The morning came quietly.
No alarms. No voices. Just the slow creep of light bleeding through the curtains, settling across the room in pale, clinical strips.
For a moment, Enark didn't move. He lingered in that hazy borderland between sleep and waking.
Then his eyes 'opened', and the pain arrived.
A dull soreness clung to his body, heavy and deep, like the aftermath of something that hadn't fully let go. His shoulder ached. His ribs protested when he breathed too deeply.
But his hand—
He lifted it slowly into the light—turned it once, then again.
Whole.
No blood. No torn flesh. No scabs. Unbroken, like nothing had ever happened.
Enark studied it for a long heartbeat. The silence of the room felt heavier than the soreness.
"...Yeah," he exhaled.
The word was a dry rasp. There was no relief in his voice, no sense of a miracle—only the tired confirmation of a pattern he couldn't understand.
He flexed his fingers. They moved with a fluid ease--almost too easy.
"Knew it," he muttered to the ceiling.
He let the hand drop back onto the mattress.
"I had a feeling… but still… I can't believe it," he thought. "I first noticed back in elementary, Archie and I both fell while we were racing each other and scraped our knees."
"But the next day, my bruises were gone completely while Archie's had scabbed over."
...
"Why?"
"What's healing me like this?" His fingers flexed slowly. "I lost my fingers yesterday. I know I did."
"So why am I looking at them right now… like nothing happened?"
A breath hitched in his throat.
"What the hell am I?" His left hand came up, gripping his right wrist, hidden below bandages.
"If I can heal my fingers… then why can't I—"
Slowly, carefully, his fingers rose toward his face… stopping just beneath his eyes.
"…Why not this?"
...
An image of a man and a woman flashed in Enark's mind. Blurred by the fading memory of sight.
"I'd give anything…"
"To see their faces again."
*GNNNG— …CLANG… CLANG…*
The academy bell echoed through the morning air.
Enark adjusted his grip on the strap of his bag and kept walking.
The streets leading up to the academy were already alive. Students moved in clusters, laughter and complaints blending into the morning noise.
"…There he is," Archie was the first to notice him.
Suzune's head turned immediately. "Good morning, Enark."
"Did you apologize to the fireflies?" she smirked, a hand coming up to cover her face.
Enark exhaled through his mouth. "Yes, Suzune. I did."
"Okay," she said, still fighting a smile. "Just... just making sure.."
Enark's hand flicked out—
*thump*
"Ow, what? It's not like I told everyone. Just her and Kirsty."
Another punch landed on Archie's shoulder.
"OW—HEY—"
Suzune let out a small laugh. She immediately tried to hide.
Archie pointed at her. "And you. You're enjoying this too much."
"Absolutely not," she said, still smiling.
"GUYS!"
A voice cut clean through the chaos.
All three turned.
Kirsty was jogging toward them, slightly out of breath, one hand gripping a folded newspaper as it swayed in the wind.
She stopped in front of them.
"Okay—listen. You're not going to believe this."
Archie blinked. "What? What happened—"
"Check this out!"
Kirsty stepped forward slightly and, in a swift motion, flapped open a halfway folded newspaper, towards Enark specifically.
Enark's mouth opened slightly in disbelief before remembering that none of them knew he was blind, burying his sarcastic question before it escaped his mouth.
He took the newspaper and held it up to his face, making it seem like he was reading—when in reality, he was feeling the ink on the page.
Archie leaned over his shoulder. "What is it?"
Suzune read beside him quietly.
The headline read:
CHILD FOUND AFTER DISAPPEARANCE — MOTHER REUNITED IN DISTRICT ENFORCER STATION
"…Oh!" Archie said. "That's the kid from yesterday!"
Suzune's expression softened. "They found his mother…"
Kirsty snatched the paper back from Enark, almost yanking it away.
"Wha- hey-"
She cut him off.
"The paper said Eliot's mom was rescued last night, but it wasn't the Enforcers."
That made Suzune pause. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"She said some guy in a blindfold saved her life," Kirsty said, almost excitedly. "Can you believe that?"
Archie blinked. "A guy in a blindfold?"
Suzune tilted her head slightly. "That's… odd."
Enark's expression didn't change.
"Yeah... that is weird," he said calmly.
"Right?!" Kirsty leaned in slightly. "Like who even goes around wearing a blindfold and rescuing people in the middle of the night?"
Archie scratched his head. "I mean… maybe Enforcers do undercover stuff like that?"
"No," Kirsty said immediately. "She said he wasn't an Enforcer."
Suzune frowned. "Then who would—"
"I don't know," Kirsty admitted. "That's why I came running over."
Archie shrugged awkwardly. "Could be an exaggeration? Trauma memory stuff? People say weird things when they're— y'know—"
"Maybe," Suzune said. "Or it could be an Imperial Knight?"
"Imperial Knights don't wear just blindfolds, do they?" Enark said.
"…True," Archie said quickly, breaking the moment, "But at least she's safe, right? That's the important part."
Suzune nodded. "Yes. I'm glad they've been reunited."
A pause.
"…Yeah," Enark said softly. "That's what matters."
Archie clapped his hands once.
"Great! Now, people, let's go suffer education."
They turned toward the academy entrance.
Behind them, Kirsty glanced down at the folded newspaper one last time.
Then she tucked it away, but as she looked back towards them, her gaze lingered on Enark's back a moment longer than it should have.
He looked fine—perfectly unblemished, and yet, there was a stiffness in his left shoulder, a guarded hitch in his stride that he couldn't quite mask. He was walking in pain, and for the life of her, she couldn't figure out where it was coming from.