Chapter 41: Strawberry Gum

Kairos looked up towards the hole within the ceiling. He wasn't sure if he wanted to close it up right away. Though he had reassured Nicole earlier about the concern about air, he couldn't help but also have those same concerns.

But in the end, he did it.

Then, he took a look at the energy remaining on the red prism.

[Energy: 13/1000]

It was a very small amount, but it should be enough for the purposes of getting out. While before, the red prism had a fairly strong glow, right now it was very dull.

The corner of Kairos' lip twitched as he came to a realization.

"Speaking of rationing, how long is that flashlight going to last?"

Chase seemed to come to a realization as he frowned.

"...I am not entirely sure, but the most it has lasted before was ten hours. Considering I have used this flashlight before without replacing the battery, an optimistic estimate is five."

With that, he turned it off, sending the room into darkness.

Kairos sighed.

"I guess we should only use it when we need to eat. To make use of that time, I guess that we should all eat quickly and at the same time."

Tori fumbled around in the darkness.

"Um, could you turn the light on for a second? I can't find my bag."

Chase let out a hum.

"It will be less than a second, get prepared to memorize everything."

With that, he turned the flashlight on for a split second, letting everyone catch sight of the surroundings for a split second before fading away.

Tori sighed.

"Ah, there's my bag!"

On other hand, Kairos froze up.

That was because he saw Sydney that was laying down on the ground, but with her eyes wide open. They were slightly bloodshot from what he could tell.

What creeped him out was the fact she was just laying down there expressionlessly, almost like she was still unconscious.

But the fact her eyes were open told a different story.

If it wasn't for that flash of light, he never would've even known.

Kairos began considering that it might've been a bad idea to bring Sydney along so easily, not to mention without so much as a restraint on her body. He frowned, wondering why he didn't even consider the possibility that Sydney might not be the most peaceful.

Kairos did not act out right away. Instead, he began wondering what exactly Sydney intended on doing.

"Anyways... we should be careful how we step. After all, one of us is unconscious right now and lying on the floor. It would probably be an unwelcome surprise if someone stepped on her."

Nicole let out a soft gasp.

"I should check up on her."

Kairos coughed.

"Maybe not right now?"

Nicole was confused.

"Eh? Why?"

Kairos scratched the back of his neck.

"What if you accidentally poke her eye because you couldn't see? I think we should wait a little while at least."

Nicole paused for a second.

"Um, ok?"

After a bit of silence, she spoke up.

"So should we turn on the light to put everything together?"

Kairos didn't respond immediately.

"...Alright."

He said it a little solemnly, which the rest of the group caught onto, but didn't really understand. After a bit of hesitation, Chase turned on the flashlight.

Kairos had his eyes dead set on where Sydney was earlier.

And when the light came on...

She wasn't there.

Kairos' eyes immediately widened as he frantically looked around. While the light from the flashlight covered most of the room, it didn't cover all of it. And strangely enough, Sydney wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Nicole gasped when she noticed this.

"Mom?"

She looked around with confusion.

"She was just here a moment ago."

Chase frowned before wordlessly pointing the flashlight towards one end of the room, then another.

Eventually, it landed on one corner.

Tori's grip on her sword became a little tighter.

"What the..."

Sydney was awkwardly cringing in that corner. She was facing away from everyone else, while her head was lowered and pressed up against the corner. She seemed to be fumbling with her hands, but as for what she was doing, that was unclear. As for her body, it was faintly trembling.

What topped it all off was the fact her body was emaciated, making her look even more like a monster.

Nicole's eyes widened considerably.

"You're up already? Are you... ok?"

All things considered, Sydney definitely did not seem ok. However, she did seem to react to Nicole's words.

Sydney slowly turned her head around with one hand on the side of her face.

Her eyes were twitching uncontrollably.

"I... I'm sorry."

Nicole took a few steps forward.

"Sorry? Sorry for what?"

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Sydney suddenly clenched the hand on the side of her face, stretching out the skin. Then she closed her eyes tightly.

"I... I tried to eat you."

Nicole noticeably flinched when she heard that. However, she seemed to get over it quickly.

"You are that hungry? Quickly, you should get something to eat!"

She picked up the bag from the floor and hastily opened it. After pulling out a bag of bread, she slowly walked towards Sydney.

From her slow and hesitant steps, it was clear she was still a little afraid.

Kairos did not say anything, but he followed Nicole from behind. If he saw something out of hand happen he would act.

However, it seemed that his concerns were somewhat needless.

Sydney began trying to back away, but since she was already in the corner, the only thing she accomplished was pushing herself up against the wall.

"No, no. No... get away from me."

Sydney covered her face with both hands, as though not wanting anyone to look at her.

Nicole seemed to be a little less afraid, and more concerned as she walked a little faster.

