But right before Momiji could exit the room, the doctors saw the unconscious patient's body appear out of thin air as he fell straight down onto the bed.
"???"
Both doctors stared with wide eyes at the impossible sight in front of them; not only had his body reappeared out of thin air, but he had woken up as he sat up straight and looked around curiously.
Sophie, on the other hand, couldn't care less about what had happened; she could finally see and talk to him again, and without hesitation she jumped straight into his arms.
"Woah, calm down, Sophie," Senzo said, patting her head softly.
"Do you know how worried I was when you suddenly vanished like that!? Please never do that ever again!" she shouted, hugging him so tightly that Senzo felt his muscles cramp.
When Momiji heard that, she snapped her head back, and what she saw left her totally stumped. He's back? What?
Even though she wanted to pry every little detail out of him as to why he had just disappeared, she could leave that for later; for now she would let Sophie have her moment.
"Calm down, Sophie. It's not like I wanted to— Wait, I disappeared? You say I disappeared?" Senzo asked, wincing in pain.
"Yes, you were gone for a couple minutes; we thought Babel had taken you."
"Hahaha, don't worry, it was not them; something just happened. I'll tell you later. Could you please let me go now?"
scratching his cheek. Sophie was blocking something, he couldn't put it into words, but it was like an itch he couldn't scratch. Horrible.
"No! How can I be sure that you won't just straight up disappear anymore?" she countered, holding him even tighter than before.
"Don't worry, it won't happen again anytime soon. And even if you were holding onto me, does that mean I can't just disappear anymore?"
"..."
Senzo's sound argument made Sophie realize something: he was right. Even if she was holding onto him, that did not mean he couldn't just vanish like that anymore.
"Before I do let you go, promise me one thing: please always return to me," she pleaded, slowly releasing her grip.
"I promise, and don't worry; even if I do disappear, I will always return. That's a promise."
After she heard him say that, it felt like a weight lifted off her shoulders, and finally she fully let him go and took a seat next to the hospital bed once more.
Next to Sophie, Momiji stood there quietly observing Senzo. And even though he looked the exact same as before his disappearance, he felt different, like something big had changed during that short time he wasn't here.
But she couldn't quite put her finger on what that change was exactly. Am I being too sensitive?
"How are you feeling?" the female doctor suddenly jumped in after letting them have their moments. Now it was their turn; after all, they were still the medical professionals, and they had to carefully assess his condition.
Instead of replying, Senzo closed his eyes, crossed his legs, and began levitating above the bed.
"!?!?"
Sophie, Momiji, and the two doctors stared at him with wide eyes.
But Senzo couldn't be bothered with them now; this was that scratch he needed, but he couldn't explain it to them, or the opportunity might be lost.
The Taiji energy inside his eyes went around his whole body, slowly enriching every muscle and bone, but while it felt incredibly comfortable, his muscle aches did not disappear.
It felt more like his body was being recalibrated so it could heal itself faster and more efficiently.
What's going on?
Senzo knew Taiji's characteristics from the imprinted knowledge, but this phenomenon hadn't been described.
Wait, isn't this related to the balance characteristic of Taiji? Because it feels like my body is being recalibrated, the balance is being restored.
Just like that, he knew what was happening to his body, and he could put aside all his worries and fully enjoy this amazing feeling.
At first it started at his head, rebalancing all the burst blood vessels and all the damage his eyes had taken.
Then the energy slowly made its way toward the rest of his body from the shoulders to his abdomen.
Slowly readjusting everything to the optimal baseline.
After it had gone through his whole torso, it was the turn of the hips, legs, and feet.
"Haaah."
It felt so good that Senzo couldn't help but moan a little as his almost broken and completely unbalanced body was being reset to its optimal settings.
And just like that, his eyes shot open, and he slowly descended and landed on the bed after everything was done recalibrating.
"Don't worry, I won't disappear, Sophie, so please wipe those tears away," he stated, looking at Sophie's tear-stained face.
He'd heard her muffled crying while she panicked, watching his body levitate.
"I'm sorry, but I just couldn't help it. After you had just returned, I thought..."
Momiji, on the other hand, was carefully scrutinizing every inch of Senzo's body; she didn't understand what had just happened, but one thing was for certain: he had changed a lot in the couple of minutes he had disappeared for.
She could feel it. At first she wasn't sure if she was just being paranoid or if something had changed, but now after what had just happened, she knew her feeling wasn't wrong.
"Where did you go in those couple of minutes?" she blurted out.
"I'll tell you later; let's go check up on the others, mostly the Major and Yugiri. Their conditions should be worse..."
Senzo said, clutching his fist so tightly it turned almost fully white.
"Fuuuu." He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down.
Then he turned toward the two doctors. "Could you please lead the way?"
"Uh?"
The doctors were dumbfounded, but seeing Momiji glare at them like that, they could only meekly nod their heads.
"Please follow us."
"Thanks."