When Arin woke up, he felt as though he'd been sleeping for a long, long time.
And although it took him a moment to orient himself, his thoughts and memories seemed to all be perfectly in order.
His head didn't hurt. His ears didn't buzz.
His mind was clear.
There were some things he didn't want to think of. And while he remained very aware of those memories, they surprisingly didn't linger in his mind.
Then, there were other things - things that he wanted in his thoughts. Things he wondered about. Questions he had.
Well, it's not like the answers would come walking to him.
Arin sat up in bed.
It was an unfamiliar bed. He didn't mind that, though.
It was comfortable. Soft and warm, with smooth sheets that didn't scratch, and the thickest mattress he'd seen since coming to this world.
No wonder he felt so well-rested.
For a moment, he just sat there. He looked down at his own hands, large and calloused. He'd successfully re-entered and reanimated Rin's body.
He was glad for that. Much as he'd missed his own, more familiar hands, and even though there had been a small part of him that had rejoiced in getting to see them again in his ghost-form, he didn't think he could bear to look at them just yet. Not since he'd had to use them to...
Well, he hadn't had the illusion bracelet in his ghost form. There'd been no way of summoning a needleworm beetle without it. He'd been out of both, options and time.
He'd only done what he'd had to.
In any case, he was happy about being corporeal again.