Arc 1: Mira in a Doomsday World [17]

"I want to ask first," Mira didn't bother to wait for Felix's response  before continuing, "Who are you?"

"My name is Felix Alvarez. I'm a marshal from Country Y," Felix answered smoothly, "My turn. Who are you?"

Mira frowned, "I don't know... I seem to have forgotten."

"Well, what do you remember?"

Mira squinted her eyes at him.

"It's my turn to ask," she reminded, "Where did you find me?"

Felix's mouth twitched, but he didn't argue, "You were already inside the car when we found it. Well... you might have been kidnapped. There were a few men who fought with us before. Judging from what they wore, they looked like criminals who escaped from prison."

Mira's eyes widened, "Really? Then, where are they now? Did they say anything about me?"

"It's my turn now," Felix clucked his tongue. His expression was still serious, but there was an unconcealed slyness in his eyes.

Mira pursed her lips after being reminded, glaring at Felix in annoyance. 

Felix raised his brows innocently at her blaming expression.

"Do you remember anything about yourself?"

"No," Mira shrugged, "I'm trying to remember, but it's like my mind's been emptied out. Maybe if I see something familiar, I'll remember..."

"Since you don't remember anything, what can I ask? This seems to be a bit unfair."

"Then don't ask anything," Mira replied lightly, "I'm not the  one who proposed this interrogation."

"Then, how do we know you're telling the truth about not remembering anything?" Felix stared at her with unconcealed suspicion.

"How do I know you're telling the truth about zombies and superpowers?" Mira asked back, "Between the two of us, who do you think is more believable?"

"..."

Felix suddenly chuckled. His eyes were deep and intimidating, but when he laughed, all the coldness on his face would disappear and he would look particularly captivating—like cherry blossoms suddenly blooming in winter.

"You have a point," Felix smiled, "So, if I prove that zombies exist, how will you prove that you really have no memories?"

Mira blinked, "I don't know."

Then, as if realizing something, she spoke again, "Well, why do I need to prove it?"

"To earn our trust."

"Why should it matter if you trust me or not?"

"You will be our companion for a few days, what if you suddenly stab us in the back?"

"But you were the one who wanted to take me away..."

Felix was almost speechless by her simple logic, "...We just wanted to save your life."

"But since you don't think you can trust me, why bother to save my life?"

Felix: ...Okay, you win.

With a deep sigh, Felix called Owen over to them.

"You introduce her to the others," Felix instructed, then suddenly remembered that Mira couldn't even remember her own name, "...Wait a minute."

"What do you want to be called?" Felix asked Mira, then added after a thought, "Think carefully, if you really can't remember your own name, then just choose a good name."

Mira's brows wrinkled. She seemed to struggle for a while before deciding, "How about Mari? Hm, just call me 'Mari' then."

Felix repeated the name, "Mari... It sounds alright. Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah," Mira answered casually.

"Okay," Felix nodded, then turned to Owen, "Don't forget to tell everybody else about her memory loss. Explain it clearly."

Owen tilted his head, "What do I say?"

"Just say that she's been kidnapped by those people that shot our jet down and she lost her memories in the process."

"What if they don't believe this?"

Felix glanced at Mira, who was watching them talk curiously, "It doesn't matter if they believe it or not. She will be traveling with us to the capital, this decision is final."

Owen smiled brightly, "Thank you, boss! I knew you were a kind person~"

Felix was already used to Owen's antics.

"Are you going or not?"

°°°

Mira's journey with Felix and the others was surprisingly smooth.

During this time, a few zombies would pop out from out of nowhere, but every single one would turn to ashes before even getting within a one-meter range of the car. 

When the first zombie showed up, Mira acted surprised. Owen flicked his hand, and within a second, the zombie was engulfed by flames. 

He glanced at Mira smugly, then patted her shoulder, "Do you believe us now? Don't worry, with me around, you'll be safe."

After this, Owen proudly showed off his abilities every time a zombie appeared. A zombie rushes in? Burn. Another zombie pops up? Burn again. Oh, now it's a group of zombies? Burn them all down.

At this moment, Owen, who once again set fire to a group of zombies, turned to Mira with a look of asking for praise.

Mira's mouth twitched, but she still smiled gently, "Wow, Owen, you're really amazing..."

Owen snorted proudly, "Of course! Hmph, I'm actually one of the strongest awakened people in our base. No one can compete with my fire in Country Y!"

Hearing Owen boasting about himself again, Dennis, the black-haired man seated beside him, couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Don't you feel any shame bragging about your fire when the boss is right here?"

Owen glared at Dennis, "Hey, it's not fair to compare my ability with the boss's!"

