Osho and Ellie talked for a while about a bunch of different things.
Despite it being weeks since the beast tide, Osho could tell that the event had taken its toll on the girl and that she was just putting up a strong front.
It shouldn’t be surprising, that entire situation had been beyond scuffed, and while she was a strong-willed individual, she was still barely an adult, and seeing so much death and destruction while being forced to fight for her life when she’d been relatively sheltered for most of it was bound to be more than a bit traumatizing.
Perhaps she knew he could see through her facade and perhaps she wanted him to. Either way, Osho was more than glad to help distract her from her own thoughts. He knew just how tiring it could be, after all.
The two of them talked for a good bit, and their beasts ended up playing fighting a bit as Gale and Sugil seemed content to wrestle on the side of the bed. It was pretty funny to watch.
It was only after a few hours had passed that the door was knocked on again. Curious, Osho decided to see who it was, and he was surprised by the person.
Stepping out of the way, Lady Haggai along with Simon and Major Thompson stepped into the room. Ellie immediately stood up with wide eyes as she made eye contact with the three people.
"Good afternoon?" Osho said with a small bow, still giving them the basic respect they deserved. Ellie followed suit, but Major Thompson just smiled and waved them off.
"Don’t stress yourselves, and good afternoon as well. You’re probably Curious as to why we came here , so I’ll keep it curt." He lingered for a while before giving Lady Haggai a nod.
The woman immediately stepped forward, her gaze not leaving Osho and Gale as she spoke.
"Since you will be here until your entrance exam, we’ve deemed it the necessary course of action to train you and your beast to the best of our abilities to ensure you can get the best results during the exam and enter the best college possible." She explained briefly and Osho blinked.
He’d already been made aware that for the duration of his stay in the military base, he’d receive training in advance for for entrance exam after his rehabilitation ended. In fact, it was meant to begin tomorrow. However, the fact that they were coming to tell him this again, and personally at that...
Simon seemed to notice that Osho had gotten the hint and nodded.
"Your thoughts are correct, we will be directly involved in this training, with Lady Haggai taking the forefront of it." Hearing this, Oshi blinked and looked back at the beautiful woman. She locked eyes with him and the two of them seemed to inspect one another.
’Isn’t she a scientist, though? Why is she making time to train me personally? Unless...’ He opened his mouth, but she cut him off.
"I have deemed you and your beast to be worthy of my attention, so treat this training as a way for me to observe the two of you closely. There are many things I wish to understand, so as long as you allow me, I can help train you while simultaneously satisfying my curiosity." The woman spoke calmly, but the more she spoke, the more Osho had a weird feeling.
He wouldn’t say he was the greatest at reading people, certainly not in relation to emotions like love, as he so exquisitely displayed, but he’d say he was decent.
The way she looked at him reminded him of whenever he hyperfixated on something, only on a far more extreme and probably unhealthy level. It was certainly weird.
He spared a glance at the other two and they looked serious, but their eyes looked tired in a funny way. When they met his gaze, the words they tried to convey through their eyes could only be described as ’Just go along with it. Nothing you do will make her stop.’
With a small grimace, Osho nodded.
"Great. Let’s begin." Her words made Osho do a double-take.
"... Wait now??" He asked and Ellie looked miffed off to the side, clearly not expecting someone to come and not just interrupt them, but also whisk Osho away before they were done talking.
"Indeed. I have to garner as much information as possible, so the sooner, the better." She replied, her tone brooking no room for argument.
Osho was silent for a moment, then he said calmly.
"I understand your urgency, but I’d like you to wait until tomorrow. I’m still in the middle of something." He said while gesturing to Ellie whose eyes widened slightly.
"Unfortunately, I will refuse that request. What I intend to do is more meaningful." Lady Haggai said almost immediately, her eyes still boring into Osho.
However, he wasn’t perturbed and stood his ground.
