Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 435. Impolite but Obedient (?)

When the piercing gaze from that corner disappeared, I was ready to fall to my knees with fear and exhaustion.

But I didn’t dare to do that because each of these blades of grass was an extension of the other eyes—of the monster I had come up with to give the terror I felt a face.

Henry crashed into my back and hugged me.

"Are you alright?"

"Mhm, you?" I said.

I felt if I just said it, it would really be alright again.

"How can this be so fear-inducing?" he asked while burying his head in my neck.

"I don’t know; maybe we are too powerful to be unaware." I answered, dragging him to the field while ignoring the eyes I felt under my feet, watching, watching, always watching.

"Why did you flip the coin again yesterday?" He didn’t sound accusatory, just asking.

Well, I wasn’t happy with that either because I didn’t want to feel that stare again, not with how terrible that had been just now, and not when I had given myself a thousand imaginary ones already.

"Because I noticed that seeing us appear here wouldn’t say anything about the conjuring up working out." So I forced myself to take another look, just to scare both my puppy and myself even more.

I continued to talk.

"Is the problem that we saw ourselves looking at each other and repeated the same action? Because our eyes met?"

"A cycle of I saw you looking, and because of that, I look as well?" He mumbled while nibbling on my neck, but I had the feeling that he was monitoring my already heightened pulse.

"Yes. If we don’t look, then maybe..." It won’t be so nerve-wracking.

"Are we not changing the past then?" He asked.

"No. In the past, it hadn’t mattered." Not all hints we had received from our future selves had been given back by us when it was our turn.

The past doesn’t change, no matter what.

"Still, I don’t want to risk anything," Henry said, much more somber, his hand holding onto my wrist, where he now felt more openly for my pulse.

"I am alright."

"No, you are not. You aren’t sweating and having an erratic heartbeat because of me, are you?" He teased with a deadpan tone.

"I feel eyes on me from the earth. There is a monster buried, and it is watching my every step," I whispered when we were in the middle of the field.

Around us was a big metal fence that didn’t give anyone a look inside, which was unnecessary; there was only grassland surrounding us. Above us was a seemingly endless sky with stars shining so bright it would be impossible to see from inside the city.

"Should we acidify it?" Henry interlocked his fingers with mine and lifted my hand with my palm facing down.

As if his shadowy power could exit my own hand, and I could destroy my made-up fear all by myself.

It was so silent here, and when I closed my eyes, I could just feel and hear the wind, together with the heartbeat against my back.

My nerves started relaxing as I juggled with the thought of just getting rid of the grass that had become so menacing, together with the peering earth beneath.

As deep as possible, so that I could make sure that there was no monster and nobody watching and judging me.

-That there was no guardian of the world that had been battered and bruised by all the unbreakable laws I and my counterparts had broken and was now awakened by the thirst for revenge.

"No, it’s alright..." I eventually opened my eyes again, feeling that the wind had made my head clearer and the warmth on my back had given me the courage to trust that I was safe.

"...but you have to protect me." I smiled slightly.

"You would have to kill me to stop me from doing exactly that." Henry hugged me from behind with my own hand as well since he had yet to let go.

I hummed, knowing that it was the truth.

"Same here." I mumbled and heard him laugh out loud with delight before burying his head in my neck again and holding me as tightly to himself as possible.

I thought back to the big smooth shield I had under me, which I was touching with the endless amounts of corpses inside.

I could hear a car not far away, but I ignored it, just thinking about the surface caging what I wanted to conjure up.

I had never conjured up so many things at once, and because of that, I was always looking at the table in my mind, which seemed perfectly unconcerned.

As I engulfed myself in that memory, with Henry so close to me as he was now, I felt him hoarsely whisper in my ear,

"We can just go home now; it doesn’t have to be tonight."

I didn’t answer; I just conjured up the massive shield and its contents on the even bigger field.

The shield disappeared instantly, as if it needed the energy from its owner to maintain its state.

Not like the shadowy energy that clung to the sword—this was good to know for the future.

I felt weak as hell, although there was no nosebleed; it was just as if I had over-exercised my body, not my power.

With the shield instantly gone, we had a good portion of the field covered by dead rats.

I conjured it up once again, doubling the hill from before.

"You think that’s enough?" I asked Henry while leaning with all my weight against his back.

"I think... this could be even more than half a million rats." He looked at the small corpses while turning me around and lifting me up in a princess carry.

I held onto his neck and spread my legs to move in front of him, which was a much more comfortable position; it was also much warmer and snuggly.

"Careful, or I will be turned on again," Henry announced, and I could hear people exiting the car that had parked not far away.

I chuckled.

"There won’t be a second bath."

"Hng... you reminding me of that hot tub doesn’t help here." He laughed while walking back to where we came from.

I couldn’t decide which was gayer: the princess carry from before or practically sitting on top of his hips, with one of his arms under my ass to support me and his other hand tightly over the back of my neck.

Both were super gay, so I gave up and accepted my choice.

Resting my head on his shoulder, I watched the rats we left behind.

"You can go and sleep in that fucking tub tonight if you like it so much." This cursed bathroom... I really won’t step into that ever again.

"Ah-ah. Can’t do that; the vision said we had to go to bed together~"

I recognized the voices talking when Henry turned around the corner, and when I turned my head to look, I really saw my friends together with the staff sergeant.

Danny instantly ran to us, and I patted Henry’s back until he let me down, clearly unwilling.

My puppy nevertheless hugged me from behind again, and I bet he glared at Danny because his steps slowed down from an overjoyed run to a hesitant trot.

"Why are you guys here?" I asked while leaning back on my watchpuppy.

"Why is your phone still off?" Danny didn’t answer and instead stared accusingly behind me.

