Chapter 80
And there seemed to be some changes going on with his body as well.
On a clear Thursday afternoon, Juin was having lunch by himself at the bleachers when Max joined him with her pack of sandwiches.
"Hey, what are you eating?" Max asked as she sat down next to him.
Juin glanced down at his half-eaten burger and said, "Double cheeseburger with…"
Using his chin, he pointed at the paper bag next to him. "A pack of large fries."
When she heard his answer, a somewhat surprised expression appeared on her face. "I thought that I saw wrongly… but you have been eating a lot more lately, right?"
Juin thought about it for a while, and he looked down at his half-eaten burger. "You're right…"
Ever since he returned from Bayfront Coast, he found himself to be in constant hunger, and he had indeed been increasing his food uptake.
"I think…" Juin mumbled, "It's cause I have been working out lately."
Max nodded since it made sense for him to eat a lot more if he had been working out. She took out her sandwiches and quickly ate one of them as she continued observing Juin while he ate.
Feeling uncomfortable, Juin quickly finished his burger before asking, "Is there anything wrong?"
"You…" She placed the other half of her sandwiches down on her lap taking one of his hands and stretching it out. "Did you grow taller? Or did your s.h.i.+rt shrink?"
Upon hearing her questions, Juin felt that there was something off with her, but he still looked at the end of his sleeve, where it ended around the mid of his forearm. Now that he was paying attention, the sleeves of the s.h.i.+rt that he was wearing used to reach his wrists.
He was never one to pay attention to fas.h.i.+on and looks, and he used to roll his s.h.i.+rt up at the bottom of the sleeves slightly, so he did not notice it at all. But Max's words finally directed his attention toward the sleeves.
"I think the s.h.i.+rt... shrank?" he said, albeit uncertainly. Why would the s.h.i.+rt shrink so suddenly? He then looked down at his pants, where the bottom of the pant legs reached an inch above his ankles instead of over them.
He wasn't too sure what was happening at the moment. Did all his clothes shrink at the same time? That was a fairly possible thing to occur.
But…
Wriggling his toes, he realized that the pair of shoes that he had worn for the last two years was a little tight, especially around the toes. It had been bothering
Max quickly finished the rest of her sandwiches and stood up. She looked at Juin from top to bottom, and after a few seconds, she signaled him to stand up.
"Huh?" Juin raised a brow, not knowing what she wanted from him.
"Stand up, so that I can take a good look at you. Quick!"
Juin dusted his lap and stood up. The moment he did, Max pulled him closer so that he was less than an inch away and their bodies were touching slightly.
"M-Max…" Juin gulped as he looked at her nervously. It seemed like she did not understand that they were no longer children. "Erm…"
"Sshh…" Max shushed him and placed her hand above his head before measuring it against her face. "The top of your head is now above my eye level…"
"S-so what?" Juin stuttered as he tried to look at the field instead of looking down at her chest.
"You used to below my eye level…" Max mumbled as she took a step back. With a wide smile, she said excitedly, "I was right… You have grown physically!"
"I did?" Juin gasped, finally realizing why his clothes had been feeling slightly tighter lately. It was not just because of the muscle that he had been gaining recently; it was because he was slowly growing out of them.
He quickly looked down at his pant legs and his sleeves and smiled. "I am growing!"
"You are!" Max laughed, sharing his happiness with him. She had been worried about him since they were of the same age. She knew that boys..h.i.t physical, and mental, growth slower than girls, but when Juin remained the same size and height as he was since he returned from Bayfront Coast three years back, she was actually worried that his growth might have been forever stunted for whatever reason.
So now that he was showing some signs of physical growth, naturally, she was happy for him.
However, a few moments later, she asked curiously, "But aren't you growing too fast? I was pretty sure that you only reached the bottom of my eyes last week."
"Maybe you didn't notice it?" Juin tried.
"No way…" Max said. Juin came over to her place every weekday morning, and they hung out occasionally during recess and after school, so there was no way she wouldn't have noticed it. "This is really recent. Did something happen last weekend?"
Juin thought about it and shook his head. There was no way he could tell her, and besides, whatever happened could not have something to do with this… right? How was it possible?
"No, I went for a short trip to Bayfront Coast, but that's about it."
"Oh?" Max's brows raised slightly. She knew where Bayfront Coast was and what it meant to Juin, thus she could not help but ask in a worried tone, "Are you alright? Why did you suddenly go back?"
"I had to check something…" Juin replied. He then gave her a light smile as he added, "Don't worry, I'm fine. I just want to see if I can untie the knot in my heart…"
Max stared at him with narrowed eyes for a few seconds before asking, "Then… did you settle whatever it was that bothered you?"
She said "whatever", but she knew what was bothering Juin. It was Ashton's death. However, she did not want to mention Ashton's name in case something happened to Juin when he was in Bayfront Coast. She was worried that if she mentioned Ashton's name now, Juin's emotions might become unstable.
Juin smiled, knowing that she was being careful with her words. "Don't worry, you can say Ashton's name without worrying about me anymore. I have come to terms with his 'death'."
Max gave him a weird look, probably wondering why the sudden change in Juin's att.i.tude toward Ashton's death, as well as the acceptance of it, when prior to last week, it was still obvious that Juin was suffering from it.
"Juin…" Max wanted to ask more, but in the end, she merely smiled and shrugged. After all, as long as Juin himself could come to terms with Ashton's death, she would not care about the hows...
And Juin was glad that Max did not press anymore, for he did not want to lie to her. There were already a lot of things that he had to lie to her, so he did not want to add more stuff to it.
Besides, even though he now knew that Ashton was still alive somewhere in the multiple dimensions that Lucifer talked about, he could not tell anyone about it. How was he supposed to say anything without being thrown into a mental asylum?
Thus, as far as for those who knew Ashton, he was already dead.