Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, as if trying to decipher whether I was still her problem or a brand new inconvenience altogether.
I almost felt honoured, strangely — imagine surviving cosmic torment and rebirth only to be inspected like a faulty household appliance.
She didn't rush forward, didn't ask if I was alive, merely studied me with that same tired irritation one might reserve for something that refuses to break no matter how hard life repeatedly throws it around.
Ah, yes, I thought dryly, how comforting.
I return from nonexistence and the first thing I receive is suspicion seasoned with mild disappointment and quiet doubt.
Truly, a heartwarming reunion.
But the moment that irritation melted, it shifted into something far more uncomfortable.
A hesitant stillness, as if she hadn't expected me to be standing here at all.
Violet platinum hair threaded through with faint streaks of blue, softly framing her face in disarray, while her platinum eyes flickered in a mix of anticipation, confusion, and excitement.
Her grip on the door loosened slightly, fingers hovering mid-air before dropping slowly to her side, and in that brief pause, the silence between us grew oddly dense, like air thickened by unfinished thoughts and restrained emotion.
I managed to remain where I was, except opting for half-leaning against the corridor wall, a position deliberately prepared by me skillfully to counter any type of sudden problems I might encounter during the process.
However, my eyes occasionally flickered to her face, struggling to find emotional equilibrium.
Confusion, disbelief… and something softer, deeply buried beneath it all.
"You're... awake?"
She finally muttered quietly, not quite meeting my eyes, her voice carrying none of the venom she'd reserved for the man at the door only seconds ago.
I tilted my head, studying her as if she were a half-remembered detail from a dream I didn't care to recall at all.
Then, glancing away partly towards the ceiling, I replied without looking at her.
"Yeah, I am. Though the stunt you attempted to pull while I was unconscious wasn't exactly my cup of tea. I could have died, honestly, painfully."
Her brows furrowed, lips parting as if to respond, only to close again, reconsidering her words with obvious restraint.
"Stunt?... what type of stunt are you talking about?"
I ran a hand through my still-damp grey hair, glancing away briefly before my eyes returned to her, light blue reflecting faintly against the dull hallway light.
"You tied me up," I said plainly, lifting one hand slightly to show the freshly split skin along my palm.
Hearing the reply, her eyes widened just for a fraction of a second.
"You were thrashing," she explained in a calm voice.
"It looked like as if you were having seizure attacks, and kept murmuring things that didn't make sense, while flailing your body wildly. You could have gotten seriously hurt and I didn't know what else to do."
Suddenly, the plan I'd formed to hit her the moment I found her collapsed into nothing.
Not because I'd gone soft, and certainly not because of some pathetic wave of sentimentality, but because my mind found itself split between two clashing instincts.
One urged cold retaliation, sharp and decisive.
The other restrained me, quietly, stubbornly, and persistently.
Still, I replied, a faint smirk tugging at the corners of my lips.
"So... your first instinct was kidnapping me, essentially sentencing me to death by tying me to a rope?"
She scoffed, folding her arms, though the faint redness creeping into her cheeks subtly betrayed her embarrassment.
"You weren't exactly cooperative."
"Neither was the rope," I replied flatly, flexing my fingers as a fake dull throb flared through my palm.
"It seemed oddly enthusiastic about carving me up slowly."
Her jaw tightened as she continuously thought of a reply, and opened her mouth after finally coming to a conclusion.
"Do you have any idea what you were even saying? Enlighten me. I'm fascinated by my own madness. This isn't omnipotence, laughter and more laughter and some shit called 'demon silk and pants'."
Though I wasn't exactly experienced when it came to talking to women — something that ranked embarrassingly low on my list of priorities in my previous world — I felt no trace of awkwardness standing before her.
No hesitation.
No awkwardness, or probably a little.
No careful calculation.
It was strange, almost unsettling, how natural this felt, as if I had known her for far longer than I logically should have.
My words flowed without resistance, guided less by thought and more by instinct, like a reflex shaped by familiarity I couldn't remember earning clearly.
"Endorsi… aren't you the one in the wrong here? Arguing with a man who just woke up, restrained, mildly traumatised, and barely functioning?"
I spoke decisively, my voice carrying a quiet edge of suspense as I pushed myself off the wall for the first time and faced her directly.
Endorsi's expression hardened, though I had half-expected her to retaliate.
Wait… expected? When? Why? How?
"You just returned from the Sacred Dreamlands, and you should be resting. Not standing here dissecting my decisions like some sarcastic autopsy donor. We can talk about what happened, and your success, later. Alright?"
She said, rubbing her temples, frustration bleeding through, though it didn't feel like it was aimed at me personally.
Adamant about having the last word before giving in, I spoke once more.
"And you should probably explain who those people were too."
Her eyes narrowed.
"You refuse to follow standard procedures… I think I'll have to call the guards on you."
I let out a slow breath, almost amused.
"You say that like they'll scare me."
"They should."
"They don't have your voice." My eyes flicked briefly to hers.
"So I doubt it."
'Wait... It was not me. Definitely not myself. Why did I say that? Heck, I don't even remember having those words in my vocabulary.'
"Don't twist this into something it isn't,"
Endorsi muttered, though her hand never actually moved toward whatever that was used to summon them, not like I had seen one before.
"I just feel strangely safe around the person threatening to arrest me."