed the white nylon bag to Jesse.
"Thank you." Jesse reluctantly took the bag from the man's hand.
"You seem like a good kid. Please take care of my meimei." With a small smile, the man added before he left.
Bewildered by the sudden caretaker inheritance, Jesse furrowed his brows; he had no idea who Meimei was, neither was he the good kid the man thought him to be.
**
"Took you long enough." A cold voice welcomed Jesse as soon as he entered his room.
"..."
Ignoring the white-haired fella whose grey eyes were fixated on him, Jesse walked to his bed and laid on it before asking, "Why are you still up?"
"Why am I still up? You left for the entire day and I barely stopped the blonde kid from reporting to the entire world that you went missing."
"Thank you." Jesse breathed out a sigh of relief.
He sat up and picked a few rice buns from the nylon bag before handing the rest over to Maxwell.
"What's this?"
"Rice buns."
"Thanks."
"Is Aland still awake?"
"Nah, he cried himself to sleep a few moments ago."
"..."
Jesse stared at the rice buns in his hands. The number of humans who had shown genuine kindness to could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
He couldn't call this one fully genuine since the man wanted someone to look after his daughter, however, why choose a seemingly good person over a strong person?
'I'll just keep an eye out for her.'
He thought to himself, biting into the rice bun.
**
The loud bell rang again early in the morning, the sun had not even risen yet the students were required to assemble.
"Your days as students of this great academy begin now!"