Chapter 59: More Glowing
Kai, along with Aaran and Namira, feasted.
He asked them to help them finish the entire thing. No chance he could even remotely finish these big platters alone, as there are eleven of them on the table. Supernals are bigger compared to regular people; thus, they needed more food to operate.
But not this much.
Somewhere along the way, Dorian came.
Despite his small body, he inhaled food like it was nothing.
Just earlier, Kai thought they wouldn’t be able to finish the entire thing.
Now, he was worried that Dorian would eat the entire thing and wouldn’t leave any for him.
"You know," Dorian picked his teeth with a toothpick. "After eating seasonless roasted meat for weeks, I thought I could live eating flavourless food, no problem. I take that back. I can’t possibly live without seasoning."
"Did you even taste the seasoning?" Kai cackled. "I didn’t even see you chew."
"That’s not lady-like, Dorian," Aaran chimed in teasingly.
Namira slapped his arm when she saw Dorian’s face turning red, and he quickly apologized.
One by one—the students in the cafeteria returned to their designated rooms. As the victor of the bloody rite, they had earned the right to have a room of their own. And being deprived of a bed throughout the Blood Rite, there’s nothing more tempting than the soft and spotless mattress waiting for them in their rooms.
"I’m sleepy," Aaran rubbed his eyes and stood up. "Imma head to sthe ack."
"In that case, I’ll be going, too," Namira also stood.
"Each of us has a room of our own," Dorian glanced at them with a cheeky smirk. "And out of more than a dozen rooms, mine is right beside yours. So, please, keep it down when you’re doing the deed, will you?
"And make sure to pull out. I don’t want to wake up to you being executed." He added.
Aaran gave Dorian the middle finger, while Namira only blushes.
Both of them then bid their goodbyes and waved before walking through the automatic door.
It was now only Kai and Dorian.
"Aren’t you going to sleep?" Kai asked without looking.
He waited a few seconds and got no answer.
Confused, he turned to Dorian and saw him looking in a particular direction.
And when Kai followed his gaze, he saw Matilda sitting in the other corner.
She raised her brows when their eyes met.
"Huh... Fuck me. She’s coming here, isn’t she?" Kai massaged his forehead—not prepared for the conversation at all. "Can you, like, tell her off or something? Do your usual thing. Be mean or something."
"Dude, you allowed her to return, so she’s your problem," Dorian sneered in contempt. "And besides, do you think she’ll listen to me?"
"Out of all people, you’re the only one who can’t judge me. Matilda is one thing, but Abigail is another thing entirely," Kai argued with a strained smile. "You actually let her come back? When did we agree on that?"
"I wasn’t planning to!" Dorian wanted to bark back, but he kept his cool. "Incoming."
"May I sit here?" Matilda asked.
"Nope," Dorian turned around, giving his back towards her—and placed both elbows on the steel table. "In case you didn’t see, there’s an invisible sign that prohibits backstabber to sit on this area."
Matilda didn’t acknowledge what Dorian said at all.
Her golden eyes remained on Kai.
"See?" Dorian clicked his tongue in displeasure.
"Sigh..." Kai gestured for Matilda to sit. "Go ahead. Sit down."
Once she got the permission, she sat down nonchalantly and then started fixing her ponytail.
She took off the golden hair bungee, placed it between her lips, and then fixed her hair.
Kai watched her and then raised a brow, "Do you have something to say to me?"
"Hmm?" She raised her gaze. Her hands paused on their work. "No, not really."
"Then why are you sitting here?"
"Didn’t I already tell you? I’m going to earn your forgiveness. Making you used to seeing me is a part of the process."
"Phew~" Dorian whistled. "Is this girl really the same Matilda who could even go toe-to-toe with Roan?" He shook his head and then turned to Kai. "She did apologize to our classmates really well. Like a High Priestess of Dionysus making a sacrifice to the Gods."
"Does that make you feel anything?" Matilda finished tying her hair and leaned forward, both elbows on the table. "Does that make you want to forgive me?"
Kai stared at her while tapping the table surface with his index finger, "It’s a start."
"It’s a success, then," Matilda smiled inwardly, pleased with the outcome.
"Man... Class is going to empty," Dorian changed the subject, feeling uncomfortable by the annoying tension in the air that the two emanated. "Because of this back-stabbing bitch, there is only a handful of us left."
"I’m guessing the class would be rerolled again," Matilda said, entirely dismissive of Dorian’s comment. "There are going to be many new faces once we’re back. Survivors. So, most of them might be High Angels."
"No, no, no," Kai interrupted and turned to Dorian. "Let’s talk about Abigail."
"Oh, come on. Back to that again?"
"You’re the one who wanted to kill her first, and now what? You suddenly have a big heart?"
