Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 132. Dinner

Henry and I walked out, and I checked my grandma’s room, but she was already gone, probably eating. We climbed the ladder leading to the upside-down staircase, where we would come into the short corridor leading to the dining room.

"Henry." I stopped before we entered.

"Hm?" He looked still dazed from all the information that had been dumped on him.

"Now that her parents are going to stay with us and will also come to our world, and because they are already punished with a psycho daughter, well, they would surely be happy to have a son." After saying that, I patted his shoulder and walked inside first.

My grandma harrumphed at me. She sat at a long dining table that had previously been upside-down in a corner with a few broken legs but was apparently fixed by the others, along with a bunch of chairs.

"Took you long enough."

"Yes, yes." I sat in the empty seat beside her. Everyone was present, washed, and dressed anew; they looked like there had never been an earth hole they had fallen into.

It was definitely better for the nose and eyes, but I didn’t want to know how much water everyone had wasted. I also didn’t want to stand at everyone’s sides while they washed up to provide wet towels. Hopefully, we could kill the shadows quickly and leave soon before I had to search for the monster’s water source.

On the table were big metallic saucer plates; the ones out of porcelain should have all broken, and cutlery. If this freaking mansion were not upside-down, I would think we were at a dinner party. There were also candles lit everywhere, on the table, on the cabinets, and on small tables around us.

We were now apparently stuck in a night period of this world because it was pitch-black outside, though naturally, I could see fairly well either way.

Since there was no wind, it wasn’t really cold, just silent—a bit creepy, maybe.

They had all cleaned up nicely, though.

When I looked at Chelsea, she smiled at me, and the rest—I didn’t look at them, especially the Devin corner; they sat together naturally.

Everyone had already finished eating and stopped talking about whatever the moment I had entered.

After a minute or so, the guest of honor finally followed after me.

Now, I wanted to see Henrietta’s reaction and turned to her.

She widened her eyes when she saw Henry, while her mother screamed gutturally.

"HENRY!" She stood up, nearly pushing down her chair, and ran to her son, wrapping her arms around him.

Henry looked at me before putting his arms around her as well. Mrs. Devin cried, and her husband also followed, standing to the side, not knowing what to do with himself, but apparently feeling emotional as well.

His eyes met mine, and he bowed.

"Did you do this? Save him?"

All eyes turned to me, and I wanted a smoke.

"Yes," Henry answered and cautiously peeled his mother away from him. He looked at Henrietta for a moment and clenched his jaw before coming to the table, stopping beside Baggy Jeans, who sat next to me.

Sebastian, or whatever his name was, stood up and took his plate and cutlery to some other place so that Henry could sit with me.

I looked at the rice inside a wooden bowl and served myself some food. Henry’s parents also sat back down, still staring at their son.

"How is this possible?" His mother asked while everyone else also watched Henry, seemingly more interested in his new, clean appearance, though.

Even if they had heard of the shadows, they had never witnessed them themselves, besides Henry acting out or in a daze, while the Devins had watched countless people fall victim to them and feared the shadows for years.

Henry glanced at me, and seeing me taking some beans, not planning to speak, he took the stand.

"Has everyone heard of the shadows?" he asked the group.

"We heard." Red Hair answered.

"They would possess someone and force them to commit suicide. Then two shadows would emerge." Chelsea followed up.

Henry nodded, as if that were not new to him; I hadn’t even explained that part. I forgot.

"Apparently, committing suicide by your own decision kills the shadow. Also, I think it feeds on emotions."

I chewed on my food, and upon hearing that, I came up with a new theory: "How about... The shadow feeds on your emotions, and when you are devoured, it kills you, and you become a shadow yourself, so two emerge? Death frees the shadow in any case; just if you do it yourself before you are devoured, only the shadow dies?" I swallowed my food and took another bite.

"DON’T TALK WHILE CHEWING!" My grandmother screamed abruptly, and the room fell into silence until Jeyjey broke into laughter and somehow warmed up the atmosphere.

I ignored her, shut up, and took a water bottle from the table; there was one for everyone, most already empty.

"You hurt yourself?" His mother asked tremblingly.

"I knew I would get rid of it that way."

"We need a stimulus to wake up whoever is possessed; then the person has to kill themselves. This way, we can get rid of the shadow and search for the next portal." I couldn’t remain silent for too long, though.

"A portal won’t just appear." Henrietta spoke once again after being mostly silent since our fight.

How great.

The food in front of her was untouched; well, she can hardly hold her cutlery, can she?

Henry tapped the table with his finger.

"Are you sure you want to talk now?" He asked in a deep and eerie tone.

"What? It’s just the truth." She looked at her brother, just as ice-cold.

"Kenny had forced me to close the portal; we will never leave this place again."

"Wait, is that true?" Red Hair asked hysterically.

Henrietta looked at her and nodded.

"You can open one." Henry said, looking at the table.

"You have the ability to lead us all out, don’t you? What began with your ability can end with your ability, am I right?"

Henrietta glanced at him, startled, before her eyes wandered to me.

Yup, I told him everything.

The others interpreted his words probably as: if she can close a portal, she can also open one; only the three of us knew that everything had indeed begun with her.

Henrietta overcame her stunned state and broke into a big smile.

"If I am the only one who can save you, why isn’t anyone providing blood for me so that I can restore my hands?" She asked, suddenly raising her deformed hands while her eyes wandered to me.

I burst into a laugh while Henry tapped the table faster, as if he would lose it any second, when her father and my grandma slammed the table in unison.

"Come with me!" Mr. Devin sprang up and grabbed Henrietta’s wrist, dragging her down to hopefully put her in her place.

Her mother stood up slowly, still teary-eyed, but her face became grim.

"Please excuse her. She will help; don’t worry. She will do what she can."

"I wouldn’t give her my blood or flesh if I were you. Having a cannibalistic daughter is one thing; having one who feeds on her parents is another." I pointed my spoon at her while munching on the beans.

Her parents should have leveled up quite a bit through eating monster flesh before the shadows had appeared, and I wouldn’t want Henrietta to become too strong before it was required.

My next thought was interrupted by my grandmother slapping the back of my head, making me nearly choke on my food.