An Façade of Normalcy

Chapter 4

Fluffy was the first sensation was something that he felt, something from the back was comforting his back and felt warmness from it, he stretched his back and he felt croaking of his body, letting lose a sigh of contentment, he shifted to his sides to go get a better resting position but that only gave him a spot in his leg in pain, he shifted again but that only resulted in a worser pain in his back,

His eyelids shifted groggily and the first thought of before he awoke from the wonders of the unconsciousness where of "waking up with his body in pain, and hoping that this wouldn't become a trend". A smell of coffee hits him and his body jolts out of him as he felt the need as if like a gateway drug, gingerly accepting the mug of coffee that was handed by him that he didn't see,

He carefully walks towards the seat like a zombie and he absorbs the coffee as the first couple of sips of coffee entered his system, he sits there for a couple of moments and he hears the giggling beside him and looks at them to see Marisa and someone he didn't knew, but he heard that someone say about him being compared to something flesh-eating zombie.

Though the after-effects of adrenaline washed out and all sorts of things that happen such as the constant pains and the feeling of guilt of not reminding his co-worker and his dad of his sudden disappearance, he sighs alerting the attention of both of the people who has been waiting for him to wake up

Both of them looked at him with amusement and stared at the boy who exclaimed who just waked up, He tries to say something but immediately clamps it down, he wanted to talk about his father, his sudden disappearance from the spa, and all sorts of things but at that moment he felt something and he chose to follow that instinct and spoke

"That girl from earlier, is she safe?" He spoke the words not out of concern nor out of guilt of something he has done, but was the first thing that came out from his mouth

Marisa looked at him strangely and the woman eyed him critically, both of them looked at each other as if planning what to say but Marisa seemed to stumbled on her words as if unsure what to do with him and the woman glared at Marisa but softened as her eyes landed upon Jose, he didn't know what they were talking about, so he faked a cough to catch their attention

"Indeed, she is and only a few amounts of bruises and cuts were there" The woman says but continues with a smirk "Though for a someone who just waked up, worrying about her and not about yourself... that does say something about your characteristics isn't it, Mapulon?"

A frown appears on her face and she glared at the woman but it had no actual weight on it, and the woman's smirk grew only larger, a silent conversation occurred between them, as the woman sighed at Marisa and bore a much more serious face, The woman begins and says," I'm Yukari Yakumo, a simple youkai who overlooks the barrier" and she made a critical eye,

That looks like the ones his father would made and he wilted a bit from that stare but stared back with same intensity but of caution with small pints of fear within, the woman seemed to approve and continues earlier with," For someone who just barely fought of a horde of zombies and someone who kept in mind the safety of civilians first it was impressive but then again that was expected for those who just turned into elementals, despite there were stragglers and the buildings being burnt, but those were abandoned apartments so those don't count, it was truly impressive indeed for your first battle"

Jose cheeks grew hot in embarrassment at the sudden praise given by the person in front of him but made forced his embarrassment down as he recalls what she says about him becoming an elemental, he frowned at the nonchalance in which the person told him about becoming an elemental, but so he asks," What do you mean becoming an elemental? From the books I've read, there weren't any actual ways as seeing as that the only known elementals were fairies or non-existent, there were other method but those were unsafe and it involves with experimenting with your body seeing as that the mind and body is delicate, it's not like did that either since the only thing I did was reinforce my body"