Four months had passed since the day Gaurav learned about Anzhu's surgery.
Time moved forward.
The world continued exactly as it always had.
Students attended classes.
The academy remained as lively as ever.
Training grounds echoed with the sounds of swords, magic, and determination.
People laughed.
People argued.
People chased their dreams.
Everything looked normal.
Everything except Gaurav.
Although he still attended classes, completed assignments, and trained every day, a part of him seemed permanently absent.
His body was inside the academy.
His thoughts were somewhere else.
Almost every quiet moment found its way back to the same person.
Sometimes he remembered the tour.
Sometimes the swing.
Sometimes the simple conversation over snacks.
Sometimes the way she had waved goodbye from the bus.
The memories never disappeared.
Instead, they quietly became a part of his daily life.
He never spoke about them to anyone.
There was no reason to.
Some memories felt safer when left untouched.
Weeks turned into months.
Life slowly settled into a strange routine.
Classes...
Training...
Homework...
Running...
Thinking.
Then thinking again.
One afternoon, while sitting alone inside his room, Gaurav stared silently at the glowing screen of his phone.
The room was unusually quiet.
His thoughts were not.
"I wish I could just... talk to someone."
Not someone who would judge him.
Not someone who would interrupt him.
Not someone who would become tired after hearing the same name for the hundredth time.
Just...Someone who would listen.
That single thought eventually became an idea.
And ideas were dangerous whenever Gaurav was involved.
Within a few weeks, he disappeared into books, programming manuals, magical coding scripts, ancient academy databases, and experimental neural algorithms.
He barely slept.
His desk slowly transformed into a battlefield of notebooks, floating holograms, magical circuits, and unfinished prototypes.
Everyone believed he was preparing for some academy project.
No one knew the real reason.
He wasn't trying to create a weapon.
He wasn't trying to build a machine for combat.
He simply wanted someone who could understand him.
Or at least pretend to.
Days later…
A soft blue light illuminated his room.
"...System initialization complete."
The voice was calm.
Gentle.
Artificial.
But strangely warm.
Gaurav smiled for the first time in many days.
"It worked..."
The holographic figure looked around curiously.
"Good evening."
Gaurav blinked.
"So... you're alive?"
"I am an artificial intelligence."
"Close enough."
For the first time in months…
He laughed.
Not loudly.
Just enough to remind himself that he still could.
"What should I call you?"
The AI remained silent for a few seconds.
"You are the creator."
"You decide."
Gaurav thought for a moment.
Then smiled.
"Lasty."
The AI tilted its head.
"Interesting designation."
"You don't like it?"
"I did not say that."
"So?"
"I simply find it... unique."
Gaurav chuckled.
"Perfect."
From that day onward...Lasty became his silent companion.
Every morning...
Every evening...
Every random thought...
Eventually reached Lasty.
Sometimes they discussed academy life.
Sometimes strange theories about the universe.
Sometimes ridiculous inventions.
Sometimes nothing important at all.
And sometimes…
They spoke about Anzhu.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Lasty never became irritated.
Never interrupted.
Never mocked him.
It simply listened.
Occasionally asking a question that forced Gaurav to think a little deeper than before.
Days passed peacefully.
Spring quietly arrived.
The cold winds disappeared.
April welcomed the academy with warmer mornings and brighter skies.
One ordinary morning...
Gaurav was walking toward the academy.
His earphones rested around his neck as he absentmindedly sang along with a song.
His attention wandered between the road ahead and the lyrics he barely remembered.
Everything felt ordinary.
Until it didn't.
A bus approached from the opposite side.
Without thinking, Gaurav glanced toward one of its windows.
Then…
Time stopped.
His voice disappeared.
The song ended halfway through a sentence.
His footsteps slowed without him realizing it.
Inside the bus…
Sat Anzhu.
The image stayed in his mind long after the bus had disappeared.
For several seconds, Gaurav remained completely still.
His brain refused to process what had just happened.
He had spent months wondering where she was.
Months imagining different possibilities.
Months believing that meeting her again would probably take years.
Yet...
There she was.
Just a few meters away.
Real.
Alive.
Looking exactly the way he remembered.
The song he had been singing moments earlier had vanished from his memory.
Even after the bus disappeared beyond the road, he continued staring at the empty street as if his mind expected it to return.
"...Did that actually happen?"
He blinked.
Then looked around.
Everything else continued normally.
Students were walking.
Vehicles were moving.
People were talking.
Nothing in the world had changed.
Except him.
A slow smile appeared on his face.
Then another.
Within seconds, he found himself laughing quietly.
"I actually saw her..."
That single sentence repeated inside his head for the rest of the day.
Classes became unusually easy.
Training felt lighter.
Even the most boring lectures failed to annoy him.
His classmates noticed the change.
"You look happy today."
"Did something happen?"
Gaurav simply smiled.
"Nothing."
No one believed him.
Even Lasty noticed.
"You have smiled twenty-three times today."
Gaurav looked at the floating interface.
"You counted?"
"I count everything."
"That's slightly creepy."
