In a tense moment, the medical staff rushed into Sera's room, the sounds of the gauges suddenly louder, the alarms ringing more loudly. One of the nurses shouted as he read the data on the monitor:
- "Pressure is fluctuating abnormally... The heart rate is inexplicably rising!"
A stunned-looking old doctor stepped forward, examining the mana surrounding Sera's body with a sensitive bio-energy measuring device:
- "This is not a human mana pattern... It's interfering with nerve waves directly!"
Outside, Ryuichi was frozen for seconds in shock, while Miku was trying to pull his arm:
- "We have to see what's going on!"
Together they rushed inside, and there, in the center of the room, Sera was lying on the bed, her eyes half-closed, but around her body there were slight mana distortions, as if the air itself was refusing to come near her. It was like a transparent shimmer that pulsed slowly, seeping into the room like an invisible web of frequencies.
Aura inside Ryuichi almost whispered:
- "This is... the same oscillation... It's repeating... but here, in your mother's body... impossible..."
Ryuichi calmly approached, then screamed:
- "Mom!!!"
Sera moved slightly and slowly raised her hand, while her pale face began to regain some of its color. But she did not speak.
The doctor signaled to the nurse:
- "Give her a tranquilizer, we don't know how this oscillation will affect her if it continues."
Mikiko remained silent, her eyes on Ryuichi, then whispered:
- "I don't think this is a normal health symptom... If your mother is the source of these frequencies, there must be something... non-human inside her."
Ryuichi swallowed and then looked at her:
- "But how... my mom was always normal... she just got tired sometimes, but... this?!"
And Aura, in a trembling tone:
- "This is not normal... Ryuichi... maybe..."
One of the doctors hurriedly approached Ryuichi and Miko, his face grim:
- "Please leave the room immediately. The situation is unstable and we need urgent intervention!"
Ryuichi didn't move, his eyes fixed on his mother's sprawled body, the transparent membrane around her slowly fading away, as if something had been drained from her... or perhaps temporarily retracted.
The doctor put a hand on his shoulder:
- "I understand your concern, but your presence here could jeopardize her... Please."
Mikiko intervened quietly:
- "Come on, Ryuichi... Let them do their job."
Ryuichi didn't answer. He stood there for a few seconds looking at his mother, then sighed heavily and turned to leave with Miku. As they walked through the door, Ryuichi turned again, taking one last peek at Sera. He seemed to be trying to etch that moment into his memory.
As the door closed behind them, Aura sighed inwardly:
- "Something... unlike any mana pattern I've encountered before... like there's a signature... an ancient energy... or perhaps veiled from perception..."
Mikiko turned to Ryuichi in a low voice:
- "Tell me honestly, Ryuichi... is there something I don't know?"
Ryuichi didn't answer. He turned his face toward the closed door... and his silence spoke louder than any answer.
Ryuichi's eyes were glued to the floor, while Mikiko watched him out of the corner of her eye, hesitating before repeating the question in a low voice:
- "Ryuichi... Is there something you're hiding?"
Slowly raising his eyes towards her, he didn't answer... just looked back in front of him. This time, Mikiko didn't back down, taking another step closer to him, her eyes shining with confusion and concern:
- "Since the beginning of the day you've been acting strangely... the fluctuation in your mother's mana, the way you sensed it, Hiroshi guarding you... If you're not hiding anything, why do you look like you know more than you're saying?"
Suddenly... Ryuichi exploded in anger, as if he could no longer hold it in. He turned toward her with sharp eyes and shouted:
- "I don't know anything! Nothing! Do you understand?"
His voice echoed down the corridor, causing one of the nurses to turn anxiously in the distance, then quickly turn away. As for Miku, she stood her ground, not taking a step back... She looked at him for a long time, then said quietly, in a tone mixed with disappointment:
- "That doesn't look like you, Ryuichi..."
His breathing gradually slowed, and he leaned back against the wall, putting a hand to his face and trying to block out his inner turmoil.
Mikiko didn't comment, but kept looking at him silently, seeing in his eyes what he hadn't said yet. For the first time, I felt as if Ryuichi was not only in denial, but in a terrible internal struggle that he couldn't even recognize. He remained silent, staring at the ground, until Aura's sad whispers penetrated his depths:
- "Ryuichi... you can be strong without suppressing your pain..."
It was as if those words broke something inside him.
Ryuichi suddenly collapsed, sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, his tears began to flow silently, then quickly turned into muffled sobs, which he tried unsuccessfully to hide. He put his hands to his face, as if the world had become unbearably heavy on his shoulders.
