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The stars look pretty tonight. That season sure was tiring. But after all that chaos, I made some unforgettable memories. Everyone lives in Yoyle City and everything has been going well. I had fun in this competition, despite my scars, but now I'm happy with everything goi-
Ssshhh...
What was that?
I got up and turned around only to see a few bushes. I noticed something green behind one of them.
Leafy...?
I got to her bush and looked behind it. Leafy jumped in surprise holding a knife. She stood still until she recognized me.
"Book?" Suddenly she shook her head and looked away annoyed "Why are you here?"
"I could ask you the same thing."
"I...I was hiding. Just don't mind me. You can go."
... I sat down next to her, behind her bush.
"I think I'll stay a bit." I said.
"W-why? Don't you hate me?"
"I was just trying to help you. Evil Leafy gets summoned whenever you get ang-"
"HERE WE GO AGAIN! Calling me evil and stuff! You're the one who's angry!"
"How can you say that when you're yelling at me?"
"I'M NOT YELLING! YOU'RE JUST BEING MEAN TO ME!"
She was definitely yelling. If she goes on like this I'm dead. I tried to bring her back to her senses by holding her.
"Leafy...! Please... it's okay... just calm down... alright?"
She started panting at high speed before it slowed down and I let go of her.
"Leafy... You had to choose wisely... but you couldn't let it happen, could you? Why did you not think about what your actions can do to your mentality and status? It's... it's better if you just apologize to Firey."
Leafy looked down, her voice becoming lower and quieter.
"You don't get it. You don't know what I had to go through, what I've done to get there, to finally get what I truly need, only for it to get taken away. I thought he liked me. I thought we had something. Why doesn't he talk to me...? Sigh... Sorry... I just need some time to think."
Time to think...?
Gasp!
I got it! I tried to help her become happy, but I didn't try making her relax. Maybe there's still hope for her. I looked at Leafy and she looked back.
"Well, I'm a mental health guidebook... Now that I think about it, why didn't I check myself before? Anyway, maybe I can find something useful."
I opened myself and saw something that was probably what Leafy needed all along.
"Aha! That's a good idea!" I exclaimed.
I closed myself and held my hands out for Leafy.
"Leafy... Take my hands..."
She looked confused at first but she decided she had no other better option. We both closed our eyes and I guided her into a meditative state.
"Okay, Leafy... Take a deep breath... then relax your muscles... Embrace this quiet moment... Forget your past sins... and let everything go..."
I opened one eye and noticed Leafy was still pretty tense. She was trying too hard to be calm so I thought of something.
"Hey, Leafy." I called her and she looked at me. "Let's try a mantra. We'll go with the easiest one."
I inhaled slowly, and let out a calming and soothing sound.
“Om…”
Sigh... I feel much better.
I looked at Leafy again. Still tense. Let's try again. I inhaled again and this time I tried to make it more quiet.
“Om…”
I looked at her again. Hmm... Still no change for her. Maybe it'll work if I repeated it multiple times.
“Om…”
I looked at her yet again. What? How was this not helping her? I thought it would work. That page told me the vibration wo-
“OM.”
Huh!? What was that? Did it come from Leafy? I took a glance at her. She was breathing by herself and repeating the mantra but with much more force behind it, thinking it'll help her.
“OOOOOOMMMMMmmmm”
Leafy still looked pretty stressed out. It was hard for her to relax alone. I'll have to show her how to do it.
"Leafy..." She looked at me "Follow my lead..." We both inhaled at the same time. After I chanted my mantra, Leafy followed.
“Om…”
“OM…”
Another inhale from both of us...
“Om…”
This time it worked.
“Om…”
Leafy finally started to slowly relax everytime she started repeating her sound. I could see her calm and peaceful at last. I gave her a small delighted smile.
Ever since I met Leafy she was a fast speaking overthinker. She thought of herself as the nicest person. But the incident where she stole Dream Island affected her deeply. She's been a hated outcast and she didn't deserve it. Somehow I'm the only one who genuinely wanted to help her. It didn't work out the last time we talked but I let her get away from the others.
And I felt she started to warm up to me. I opened my eyes.
"How are you fe-"
Huh? Leafy was breathing heavily and tears were streaming down from her shut eyes. Is she overwhelmed?
I let go of her hands and gave a concerned look.
"Leafy, are you okay?"
She was dead silent until after a few seconds she spoke up...
"I miss this... I miss feeling this blissful happiness. I used to meditate on my own, having no cares, and being free. But... He betrayed me... and I was angry... and everyone hates me!" She said as she started crying quietly. "Book... How are you so kind to me? Didn't you call me a selfish annoying island-stealing loner? Why did you even let me live?"
Because you deserve better...
I gave Leafy a comforting hug. Her breathing slowed down but she didn't return it to me. All that remained was silence. Some heavy unbreakable silence. I let go of her and she gave me a tired look on her face.
"Listen, Book. About earlier... choosing a path. I'll keep hiding from everyone and I won't take your advice... but maybe... I'll consider it."
She turned around and walked away from me. It won't be the last I see her, for sure, but at least she was feeling much calmer. Maybe one day she'll apologize for everything. Maybe she'll even talk to Firey again.
Maybe she won't be that selfish anymore.