Hospital Visit
“......”
Staring at his reattached hand, Ares wore a hollow expression. It had been a long time since I’d seen him cry, but I understood exactly how he felt.
“I’m so glad. Really, I’m so glad, Ares.”
Beside Ares’s hospital bed, Arni Durattan clung to him as if in prayer, tears of joy streaming down her face as though the miracle had happened to her instead.
“So… is it over now?”
“......”
The Great Witch, who had reattached the hand, looked a little drained as she sank into the chair prepared for her. Adrina kept her lips pressed tightly shut while she watched Ares.
Just as a flood of emotions surged through Ares at the sight of his restored hand, something of her own seemed to well up inside Adrina as she looked at him.
Come to think of it, Ares…
He had abandoned Adrina and fled when Abviel was chasing her. It wasn’t entirely his fault, but from Adrina’s perspective it couldn’t have looked good.
“To think you know a mage like that. Daniel, you really do have a surprisingly wide circle of acquaintances.”
Eris, who had been in the room keeping an eye on Ares because of the Helios crest he bore, drifted closer and spoke quietly.
I was grateful she had waited for me the whole way from the Demon World Forest back to Elgrid.
“It just sort of happened.”
“Even the Elf Queen would struggle with something like this. I’ll chat with her for a bit, so why don’t you go visit the other rooms, Daniel?”
“Mm.”
I almost asked if she wasn’t coming with me, but Eris only smiled and said nothing more.
That smile, though, felt oddly like a warning.
If you come with me, can you handle it?
A chill ran down the back of my neck. I instinctively hunched my shoulders and started for the door, then turned back and stepped to Ares’s side instead.
He still couldn’t move the hand; he just stared blankly at it until he noticed me and looked up.
I bowed my head to him, honestly and without ceremony.
“Thank you. For not running away. For fighting for my sister.”
“......”
That was all.
Ares didn’t answer, and I didn’t linger. I stepped out into the corridor.
How he took those words was entirely up to him now.
“Whoa, you actually came?”
“I told you he would.”
Tana and Eve were waiting in the hallway, chatting about this and that.
Just seeing the two of them made something inside me ease. It felt good.
“I never even said a proper hello. You both doing okay?”
“Obviously.”
“I haven’t been doing okay at all.”
When Tana and I both looked at her, Eve puffed out her cheeks and shot her hand straight up.
“I demand compensation from Daniel!”
“......Compensation?”
I knew she’d been running wild like a horse with the bit between its teeth for a while, so a little worry crept in—and at the same time I finally understood why Eris had sent me out alone.
But Eve’s request turned out to be surprisingly modest.
“Just pat my head once.”
“Hmm?”
That much I could do.
Eve’s soft, dark-navy hair tangled naturally around my fingers. She closed her eyes and tilted her head to follow the motion of my hand.
“Hehehe.”
Watching her bashful little smile made my chest feel warm all over again. Yeah—she’d just gone a little feral for a while. Eve was still Eve.
My little Eve! Forever!
After I finished stroking her hair I glanced sideways at Tana. She stuck out her tongue and made a gagging face.
“You gonna do something for me too? Nah, forget it. Just buy me a meal.”
Yeah, of course this one would be like that.
I nodded and headed for the nearest room first.
The two of them said they’d wait in the hallway and didn’t follow me in.
Inside were two beds, each pushed against the far wall so the patients could rest comfortably.
A girl with bleached white hair—Sen—and the short-haired swordswoman, Hayun.
Both of them usually wore almost no expression, yet the moment they saw me enter, faint smiles touched their faces.
I hesitated over who to approach first until Hayun gave a small chin-jerk toward Sen, so I went that way.
“How’s the body?”
“Fine. I could be discharged right now. I’ve been hurt worse during Execution Squad training.”
“Yeah, I figured.”
The brand of the Execution Squad had faded a great deal, but it still lingered inside her.
“I’m really grateful. Still, knowing how dangerous Dogfight is, I was a little surprised you chose to fight them.”
I never expected Sen to accept a battle against Dogfight with a force of academy girls who were clearly outmatched.
Even though she understood what I meant, Sen answered flatly.
“It was a mission.”
Huh?
I gave her a puzzled look.
“Whose?”
“Well, yours…”
She started to speak, then clamped her mouth shut. She must have just realized it—I had never given her any such mission.
