Chapter 63: Locked, Blocked, and Passed Out on the Bathroom Floor
"Can I get Gia’s number?"
Jenna raised an eyebrow but didn’t refuse.
A few taps on her own device later, the contact appeared on my new phone under a simple label.
I saved it, resisted the urge to change the name to something more provocative, and left the lab with the bracelet cool against my wrist and the awareness of Shen still fading from my core.
The drive back was peaceful.
Calling the apartment "home" still felt strange, but there wasn’t a better word for it yet.
I sat in the back of the guild vehicle, turned the phone over in my hand, and finally opened a message thread.
Me: Hey
...
...
Gianna: Who is this?
Me: Your boyfriend
...
Gianna: You got a phone?
Me: Yessss! Awesome right? How to use emojis?
Gianna: What’s awesome in that? Grow up.
Me: Where are you?
Gianna: Work.
Me: Come home.
Gianna: I’ll be late. Only tomorrow.
Me: No. I need to talk before we have our date.
Gianna: Date?
Me: Don’t act. I know you are blushing on the other side. Anyway, a warm-up session before we go.
Gianna: It’s simply a movie.
Me: That’s what I want to talk about.
Gianna: ....
Gianna: Whatever.
Me: Also...
...
Gianna: ???
Gianna: What?
Gianna: You okay?
...
Gianna: Fuck, Rev, are you alright?
...
Me: Send nudes.
Silence.
[Gianna has blocked you.]
I stared at the screen for a second, then huffed a quiet laugh and locked the phone.
Worth it.
The vehicle dropped me off.
I went upstairs, changed out of the sweat-stiff training clothes, and stepped into the bathroom. I leaned closer, studying the reflection, and for once the corners of my mouth turned up without effort.
Progress. Control. A date on the horizon. A second male support who hadn’t immediately tried to own or destroy me.
Things were... manageable.
Then the pain hit.
Huh?
It started as a deep ache directly behind my sternum, like someone had driven a heated spike through the center of my core. I staggered, one hand slamming against the sink.
"Gah—!"
My knees buckled. Heat flooded outward from my chest in a violent wave, racing down my arms and up the back of my neck. My eyes burned. The bathroom lights seemed to flare too bright, then dim, then flare again.
What the fuck?
"System!"
[Mana Redirection - Forced Activation]
[Warning: Unstable residual resonance detected]
[Source: External Male Support Signature - Shen Reinhard]
[Secondary Trigger: Accumulated high-intensity transfer residue (Rei Lawless)]
[Core pressure exceeding safe threshold]
The bracelet on my wrist tightened hard enough to leave a mark, the screen flashing rapid red.
[Emergency Protocol Engaged]
[Attempting stabilization...]
[New Technique Crystallization in Progress]
I couldn’t breathe properly. The heat kept climbing. My vision tunneled. Somewhere under the pain, I felt the redirection loop trying to form on its own, wider and more chaotic than anything I had practiced with Mira.
Energy that should have stayed internal was slamming against the limits of my control, looking for an outlet that wasn’t there.
[Technique Acquired: Echo Partition (Lv. 1)]
Description: Allows the Host to temporarily isolate and vent incompatible signatures into a sealed internal chamber, preventing immediate core overload. High mental strain. Short duration.
The moment the new technique locked into place, the worst of the pressure diverted. It didn’t disappear. It simply moved somewhere deeper, contained for now.
The heat dropped from unbearable to merely punishing. My arms were shaking. Sweat ran down my back in sheets.
I tried to stand.
My legs refused.
The last thing I registered was the cold tile rising to meet me.
Thud.
—
I woke to someone shaking my shoulder hard.
"The fuck happened to you?"
Gianna’s voice.
I opened my eyes. The bathroom ceiling swam into focus, then her face, red eyes narrowed, ponytail slightly messy, expression caught between anger and something that looked a lot like worry she didn’t want to admit.
I was still on the floor.
My cheek hurt from the tile. The bracelet had loosened again, the screen back to a cautious yellow instead of red.
"Gia...?"
"Don’t ’Gia’ me."
She hauled me into a sitting position with more strength than gentleness.
"I came by because my mother said your bracelet sent a priority spike, and I found you passed out on the bathroom floor. Talk."
I swallowed. My throat felt dry.
"I don’t know."
Gianna’s jaw tightened.
"You don’t know?"
"Yeah."
"You were mumbling something."
"I don’t remember."
She muttered a curse, hooked one of my arms over her shoulders, and dragged me out of the bathroom toward the bed.
I was heavier than I looked, but she managed it without asking for help. Once I was sitting on the edge of the mattress, she stepped back, arms crossed, clearly still deciding whether to be furious or relieved.
"Mira’s on her way," she said.
"Mother too. Your bracelet did its job. You’re lucky."
"No need for that. I’m fine."
"I don’t care."
"My body feels light."
"I still don’t care."
Gianna’s voice stayed flat, but her eyes kept checking my face, my breathing, the bracelet.
"You don’t get to scare people like that and then sound impressed with yourself."
I managed a weak smile.
"You unblocked me to come check."
"I unblocked you because a priority medical alert hit the guild channel with your name on it."
She pointed a finger at me.
"We are not talking about the message you sent. Not tonight. Not ever, if you want to keep the date."
"Understood."
Gianna held my gaze a second longer, then exhaled hard through her nose and looked away.
"Stay awake until Mira gets here. If you pass out again, I’m letting her use the experimental stabilizers."
"Cruel."
"Effective."
She pulled the desk chair over and sat, elbows on her knees, watching me like I might tip over again at any moment.
The apartment was quiet except for the low hum of the city outside and the occasional soft chime from the bracelet as it continued logging residual heat.
"Gia."
"What?"
"Thanks for coming."
She didn’t answer.
I slowly started.
"About the date... I want to spend time exploring the city with you first before we watch the movie in the evening. A whole day."