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X was down with something.
He wasn't sure what, but it invaded every fibre of his being. It was like this ever since he woke up from his nap on the couch- he couldn't tell where the pain began or ended. His throat burned when he tried to breathe, and each gulp dragged through him like glass shards. Even trying to move his body made his muscles ache and his head spin. The light seeping through the curtains stabbed at his eyes, so he turned his face away, though even that small movement sent his stomach lurching.
What's going on...?
Sweat beaded down his skin, sliding into his collar as he scrambled for water. He's burning up. Was it the side effect of his powers?
But he thought that he had gone past that stage for sure.
There's someone tapping his balcony door rather impatiently. X cringed at the noise, turning to see Ahu rather persistently pressing against the glass. With a raggard sigh, he snapped his fingers, letting him in. He felt so cold that he had to wrap the blanket around himself despite all the sweat.
"You're really sick." Ahu commented, looking at him with concern. "I didn't believe it when they told me."
They...?
So the agencies all know. Of course they would- the surveillance on him never once stopped, and more cameras were set up the more he destroyed them.
Right after the Hero Tournament ended, too? This really was the worst timing to get sick. Reinforcements must be on their way to wipe him off the surface of the earth now.
There's a sound of more people landing on his balcony. X readied himself to snap his fingers, but Ahu stopped him. "It's Lin Ling."
"X! Are you alright?" The Commoner surged forward after opening the doors, very cautiously examining him, at a loss of whether to touch him or not. Ahu growled at the sight of Nice who came in after, keeping a stern eye on him, though it didn't seem necessary. Nice did not move unless it was to follow Lin Ling. He behaved in an unnatural manner, his smile now replaced by an indifferent, hollow expression.
In a matter of minutes, almost all of the top 10 heroes had gathered at his place. Aside from Dragon Boy, who attempted to kill X on sight but was put in timeout with a snap of his fingers, everyone else seemed concerned by the rapidly spreading news that their top hero was not as invincible as they had thought. Still, public opinion was not so easily waned for X who had retained his title four times in a row. The general consensus was still rather positive, just as it was on the day of the Hero Tournament. Since he had a civilian side to himself, many new believers were roped in, thinking that his humility whilst having incredible power was impressive.
With most of the top 10 guarding him, many lower-ranked heroes who attempted to assassinate him were quickly dispelled in the meantime.
Lin Ling and Nice went to get meds and congee, while Little Johnny placed a cold compress on his head.
After X had finally fallen asleep from exertion, Queen came into the room, watching Cyan press a lucky charm in his hand as Ahu guarded him.
"Out of everyone, I thought you'd want to get back at him." Dragon Boy grumbled at the corner. "Didn't you get humiliated in the past tournaments?"
Queen casted him a frigid glance.
"I don't have such shallow principles." She muttered. "Since he rightfully won, the least I could do is to improve myself."
"We're back." Lin Ling announced, placing the takeout container with congee on the table. He then dropped a bunch of medicine packets beside it, while Nice took out multiple bottles of warm herbal drinks and throat candy.
"Isn't this a bit too much?" Cyan whispered, looked concerned at the pile of medicine on the bedside table.
"Since X likes sweet things, we didn't know whether he would be able to ingest the medicine, so we bought some of everything." Lin Ling awkwardly explained.
"This is pretty sweet. He'll like it." Little Johnny pointed at the Luo Han Guo tea. "Big Johnny eats basically everything, but he likes sweet foods too, so I know more about it."
"Speaking of Big Johnny... where is he?"
"Ah." Little Johnny froze. He looked down at his hands, finding that his son was, in fact, not in his lap. Hearing the suspicious sound of something wriggling in the bed of medicine, the heroes immediately rushed to find him chewing on some of the lozenges.
"You-!" He cried, grabbing him out of the pile. Big Johnny squirmed and whined in protest, leading to a disturbance to X's sleep. He woke up not long after, still looking sickly despite the brief respite.
"They bought congee and medicine. At least eat some." Ahu pointed out.
X pressed a hand to his head, nursing the dull throb he was feeling. He glanced at the pile of medicine and drinks, looking rather confused but also not particularly in the mood to ask about it.
With a snap of his fingers, the bottle of Luo Han Guo tea now rested snugly in X's hands. He drank a little, and ate a bit of the congee upon Ahu's request before taking some medicine.
"Smile, is he..." X looked as though he was about to ask whether he was here, but then remembered something, and stopped talking.
"Don't think about anything for now. You should focus on getting better." Little Johnny quickly cut in.
"Right. Rest well." Cyan added.
"Thanks..." X muttered, face still terribly flushed from the fever.
For a moment after he dozed off, the top heroes were silent.