"And finally, I have completed the test. Finally. All the training, all the sweat, and all the bloodshed—I finally have a spot."
"I’ve done it, Old Jack. I’ve made sure your card never went to waste. And don’t worry, Uncle, I’ll be getting them all soon..."
"Hmm, hmm!?"
"Hello!?"
"Huh?" A gasp escaped Ryuk’s lips as he looked in front of him, finding a hand waving at his face.
"You zoned out?" Morgaine asked as she slowly took back her fingers, and Ryuk held his head.
For a few seconds, he had completely forgotten about the outside world and that Morgaine was still in the room. Somehow, Ryuk felt a need to rise to his feet, and once more, his legs moved to touch the marble floor, only to jerk back again as a bit of shock zapped into his body.
"Your body’s temperature has been incredibly high these past few days. You only started getting better two days ago, coincidentally with my arrival," Morgaine said as Ryuk turned to her while raising his eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"Hehe, nothing," Morgaine said with a chuckle as she rose to her feet and walked out of the room while muttering.
"Mom recommended a tea for you on your awakening. A second, I’ll go get it..." she said, soon disappearing from view, and Ryuk unconsciously heaved.
In the next instant, his legs moved out, touching the ground, and even though he felt the shock, Ryuk gritted his teeth as he allowed his legs to remain pressed before eventually the coldness faded away.
With his body having adapted, Ryuk placed his second foot on the ground and allowed the coldness to once again fade before he rose to his waist. His bones crackled within his body from days of disuse, and Ryuk stretched a couple of times before he was finally able to get onto his feet.
"Finally," he mused as the door to the room opened up, and Morgaine came in, a tray with two cups in her hands. She settled the tray on the table, taking one cup for herself before passing the other to the standing Ryuk.
"Here," she said, as Ryuk looked at the cup of coffee, his gaze furrowed in distrust.
"I’m fine," he said, refusing it.
Ryuk’s refusal was for a few reasons.
The most important was that he didn’t trust Morgaine at all. The second reason was that he didn’t trust even the Half-Fallen one herself, hence no reason to trust Morgaine either. And now she was passing him a cup of coffee—who knew what had been put inside?
"Just for the record, I’ve been feeding you for the past two days now. Hehe," Morgaine said, not at all offended, and Ryuk couldn’t help but ask.
"Is that right, system?"
[Yes, Host. She really has been doing so. After the departure of the Half-Fallen one herself, the job of feeding was passed to her.]
[And Host need not worry about the coffee. The system sensed no trace of harmful substances within it.]
"And just so you know, I’m stronger than you even at your full power. If I wanted to kill you, I had 48 hours while you were unconscious. I wouldn’t even break a sweat. So why would I choose to poison you now that you’re awake when I could have done it while you were asleep?" Morgaine asked. Her words were callous, but when said with such a cute face, it was hard for one to get mad.
Her hands holding the cup were still stretched toward Ryuk, who couldn’t help but rethink hundreds of scenarios and reasons in his head. But finally, he chose the one he agreed with the least.
"Thank you..."
He took the cup, raising it to his lips, and watched as Morgaine took a sip of her own cup. Ryuk couldn’t help but ask again.
"How sure are you that this is truly safe?"
[A hundred percent sure, Host. The coffee is an energy-replenishing serum, just like a rejuvenating bath but for the internal organs instead.]
The system explained, and satisfied with the explanation, Ryuk took a tiny sip.
After a bit of taste and under Morgaine’s dull gaze, Ryuk finally took a big gulp, drinking the coffee to half the cup before placing it down. A small feeling of coldness couldn’t help but appear through Ryuk’s chest, giving a bit of balance to his otherworldly hot body.
"You really are a weird one," Morgaine mused as Ryuk turned his attention to her.
"How so?"
"Just what kind of dickhead refuses the honest advances of a pretty girl?" Morgaine asked, flicking her hair to the side coquettishly as Ryuk stared for a while before a question escaped his lips.
"Does being pretty mean incapable of harming others?"
"Huh?"
"If not, then being pretty or not doesn’t really count for anything at all..." Ryuk replied, his tone straightforward and direct with logic that left Morgaine speechless.
She could only stare at the boy, who turned to the large glass wall, looking at the sprawling city before him and taking another sip of his coffee.
"And now I don’t know whether to be happy or mad. I said I was pretty and he didn’t argue that; if anything, he acknowledged it. Yet somehow, he also showed how much trust he has in that, which is essentially zero. I feel like smiling coquettishly right now, yet also giving him a solid knock on the head..." she thought but soon noticed Ryuk’s eyes, though looking at the sprawling city, seemed lost once more.
"Hey, you okay?" she asked, and Ryuk nodded before stating what worried his mind.
"I’m just curious, though. Why did the Half-Fallen one bring me to her home? I had thought we would all be heading to the academy straight after the test," he stated, as Morgaine shook her head.
"Yes, everyone will eventually be going together. But the Ascension Academy isn’t currently open for newcomers. It would take at least a week from now before they do so.
Mom probably knew there was nowhere you could go after the Arsion Hall closed, and since the academy wasn’t open yet, where else could she bring you if not home?"