Looking flustered, Sen glanced back and forth between me and her own hands. I chuckled and ruffled her hair the same way I had Eve’s.
It felt a bit like an uncle petting his niece.
Either way, she was admirable.
“You’re finally starting to choose and act for yourself.”
“For myself…”
Sen looked up at me with a faintly anxious expression, yet she reached up with both hands and pressed my stroking hand firmly against her head, silently asking me not to stop.
“I did it myself?”
“Yeah. You chose to fight Dogfight for me—your friend.”
The anxiety was only natural.
She had just broken out of her shell in Bethel. Right now she was still learning how to walk.
At first her legs would give out and she’d fall; she’d collapse and cry. Everything was new, so of course it was terrifying.
But I believed she would manage it in the end.
So I ruffled her hair even more vigorously, just the way she wanted, then finally let go.
“Felt like I was petting a dog for a second.”
I said it playfully so she wouldn’t feel awkward—and a hospital pillow came flying at my face.
“......”
Hospital pillows are harder than I expected.
I handed it back; she hugged it to her chest and turned her head away in a sulk.
Chuckling under my breath, I walked over to Hayun.
“Feeling any better?”
“Eh, nothing too serious.”
Hayun twisted this way and that, checking herself over. A ball of yarn sat on her lap—apparently she’d been knitting to kill the boredom of hospital life.
“What are you making?”
“Gloves. For when it gets cold.”
“Hmm?”
“Why? Want to buy a pair?”
Even in a hospital bed she was trying to make a sale. Classic flower-beggar beauty.
When I said I’d think about it, Hayun gave a faint smile and casually asked,
“So… things going well with Eris?”
“......Actually, she was a little scary just now.”
I described the vibe Eris had given off. Hayun smacked her forehead and sighed.
“Make sure you explain later that it was a misunderstanding. Not sure she’ll believe you, though.”
“Haa.”
Still, I couldn’t exactly skip thanking the people who had fought Dogfight for my sister and me.
“Yeah, I’ll do that. I should go thank the others first, though.”
I started to leave, but Hayun suddenly caught my sleeve.
“Hm? What’s up?”
“Uh…”
I waited, but Hayun herself looked startled as she stared down at her own hand, as if she had no idea why she’d grabbed me.
She fidgeted for a moment, then thrust her palm out.
“Good work.”
It came out of nowhere, but I grinned and met her hand with mine.
“You too. Good work.”
After the simple high-five I headed for the next room.
Two beds again—and two people who might as well have been natural enemies.
“May and Elise?”
“Huh? He’s here!”
“Aaaah! Master!”
Already my head was starting to hurt from the combination, but I closed the door behind me and stepped inside.
I did wonder why a princess was sharing a double room, but whatever.
“Master! Master! Come claim me as yours!”
“Hey! If you go to her first I swear I’ll kill you!”
Both of them were raising absolute hell from their respective beds. I nearly turned around and walked right back out, but I held myself in check.
Truly impressive restraint on my part.
“Master! Master! Master!”
“Ugh! That crazy bitch. What is she, a broken record?”
In the end I walked toward Elise, who looked like she was in worse shape. She immediately held out a collar and a length of rope.
“Master! Use these to remind me that I belong to you!”
“I never owned anything like you in the first place.”
“Ahhh! ‘Anything like me’?!”
What was I supposed to do with this?
The rougher I talked, the more she liked it, so I had no idea how to handle her.
“But please! I’ve been trying so hard, haven’t I? I got hurt fighting for you!”
“......”
What even was this?
She kept calling herself a slave and claiming she was my property, yet somehow it felt like she was blackmailing me.
“Just keep throwing your tantrum.”
From the other bed May crossed her arms and radiated pure irritation.
Come to think of it, wasn’t this like one of those cursed dolls that keeps showing up in your house no matter how many times you throw it away?
Ah, damn it.
Once I decided she was simply cursed, a weird sense of resignation settled over me and I gave up fighting it.
Elise’s eyes sparkled as she waited for me to do something cruel, but a quick look at her body told me she was hurt far worse than the others.
Sigh.
I’d heard she and Rin had taken the lead fighting Dogfight, so I wanted to give her something she wanted if I could…
Ah, whatever.
Since she was a princess, I angled my body so May couldn’t see, took Elise’s hand, and lightly kissed the back of it.
