BINGED: Reincarnated as an OP-Chapter 26: Under Those Violet Eyes

Coby jumped into the room and ran towards the pile of bricks. He tossed the bricks, one after the other, off the pile at a speed that only extreme panic could grant a human.

"Are you sure he was here?"

"Yeah. I saw him fall here." The girl was already beside him.

She helped him unload the bricks until they found Ren’s back.

"Is it just me or he smells like cartons of peach?" she paused with a brick in hand and the other hand pinched her nose.

"Are you helping me or not?"

"Right."

She tossed the brick away and picked up another. They finally cleared the pile to reveal Ren lying unconscious.

"Ren," Coby turned him over. He shook him and examined his body for injuries.

He had an excess of bruises, a wound on the side of his face, and blood dripping from his lips.

The girl’s eyes shifted to the ruby beside Ren. She bent and picked it up. Only then did Coby notice it, but he was too worried to be concerned about it. She shoved the ruby into the pocket of her jacket and looked around the room again.

"What do we do?"

"What do you mean?"

"He’s not moving!"

"Take him to the infirmary. I’m not a healer."

Coby watched her in disbelief. He murmured inaudibly and shuffled up to his feet. He grunted as he held Ren’s hand and tried to pull him up.

The girl turned to leave but halted, looking back at Coby.

She sighed. Her legs moved, but she was still fixed at the spot, like she was finding it hard to decide where to go.

"Ugh. How are you so tall, yet not strong?" she groaned, already tired of Coby aimlessly dragging Ren with his hands.

They didn’t move an inch from the spot.

"He is surprisingly heavier than he looks."

She shook her head and stretched her hand at Ren. Her eyes locked on his body and the floor beneath him. A stretcher suddenly appeared beneath him, pushing his body up.

Coby’s eyes widened.

"You could do that and you choose to insult me first?"

"Are you taking him to the infirmary, or no?"

She walked to one end of the stretcher—the part where Ren’s legs rested— and grabbed the rods. Coby turned to the head part. They lifted him in the stretcher and conveyed him out of the battle-damaged room.

The infirmary was a standalone building in the campus. Carrying him, through the hallways, the walkway and across the field, was an eye-turning moment that made the girl most uncomfortable even though she had thrown her hood over her head after the first hallway. She constantly kept shouting at Coby to walk faster, making him almost lose his grip three times.

They finally reached the entrance of the infirmary. The security guards who were on duty assisted them with the door, all while staring at who they carried in with suspicion.

The waiting area was almost empty, save for a few students and three nurses. Students probably didn’t have a lot of health concern in Purist University. How could they when they were all Awakened? The most common cases the doctors were graced with were injury cases like Ren’s, demonic infections or rare cases of Awakened with self-destructive powers.

The section of the infirmary that had the most traffic was the therapy section. Albeit, it was too early in the school year to be having any cases at all.

One nurse rushed to them.

"What happened to him?" She asked taking over from the girl.

"He got in a fight with a bully," the girl quickly replied as she stepped aside.

Coby tilted his head to her, but relaxed when he understood she was only protecting further complications.

"Stupid bullies. I wish the school could always screen those."

The nurse waved over another. She rushed down and took over from Coby, giving him the relief he long wished for.

Coby exhaled and walked to the girl.

"Um," he scratched his nose, "thanks for helping me find him, and for helping me bring him here."

"He’d probably have more bruises if I didn’t help you carry him."

Coby snickered, scratching his head.

"Yeah. I just have base ice powers. I don’t think freezing him would have helped anyway."

"Or, you just don’t know how to use it."

"Huh? What would you have done?"

She shrugged, "Absolutely nothing. I’d freeze myself, I guess. More casualty equals more concern."

She laughed. Coby joined in, confused.

She pushed her dark hair back and exhaled.

"I’ll be off now."

"Oh..." He scratched his neck and then stretched his hand to her.

"I’m Coby."

"Faerin," she said, taking his hand with a smile.

