After Luke left, Otto was once again alone in his room with Silk.
The night seemed like it would never end. Perhaps it was because of the intense pain that wouldn't subside, but Otto felt like time was slowing down. With nothing to do and not being able to sleep. He thought about trying to enter his Soul Sea once again.
He had tried only once before, however he quickly discovered that he couldn't. He sure had one though, he remembers seeing when his vision split back at his evaluation–Weaver's Mask floating around–yet he couldn't seem to discover how to enter it.
'Shouldn't this come naturally? Is it another broken feature?'
Just as he was about to try, he heard footsteps echoing outside.
'There is someone here at this hour?'
Well, it was a hospital, a nurse walking around the place was normal–even if it was in the middle of the night. Yet there was something wrong. The pattern of movement wasn't exactly what one would expect from a nurse. It was pausing, as if searching for a room.
Otto continued listening as the footsteps drew closer and, finally, stopped in front of his room. He hoped they would continue, after all, he wasn't expecting any more visitors–not that he was expecting the first one. However, that never happened.
With a click, his door opened.
"Hello?" He recognized the voice.
Nephis peeked through the gap. Her eyes swept the entire room, but she found it empty. For a moment she was confused, taking a step back, she once again looked at the plate on top of the door. It surely was the number Instructor Rock had said, yet there was no one here.
'He shouldn't be able to move. Where is he?'
She took a step inside the room, closing the door behind her.
The room was dark and silent, except for the beeping of the machines. Nephis looked at the window.
'Could he have jumped?' She walked all the way there, looking down. 'Nothing…A kidnap?'
Otto, however, was in his bed, he hadn't moved in the slightest. He merely looked at Nephis with a strange expression. He glanced at Silk, on his finger. For an instant, they exchanged telepathic messages with just a look.
"She is crazy." That was what he was saying.
'…Or maybe not, actually.' Thinking back that was exactly what's been happening ever since he got here, people were ignoring him like it didn't exist.
He had a theory that this was the effect of [Inexistent] and now was the perfect moment to try it out.
First, he tried waving. It hurted like hell, he barely was able to raise his arm, but she didn't notice him. Then, he tried making weird faces, showing her the finger, slightly moving, but the result stayed the same.
'Hm…it seems she can't perceive me, but Rock can, he looks at me every time. Does this have something to do with his Rank? Am I invisible to people of the same or lower Rank?' That seemed plausible.
Looking back at Nephis, she was still at the window, seemingly lost in thoughts.
'Should I even talk to her? She just brings trouble…' He seriously thought about just staying quiet.
But eventually he decided against it. No matter the reason she came here, if she didn't see him and went to alert a nurse that he disappeared, it would only bring more trouble.
"Can I help you?" He finally spoke.
Nephis, who wasn't easily scared, was surprised by the sudden voice. Yet, she didn't let it show in her face. Her eyes went straight towards the bed. Laid there, all bruised, Otto was looking at her with a somewhat annoyed expression…although she couldn't tell why.
"How did you do that?" She asked plainly.
"Do what?" He pretended ignorance. "You've been ignoring me ever since you entered the room, shouldn't you at least say 'Good evening?'"
Nephis only stared for a few moments, before she said:
"Good Evening,"
Otto raised an eyebrow.
"...I was joking." He coughed hard, his lungs almost exploding in the process.
She waited for him to recover before taking a step forward.
"I want to talk."
"With me?" He raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
Their eyes locked.
"That move you used, where did you learn it?"
It didn't take a genius with perfect memory to guess what she was talking about. Thinking back now, that move really was familiar…
"I don't know what you're talking about." He pretended to cough. "As you can see I am still recovering and need to rest, please leave."
It would take a brilliant mind to decipher her expression, Otto surely couldn't. Without saying anything she slowly walked towards him, her eyes glowing with a bright flame inside them.
"Hey, I'm a sick man. You won't beat a sick person, would you!?" He said, but she didn't stop. "Nurse! Nurse!"
Where were the heroes when he needed them…Oh, right. One of them was right in front of him.
When she was close enough, Otto thought it was his end. However, instead of attacking him, Nephis simply put a hand on his shoulder.
Suddenly, Otto felt a wave of heat course through his body. Nephis's flame enveloped his entire body, healing his organs from the inside out. He felt every muscle repair itself, every scar vanish and revert to skin. Silk, watching from her hiding spot inside his clothes, was stupefied. All her hard work was being undone right before her eyes.
At the same time his body was healing, Nephis was burning.
The whole process took no longer than a minute, Otto had his body back, but…something wasn't quite right. Although he knew that his entire body was healed and no wounds remained, he still felt like he was in pain. His body hurted with the same intensity as before.
'...Is this phantom pain?'
With a sigh, he turned back to Nephis. Her eyes somehow seemed even more emotionless than before, she only looked at him without saying anything, perhaps waiting for some sort of 'payment' for having healed him.
Otto knew what she wanted to know and he wasn't heartless enough to leave her unanswered, not after what she did.
"Fine, if you really want to know…" He cleaned his throat, "I learned after observing a Corrupted Titan, who lived for thousands of years, fight a woman dressed in a dark mantle together with a fearsome demon's mask. The Corrupted Titan in question was what I had to kill in my First Nightmare. You should have seen him, he sure would love you…"
For a long moment, Nephis said nothing, and although her expression never changed, Otto could tell that she didn't believe him.
He adjusted his posture, sitting cross legged on the bed.
"Of course, that was another joke...Don't get mad." He took a moment to think.
The problem here wasn't only that he had used her family's sword style, but that she was probably thinking he was the assassin sent here to kill her.
That was problematic. He had to kill this suspicion now, otherwise that could affect the Plot in some way. However, he had no idea how to do this.
'God dammit, why do I have to go through this?'
"Look," He began, finally thinking of something. "I know what you are thinking, but I am not the one sent to kill you. I was never taught anything and really learned the move by merely watching someone doing it. This someone was, of course, your father. In a video that I just happened to stumble upon…"
In the end, he resorted to a half-truth, but that second part was weak–even he had to admit it. There wasn't the slightest chance she would be convinced by that...
However, contrary to his expectations, Changing Star didn't rip his throat or burned him alive. Instead, she simply stared at him with her indecipherable expression before finally nodding and walking towards the door, closing it as she left.
When the door fully closed, Otto felt like he could breathe again. His back was soaked with cold sweat.
That is why he didn't want to interact with anyone from the main cast: they were simply too problematic for him to handle. Any conversation with them would be like walking on eggshells.
"Hopefully nothing will change and things will progress normally…"
Suddenly he felt utterly drained, more tired than he had been previously…