Januar looked at the ghastly-looking boy, perplexed by the other's antics, he only smiled politely.

What's the matter with all the patients here? Why were they all so fascinated by his writing? Did they think it looked pretty and wanted him to recreat it for them?

As the boy started talking to him, Januar would have much rather gone into his room since the nurse told him to. Unfortunately the boy firmly blocked his way.

Now that he thought about it weren't all patients accompanied by a nurse or two? Why didn't the boy in front of him with him? Well, maybe he was in the same situation as Januar where the nurse had to leave earlier, Januar thought absent-mindly.

Suddenly a hand waved in front of his face, forcing Januar to return to reality. Startled he looked at the boy. His opposite's expression was strange, the eyebrows were knitted together and he stared directly at Januar, he had stopped speaking at some unknown point, instead it looked like he was pondering over something.

Embarrassed, Januar blushed slightly and decided not to care anymore about politeness. He hobbled forward trying to make the boy understand that he wanted to reach the door. But the other party just remained standing and continued to stare at him.

This made Januar very uncomfortable, he didn't know who that boy was, but when meeting his gaze, it felt like being carefully analyzed, like the boy was about to catch on to his deepest scecret.

Which was ridiculous, because Januar had no secret, except for not actually belonging into this world, but no one would believe a story like that.

At last, Januar couldn't bear his calculating gaze anylonger, he lightly pushed the boy away with his body. This wasn't exceptionally hard, considering he was slightly taller than the other. And despite being weakened in this 'Realm', he still had his passive skill to aid him.

This was actually the first time his feeble strenght in this 'Realm' compared to another person. Usually everyone here overpowered him...

Unexpectedly, Januar's 'light push' caused the boy to topple forward.

This shocked Januar deeply, he instantly took a step back, wanting to catch the other person but lost balance himself. At the end of the day, a crutch didn't have the same reliability as a healthy leg.

He wanted to regain his balance but after putting his left leg to the ground a sharp pain pierced his left side.

There was no way to prevent this fall, knowing this, Januar at least didn't want to fall on top of the frail person behind him. He let go of his crutch and grabbed the other's arm with his left hand, Januar pulled him up, so that the other wouldn't reach the ground first.

Shortly after, he felt his right knee hitting the floor hard. Next his right hand struck the ground, he barely stopped his descend but that was only until further weight fell on top of him.

A grunt escaped Januar (but he didn't know for sure, he couldn't hear after all), as his arm collapsed underneath him and he finally lay flat on the ground.

They remained in this position for a short moment, before the frail boy hastily got off Januar. But Januar didn't get up from the ground yet, a mild aching in his wrist and knee prevented him from moving carelessly.

Soon a pair of hands picked Januar up, he looked up in surprise only to find the nurse sporting a shocked and worried expression. Januar lifted his hand to try to hide his face in shame. The nurse must be dissapointed, right? He didn't go into the room as he told him to afterall.

But instead of staying there anylonger and blaming Januar, the nurse carried him to his room.

Just before they entered the room, Januar still caught a glance of the pale boy's expression.

There were some obvious red stains on his cheeks and neck.

Januar understood immediately, he must feel really embarrassed. Januar understood that feeling, he smiled at the other person. This was something he always wanted others to do for him, reassure him that he didn't have to be embarrassed or ashamed.

***

Constantine watched as the blond boy vanished from his sight.

His heart pounded in his chest, he didn't know if it was because of embarrassment or...

Just thinking about it made him blush even harder.

There was no way! It must be the peculiarty of the boy that surprised him!

Yes! That's it! The boy didn't fit in and that aroused his interest, nothing else. Constantine nodded slighty, but only he knew that it was more to assure himself than anything else.

Anyway, he did find out something strange about this boy.

He didn't seem to listen, no rather, he couldn't listen. But this discovery was rather strange. If he was indeed deaf, why didn't the hospital assign him a person that was proficient in sign language? Or why didn't the boy ask for one himself?

Also, the boy shouldn't be here.

Constantine had stayed in this hospital for many years, not because there was a problem with his mental health, no, he was highly intelligent, but his family dumped him here anways. They claimed it was because of his 'twisted personality'. Despite his allegedly 'twisted personality' he could have left this institution any time he wanted. But he continued to stay here, why? Because it was much more interesting than outside.

So he was able to study the various patients and their diverse problems thoroughly. And his experience told him that there was nothing wrong with the boy.

This matter was very suspicious...

Constantine narrowed his eyes.

As if waiting for this moment, the door opened again and the nurse that accompanied the boy stepped out.

"Hey!" Constantine took this chance, he called out to the nurse.

If he wanted to get to the bottom of this matter he had use the nurses, and what better source was the nurse taking care of the boy himself.

The nurse halted and looked at Constantine, obviously a bit grumpy.

"What do you need?"

Constantine wasn't discouraged by the other's harsh mannerism, he was elated instead, this just made him easier to read.

"That boy, what's his name?" Constantine asked.

The nurses expression hardened even further, "Why do you want to know that?"

"I just want to know the name of a fellow patient around my age," Constanine responded smiling.

The nurse snorted, "Don't you know? Your famous for causing troubles, especially for new patients."

"No, no, I have no such intentions," with only this short exchange, Constantine was already sure of something, this 'Carl', as he read from the other's nameplate, cared about the boy and didn't have any bad intentions. Unfortunately, this also meant that he probably had no useful information for Constantine.

But, this didn't mean that he was completely useless to Constantine. He could still entrust the other with a mission. He stepped forward, standing just in front of Carl the nurse and whispered something while staring him directly into the eyes.

"That boy can't hear, there something fishy with his stay here."

As expected Carl lifted his eyebrows, but the next words that he uttered were surprising.

"I knew it."

Constantine looked at him strangely, so he wasn't as stupid as he looked. But he didn't care to pressure more information out of this Carl, his suspicions were confirmed, now he could gather hints whenever he wanted. He still had another matter to attend to afterall.

"So, can you tell me his name now?"

Carl looked at Constantine, he didn't quite believe in his innocence, but considering the other patient was deaf and he merely wanted his name, he relented in the end.

"His name is Joseph."