After an unknown length of time, Gil opened his eyes and was welcomed by the same darkness as the day before.
It wasn't a nightmare, then...
Mildly disappointed, but having expected it, he quickly turned his thoughts to something else.
Taking a quick stock of his state, he was relieved to find himself back in peak form.
His body didn't ache anymore, and most importantly, the dreadful feeling of weakness he had felt the day before after his pact with Greg was gone too!
Upon noticing this, he heaved a huge sigh of relief. Even as he had fallen asleep earlier, worry about it had still followed him through his rest.
Needless to say, having to handle the test in the state he was in back then wouldn't have been... a great idea, to say the least.
Thinking about how he had technically put himself in this situation, his mood soured instantly.
At least the experience wasn't in vain.
Triggering his sight, he focused on his right hand.
There at his wrist, tied in a loose knot, a pale golden chain hung down.
The rest of the chain's body lay on the ground, leading further into the hall.
Following it with his eyes, Gil could make out the shape of a snake and a young man who was seemingly still asleep.
It was Greg.
Looking at him still asleep, without knowing why, Gil got a little annoyed.
Well, since I am already up, there's no reason for my "dear partner" to still be asleep, is there?
Thinking so, Gil decided to wake him up.
But then, from the chain at his wrist, he felt something and stopped dead in his tracks.
Fear.
But not his.
Bewildered, he threw all of his focus onto the golden chain and soon got a grasp of what was happening.
The fear came from the other end of the chain—from Greg.
Perhaps thanks to it, he got the feeling that, should he try, he could almost read the state of the other party like an open book.
Although it seemed like a tempting prospect, right now, Greg's state worried him more.
Even that huge snake was coiled around itself, trembling.
More alarming was that its color, which had been brown before, was now tainted by gray spots.
Physically, Greg was healthy—not a wound nor a bruise, at least not recent ones, and nothing that could burden him for what was to come.
But mentally... he wasn't nearly as well. One could even say it was a mess.
What happened to him?
Gil thought, frowning.
Anxiety, wariness, stress, fear.
Such a mix of negative feelings... it was difficult to link them to the chatterbox of the day before.
No, perhaps it was because of those feelings that he talked so much...
Gil's expression, at this thought, softened a notch.
Actually, Greg was already awake.
He just... didn't dare to open his eyes, as if by staying that way, he could keep his fears away.
Reading his state up to that point, Gil stopped his probe.
If he so wanted, using this link, he felt that he could dig up the other party's secrets as easily as he had looked into Greg's current state, but...
"Tsk, tsk."
Clicking his tongue, he stood up and stepped forward. It was silent then, and his footsteps echoed through the hall.
Keeping Greg in sight, he advanced and took in the situation of the others today.
And the results were rather worrying.
Though not to the level of Greg, most of them weren't doing well. In his sight, most of them had heavy and oppressive dark clouds around them.
And quickly, those clouds seemed to affect the others too.
From the red silhouette that had gained a shade of gray, to the one with strange symbols which were flashing slower and slower—even the one who had been humming a tune kept quiet, the two mouths by his side remaining silent.
All of them, to a certain extent, were affected.
Of course, there were exceptions.
One being Gil, and the other one...
He narrowed his eyes at the quartet of the day before.
Though the skulls around the first three had darkened noticeably, the last one...
As expected, she was the same as before.
Gil still couldn't see her intent, and even the mood he could pick up from her was fleeting.
But it seemed like... anticipation?
That made Gil pause his step for a breath, then he continued, but he raised his wariness about this one another notch.
But for now, he had to wake his partner up.
Looking at the young man pretending to be asleep at his feet, Gil felt a headache coming on.
He wasn't good at comforting people.
El had even said that if life were a game, his skill level in this category would probably be negative.
Though angry back then, he couldn't muster a comeback because it was true.
Since he knew he wasn't good at it, he decided to tackle the issue from another angle.
If I can read him, then...
Raising his chained hand, he tried to channel his annoyance through it and shouted, "Do you intend to sleep much longer, Greg?"
His shout rang out, heard not only by Greg but also jolting awake many others.
Pretending to be unaware of the many gazes drilling into his back, he continued to fixate on Greg.
Greg, startled awake, stood up looking completely lost at Gil.
"Humph, much better. Bold of you to still be asleep when I am awake," snorting coldly, Gil reprimanded him.
Panicked, the other party tried to defend himself. "I wasn't sleeping! I was awake just now, i-it's just that... I..."
He began to explain, but his voice got lower and lower until he fell silent, his head hanging low.
Via the chain linking them, Gil could feel that his earlier emission of annoyance had reached the other party, but... it seemed it wasn't enough.
Perhaps a long talk could help Greg to open up and walk out of his fears.
Unfortunately, they didn't have that kind of time...
Gil could already feel it—a mounting feeling of unease he knew all too well.
So, taking drastic measures, he channeled against Greg all the hostility he could muster, as if he were facing Hector.
—Clang.
The golden chain tensed in response.
Greg felt as if he were plunged into an icy cellar, and Gil's image grew and grew until it occupied his entire vision.
Then, Gil raised his fist slowly and punched at him.
Though he was confused and terrified, Greg still pushed himself to fall onto his back, and the fist barely missed him.
Realizing what had just happened, he couldn't help but get angry at Gil and shouted, "What are you doing?!"
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
Even the previously listless snake sprang up, hissing angrily in Gil's direction, its previous gray spots disappearing.
Looking at them, Gil's face split into a grin, muttering, "Take that, El."
Then suddenly, light flooded the hall once again, and a familiar voice resounded:
"Well, well, well. Hope you had a good rest, little ones, because for many among you, it will be your last."