Chapter 152 Volume III - Chapter 73: Incomprehensible Feelings
"Whenever... Whenever you come near me, the Sixth Sense does something strange. You give me a feeling that makes me feel at peace. Something I've never felt before, like you're not of this... world."
Ah... So that's it.
The Sixth Sense understands that I'm in a body that doesn't belong to me, but it can't communicate it to Celine properly.
Is my soul so... alien to this world?
Still, it's good that it gives Celine peace, isn't it?
"W- Why do I feel this way when you're close? What is my skill trying to tell me...? I... don't understand..."
She squeezed my hand tighter, but this time, refusing to lean on my shoulder, she straightened up and turned to me.
Only a few inches separated me from her thin, emaciated face. Her eyes were flickering, even tearing up a little.
I swallowed for a moment, I didn't know what to do, I hadn't expected anything like this.
"A lot... I've thought a lot, Aiden. When you were here, when you were gone, when you were alone, when you were with the doctors. Have I... fallen in love with you? Is that why my skill makes me feel this way?"
My head started to spin as I realized again that there were only a few centimeters between me and Celine's face.
"I-"
But at this very moment, all this confusion suddenly vanished into nothingness. My head stopped spinning, my focus returned... and I paused.
I...
Ah, the Absolute Mind.
I suddenly became able to think things straight. My skill kicked in as soon as I was confronted with an issue that challenged my mind.
"I... I don't understand anymore."
Celine buried her head in my chest. She didn't do anything, she just waited and closed her eyes.
"Still... it feels good to be near you."
What should I do?
What Celine feels has nothing to do with love. It's just the fact that my soul is from another world that causes her skill to react strangely. What makes her believe this is that she must be confused because I am always there for her, supporting her through all this. The gratitude she feels must be clouding her emotions.
Still... if I explain it to her, will she accept it?
How will she react if... I tell her that this 'love' she thinks she feels is fake? When she is already so sensitive... I... what should I do?
What should I say?
"I..."
Whatever comes out of my mouth will give me the best result? I... I have never been in such a situation...
When I finally realized that I had filled my mind with a thousand different thoughts, I paused, took a deep breath and let it out.
I really hate overthinking... I'm just going to do what makes the most sense to me.
I don't want to lie, I'm afraid that if she senses it with her skill, she'll think she can't trust me. But I don't want her to get depressed or anything, thinking that what she felt after I told her that I'm not really from this world is fake.
Her skill is not yet strong enough to sense and distinguish 'everything', but the chances are not zero...
Still... there's nothing else I can do, right? I... I don't want her to be sad anymore, not even a little bit.
I hope she doesn't feel anything... Please, just don't.
"I don't know exactly what it is you're feeling, I'm not sure."
I hope it's the best choice... It has to be.
"I'm not very familiar with these... romance things. So I don't think I can give you a satisfactory answer."
I lifted Celine by the shoulder and made her look at me. She didn't look away, she just kept making eye contact with me.
"You shouldn't be so quick to judge how you feel. In the same way... I have a lot more to do. And if you really think what you feel is love and you want a response from me... I'm sorry, I can't give you that response 'now'."
Still, I put a smile on my face.
"Recognize your feelings first and I'll... do what I have to do. I don't think the idea of a relationship is appropriate for either of us at the moment. It would be much better to think about it in the future. But don't think I'm going to stop visiting you just because we had this conversation. Let's just... pretend this moment 'didn't happen' for a while."
It was not hard to see that Celine was disappointed. She even looked a little uncomfortable.
Maybe she really sensed with her skill that something was wrong, that I wasn't telling the whole truth. I don't know, but she doesn't look bad, at least she seems to think that what I said made sense.
"Okay."
I stared blankly for a moment after Celine's dull reply.
Oh... Well, it was easier than I thought? I'm sure if we had this conversation before I left, she would have cried under the emotional burden...
She's really made some progress while I was gone, hasn't she?
"Just... stay with me until I fall asleep."
Well, progress is progress.
I smiled, and when Celine saw that, she let herself go and buried her head in her pillow. Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Okay."
After my approval, Celine slowly drifted off to sleep and I let out a deep sigh, feeling like a weight had really been lifted off my shoulders.
I think... I just dodged something big.
*******
The first thing I did after visiting Celine was to go to the black market and put Phoenix's Soul Orb up for auction. There were almost no problems, the VIP membership was quite nice.
By the time I was done with that, it was getting close to seven in the evening and there wasn't much left for me to do for the day. So I went back to the academy, my intention was to go to my dorm room and surf the internet all day long, but while I was in the academy grounds... something suddenly occurred to me.
Adrian is probably in the training room... Should I pay him a visit? Julian is coming tonight anyway, at least that's what he wrote to the group. So yeah... I can go.
It's a good opportunity to find out what happened at the academy while I was away.
With that, I changed my direction and headed toward the training building. After a short while, I indicated to the reception that I wanted to visit a room and I was directed to Adrian's room without any problem.
Even if I closed my eyes and focused in front of the door, I couldn't hear a sound... The insulation was pretty good...
I took a deep breath and pressed the little screen on the side of the door where the bell picture was, then waited.
It didn't take long for the door to open and Adrian appeared in front of me, panting. We stared at each other for a moment, silence fell between us and then Adrian's eyes suddenly widened.
I rolled my eyes and ignored his reaction.
"You stink of sweat Adrian... How many hours have you been practicing?"
"Uh? Oh... Well, I'm sorry..."
Adrian put his hand behind his head, smiled, and stepped aside. He seemed to have overcome his bewilderment a little.
"Are you coming inside?"
"I will."
There's a filter in there, so it can't smell that easily. That's why it will better for both of us, and I don't really care.
With that, I sat down in one of the soft, relaxing armchairs at the edge of the room and sighed deeply. Adrian sat across from me in the same way, and he was the first to speak.
"When did you arrive?"
"This morning. I reached out to my sister and stuff first, and then I visited Celine, and I had a few other errands to run. That's all I had time for."
Adrian fixed his eyes on the floor after what I said.
"I see, no problem."
He waited a moment, opening and closing his mouth. He couldn't say anything, but then he sighed and finally spoke.
"Celine... How is she?"
There was silence between us again. I stared at the floor for a short while, but I wasn't going to answer him.
"She's made progress, but I wouldn't say she's doing very well."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"Do you think she'll be okay? I... I saw her, Aiden. She looked really bad. Do you think she can get over that trauma?"
"We have no choice but to believe so. I'll do what I can, and so will the people who want her to get better. That's why I think we'll make progress, albeit slowly."
Adrian took a deep breath.
"So, you're saying it's not impossible."
"Exactly."
Adrian's lips curled upward, barely visible, and he looked a little relieved.
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