Chapter 34

Seeing the nurse being incredibly defensive, the girls stop pushing her to do the blood bind.

After all, they are not her friends. They are her rivals, not her parents. There is a limit to what they would say.

As long as Sam has her power in the end, they will not care further than that. Although, they do want her to do it as soon as possible. Sam's well-being is much more important than her inferiority complex.

Lily turns to the twins.

"How are you feeling? Anything different?"

The nurse says nothing. She looks at the twins and then looks at Sam like she is trying to decide something drastic. Her body trembles ever so slightly with each passing second.

"Yui feels the same." Yui shakes her head and her sister follows.

"Yuno too!"

"Why don't you try casting Fire Bomb, Yui."

Yui has Wind and Ice affinity, while Yuno has Wind and Fire affinity. Because of this, Yui is asked to try Fire Bomb first. Asking Yuno who already has both the elements used to create Fire Bomb makes no sense.

"Lily is not the boss of me! Sam is! Yui will do it but it is not because of you, right Yuno!" Yui argues.

"Yuno agrees!"

"It's for his own good!" Lily calmly answers.

"Hmph!" Yui pouts.

To focus and visualize the spell better, she closes her eyes. Very quickly, in front of her 'humble' chest, a small orb of wind appears with sparks of red fire surrounding it.

Lily, Yuno, and the nurse all stare at the magic spell.

But sadly, the fire never wraps around the ball of wind like how Fire Bomb is supposed to be. Instead, the sparks just go around it a few times and then disappear into thin air.

Undisturbed, Yui tries again for the second and the third time, and nothing changes.

"Guess that didn't work, huh?" Lily asks.

"Seems like it. Hey, we still need to consume his blood, right Yuno?" Yui says. As she remembers from the story, Lily did drink a little of it.

"That's true, Yui. But how are we going to do it? I don't think we should cut Sam up to take his blood. He's still not well."

Yui looks at Lily.

"Well we are in the hospital, her father's hospital. She is also someone who has had medical training. Lily should be able to draw us a little."

"Me?! Why would I do it? Besides, he is still asleep." Lily is a bit reluctant.

Seeing her hesitation, Yui sighs.

"Do you really think he will let us take his blood while he is awake?"

"...That makes sense..."

"Besides, a poke of a needle to him is less than a mosquito bite to us. He would barely feel anything."

"...That's true..."

""Then let's do it!"" The twins say at the same time. Their eyes are filled with expectations.

"Haaaaaa...Okay. I'll help you. Just this once!"

"We don't need you to do it a second time anyhow. By the way, how much did you use last time?"

"Not much, about a drop." Lily tries to remember.

"Then just draw 2 drops is fine. Don't overdo it. He is still very weak. I don't think 2 drops of blood would create anything weird but we shouldn't take any chances."

"Make it three, then." Suddenly, the nurse says.

The girls instantly look at her. They obviously doubt if she could do it.

"Make it three, please Lily." She pleads.

Lily looks at the nurse, eyes widening in disbelief. Her face shows a dumbfounded expression. Not only her but Yui and Yuno are both flabbergasted.

They have never heard her plea. With her strength, there is nothing on the earth except for one that would make her behave like such. And that is the man lying on the bed right now.

A few minutes of stunned silence go by.

"What are you going to do with it if you're not doing the bind?"

"I'm drinking it first. And I am doing the bind. Better do it while he's asleep than doing it while he's awake. I don't think I can handle it if he's not sleeping."

Yui replies with: "But you're not even here!"

"Yes, I am."

From outside of the room, there is a quiet voice.

Even though the volume of it is very small, it brings the girls a distinctive feeling that the speaker has no confidence.

It is the voice of an introvert. Quiet and timid at all times. While in the body of another person, she is completely different. One can even say she has bipolar disorder.

The nurse opens the door, revealing the girl they all saw in the first video.

Nycta walks right in. If the three did not know her condition, they would never have guessed that Nycta was blind. Normally, people who use VR to look at the world in the third person would have a bad time doing it. But for someone like Nycta, who has been living by the vision of others, she is already used to it.

Sadly, because of this reason, she does not have an ego.

She does not feel like she is living in her own body anymore, but someone else's. This is also the reason why she wears heavy makeup, as her real body is considered to be her doll. She would like to dress up as beautifully as possible because she looks at it as a stranger, not the owner.

"Okay. If you have decided already, then let's get on with it."

From the inside of her lab coat, Lily brings out a small syringe, a needle, and an alcohol swab. All are in a small box with tight seals on them. The girls look at the items closely. They are a little worried by the sight of the needle.

"This is the smallest syringe possible to extract blood. Don't worry too much, he won't feel a thing." Sensing the intense air, Lily explains.

To which, the girls exhale in relief.

Next, Lily walks out to disinfect her hands.

Looking back at the girls, she warns them.

"Be back in 30 seconds. Don't touch anything! I don't want your dirty hands on them. Especially you, Yuno!"

"...Yuno hears you..."

"Don't be sad, big sis. You know why she said that..."

"I understand..."

Nycta just stands there in silence. She and the nurse are trembling slightly, still. Their hands feel a little cold from the sweats.

Yui turns to Nycta.

"Why did you change your mind?"

"Yuno wants to know, too!"

"It's complicated."

"We have 30 seconds."

"Tick tock tick tock." Says the energetic Yuno.

"I...wanted to see him from the start. As you two have seen in the video, I was here since last night."

"Yeah, and you hijacked our heads!" Yui pouts.

"Yuno doesn't like that!"

"I had to. Even when I could handle everything by myself, I need to keep him safe first. Everything else is irrelevant."

