Jaden held back the chuckle that threatened to emerge, and nodded.

"Got it." he said.

"We'll head there now." he told her.

He then looked around for a moment, before looking at her.

"Come on." he said.

"I'll get us there where nobody can see us." he told her further.

"........." Jaden was silent as he saw this.

"Oh." he muttered.

"Oh crap..." he said.

"I... should have warned you about that." he said further.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I mean, you should be okay soon, but how are you NOW?"

"......eesh." Jadden muttered.

"Yeah, sorry." he said.

"I should have warned you." he told her.

"My portals tend to do that to people." he went on... but again, she didn't answer.

"...uh... hello?" he asked.

"Hey, look, I'm sorry, okay?"

"........................." Jaden was silent for longer than he would have liked.

"Son of a bitch!" he cursed quietly.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it." he repeated, starting to panic slightly... before pausing.

He then grabbed his phone out of his pocket, and typed something on the screen, before handing it to her.

Where did you get them? I'll get you replacements. And did they not have mana in them to protect them from stuff like this? it read.

Jade just sighed as he read the message, and typed one back.

There's a number of reasons for that, but perhaps my mana was too much, too fast for them. Regardless, we need to get you a replacement pair, and we need to get them ASAP.

I know a place where you should be able to get some, and get some made up by the end of the day. it read.

"Damn it again." Jaden growled under his breath as he handed the phone to her.

"Not even 5 minutes of being under my care, and I already fucked up."

Again, Jaden was silent, before sighing.

Come on, then. Let's grab some food and then get you home. he typed up, before pausing.

Also, given what just happened with my portals, would you prefer to cab it home? It'd be nothing for me to cover it, regardless of where it is. he typed further, before pausing once more.

Actually, do you live in the city? he then added, before handing it to her.

Jaden just nodded again and gave a small thumbs-up.

With that, the two of them went to the place that she liked, and he ordered exactly what she wanted, and a small thing for him. With the reasoning that it wouldn't be good for her to go through a portal after having just eaten, they got it to go, found a place where there was nobody, and used another portal to get her home, with Desiree winding up in a similar state.

Jaden just sighed when he saw this, set the food and drinks on a nearby table, and waited for her to get back up to par again.

'...I need to remember that my portals are rough for others.' he thought.

Jaden looked at her for a moment, before he nodded.

"Got it." he replied.

He then got up from the chair, and made his way over.

"Let's go." he said.

"I assume you are attempting to refer to a spare room?" he asked.

".....damn." he muttered.

"This is hella comfy." he said.

"Like, I can easily see someone getting a good night's sleep on this." he went on, before looking at Desiree.

"Right." he said.

"Help me out here." he told her.

"Walk me through your daily routine, before and after school."

Jaden's eyes widened as he saw what he did... and his brain tried to process everything that he was seeing.

The nearly white eye, the scars that were no longer hidden, and this piercing feeling he felt.

"....." he was silent, before shaking his head slightly.

'What the hell?' he thought.

'Those scars... that eye... this feeling...' he went on, before leaning forward and looking at the floor to compose himself.

'...I feel like I'm being judged.'