"It’s not like that," Dorian stuttered, thinking of a way to explain how Abigail managed to be a part of their team and pass the rite. "She’s a mouse. She couldn’t hurt a fly even if she really wanted to; we both can agree on that. So, I thought she was going to give up mid-way through."
"What?" Kai looked at him incredulously. "What did you even make her do?"
"He told Aaran to drag Abigail all the way to the summit," Matilda explained before Dorian could twist it. "If she lets out a sound or takes her body off the ground, she’ll be thrown from the cliff. It’s brutal. And it’s surprising that she could endure that."
"See?" Dorian pointed at Matilda. "Even she’s surprised."
"You’re underestimating a person’s will to survive," Kai shook his head.
Despite their differences, the three talked about random things for about an hour, and then parted ways when Dorian got sleepy and wanted to sleep. Kai also told Matilda to leave since he does not want to be alone with her.
Now, he was the only one in the cafeteria.
Silence enveloped him once again. Peaceful. Comfortable.
"I should sleep and meet with Noxian. I hope I can learn another fragment of his name soon."
Kai rubbed his face, but the darkness showed him something.
He recoiled and stood up, pushing back the steel chair as it grazed across the floor.
It was only a fraction of a second, but Kai saw blood and the faces of the students he killed.
Just seeing the anguish on their face made the heat rush into his skin. Sweat beaded at his temples as his chest began to rise and fall in desperate pulls, skirting the border of panic. His gaze dropped to his hands.
Both were clean; he had scrubbed them good earlier.
However, somehow, they strangely felt viscously wet.
Like the blood had never left them at all.
"I really need to sleep."
Kai walked through the hall and made a turn toward the lodging wing when he came across a woman who stopped at the sight of him. He gave her a faint look and nod in acknowledgement before walking past her.
Too mentally exhausted to even greet her. Or even look at her face.
He was only a couple of steps away when his feet stopped working.
Kai’s eyes slowly widened, and then, slowly, he turned to look at the woman again.
"L-Layra?" He said the name hesitantly.
"Hello..." the woman smiled sheepishly. "Are you heading to bed?"’
Kai said nothing. He simply stared, tracing her from head to toe, disbelief rooting him in place.
His breath was caught in his throat as the woman before him right now is not the same as the woman he saw on that hill. Back then, she had shadows under her eyes, and her hair clung to her forehead because of the sweat and blood.
Now, she was bright. Perhaps too bright.
Layra’s posture was no longer defensive.
She’s standing straight a bit stiffly, but it wasn’t because of vigilance, but surprise.
Surprise that she came across him.
Her hands were smoothing an invisible wrinkle on her fitting ceremonial suit that did her curves, right.
One that caught his attention the most was her lustrous hair. It wasn’t faded orange, but bright orange like the first sign of sunset, dangling all the way to her mid back, beautifully. Under the neon light from above, it looked like her long hair was on fire.
Her eyes were of a brighter amber than he remembered.
And maybe because he walked past her, but he could smell roses.
Everything about her changed drastically. The woman who crumbled under pressure, almost making a mistake that she would regret, was no longer there. In her place was someone who looked like she’d stolen a piece of the sun under Apollo’s nose and made it hers.
Feeling Kai’s burning gaze, she tucked a strand of that lustrous hair behind her ear.
And like ice under the sun, the mental exhaustion Kai was feeling melted away.
"Kai...?" Layra called.
Kai blinked and then realized his rudeness as he had been staring too hard. Heat crept up his neck. "Sorry. I didn’t—" He raised his hands, shaking them as if to erase the last few seconds from Layra’s memories. "I didn’t mean to stare. Just that... you looked really different. I was caught off guard."
"Really?" Layra caught a strand of her hair between her fingers—and twirled it slowly. "Care to tell me what about me that looked different?"
"I don’t know," Kai scratched the back of his head. "You’re more... glowing?"
"Glowing? You saw me during my worst, but I usually looked like this," She averted her gaze, embarrassed. "I didn’t even do much. Just took a shower. I want to always look presentable, no matter where I am."
"Just took a shower?" Kai asked and then leaned closer. "Aren’t you wearing makeup?"
Maybe because he has a sister, but he could tell that Layra was wearing makeup. He did not know how she got her hands on that kind of thing, but he was quite sure. It’s not much, but it’s there.
Layra pushed Kai’s face away and rolled her eyes, "There are things you don’t need to say out loud, you know. I thought you had a sister. You should at least know that much."
"Sorry..." Kai grabbed her wrist and pushed aside. "So, where are you going this late? You’ve been in your room all day; the others almost wanted to check on you."
"I want to take a walk. I saw from the map thingy that we’re going to pass Mount Dam Anlan, so I want to see it. You know, the Skyfire Spire?" Layra paused, hesitating—and then looked up at Kai again. "Care to accompany me?"