At the hospital, at the break of dawn, in Room 207 — Enel's room — Noah, Neriah, and Sirius were all sitting on the floor, heads bowed in apology in front of Enel.
Enel sat upright on his bed, one leg crossed over the other. His eyes were tired but wide open in terror, his hair a mess, and he stared at the trio in front of him, seething with rage on the verge of exploding.
"Do you have any idea what I went through listening to your conversation in my sleep?! I saw the Angel of Death coming for me!" Enel said with an annoyed tone, grinding his teeth.
"Thighs! Dirty moans! And Sirius wearing a ridiculous cat cosplay — but it looked disgusting?!" Enel continued, the grinding of his teeth producing a sharp, unbearable noise.
"D-Do you want a glass of water—" Noah asked, nervously smiling.
"You—" Enel interrupted, pointing a finger at Noah.
"I respected you! I loved you! You were my angel!" Enel added with an angry gasp.
"W-What did I do?" Noah asked, blinking in confusion.
"You... you were riding Sirius like a damned Pegasus while Neriah welcomed me to this gay porn party or whatever the hell that was!" Enel screamed in rage, now yanking at his own hair.
"Why was I the one getting fucked?" thought Noah, feeling a wave of discomfort.
"Why was I the one not getting fucked?" thought Sirius, clearly their minds were on completely different tracks.
"Then the sky started raining baby oil while Sirius was in the background meowing!" Enel went on, still describing the trauma of his nightmare.
"What the actual fu—" Neriah coughed in shock but Enel didn't let anyone interrupt.
"Then... then you lost your virginity at thirteen in a broken elevator with a MILF — something I did not need to see! And Neriah was just a rotting corpse whispering, 'At least the thighs survived,'" Enel shouted, pointing accusatory fingers at everyone.
"Who was that MILF?" Noah thought, nervous and confused. Clearly, some minds were still elsewhere.
An uncomfortable and awkward silence fell over the room; no one dared speak after Enel's outburst.
"I don't remember doing any of that in the real world, but about the scene where I and Noey-kun were making love, can we make it happen in real life?" Sirius said with a serious face and tone.
Everyone looked at Sirius with expressions that screamed, "Are you serious?" before Enel turned, spotted a book on the table next to his bed, and flung it at Sirius, hitting him square in the face and knocking him onto his back like he'd been shot.
"Do that in your wet dreams," Enel grumbled, curling into himself like a war survivor.
"I've seen things no man should see. I studied parasites that lay eggs in the eyeball, and even that wasn't as cursed as this dream," Enel whispered in a trembling, traumatized tone, his bloodshot eyes wide with exhaustion.
"He's really been through a lot," Noah thought to himself nervously, glancing at the screen above him.
[Faith: 100% / Love: 100%]
"The meter hasn't budged a bit despite everything he said… Should I be relieved or terrified?" Noah thought, bewildered and panicked.
Enel lifted his head and looked at Noah with tearful eyes begging for forgiveness and assurance.
"Noah, please, my pure angel, tell me what I saw in that dream won't happen in real life. Don't you dare have sex with Sirius or let him touch you in a weird way," Enel said, palms together like he was praying.
"Don't worry, I'm not that filthy. Also, if I ever wanted affection that bad, I'd just date a girl whenever I felt like it… no offense," Noah said, turning to Neriah for the last part.
"What the hell do you mean by 'no offense'?! And why the hell are you looking at me when you say it?!" Neriah snapped, but Noah ignored him and turned to Enel.
"Don't worry," Noah said, giving Enel a thumbs-up, offering just enough hope to cling to.
"Don't ignore me, you son of a—!" Neriah thought to himself, gritting his teeth and glaring at Noah, then sighed.
"Alright, jokes aside. Do you feel any better now?" Neriah asked with concern.
"Yeah, I'll be okay. Thanks to Noah," Enel said, turning to Noah with thankful eyes.
"You're lucky. The Ninth Mercy was the one who healed you, which is... strange, when I think about it," Enel said cautiously, glancing at Noah suspiciously, remembering when he saw September with him.
"...I thought he didn't notice September. I don't think he'll cause trouble for me or September, so there's no need to worry," Noah thought, then stood up and walked toward the balcony.
Noah pulled back the sky-blue curtains, letting the sunlight flood the room and fresh air replace the medication smell.
"All I have to do now is keep living. Tomorrow we study. And the day after that? Study again. Probably nothing special will happen… weird. I feel weird. This doesn't suit me. How strange," Noah thought, gazing up at the sun.
