—Back to the present—
Damon was visibly restless, pacing back and forth around Phoebe's house, unable to stay still as if desperately searching for something important.
"Damon! Seriously, you're spinning around like a top all over the place. Sit down already and tell me what you're looking for. You're making me dizzy!" Phoebe said, unable to tolerate Damon's endless pacing any longer.
"My diary, Phoebe! I can't find my diary!" Damon exclaimed, clearly distressed, showing how important it was to him.
"At your age, you still keep a diary?" Phoebe burst out laughing the moment she heard it was just a diary Damon was searching for.
Damon pouted slightly, walked slowly toward Phoebe, and gave her a light knock on the head.
"That diary is important to me! Every POV, every single detail of the people I've targeted — no, we've targeted — it's all recorded in there," Damon said firmly.
Phoebe, while rubbing her head where Damon had tapped her (still trying to hold back a laugh), finally composed herself. She told Damon she would help him find it, but first, she ordered him to sit down and stay put. They needed to calmly talk it out first and retrace where he might have left the diary somewhere around her place.
Damon sat down as Phoebe instructed, finally calming himself enough to think. They discussed where he could have possibly left his diary.
According to Damon's recollection, he was certain he had last seen it at Phoebe's house. He clearly remembered still feeling the diary in his pocket during their final mission at Pastor Jun's hideout. However, the details after that were a blur — especially after Kevin's sudden appearance that night, when he had to rush and evacuate the rescued women to safety.
"Is it possible... that one of the women you rescued found it?" Phoebe asked, a teasing but serious edge to her voice — because it really was a possibility.
"It's possible," Damon admitted with a sigh.
"But if that's the case... I hope they didn't read everything written inside. Or if they did, at least not all of it."
His face showed clear worry. That diary didn't just contain random notes — it held records of everything. Every operation. Every target.
Then Damon suddenly turned to Phoebe with a question.
"By the way… you were able to bring Lara home safely, right?"
It had been a few days since Lara stayed at Phoebe's place to recover. Eventually, Lara requested to return to her own home, feeling strong enough to manage on her own again.
Lara had shared everything with Phoebe — all the reasons why she ended up at Pastor Jun's hideout. She admitted that it was her own reckless decision that led her into that dark and dangerous situation.
But what stood out most was what Lara confessed after: that after everything she'd witnessed, she now finally understood what The Fool was fighting for — why he was killing people he believed no longer had a place in this world. And she believed it now, too.
She said she would stop chasing The Fool. Instead, she would look for another way to prove her father's innocence — because she was certain the truth would eventually come out, and her father, wrongfully imprisoned, would be freed.
Because of this, Phoebe and Damon were now free to talk again and begin planning their next steps without worrying about Lara interfering.
But just as they were about to continue their discussion, a flash report suddenly appeared on the television — urgent, with a reporter warning the public in a grave tone.
A new outbreak was spreading. Doctors were calling it a "blood disease" — though the source remained unknown. Victims were showing severe symptoms: high fevers, internal bleeding, labored breathing, and unbearable pain. According to medical reports, those infected only lasted about a week after symptoms began. Hospitals across Pasay City were quickly becoming overwhelmed as more and more patients showed up daily.
"Damon… I've been noticing something about that news report for a while now," Phoebe said, her eyes still fixed on the TV as the news anchor delivered the alarming update.
Both she and Damon sat silently, watching with concern and confusion. The way the illness was spreading — sudden and without a clear origin — had them both thinking. But for Damon, a strange, unsettling realization began to creep into his mind.
Something about the symptoms was far too familiar.
Violent fevers… difficulty breathing… uncontrollable pain… and worst of all — victims vomiting large amounts of blood before eventually dying.
It was almost identical to what Damon had seen in those affected by his default ability — the cursed effect of his blood.
Default Effect: Anyone touched by your blood will suffer a violent and painful death.
But something was off.
Unlike his usual power, which acted almost instantly, this mysterious illness seemed to take several days before it claimed its victims. The process was slower… but the suffering was eerily similar.
Damon didn't say a word at first. He simply stared at the screen, his fists slowly clenching as a dark suspicion began to take root in his mind.
"Phoebe!" Damon said urgently, his voice filled with worry. "We really need to find my diary. Everything is written there—all of my POVs, my thoughts, especially when I first developed this strange ability. If it falls into the wrong hands…"
Phoebe saw the seriousness in Damon's eyes and understood immediately. She also had her own suspicions forming in the back of her mind—but they weren't yet fully clear. And until she was sure, she decided not to bring them up to Damon—especially her growing fear that the mysterious illness spreading on the news might somehow be connected to him.
— Somewhere far from where Damon and Phoebe were —
A girl lay on her bed, completely absorbed in a book she was reading. Her face lit up with joy, and every now and then she let out a soft giggle, clearly smitten by what she was reading.
"Hehehe..." she chuckled to herself, cheeks flushed with excitement. She couldn't stop reading—her eyes devoured every line, every detail written in the mysterious book.
"Damon... Damon Ashcroft," she whispered dreamily. "My savior... my future husband. So you're The Fool."
And the book clutched tightly in her hands?
It was none other than Damon's lost diary.