Dennis snickered, turned to Mira, and started to speak, "You don't know, Owen previously challenged the boss, but—"

Owen covered his mouth and said to Mira, "Don't listen to him, he likes to talk nonsense."

Mira blinked her eyes curiously, "Oh, but I want to know..."

Dennis couldn't speak, but there were others in the car, and Owen can't cover everybody's mouths.

Everyone else in the car knew that Owen was once beaten by Felix when he first became a part of their team. At that time, Owen was even more pretentious than he was now.  His own father was Country Y's prime minister, so he was used to being flattered and admired. He was proud of his status as one of the best fire-type ability people in the capital base and wanted to show his prestige to the rest of the group, so he directly challenged Felix. 

He never expected that he would lose without even getting a chance to show off the fire ability he had been so proud of. 

Owen still remembered clearly how Felix slowly froze his body, a small, playful smile on the corner of his lips, but a biting chill in his azure eyes. The numbing temperature climbed up from his toes, to his legs, then waist... 

At first, he resisted hard, trying to summon flames to melt off the ice, but no matter how much he tried, he was unable to warm his own body, let alone create a spark. He only realized that he had been far too naive when the ice had already reached his neck. 

For the first time in his life, Owen opened his mouth to apologize and beg someone for forgiveness. 

Although there was no permanent damage done to his body, that event still frightened him greatly. Since then, Owen no longer dared to look down on the young general-turned-marshal.

By the end of their retelling, Owen's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

"How would I know that his water-type ability can evolve into ice... That wasn't fair at all..." he murmured unhappily.

"All is fair in love and war," Dennis snickered.

"Shut up, it's not like you can beat him either," Owen glared.

"Oh, that's because I'm not stupid enough to challenge him in the first place."

"You little—"

"Shut up," Felix suddenly interrupted.

The two stopped bickering and habitually straightened their posture. They looked at Felix with serious expressions, ready to receive orders.

"Something's wrong with her," Felix frowned, "Her temperature is not normal..."

Mira, who was listening to them attentively just a few minutes earlier, was curled up by the window, covered by her fluffy blanket. Looking closely, her face was tainted with red blush, and her breathing was rapid and uneven.

Owen leaned forward with a panicked expression, half of his body occupying the space between Felix and Mira's seats.

"She has a fever," he exclaimed just as his palms touched Mira's forehead, which was burning at an astonishingly high temperature, "It's too hot... Her brain will burn at this rate!"

Felix's brows knotted. He pushed Owen away and touched Mira's forehead with his own hand.

Mira was burning badly, and suddenly, there was a cold touch on her skin. She immediately grabbed the cold object and pressed it against her cheek.

Felix tried to take back his hand, but Mira grasped it tightly and frowned aggrievedly whenever it moved away from her skin.

"Hot... So hot... Woo..." 

Hearing her whimpers, his lips pursed and he stopped struggling, instead, a thin layer of ice covered his palm and touched her cheek. Mira's skin really was too hot. The ice soon melted off, and Felix quickly replaced it with another layer.

Mira sighed comfortably, but her face was still flushed, and there were no signs of her temperature lowering down.

"Gale, come here and see what's wrong with her."

Their group consisted of fifteen ability users, and there were three healing-type ability users, each one distributed to the three vehicles. Among them, Gale's ability was the most special. Other than healing, he can also inject vitality into living things. He can grow plants at a faster rate, restore missing or severed limbs, and most importantly, temporarily prevent a living person from turning into a zombie. It was a tacit agreement between their team that wherever Felix goes, Gale must be there too, after all, Felix was too important.

Although, Gale didn't expect that his first job on this trip would be for a girl they only accidentally met. 

After carefully maneuvering his way to the middle seats, Gale opened the medical bag he always carried.

"Boss, please move aside first..."

Felix pursed his lips and looked down at the girl who was clinging to his hand. Her delicate face was scrunched up in pain, and the corners of her mouth were pressed down due to the discomfort. There were small beads of sweat on her nose bridge, making her look particularly pitiful.

"...Stop the car."

The car stopped. Outside, the sun was already setting, and the sky was dyed with various shades of orange and purple, looking particularly beautiful. Unfortunately, no one was in the mood to appreciate the beauty of this sunset.

Gale opened the door and walked towards the other side, opening the door where Mira was leaning her head on. Because of his movement, Mira nearly fell off, but Felix quickly grabbed her by the shoulder to prevent her from falling. 

Owen and the others also exited the car worriedly, and for a moment, there were a group of men crowding around one side of the car, blocking the sunlight with their tall figures.

"Move away," Felix ordered, "Let Gale check her condition in peace."

