ryo noticed the heaviness of his eyelids before he noticed the passage of time. He tried to keep his eyes open, but the deep, accumulated exhaustion was more honest than his stubbornness. He turned his head slightly, relaxed his shoulders, and finally let himself slide into sleep.
In the morning, the sun rose, and golden light illuminated the room…
Faint footsteps echoed in the corridors.
The sound of moving metal.
The whispers of doctors and the steady pulse of devices.
ryo opened his eyes slowly.
The first thing he saw was the plate.
Full of fruit… again.
Beside it was a bowl of soup with light, warm steam rising from it, carrying the scent of familiar medicinal herbs. He shifted his gaze sideways toward the other bed. shimoro's injury was wrapped in a different bandage—cleaner, more precise, and of a pale silver color that indicated advanced intervention…
ryo whispered softly, almost smiling: "So… that hag came last night."
A strange expression formed on his face, neither pure sarcasm nor explicit gratitude. He immediately reached out and began eating the fruit voraciously, piece after piece, as if he needed every single bit. Then he grabbed the soup bowl and drank it quickly, as if he didn't want to waste a single second. Within moments, both dishes were empty.
He breathed deeply.
At that moment, the door opened.
Freina entered.
Her tanned skin appeared more prominent under the room's lighting. Her clean medical clothes bore the number 099 on the chest, her long brown hair was tied back tightly, and her hazel eyes monitored every detail without missing a movement. She tightened a glove on her left hand while saying in a half-mocking tone:
"You're awake, Master of Bribery."
She took a step forward, and behind her appeared a young man with enthusiastic features. He had short black hair with a strand hanging forward, black eyes that reflected the light, and warm, yellowish skin.
Words escaped his mouth in pure amazement:
"What?! You're awake?! You're superhuman, aren't you!?"
ryo looked at him with clear coldness. "Who is this idiot? I don't want any disturbance."
The young man jumped forward, pointing to himself with both hands in exaggerated excitement: "I am the new member of Team 099! infelonz Rins! And I am not an idiot!"
ryo whispered to himself in a low voice: "He's even more talkative than shimoro…"
Freina interrupted firmly: "Come here, infelonz. Now."
She stood beside shimoro's bed. infelonz moved with obedient speed, while ryo watched them with a cold, silent gaze.
infelonz pulled out a pulse monitor and fixed it in place, and Freina began checking the vitals carefully. Numbers appeared on the screen—rates close to normal, a stable pulse, a good response.
Freina's eyes widened slightly. "He's improving… perhaps one more day, and he'll wake up."
At the same moment, infelonz said with excessive enthusiasm: "Yoo! He's stronger than me! But he can't treat himself!"
ryo looked at his hand first… then at shimoro.
He spoke with sharp calmness: "That's enough. You know his condition. Now get out."
infelonz pointed toward ryo with childish disdain, in his usual strange manner: "How polite you are, patient!"
Before ryo could move or his expression could change, Freina grabbed infelonz by the collar and said in a serious voice that brook no argument: "Don't forget that I am the Team Leader, you dummy."
Then she threw him out of the room with a clean movement.
"Ouch…" The sound came from infelonz as he clutched his head.
Freina turned to ryo and said in a quiet whisper: "Don't mind that rookie."
Then she raised her voice, looking outside: "Get up, boy! We're continuing your training before the Preliminary Tournament!"
infelonz stood up, scratching the back of his head with embarrassment and excitement: "O-okay! I'm ready for training!"
He moved outside with Freina following, and she closed the door.
A moment of silence filled the room.
ryo whispered to himself: "What an idiot…"
Then he said in a low voice, as if asking the void: "But… what is the Preliminary Tournament? I must find out."
He looked at his fist and clenched it slowly. "Until I find out… I will continue my training."
Silence fell over the room again.
ryo sat steadily, his back against the bed, his breath slow as if measured by the wind itself. He closed his eyes, and with the first long exhale, everything vanished.
Blackness.
A void without earth, without sky.
And in front of him… stood He.
A total black shadow, featureless, eyeless, yet its presence was heavy and crushing, as if the air itself bowed around it.
ryo opened his palms slowly.
"Not an enemy…" he whispered within. "But me, when I am slower than the wind."
The shadow moved.
A straight, direct strike.
ryo tried to slide with the current, but his body lagged.
"Strike!"
The pain hit his imagination as if it were real; his head jerked back, but the scene did not break. ryo tried to anticipate the movement, but… he received a side kick.
"Second strike!"
The enemy moved, changing his angle, trying to wrap around and then…
"Third strike!"
ryo took it in the chest. He began counting without intending to.
"Fourth!"
The punch came fast and sideways; it was supposed to pass by his face, but…
It hit another face of ryo.
A second version of him, half a heartbeat late, took the hit instead of him…. It represented ryo's overthinking.
ryo's eyes widened in the vision.
"…What is this?"
Fifth.
Sixth.
The shadow did not stop.
The punches rained down, consecutive, heavy, merciless. ryo was taking the hits one after another, his body shaking, but his feet remained fixed.
The counting vanished.
He no longer knew how many times he had fallen.
He stopped.
He stopped counting… and he stopped resisting.
He closed his eyes within the imagination.
He lowered his arms.
And he let the wind pass through.
"I don't precede it…"
"And I don't resist it…"
"I am… with it."
The shadow attacked. A fast, lethal strike—
But… it didn't hit.
The attack crossed the void, passing through where ryo had been a moment ago, as if his body were nothing but air.
For a fraction of a second… ryo was smiling.
Then, he fell.
A sudden drop; his head hit the black ground hard.
ryo opened his eyes violently.
A sharp pain exploded inside his skull, as if thousands of needles were driven into his mind at once. His breathing quickened, and his hand rose to his head as he groaned in a muffled voice.
"Damn it…"
The mental exercise was over, but its effect remained.
He looked at the ceiling, his eyes wide, cold drops of sweat trickling down his temple.
A small, tired smile appeared on his face.
"So…"
"The way is not to be faster…"
He clenched his fist slowly.
"But to be the wind itself."
He closed his eyes again, but this time… he let the pain pass.
To be continued...