Twisted Wonderland | Mickey's Print

32. The Awakening

On his visit to the infirmary in the afternoon before the Magical Shift tournament, Lilia waved his hand over the roses. A lime green glow fell over them, and the small, darkened edges in the petals turned deep red in the blink of an eye.

"Wow! The flowers look a bit better now!" Grim exclaimed, stunned, and stood on the bed to get a better look.

"Incredible!" Yuu murmured, amazed.

Lilia laughed, amused. "This is very simple for me, but your reactions reveal that you have never seen anything alike."

"Nope, I'd never imagined this, yanno!" Grim exclaimed.

Yuu shook his head. "Neither did I. Well, not until recently."

"That's right. I suppose it must be much more impressive for someone who conceived magic as something non-existent until recently," Lilia added.

"Yes, there's nobody who has magical powers like this back at home," Yuu answered while he pointed at the roses.

"Does that mean there aren't any beings that live on magic either, such as fairies or monsters?" Lilia asked, surprised.

Yuu gave a shy smile and shrugged. "Not that it is known and confirmed worldwide," he replied.

"I'll say it again, what a boring world!" Grim exclaimed in disbelief. "How can anyone live without doing cool, bang-bang spells?"

Lilia put a thoughtful hand on his chin. "I personally find it difficult to imagine a world without magic, but I'm sure it must have its own good qualities that make it unique," he said.

Yuu laughed. "It has its pros and cons, we manage there in one way or another." He looked at the girl's sleeping face. She looked so calm... Yet she didn't wake up or react to people talking in front of her, the only movement she made was her breathing. "But thank you very much for this, Lilia, she would've loved this too," Yuu added, outlining a small smile.

"It's nothing, this is just a small detail. This way, these little ones will stay fresh until our newcomer finally wakes up."

"They told us it shouldn't take her long to wake up, but it's already been days..." Grim commented.

"It could be any time now, I've seen people who fell unconscious and ended up waking up sooner or later," Lilia said. "I even met someone who took about a month."

Yuu gasped worriedly, and Lilia realized he should correct himself before making him feel distressed. "Oh! But he had fallen into a coma after a severe collision to the head and blood loss from an injury, and yet he ended up waking up safe and sound. I doubt our Yuki here will take as long as him."

"What the heck happened to that guy to go through all that!?" Grim asked, shocked.

"That's a story for another time," Lilia answered with a mysterious smile before looking at Yukiko. "What I meant to say is that we must trust she'll be able to stand up quickly after she opens her eyes, like the princess from the legend."

"Huh? What princess?" Grim asked curiously, calmer.

"Oh, haven't you heard about the legend of the Sleeping Princess?" Lilia asked with a surprised smile. "It is a famous tale from my home, the Briar Valley. I used to tell it to Malleus and Silver when they were young."

Yuu already knew that Silver was the silver-haired boy who was going to participate with them in the counterattack and lent Cater his dorm uniform. But he couldn't picture that other name he heard so many times before. "Diasomnia's dorm leader?" He asked, curious.

"Yes, our illustrious leader and the crown prince of the Briar Valley! I guess you've heard of him."

"I've heard a few things, but never actually seen him, so I don't know if they are true."