Gale checked her temperature and was surprised to find that it had actually reached 47°C. Owen was right, at this rate, her brain would burn! He quickly took an antipyretic drug and pressed it against Mira's lips, trying to feed it to her. However, Mira's face wrinkled even more, and she closed her mouth tightly in resistance.

"Pinch her nose, quick, her fever is too high..."

Felix immediately did as told, and in a few seconds, Mira's mouth opened voluntarily because of the lack of oxygen. Gale skillfully fed her the medicine and carefully poured some water into her mouth. The cold water entered Mira's throat. Mira gulped greedily, and soon, the bottle was emptied out, but Mira seemed to still be dissatisfied. She frowned aggrievedly, light indistinct murmurs escaping from her lips.

Guessing what she meant, Felix quietly used his ability to pour some cold water for her to drink, and sure enough, her wrinkling face relaxed almost immediately.

Felix stared at her expression amusedly. He couldn't but wonder whether she could survive in their current environment with such a straightforward temperament. Alas, it's still not good to be too sheltered. Greenhouse garden flowers like her... although clean and enviable, without any protection, they would be extremely vulnerable to all sorts of danger.

For example, at this moment, she suddenly had a high fever. If they hadn't met, or if she insisted on refusing to go with them, what would've been her state now?

Perhaps she would've long been dead.

But it seemed as though God still favored her, after all, even though she lost her memories, she was able to find an escort effortlessly. And now...

Gale had just finished diagnosing Mira. His eyes looked at the data he recorded with some disbelief, but he still told everyone about his conclusion.

"She seems to be awakening her ability..." Gale's tone was filled with doubts, but Mira's situation was exactly like their own when they had awakened their abilities. The difference was that they were injected with the ability stimulator, while Mira just suddenly caught a fever in a moving vehicle...

"Is it... natural evolution?" Gale murmured, "Or has our formula been leaked?"

"Impossible!" Owen exclaimed after hearing this, "Only those big guys in the lab know, and they have been loyal to our country for decades!"

"It's not impossible..." Felix commented, "But I'm more concerned about how she would be able to get her hands on that," he paused, "And... doesn't the stimulator work within five to six hours after being injected? She was with us all these hours."

Dennis understood his implications, "The package has not been moved. We have been guarding it the entire time."

Felix raised his eyebrows, "So, that means she is awakening without the help of the stimulator..."

"How sure are we that she is awakening?" Owen muttered, "What if she really just caught a high fever... Ah, what if her brain burns and she turns stupid after waking up?!"

Gale looked at him speechlessly.

"Calm down, the symptoms are really the same as when an ability-user is awakening. Semi-conscious, abnormally high temperature, fluctuating blood sugar levels, cold hands..." he listed off, becoming more and more certain as he spoke, "Yes, exactly the symptoms of an awakening ability user."

The other two vehicles had long since parked behind them when their own car stopped, and the bunch of people observing by the sidelines also heard this. They were surprised, but they were even more eager. They didn't expect that the delicate beauty they picked up would also gain superpowers!

"Okay, it's already nearing evening, we will camp here for today. Check the perimeter and distribute the rations," Felix instructed. He gently moved away from the seat and brought Mira to a laying position. He covered her with the quilt using one hand, while the other hand was still being held tightly by the sleeping Mira. He originally wanted to take his hand back, but when Mira's face once again wrinkled in displeasure, he paused.

"...You guys eat first. I'll guard her here."

×××

It was another peaceful day at Doomsday High~

Jake: Today, we have new students entering the class. Everyone, introduce yourselves.

Owen: I'm Owen, our boss's second-in-command! I like playing soccer and dating cute girls~

Dennis: *rolls eyes* I'm Dennis, the real second-in-command. I like it when Owen shuts up.

Owen: You little—

Dennis: It's the boss's turn to speak.

Owen: <(｀ ^)>

Felix: Good morning, I'm Felix. I like... making ice cubes.

Mira: Hello, my name is Mari~ I like sweet stuff and drama the most (人 •͈ᴗ•͈)

Xu: ヽ(；▽；)ノ Wife! You're back!

Mira: My name is Mari, not wife ( •ᴗ• )

Xu: No, you're Mira!

Mira: I'm Mari.

Xu: Mira.

Mira: Mari.

Xu: Mira!

Mira: Mari!

Xu: QAQ What should I do if my wife is addicted to pretending?

Author's Note:

It's Weiss again! The apocalypse arc will be ending soon (  ._.) I just figured doing a Q & A for Mira would be a fun way to end this arc. You can ask her about herself or about her current outlook regarding the plot/her life. Drop questions in the comment section of this chapter, and Mira will answer them at the bonus theater of the next chapter~