Chapter 15: Chapter 15
The next few minutes seemed to fly past in a blur.
Roth stood over his friend while the doctors worked, but Jeff was in too bad of shape to be saved.
Roth watched as his best friend's face stilled and his breathing ended.
The constant cheeriness was finally gone from his face.
It was as if some god above wanted to see how much the kid could take before he finally cracked.
Roth left the hospital in a daze, wandering around for a while before finding a bench to sit on.
"Bro… why did you die…"
In a daze, and with his emotions thrown awry by both the loss and his own impending death, Roth's sense of reason was twisted.
"This is my fault, isn't it… If I didn't bring you here today, you would still be alive and happy, right?"
Roth sat on the bench crying for a while, and didn't return back home until it was dark.
Nothing had changed at home.
Roth's father still pounded away at the keys of the computer, and his mom sat at the kitchen table, a dead look on her face.
Roth no longer tried to cheer them up. Instead, he headed to his room and closed the door.
As soon as he was inside the door, weakness overcame him, and he fell to the floor, gasping for breath.
^Maybe this isn't so bad. I deserve this after causing my friend to die. If there is a next life, I hope to spend it with Jeff again, making it up to him for causing him to die in this one.^
Roth was practically delirious. He took the full weight of his best friend's death on himself, believing himself to be responsible for a freak accident.
He no longer fought to hold on to life, and the light of the ceiling light seemed to fade away, and soon everything was black.
Perhaps whichever godly being that toyed Roth to giving up on life finally took pity on him, as his final request was fulfilled.
Roth's consciousness woke up. It was still late in the night, and Ash was still sound asleep.
^What was that? I think I was dreaming about my past life, but why are the memories slipping back away?^
Just like Ash's first dream, Roth's memories of this one evaded him as soon as he woke up.
Other than being confused, it did nothing to help Roth understand who he once was.
^Well, I guess it doesn't really matter. That was this life, and this is this one. I shouldn't worry about what happened, and instead live for now. Right now, we need to focus on growing strong and learning the language spoken here.^
Planning out the future seemed to calm Roth down a bit, and he was able to return to sleeping for the rest of the night. This time, no forgotten dreams came to him, and he was able to sleep peacefully.
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The remainder of the week seemed almost too peaceful.
Ash spent his mornings roaming around the city with Alice. The sight of the young wolf startled some, but Alice was well known, and the sight of her managed to calm down anyone started by Ash.
On the walks, Alice would point at objects along the way, then repeat the name of the object multiple times.
Ash soon gained a fairly basic understanding of the names of commonly seen objects in the city.
After returning from their morning stroll, the two would begin to study together.
Alice read aloud to Ash, and would often pause to make sure he understood what she was saying.
The two would eat lunch after studying, then explore around the mansion or study some more after their meals.
Some days Su would come over to visit, always prattling on about going out on hunting trips.
One such day was a week from when Ash first arrived at the Graves family home.
Su came for another visit, this time even more talkative than ever.
The girl was unbearably chatty, so much so that even Ash, who spent over a month longing to hear another voice aside from Roth's, grew tired of her.
'Yea, Su, we get it. You like hunting a lot. Shut up now.'
Nevertheless, Ash couldn't voice his despair. He could now understand much of the conversations, but had no way of joining them.
Alice, on the other hand, seemed too happy to entertain her talkative friend.
She always acted interested in what Su had to say, and her mannerisms didn't look fake at all.
^Does this kid actually enjoy this tortuous conversation, or is she just acting? I don't know how she keeps a straight face!^
Even Roth had reached his limit around Su. Roth and Alice were both loving souls who were too kind for their own good, but it looked as if Alice took the cake as the most patient.
"Alice, come with me hunting tomorrow! I'm sure wolfy here wants to go out in the woods, right wolfy?"
Su grabbed Ash's fur, pulling on it painfully, almost as if threatening him if he dared not to agree.
'This kid is the reincarnation of Mimosa, I'm sure of it. No one else could possibly be this annoying!'
The sudden thought of their now dead littermate dimmed Ash's mood even further, and his head sunk a bit.
Su, taking this as a disagreement, yanked a handful of Ash's fur out.
His head shot up in pain, and it looked a bit like he was nodding.
"See? Wolfy wants to go out hunting with me tomorrow, so you have to come with me too!"
Ash looked at Alice with a pitiful look on his face, but Alice misunderstood it.
"Well… it does look like Ash wants to go out, I have been keeping him cooped up in here a lot to learn. I guess we can go with you tomorrow."
'NNOOOOOO!!! Alice, you've doomed us all!!!!'
"Alright, see you tomorrow morning then!"
Su stood up and left, but the peace couldn't be enjoyed. Another few days of torture was now guaranteed.
The smile fell from Alice's face, relieved that Su was finally gone.
^HA! So Alice isn't a psychopath… She is scary good at acting though. She can probably trick anyone… I mean, she did trick her own father, after all.^
In the evenings, the small family would eat together, then play board games afterwards.
Both Alice and Earl were astonished by Ash's intelligence, and began treating him like they would any human. He still couldn't beat either of them in chess, but he did his best to put up a good fight.
This caused their relationship to become a bit odd.
Ash had the body of a wolf pup, but the mental maturity of a young adult.
He saw Alice as a younger sister, someone he had to protect. He still wasn't sure what to view Earl as.
Earl was certainly a good father to Alice, and some part of Ash wanted the same relationship with him.
Alice and Earl judged Ash similarly. Ash and Alice almost never split up, and she had gotten a pretty good feel of Ash's mind.
He seemed like… A protective big brother.
She found it a bit strange, how could a little wolf pup have the bearing of an elder brother?
For once in her life, she didn't know how to act in front of someone.
Should she treat him like a kid brother, a pet, or an elder brother?
She eventually decided on the third option, it seemed to fit his attitude best.
Earl was still a little distant, but as time passed, he started looking at Ash almost like one would look at a son… a fluffy, four-legged son with sharp incisors.
Ash grew at a rapid pace during this week at the Graves house, and his shoulder now reached as high as Earl's belly button.
Ash had plenty of food and exercise, as well as a safe place to rest.
He had the perfect conditions to grow strong quickly.
He still had a long way to go, but he could now be of use in protecting his new family from any potential danger.
Soon the morning of the hunting trip approached, along with a new adventure.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone