Doctor Timur momentarily stepped out of the assessment room to make a call to Lea's parents while the video call conference was still underway amongst the association's personnel inside the assessment room.
"Iyanos, report. Earlier, you said Awakener," Daniella spoke to the device operator.
Daniella didn't miss that detail so she asked to confirm, "Has Miss Carter awakened?"
"The amount of mana particles in the girl's body makes it impossible for her not to. It's remarkable actually," Iyanos spoke with astonishment, his eyes fixed on the device monitor.
"Can you tell how long it's been since she awakened?"
"That's difficult to determine. From the result I'm seeing, all I can say is it's been a while."
Daniella was silent for a short moment before speaking again, "Would you say the reason for Miss Carter's stable condition is because she awakened?"
"I would assume so, yes," Iyanos confirmed.
"It doesn't make sense though."
"What doesn't make sense?"
Iyanos turned away from the device monitor to see Daniella's confused expression via video call.
"From the info we have, Miss Carter just recently woke up from Hibernation Syndrome," Bella told Iyanos in case he forgot the reason why they were conducting the assessment after office hours.
"If she awakened during that state, wouldn't she have been in a more critical condition?"
Daniella raised a question that no one had an answer to.
When no speculations could be made at the moment, Daniella concluded, "Iyanos, forward the result of Miss Carter's assessment to me. And Bella, escort our guests safely when they're ready to leave."
"Yes, ma'am."
With that, Daniella ended the video call.
A second later, Daniella received an email notification on her x-watch from Iyanos but didn't open it right away. Instead, she walked towards the window and stared out at the city.
The Awakener's gaze eventually went towards the direction where New Hope Hospital was located and made a mental note to contact an old friend.
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A few days later, Daniella and Bella came to New Hope Hospital on official business.
"Good afternoon, Mr and Mrs Carter. We're from the Awakeners Association."
Daniella greeted Lea's parents who had been informed of their visit beforehand, and exchanged handshakes.
"Might we ask why the Awakeners Association wants to meet our daughter? Was there a problem with Lea's assessment?" Mrs Carter asked.
"No, the assessment was successful," Daniella denied and explained the purpose of their visit. "We are only here to inform your daughter the result of her assessment. As you may already know, it is the association's policy to disclose the details of the assessment to the related individual only."
After reassuring the concerned parents, Daniella and Bella were personally led inside the Special Care ward by Doctor Timur.
"Lea is doing her physical therapy right now. You'll have to wait until she's done," Doctor Timur informed the two about Lea's current schedule. "After that, I can only give you ten minutes to talk to her."
"Ten minutes is enough," said Daniella and took this chance to ask what she was most curious about. "Doctor, if I may ask, how long was Miss Carter under Hibernation Syndrome?"
"Six years, two months and fifteen days," Doctor Timur answered precisely.
Bella, who had been quietly walking beside Daniella, failed to maintain her composure and inaudibly gasped in shock.
It was an understandable reaction.
The longest official record was three years. It was even reported on the news in every country. You can still find the article online, titled - 'A man in his mid-thirties woke up from Hibernation Syndrome after three years'.
Doctor Timur abruptly stopped.
Following the doctor's gaze, they spotted a girl in hospital clothes walking slowly in the middle of the hallway with her thin arms spread out like she was using them for balance, no, the patient was really using her arms for balance.
Bella instantly recognised the patient.
"Isn't that Miss Carter? She can already move around?"
Given how delicately fragile Lea looked, it was a valid question.
At that moment, Lea dramatically blew air out of her mouth because of what the physical therapist said to her before giggling at her own childish action.
'That's not the energy of a weak, delicate patient,' Daniella and Bella shared similar thoughts.
A male nurse approached Doctor Timur with a chart that recorded Lea's daily progress.
"How far along is her recovery?" Daniella asked, genuinely curious.
"At first, we estimated that a full recovery might take over a year." Doctor Timur paused then lifted his gaze and watched as Lea steadily reached the marked finish line at the other end of the hallway. "She's been showing remarkable progress that she might just be able to be discharged and go home before the year ends."
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After the physical therapist ended today's session, Lea did not immediately return to her hospital room. She sat down at the nearest bench to catch her breath when suddenly, Doctor Timur came up to her.
"Visitors?"
"They're from the Awakeners Association," Doctor Timur told her.
Lea unconsciously straightened her back when she heard who the visitors were.
At the doctor's signal, a young woman wearing a uniform that literally advertised 'I'm working at the Awakeners Association', walked up to them and introduced herself with a friendly smile.
"Good afternoon, my name's Bella."
"Hello," Lea returned with a simple greeting and a light nod.
As planned, Bella, the non-awakened association employee, would be the one to talk to Lea while Daniella, the Awakener, remained at a distance, taking a cautious approach.
"My superior also came with me," said Bella.
Without being told where, Lea glanced towards the direction where a person wearing the same jacket as Bella but with combat boots, was currently standing. When their eyes met, Lea felt an instant recognition like a sense of kinship, even though they were literal strangers.
There's a famous saying in the Awakeners community, 'Even in a packed stadium concert, Awakeners can still recognise each other.'
Because of the aura they exuded that only Awakeners can sense from each other.
