Not a girl!.

Yuki blinked a couple of times. Then his silent thoughts exploded into a frenzy.

The pain that had been tormenting had been erased, just like that. 

His body felt completely fine, the pain enveloping it vanishing into thin air. 

He brought a shaky hand to his face, trying to make sense of the situation all again.

Just what the hell was going on.

Miracles were supposed to be myths for goodness' sake!

'Maybe she's a deity after all'

Yuki scoffed at the thought.

'Yeah, as if that's possible'

The woman had taken a seat next to him by now, choosing to stay silent as Yuki digested everything that had transpired.

After letting a moment of silence pass, she opened her mouth, hesitated for a bit, but asked anyway.

"Your name?"

Yuki turned to her, his bewilderment apparent in his weak voice.

"Yuki"

She smiled softly and gave him a nod.

"I'm Asteria and these are my companions, Alaric and David"

She pointed to the two soldiers and continued.

"We're technically soldiers of Eos, but you don't have to worry. We don't mean any harm"

Yuki nodded, choosing to stay silent as Asteria continued. 

"There doesn't seem to be anyone looking for you, yet. Even if someone tries, we've decided we'll stay with you tonight to make sure nothing bad happens. That would be alright with you right?" Her tone was warm, weirdly like that of a caring grandmother. Which made no sense considering the woman in front of him looked no older than twenty.

Yuki awkwardly stared at them for a while, then slowly nodded. These strangers, why were they so kind?

Looks like his luck hadn't ran out just yet.

Asteria perked up at seeing that the young man was responsive, she continued, relief spilling from her deep voice.

"Great! Do you have anywhere that you can go back to? We'll take you there."

This was definitely great news, the strangers were even willing to accompany him back to his home.

If only he had one in wherever this godforsaken place was.

He stared at the ground for a while, thinking about how exactly he was supposed to say that he had been sleeping in his classroom in a faraway land just a few moments ago

'Yup, not possible.'

A vague idea appeared in his mind.

He shook his head, dismissing the insane thought.

'They'll definitely just leave me behind thinking that I'm beyond saving… wouldn't they?'

Yuki tried to think of something else, not wanting to give in to the reckless ideas the insane part of his mind that was whispering to him.

But everything he came up with only seemed to be leading him back into it.

Whether he liked it or not, it seemed to be his best and only option.

Yuki turned his gaze back to Asteria, she had made herself comfortable by his side. Patiently sitting next to him as he came up with an answer.

He cleared his throat.

"I don't know"

"You don't know?" Asteria tilted her head, confusion clouding her expression.

"I don't remember." Yuki corrected himself.

A strange expression appeared on her face, something that vaguely resembled pity. Yuki felt a little bad deceiving the kind soldier, but he had no other choice.

First and foremost, he didn't know where he was.

From how much he was suffering just a moment ago, it seemed to really be a real place. At the least if it was not, then a really good simulation of one.

Yuki was pulled back from his thoughts by the sound soft breath, in the silence that enveloped the rocky expanse, his already sensitive ears had grown even more burdensome.

He felt a sudden urge to cover his ears and curl up into a ball.

Asteria, though, seemed to be waiting for Yuki to continue.

And so he did, carefully choosing his every word.

"I only remember my name and that I'm 17, I don't even know why I ended up here in the first place"

He hesitated for a short moment, and pointed to the barely visible hill behind him

"The last thing i remember is falling down this slope"

The memory of the fall sent a shiver down his spine. Even though the pain plaguing his body was gone, the memory of it was still fresh on his mind.

'Oh yeah that reminds me'

Yuki turned to Asteria and gave her a small bow.

"Thankyou for saving me"

***

'This is going to be a problem isn't it?'

Outwardly, Asteria was smiling at the young woman who was now bowing. 

Inside, there was a furious storm raging, barely contained by the rational part of her mind.

'Those bastards, I'm going to rip them apart piece by piece'

She stood up and walked towards the fire, beckoning after for the child to do the same. The cold was not bothering her at all, after all her Integrated body was way more resilient than the one of a mundane one.

The same couldn't be said about the girl.

Soon the four of them were sitting around the fire, Alaric and David were preparing food. Yuki was sitting by Asteria's side, awkwardly glancing at her once in a while.

Noticing the restless behavior, Asteria turned to her.

"Is something bothering you?"

Yuki jumped at the question, then turned to her, something akin to embarrassment in her large red eyes.

She really was such a pretty girl for a mundane human. Her soft face containing the last remnant of childhood, the way she carried herself, everything about her was just soo... pretty.

'Me and my luck huh...'

It was the second time that Asteria had found a distressed young woman with pretty red eyes in middle of nowhere.

Asteria glanced at her torn dress, it was barely enough for the cold. She decided that the first thing next morning she'd get Yuki new clothes.

"Your companions seemed to have made a small mistake" 

"Mistake?" Asteria raised an eyebrow.

Yuki nodded, reluctant to continue.

"Go on, don't worry about them" Asteria decided to give her a little push.

Asteria stared at her companions, who were now listening to their conversation as well.

'Did these idiots get up to something again…'

David frantically shook his head, trying to tell her that nothing had happened as Asteria's mood shifted.

Yuki, meanwhile, hesitated for a long while before opening her mouth.

"I- uh..."

She sucked in a heavy breath and then blurted out, her face turning beet red in the process.

"I'm not a girl!"

The words hung in the air for a while.

Then the dull thud of metal hitting the ground broke the silence, accompanied by the sound of the sound of three very surprised soldiers questioning reality.