Filling in the Gaps I

Atsuo started sweating from the not knowing what he did after the black out. The gap in his memory always had him on edge, but he thought he grew accustomed to it.

Now however, with Lord Kaiser wanting to discuss some of his actions during Sana’s events, he had a weird feeling of what was about to come.

He could not shake off the feeling of fear and anxiety. Hundreds of thoughts ran through his brain, making him question whether he would be sitting with them in the room at this precise moment if he really did do something bad.

With uneasiness and tension in the room, he asked Lord Kaiser to fill him in.

“…I’m… listening” Atsuo said reluctantly.

“It all started with when your group got disqualified…” Lord Kaiser began.

‘Huh?’ Atsuo thought to himself, ‘That can’t be…’

“We were told by your group that you said you’ll be back and went off somewhere” Rivia said.

“Yeah, I got up to go to the washroom…” Atsuo said nervously, fearing where this is going.

“The thing is, sleeper…” Lord Kaiser said uneasily, “…someone saw you enter the woodlands. And you never came back…”

Atsuo laughed in frustration, unable to understand what is happening to him. He thought he was going mad.

The concerned look on his friends’ faces did not make it any better, as countless emotions overwhelmed him.

When he felt like he was finally getting better, everything he had overcome in these past few days came flooding back, like it was never gone in the first place. Sorrow, hopelessness, and fear washed over him. He felt defeated.

“Again?” Lord Kaiser asked Atsuo anxiously.

Atsuo nodded tiredly, holding the temples of his head.

Rivia remembered the incident with her, turning to Lord Kaiser.

“Is this like the time on the train?” she asked hesitantly, gripping her hands together.

“Seems like it…” Lord Kaiser answered grimly, worryingly looking back at Rivia.

Of the group, Crod and Eskasa had no clue on what was being discussed as they joined the three later after the incident, but they did not want to pry. Lord Kaiser noticed and looked back at Atsuo.

“Sleeper, I’m going to tell them…” Lord Kaiser said seriously.

“…what?” Atsuo asked dejectedly.

“Everything…” Lord Kaiser replied.

Atsuo didn’t move or speak. Lord Kaiser took that as a ‘yes’, and began recounting everything to Crod and Eskasa.

“It all started two days–” Lord Kaiser suddenly stopped, with a solemn look on his face, “well… I actually don’t know when it started… I, myself, became aware of it two days ago.”

Lord Kaiser started delving into the earliest memories he had of Atsuo and began from there. He explained how Atsuo came to him for help, how they died, how they came back and started from the same spot, and even the associations involvement in the incident.

He explained how the both of them might have gotten cursed and the solution Deimos came up with. He told them about the main reason they were here at Drezore and what happened to Atsuo on the train.

When he finished, the friends understood what he meant by ‘again’, as the seriousness of the situation settled in.

“I’m sorry to hear that…” Crod said dismally.

The friends stared down at the floor as the room filled with rancor. The only sound that could be heard for a while was the crackling of the fireplace.

“…cursed…” Eskasa muttered, as her eyes glistened from the flickering flames, “…whoever or whatever did it… there is no salvation for the wicked…”

Atsuo looked at her livid expression. It was mirrored on every friends’ face. Seeing them this way on his and Lord Kaiser’s behalf, made him feel better.

He deeply exhaled, before asking Lord Kaiser about what happened next, hoping it did not get any worse than that.

“Huh?” Lord Kaiser uttered, “Ah… well, your team got disqualified due to your absence, and we later found you sitting by the academy entrance… surprisingly, none of your teammates even tried expressing their dissatisfaction, but that’s besides the point.”

Atsuo flinched after hearing that he was sitting by the academy entrance. That’s where he was talking to the young woman behind the reception desk.

‘Did I talk to her during the blackout? But she didn’t say anything…’ he thought to himself uneasily before continuing to listen.

“When we found you it was almost time for the honesty test with Sana again…” Lord Kaiser said.

“Wait,” Atsuo interrupted, “how did you all do on the tea party?”

“All of our groups made it to the final ten” Crod said, “It wasn’t that hard really, yet some groups somehow started fighting. According to Sana, they are on their way home.”

Atsuo laughed as he imagined the scene play out in his head. He thought about not wanting that to happen to himself, but he knew what he did was arguably much worse and he somehow ‘got away with it’.

‘Could she not find me?’ he pondered, ‘But she wasn’t in a foul mood when I came to her to apologize…’

He decided not to think much of it.

“Anyway, she explained the fourth event and–”

“How did it work?” Atsuo interrupted.

Lord Kaiser sighed irritably, before Rivia jumped in and summarized the whole thing.

“Basically, Sana met every person face to face and asked them a bunch of questions, testing your honesty. But in cases like yours, with two academy representatives, she tested both at the same time,” Rivia explained, “in the end everyone managed to get fifteen points. I assume everyone was scared of lying to her face and told nothing but the truth…”

Atsuo could clearly picture that, as he nodded.

Everyone got fifteen points. Those were good news and exactly what he wanted to hear, so why does Kaiser look like he has more to share, Atsuo thought to himself.

“I see… thank you,” he told Rivia and turned to Lord Kaiser, “so we did good?”

Lord Kaiser’s expression changed.

“I actually wanted to discuss what happened there, in particular…” he said, “do you not remember anything?”

Those were not the words Atsuo wanted to hear.

“Nothing before you getting the ‘limitless potential’ thing…” Atsuo said uneasily.

Lord Kaiser grinned.

“That makes the both of us,” he said, slapping Atsuo on the back.

He cleared his throat, before continuing.

“I’ll keep it quick” he said seriously.

“We were the first to go in there…”