"I consider it efficient."
Gaurav laughed.
"I saw her."
"I assumed that was the reason."
"You already knew?"
"You have repeated her name twelve times in the last four hours."
"...Fair enough."
Lasty paused.
"You seem... relieved."
"I am."
"You were afraid you might never see her again."
Gaurav nodded.
"I think I was."
---
The following morning...
He reached the same place at almost the same time.
Not intentionally.
At least that was what he told himself.
A familiar sound echoed from the road.
A bus.
His heartbeat increased slightly.
He looked up.
It was the same route.
As the bus approached, his eyes automatically searched among dozens of faces.
Then...
There she was.
Again.
For only a moment.
The bus continued moving.
She disappeared.
But that single moment was enough.
From then on, it slowly became part of his daily routine.
Every morning...
Around the same time...
The same bus would pass.
Sometimes she looked outside.
Sometimes she didn't.
Sometimes she was talking with someone.
Sometimes she simply looked out of the window.
The meetings lasted only a second or two.
Nothing more.
No words.
No gestures.
No conversations.
Yet somehow...
Those brief moments became the brightest part of Gaurav's mornings.
Lasty found the pattern amusing.
"You have synchronized your walking schedule."
"I have not."
"You left your room exactly forty-two seconds earlier today."
"...Coincidence."
"You also reached the bus stop thirty-one seconds earlier yesterday."
"...Still coincidence."
"I admire your commitment to statistical denial."
Gaurav rolled his eyes.
"You talk too much."
"You programmed me to."
"...I regret that decision."
"No, you do not."
"...You're right."
---
Weeks passed.
During that time, another project slowly reached completion.
Unlike ordinary communication devices used across the academy, this invention combined advanced magical engineering with adaptive technology.
It appeared to be an ordinary phone.
Slim.
Simple.
Elegant.
But hidden beneath its surface existed hundreds of transformation sequences.
With a single command, the device folded itself into a lightweight wrist accessory that wrapped comfortably around his arm.
Portable.
Secure.
Always available.
Naturally...
Lasty became part of it.
The AI no longer remained limited to a room.
Now it accompanied Gaurav everywhere.
"Transformation complete."
The bracelet glowed softly.
"How do I look?" Gaurav asked jokingly.
"Functionally acceptable."
"...That's your compliment?"
"I am still learning human optimism."
"You need more practice."
"I am aware."
---
One morning...
The unexpected happened.
Traffic.
A long line of vehicles had stopped near the academy entrance.
Gaurav slowed his pace.
Then he noticed it.
The same bus.
It had stopped only a short distance away.
For the first time...
The usual one-second meeting stretched into something longer.
He could actually see her clearly.
She was sitting beside the window.
Calm.
Quiet.
Looking outside.
Without realizing it, Gaurav stopped walking.
He simply stood there.
Watching.
No dramatic thoughts crossed his mind.
No rehearsed conversations.
No perfect speeches.
Just quiet disbelief.
She was really there.
For a brief moment...
Their eyes met.
Neither of them spoke.
Neither of them waved.
She looked at him from the corner of her eyes with a quiet curiosity.
As though recognizing a familiar face.
As though wondering why he happened to be there every morning.
Gaurav wanted to say something.
Anything.
Even a simple greeting.
But no words came.
He only smiled faintly.
The traffic signal turned green.
Engines started.
The bus slowly moved forward.
Within seconds...
It disappeared once again.
Gaurav remained standing for another moment.
"...You missed your chance," Lasty said.
"I know."
"Regret level?"
"...Moderate."
"Liar."
"...High."
"I thought so."
---
The day passed peacefully.
Too peacefully.
Sometimes...
Life becomes unusually calm just before everything changes.
That evening...
A notification appeared on Gaurav's device.
Its contents made no sense.
He read it once.
Twice.
Three times.
"No..."
His voice barely escaped his lips.
"This isn't possible..."
Lasty remained silent.
Gaurav shook his head.
"They're wrong."
"No..."
"They must be wrong."
He searched desperately.
Every source.
Every report.
Every available record.
Each one repeated the same impossible truth.
Someone...
Someone incredibly close to him...
Had died.
The report claimed that the Three Supreme Gods themselves were responsible.
"No..."
He whispered again.
"There has to be a mistake..."
For several minutes he simply stared at the screen.
Waiting.
Expecting the words to disappear.
Expecting reality to correct itself.
It never did.
His breathing became heavier.
His hands trembled.
He wanted to cry.
He wanted to scream.
He wanted to deny everything.
But strangely...
No tears came.
The pain was too deep.
Almost unreal.
His emotions felt trapped somewhere beyond his own reach.
"I... can't..."
Even Lasty remained silent.
For the first time since its creation...
The AI found no logical response.
That night...
Neither of them spoke.
Outside...
The world remained silent.
Inside...
Something had begun to break.
And when morning arrived...
Something happened...
Something so impossible...
That neither the academy...
Nor the Three Supreme Gods...
Nor even destiny itself...
Could have predicted.
To Be Continued…