Chapter 43| Duo Patients Swing Together

Chapter 43: Chapter 43| Duo Patients Swing Together

The first thing Zane saw when he opened his eyes was blue.

Not the infirmary ceiling. Not Stacy Reed at her desk.

Blue. the colour of Maren’s training gear, fitted and close, sitting right there in his immediate field of vision because she was leaning forward in the chair beside his bed with her elbow on her knee and her chin on her hand looking at him with the specific expression of someone who had been waiting for a while and was not going to let him forget it.

He blinked.

"Maren," he said. "Is that you?"

"Finally awake," she said. "Sleepy head."

He looked at the window. It was dark outside. He looked at his communicator on the bedside table.

7:00 PM.

"What time is it," he said. Even though he’d already seen it.

"Seven," she said. "PM." She leaned back in the chair. "I was discharged a few hours ago. Just wanted to stay until you woke up." A pause. "Seems the same person put us both in here."

She laughed. Short and genuine.

Zane stared at the ceiling.

"My score with him isn’t settled," he said. "But no hard feelings. For now."

He sat up slowly. His ribs registered their opinion on that. He ignored them.

Then Stacy Reed appeared from the side of the room, already moving toward the bed with her Sigil faintly active. Checking, confirming, doing what she did efficiently.

"So you’re finally awake," Reed said. "You were in pretty rough shape when they brought you in. But there’s nothing I can’t put back together." She clicked something on her tablet. "By the way" she glanced at Maren with the specific energy of someone who had been holding information and had decided now was the time " I told her you came in to check up on her when she was still unconscious. Since then she said she would wait until you woke up." A pause. "Even when I kept telling her to go her dorm and rest."

Reed looked between the two of them.

"Love these days," she said. Not unkindly. Just factually.

Maren’s face went completely red.

Not slightly. Fully. The specific red of someone who had been caught doing something they hadn’t planned to admit to.

Zane glanced at her.

Let out a small laugh he didn’t plan either.

The system surfaced quietly.

『 Maren — Familiarity +8% 』

『 Current: 56% — Acquaintance tier 』

Reed set down her tablet.

"You’re free to go since you’re awake," she said. "Go rest. Both of you." She turned toward her desk. "I’ll leave you two lovebirds to it."

She walked out of the room without looking back.

The infirmary went quiet.

Maren sat in the chair with her cheeks still fully red and her arms crossed and an expression that had several things happening in it simultaneously.

Zane waited.

She looked at him.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," she said. "Young man."

"I know," Zane replied.

"But I’m not going to stress you mentally right now," she said. "So I’ll ask just this one. Simple." She held his gaze. "When did you discover you had powers?"

Zane stared at the ceiling.

’Whatever I say she’s going to be at least partially mad,’ he thought. ’Might as well make it interesting.’

He looked at her.

"Somewhere between training," he said. "Your charm brought out my innate talent."

Maren stared at him.

"Stop flirting with me," she said flatly. "I don’t know whether to believe you or not."

"Both options are valid," Zane said.

She opened her mouth to say something else.

Then the infirmary door opened.

Dex walked in with Torre behind him. Torre was carrying a folded set of casual clothes under one arm and eating something with the other hand that had no confirmed origin.

"Zane my man." Dex crossed the room and gave him a firm pat on the shoulder. "You’re looking significantly more alive than the last time I saw you."

"I feel significantly more alive," Zane said.

"You did extremely well out there," Dex said. "Round Three against Ryan. Nobody expected that matchup to go the way it did." He gestured at Torre. "We brought civilian clothes from your room. Figured you’d want out of the infirmary gear."

Maren stood up from the chair.

"See you later Zane," she said.

"Yeah," Zane replied.

She glanced at Dex once. Then at the door. Then walked out without further ceremony.

Dex watched her go.

Then he looked at Zane.

"So," Dex said. "Girlfriend."

"She’s not..." Zane started.

"Shush," Dex said. "I know. Stop denying." He held up a hand. "We came to pick you up. Get changed. Let’s go."

Torre held out the clothes without looking up from his food.

Zane took them. Found the small changing area at the back of the infirmary. Swapped the white infirmary gown for his actual clothes. Familiar weight, familiar fit, considerably better than what he’d been wearing for the past few hours.

He came back out.

"Ready," he said.

They filed out of the infirmary into the main building corridor. Stacy Reed was at her desk visible through the open door. Zane stopped briefly and gave her a wave.

She waved back without looking up.

They headed toward the dorm building. The corridor was quieter at noon than it had been during the trials. The building settled back into its regular frequency after a day that had run at a different one.

"Rankings go up tomorrow morning," Dex said as they walked.

"I see," Zane said.

"Zane," Dex said as they walked. "I know you’re excited to see your ranking."

"I don’t really care to be honest," Zane said.

Dex looked at him. "How are you not curious?"

"I know what I did there," Zane said. "The number doesn’t change that."

Dex stared at him for a second. Then nodded slowly.

"Fair enough," he said.

"Ryan’s going to be insufferable in the semi finals," Torre said, mouth still occupied.

Zane looked at his communicator.

8:05 PM.

"Aren’t the finals done already?" he said.

Dex and Torre exchanged a glance.

"Yeah," Dex said. "Finished about an hour ago. We had some business to take care of after your match so we didn’t stay until the end."

"Who won," Zane said.

"Check the rankings tomorrow," Dex said. "More fun that way."

Torre nodded like that was reasonable.

They pushed through the main building entrance and headed up toward the seventh floor.

Room 714. Gerald wheezed when the door opened.

Dex dropped onto his chair. Torre deposited himself on Dex’s bed without asking. Standard procedure, apparently non-negotiable and opened his laptop.

Zane sat on his own bed.

He stared at the ceiling.

’Rankings tomorrow,’ he thought. ’Maren’s question still unanswered properly. Ryan’s file still open. And a system that just gave me an 8% familiarity jump for waking up in a hospital bed with someone waiting in the chair beside it.’

He looked at his communicator.

One unread message. Unknown number. Academy internal network.

He didn’t open it. Just clocked the sender. School principal and put the communicator face down on the desk.

Tomorrow.

Gerald wheezed.