Sunny's voice broke the silence first.
"What… it is?" he asked, his voice was low and uncertain.
Rose leaned forward, her eyes narrowing as she looked closer at the faded script. "Wait—lemme see that."
Ray didn't respond immediately. His brows were tight and his lips parted slightly. Then, almost mechanically, he murmured,
"It… it's a kind of description… about something."
He moved closer to the table, his chest pressing against the edge as he dragged the book toward him. The faint yellow light pooled across the pages, and his fingers trembled just a little as they brushed against the odd texture of the ink.
He began to read, his voice was barely above a whisper.
"The Jester…" he said nervously.
Sunny and Rose exchanged a quick glance, then turned their eyes back to the book as Ray continued.
"The Jester is generally considered as a fool… but he is the intelligent among all. He represents himself fool in front of fools who think they're perspicacious… and grabs the money from their vacant mind."
The words rolled off Ray's tongue awkwardly, the archaic phrasing making each sentence feel heavier than the last.
Rose frowned and said, "What does this even mean?"
Sunny leaned slightly against the table, his brow creasing. "Is this… a novel book or something?"
But Ray didn't stop reading. His voice grew quieter and tenser. "One day the Jester found his precious. He found the way to achieve the power of Gods. He had all the ability to become an almighty God but… his will refused, and he faced an excruciating death."
A faint sound escaped his throat, that was neither a gasp nor a word but just a small gulp.
Rose's eyes flicked toward him immediately and Sunny straightened up.
None of them spoke for several seconds.
Then,
"This is… beyond a novel," Ray muttered under his breath, his voice was tight and uncertain.
Sunny glanced toward him but said nothing.
Then, Ray moved his fingers and flipped the page.
And what they saw next froze them.
It was a sketch. A rough, almost violently drawn jester. His entire body was covered with swollen abscesses and cracked skin, his mouth was stretched absurdly. Blood was coming out of his mouth down, and both his hands clutched his own throat as if he was trying to kill himself.
"What the actual fuck…" Sunny whispered, his voice was trembling.
Rose swallowed hard, she felt disgusted after seeing the sketch.
Before any of them could speak, Ray turned another page.
There were more words this time and across the top was written:
"Trajectory of Will."
Below it, the description continued in the same looping, elegant handwriting.
"When the ink made by the blood of a Transcendent touches human skin, it grants the power of ultimate beings. Ink yourself, if you're willing to be."
Sunny let out a disbelieving short laugh. "Rubbish. It's all fictional, Ray. You were crazy for this? For some creepy storybook?"
Ray didn't respond because he had no idea what the fuck is going on. His dumb mind wasn't even processing Sunny's words. It was echoing the same line again and again. "Ink yourself… if you're willing to be."
Rose said nothing. Her gaze was fixed on the page, her expression was mixed of fear and confusion.
Then, suddenly...
Creakk!!
The café door opened.
Ray, Rose and sunny immediately turned sharply toward it.
And they saw a boy stepped inside.
It was him.
The same boy Ray had seen before in the corridor. His expression was calm, but his eyes gleamed with something unreadable.
"It's all real," he said quietly.
Ray's stomach dropped.
For a second, no one moved.
Then, almost instinctively, all three of them stood up at once.
The boy walked forward slowly, his shoes were making soft sounds against the wooden floor.
Ray's throat felt dry. His voice came out low.
"You're the same…"
The boy's lips curved just a little, it was looking like a smile but it wasn't. "My name's Leo," he said simply.
Sunny, and Rose exchanged blank looks. None of them recognized him. None of them had the faintest idea who this person was or why he was here.
Sunny was the first to speak, his voice was little rough. "Who are you?"
Leo didn't answer right away. Instead, he raised his right hand slowly and smoothly. He spread his fingers, all of them were normal except for his middle finger. It was inked. A dark, ring-like mark wrapped around it.
"I'm a Wakken," Leo said quietly.
Sunny blinked. "You're— you're what?"
