Souls Online: Mythic Ascension
Chapter 134: Years before the Ears

Chapter 134: Years before the Ears

Crystal couldn’t help but fidget as Leo visibly panicked. He had always been kind and caring, However, she did have a cause for concern. Despite the passing of time, he had not grown by much and seemed far more...frail despite his impressive stop after a run.

"Why are you wearing that gaudy pink hoodie? It looks heavy and terrible for running."

She remarked, her eyes catching a quick grimace from her longtime friend. She narrowed her eyes and once again closed the gap between them and grabbed a fistful of the sweater and growled

"What aren’t you telling me Leo?! You never kept secrets from me before!"

Leo didn’t know what to say to that. While it was true that he had never really kept secrets from her, this was different. He had hidden the fact that he had practically been on his deathbed for the last three years. Telling her ’Oh I just died the other day and came back to life with cat ears and a tail’ did not seem like it would pan out well.

Yet when he noticed the tears in the corner of her eyes, he remembered that she was one of the few people in his life who had genuinely cared about him. Confession aside, she was someone he used to trust no matter what.

"There’s a lot that has happened in the last few years Crys..Promise me you won’t freak out or run away if I show you."

"Of course I won’t! We are practically childhood friends after all. I have your back no matter what!"

Crystal’s reply was immediate upon hearing her old nickname. She quickly released her grip on his sweater and a glimmer of excitement appeared in her eyes. Seeing her so gungho about this, Leo could only sigh and slowly pull off his hood.

"So this...is the reason I am wearing the hoodie.."

He sheepishly remarked as Crystal’s jaw slightly dropped in shock. Perched atop his tousled blonde hair, the delicate cat ears looked so natural they almost seemed unreal. However that only drew her attention for a short moment, instead she found herself focusing more on his face.

Once upon a time, she would have described his face as boyish with a somewhat cute appeal but now she could only describe him as beautiful.

His features were soft yet somehow well defined, his green eyes while the same colour that she remembered seem to have a gravity to them that wanted to pull her in. His skin seemed like it was soft to the touch without a single blemish.

"So....What do you think?"

He murmured as a faint flush spread on his cheeks, clearly a bit embarrassed at the way she was staring at him. Crystal stood rooted in place as she struggled to come up with the words she wanted to say.

"Ummm....Pretty?"

She replied with an uncertain tone, her emotions becoming a mess as she quietly began to question herself.

’Was the reason he ghosted me is because he was actually a she?’

"You...think I’m pretty? You don’t think I am a freak?!"

Leo was shocked and slightly amused at his childhood friend’s absurd reaction to seeing his face. Crystal rapidly blinked as she tried to regain some semblance of composure.

"Yeah~! Why would I think you are a freak?"

She asked as she continued to scan Leo’s face as if she was observing a work of art.

"My ears..."

"What about them? Did you get a piercing or something? I don’t see anything"

Leo’s expression became one of profound bewilderment at Crystal’s lack of observational ability here.

"No...I am talking about the ears on top of my head?"

"Those accessories? They look very cute and really realistic. Why are you wearing them though? I didn’t want to pry since it’s your life and you do you and all that jazz."

One of the ears on top of his head twitched which caused Crystal to jump back and raise her hands in front of her chest as if she was going to fight someone.

"What the hell was that? Did one of them just move?!"

She shouted in disbelief, clearly caught off guard.

"Yeah they moved. Considering they are attached to my head and 100% real."

"Ehh?!"

A startled squeak came from Crystal’s mouth as her gaze rapidly flicked between the Cat ears and Leo’s face. She wanted to say something but words failed her and she could only shout

"EHH?!"

Crystal stood still with her body locked in place and her hands were still half-raised as if she was trying to fend off an imaginary attacker. Leo gave her a flat look.

"Okay, now you’re freaking out."

"I’m not freaking out!"

she squeaked, finding her voice once more.

"I’m just... processing!"

"Crystal."

"I’m processing very intensely!"

She insisted, face flushed with a mix of panic and embarrassment. Her eyes narrowed at him again.

"So...Can I touch them?"

Leo was not expecting that response at first but then he remembered that she really liked cats and his cat ears were unknown territory for a cat lover. Even still, he shook his head in refusal.

"I would prefer you didn’t"

"Aww~! No fun!"

She pouted as she crossed her arms in disappointment. However she forced herself to get over it and asked the one question that was bothering her.

"Enough about this for now. What happened to you?"

Leo hesitated. He looked away, ears twitching faintly as the wind tousled his hair. For a moment, he didn’t say anything and Crystal, unusually, let the silence hang.

Then he finally murmured,

"I almost died."

Her eyes widened.

"Almost?"

"Well... technically, I did. For like... five minutes."

"WHAT?!"

"There it is,"

he muttered.

"The freak-out I was waiting for."

"No, you can’t blame me for freaking out now! You can shut the hell up, Leo. You died? Like, actually died? Like heart-stopped, flatlined, dead-dead?!"

He nodded, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his hoodie. His voice was quiet, distant.

"Three years ago. It started slow. I was sick for a while, but they never figured out what was wrong. Up until a few days ago I was in the hospital. By some sort of miracle, I came back to life after my heart stopped but I ended up like this as a result."

Crystal felt like she was going to throw up, collapse and scream all at the same time. She didn’t know what to say but she felt resentment build towards the man in front of her. How was she supposed to react to this?!

’Why couldn’t he tell me the truth? Why did he run away from me?’

Questions like that had eaten away at her for years. Now she finally had her answer.