Page 204 of Light Leech

It was him. He treated me like a younger brother. “Keiro…” I said, not knowing what to say next.

“You err in your logic, bakuh.”

“He never left your side.”

I smiled up at him.

Boyband stepped forward and placed his foot on mine. “Gotta say, you had me worried, but I knew you could pull it off.”

His foot was cold. Keiro’s touch was frigid. Naoma’s hand was freezing.

“Petya!”

“Refreshing, isn’t it?”

The second voice was louder now.

Tevon cocked his head. That was enough to pierce me with a chill.

“You ascended in the pool of wine. Utilize that newfound strength! Grasp the anti-green and let it fuel you!”

The first voice was almost a shouting whisper. “You’ve made it, Petya! The work is done! Time for a well-earned rest, don’t you think?”

“It’s time for a rest,” Naoma said.

“Don’t you think?” Keiro added.

Something stabbed into my chest. A vibrant green light line extended directly from the prism. I couldn’t see what was inside.

“It’s not important,” the second voice said. I heard the distant cries of the first but could make no sense of them.

The light line flashed. Something appeared on my neurospace.

“Don’t look at that,” Naoma said. “We’re here with you. You’re trying to get off the socials, right?”

“Come on, du,” Boyband said.

“Ralia virus!” the first voice said as something extinguished any further words.

Ralia.

Ralia.

Zeg me.

A cloud still covered my memories and vision, but I knew I had to open the message.

I opened the neurospace.

“Come on out of there already!” Naoma begged as she pulled me in, kissing my cheek and neck.

One message.

Ralia: Keiro was never proud of you. He died with that doggedness.

I exited the neurospace and saw the glorified version of the flawed man who had made me what I was today. Tevon might be alive. Keiro might have been, but he had never been proud of me.

His words echoed in my mind. “Pride births stagnancy and eventual digression.” No one was harder on me than he had been, save Deleon. Despite Keiro’s merciless approach, I knew he wanted me to become a better person, unlike Deleon who only wanted a refined tool.