"Oh, don’t worry about it. You may peek if you want. Think of it as compensation for seeing your naked body for the past four years, from the mont I was assigned to take care of you," she teased, holding her cheeks between her hands.
"Wh-why would you do that?" I demanded, rising to a sitting position.
"How else am I supposed to clean your body?" she replied, shrugging.
"S-still..." I murmured, unable to find the words to counter her.
"Don’t be sad. It’s not good for your ntal health," Vedika said, squatting before . "You can take a peek at my kitty if it makes you feel better. I can sacrifice that much for the health of my special patient. Besides..."
She leaned closer and whispered in my ear, "You pack quite a monster down there. It was unusually large despite being soft—like a sleeping dragon."
My face turned crimson with embarrassnt, and I blurted out while stepping back, "Please refrain from making these lewd remarks. This is sexual harassnt!"
Before she could reply, I rose to my feet and bolted inside the hospital.
---
"Th-that woman is too much!" I mumbled as I reached my room.
"Uncle Raj!!"
Inayat sprinted toward with her tiny steps, wearing a cute grey skirt and a tucked-in shirt, her hair styled into two small braids.
"My lovely niece!" I exclaid, catching her in my arms.
"Inayat is looking so beautiful, like an angel," I said, softly pinching her round cheeks. "Are you going to school?"
"Uhn!" she nodded before continuing, "Blegh! Uncle Raj, you stink!"
She pulled away from and ran back into her mother’s embrace, who was standing at the front beside Maa.
"Hahaha, I just ca back from exercising, so my body is drenched in sweat!"
"Eww! So gross! Stay away from Inayat, Uncle Raj!" Inayat squealed.
"Huh? Who was the one who got up early and whined to et Uncle Raj?" Sister Aisha said, tapping Inayat’s nose.
"Uwaa!!! Mommy, don’t say it. It’s embarrassing!" Inayat exclaid, covering her mother’s mouth with her little hands.
"Kids nowadays are too advanced! She already knows embarrassnt!?" I laughed. "Inayat, Uncle Raj will properly wash himself, and then we will play lots of gas once you return from school. Okay?"
Inayat’s eyes shimred with excitent as she shouted while nodding hard, "Yeee! We will play horse riding!"
"Sure, sure."
"Brother Raj, we need to go. It’s ti for Inayat’s school," Sister Aisha inford with a smile, and the mother-daughter duo walked outside.
"Aryan told that you are also an Awakener?" Maa asked, finally speaking after only the two of us remained in the room.
"Hmm, things surprisingly turned out that way," I said, sitting on another chair beside her.
"You are not thinking of living the life of an Awakener, right?" Maa asked, her voice serious.
"I haven’t decided yet, as I don’t know the world outside the hospital. I will make the decision once I—"
"You will live the life of a normal human!" Maa ordered firmly. "The world of Awakeners is very dangerous. They have to constantly fight monsters beyond the portals. I’m already worried about Aryan. I can’t let you choose the sa path!"
I rose from the chair and sat on the floor beside Mother, touching her knees as I said, "Maa, it’s thanks to those Awakeners that regular humans are safe. If they also start caring only about their own lives and neglect their duties, then who will protect the world from these otherworldly dangers? I understand that, as a mother, it’s natural for you to be worried about us, but it’s also you who taught us never to turn our backs on those who need our help."
For a mont, Mother didn’t say anything—or rather, she couldn’t. After a brief sigh, she murmured, "When did you beco so mature? You’ve started talking like your brother. Where is my innocent Raj gone?"
"Maa!" I whined, placing my head on her knees. "I will always be a child to you."
"It’s surprising. Previously, you couldn’t stay even a mont without it, but now you haven’t asked for it since yesterday," Maa said, taking a phone out of her pocket. "Well, it’s better this way. These things are very addictive."
"No-no, Maa, I want it!" I blurted out, quickly taking the phone from her hands.
"Huh! It’s an iPhone from Pineapple. Aren’t these very expensive!?" I gasped, staring at the phone.
"Hmm, and it’s the latest model. Your brother bought it for you."
"Whoa! Say thanks to Elder Brother," I said, and just as I was about to jump onto the bed to explore the new phone, Maa snatched it from my hands and hissed while pulling my ear, "You aren’t going to take a bath, huh?"
"Sorry, sorry, Maa. I forgot due to excitent," I blurted out, grabbed the pair of clothes placed on the table, and went inside the bathroom.
"Is-is that how I looked before teleporting to Vyoman?" I gasped, looking at myself in the wall-mounted full-length mirror.
I had ssy short black hair, sunken cheeks, and skin almost clinging to my bones without a hint of muscle. My eyes were brown, and I was several inches shorter compared to my other body in Vyoman.
"I must be 5’8 or 5’9," I murmured, staring at myself. "Hmm, the slit mark on my forehead is also gone."
After taking a quick glance at myself, I went to shower, as I couldn’t bear to look at that sorry state of the body for even another minute.
When I ca out, a plate decorated with star-shaped slices of apples was placed on the table, and Maa was already gone.
"Thanks, Maa," I murmured, grabbed the plate and my phone, and went straight to bed.
"Let see what’s going on in the outside world."
I put a slice of apple into my mouth, opened the browser to check the latest national news, and the first article I saw almost choked to death.
"Khk-khk! Is-is this really her? She looks a bit more mature, but th-that face... It has to be her!"
The headline of the news article that left stunned had a picture of Saya in bloodied clothes and read:
"The S-Rank Awakener, Shadow Monarch—Saya Rajput—becos the first Awakener of India to clear an A-Ranked dungeon alone!"
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