"I don’t mind if you truly need it that much. My friend will understand," Dee3 continued to offer despite my rejection.
Listening to her, I couldn’t help but smile, thinking that I could sell her and she wouldn’t know. One shouldn’t be this trusting. I now understand why, despite her incredible curse abilities, she slaved for the government for most of her life without attempting to escape.
"Enough about me. Do they know about Mr. Birdie?" I asked as discreetly as I could, glazing over the cyborg animals that came to comfort me.
These guys lost a friend trying to help me, yet they found the heart to console my selfish self, who wouldn’t even treat them equally.
Now I know why Dee3 lay on the floor. I assumed she was being her usual free-spirited self, but she was mourning her friend’s death. Was she expecting me to console her? I feel like such a jerk realizing I have been such a terrible friend to Dee3 and the Cyborg animals.
This kind of genuine friendship was new to me. As far as I can remember, there were a few classmates that I used to think were my friends, but once Mark started to target me, they stopped associating with me nor did I try to reach out to them because I didn’t want to get them into trouble. I guess they were never my friends, just classmates I was close to.
So, it’s just Danny...Na, he was my cousin first. It’s final then. I have no one I could truly call a friend. I couldn’t help but smile self-deprecatingly.
"Yes," Dee3 said dejectedly. The cyborg animals also lowered their heads, expressing sadness over their recently deceased friend.
I couldn’t help but stare at her, just realizing that she worked through her sadness and pain to help me. Not just her, cyborg animals did too. My eyes turned red realizing that in my hurry to control my fate, I failed to see the gift that very fickle fate had presented me with.
"..." I was without words. Not knowing what to do. So, I asked Emi mentally, ’What do I do? I feel useless.’
’Master, death is not something you can fix, just be there for them like they were for you just now. That is the most anyone can do in this situation,’ Emi explained to me.
’Alright, I can do that,’ I thought that but then I ignorantly asked Dee3, "Did you guys already hold a funeral for Mr. Birdie?"
"..." Dee3 locked her teary red eyes with mine and suddenly broke into tears, trying hard not to cry out loud. Seeing her like that, my body moved forward by itself, pulling her into my embrace. Burying her head in my chest, Dee3 began to wail inconsolably.
Seeing just how much pain Dee3 was in, my eyes turned red realizing the serious tunnel vision I was suffering from. Instead of mourning her loss with her, I was pushing her to betray another friend of hers. I don’t deserve to call myself her friend.
I was riddled with guilt realizing that in my attempts to secure a curse caster’s innate curse tool or core for the safety of my family, I seriously neglected the people around me. The people who genuinely cared for me, even though they were related to me by blood or time. The most update n0vels are published on novel✦fire.net
Brushing Dee3’s silky hair, I lifted my head to gaze at the ceiling and thought, ’Mom, I finally found some friends. No, they found me. Fuck, I’m pathetic.’
"Dee3, what’s wrong?" I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t watch her . I had to ask her so I could fix whatever was bothering her.
"They took Mr. Birdie’s curse prosthetics. We have nothing..." Dee3 was too heartbroken and couldn’t finish her sentence.
But I got the jest of it. After the life-steal curse spell killed Mr. Birdie, destroying his body in the process, the curse terrorist group kept her curse prosthetics that were left behind. After all, they were state-of-the-art curse gadgets. If they can uncover the secret curse tech the prosthetics contained, it would make their trip more than worth it.
I lifted Dee3’s head by her chin and assured her, "Don’t worry. Why don’t you guys prepare for the funeral? I will go fetch Mr. Bridie’s curse prosthetics."
Seeing Dee3 take a break from crying and nod, I made another request. "You guys don’t mind if I invite others to the funeral, right? I bet they’d like to thank and bid goodbye to their hero. I promise they will behave themselves. Of course, if you’d prefer to keep it to close friends, that’s fine too. No pressure."
"No, it’s alright. Just send me the guest list, I have to make the necessary food and seating arrangements," Dee3 shook her head and agreed to allow others an opportunity to thank and bid goodbye to the hero who saved our town. After all, if not for the information Mr. Birdie gathered, risking his life, the curse terrorists would have overwhelmed the allies and there could have been more casualties on our side.
"How about I send Lyra over? She will help with the food and seating arrangements," I offered. This time around I had no other schemes like creating an opportunity for Lyra to befriend Dee3. I could only trust my sister to help Dee3 in my absence. My mother or Mandy would be a better option, but they weren’t part of this side of the world. Anyway, Lyra can be dependable when it matters.
"Okay," Dee3 nodded in agreement.
Getting the green light from Dee3, I sent Lyra a lengthy text updating her and asking her to come over. I knew it would be more efficient in person, but at the moment, I didn’t want to leave Dee3 and her cyborg animal unsupervised.
While Dee3’s cyborg animal friends were smart, had her best interests in mind, and proven to be better friends to her than me, they were in mourning too. I’d rest assured with Lyra looking after them. I trusted my elder sister with this because she has always been there for me. So, I felt she could do the same for Dee3 and the cyborg animals.