I looked at the stubborn Hitomi standing guard in the doorway, her entire body language screaming reluctance and self-loathing.

She shook her head slowly, her voice tired and defeated behind the mask. "You should all go back... I need to be alone. Please stop this. I’ve already accepted my fate. Just leave me here."

Yuko’s expression hardened with fierce determination. Without saying another word, she reached over to the small table near the entrance, grabbed a sharp fruit knife, and in one swift, shocking motion, sliced deeply across her own wrist.

Blood instantly gushed out, dripping loudly onto the wooden floor in thick red droplets.

Tachibana gasped in pure horror. "Senior Sister Yuko—!! What are you doing?! Are you crazy?!"

Hitomi cried out in panic, her voice breaking, "Yuko...! Yuko, what are you doing?! Oh my god, so much blood...! Stop it right now! You’re going to bleed to death!!"

Yuko winced slightly from the pain but kept her gaze locked on me with a small, trusting smile. Blood continued running down her fingers and onto the floor. She spoke calmly despite the injury, "Jack... show her."

I moved instantly, grabbing her bleeding wrist firmly with both hands. A brilliant white light glowed from my palms as I activated Healing Touch. The warm energy flowed into her wound.

The deep cut began closing rapidly — the torn flesh knitted together, the bleeding stopped completely, and within seconds, her skin was perfectly smooth again with no scar whatsoever.

Yuko casually wiped the remaining blood off her arm with a cloth from the table and held up her perfectly healed wrist right in front of Hitomi’s face. "Look... It’s all healed. Not even a mark left. This is what Jack can do, Hitomi. He can fix you, too."

Hitomi stared at the flawless wrist in stunned silence, her sunglasses unable to hide the shock in her posture. "This... this can’t be real... I’ve been to the best hospitals. They said my burns were permanent... irreversible..."

Tachibana nodded quickly, tears still in her eyes. "It’s true, Sister Hitomi! I was also dying from terrible injuries after my last mission. Master brought Jack to me, and he saved my life in minutes. He healed wounds much worse than yours. Please believe us!"

Hitomi’s voice trembled with disbelief and fragile hope. "How is this possible...? What kind of power is this...? I don’t understand..."

Yuko stepped closer, gently touching Hitomi’s covered shoulder. "Just give it a try... Please, Hitomi. For me. For Tachibana. For everyone who still loves you and misses the real you. Don’t give up yet."

Hitomi remained silent for a long moment, clearly fighting an internal battle. Finally, she gave a tiny, hesitant nod. "Fine... I’ll try. But only because it’s you asking, Yuko."

Slowly and shamefully, she removed the glove from her left hand, revealing the horrifying sight — severely burnt, wrinkled, discolored, and scarred skin that looked painful even to look at. She turned her face away in embarrassment.

"I am so ugly now..." she whispered painfully, her voice cracking. "It’s disgusting, right? You don’t have to lie to me. I know how repulsive it looks... I can’t even look at myself in the mirror anymore."

I gently took her burnt left hand in both of mine without hesitation. "It won’t be ugly anymore," I said softly but firmly. "And you were never ugly to begin with, Hitomi."

A bright white light radiated from my palms. The healing energy surged into her damaged tissue. Right before their eyes, the process began reversing — the deep burns faded, the wrinkled and charred skin smoothed out, and fresh, healthy, pale skin regenerated rapidly. Within less than a minute, her entire left hand looked completely normal again — soft, smooth, and beautiful.

Hitomi stared at her restored hand in absolute awe. She touched it with her other gloved hand, flexing her fingers repeatedly as tears streamed down behind her sunglasses. "It’s... it’s really healed... Look at my skin... it’s completely back to normal! I can feel it... it doesn’t hurt anymore... This is a miracle...!"

Her voice was filled with wonder and disbelief. "How...? How did you do that? I thought I would never feel normal skin on my hand again..."

But doubt quickly crept back into her mind. She pulled her hand away slightly and asked hesitantly, "Does the healing... require you to touch the injured area directly? Just like with the hand...? For the rest of my body... especially my face, neck, chest... and other places... you would need to touch everywhere?"

I nodded honestly. "Yes. Direct skin contact is the most effective way."

Hitomi lowered her head, clearly uncomfortable and embarrassed. "Then... that means you’d have to see and touch my burns... my ugly, ruined body... I don’t know if I can handle that. It’s too humiliating..."

Tachibana quickly tried to comfort her. "Sister Hitomi, please don’t worry! I will blindfold Jack properly and guide his hands only to the injured areas. Master used the exact same technique when Jack healed me. He won’t see anything inappropriate. It will be completely respectful."

Yuko, standing close beside me, blushed deeply as memories of last night flooded her mind.

She leaned in slightly and whispered near my ear with a shy, embarrassed face, "Jack... be gentle with her, okay?"

Hitomi didn’t hear the whisper, but Tachibana gave Yuko a slightly suspicious side-eye before focusing back on her sister.

Yuko cleared her throat and spoke encouragingly to Hitomi, "Please trust him, Hitomi. He saved Haruna and me, too, in different ways. He’s a good person. You don’t have to suffer anymore."

Hitomi took several shaky breaths, still staring at her newly healed hand. "I... I want to believe this. I really do. But it feels too good to be true. After months of pain and hiding... to suddenly have hope again..."

She looked up at me with trembling uncertainty. "If you really can heal the rest of me... then... okay. Let’s try. But please... be honest if it’s too much."