Chapter 73: Spilling the Tea
Ethan sighed.
He knew there was no escaping it now.
So, while Rin remained propped against the pillows, Ethan began telling him everything that had happened during the rift mission, although he deliberately left out a few things.
There was no way he was telling Rin everything about what had happened in that rift just yet, especially when he still wasn’t entirely sure what his new strength meant himself. His rank had increased far more than it should have, his abilities had changed in ways he was still trying to understand, and there was also the matter of the strange power he had felt awakening inside him.
He was still considering whether he should tell Rin about that part when he decided that perhaps it would be better to wait until he understood it properly himself.
There was no point dumping a mountain of information on Rin when he was still trying to organize the mess in his own head.
Besides, Rin already had enough reasons to think Ethan was suspicious.
Ethan reached over to grab something from the small tray beside the bed, intending to feed Rin a little more food since the idiot had been too busy interrogating him to eat properly, but the moment he lifted his arm, his sleeve slid backward.
Rin’s eyes immediately landed on his hand and his expression Instantly changed. "Woah, bro."
Ethan paused, while Rin grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand closer, staring at it with wide eyes.
"Since when did you get a tattoo?"
Ethan blinked in confusion. "What?" Then he followed Rin’s gaze, and the moment he saw the back of his own hand, his entire expression froze.
"...What the hell?"
There, on his right hand, was a tattoo.
Except it wasn’t just any tattoo.
It was an incredibly detailed, almost impossibly realistic image of Lumi. His Lumi, curled up in a circular position as though she were sleeping peacefully, her tiny body forming a perfect loop against his skin. The details were so fine that it looked less like ordinary ink and more like an actual miniature painting had somehow been embedded beneath his skin.
Ethan stared at it in complete disbelief.
He had not gotten a tattoo.
He was absolutely certain of that.
He would remember if he had willingly sat down somewhere and allowed someone to tattoo a tiny fluffy spiritual creature onto his hand.
More importantly, he had never even considered getting a tattoo in the first place.
"Since when did I have that?" Ethan muttered, still staring.
Rin looked at him as though he had just said something incredibly stupid. "You’re asking me?"
"Yes because I didn’t get a tattoo."
Rin raised an eyebrow. "Bro, it is literally on your hand."
Ethan stared harder at the tattoo, his mind racing as he tried to figure out when the hell it had appeared. Then realization slowly began to dawn on him and his eyes widened.
So this was where Lumi had disappeared to?
He had noticed that she had vanished when he went to see Rin, but he had assumed that she had simply hidden somewhere nearby, since he didn’t know how this stuff worked. He had not thought much of it at the time.
But if this was what spiritual companions did when they wanted to hide...
Did they actually turn into ink?
Before he could properly think about it, Rin was already inspecting his hand from another angle, turning his wrist slightly while studying the intricate design.
"Bold decision," Rin finally said, nodding thoughtfully. "I wouldn’t have expected you to go for something like this, though. Kind of a weird tattoo choice, but hey, you do you."
"I really haven’t gotten a tattoo," Ethan insisted.
Rin gave him a look. "Sure."
Ethan was just about to argue again when something strange happened.
A faint glow began to seep from the tattoo causing his words to die in his throat.
The ink-like image of Lumi seemed to shimmer beneath his skin before suddenly dissolving into a stream of soft spiritual energy.
Rin’s eyes widened at the same time Ethan’s mouth fell open.
The tattoo disappeared completely.
The glowing energy floated upward from his hand, drifting lazily through the air before gradually gathering together, its shape becoming more defined with every passing second.
And then, right before their eyes, the familiar little creature appeared.
Lumi.
His fluffy, glowing spiritual companion landed softly on the bed.
For a moment, Ethan could only stare.
"So that’s where you were hiding," he muttered.
Lumi did not answer.
Instead, she turned her little head toward him. Then she looked away.
There was something about the way she was looking at him that felt strangely unfamiliar.
Disappointed. Actually, no. She looked downright offended.
"Lumi?"
The fluffy creature deliberately turned her back to him.
Ethan stared at her.
"You’re seriously mad at me?"
Lumi’s ears twitched, but she refused to look at him.
"What did I even do?"
Ethan reached toward her, but the moment his hand came close, Lumi immediately scooted away from him and moved toward Rin instead.
"Hey!"
Lumi ignored him. She hopped onto Rin’s side and settled there comfortably, staring at Ethan with an expression that somehow managed to say, You have betrayed me, and I will never forgive you.
Ethan stared at her in disbelief. "You disappeared without a trace, and now you’re angry at me?"
Lumi continued ignoring him.
"Seriously, Lumi, what the hell?"
Lumi’s fluffy body glowed faintly, almost as though she were pleased with herself.
Rin, meanwhile, had already recovered from his initial shock. He carefully picked Lumi up, holding the tiny glowing creature in his arms before gently stroking her fluffy fur.
"Oh my God."
Lumi immediately relaxed against him.
Rin looked at Ethan with a smug expression. "You’re a coward."
"What?"
"You were denying that this little thing was your pet."
"I wasn’t denying anything!"
"You literally just told me you didn’t have a tattoo, knowing fully well it was your spiritual pet."
"Because I don’t! And I didn’t know!!!"
Rin looked down at Lumi, then back at Ethan.
"You see? Even your own spiritual companion agrees with me."
As if to prove his point, Lumi’s little body glowed brightly. Then she nodded.
Ethan covered his face with one hand, shaking his head as laughter escaped him.
"Oh, great. Just great."
He looked at Lumi through his fingers.
"I’ve officially earned another emotional character in my life, and this one is a pet."