I activated Telepathy once more, this time focusing on Akane. Her thoughts slammed into my mind, raw and unfiltered.

[You big idiot... Once you wake up... I will kill you... I will kill you myself... You are really a bother... Ever since I met you... There is always trouble... Why do you keep bothering me...? Why...?]

A bitter chuckle escaped my lips. This Akane... she’s such a tsundere. On the outside, she was fuming, her words harsh, her glare sharp enough to cut. But beneath it all? She was terrified. Terrified for me.

Her thoughts twisted again, the anger giving way to something far more vulnerable.

[If anything happens to you... Didn’t you think about what will happen to Haruna...? How will I face Yuko... and her mother...?]

[Please wake... Please wake...]

The desperation in her silent plea was palpable. It was the kind of fear that clawed at your chest, the kind that made your hands shake and your voice fail. And yet, she wouldn’t say it aloud. Not in front of them. Not when she was still clinging to her pride.

I smiled weakly to myself. She’s worried... but she’ll never admit it. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Hitomi’s thoughts, on the other hand, were laced with confusion and suspicion.

[What happened to Master...? Why is she behaving like that...? She’s hiding something...]

[I guess it must be something related to Jack’s ability... Did Master know...? Is that why she’s worried...?]

She glanced at Akane, her expression unreadable, but her mind racing. She wasn’t just curious—she was piecing it together. And the realization was dawning on her.

Yuko’s thoughts were a storm of denial and fear.

[What happened to Jack...? Why is Master so serious...? I haven’t seen her like this... Is he really okay...? If anything really happens to him... then... I...]

She clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms.

[No... Isn’t Jack so powerful...? What could possibly happen to him...?]

[I need to ask Master...]

Her gaze flicked to Akane, her jaw set. She wasn’t going to let this go. Not when the man she loved was lying motionless in front of her.

Tachibana, ever the perceptive one, sensed the tension thick in the air. He stepped closer to Akane, his voice low but firm.

"Master..." He hesitated, then pressed on. "Are you hiding something from us...?"

The room fell silent.

Akane’s shoulders tensed. She didn’t look at him, her eyes fixed on me, her fingers tightening around the edge of the bedsheet. For a moment, it seemed like she wouldn’t answer.

Then—

"Tachibana..." Her voice was dangerously calm, but her hands were shaking. "This isn’t the time."

Tachibana didn’t back down. His fists were clenched tightly at his sides, his entire body trembling with a mixture of fear and frustration. "Then when is the time, Master...? Jack collapsed. He spurted blood from his mouth. And you’re acting like... like the world is ending." His voice cracked painfully. "We deserve to know the truth. No more secrets!"

Akane’s breath hitched sharply. She slowly turned to him, her red eyes burning with a terrifying mixture of raw anger and overwhelming grief. For a long moment, she just stared at him, as if debating whether to speak.

"And what if I tell you...?" Her voice was a broken whisper, yet it carried the weight of a scream. "What if I tell you that every single time he uses that damn ability... it eats away at his life...? That he’s dying a little more with every healing...? That he is literally sacrificing pieces of his lifespan for us?!"

The words landed like a death sentence in the silent room.

Tachibana’s face went deathly pale. He staggered back a step. "W-what...?"

Hitomi let out a heart-wrenching cry and dropped to her knees, her newly healed hands covering her mouth in horror. "No... Master... this is not true... Please tell me this is not true...! He healed me... he gave me my face back... and now you’re saying he’s... he’s dying because of it?! I don’t want this! I would rather stay burned forever than let him suffer!!"

Tachibana fell to his knees beside her, his voice shaking uncontrollably. "How can this be...? Master... why didn’t you tell me before...? I would prefer to die... I would rather stay dead than trade someone else’s life like this...! Master, why...? And it was me... it was me who brought him here... This is all my fault...!"

Akane took a deep, shuddering breath. She wiped her tears roughly with the back of her hand, trying to regain some composure, but her voice still cracked as she spoke.

"It’s because this idiot made me promise... He forced me to swear I would never tell any of you the truth." She looked at Tachibana and Hitomi with pained eyes. "That’s exactly why I was desperately stopping all of you from coming to meet him. I knew... the moment he saw Hitomi’s condition, he would use his power without hesitation."

Akane’s shoulders slumped as she continued, her voice growing quieter, "Now... we can only pray... that he didn’t use too much of his lifespan this time. Otherwise..."

She stopped mid-sentence, unable to finish the dark thought. The implication hung heavily in the air like a guillotine.

Akane then turned toward Yuko, her expression filled with guilt and self-loathing. "Yuko... I am so sorry. This is all my fault. If anything happens to Jack... I will commit suicide to atone for my sins. Actually... it was me. I was the one who went to your house that day to ask you to heal Tachibana. If you want to blame someone... blame me. Hate me. Curse me. I deserve it."

Yuko had fresh tears streaming down her face. She shook her head violently, her voice choked with emotion. "No... Master... I don’t blame you... It’s not your fault." She looked down at my unconscious form, her hands gently holding mine.

"It’s this big idiot... who keeps throwing his life away for us. If anything happens to him... what about Haruna...? What about me...? What are we supposed to do without him...?"

The room descended into a painful, suffocating silence. Only the sound of quiet sobbing could be heard.

Hitomi crawled closer to me on her knees, gently touching my hand with her restored fingers. "Jack... you fool... I was finally happy again... and now I feel like the worst person alive. All this beauty... at the cost of your life...? I don’t deserve it..."