Mikiko sat next to him, saying nothing, just gently placing her hand on his shoulder, letting him cry... For the first time in years, Ryuichi wasn't smart, strong, or calm... he was a terrified son, afraid of losing the one he loved more than anything.
Suddenly, the door to the room opened quietly, and the doctor stepped out. His face was tired, and his gaze said it all before he spoke. Miku stood up quickly, while Ryuichi looked at him with teary eyes.
The doctor approached, sighed slowly, and then said in a soft voice:
- "I know it's a difficult time... but we had to inform you. Mrs. Sera... went into a coma."
Time seemed to stop in an instant. Ryuichi didn't hear the rest... all he felt was a voice exploding inside him, silent and painful, like a scream tearing at his heart.
In that moment, the words fell on Ryuichi's heart like knives.
"Coma"... it wasn't just a word. It was a gateway to a dark, unknown world, with no sound but silence and no light but memory.
Ryuichi stood up, his hands shaking, his knees trembling, and he almost fell if not for a quick catch by Mikiko, who whispered his name anxiously:
- "Ryo... Ryuichi... hold on to me!"
But he didn't respond. He couldn't hear anymore. His eyes were fixed on the void, cold as if the life had been extinguished.
Suddenly... a familiar whisper broke through the darkness of his thoughts, a soft, hesitant voice:
- "Ryo... please... answer me..."
It was Aura.
But this time she wasn't just in his mind. A gentle warmth, as transparent as a light mana flash, gently crept into him, whispering directly into his consciousness:
- "Ryuichi... you are not alone... I am here with you, even if I don't remember everything, I feel your pain..."
Ryuichi shrank in on himself, closing his eyes tightly as his cry echoed inside his chest without coming out.
Aura continued in a voice that mixed tension with sadness:
- "Please don't drown... don't let this break you... you're too strong to collapse like this... I feel for you, even if I don't understand everything that's happening..."
One last whisper from her penetrated his depths:
- "It's the same darkness... that you felt inside of you in college... it's coming back now. But you won't face it alone."
Ryuichi's chest began to shake with tears again, but this time it wasn't a cry of weakness... it was an explosion of mixed emotions: Anxiety, anger, helplessness, dread... all at once, as he whispers softly:
- "I can't take it anymore, Aura... my mom... she was all I had..."
Aura embraced his voice within her, and responded softly:
- "Then fight... for her."
Ryuichi approached the doctor with heavy but decisive steps, his eyes, swollen with tears, uttering a deep plea:
- "Can... can I see her? Just for one minute... please."
The doctor looked up at him, the whine of the machines inside the room still echoing in the corridor. The doctor sighed and said in a stern tone:
- "Not now, she's unstable. We need to monitor her closely."
But Ryuichi didn't back down. He gripped the hem of the doctor's shirt, his voice this time mixed with a tremor of concern and suppressed anger:
- "Please... please don't keep me from seeing her. I'm her son... I don't want to regret it later if I don't get the chance."
The doctor exchanged silent glances with one of the nurses standing near him, then sighed again and turned to look at the closed door:
- "Okay... but only one minute, and only one person."
He held up an emphatic finger:
- "Don't touch anything, and don't talk too much. She's in critical condition."
Ryuichi nodded gratefully, muttering under his breath:
- "Thank you... thank you..."
He turned toward the door, his steps slowing as he approached. Behind him, Miku stood in silence, her eyes following him anxiously. Inside, Aura was also watching, her voice whispering softly:
- "Be strong... don't let fear control you."
He reached for the door, reached out a trembling hand, opened it slowly... and entered.
He opened the door silently and entered with cautious steps. The room was cold, with a faint light coming from a small lamp hanging in the corner. The monitors sent out their electromagnetic pulses regularly, but that monotonous sound was only a backdrop to the image of his mother lying motionless.
Sera was there, lying on a white bed, her face pale but peacefully still. Her breaths were intermittent, translated into data and sounds by tubes and machines... but she didn't open her eyes.
Ryuichi approached, as if the earth was weighing down his feet. He sat down next to her, hesitated for a moment... then slowly reached out and grasped her cold palm.
He whispered in a voice that almost broke:
- "Mom... I'm here... I came."
The words stopped in his throat, and a hot tear rolled down his cheek, followed by another... and then another. He tried to hold it together, but seeing her like this was like a cold stab through his insides.
He continued, his voice breaking:
- "Forgive me... I was late... I should have known... I should have felt..."
Inside his mind, Aura whispered softly, her voice tinged with sadness:
- "She hears you, Ryuichi... even if she doesn't show it... don't lose hope."
He grasped his mother's hand with both hands now, squeezing it gently, as if something of his soul wanted to pass through:
- "Please... don't leave me now... I haven't achieved anything yet... I haven't made you proud of me like I promised..."