"Ever since I got the system, I've been getting bored faster than usual. School days that used to fly by now crawl unless something exciting happens. Like storming a dungeon as a test, fighting a giant ugly snake, my first friend dying — the one who was supposed to be my enemy — then killing the monster that killed him… Straight to murders at the university, investigating the killer, some bastard from the past kidnapping and torturing my friend, then beating him up… And now waiting for his fate. It's like I'm a machine that feeds on thrills and events just to keep living and continue the story," Noah thought coldly and tensely. Then his eyes dropped — he noticed a group of people gathered, watching something, with workers nearby.
"...Speaking of thrill and events," Noah thought, glancing at his friends.
"Looks like something's going on down there," Noah said, catching their attention.
Neither Neriah nor Sirius said a word or reacted. They just looked at each other from the corners of their eyes.
"Is something wrong?" Enel asked, voice trembling in worried confusion.
"Shall we check it out?" Sirius said with a faint smile.
"If it's serious, we'll let you know," Noah said, speaking directly to Enel. Enel nodded.
"We won't be long. We'll come back with good news," Sirius said as he stood, followed by Neriah and Noah out of the room.
As soon as they stepped out, they noticed a group gathered around the next room — Derek's room. They approached curiously, weaving through the crowd to the front. A few whispers reached their ears.
"I can't believe what happened to him. It's horrible," one said, sounding shaken.
"I feel like I'm going to puke. I just had breakfast a few minutes ago," a woman said as she rushed out.
"Did he really need to go that far? Doesn't he usually get the job done without... this much?" someone else said in disbelief.
Noah and his friends pushed to the front. As Noah reached the frontline, where doctors and staff were blocking further entry, he finally understood what was happening.
On his bed, Derek lay uncovered — but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that Derek was... "a little different." His body was completely naked except for a few tubes covering the private parts — and he was headless. His pillow was soaked in blood, and the floor beneath had a puddle from the dripping of his severed head. His torso had black threads stitched into it as if his body had been opened and sewn shut again. The blood around his neck had turned dark with time.
Noah and Neriah froze in shock. The stench from Derek's corpse hit their noses like a punch, and the grotesque scene paralyzed their thoughts. Neriah immediately turned to Sirius — and saw a faint smile on his face.
"T-This monster!!" Neriah thought, full of dread.
Sirius glanced sideways at Neriah and raised a finger to his lips, signaling him to stay silent. Neriah turned back to the body.
"He did all of this… in a few minutes?! How?! That's impossible! It doesn't make sense!" Neriah thought, panicked and overwhelmed. Then a wave of nausea hit his chest, and he realized he was about to vomit. He rushed out through the crowd.
Sirius walked over to Noah, who was frozen in place. His footsteps echoed in Noah's ears, as if the world had vanished around them.
Standing beside Noah, both stared at the body.
"What do you think? You wanted him dead, didn't you?" Sirius whispered softly.
"Yeah... Was it you?" Noah whispered back, his caution gone.
"What if I said yes? Would you hate me, knowing your friend is a killer?" Sirius whispered, playful and unbothered.
"No... But where's the head?" Noah whispered again. He didn't feel hatred — maybe even relief that Sirius had done it.
"The noise outside…" Sirius hinted, and Noah immediately understood.
"I see… Let's go. The smell is awful," Noah said, smiling lightly. Sirius's eyes widened a little in surprise, but he smiled back.
"Yes, let's go."
Noah and Sirius left, pushing through the crowd. Outside, they found Neriah in a corner of the building, vomiting.
"Haha, I'll take care of Neriah. You go check out my latest artwork," Sirius said, patting Neriah's back.
Noah nodded and approached the other crowd. He didn't need to get too close — it was clear from afar. Under the tall tree that everyone had gathered around, Derek's head hung from a rope tied to a thick branch. His eyes were missing, with only stitched holes left. The corners of his mouth had been cut open in long slits, exposing his teeth.
"... Derek deserved this. He deserved everything that happened to him. It's not that I feel guilty about the brutality of his death. What bothers me is that I feel like I forced Sirius to do something I should've done… Of course, I don't feel guilty. It was my plan all along — manipulating the threads between Derek and everyone around him until someone killed him, using the killer's presence at the university as cover. But… the idea that I could've done it… That I could take a human life… makes my hands shake…" Noah thought, staring down at his trembling hands. But this time, it wasn't from fear or anxiety.
"Am I… excited? Was my soul craving the idea of taking a life? Or is my soul pretending to be strong again?... Maybe… just maybe… I'm not pretending this time."