Good and Bad

When Mia got in the tent, her Gameboy lit up by itself, revealing a simple pixelated face. Immediately after seeing that, she put a finger up to her mouth.

"Shhh, this is not a good time, Anna. The others are trying to go to sleep."

Anna made a gasping expression on the Gameboy and made a hushed digitalized voice.

"I see. But that presents a good opportunity anyways. I know we hardly even know each other, but there are some things I want to tell you."

After saying that, a pixelated sweat fell down on the side of the screen.

"Or... maybe I'm imposing my opinions on you with my selfish thoughts that I'm actually good friends with you."

She let out an awkward laugh, prompting Mia to stroke the side of the Gameboy affectionately. After realizing how weird that was, she blushed a little but kept her composure.

"I don't think they are selfish at all. Or at least... even if they are, I can't ride on a high horse and say that, because I'm doing the same thing."

A bitter smile formed on her face as she looked at the Gameboy.

"So if you really are willing to treat me as a close friend, then I'm willing to reciprocate."

Anna made a pixelated smile and made a nodding animation.

"Thank you. It's really hard for someone like me to make friends in my position, so it's a little hard not to cling to you, hehe. But more importantly, the thing I was going to talk to you about, was the other guy that you brought along. Are you sure he's safe?"

Mia blinked a few times before putting a finger to her chin.

"Ah... I'm not sure how you found out, but yes, I've had similar concerns before. However, he has already saved my life and hasn't done anything bad to me, so I believe that is enough to trust he at least has no intention to harm me."

Anna appeared to blink a few times.

"Oh, I guess that's good. But you should still be careful. I'm not sure why, but I don't feel very good when I look at him. And that's when I'm a gamemaster and he's just a player! It's like if a person was afraid of an ant killing them, it makes no sense!"

Mia furrowed her brows slightly.

"Eh? I've never felt anything like that from him. I mean... there was that one time."

Anna responded anxiously.

"What? Are you talking about how you met him?"

Mia shook her head and brought the Gameboy closer to her face.

"When I met him, he was with some girl that I made an alliance with in the promotion test. I didn't really want to take a kid with us, but I realized that his pinky nails were cleanly removed. Despite that, he seemed fine."

Anna paused for a moment.

"Isn't that strange? And how long was that? They've already healed back."

Mia flinched before pursing her lips together.

"That... that was just a few days ago at most. And I remember that one time, he was missing part of his hand, but that regrew as well..."

Anna whispered fiercely.

"What? His hand was removed?"

Mia gave a small nod.

"Well... there was a time that he saved us while wearing a strange jester outfit. At the time, we were sent for a surprise game and after losing, were forced into a punishment game. After he saved us, I saw that his hand was missing, but didn't think that it was Jack at the time."

Anna made a thinking expression for a little while.

"I don't really understand what that means, but you should still be careful of him, even if he did save your life."

Mia let out a small sigh.

"I know, I know, but I have no intention of leaving him if he is willing to stay."

Anna let out a soft hum.

"Ok, it was just a warning. Just so you know. I won't bother your rest anymore. Night, night!"

Mia nodded.

"Night."

And with that, she went to sleep. At the same time, Jack was squirming around a little with his brows furrowed, clearly not enjoying his dream.

...

"Jack, I already told you not to do that, didn't I? It's for your own sake. What if I didn't come for the next week? Then you would have bled out and died, you know? And you remember what we said about dying."

Jack saw his father reprimanding him with a strict expression. In response, he looked down with a pout, taking a look at the stub of his arm and his horribly maimed hand on the floor.

"Dying is a bad thing. I am supposed to be careful and make sure that it doesn't happen. I'm sorry, I knew it was wrong, I just... I just... really wanted to. It's like I can't feel anything anymore. I need to know if I still can. I can't tell if I'm still alive."

Jack held onto the side of his head with a trembling bloody hand, on the verge of breaking down. Tears had formed in his eyes, though it wasn't all that long ago that he had been crying. Seeing this, his father let out a small sigh.

"Alright, alright, I forgive you. Calm down, Dad is here, no?"

Jack pursed his lips before slowly nodding.

"Y-Yes... Dad is here."

He did calm down, taking in deep breaths one after another as the trembling subsided. Jack looked at his father with a small pout.

"Am I a bad person? I... I want to be a good person since you said that was what I am supposed to do, but it's really hard to be good!"

His father let out a light chuckle and patted Jack's head.

"Nobody is perfectly good or bad, Jack. Even if a good person tries their best, they will sometimes make mistakes and do bad things. But what's important is that they try their best to be one."

Jack slowly nodded.

"Ok! I will try my best."

His father smiled brightly.

"Very good. Now, let me fix you up."

He took out a sewing needle and some red thread. First, he picked up the maimed hand and began giving it stitches. For whatever reason, he also pushed the needle into the bone several times, making a red thread go across it. Very quickly, the hand was put together, though it was still bleeding pretty badly, and was mostly held together by the red thread.

Yet, the red thread suddenly sank into the skin, and the hand rapidly healed, becoming as good as new. From there, his father sewed the hand back onto Jack's arm, with several red threads. Soon after, they also disappeared, and Jack was as good as new, already clenching and unclenching his fist like it wasn't injured in the first place.

Jack smiled and looked at his father.

"You must be a really good person, right?"

In response, the man laughed.

"Oh? And why is that?"

Jack tilted his head to the side.

"You saved my life many times, right? If you stop a bad thing so much, that must mean you are a good person!"

The smile on his father's face widened ever so slightly.

"I just told you, didn't I? Both good and bad people can do good and bad things. But I suppose it's natural for you to come to that conclusion with what you know about me. You aren't wrong on that front."

Jack put a finger on his chin and pursed his lips.

"What? Is Dad not a good person?"

He spoke, feeling genuinely confused. His father crouched down and put a hand on Jack's shoulder.

"For what it's worth, I feel like a good person."

Jack smiled brightly after hearing that.

"I knew it! Dad is a good person!"

His father let out a small sigh after putting down a large amount of brown paper bags.

"Now, your Dad has business to attend to. Be good now, alright?"

Jack immediately began freaking out, reaching out to grab his father's wrist.

"B-But you just came! We didn't even play a game yet! Please don't leave! Please, please, please!"

In response, his father used his free hand to gently pat Jack's head.

"Don't worry so much, Jack. It's not like this will be the last time you see me, right?"

Jack had already broken down into tears as they profusely came down, dripping off of his chin.

"But... but... but... I don't want you to go! It was so long since you last came, and you're going to leave so quickly? I don't even know when you will come back!"

His father shook his head.

"Last time, I left for a week. It will only be about a week again the next time I see you. Don't be so sad, you can do it. You've gone a whole month before, haven't you?"

Jack bit his bottom lip.

"But I don't want you to go!"

His father clicked his tongue a few times.

"You said I was a good person, right? That means stopping me is a bad thing. You don't want to be a bad person, do you?"

Jack flinched before slowly letting go.

"N-No..."

His father got up to leave, which made Jack despair. However, he turned around just before leaving and smiled.

"Cheer up. After all, in the future, you'll be helping me with my work. Then even if I have to go for business, you'll be with me anyway."