Chapter 77: Recovery
"Kai-Shizuku" stared down at the open wrapper in "his" hand.
Well, he thought, a sense of surreal disbelief washing over him. I never thought I'd experience this in my lifetime. This is... an experience.
{Kai?}
Shizuku's mental voice, coming from deep within her own mind, was calm but tinged with confusion.
"Kai-Shizuku" snapped back to reality. He cleared "his" throat awkwardly. "Uh... right. Well. Drink plenty of hot water!"
He felt a ripple of genuine bafflement from Shizuku's consciousness.
"I thought you were hurt," "Kai-Shizuku" explained, trying to sound casual. "So I came to check. Didn't expect... this. I have no idea how to deal with this situation, so I'm going to get out of your hair. Call me when you're done."
{Okay...}
Kai withdrew his consciousness. It felt like sinking back into the depths of the ocean, leaving the surface world behind.
Shizuku blinked, sensation and control returning to her limbs. She was still sitting on the toilet, exactly as he had left her. Kai was gone.
She quickly finished her business, got dressed, and went back into the bedroom. She slipped the "Yi" ring back onto her finger, sat on the edge of the bed, and dialed Kai's number.
...
"You know," Kai said over the phone, his voice thoughtful as the train rattled along, "Nen users naturally heal faster than normal people. So, logically speaking, female Nen users probably have a much easier time with their periods than regular women, right?"
"I don't know," Shizuku replied simply.
"You don't..." Kai stopped himself. Right. She's been a Nen user since she was a kid. She doesn't know any different.
He leaned back in his seat, staring out at the passing countryside.
Biologically, menstruation was the shedding of the uterine lining when a pregnancy didn't occur. It was a natural process. But if he used his Star Marker to accelerate the "healing" of that process... would there be consequences?
He wasn't a doctor. But he knew his ability wasn't just simple "wound closure."
It restored stamina. It banished fatigue.
For the past two months, he had been using it to sustain a training regimen that would have broken a normal person. Without Biscuit Krueger's magical massages, he would have collapsed from exhaustion weeks ago if not for the Star Marker.
The marker seemed to interpret "fatigue" as damage and "restored" the body to a state of peak condition. It was more than healing; it was restoration.
So, maybe the correct description wasn't "healing injuries," but rather "returning the host to optimal health."
"Kai?" Shizuku asked. "You went quiet again."
"Oh," Kai laughed. "I was just thinking... maybe I should add 'Friend to Women Everywhere' to my list of titles. Haha."
"But seriously," he continued, his tone turning analytical. "I need to study the limits of this healing. Is there a cap on how much it can heal? Can it cure poison? What about mental illness? Where does the energy come from? Is it purely from the host's Aura, or is there a cost? And... if I use it to speed up your cycle, will there be side effects?"
Shizuku listened quietly. The last question gave her pause. She touched her lower abdomen, then her left hip where the marker resided.
"I don't think there will be side effects," she said finally. "At least... I feel much better than usual."
"By the way," Kai asked, "when did we put that marker on you? Has it been a month yet since we met?"
...
They chatted until lunch, covering everything from training theories to what they were eating. Finally, they hung up.
Kai grabbed a quick lunch from the train's food cart, then returned to his private cabin to train. He had nothing else to do.
According to the schedule, this train would arrive at the station around 2:00 or 3:00 PM. From there, he still had several more transfers—trains, ferries across rivers—before he would finally reach the country where Heaven's Arena was located.
It was going to be a long three or four days.
Time ticked by.
Kai held his Ken for a solid hour. The train began to slow, signaling its approach to the station.
He opened his eyes and sighed. I still need another hour and a half to fully drain my tank. That's the only way to get the best results. But traveling like this... I can't just drop into a deep meditation for three hours whenever I want.
And more importantly... training to exhaustion without a partner to guard him was dangerous.
If he drained himself completely, he would be defenseless. In a world full of Hunters, assassins, and weirdos, that was a risk he couldn't take lightly.
"In wuxia novels, meditation recharges you," Kai grumbled, stretching his stiff limbs. "You practice, you feel great. Here? You practice, you feel like you got hit by a truck. Equivalent exchange is fair, sure, but man, is it a pain."
He packed his bag and got ready to disembark.
He checked his phone. Several texts from Shizuku.
[I'm done.]
Five minutes later:
[Are you training, Kai?]
[I'm going to start training now.]
Kai focused on his ring. Sure enough, the faint connection to Shizuku's marker was gone. The healing had stopped.
He typed a reply with one hand as he squeezed through the crowd of passengers. [Yeah. But without you watching my back, I don't dare drain my Aura completely. Feels too risky.]
Thinking about the days of travel ahead, he felt a flicker of irritation.
He pocketed his phone and stepped onto the platform.
He decided to wander around the station area for a bit. Maybe find a store that sold parachutes. Just in case.
He bought a map of this new, unfamiliar city and walked down the busy commercial street, ignoring the noise of traffic and pedestrians. He was scanning for outdoor gear shops when he stopped dead.
His brow furrowed.
Just now... a wisp of hot-and-cold Death Aura had pierced his chest.
Did I wander near a hospital?
Kai looked around. It was a normal shopping street. No hospitals. No slaughterhouses.
He focused on the direction the Aura had come from. He turned down a narrow alleyway, following the trail.
Suddenly, his ears twitched. He activated Gyo, enhancing his hearing.
Voices. Low, hushed, coming from a side alley a few meters ahead.
He could pick out specific words.
"...Ten Dons..."
"...Family..."
"...Shadow Beasts..."
Click.
Kai's footsteps stopped.
The whispering in the alley cut off instantly.
A deep voice growled from the shadows. "Who's there?"
South Ames Continent. Gukan'yu Kingdom.
In a nondescript hotel room.
Chrollo Lucilfer lowered his phone from his ear. His expression was completely devoid of emotion.
He turned to Machi.
"Kortopi is dead."
(End of Chapter)