"Oh... I forgot... to remind... him... to charge his phone..." Henry placed his head on top of mine, his arms around me clearly pronouncing me to be his, while his sad voice and the long pauses in between speaking couldn’t sound more fake.

I burst out laughing, finding the fact that he didn’t even try hilarious.

"I knew it!" Danny angrily pointed at him.

I fought one of my arms away from Henry’s hug to swat Danny’s hand away.

"Calm down, are you the team to count and process dead rats?" I motioned with my head to the hill of dead rats.

The others arrived, with Omar being the last, sporting an expressionless face.

Danny went around the corner so that he could see the rat hill.

"Holy shit..." he cursed.

"How are you?" Jordan asked with a smile before also taking a look at the field and ending up cursing as well.

"Good," I answered while looking at Ethan, who walked forward with the staff sergeant, who had a bunch of clothes in his arms.

"I only just remembered; there are many other pink things amidst the rathill, like pink Chihuahuas and ferrets. Will they still count as a ’rat’?" This had been a worry of mine before, and now that I had conjured up a significant number of them, I wanted to be sure that I didn’t have to come up with more.

"It won’t be a problem..." Ethan sidestepped us and took a look at the hill.

"This won’t be enough," he said.

Henry groaned with annoyance while I steered us around—well, it was more him turning us around after I tugged at him.

"No?" I questioned.

"How much more? This is already double the amount we secured." Well, double what the shield had covered.

"Hmm..." Ethan walked closer to the hill to inspect it, while Omar halted beside us.

"You don’t look good," he noted while looking at me.

I felt Henry squeeze me to him.

"It’s alright. Just tired. Sorry that you guys were called to help."

"What are you talking about?" Omar met my eyes before clearing his throat.

"It’s the least that we—I can do."

"Ah, so you heard. It’s not your fault; no worries." I chuckled.

"I will find out everything there is to know about it, why and how much my father knew about it, everything." He assured me while staring at me, and with each passing second, I felt Henry’s grip on me tightening more.

I know I lost it, but I just loved how responsive Henry was to my surroundings.

"Thanks." I flashed Omar a smile before looking back to Ethan, who had returned.

"This hill, we will need twice as much."

My jaw nearly dropped.

Damn, okay, now we knew that Henry and I weren’t good at estimating big numbers of dead rats, but who the heck could?

Well, I trusted our attorney to be able to do that impossible task; where the fuck do you even learn something like this?

"DON’T TOUCH THE CORPSES!" The staff sergeant yelled at Jordan and Danny, who were already starting to count and touch.

The old man threw what seemed to be protective overalls, including sturdy gloves, on the ground as if to make a point.

Jordan and Danny flinched before hurrying back to us and starting to clothe themselves. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Damn, stay here. We need more of them." I conjured up another two shields full of rats and was only halfway through with the number Ethan wanted.

Now I felt my nose bleed, but Henry had a tissue ready and pressed it against my nose without me doing anything.

He didn’t say anything, probably because he knew I wouldn’t stop anyway, but the puppy had a talent for radiating killing intent as silently as he could do with happy vibes.

"It should be enough," Omar said worriedly, clenching his jaw while looking at me.

"I am sorry to say this, but the number won’t suffice." Ethan was adamant, which got him quite a few glares, but I was thankful as hell.

"Thank you." I told him before pointing in the direction behind the two hills, grabbing the tissue Henry held under my nose.

My puppy obliged and lifted me up in a princess carry again, but this time I was too weak and embarrassed to change positions.

I leaned against his chest and reveled in this weakened state.

I felt too weak for paranoid thoughts, too weak to scare myself, and I loved it.

When we came to an empty part of the field, I conjured up two more shields’ worth of rats.

I really thought we could get away with just once or twice the number of shields, but like this, it was alright as well.

I saw dark spots in my vision and felt a bit cold, but there was still this walking heat carrying me around, so it was no issue.

"Can you teleport, or should we drive home?" Henry asked me.

"I can teleport." I opened my eyes and watched the masses of corpses, varying between black, brown, and pink, the latter two colors displaying all possible small forms.

"We are going now," Henry announced when we came back to the group.

"Alright. More of Mrs. Howard’s men will soon arrive to help us. Keep your phone near you," Ethan said to Henry, after glancing at me worriedly.

"Be careful. I didn’t hear any heartbeats, but there could still be some that are just half-dead." After saying that, I really couldn’t muster up any more strength.

"For that, we brought clothes." The staff sergeant’s face was expressionless, but he seemed a bit shaken after witnessing me using my power.

He then pointed at the two and a half already clothed men, glaring and silently admonishing them for their earlier rash behavior; Omar was still in the midst of putting his arms inside the overall.

"Kenny," The latter said, and came closer, the gloves in his hands.

"I am sorry for everything."

I nodded lightly, not able to answer him anymore.

"Get home safely!" Danny twittered, his eyes darting at the rat mountain in the back in disbelief, but he still tried to cheer my weakened self up.

"Your power is awesome; I really wish you wouldn’t have to use it for something like this." Jordan, also amazed, wanted to pat my shoulder, but Henry sidestepped his hand.

"He is tired. Thank you for your hard work. Bye." He carried me in the direction of the car without another word, and I chuckled.

So fucking impolite, but at least obedient.

"We will rest here for a bit, then teleport, alright?" He asked me, his voice turning calm and mellow.

Wait, somehow... I feel that this puppy has not one obedient bone in his body, and all the past times he had given in, it was just for a larger, more disobedient goal.

No, no, no, he is a really good puppy.

I squinted my eyes at him.

Who the fuck am I kidding here?

Well...

I’ll keep him either way.