“I… what the hell are you two getting sad over?”
Kairos tilted his head down before pinching the bridge of his nose. Despite his words, the emotions of both the wolf and Azami didn’t change. Eventually, he let out a long breath.
“It’s not like your problem or anything.”
They didn’t respond. In reality, Kairos was mostly talking just to stave off an overwhelming feeling that came over him. But the lack of response made it too hard for him to continue on.
He began silently crying. Something he couldn’t even remember the last time he did.
After all, they all had the proof they needed, whether it was knowing their genuine thoughts or their genuine emotions.
Kairos felt many things and had many thoughts. Though they quickly melted away, instead focusing on this moment, embracing it for the time that it lasted. It was something that he instinctively knew was fleeting, though not for sure why.
Eventually, Azami did pull away along with the wolf. He could no longer sense their feelings, but it wasn’t like he suddenly forgot what they were. There was a somewhat sad smile on his face as he came to a realization.
“Ha… I’m part of the problem I hate, aren’t I?”
Azami didn’t say anything. Not that she wasn’t curious, but already knew what he was thinking. Kairos took a deep breath.
“Just before this I thought the two of you were humiliating me by showing compassion. Regardless of the fact it was obviously not a good thing to do… but it shows that I can’t even hold up to my own standards. I’m more or less a hypocrite.”
Hearing that, Azami simply smiled.
“It’s just a part of being imperfect. You shouldn’t expect so much of yourself when you still know so little. Not even I expect all that much from myself.”
Kairos gave a few short nods. For whatever reason, the pain that he had been feeling had disappeared, though he hadn’t realized just yet.
“I suppose it is unrealistic to set the expectations to not only say the truth, but believe that others are saying the truth as well. Whether it is for myself or other people. Regardless of whether it is right or wrong. But…”
He trailed off and couldn’t find the words to finish his sentence. This sudden understanding didn’t exactly resolve his worries, but it put a type of conclusion on some of his troubled thoughts.
Kairos opened his mouth wanting to say some things, but saw in his future vision that his vision began to fade. He intuitively knew that he was leaving this mental space, and that this may very well be the last time they personally talked.
In that one second, he thought of countless words that he wanted to say. Azami seemed to realize the same thing by reading his thoughts, and simply waved with a small smile. In the end, Kairos did the same.
“Bye…”
His vision rapidly turned white, and his mind felt like it was floating. A few moments later, he gasped for air and tried to stand up, though felt quite disoriented while doing so.
“Ah, you finally woke up.”
As Kairos gradually calmed down, he realized that he was being carried by Nyoka. The man promptly set him down after noticing that he was awake. Although he stumbled a little bit before coming to a stop, Kairos was able to regain his footing quickly enough.
When he came to, he realized that he was… just back in the black world, instead of in the dungeon. It seemed that while he was in that strange mental place, his physical body was still out there.
Jeff nodded a few times with an approving look.
“You’re alive!”
Kairos scratched the back of his head.
“I guess so.”
He looked around and saw Sara, who was meekly looking down at the floor. There almost appeared to be bags around her eyes, though Kairos thought it was more likely that they were actually puffy from crying.
“Did we… go through the same punishment?”
Nyoka shrugged his shoulders.
“The nature of the punishment should be similar, but what it actually is kinda differs. All of the punishments regardless of floor, try to prey on your insecurities in some fashion. Since it’s not a physical one, it’s not lethal or costly to do so. Though… there may be some long-term effects. However, that’s a luxurious concern when you don’t know if you’re even going to survive tomorrow.”
Sara put a hand on her forehead and sucked in a cold breath.
“I thought I had gotten used to them… but that last one was more than what I was expecting. You probably already know by now, but you have to resolve your grievances somewhat. Depending on the level that you fail, the worse that those grievances come to haunt you.”
Kairos furrowed his brows. While the punishment that he received was by no means easy, it didn’t sound like what they were saying. Instead of using his own insecurities, it was more like using countless other people’s insecurities against him instead.
He decided to just remain silent about it. After all, he was fairly certain his situation was somehow caused by his inborn ability that also let him see in the future.
Sara took his silence as acknowledging her words.
“Given that you never experienced the lighter punishments, it’s actually quite impressive that you were able to break out of it so quickly. The time that you took wasn’t too different from our first times.”
Kairos took a deep breath, calming down the nerves that had unconsciously built up.
“I see. What are the punishments for other dungeons then?”
Nyoka tilted his head to the side ever so slightly.
“Well, it’s not so much that there is a punishment, but rather there’s a considerable risk of dying. While this dungeon isn’t popular due to its teamwork requirement, it’s not nearly as dangerous as the other ones. That’s why we took you here in the first place.”
Kairos thought about the additional reward he got and nodded in acknowledgment.
“That makes sense. Thanks for that.”
Nyoka shrugged his shoulders.
“And in that same vein I can thank you for helping Sara get through the floor we hadn’t been able to cross for a long time. It is quite the useful reward.”
Kairos gave a small nod.
“It was just reciprocating her favor first. I guess in the end you could just say that it was mutually beneficial.”
Jeff muttered to himself while looking off into the distance.
“It makes you wonder why nobody else seems to understand that kind of benefit…”
They were essentially in the middle of nowhere, though Nyoka kept confidently walking forward in this place, as though he knew exactly where he was going. Kairos kept up while still trying to recover himself, deciding to just follow along.
Eventually, Nyoka turned to look at him.
“Well, is there anywhere in particular that you wish to go?”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders with a straight look.
“It doesn’t matter too much to me. I’d just like to follow along, if you all wouldn’t mind. Though I guess I’m a bit hungry and would like to kill something to eat some time soon.”
Nyoka couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow and give him a long look.
“Just to let you know, our normal routine won’t help you much, alright? It’s best that you make any requests that you care about, because we can’t just build an entire schedule around you.”
Kairos blinked a few times, feeling that his point hadn’t really come across the right way. He wasn’t trying to get them to guide him any further. At this point, he really just didn’t care all that much anymore.
“I don’t really care. I guess I ask that at some point I can eat one of the corpses. As for the rest, you can just do as you wish.”
Jeff raised an eyebrow while the corner of his lip turned up slightly.
“Hey, you sound a lot like me!”
Sara let out a chuckle with one hand on the back of her head.
“You really do.”
On the other hand, Nyoka gave him a long and doubtful look. From his perspective, it was impossible for someone to gain a substantial amount of power and not want to ride the high at least temporarily.
While he did not know what Kairos had acquired and didn’t ask, he knew it must’ve been substantial as he knew what the black mirror meant to Sara. For a normal person, it might’ve been something nice to have, but not crazily important, but the way that it specifically synergized with her ability left her unintentionally boasting about it for a while despite her weary state.
“…Then we’ll go to another dungeon. I heard from Sara you were able to upgrade your avatar, so you shouldn’t have much of a problem.”