"Yui can't agree with your method, but I do agree with your logic. We all are crazy for Sam, aren't we?"

A hand is raised.

"Yuno would kill for Sam!!"

"" We, too."" Yui and Nycta say at the same time.

"Is there a particular reason for your crazy feelings for him, Nycta?"

"You don't know?"

"Not really. Does Lily know?"

"She knows a little."

"How come she knows your story and I don't?"

"Because you never asked."

"Ack!" Yui chokes on her saliva. "Then care to explain?"

"I don't want to go too much into details. You can ask Lily for them later. What I can tell you is I gave him up first."

"Why?"

"Because I was a fool..." Nycta stops. Tears fill her eyes soon after.

"In my life, I have two biggest regrets. First is my magic. The second would be pushing him away." She walks towards the bedside. The nurse does the same.

"He was with Marie because of me. I pushed him far from myself even though I never wanted it."

"So that's what it is. Yui can't say much because Yui is not you. But it is never too late to try."

"It's easy for you to say. You don't struggle as I have. I can't even think straight when it comes to him."

"Then have you lived Yui's life before?" Yui counters Nycta.

"I..."

"You are always like this, Nycta. You always think that your life is the worse in this world. Maybe we are more privileged, but that does not mean you can look down on our lives!"

"That's not what I mean..."

"No. You listen to Yui. How many times have you been rejected?"

"I...never..."

"Do you know how many times Yui and Yuno have been rejected?"

"8." Lily walks in with her hands in front of her chest like a surgeon.

"Yes. 8 times. Do you know how it feels getting rejected?"

"N...no..." Nycta looks down.

"We have. Lily has. Only you have received the luxury of rejecting Sam. You are richer than any one of us!"

"The first time, it felt like my gut was punched through and my heart was ripped out from my chest," Lily says. A very physical description, suitable for someone who is medical.

"The first time for Yui, it was so painful I literally had to limp down on the ground and cry. Yuno hugged me while she was also wheezing. The sadness, the anger, our confidence was destroyed in a fraction of a second."

"But did we give up? No. We kept on trying. Yui got rejected again. And again. And again."

Yui has two lines of tears on her cheeks.

"Because we want him. No. We need him. If he dies, we die. There is no in-between! We were rejected again this morning!"

Lily, who is preparing the needle, asks an important question.

"Who is Sam to you, Nycta?"

"He is the only light in my darkness."

"Then fight for him like how you should be."

"But I already am!"

"Yui can not be more frustrated in you, Nycta! "Who do you think the enemy is?"

"Bianca! You three! This world which tries to hurt him!"

Yuno points at her.

"Even stupid Yuno knows that it's you!! Stop being a whiny bitch already!"

Nycta stands in silence. She can not open her mouth. She has been stunned completely.

"Done!"

Lily says. Her syringe is now filled with a dark red liquid.

The twins stop caring for Nycta. They go towards Lily's side.

"Yuno goes first! Yuno goes first! Yuno is the big sister so I should go first!"

"So NOW you are my big sister?"

"Tut tut tut. Yui, you poor soul. Good things Yuno goes first, bad thing Yuno goes home. Have you got it already?"

"Just get on with it!"

"Hehehe. Thanks my dear sister!"

*Tap*

"Hmmm. Tastes quite nice, actually."

"Let Yui try it too!!"

*Tap*

"That does taste quite nice. Kinda metallic, kinda sweet. Like a rare steak!"

Nycta walks in on them and Lily does the same.

*Tap*

"Thanks."

"Try doing Fire Bomb this time, Yui."

"Un!" She nods.

And this time, everything is different than the first 3 tries.

On Yui's hand is now an orange orb of fire, similar to how Sam's spell should be.

After dispelling it, Yui claps in happiness.

"I did it! I did it!"

"Sucks that Yuno knows Fire Bomb already! Yuno wants to try Sam's signature spell, too! Thunderstrike is too much for this hospital to handle."

While the girls are doing their cheering, Nycta jumps on the bed. She has made up her mind already.

Black mist is emitted from within the nurse's hands, invading the girls' heads. Their eyes' scleras turn dark as their bodies stop their movements.

"No! Not again!" Yui shouts.

Lily is also very disturbed by the sudden attack.

"What is this! Nycta! What did you do?!"

"Let Yuno go! Yuno does not like this! Yuno needs to pee!"

And then, strangely, Yuno walks out of the door to the restroom.

"Wait wait wait not like this!!!" Yuno's voice echoes in the corridor of the hospital.

On the bed, Nycta holds Sam's face with her hands gently. Her lips first touch his cheeks. Once. Then twice. Then onto his mouth.

She opens his teeth with her tongue and lets him bite on it. However, she does not stop as her tongue keeps moving around, exploring the inside of him.

Sam swallows the blood while Nycta continues to give him a tongue kiss.

"Stop it! Stop it now!"

"Let us go! You were not supposed to go this far. Wait!! What are you doing!? No! Not that!"

Nycta touches his private part.

It bulges up.

"What are you doing to me, Nycta?"

At the worst time possible, or perhaps the best time possible, Sam wakes up.

"I...I...you...this...um..." Nycta has no words for an excuse. Her face turns red all over in less than a second.

The man in her dreams smiles at her. In his crystal clear eye, there is her reflection.

"Long time no see, Nycta. I have missed you." His voice, although still weak, is warmer than the brightest day.

She stops moving upon hearing those words. His words.

Like a broken dam, everything pours out from the deepest corners of her heart.

She hugs him tightly as if this moment is going to fade away.

Wailing, wheezing, out of breath, she mutters.

"Sam...I...I'm...s...sorry!!"