Chapter 38 - Gratitude.

I looked him in the eyes before he continued to speak,

"Class was cancelled today."

Um? I heard you the first time, you didn't have to repeat yourself.

"Why?"

"The Ogre's sudden appearance, I'm more surprised that you're ready to go to class the day after almost dying."

"It already happened, the best thing you can do is move on and accept it."

"I see."

He continued,

"Well, you should still take a break today, Class C will begin again on Monday."

"Sure."

"I know you've heard this already but thank you again for saving your classmates."

"I was just saving my brother. But here, take this." I gave him my room form.

Mr. Mispholfo nodded his head before continuing on his way.

Huh... What to do...

I decided to head back to the dorms, Kazu was still sleeping on the couch.

Still empty... I thought to myself as I looked around.

I guess I'll go sleep for a few then...

As I headed to my room the door next to mine opened.

Walking out was a confused Rio.

I looked at him, he looked at me.

"Morning?"

He suddenly started to cry.

Huh?

"L-Leo!"

He came up to me and hugged me tightly. I didn't say anything.

"I was scared..."

"When the Ogre tried to attack me... I was scared... I thought I would die..."

"But... when I saw the Ogre attack you... I was terrified..."

He started to hug me even tighter.

"The thought... that I would lose my family terrified me even more then death..."

"I couldn't do anything..."

"Please... don't leave me..."

I slowly lifted my hand and put it on his head.

"I'm right here..."

"I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon."

"You won't be left alone."

"...Promise?"

"Yeah."

He let go of me and backed away a little bit, his puffy red cheeks with his swollen red eyes stood out.

"...Pinky promise?"

I stuck my pinky out and he quickly followed.

"I swear on my life."

"...I don't want that..."

"...I don't want you to swear on your life..."

"Welp, too late, we already pinky promised."

I put my hands on the back of my head and started to walk away.

"Eh!?"

"Come on, let's go eat some breakfast."

"Not fair!"

Luckily it seemed like his mood had gotten brighter.

---

We arrived at the cafeteria; it was pretty empty because most of the other students were in class. I still hadn't seen anyone from Class C yet though.

We got our food and took a seat at our usual table.

"So, what happened after I left?"

I decided to ask, I was curious about what happened.

Rio looked up as if he was trying to remember before starting to speak.

"Um..."

"...I don't really know."

He had looked a little down

"...After I saw you taking that monster away, I couldn't think of anything..."

"...I remember that Ayaka and Taku tried to get some help so they could follow you and try to help you..."

"But... No one could move or do anything..."

"Most of us could only watch yours and the Ogre's back as you led him away..."

"After that... Um... I think I heard Ayaka scream something and then Kazu came back to his senses. Then he started to try and calm down everyone, but it didn't really work..."

I probably would've been really useful there then...

"You said Ayaka, and Taku tried to follow me?"

"...Yes, they and some others tried to follow after you, but by the time they were able to move you were already gone."

"To confirm, they were going to try and kill the Ogre?"

"I think so."

"Then they got lucky that they couldn't follow me."

Rio looked at me with widened eyes for a moment after my statement.

"When did the teachers show up?"

"Um... I don't know... Maybe a few minutes after you left?"

Eh, whatever.

"Thanks for answering."

I started to eat.

"But..." Rio continued to speak, and he looked down.

"I couldn't do anything... I wanted to run after you too... But... I couldn't move..."

Haah, I stopped eating and looked at him.

"What do you mean you couldn't do anything?"

He looked at me and widened his eyes.

"This ring you gave me, saved me. If it wasn't for this, I wouldn't be alive right now."

"In fact, I think you saved more than just me."

"You took 2 hits from the Ogre, that'd have been at least 2 deaths."

"So, you can stop thinking that you didn't do anything, you did more than enough. Too much actually, I don't ever want to see you seconds away from death again."

"Let's eat."

I began to eat again, and Rio looked like he was about to cry but stopped himself.

"...Okay."

…

A short while later we both finished eating.

I stretched my arms wide and yawned.

"Did you have anything you wanted to do today?"

I asked.

"Um... I don't think so... I was planning on waiting for you..."

"Hm... Let's go train then."

"Okay!"

We headed back to the dorm so we could change our outfits.

After entering the building, I could see Kazu was sitting up on the couch.

I looked at him and he looked at me.

"Ah! You're awake!"

Kazu jolted up and walked up to me.

Not another hug...

Instead of a hug, Kazu bowed.

"Thank you so much..."

Huh?

"You did what I wished I could have done..."

He stood back up and looked at me.

"Those were my personal feelings. I'll speak on behalf of the class now."

"Thank you..."

Haah...

"Sure."