After a few minutes of getting teased, defending himself, and being forced to rest, Liam faced his friends and asked:
"What happened yesterday?"
They all exchanged looks of confusion until Lee raised his eyebrows.
"I think he means two days ago."
"....Eh?" Liam stared.
"Well..." Raidou chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "It's a... complicated matter."
Liam frowned. "What do you mean by 'two days ago'?... Wait, don't tell me I've been asleep for two whole days!?"
"SHHH!" Nanami put a hand over Liam's mouth. "Don't be so loud!"
Liam gave Nanami a look of disbelief and pushed his hand away. "You really aren't one to talk. You're the loudest person in class."
Nanami stumbled back, as if stricken, then slouched forward. "You too, Liam?"
Liam stared at him. "I have no idea what that's supposed to mean, but I've been saying that for a long time. That aside..."
Liam locked his gaze on Raidou. "What happened while I was asleep?"
Raidou sighed, but before he could say anything—
"You look much better than yesterday," Kazumi cut in as he walked into the room. Standing next to him were Zoe and Ruby, and Ruby grinned at Liam before skipping over to Lisa. Zoe waved shyly before moving to stand beside Hannah.
Liam stared at the ensemble of people, then felt the urge to hide under the blankets. Ignoring it, he turned to Jay. "Can you do the explaining? I feel like the others would leave some stuff out."
"Pfft..." Nanami laughed. "Of course PaxWiki would only understand JayOS."
Everyone looked at Nanami, and he mimed zipping his mouth shut.
"JayOS?" Lisa muttered. "Hmm... that actually makes sense."
"True," Rex nodded. "Liam did say he sounded like an AI once."
"Takes one to know one I guess," Lee chuckled.
"I think it fits," Po nodded.
Liam was horrified, and he turned to Jay in a panic. "Why are you letting them have their way?!"
"Because I won't be able to do anything about it," Jay replied, his voice despondent. Liam frowned, then raised an eyebrow.
"What happened to you?"
Jay sighed. "It's a long story, but to fully understand it... well, Nanami has a video."
"A video?" Liam frowned as everyone went silent. Nanami passed him his CID, then opened the file and pressed play.
"Let the show begin."
Liam gave Nanami a look of disappointment, and Nanami looked away.
Hm... Liam thought as he watched himself fight. This is actually a pretty good reference. I can check out any mistakes I made—ah! Right there. Misjudged timing.
Liam put a hand to his chin, a small smile on his face as he saw himself responding much better than he expected. He chuckled and rubbed his jaw when he saw Kazumi land a blow, then covered his mouth when he saw the moment he had figured out Kazumi's habit. He closed his eyes when Kazumi began performing a few acrobatics, then paid rapt attention to the part he recognized as when he used Blood Break.
Yeah, he thought as he saw himself jumping much farther away than he meant to. I should practise more with Lee in that state.
He nodded in self-appreciation when he seemed to have gotten faster. He winced at the memory of being kicked in the jaw, then chuckled silently as he saw himself rolling away from Kazumi's stomping.
He leaned forward a little when he recognized the moment he had used Second Break. My memory gets a bit fuzzy here... I do remember thinking about doing my best and surviving or something, but... what?
Liam saw himself get thrown, then felt a cold ball of shock drop in his gut as red webs shot out of his hands.
No... he thought as he watched the blood wrap itself around his hands. I... I don't remember this!
Liam's eyes widened when the video version of himself opened his own eyes, revealing black sclera surrounding tiny, ruby-red irises.
NO! he thought as he watched himself charge toward Kazumi.
He shivered as he saw himself attack Lee, hit Kazumi, and get stopped. He covered his mouth as he saw himself punch Nanami in the face. Queasiness came over him as he saw how dangerous he had been, attacking the people he knew without a care.
He heard Jay's words, and couldn't bring himself to turn his head and look at the people beside him. Then he shivered as he noticed what he had almost done to Lee.
... Did I become some sort of monster?
The video ended when Lisa used her Venma to stop him, and Liam lowered his head in shame. He couldn't bring himself to look at the others anymore, because he knew he would see the exact thing he had been trying to prevent by hiding his Venma.
Fear.
... I guess this is it, he thought as he clasped his fingers together. There's no way they don't know what my power is now. On top of all that, I forced Lisa to use her power on me, attacked the people closest to me in this school, and...