"You have to eat something! You aren't thinking properly right now."

Sydney shook her head violently.

"No! No!"

She reached out with her hand as though wanting to push her back, but then retracted it seemingly out of fear.

Originally, Kairos had pressing worries on how they were going to manage their food if Sydney was so desperately hungry. However, the problem quickly reversed into finding a way to get her to eat in the first place.

Kairos had seen something like this before.

Anorexia.

It was when someone desperately didn't want to eat, the most common cause being the desire to lose weight in order to look a different way. However, the cause was definitely different here. The reason why it stood out to him was that he remembered this was something that Nicole dealt with before.

It came up just when their teenage years were starting, just barely thirteen. At the time, their relationship was still really close, essentially best friends.

Kairos wouldn't often get things like candies or snacks, but whenever he did, his first instinct was not to eat it himself, but to save it for Nicole. The only time when he ever did actually eat them was when he had at least two, so that one of them could be given away.

As for why he did that, it was as simple as the fact that he enjoyed sharing with Nicole.

There was nothing more than that.

However, one day, when he offered her a tiny chocolate egg, she refused it. Kairos didn't question it, and took the egg back. But he did feel a little sad. After some time, Kairos got back home and just stared at the chocolate egg instead of eating it.

But then, that egg melted.

So he threw it away, though he did think it was a waste.

The next day, he felt the urge to give Nicole something, thus taking one of his favorite snacks, a small pack of sweet and sour candy as he went outside.

Yet, when he met up with her and offered it, she still seemed reluctant.

Kairos couldn't help but ask why, prompting Nicole to respond by saying that she was full. He did feel a little sad again, but quickly thought of a solution.

On the next day, Kairos made sure to buy a pack of strawberry flavored bubblegum using his allowance money. While it was cheap, it was also most of his monthly allowance since his parents only gave him a little bit.

Though he didn't feel aggrieved over that loss at all.

For the third day, he met up with Nicole and offered her a piece of strawberry bubblegum. Initially, she refused, but Kairos insisted.

After all, it was gum, which wasn't supposed to be eaten.

Following that logic, Nicole ended up accepting it. She still hesitated before putting the gum in her mouth and after chewing only once, she stopped.

Kairos looked at her strangely, asking if the flavor was bad, all the while chewing on one himself.

However, Nicole shook her head as tears fell down her face. It was actually her favorite flavor. Though it seemed hard to do, she forced herself to continue slowly chewing.

Kairos panicked and ended up apologizing, thinking that he forced her to eat a bad flavor, even though he himself thought it tasted pretty good.

However, Nicole quickly clarified the situation. She told him about how she really didn't want to eat, even when it became really painful. For some reason, she began thinking that she was becoming ugly.

Kairos was completely blown away by this.

He couldn't comprehend why she thought this way, and said that he thought she was the prettiest in the world. Nicole didn't believe him, but he asserted this intently. It seemed that because his thoughts were genuine, it gradually rubbed off.

Nicole seemed quite happy because of it.

He brought over the gum for the next few days and chewed it with her. Though he didn't do more than that, it seemed to cheer Nicole up.

Kairos did notice that over the days she got uncomfortably skinny, but by the time the pack of gum ran out, she didn't seem against eating.

Though Kairos was actually a little afraid of the weight that she lost during that short time. Her parents didn't notice it, but with how often he was with her, it was quite noticeable.

Although that was not the longest of experiences, it was something that stuck with him.

Kairos looked at Sydney for a few moments, cowering away from the food. He slightly narrowed his eyes. Then, he walked over to his backpack and opened up a small compartment.

On the inside was an unopened packet of strawberry gum.

He came back, peeled it open and unwrapped a piece of the gum before handing it over to Sydney. Nicole seemed a little shocked when she saw it, but didn't say anything.

In the end, Sydney didn't even look towards the piece of gum. She kept her hands in front of her face, not even looking.

"Get away!"

Kairos crouched down and spoke softly.

"It's just a piece of gum. There's no food."

Sydney slowly averted her hand, peeking out from a small gap. She ended up cowering back and shaking her head.

"I... I don't want it."

Kairos could guess the reason why Sydney was so averse to eating food. He very clearly recalled all the half eaten bunnies that rested at her feet.

It seemed that Sydney had remembered that experience. Kairos himself knew how it felt to bite down like that as he did that before in desperation to kill a monster. It definitely wasn't comfortable.

She was traumatized by the very act of chewing itself, just like Nicole.

Kairos took a deep breath and put the piece of gum in his own mouth before chewing.

Sydney flinched at the sound.

Kairos spoke softly once more.

"It's just a piece of gum, with a sweet strawberry flavor. Want to try one?"

Sydney slowly moved the hands away from her face.

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