Joshua glanced at the time on his phone and let out a slow sigh. He had been at the hospital for over an hour. Even though it was hard for him to leave Theo and Alvano behind, he knew he couldn't stay any longer. The school had only granted him an hour of permission.
"I have to get back to school now. Otherwise, they might think my excuse was fake," Joshua said as he stood up and straightened his clothes.
Alvano nodded. "Yeah, thanks for taking the time to come."
Theo nodded too, his expression looking a bit calmer. "Take care on your way, Jo."
But before Joshua could take a step toward the door, Theo added in a relaxed tone, "Besides, I can go home today anyway."
That statement immediately made Joshua stop in his tracks. He turned around with a confused look. "Huh? Are you serious?"
Alvano looked just as shocked and instinctively responded, "You just woke up from a coma. You're going home already?"
Theo simply shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. "That's what the doctor said."
Joshua and Alvano exchanged glances. Neither of them looked convinced. Theo was known for being stubborn, but going home on the same day after such an accident… sounded way too soon.
And as if to answer their confusion, the doctor who had been in charge of Theo suddenly entered the room. He was holding a few documents and smiled warmly at all of them.
"Doctor, is it true Theo's already allowed to go home? Isn't that… a bit too fast?" Joshua asked bluntly.
The doctor chuckled lightly. "I understand your concern. Honestly, this might sound strange from a normal medical perspective, but his condition is rather unique."
He walked closer, opened one of Theo's examination documents, and began to explain seriously. "This patient's condition is something we call Lunar Sleep Syndrome."
Joshua and Alvano both frowned. "What does that mean?" Alvano asked, puzzled.
The doctor explained with a scientific tone, though he tried to keep it simple. "It's an extremely rare condition where the patient's brain waves drop drastically, resembling a person in deep REM sleep. The body enters a kind of restorative hibernation—a super-fast recovery state that only occurs for a certain duration, specifically during a particular phase of the moon."
"The moon?" Joshua raised an eyebrow, trying to understand.
"That's right. Lunar phases can influence the human body's biological rhythm. We call it circadian-moon synchronization. In Theo's case, his body didn't respond to trauma with ordinary shock or coma—it went into a kind of biological hibernation, regulated by the electromagnetic waves of the moon's phase last night, which happened to be at its peak synchronization point."
Joshua and Alvano grew even more confused. "So what you're saying is… he was just sleeping?" Joshua said half-jokingly, half-bewildered.
The doctor laughed softly. "Scientifically, it's not that simple—but to the naked eye, yes, it looks like an extremely deep nap. When the moon phase shifted earlier this morning, his brain waves returned to normal, and his body's recovery progressed quickly, though not entirely complete yet."
Alvano could only nod repeatedly, though he didn't fully understand a word of it. Still, seeing how serious the doctor was, there wasn't much room for argument.
Joshua finally patted Theo's shoulder gently. "You're seriously weird… but whatever, as long as you're okay."
He then turned to the doctor. "In that case, I'll send one of my bodyguards here to take him home. So he doesn't have to walk."
Theo raised a hand. "I can still walk on my own, you know."
"Doesn't matter," Joshua replied. "Consider it a gift from the angel I mentioned earlier."
All three of them chuckled softly, and Joshua finally said his real goodbye. He glanced at his phone again—it was already fifteen minutes past his permitted time. In a slight hurry, he walked briskly out of the room, leaving his two friends still seated inside.
Alvano walked alongside Joshua, escorting him all the way to the hospital's exit. Along the corridor, their steps were calm, but their conversation carried a quiet unease neither could hide.
"To be honest, I still can't wrap my head around what that doctor said," Alvano muttered, frowning slightly as he looked at Joshua. "Lunar Sleep? Or what did he call it again… biological hibernation? It sounds like a science fiction theory."