-Spiritual Kinship- 2nd half

Chapter 33 - Aftermath

"Ngh...." Syouji groaned, slowly opening his eyes.

"That was..."

-[You're awake? You nearly died Syouji.]

-Shinji? What happened to me?

-[You crashed into the earth at around 150 miles per hour.]

-How is that even possible?

-[You tell me. You're the one who broke the laws of physics.]

Syouji clutched his head with his hand, and closed his eyes for a moment.

Not long before he had opened his eyes, he could have sworn he saw something like a dream that induced sadness.

"What..."

Within his consciousness, Syouji felt a slight wet feeling irritate his cheek so he wiped his face with his hand.

It was then that he realized. There were moist teardrops on his face.

"What is going on?"

-[ Oh yes, I forgot to mention. You were crying in your sleep.]

Syouji fiddled with the fringes of his pale blue hair as he surved his surroundings. It appeared that he was on a bed in <Fraxinus>'s infirmary.

-Shinji... do you know where my mother could be right now?

-[Let's say I do. What would you do?]

-I... just want to talk.

-[I highly doubt that.]

-I mean, perhaps after everything she's done, I couldn't possibly forgive her, but... she's still my mother. I'd like to know more about her. Hear from her directly, if it's possible.

-[Hmm. Well, then... I supposed you could go and look for her. Seeing as how Phantom and her are the same person.]

At that moment, before Syouji could press on, the door to the room abruptly flew open, and the Spirits.

"Excuse us... Wha, Syouji! Bro are you okay?!"

"Syouji! Umu, you're awake, huh?"

Filled with astonishment, Shidou and the others widened their eyes as Syouji showed a wide grin towards them.

Syouji straightened his upper half upright, stretching his body as his muscles pained him and his back began to make popping noises.

-[Hey, didn't I just say you collided with the earth at such a speed? It's a different thing to go from 150 mile per hour in a car wearing a seatbelt. Slow down. You're lucky your clone was in the infirmary. You were instantly brought to the infirmary the moment of impact.]

-Ah, right...

"How's everyone? I just came to."

Syouji said forcing a smile, causing Tohka, who was standing behind Shidou and Kotori, to tilt her head as if noticing there was something off about Syouji.

"Syouji, is something wrong? Were you crying?"

"Oh no, it's nothing. I was just feeling a bit drowsy."

Not wanting the others to worry, Syouji shrugged off Tohka's concern with a reassuring smile.

However, when he made eye contact with Shidou and Kotori, he couldn't help but avoid their gaze as they showed a doubtful expression.

"Well, then forget about it." Shidou said with a sigh of helplessness. "We can talk about that later."

"Yeah." Kotori nodded. "More importantly, Syouji, is your body okay?"