'So this is what Al was talking about…wait, doesn't this mean it would be impossible to hide the fact that I'm an Awakener when Al and I meet face to face.'
Just as Lea was lost in her own thoughts at this new sensation, the three adults were observing her closely, Daniella especially.
Being the more experienced Awakener, Daniella sensed the Awakener aura from Lea since earlier and shared this with Doctor Timur beforehand. Since they already confirmed that Lea has awakened through the assessment, they tacitly agreed to use this opportunity to test whether it was now safe for Lea to be in close proximity to Awakeners.
Daniella walked towards them at a not too slow nor too fast pace until she stood at the edge of the bench.
When Lea showed no particular physical reaction, Daniella sent a nod of affirmation to Doctor Timur who silently responded with his own nod of approval.
"Miss Carter."
Lea raised her head when Doctor Timur called her.
"These people have something to say about the assessment you took. It's just for formalities so you can listen with ease." The doctor also added, "Dan is just over there."
Dan stood at the nurse station.
There was also the underlying tone of warning Daniella not to do anything to his patient.
"Ten minutes," Doctor Timur reminded the two visitors again before excusing himself.
As the doctor turned to leave, he motioned at the curious onlookers, the nurses who were pretending to be busy, to return to their actual duty.
Now that they were given a bit of privacy, Daniella shot a glance at Bella. The non-awakened association employee moved to sit beside Lea with a tablet ready, holding it at Lea's eye level for better viewing.
"This is the result of your assessment," Bella began the explanation. "The purple colour here, those are mana particles. The darker part indicates the mana particles are more concentrated on your entire head and your chest area."
Lea leaned forward and stared at the screen wide-eyed.
"That many is inside me?"
The two people from the association reacted similarly when they first saw it too. On the screen, it showed that the upper half of Lea's body was mostly coloured in purple.
"Is that normal?" Lea asked.
"Well…Awakeners normally don't have this many at the early stage of their awakening unless there are special cases, and yours is a very particularly unique case. We can't be certain whether the mana particles in your body are permanent or likely to decrease over time."
"Overall, your assessment unmistakably indicates that you have already awakened."
When Bella started talking about other Awakeners without giving Lea a definite answer, it was Daniella who delivered the confirmation of Lea's awakening. The latter observed Lea's reaction to the news to ascertain if she already knew or not.
Lea lowered her head and mumbled under her breath, "So that wasn't a dream."
Daniella heard it with her heightened senses and began questioning her.
"Do you notice anything different about yourself? Maybe a part of your senses is heightened, or when you do certain action or speak certain words, something happens."
Lea pursed her lips in thought.
"It's uncommon but there are people who awakened with physical changes to their appearance," Daniella provided another example.
Lea looked down at her body. Apart from the apparent weight loss, she didn't notice any other changes to herself.
"Umm, your eyes," Bella hinted when Lea didn't say anything.
"My eyes?"
Lea touched the corner of her eye and finally realised what they meant.
'I totally forgot about my glasses!'
She scolded herself.
Her life has been so chaotic lately that she had forgotten that her caramel-coloured eyes which are, according to her best friend - reminiscent of caramel candy, were too eye-catching with her Asian features. It was impossible to go unnoticed even to an ordinary passerby.
"My eyes, they're hereditary from my maternal grandmother's side," Lea denied that her eyes were affected by her awakening.
Then, with a contemplative look, she paused before deciding to share with the two, "But, I guess, there is something different about them now."
"Can you elaborate?" Daniella asked.
"My eyesight was already good before, and now it's like, you know when you watch a video, the quality between 480 and HD is majorly noticeable."
They easily understood what Lea was trying to describe, though it was an unexpected way of comparing her eyesight to video quality.
Seemingly satisfied, Daniella didn't ask any more questions.
Bella resumed explaining the rest of the results of Lea's assessment without interruptions.
Daniella checked the time. They had about two minutes left out of the given ten minutes of their visitation.
"Since you are still recovering, please refrain from checking your status," Daniella advised without hiding the concern in her voice.
"Best of luck with your rehabilitation, Miss Carter."
Daniella and Bella left after saying encouraging words along with leaving their contact information.
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Lea waited until it was just her in the hallway before she exhaled with relief.
Dan was also preoccupied with the other nurses about something.
'I hope they didn't find out that I was only pretending not to know that I had awakened.'
She leaned back on the bench until her head touched the wall.
'Actually, there's no reason for me to hide it. I just… it's just, everything has been shocking, to say the least. And if I have to deal with being an Awakener on top of that too…'
An exhausted sigh escaped from her parted lips.
'What use will I be as an Awakener anyway? All I got is the enhanced eyesight.'
"I'm lying to myself now," Lea mumbled, disheartened.
That was because her other skill, [Foresight], sounded like a skill an Awakener with the talent of a Seer would have. The probability of awakening as a Seer was even rarer than awakening as a Witch.
"And I'm neither of those."
She recalled that her talent was Observer.
'So, essentially like a wallflower?'
Given her personality, that was the first thing that came to mind.
Lea continued to stare at the wall in front of her, hoping maybe the World's system might pop up with an explanation cue or a hint.
'…Of course not.'
She quickly gave up and sat alone at the bench until her parents came back with fruits.