Kairos' vision went in and out of focus. He felt like he was lying down on the bed, and tried to get up, though he ended up falling back down on his first try.
"So you finally got up."
Kairos looked over and saw Azami. She had her arms crossed, and while Kairos couldn't make out her expression, she appeared a bit angry.
Kairos took a deep breath and put a hand on his forehead.
"So it seems that this is still inside of my mind, and I haven't actually woken up yet. So how long have I been asleep for?"
Azami clicked her tongue and stood up.
"You're really dumb for pulling off a stunt like that. If it wasn't for the fact you ate those weird green things, then you would've been in a coma. Thankfully, most of the damage you dealt to your mind was healed. You've already been asleep for ten hours now."
Kairos let out a small sigh of relief.
"Ah, so it's not too long. I was a little worried that I would've found out I've been sleeping for several days, or maybe even weeks."
Azami pursed her lips and glared at him.
"Don't get ahead of yourself dumbass. You haven't actually woken up yet. Not to mention, this little guy is like this now."
She gestured to the side, where the wolf was. However, it was on its side unconscious as though it were dead. Kairos' eyes widened when he saw that.
"Is... he dead?"
Azami shook her head.
"No, but the poor guy sacrificed himself to reduce your mental strain. And because of that, he's now in an actual coma. You can't expect him to wake up any time soon."
Kairos fell silent. He never really thought that recklessly putting his own body on the line would also hurt others, so when it did happen he felt a bit guilty. While interlacing his fingers, he spoke up slowly.
"Um... is there anything I can do to fix him up?"
Azami narrowed her eyes before snapping.
"If I knew something like that, then I would've long done it myself!"
Kairos retracted back a little bit as a bit of cold sweat formed.
"...Do you have any ideas?"
Azami shook her head and let out a sigh.
"This is my first time experiencing something like this, both the trio consciousness sharing and also somehow taking on the burden of someone else. I don't even know how the doggy found a way to do something like this."
Kairos took a few deep breaths, as his fatigue gradually lessened. After his headache calmed down somewhat, he walked over to the wolf and got on one knee next to it.
After blinking a few times, he gently stroked the wolf's fur. He muttered.
"So you're the reason I could even hold on in the first place, huh?... Thanks, little buddy."
The wolf let out a weak whimper, though it seemed to just be a murmuring that came from its sleep. Kairos lifted up the wolf before setting it down in a more comfortable position.
Kairos tapped his chin in thought, not wanting to forcibly wake up the wolf. He gently rubbed the wolf's nose bridge. After being at a loss for what to do, he randomly decided to begin humming.
Although a lullaby seemed more like the opposite of what he needed to do to wake the wolf up, he didn't seem to mind this logical fallacy.
Azami frowned, clearly not thinking that this would help at all. However, she didn't say anything when Kairos attempted to do such a thing.
Kairos hummed a simple tune for a while, consisting of only two notes for a little while. He seemed to get lost in his own simple lullaby for a while, forgetting his original objective. His thoughts gradually left him, leaving only the sound of a song.
He appeared to still be feeling the effects of information overflow, and unable to have conscious thoughts.
Eventually, his humming gradually picked up, using more than two notes and switching between them a little faster. It had more or less changed into a song. Kairos wasn't exactly the best at getting the notes properly, but since he was humming it was harder to tell that he was messing up.
However, it was more than made up by the fact his voice was incredibly gentle.
Kairos began thinking of times when he was younger, as various memories involuntarily floated up to the surface.
The trials he faced all made him think of the past in one way or another, and now while he was still mentally exhausted, he was losing a bit of control over himself.
"I can hardly feel... but I try to pretend."
His singing was a bit off-tune. Though more than that, there wasn't really a tone in the first place, as it was just slight variations of the same note. It was fairly clear that Kairos wasn't a person that practiced singing very much, and from his vocal range, also wasn't one that talked all that much either.
Not that it was anything new.
Kairos took a deep breath as his eyes glazed over.
"Could there be an answer in the heart that set me free?"
Kairos thought of the first time he ever met Nicole and Edward. Although he still didn't know why to this day, he first found Edward in an alleyway by himself. He was covered in filth, and curled up into a ball against a wall.
Edward remained still, clearly with no intention of leaving.
In later times, he would ask why he was like that, but Edward would never give him a straight response.
Though for the young Kairos at the time, he didn't think too much of it, deciding to go out of his way to greet him. Granted, he was given a rather cold response and driven away. Still, that encounter was his first impression, even if it wasn't the most pleasant one.
It was only later on after coincidentally seeing him a few other times was he able to get a normal conversation with the guy.
But all things considered, the two of them found that they were quite similar, all things considered.
"Ten thousand miles apart, but we'll never be too far."
As for Nicole, he actually met her while he was sitting under a tree, and looking over at a park. It was a pretty nice view, at least to the young Kairos at the time. And this time, it was a little girl that approached him.
"What are you looking at?"
Kairos was feeling a bit down at the time, but he could no longer remember why. However, it was offset by Nicole's curious enthusiasm. Despite not really being in the mood to talk, Kairos still responded, explaining that he just liked the view.
In the end, Nicole clearly didn't see the signs that Kairos was giving and continued to excitedly converse with him. Strangely enough, despite not wanting to be with anyone at this point, he found himself talking with her rather excitedly as well.
Somehow or another, the two of them were able to talk to each other rather easily.
Though Kairos didn't realize it at the time, Nicole gave him something that he didn't know he needed. They had a lot of fun just sitting under the tree together, talking about rather pointless things.
"I saw a vision in the morning when the light came through. Do you think we'll be the same way even as the years go too?"
He quieted down slightly before pulling up a system prompt.
[Time Left Before Teleportation: 24 days, 18 hours, 13 minutes, and 36 seconds remaining]
Coming up on the first week, Kairos was starting to realize his true thoughts.
He missed Nicole.
He missed her a lot.
It was honestly quite surprising to him, as he never thought that he depended on her this much. Not to mention, he didn't even realize any signs earlier. All of a sudden, it just came out of him.
Kairos closed his eyes as he came to realize how he took her for granted.
He wasn't even thinking about Azami, who could read all of his embarrassing thoughts that he didn't have normally.
"Cause even though we were so different, the only thing that we share are our words and our time."
Kairos looked at the timer again, telling him that he still had to wait more than 24 days before he could even go back. He stared at it, almost like that could somehow speed it up further.
However, it felt more like it was slowing down, just like an illusion.
Kairos hugged the wolf and rested his head against its body. He muttered to himself while resting on top.
"I'm hoping that somehow, you can hear my voice piercing through the snow, calling out to you."
Kairos bit his bottom lip as he came to realize that his promotion mission wasn't going to be so easy after all.
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