"The one who's inked," Leo continued calmly, "is known as the Wakken."
Ray's mind was spinning. "What the fuck is going on?" he thought. His heartbeat thundered against his ribs and his mouth went dry.
Leo took another step forward and reached out toward the table. His hand closed over the edge of the book and pulled it closer to him. His expression didn't change.
"It's not a fictional story," he said softly. "It's all real."
The three of them stood still like a dumb.
Leo's eyes drifted from one face to another, studying their reactions with quiet curiosity. Then, without warning, he lifted his right hand slightly.
And suddenly...
A knife appeared.
It didn't drop or materialize with sound. One instant his hand was empty, the next it held a blade.
Ray, Rose, and Sunny all took a step back in unison.
"What the fuck…" Rose breathed, her voice was low and tight.
Leo tilted his head and his tone remaining calm. "Is this much proof enough?"
Ray's thoughts screamed inside him. "I'm so fucked up."
Leo sighed softly, as if the situation bored him. "Look," he said, his voice steady, "it's a bit sudden, but you all need to calm yourselves down and hear me out."
Sunny's voice rose immediately, sharp with panic. "How the fuck can we calm down?"
Leo turned his gaze toward Ray. Their eyes met. Something in that stare felt heavy like he knew something Ray didn't.
"Listen to me," Leo said firmly.
He placed the knife down beside the book, then flipped it open again, back to the very first page, the one that had been completely black.
"This page," he said, tapping it with his finger, "will tell who's worthy of this power."
The café went dead silent.
Leo's gaze stayed fixed on the black page as his fingers brushed over it lightly. Then, in he said. "Whoever's blood stays on this page means he can handle this power. And whose blood burns on this page… he cannot bear it."
Sunny blinked, his mouth half open. "You're joking, right?"
Leo didn't answer. Instead, he picked up the knife again without a single word.
He turned his eyes toward Sunny. "Drop one drop of your blood on this page," Leo said quietly, "and know yourself."
Sunny raised his hands slightly in protest, his tone uneven. "Nuh, why would I—"
Before he could even finish his sentence, Leo moved.
He caught Sunny's wrist in one quick motion and pulled his hand over the open book. The knife pressed into Sunny's forearm just enough to draw blood and a single drop of blood fell onto the black page.
Sunny hissed in pain and yanked his hand back. "What the—"
But the words died in his throat when he saw it.
All of them saw it.
The drop of blood sat there for half a second before it started to sizzle. Thin white vapors rose from it, twisting upward like smoke. Within moments, the blood evaporated completely.
Rose stepped back, her eyes wide. "This… this is all real."
Sunny just stared at the page, his breathing uneven. "No, no way…" he muttered while shaking his head in disbelief.
Leo's expression didn't change. He just looked at him and said flatly, "Now you believe me?"
Ray hadn't moved. His whole body felt locked like his mind had stopped trying to understand any of this.
Then Leo's gaze shifted toward Rose. "Now it's your turn."
Rose hesitated only for a moment, then stepped forward slowly. Without a word, she took the knife from the table and nicked the edge of her finger. A drop of blood rolled off and fell onto the page.
It hissed and then, just like before, it vanished into vapor.
Rose stared blankly, saying nothing.
Now it was Ray's turn.
He looked at Leo, then at the knife, then back at the book. His fingers trembled slightly as he lifted his hand. Every muscle in his body felt stiff. He drew a short breath, and then, hesitantly, let a drop of his blood fall.
The droplet hit the page… and stayed.
This time it didn't vaporise. It just stayed there, soaking faintly into the black surface like ink disappearing into velvet.
The silence that followed was heavy.
All eyes turned toward Ray.
Ray stared down at the page and thought blankly, "Wow."
Leo exhaled, almost like relief. "Finally," he murmured.
He set the knife down on the table with a soft clink, then turned a few pages ahead until he stopped at one page where a quill and an ink bottle etched into the torn pages.
"Here it is," Leo said quietly.