Liam saw the image of a blood needle condensing from his fist—and, in his mind, continuing those last few inches to bury itself in Lee's neck.—
Stop, he thought as he closed his eyes.
"...Liam—"
"It's alright," Liam muttered, cutting Jay off. "I'll try my best to... um... stay out of your way and... stuff..."
The others exchanged worried looks, then Lisa reached out and grabbed Liam's wrist.
"Hey, don't—"
Liam snapped his arm back, throwing her hand off. She stared at her hand in surprise, then looked down and began to draw it away. Suddenly, Liam's hand shot forward and grabbed her wrist instead.
"Ah," he said quietly, turning his head to Lisa. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to... brush you off like that."
Lisa glanced at his hand on her wrist, then nodded.
"Liam," Jay started. "No one here blames you for what happened."
Liam stayed quiet for a while, struggling to make sense of it. He says that, and he might be right, but...
"As you can see..." Liam waved at the wristband in front of him. "I'm... a bit too dangerous. Blaming me for what happened... is just common sense."
As if a small dam had been broken, Liam continued, "I attacked every single one of you. My Venma, Hemokinesis, is too dangerous for people to hang around me. I'm a Denied, so the rest of you will have a hard time if you continue to hang around me..."
Liam continued speaking, listing several reasons as to why the others shouldn't hang around him. He then began to apologize for it all, shaking a little as he apologized to Lee. He then released his hand from Lisa's wrist, but she grabbed his hand before he could pull away completely.
"Ah, right," he muttered as he looked into Lisa's eyes. "I'm sorry for forcing you to use your Venma on me."
Lisa looked at his pained expression, then sighed. "We don't blame you, Liam."
He didn't respond.
"Whatever happened to you doesn't seem like something you could control. Jay, Kazumi, and Lee all judged that this was probably the first time something like this had ever happened to you, since you were different in demeanor, actions, and even your injuries." Lisa paused, then shook her head.
"Actually, there's no proof that we could get from just that, but... we all trust you."
Liam glanced at the faces of everyone present, and a few nodded.
"To be accurate," Kazumi said, "some of us here trust you."
Everyone turned to glare at him, and he shrugged. "What? Speaking the truth is best in this situation. Otherwise he'll get confused. Why do you think Manabe just told him there was no proof it couldn't have happened before?"
Lisa nodded. "Yeah, Liam. You are the kind of person who prefers facts over everything else."
Liam stared at her, then chuckled. Then he frowned, confused as to why that was funny.
Jay sighed. "Look, no one's gonna hold this against you... apart from Jason."
Nanami smiled reassuringly. "Even if he does, we're your friends. We aren't gonna abandon ya just because you crashed out a little. Everyone needs to vent sometimes."
"Though that could have been phrased better," Rex sighed, "nobody here is gonna treat you like some dangerous Mo."
"...I slammed you into the floor."
"Ahem." Rex looked away. "Fear and friendship can coincide. And besides, you weren't yourself."
Raidou chuckled. "Personally, I see it as a good chance for all of us here to grow stronger. I have to admit, it hurt my pride a little to see you avoid me just because of my body temperature."
A few of them chuckled, and Ruby laughed with a big thumbs up. "I mean, I wasn't there, but when we watched the video in class, you were kinda terrifying! But it's all good, since we know you aren't all that scary!"
Lee put a hand to his forehead and groaned, and Lisa tightened her grip on Liam's hand, preventing him from pulling away.
Liam stared at Ruby with wide, terrified eyes. "Are you saying... everyone in class knows?"
****
"Oh. So am I dead meat?"
Lisa shook her head with a chuckle. "No you aren't. I admit Jason was a bit of an asshole about it, but everyone else was a lot more reasonable."
The others took their time fully explaining what had happened during the meeting. After several minutes of calming Liam down, a nurse entered the room and informed them that he would be discharged once he finished a few tests.
A few minutes later, he was walking to the dormitory area, smiling quietly as his friends laughed, argued, and joked around him.
The nurse who had discharged him watched them leave, then muttered quietly:
"He's doing well."
'See GAIA? I told you the human will is powerful.'
GAIA blinked. "That aside, I have made contact with her."
'Excellent. I'll be waiting for her then.'
"You're going yourself?"
'Of course. After all, she was a patient of mine.'