Yesterday

John and Blair spent the next hour or so cuddled together in front of the display. During that time, they didn’t say much outside of the occasional bout of small talk. Instead, they mostly just enjoyed each other’s warmth and presence while sitting on the cool floor. However, towards the end of that period, John’s thoughts and worries began to spin around once again. The first things to pop into his mind were his apprenticeship under Wentworth and his relationship with Blair.

As I get more powerful and go up the demon skill tree, won’t Blair inevitably notice? The right thing to do would be to tell her as soon as possible. But… then I might risk breaking the terms of Miss Wentworth’s contract. And even if I can explain it in a way that doesn’t, Blair might begin investigating on her own to find out more. If she uncovers my relationship with Miss Wentworth, then the best-case scenario would be if Wentworth turns out to be nice enough to allow it. But in the worst case… He didn’t even want to imagine what that could be.

He had to stop that from happening. If it led to Blair getting hurt or worse, then it would 100% be his fault. Since the moment he awakened his powers, he might have already permanently jeopardized his relationship with his own mother. And now that there was another person in his life that he cared about, could he ever forgive himself if she got hurt due to him as well?
However, John’s train of thought was interrupted before it could go further.

“So… John. Did something happen between you and Ganzac while I was gone?” Blair asked as they glanced at each other, their eyes meeting. “You know, it’s just a little strange. When he first met you, Ganzac wanted nothing more than to throw you through a wall. And then when I come back, I see the two of you sitting together playing a card game. I’m guessing that something serious must have happened to lead to such a change,” she finished. John slowly unwrapped his hand from around her shoulder as he thought about how to formulate his answer.

“That’s… hmm. Do you know how, in some movies, a girl brings a guy home to meet her dad and stay with them for dinner or something? And when she’s in the same room as them, they get along great. But when she leaves, the dad goes full psycho mode? Yeah, something like that," he explained as best he could with that analogy. It was at this moment that John began to consider if his lack of sleep had finally begun to catch up to him.

"Oh, so he's basically just putting on an act then, is what you're trying to say, right? So what did you two actually do while I was gone? You looked unhurt… but your powers are weird…" Blair said as she began to roll her left shoulder.

"Is your shoulder bothering you?" John asked.

"Just a little stiff, I think," she responded. John scooted until he was behind her, and then sat up onto his knees. He then began to give her a massage, promptly found tight muscle knots, and tried to loosen them. A few seconds in, Blair let out a satisfied sigh, a sign that he was doing a good job. In the past, he had given his mom the occasional back massage after she had a long day at work, so it wasn't like he was completely inexperienced.

"Yeah, since they're video game focused, even things like my body are affected. So if I get hurt, the injuries just fix themselves after a little time, depending on how bad they are." However, he had yet to experience any injuries that could have been considered fatal or truly life-threatening, like an organ or limb being destroyed. And although there was a part of him that was morbidly curious to see if Gamer's Body could fix that level of damage as easily, the rest of him preferred to never put that idea to the test.

"Anyway, to answer your question. You know how you just mentioned that he wanted to punch me through a wall?" John began.

"Oh no, don't tell me…" Blair raised her hand up to her face and pressed her palm against her forehead while her fingers rested on her temples.

“No, no! He didn’t actually punch me through the wall. Ganzac opened the door, and then threw me outside. After that, he opened a Barrier. I remember it like it was yesterday.” Mostly due to the fact that it had, indeed, been yesterday.

Yesterday

Ganzac slowly took off his white gloves as he popped the side of his neck. John still lay on the ground, dazed from being suddenly grabbed and tossed outside. As he tried to blink the stars out of his eyes, he heard Ganzac’s steps stomping heavily against the ground. With a quick shake of his head, John attempted to get his senses reordered.

“So, John Newman, let’s propose a hypothetical scenario. You’re facing down an Abyssal, a demon to be specific, who’s many times stronger than you, and does not particularly like you. If anything, this hypothetical demon would like nothing more than to see you be turned into a bloodstain that needs cleaning. What do you do?” Ganzac asked as he approached.

“Uggh,” John groaned as he slowly got up onto his feet and held his head. Just being thrown outside had already done ten points of damage on its own. He looked to see Ganzac now only a few feet away from him. His fists had already begun to glow a dull red. Ganzac’s Observe Sheet had marked his class as Hell Fist Expert, so it didn’t take a genius to put two and two together.

“Wrong answer. Try again,” Ganzac stated as he jabbed out his fist toward John’s face. It moved like a bolt of lighting, too fast for John to react. His mind was barely even able to register it before the impact came. But instead of a direct punch, what came instead was a sudden flick to his forehead.

-40 HP
-7 HP

But a mere forehead flick it may be, it was still powerful enough to send him flying into the wall of the Barrier. And as John remained barely conscious, he felt a warm liquid begin to drip down his face. Blood.