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Frank slowly calmed down as he drank Miso-flavored Rice Porridge, it wasn't a heavy meal, and it was comforting and tasty. He drank a lot of water after that, and ended going to the bathroom for a little while, which he used to use his phone and contact his family after almost three days since going out…
He was happy they were fine, and his mother was a bit worried, but that was all. He said he would return home today, as he wanted to see his family above all else.
"Frank, I left some towels inside the bathroom for you, you should take a bath to refresh…"
"Ah… Thanks, Harumi."
Harumi was especially nice as well, helping him as if she had become his personal nurse. It seemed that she had become very worried and… well, the rest couldn't be explained too easily.
But it seemed his friends had decided to take turns taking care of him, and today's turn was Harumi.
"Haah…"
He had yet to even speak with someone else, but as he took a warm bath, Frank finally understood what had happened to him.
There was a huge scar in his chest, his pale white skin was now reddish, and the scar spread like cracks through the rest of his chest until his stomach and shoulders.
"W-What…? This is not going to be easy to hide…"
He was shocked, the rest of his body also had large scars similar to these, although thankfully not his face or visible areas.
"Is this the result of using the… that skill?"
A skill he had obtained in that battle against Medea, where he put everything into fighting her and trying to protect his friends.
He didn't even feel like checking his status or anything of the sort either, and he was overall exhausted even now.
Although he felt tired, he was grateful he was alive.
The damage he had sustained from that transformation… he was sure it would have killed him though.
"I did something so reckless… I didn't think straight… that skill… it clouded my mind, my judgement…"
He was shocked of how foolish he was, if it wasn't for the healing techniques of Matsuo, the Great Ancestor, and the Elders working together to heal him, he would have surely died that day.
Harumi had told him most of how his healing went, they had to create a large formation where the Elders and the Great Ancestor poured their powers, combining talismans, runes, and Feng Shui alongside the divinity of Amaterasu to heal both his body and his soul.
It was no small feat, and he was now Frank felt even more indebted to the people of this place, that went so far just for him, a foreigner and someone that only joined their clan a year ago.
"Huh?"
As he walked towards the mirror, he noticed that a bit of his hair had turned gray, mostly behind his head and a bit over his forehead.
"Aah, my mom is going to kill me if she sees this! Do I dye it back? Or do I just cut it? Ah, I'll cut it!"
He took a scissor and ended cutting any gray hair he found, his mother was quite strict, even if he tried making excuses over just wanting to have a "new style" she would definitely make a huge fuss about him becoming a delinquent, a punk, joining the Yakuza or something.
"I look weird, but this is fine… It's better than what I had before."
He quickly felt more relieved after that bath, dressing up and walking out of the bathroom with a loud sigh.
"Yo! You're finally awake, hero~!"
"Frank! Are you feeling alright?"
And then, he noticed the rest of his friends, standing right there!
Erika seemed happy to see him, smiling and waving her hand, while Matsuo ran to hug him.
"Sorry, they came running when I told them you woke up…"
Harumi apologized a bit, as Frank was almost crushed by Matsuo's bear hug.
"Ugh, M-Matsuo, I am not in the best condition, please don't… hug me too hard."
"A-Ah! Sorry, sorry man."
Matsuo apologized as he saw Frank, patting his shoulders.
"How do you feel so far? Anything wrong there? Are any of your bones still broken or… Is your heart fine? What about your soul?"
"I'm fine, seriously… Just some fatigue, maybe a bit of a fever but I'm alright."
"A fever is a big thing!"
"No it's not, that's only a thing in Anime… We call that "the Japanese Fever" outside of Japan because you guys exaggerate its effects way too much…"
"I-It's not an exaggeration…"
Matsuo felt slightly embarrassed after hearing that.
"A-Anyway, I'm glad you're feeling fine… There's a lot we need to talk before you go back home. Are you hungry? Mom already is almost done cooking lunch."
"Lunch? What hour is it?" Frank wondered.
"Around 3 PM?" Matsuo wondered, rubbing his chin.
"Ah, a-alright then," Frank nodded. "Thanks. I'll join… And yeah, there's a lot we have to talk… Aah, my head keeps spinning a bit… So much happened."
"Yeah, take it easy," Erika nodded, patting his shoulders. "Don't you want some help in anything?"
"I-I'm fine, thanks Erika…" Frank smiled.
"Erika, I was the one assigned to help him today…" Harumi suddenly got in between the two, separating them with a hint of jealously.
"I-I was just saying…" Erika sighed, shrugging. "Anyway, I'm glad you're fine! Don't try to kill yourself like that ever again, you heard me?! Or I'll kill you!"
"E-Eh?! You'll kill me?!" Frank gasped. "Wait that doesn't make any sense…"
"Ggrrrhh, you're barking back?" Erika roared like an angry wolf. "We were all so worried! I-I really thought… I really thought you would die…! Baka…!"
"…Erika," Frank felt moved by her words full of emotions. "I won't do that again… I promise."
"You better keep your word," Harumi said.
"Yeah, it was heroic and all, but you scared us to death…" Matsuo sighed. "Anyway, let's go. There's three other people I want you to see."
"Three other people?" Frank wondered.
"Yeah, remember the students we fought?" Erika asked.
"Wait… Huh? Was it Elfina, Sol and… Fiere? What about them?" Frank asked.
"Well, a lot happened, and they joined the clan," Harumi said.
"Eh?!"
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