Chapter 5
"Mom, I have a classmate who has terminal cancer. The doctor said… he doesn't have much time left."
Eriri spoke slowly, her voice tinged with sadness. "Yesterday, I visited him at the hospital…"
Sayuri Sawamura, who had been smiling just moments before, now wore a somber expression.
"So that's what's been bothering you…"
Death—a subject people rarely speak of, and even more rarely understand—was now touching her daughter's life for the first time. Sayuri could see the weight it placed on her.
She reached out and gently patted Eriri's shoulder. "Eriri, try not to be sad. Death is like the blooming and falling of flowers—it's a natural part of life's cycle."
But Sayuri's gentle words didn't stop the quiet tears that spilled from the corners of Eriri's eyes.
Eriri was a deeply emotional person. She suddenly remembered the golden retriever she'd had during her childhood. That loyal companion had been her constant during the loneliest of days, especially after she'd been separated from her childhood friends.
When the dog died of illness, Eriri had never had the heart to keep another pet again.
"Mom…" she whimpered, her voice trembling.
Eriri's emotions finally crumbled, and she broke into a sob, hugging her mother tightly.
Sayuri gently stroked her daughter's head. "It's okay, sweetheart. Let it out… I know this hurts."
Looking down at her crying daughter, Sayuri realized something: her little girl was growing up, learning how to face sorrow and death for the first time.
"Eriri, after breakfast, why don't you go see him again?" she said softly. "Say goodbye properly… so you won't have any regrets."
"…I will," Eriri nodded.
Even without her mother's suggestion, she had already made up her mind to visit again. While she wasn't particularly close to Lucien—formerly Yu Jing—her heart couldn't ignore the deep sympathy and regret she felt.
---
After a quick breakfast and changing clothes, Eriri hopped on her bicycle, carrying a small bag of nutritional supplements her mother had prepared.
When she arrived at the hospital, she sat outside Lucien's ward, waiting.
A few minutes later, the young nurse she'd met yesterday walked out of the room and smiled at her.
"Oh, you're back! I was just heading to the other wards. Go on in and sit with your boyfriend a while. If anything happens, the call button's next to the bed."
Before Eriri could correct her, the nurse was gone.
She shook her head with a sigh, then quietly entered the room.
Lucien was still asleep. His face looked even paler today. The slow, shallow rise and fall of his chest was the only indication he was still alive.
Eriri's eyes filled with concern. She set the supplements down on the table, pulled over a chair, and sat beside the bed.
Her gaze drifted to the sketchbook on the bedside table.
She remembered—it was the one he'd asked for. The one she bought.
Her curiosity got the better of her. She gently picked it up and opened the cover.
"What… did he draw?"
The very first page stunned her.
It was a comic.
Several figures stared into the distance, expressions of shock and fear painted vividly on their faces.
Three children stood at the center—clearly the protagonists. One, in particular, a young boy with a determined gaze, stood out.
Their faces screamed panic and helplessness. Something terrible had just occurred.
On the next page, the scene shifted.
A colossal wall appeared, towering into the sky.
Then—a massive hand reached over it.
> "That day, humanity remembered…"
> "The terror of being dominated…"
> "And the shame of being caged like birds…"
The narration gripped her.
Page by page, she read on.
And with each turn, her heart pounded harder.
By the time she reached the final panel, Eriri's hand was covering her mouth.
It was a story of devastation.
Giant beings devouring humans. Civilization forced into hiding behind massive walls. Humanity brought to the brink of extinction.
And then—an attack that changed everything.
She had never read anything like it. Not in comics. Not in light novels.
"This… this is incredible."
Was this truly created by Lucien? The quiet classmate she'd barely noticed in class?
Where did he even get the idea for something so grand, so devastating, yet so compelling?
The art itself was just as shocking.
The composition. The pacing. The paneling. It was perfect.
She had seen many comics in her life—mainstream, indie, and doujin—but none carried this level of skill and emotional weight.
And he'd drawn all this in just a single day?
Even if the idea had been in his head for months, the execution alone was astonishing.
"Is he… a genius?"
Eriri, talented in her own right, had never doubted her skills. But as she looked at Lucien's work, she realized how far ahead he was.
Suddenly, her eyes fell on Lucien himself—pale, unmoving, barely breathing.
He had always been quiet, background noise in the club and in class. But now?
Now, she looked at him with new eyes.
She felt admiration.
She felt curiosity.
She felt a spark.
And at that moment—
Lucien D. Blackthorn slowly opened his eyes.