She turned around and left through the same door they came in.

Coby exhaled, pushing his brown curly hair back. He found a seat behind and lowered into it while watching the hallway the nurses had carried Ren into.

*

Hours must have passed, Ren couldn’t tell, all he remembered was that he got confronted by Professor Goldahart and he tried to defend himself. What happened next all came back blurry to him.

He found himself staring at a white ceiling. He found that unusual, not knowing exactly why. Maybe because of the scent of antiseptic that crawled into his nose or the feeling of the soft bed against his skin, or the fact that his vision was split into three, yet he could still see the majestic white clear enough.

He pushed himself up and almost screamed. Pain surged throughout his body. His head throbbed like a heavy metal machine was pounding at the walls of his skull.

He winced, grabbing his bandaged head. The rough surface of the bandage made him uncomfortable in his own skin.

"You’re finally awake."

He jerked when he heard the feminine voice, causing him more pain. He slowly turned his head to the side.

There Faerin sat, legs crossed, relaxed on the visitor’s seat beside his bed.

"We thought you were in a coma or something."

"Who are you?" He asked, squinting.

"Oh, poor you. It affected your eyes too," she pouted.

"What? Where am I?"

"You’re in a ward in the school’s infirmary, Ren."

"How do you know my name?"

"Your friend, Coby, kept screaming your name when you were knocked out."

Ren tilted his head and adjusted on the bed again when his vision cleared.

’What is she doing here?’

He was struck by awe, or shock, seeing the mysterious, ghostly girl seated too close to him. He felt his hair rise as she examined him with those lovely doe eyes.

"Are you okay? Feeling any pains?" She asked raising her brows.

"No. I’m fine," Ren straightened, clenching his teeth as he held the pain in.

"What are you doing here?"

"Coby sat here for a couple of hours, almost dying of hunger and constant worry," she clicked her tongue, "and well he puked when the nurse was cleaning another patient, so they kindly asked that he left so he won’t get sick."

"I don’t believe you."

"Well, your choice," she shrugged.

"Why were you in the seclusion room again anyway?"

"I just wanted to be alone."

"Without a seal, you can’t get in or out. But that’s aside the point," she waved, as of waving that part of their conversation away.

"What happened in there?"

"Uh... Ow," Ren winced again, touching the covered wound. He spent seconds feeling over the area.

Faerin’s eyes didn’t leave him. He turned and found her staring, not the concerned stare, the kind that said "I’m waiting till you’re done with whatever that is".

"Ahem," he cleared his throat. "When I walked in, something grabbed me and attacked me. I saw a demon. I had to fight back. But in the end, I realized I was just hallucinating. I don’t even know when I was knocked out."

Faerin gave him the raised eyebrow.

"Hmm," she leaned closer to him.

His hairs stood on their ends.

’Why is she so creepy?’

Her eyes glowed violet in a blink. She saw the very imagery of what Ren said in red and traced it back to the imagery (swimming in white in her vision) she had captured from the scene. It differed greatly.

"You’re lying," she said, calmly.

Ren frowned, "How would you know? You weren’t in the room with me."

She leaned back. She reached into her jacket’s pocket and pulled out a ruby that Ren recognized immediately he saw it.

She raised the ruby up between her fingers, "Why did you go back for this?" she asked, her eyes piercing into Ren.

"It’s shiny. Shiny things are always suspicious."

She smiled, "I thought they were rather always attractive."

She lowered her hand, withdrew the ruby back into her pocket.

She exhaled, smoothed her hair with her hands and smiled at Ren again.

"You should rest now. You need to recover your strength," she said and stood up.

"I’m sure whatever attacked you in there isn’t done with you, you know."

Ren sniffed and rubbed his nose with the back of his palm. She walked to the door with very calm steps.

She paused at the door, "Next time you lie... make it believable."

She was about to move but turned back again, "Oh, and someone dropped a note for you," she pointed to the letter on the table beside the head part of Ren’s bed.