The Only Childhood Friend (2)
Elly had been actively nursing me in the room for a full week.
She cleaned, cooked, did everything flawlessly. It made me feel how amazing she was.
On the other hand, I was just a parasitic creature who only lay there.
“You are nothing but a machine that produces feces every day.”
It felt like an old man scolding me somewhere.
That was right. My condition wasn’t good, and I was just lying there sleeping.
“… If I move too much and fall again, she’ll only protect me more.”
Elly’s protection was, at best, over-the-top devotion. At worst, obsession. She was always clingy about my safety or anything related to me.
Three days ago, she found me walking around, startled, and practically pushed me back onto the bed.
Her tone was gentle and kind, but underneath, there was pressure that I had to listen to everything she said.
If I refused, she would use force without hesitation.
Because of that, even when things were going well with Elly, I felt a chill several times when her true self peeked out from deep inside.
It was burdensome and embarrassing. But since she was a twelve-year-old girl, it was understandable in her young mind.
Would she be like this until she became an adult?
Thinking about it, I had already gotten a big slap when I became an adult. Elly was dangerous after all.
It was clear that Elly was Sera, the heroine of ‘The Holy Knight Who Would Never Save the World’. Platinum-blonde hair, platinum eyes.
And only one person used powerful healing magic.
But I didn’t know that this Elly had a childhood friend.
I hadn’t known it while reading the novel so far. I had thought there was an important person in the past, but since it wasn’t clear if it was parents or old teacher, I had brushed it off.
That bait was now resolved as I reincarnated as her childhood friend.
But here, another question arises.
“Then why didn’t the childhood friend appear in the novel at all?”
The answer is simple.
Because she was already dead.
Then when and why did I die? The time I reincarnated was after my throat was cut. That is, in the original work, Elly cut my throat and awakened her powers to save me.
So why did she die?
I stroked my now smooth neck. What kind of personality was Therese before I reincarnated? What kind of child was she?
“I’m back~.”
It was evening, just before sunset, when Elly returned today.
I didn’t know what she did outside, but when Elly went out and came back, she always brought back bread or dried meat.
Recently, the things she brought had become more abundant.
This time, Elly held two breads and two dried meats, plus a bottle of fresh water.
“Elly, you have a wound on your face… Are you okay?”
The name “Elly” was a nickname omitting the last name, like Therese. We used to call each other that, so I call her that too.
“Eh? Ah, um. I had some work to do. It’s fine.”
There were small wounds and dirt on her face that hadn’t been there before. My heart ached because her beautiful face had gotten hurt.
No, it shouldn’t hurt. That girl was the crazy villainess from the original novel. Living together and taking care of me made my heart weak.
But I wasn’t that easy to break.
I would never fall.
“Here, bread and meat. And fresh, delicious water~.”
“Elly, aren’t you eating?”
“I ate outside, so it’s fine.”
“Really?”
It was suspicious. Was she just pretending to feed me? I glared at Elly with suspicious eyes, but she just smiled brightly.
It was humiliating for me to owe this to a girl of my age, like a little sister. Once my body heals fully, I’ll repay her with all my heart.
Thinking that, I ate the bread and meat and water bit by bit.
When I occasionally gave her a bite and said “ah~”, she ate one bite. She seemed hungry. Or maybe I should feed her.
After eating, Elly would take me to the well and wash me by hand.
After washing, we slept in the same bed.
It wasn’t strange in any way.
There was only one bed in this narrow wooden house.
The floor was uneven and cold, hard to sleep on, no extra blankets, and it got cold at night, so sharing warmth on one bed was efficient.
So, Elly and I hugging while sleeping wasn’t strange at all.
For that reason, I can swear that while hugging Elly, I didn’t have any strange thoughts.
Elly was so beautiful that she could make any foreign celebrity or idol pale, and although she hadn’t bathed much, she had a subtly good scent.
But anyway, I didn’t have any strange thoughts.
“Hey, this is the seventh question, but…”
“Uh. Uh. Ask anything~.”
Elly was lying next to me, hugging my waist tightly and glued to me. Covered by the old blanket, Elly and I were completely in contact.
“Did we always sleep like this when we slept?”
“Of course. In the old days, Therese used to ask me to hug her, but it was a bit sad~.”
When I asked that, Elly increased the strength of her hug.
The fierce affection from a stranger that I had never felt before was unfamiliar. Maybe I had received such affection from someone in my childhood, but I didn’t remember it now.
“I might not be the Therese you knew. Is that okay?”
Reincarnating as Therese meant that the Therese Elly knew was gone, right?
Every time Elly showed affection to me, this was burdensome. Was I afraid that she would get tired of the original Therese and this different me…?
But every time I asked that, Elly answered without any hesitation.
“What are you talking about? Whether you remember or not, you’re Therese.”
Elly’s eyes looking at me had no shake.
“Your actions and speech patterns are full of Therese’s flavor. How can you say you’re not Therese?”
“……”
“You are, no matter what anyone says, Therese. Don’t say such things again.”
There was a tiny bit of resentment in her straightforward and soft voice.
“…Yeah. Sorry.”
It was my slip of the tongue. I knew how much Elly was obsessed with me better than anyone, but I had spoken carelessly.
“Really, why do you keep talking about dark stories? I got my powers too, so maybe I can enter the academy if I try hard? Of course, Therese can come with me too.”
Academy.
The central educational institution located in the kingdom’s capital. A place where the top elites of the entire kingdom gather.
In the past, only nobles could enter, but now, due to the severe conflict with the Demon Race, students are selected regardless of birth.
That was the setting of the academy in the novel.
“And if the development in the original work hadn’t gone awry….”
Elly would enter the academy as the second-year student in three years. By the way, the top student is our protagonist Chris, but I don’t know if Elly is looking at Chris or not.
I was a fan of Chris & Sera… Elly. But I had a feeling that I might become a yuri NTR villain by accident.
“Sorry… Chris.”
Right now, I’m dating the future heroine and getting a crush on you.
“Speaking of which, I want to go out a bit more. My body seems to be getting better.”
“… Is it too early?”
I’ve been stuck in this narrow wooden house for a week since reincarnating into this other world.
I had some expectations for the world in the novel I liked, but being unable to go outside at all was harsh.
If I had seen my childhood friend suddenly getting their throat cut, it would cause trauma, no matter what.
So, for a week I had been obedient, but now I wanted to go outside a bit.
Once outside, I could do anything, right?
I pouted my lips in a playful tone and asked Elly.
“It doesn’t sound like something someone who has been imprisoned for a week would say~.”
“H, ha, ha, ha, imprisoned? W, what are you talking about? There’s no way I’d do that to Therese!”
“She was quite shaken.”
Her face turning red showed that she was aware to some extent.
At first, I thought I was locked up like in a yandere novel with nothing to do, but since she was a kid, there was an easy-to-handle side.
“Then let me out. I’m going to die of boredom.”
“……”
“……?”
No reaction, so I turned around and saw Elly staring at me with a dazed expression.
The dead eyes from comics were actually in front of my eyes.
Thinking for a moment, I said “I’m going to die of boredom.” Was it because of that?
Feeling a chill run down my spine, I quickly protested.
“Ah, no. ‘Going to die of boredom’ was a figurative expression…”
“Uh, no. Let’s go. Therese wants to go out, so we have to. I feel bad for nothing.”
Elly said that and turned her body to the opposite side from me.
Ah, I was sulking.