Wuthering Waves: For The Future of Me, Myself and I

"Do you really want to sleep here? You know there's a free room upstairs, right?"

"Yes, I'm alright. Thank you for asking."

"Are you certain about this? Please think again, it's not like anybody is using that room anyways."

"No, no. I'm fine. I much prefer sleeping on couch."

"...If you really insist, I guess I can't talk you out of this?"

"Hm."

It was now night time. After walking around for a bit, Katsuri was now back home, under the roof she had worked hard for. (She's leeching off Phoebe)

Since it was bedtime, Phoebe had thought that both Danjin and Katsuri would use her two empty rooms, that was the whole reason she had invited them after all.

But now, Katsuri had started insisting that she's going to sleep on the couch.

Even though there's a much more comfortable beddings upstairs.

Although Phoebe and Danjin both tried to convince Katsuri, her stubbornness really shows its fang now.

"I'll give you the pillows and blanket. If you need more, just grab them from the closet." Phoebe goes to her room to give Katsuri her own sleeping items.

"Ok."

A simple hum of agreement.

After receiving the blanket, Katsuri immediately hid herself under the cover, as if the soft light of the lamp was hurting her eyes.

Danjin simply eyed the girl laying under the blanket.

By now, the soft smile no longer stayed on her face.

Phoebe scratched her face uncertainly, baffled about what to do in this situation.

"Um, good night?" She voiced out.

"G'night." a small muffled sound escaped the blanket.

Phoebe looked over to Danjin for help, not sure whether to leave Katsuri alone or kept on trying to convince her.

But Danjin's eyes never left the girl.

"You can go, I'll take care of this."

"Um, right. Please do so, thank you." Phoebe bowed her head a little as she walked into her room, occasionally looking back just to make sure Danjin would keep her words.

"You can close the light using that switch on the wall."

"Alright."

With one final advice, the door closed.

Danjin walked over and sat on the single couch right beside Katsuri's triple couch.

A couple of minutes passed before she walked over to the switches and flicked them.

"..."

It seemed to her that Katsuri was already asleep.

For a second, she thought of actually pulling the cover down and scrutinizing her face, but that thought immediately disappeared.

She can't do that to someone so innocent.

[Wuthering Waves]

"...Ah~" Katsuri stretched her body, making sure no stiff bones was left behind.

'That was a nice sleep. Haven't had one as peaceful as that one in a while.'

"Good morning, Katsuri."

"Morning... um?" Feeling something was wrong, the groggy girl turned towards the voice.

The familiar red haired Ranger was sitting right beside her, her smile practically radiating from miles away.

Katsuri felt her mouth slacked. But she controlled her expression just to make sure no dignity disappeared.

She looked out the window, it was still pretty dark outside. It seemed to her that the sun was just about to rise.

A question appeared inside her head. But instead of voicing them, she kept to herself.

Not wanting to seem like a weirdo, she simply stood up and walked to the restroom, wanting to wash her face.

'What's with her?'

Splashing a concerningly cold water on her face, she jumped.

"Gah!"

'What is this?! Why is it so cold!?'

Wiping her face immediately using the hanging on the door, she looked at the tap.

It seemed to her like a regular water tap, nothing out of the ordinary. But then, why is the water so cold?

As she realized this, a sudden dizziness hit her head. Grabbing her forehead, she stumbled over the sink.

Right as she was about to collapse, a hand caught her.

"I thought so."

"...?"

"Say, what do you think my body temperature is?"

"Huh?"

What this ranger on about?

Although she felt a bit confused, she still tried give her an honest answer.

But now that she actually paid attention, isn't she way too cold?

"30?" (°C) [A/N: Average body temperature is between 36.1 - 37. Katsuri is quite a dumb dumb]

"No, it's 37. Your body temperature is just really high. I bet the water felt like it was ice cold, didn't it?"

"...Yes."

A palm covered her forehead. It caught her off guard but she didn't react as hard as previously since she expected this one.

"Hm, that's definitely more than 38. No, it might even be 40. Perhaps it's finally showing symptoms?"

"What are you on about...?" Katsuri spoke quietly. No, it was more of a how loud she's actually able to speak.

She's not voluntarily speaking this quietly. It's just that her throat feels constricted, but not to the point where she couldn't breath.

"Have you seen the Tacet Mark on your neck yet?"

"?"

Of course, Katsuri wasn't able to make out what the hell Danjin was saying. Tacet Mark? What's that?

If she was in the right state of mind, she would've remembered what it was, but since she's caught an extremely bad fever, nothing could come as quickly as before.

It was like trying to answer math questions all over again.

Even if she did study for them, trying to actually put them to use in a stressful situation wouldn't be easy.

"You should take a rest. Since most Resonators has had different experiences with their awakening, yours is probably different too."

"No, I'm fine."

"Nope, you're not doing anything in my line of sight except for resting. Otherwise, you might reach Criticality."

"Big... words..."

Although she tried to act tough, her body was slowly losing strength. Her eyelids became heavy and her movements became slow.

Danjin placed a hand on top of Katsuri's head.

"Go to sleep. Once you wake up, you should be feeling better. Trust me."

And slowly, Katsuri's consciousness disappeared.