Chapter 1071: Familiar Role

1071 Familiar Role

Nephis stared at Sunny for a couple moments, then briefly glanced at her apron and quietly cleared her throat.

"Right."

She turned around and got back to stirring the rice. A couple seconds later, site added without looking back:

"You'll have to wait for a couple more minutes. And... welcome back, Sunny. Did you make it out of the Antarctic Center alright?"

Sunny wondered how much Changing Star knew about the situation in the Southern Quadrant as he followed Cassie, Effie, and Kai to sit behind a dining table. Settling on a wooden chair... which was far inferior to his own Shadow Chair... he sighed.

"I wouldn't call it "alright". But yes, I made it out. I'm already inside a siege capital in East Antarctica."

Neph's shoulder moved slightly.

"...That's good."

Effie grabbed a few cans of something sugary and refreshing, then pushed one toward Sunny.

"Kai and I spent a whole month in transit, aboard those giant ships. We were in the first batch of the Second Army to arrive, so we've been in East Antarctica for about a week. Gods... I thought the ocean was bad, but Antarctica! I havenever seen that many Nightmare Creatures in my life, not even here in the Dream Realm. It's like the two worlds switched places."

Kai nodded southerly.

"Indeed. Even though there are secure evacuation corridors between the inland siege capitals and the harbor strongholds, we had to fight a couple battles just to reach our designated sector. Luckily, there were no casualties."

The Second Army was twice the size of the First Army, so it was going to take two trips for the naval convoys to bring all of it to the Southern Quadrant. Both Effie and Kai were in the first wave of reinforcements, which was why they had made landfall around the time Sunny himself reached East Antarctica.

Sunny looked at them, wondering. East Antarctica was a large place, and it was not a given that their paths would cross until the end of the operation... he really hoped that they would, though.

Effie shook her head.

"Enough about us! What happened to you? You... you look a bit different. Sunny."

"I'm so sorry, Sunny. You've been through a lot."

Sunny closed his eyes for a moment. The heart-wrenching memories of the Antarctic Center clawed at his heart, making him want to surrender to a dark and boundless emotion.

... With a smile, he shook his head.

"We've all been through a lot. On the Forgotten Shore and in our Second Nightmares, we've been through hell after hell. But... it did really feel different, this time. Maybe because I was responsible for other people, and maybe because it was happening right here on Earth, not in some distant place."

With that, Sunny glanced at Effie and Kai, then said, trying to cheer them up:

"You don't have to worry too much, though. Now that the operation is in its second phase, things will calm down a little. East Antarctica is in a much better spot than the Antarctic Center... there are more soldiers, more Awakened, more Saints, and much fewer obstacles in the way. Sure, it's going to be a tough campaign, and unexpected variables are bound to emerge... but I feel like the worst part is over. With some luck, we will all manage."

He smiled, then secretly threw a glance at Nephis.

She was now a part of one of those unexpected variables. Would Neph have something to say to him? As if feeling his gaze, Changing Star turned around and walked their way, soon placing plates of fragrant rice and vegetables in front of each member of the cohort.

Her apron had disappeared at some point in the past few minutes.

Sitting down, Nephis pushed the plate with the biggest portion toward Sunny, which caused Effie to stare at her indignantly

Neph coughed.

"What? Eat, everyone... before it gets cold..."

They turned their attention to the food, and for a while, Sunny felt delightfully at peace.

It was so strange... he had gone through so much, and had changed so much, but now that he was back with his friends, it was so easy to slide into a familiar role-to smile and laugh as if he was the same old Sunny. It felt natural, even if a small, hidden comer of his heart remained dark and cold, untouched by the peaceful warmth of their reunion.

Still, it wasn't a bad feeling.

Allowing himself to relax, Sunny concentrated on the food. It had been along time since he got to eat something Nephis had cooked.

The fried rice, with vegetables was, indeed, much better than military rations.

It was delicious.