Chapter 18: He Said He Wasn't Afraid at All
Jantice's fearful emotions gradually faded after not seeing or hearing any ghosts. She intended to go to her room to sleep since she still had classes the next day.
Roy noticed her movements, and his heart rate increased. "Girl, what are you going to do?"
Jantice gave him a strange look and replied, "Sleep."
Roy swallowed hard. "Can you still sleep like this?" She was just frozen in fear a moment ago. How is she suddenly so brave?
She thought for a moment. "They're gone, and the doors and windows are closed."
"How do you know they won't come in even if the doors and windows are closed? Didn't you hear the screams outside? It means they're still nearby." Roy was dead serious. "For your safety, you should stay by my side, you know?"
Jantice tilted her head. "Are you scared?"
Roy quickly and forcefully responded, "No! How could I be! I'm not scared at all!"
Jantice looked at him quietly for a while before nodding. She fetched a pillow and blanket from her room and stayed with him in the not-so-large living room, making do for the night.
In the quiet room, with no electricity restored yet, after experiencing what had just happened, Roy felt like he had formed a revolutionary friendship with this little girl. He asked, "Did Jay say what they really are?"
"It could be ghosts," Jantice replied calmly, lying flat on her back. "Or it could be experiments."
Roy was more inclined to believe the second guess. He repeated to himself in his mind, "Not afraid of ghosts, ghosts aren't scary," as if hypnotizing himself. He didn't let go of his weapons and spent the night half-asleep, half-awake.
When Jantice got up, she tried to be as quiet as possible, but Roy woke up anyway.
Yawning from lack of sleep, he said, "Good morning, girl."
"Good morning," Jantice greeted calmly, gathering her belongings and heading to her room.
Passing by the sofa on her way to wash up, she approached him and asked, "Are you still scared?"
Roy tensed up. "No, I've never been scared."
Jantice didn't expose him and said leisurely, "They don't come every day. Don't be afraid."
Roy: The scariest thing here is you! You're not qualified to tell me not to be scared!
Swallowing back his sarcasm, Roy thought, maybe the girl was trying to comfort herself too?
He covered his face. "Okay, I'm not scared."
After escorting the girl to school, Roy intended to return to Jason's safe house. But thinking about what happened last night, he felt that the atmosphere inside that safe house was now eerie.
Roy didn't go back. Instead, he found a brightly lit café, sat down, and passionately vented to Jason on his phone. He had never seen anything so deceitful. How could he not inform him of such an important matter!
Jason might have gone to a place with no signal, as Roy sent out a bunch of messages but didn't receive a single reply from him.
Feeling bored, Roy turned to Gotham's news. The events of last night were exploding in that thread again. A group of people claimed they had seen ghosts, some said they saw a female ghost, some said they saw a little boy, and there were even reports of a female ghost killing someone.
Excluding the fake information, those who were scared were probably telling the truth. Roy himself was startled, even seeing two, one big and one small. But why did he feel like he had seen them somewhere before?
Wayne Manor, as usual, Bruce was flipping through the Gotham Gazette after dinner. Tim told him that there were reports of ghosts again.
Bruce looked up, feeling puzzled. Their recent nocturnal patrols hadn't discovered any trace of those beings, not even in the labs related to these things.
"Most of the current news indicates that people have been frightened," Tim said, patting his right hand, but not finding the familiar coffee cup. He remembered that Alfred didn't allow him to drink coffee in the morning and retracted his hand.
Tim continued, "But they do have the ability to harm people. It's still unclear what their motives are for hurting people, and whether that one monster and the big and small ones are working together."
"They're fighting among themselves," Bruce remarked.
Damian let out a disdainful grunt and did not participate in the discussion. His father currently didn't allow him to engage in nighttime activities, and he was still rebellious, but he was trying to understand his father's ideals.
Batman's no-kill policy was completely different from the League of Assassins' ideology, and Damian needed an opportunity to understand this.
At least now Damian had time to explore things he had never encountered before, such as respect and empathy.
Damian could barely muster some respect for Alfred now, but not much. He respected the old man for raising his father, and even managing to control his father in many ways, which was quite miraculous.
But Damian's attitude towards Tim hadn't changed at all, except that he wouldn't physically harm him. He still disliked seeing his father in this role, including his father's first and second adoptive sons.
Aside from these, Damian was more interested in the girl his mother praised as being just as talented as him, if not more. A girl with no name, only a photograph. He wanted to see if that person was truly deserving of his mother's high praise.
But Damian couldn't contact the League of Assassins now unless his mother dealt with that troublesome matter first. But he would find her, and then defeat her.
Thinking of the strange emotions that surged when he saw the photo, Damian thought he might as well kill her. There must be some strange ability she possessed, otherwise why would he feel so strange?
"Damian? Damian." Bruce called Damian's name several times, but didn't get a response from him, realizing that he seemed lost in thought. "What are you thinking about?"
Damian snapped out of it and said, "Nothing, Father."
Bruce raised an eyebrow but didn't expose his son's lie, understanding that his youngest son had his own concerns.
Meanwhile, the person Damian was pondering in his mind, Jantice, was currently in class, her vacant eyes indicating she was daydreaming.
However, even so, she could still accurately answer the teacher's questions.
"Your level has surpassed this place, Jantice. Your brother should let you go to school," the teacher reminded her. The girl's age was already at the point where she should be attending school, if it weren't for the language barrier before.
But now the girl had enough proficiency to cope with the school's communication.
Jantice nodded, her tone flat as she replied, "The teacher, my brother will consider it."
At noon, Jantice didn't expect to see Roy when she went to eat.
Approaching him, she asked in confusion, "You didn't go back?"
Roy ruffled her head and chuckled, "It was too boring at home."
Jantice realized, "You're scared."
Roy: ...Did Jason not teach her what not to say? Looks like he didn't, little brat!
"Let's go, let's eat," Roy said, pretending not to have heard that sentence, leading the child to have a good meal.
Thinking of her pocket money, Jantice said seriously, "I don't have that much money."
Roy: ...
He rubbed her head angrily over his cap. "As an adult, do I need you to pay for the meal?"
Putting aside the fact that Jason would laugh at him and beat him up if he found out, he could even beat himself up for being useless.
Lowering her head, Jantice wasn't angry. Jason often rubbed her head, and considering that this was Jason's good friend, she forgave his actions.
Adjusting her cap, Jantice said, "Let's have dessert."
Facing the persistent child, Roy smiled, "No."
Roy finally saw the displeasure on the child's face as he wished.
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