The gesture a knight makes when swearing loyalty to a princess.
“Just once. I’ll fight for you too.”
“......!”
Elise stared at me blankly, her mouth slowly falling open. It was the complete opposite of the harsh treatment she’d been craving, so I thought she might be disappointed.
Instead, tears welled in her eyes.
“Ah… aah…”
“W-why? What’s wrong?”
I asked carefully, already bracing for whatever reaction came next. Elise broke into a radiant smile.
“This kind of thing… this kind of thing is really nice too.”
“Good. Let’s work on changing those tastes a little.”
Looking thoroughly pleased, Elise twisted in place and whispered carefully,
“I’m wet.”
“You crazy—!”
I cursed out loud before I could stop myself and scrambled backward. May, who apparently hadn’t heard, jumped in surprise and demanded to know what was going on, but I had no brainpower left to answer.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Forget it. You don’t dodge shit because you’re scared of it—you dodge it because it’s filthy.”
I started toward May’s bed—
Slurp.
“......”
Slurp.
A weird sensation prickled at the back of my neck.
It was the same feeling I’d gotten years ago when Rin sniffed my sweat.
I slowly turned my head.
Elise was licking the back of the hand I had just kissed.
I nearly blacked out on the spot.
How bad was it? Bad enough that I suddenly understood why the God of Death wanted to end the world.
“You. Get over here.”
“N-nooo!”
I yanked out a handkerchief and scrubbed her hand vigorously. Elise’s face crumpled into a pout, lower lip jutting out.
“Hiiing.”
Anyone watching would think she was the one being wronged.
“Tch. You let that lunatic push you around and then come crawling to me?”
“Did you not see her having a full-blown seizure just now?”
May kept grumbling, but the moment I actually approached she grinned and held out a piece of candy.
“Eat it. They said I can’t have any.”
“......”
I took the candy, thanked her, and started to pocket it, but May insisted I eat it right in front of her, so I popped it into my mouth. Strawberry.
“I’m not gonna ask for anything crazy like she did.”
“So you are going to ask for something.”
“Huh? Isn’t that obvious? Look how beat up I am.”
She casually flipped the blanket aside to show her bandaged leg. With that move I had nothing left to say, so I shut my mouth.
“Kiss me.”
“......”
“That’s why I made you eat the candy. First kisses are supposed to taste like strawberry, right?”
I clenched my jaw so hard I crunched the still-hard candy to pieces.
Hadn’t she just said she wouldn’t ask for anything unreasonable?
“You really think I’ll do it?”
“Tch.”
Looking disappointed, May thought for a second and tried again.
“Then a peck?”
“I’m leaving.”
“Okay, okay! Fine! Tch, I honestly thought that much would be fine.”
Was she serious?
I started wondering if she’d hit her head too. I checked carefully for a bandage on her forehead.
“Then hug me.”
“Haa.”
That much I could manage.
Friends hugged each other, right?
Wanting to get it over with, I simply pulled May into my arms. She flinched in surprise at first, then quickly wrapped her hands around my back.
She’d been stuck in a hospital, so I figured she wouldn’t have been able to wash properly, yet a surprisingly sweet scent rose from her. It caught me off guard.
Was that the candy too?
“This feels nice.”
May soaking up my warmth.
“Let go.”
When I tried to pull away she held on tighter; only after I spoke did she reluctantly release me.
“Honestly, that wasn’t what I meant when I said it.”
May smacked her lips and settled back, adjusting her posture.
“Huh?”
I’d hugged her because she asked for a hug. Was there something else?
From the opposite bed, Elise—watching us with pure irritation—spoke up.
“Some people use ‘hug me’ as a euphemism for wanting sex. It’s a rather elegant expression, actually. Doesn’t suit May at all.”
“......”
My mouth fell open. I stared at May. She struck a little-devil pose, fluttering the hem of her hospital gown with a wicked smile.
“Retry?”
I needed to leave. Immediately.
I silently chanted Eris’s name three times and backed away. Surprisingly, May pulled the blanket up and turned her back to me.
“You didn’t grant my wish, but I’ll let it slide for today… Just this much is already more than I can handle.”
She whispered it while hiding a face red all the way to her ears. For a second the curled-up figure looked almost cute—but I still didn’t ruffle her hair or anything. I simply walked straight out the door.