Lilia's Tale: Freyja's Endeavor

Chapter 30: Heartfelt

I woke up still tired, likely from lack of sleep. I got out of the bath, remembered to make sure I didn't have anything I needed to hide out in the open, dressed and went out. To my surprise, it was still night, Sayuri still sleeping.

I felt a little lost at that particular moment. There was little I could do and there were no questions I could seek an answer to. I ended up quietly walking in circles, unsure what to do.

As I was slowly panicking, I heard rustling from the beds. Sayuri was waking and sitting up.

"Who is it..." she mumbled, still nearly asleep.

"You should go back to sleep," I replied as I gently pushed her back to laying down.

Instead of replying, she looked at me. As I tucked her back into her sheets, her eyes widened and she sprung back up, headbutting me in the way.

"Ouch," she gently said before starting to cry.

I hadn't felt anything but the knockback so her tears took me by surprise. I started feeling guilty, trying whatever I knew to take care of her. We didn't have any ice or medicine to help with it so there was little I could do.

Alice appeared above my head and cast some light magic. Sayuri stopped crying shortly after.

"It hurts!" she screamed at me once she calmed down.

"Sssh! It's still night, don't yell!"

"Ah, sorry. Wait, it's night?"

"Yeah. Sorry if I woke you up."

"It's okay, it's okay. If anything...Wait, Lilia!"

She got out if bed and grabbed me from my shoulders' side.

"Are you okay?"

"I...think. I'm still kind of tired but that's fine."

"No, not this. I mean, you were..."

She suddenly started crying again, obviously trying to talk through her fear.

"It was like you were dead!" she yelled again.

"Huh?"

"Yes...You...You know..." she uttered between sniffles.

"Hold on just calm down.You can't speak like that so tell me once you're better, okay?"

"Okay..."

I sat on her bed with her and helped her calm down. Once she felt better, she finally explained.

"You were in the library and it was like nothing we did even got through to you. The teachers tried calling you, they even tried shaking you. Nothing happened, you couldn't even be moved."

"Oh. That. I was...quite panicked with something that recently happened and I focused a little too hard on finding information about it. I'm sorry."

"And, and before that you suddenly appeared out of nowhere too!"

"Yeah that's...exactly what I was searching about."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"...I don't know, but I'm fine for now."

Hearing my reply, her expression turned sour, as if about to cry. However, instead of letting her tears flow again, she instead suddenly hugged me.

"...Sayuri?" I asked.

"...Please be okay..."

I ended up as lost as earlier, yet again. I had little to no clue on what even I was supposed to do or say in this situation. Instead, I decided to let things go as they are and awkwardly hugged back, letting her calm herself down.