"That wasn’t a request." The woman’s eyes widened slightly, even though her unhealthy fixation, she could still be taken off guard. Whether it be due to Osho having the audacity to directly tell her off, or for him to not be intimidated by her despite knowing what she was capable of. However, she didn’t get mad and simply tilted my head.
"Arrogant." She stated, as if the word made perfect sense in this situation, yet Osho understood and replied calmly.
"Entitled." Off to the side, Simon, Major Thompson, and Ellie were watching the showdown with visible surprise.
Ellie was both stunned and elated at seeing Osho so steadfast in his desire to spend the remainder of the day with her. As for Major Thompson and Simon, they were surprised at her ’conducive’ Lady Haggai was being towards Osho. Usually, she’d go through quite the lengths to get what she wanted, even if it was from her peers, and more often than not, she got it.
So to see her take a step back and not just directly tie up Osho in a bunch of vines before carrying him to wherever she wanted to conduct her training/experiments was a bit jarring, even for them.
The staring contest continued for a few more seconds before Lady Haggai said curtly.
"I will see you at the training grounds by 6 in the morning, sharp." With that, she turned on her heel and left the room. Thompson and Simon blinked and locked eyes with each other before looking at Osho.
"You’re insane." Simon was the first to say and Osho raised a brow.
"For what? Not agreeing to the whims of someone and putting off my own plans just because she has more status than I?" He countered and the men once again shared a glance before Major Thompson spoke.
"First of all, that mindset is more than a little bit likely to get you killed at one point or the other. Secondly, that woman isn’t normal in the head and almost never listens to reason, so the fact she relented means that she either had a sudden change of heart or you’re equally messed up in the head." Osho had to resist making a jab at the man for indirectly insulting him and just shook his head.
"Does it matter?" He finally said.
"I suppose not." They shrugged, and Osho couldn’t help but feel like he was speaking to people his age with how they kept on replying to his questions.
"On another note, how do you feel?" Simon asked while leaning against the wall with his arms folded. Osho blinked before raising a brow.
"Mentally. How do you feel mentally?" Major Thompson clarified which made Osho even more confused.
"How else should I feel mentally?" His question caused them to stare at him weirdly.
"... You aren’t putting up a strong front, are you?" He mumbled and Osho was even more confused, but then he felt a tug on his sleeve and he saw Ellie staring at him with big eyes.
"He has a point, though. You went from fighting Novice and Apprentice rank beasts to facing off against an Elite rank natural disaster, witnessed it off a bunch of people with more training than you like they were ants, and then made your beast engage it in a one on one while barely avoiding an attack that would have reduced you to ashes. Then you were comatose for two weeks. All of that would mildly to severely traumatize your graduating high schooler, but you just seem... unperturbed." Hearing her explanation, Osho realized that there was indeed something not adding up.
People had been heavily traumatized for less. Yet not only had he been in the presence of that thing which had an aura so potent it could make someone have a panic attack despite being miles away, he’d had this thing attack him before making his beast which he cared for dearly engage it in a dogfight. All in all, he wasn’t supposed to be so calm about it. Yet he was, and he wasn’t putting up a strong front either.
’I mean considering the shit I went through before transmigrating, it makes sense. But they don’t know that now do they?’ He thought briefly before shrugging.
"I won’t say it’s a good thing because someone my age shouldn’t be so desensitized, but I can’t really force myself to start hyperventilating whenever I recall the entire event, now can I?" He answered and the three other people shared a glance before Major Thompson gestured to the door and Simon nodded. The two of them stepped out without a word and closed the door.
Osho was confused, but before he could ask what just happened, Ellie held his hand and pulled him to the bed. She forced him to lay down before climbing in with him and hugged him close.
"What are you...?" She shushed him and brought his head to her chest.
"Don’t say anything, just relax." She said gently but firmly, leaving no room for argument.
He was even more confused, but he decided to follow along with her instructions. He’d be lying if he said this position didn’t feel nice, and her heartbeat was also quite soothing...
Ellie watched as Osho basically melted into her, falling asleep not long after they got into position. She sighed.