Helping Hand

Shade did not speak, nor did anything. He only stared at the teenage girl's eyes without even blinking. 

 "Are you still alive?" 

Eirin waved her hand in front of Shade's face, and her heart almost dropped after the man grabbed her arm with his bare hand. The teenage girl froze, realizing the young man was not wearing his leather gloves, reminding her of the awful memories she had the last time they were alone together. 

 "You... what are you doing to me?" 

Eirin gulped after being questioned. She was not doing anything; she was barely breathing due to fear of the man going berserk on her once again. Coleen's words flashed into Eirin's mind, adding more fear. 

 "W-What are you saying? You're the one holding my arm," she said while trembling and trying to pull her arm away.

However, instead of getting her arm back, Shade sat up and pulled her closer until their lips were only inches away from touching. The teenage girl's heart stopped as her eyes widened. A smile soon formed on Shade's lips as his eyes turned back into their normal color. 

 "Stupid." 

Eirin blinked thousands of times when Shade fell back on the floor after he muttered that word. Her face heated up as the midnight breeze caused her to feel shivers down her spine. 

 "T-That surprised me," Eirin whispered with her hands on her cheeks. "Shoot!" She then remembered about the young man and quickly checked his vitals and if he was still breathing. 

Eirin sighed after learning that the young man had only fallen asleep. She tried to move Shade's body, but her legs were getting numb, and she could feel them cramping, so she couldn't stand either. Her gaze landed on the young man lying on his stomach with his blood on the ground. He might have been mean to the teenage girl, but she thought that he did not deserve to die like that. Despite the questions at the back of her head, Eirin stood up from the ground and slapped her legs. 

She walked slowly towards the hallway of the dormitories. The more she ignores the questions filling her head, the more her head gets clouded. How come Shade ended all wounded like that? Was Ms. Hockenbury really trying to murder him? How? Would that teacher truly be capable of murdering one of her students? Eirin did not come up with any conclusions. All that she could think of was that she didn't want to witness someone's death yet again. 

But where should she go? Who should she ask for help? One name came to her mind, and her face brightened. 

 'Cali! She's the only one that could help me!' 

The teenage girl turned around to go back to the female dormitories, but she immediately bumped into someone, causing her to fall on her buttocks. 

 "I'm sorry! Are you okay?" 

It was dim in the hallway, but the moment Eirin's eyes laid on that platinum blonde hair made her hopeful. No other male student had such shiny and beautiful hair like that. No other than Pierre Blouin. 

Eirin stood up and grabbed Pierre's arm, asking him for help, but she soon remembered Shade's appearance. Worries and anxiety once again filled her. What if Shade does not want Pierre to see him look like a mess? She knows how prickly the young man is. 

 "Are you really okay? What happened to your pajamas? And what were you doing outside your room in the middle of the night?" 

Pierre bombarded Eirin with questions. It was normal. After all, Eirin's appearance would make everyone curious. Pajamas with dried blood on them and palms covered with dried blood? Who wouldn't wonder? 

 "Were you hurt? Did you fall so badly that your whole body bled?" 

Eirin's forehead furrowed. "There's no way that could happen— and this isn't my blood. Anyway, I need your help," she grabbed Pierre's hand and pulled him towards the training grounds. The tough wind hindered their eyesight the moment they left the hallway. 

 "When did it become so windy outside?" Pierre asked. "Where are we going anyway?" he asked again while squinting. "I'm not wearing my contacts, so I cannot see very well." 

Eirin's already furrowed forehead furrowed even further. She could not believe that this medieval place had already taken hold of something like 'contact lenses,' which she thought was a thing from the future and only inops were aware of. 

Despite that, Eirin did not respond and continued pulling Pierre toward where she had left Shade lying unconscious. 

 "I don't think this is a great idea. If people see us together at night like this, they'll probably misunderstand." 

Eirin pointed to the ground before Pierre could even mutter more words. "Here, he needs help." 

 "What— Is that Shade Cromwell? How did this happen?" Pierre squinted and crouched to see Shade's face. He leaned so much that he almost fell right on Shade's body. 

Seeing the Prince, who was adored by almost all the girls in the academy, act all aloof and stupid like that made Eirin sigh. 

 "I don't know either. All I know is that we must immediately bring Shade to the hospital." 

Pierre checked Shade's vitals before saying, "Let me handle this. I know an easy way to get to the hospital. But I also need your help with something." 

 "What is it?" 

Pierre helped lay Shade on his back. "We need to tell one of the teachers and ask for their permission." 

 "Teacher? Who is it?" Eirin asked while wishing it wasn't Ms. Hockenbury they needed to talk to inside her head. 

The young man carried Shade on his back, not caring about the blood that was getting on his clothes. "You should tell Mr. Arthur Blade. I bumped into him earlier, so he must still be in the cafeteria." He started walking, but as soon as they left the forest, he immediately bumped into one of the training dummies, creating a loud thud. 

 "Are you sure you can handle this? I didn't know your eyesight was this bad." 

Pierre laughed and gave Eirin a thumbs up, causing Shade to almost fall off, but Pierre immediately caught him again. "Don't worry! I've been bumping into everything here since I was younger, so I already memorized every nook and corner." 

 'Didn't he just bump into one of those training dummies?' Eirin thought while staring at Pierre's smiling face. His words did not comfort the teenage girl at all. Even though it was like that, they went their separate ways. 

Eirin walked towards the cafeteria, and like what Pierre said, she saw Arthur Blade eating there while doing some paperwork. 

 "Mr. Blade," 

Arthur dropped his spoon and left his mouth gaping when his eyes landed on Eirin. "W-What in the world happened to you?" He stood up, unaware of how his papers fell off the table. "What's with the blood? Were you hurt? How did this—" 

 "Calm down, sir," Eirin said with her hands before her. 

The teenage girl explained the situation, what happened, how she got out of her room, and how she met Shade Cromwell, who was literally in a bloody mess. 

 "Pierre had told me to ask for your permission for something. I didn't know who to ask for help, so when I bumped into him, I asked him to help me bring Shade to the hospital." 

Arthur wiped the corner of his mouth with his eyes wide open. "Okay, okay. I understand what you're talking about," he reassured the girl, returning to his belongings and cleaning them up. "I need you to go back to your room for now. Do not let anybody else learn of the situation. I shall handle this." 

Eirin agreed with what Arthur said as she returned to her room. She looked down on her pajamas with dried blood and her feet covered with mud. Just then, Eirin realized her slippers were nowhere to be found. This made her question how she could walk barefoot from the training grounds to the cafeteria without stepping on anything spiky. 

The teenage girl washed her feet before dirtying the hallway with her footprints. She had already made plenty of those muddy footprints in the hallway leading to the cafeteria, cleaned by the bots hanging around, thus making Eirin think of how convenient it was to have such little creations. Who would have thought to make those? 

When she arrived back in her room, she could feel how frizzy her straight brown hair had become due to the chilly air and the dried blood that got onto it. 

 "Got to take a bath." 

She entered the bathroom, where the toilet and shower were separated by drapes. Turning to her left, she noticed her reflection in the mirror near the sink. Her straight hair was in a mess, her favorite pajamas were in much more mess, and her eyes looked puffy. 

Shade's horrific appearance kept flashing inside her head, and she didn't know what to think other else than that. 

 "I need a good night's sleep after this."