His face was drenched in tears, and the mana in his body pulsed erratically, as if responding to his mother's condition... or as if communicating with her in a subtle way that only the mana bearers could see.
At that moment, one of the devices suddenly vibrated with a small pulse... fleeting... as if something inside Sera was trying to respond.
Ryuichi froze in place, eyes wide in shock... he turned to the device, then to his mother, and Aura's faint voice whispered:
- "...I felt something..."
But soon everything returned to stillness, and the regular tone returned.
Ryuichi remained silent, holding his breath, holding her hand tightly, as if refusing to let go, even if everything around him was falling apart.
As the miko sat in the chair across from Sera's room, a long shadow appeared in the corridor, followed by light but confident footsteps. She quickly raised her head, only to be surprised by a familiar figure approaching her.
- "Ryoko?"
He smiled lightly as he put his hands in his pockets:
- "It's been a long time, Miko."
She stood up immediately, concern written all over her features:
- "What are you doing here?"
He stepped closer, his eyes looking directly at the closed door of Sera's room, before answering in a serious voice:
- "I felt distorted mana vibrations... strong, but unstable. They came from right here. So... I came to make sure."
The miko's features froze for a moment, then she looked at the door:
- "So... you felt it too?"
He shook his head slowly:
- "Yes. The oscillation had a non-human nature... but it was mixed with something familiar. It's like there's... an internal collision. Something trying to emerge and something else resisting it."
Miko looked at him with a look of concern and tension:
- "The source... is from inside the room. Ryuichi is there, and... his mother."
Ryoko was silent for a moment, then said in a sharp tone:
- "Ryuichi, ha...!"
He closed his eyes, as if internally analyzing what he felt, and then opened them again:
- "Have you noticed anything strange about him lately? Any change in his behavior?"
Miko hesitated, then whispered:
- "Actually... there's a lot I don't understand anymore..."
Ryoko looked at her closely, as if something in his heart was beginning to form... a suspicion he didn't want to voice just yet, but now it was closer than ever.
The door opened softly, and Ryuichi walked out of the room in slow steps, his features broken, his eyes red from crying, and Aura still trying to calm him down with a soft inner voice.
Miku was waiting for him next to Ryoko, and she quickly got up and approached him:
- "How is she?"
He didn't answer right away, staring into space for a moment, then said in a calm but seething tone:
- "I can't leave her like this... I can't just sit back and wait for a miracle!"
Then suddenly, as if a bold idea had sprung from the center of his despair, he raised his head and stared directly into Miku's eyes:
- "I want to take her to your lab... there, maybe we can do something. Maybe... Aura can help you analyze her condition and..."
Miku's features froze, and her eyes widened in shock:
- "What? Ryuichi...! You're talking about your mother! She's in a coma! How can you think of moving her to a non-medical environment? It's impossible!"
He didn't back down, but clenched his fists and said in a shaky voice:
- "If we stay here, we will lose her... you know that. No one here understands what's happening to her! Only you can-"
Miko interrupted him nervously:
- "Ryuichi, no. That's a risk I can't take. We don't even know if the oscillations we felt were related to human mana or something else... She's sick, and I'm not a doctor! The lab is not a hospital!"
Aura interjected in a calm voice, trying to stabilize his anger:
- "Ryuichi... Miko is right. We need more time and information. A rash move now could lose Sera... forever."
He turned his face away, his eyes evading their gaze, the tear inside him too deep to hide... he didn't want to hear the word 'no' but reality was too strong for his stubbornness.
Ryuichi clung to his position, his voice growing louder:
- "You don't understand! I'm not going to leave her here to die slowly! My mom isn't an experiment... but she's not just a patient either! There's something... something unexplainable... and Aura knows it!"
Mikiko approached him, trying to calm him down:
- "Ryuichi, please..."
But he interrupted her nervously, his eyes filling with tears:
- "Enough! I won't let anyone stop me this time! If I have to, I'll take it myself, even if it costs me everything!"
For a moment, there was a heavy silence, Ryoko standing behind him, eyebrows knitted, his eyes glowing with silent anger. He didn't say anything, just...
disappeared.
Sensing the sudden movement of mana, Aura screamed inside Ryuichi's mind:
- "Ryuichi! Move! There's a strike coming!"
Confused, Ryuichi screamed inside:
- "What?!"
But he couldn't even finish the word...
Boom!
Ryoko's fist slammed into his cheek, knocking him down hard, and he slammed into the medical floor, the shock on Miku's face freezing for a moment.
Ryoko stood over him, his eyes blazing with pent-up rage, then in an uncharacteristically cold voice:
- "Stop acting like a child. You're not the only one in pain."