I'm Not Going to Die
"Drink some water! Water!"
......Die? Me? Why? No—more importantly, how do you know that? Even I, the person in question, have no idea.
A thousand tangled questions collapsed into a single one.
"Why?"
Seriously. Why am I dying?
"......You're colder than I expected. Does this not feel real to you? I'm telling you you're going to die! Do you think I'm joking right now?"
Charlotte's voice cracked as she pressed on, on the verge of tears.
"No, I really am shaken—I just genuinely have no idea why I would die. It's strange. I thought we'd resolved everything related to Sir Pascal...."
"It isn't an external problem. It's something wrong with your body."
......My body?
That can't be right. There's no way. If I had some kind of illness, it would have shown up in the documents I read today.
I'm ridiculously healthy....
When I only tilted my head, still lost, Charlotte wiped her tears on her sleeve and spoke.
"....There's a disease called Mana Storage Deficiency."
Mana Storage Deficiency......?
Ah. Wait.
"The patient....."
"You're referring to that terrifying disease where the patient can no longer grow any stronger, and dies before turning twenty?"
"......."
My fluent reply left Charlotte's mouth hanging open.
And then—
".........?"
She stared blankly into empty air for a moment, as if turning something over carefully in her mind. Focus drained from her eyes. She tilted her head.
"....How do you know that?"
"Well, because I know what Mana Storage Deficiency is?"
"......That's not what I asked. Why?"
"Well....."
Because it shows up as a debuff in the game—saying that would be a disaster.
"I was bored and reading at the library, and I happened to come across it."
".....So you knew. You knew you had that horrible disease."
Charlotte's vacant expression crumpled all at once, and the tears started again.
"Then.... you knew you were going to die soon, and you still.... worked that hard...."
Uh...... no? I'm completely fine?
I forced a bright smile and spun my thoughts as fast as I could, trying to figure out how this situation had gotten here.
Okay. So somehow Charlotte has gotten it into her head that I have Mana Storage Deficiency.
Which is why she's been moping around for the past two days under the impression that I'm terminally ill, and why she's bawling her eyes out right now.
And now for the surprise quiz: who infected Charlotte with this idea?
.....Aigoo. Good grief, Shiina.
Odds are Shiina stumbled across Mana Storage Deficiency somehow, immediately thought of me, decided I must have it, told Charlotte—and that is how we arrived at this catastrophe.
I really ought to tell her the truth.
"Hic....! How could.... it's just, it's too sad.....! Waaaaah....!"
Watching Charlotte wail like that made it genuinely hard to know what to say.
Hmm. Not a sight you see every day. Maybe I should enjoy the rare spectacle a little longer?
......Yeah, no. Definitely not.
Sitting here delighted while someone who cares about me sobs her heart out would make me a full-blown psychopath.
Better to clear things up quickly.
"Charlotte-noonim. There's something I need to tell you."
"Hic.... Huh? What is it?"
Charlotte asked through tears and snot.
Ah, damn. I really shouldn't laugh.
"......I believe Noonim is worrying over nothing."
"Huh....?"
"I don't have Mana Storage Deficiency. I'm perfectly fine."
Charlotte blinked at me, eyes opening and closing.
"....What did you just say?"
"I'm healthy."
"......."
She tilted her head.
".....Why?"
What do you mean, why, you absolute—
"Because I never caught it? I suspect you saw me stuck at 1-Star and jumped to the wrong conclusion, but I do not have Mana Storage Deficiency."
".....Then why aren't you growing stronger?"
At Charlotte's trembling question, I quietly pulled a document from my inventory and held it out to her.
"Please read this. It's the result of a full physical examination."
"A full physical exam....? Those are expensive."
"Haha. My father pulled a few strings."
"Give it here."
Charlotte snatched the papers from my hands and hurriedly scanned them, eyes racing down the page.
She's drunk—can she even read properly like this?
Charlotte kept reading for a long time.
As if determined not to miss a single detail, she turned every line over and over in her mind.
".....It's real?"
At last, the truth settled over her.
Now that Charlotte knew the truth—how would she react?
Would she shrug it off with a laugh, as if it were nothing? Or would she writhe in secondhand embarrassment, remembering every mortifying thing she'd done?
"Really.... you're really not going to die....?"
"That's right. I told you, didn't I? I'll outlive you, Charlotte-noonim."
Color began climbing into her face.
Ah. This is looking like the embarrassment pattern....
"Thank goodness....!"
"Huh? Wha—!"
Without warning, Charlotte flung her glass aside and threw herself at me.
I went down under her weight, my back hitting the floor, and Charlotte wrapped her arms around me in a fierce embrace.
"Ch-Charlotte-noonim....?!"
Her face was flushed deep red, tears still streaming as she looked down at me.
"Really.... I'm so glad....! I thought you were going to die, and I was so, so sad....!"
Charlotte's warm breath brushed my cheek.
"I kept trying to remember anything from the novel that might save you..... but nothing came to me.... and I hated myself so much for being completely useless....!"
".....Thank you, Charlotte-noonim."
After the first jolt of panic, I managed a gentle smile and patted her back.
"Knowing Noonim worried about me this much—I could die right now without a single regret."
"Don't say that.....! Don't talk about dying..."
Charlotte pleaded with trembling eyes.
"Haha. I was only joking."
"You.... from now on, jokes like that are banned! That's an order from your noona."
"I'll do my best to refrain."
"Uuuugh...."
Charlotte puffed her cheeks full of air, then let it all out at once and buried her face against my chest.
".....I was scared, you know."
"Is that so."
"Scared I'd be left alone again. I'd finally found someone as pathetic as me—and then I'd have to just stand there and watch you die, unable to do a single thing. That terrified me."
"I'm glad you don't have to be scared anymore."
"Mm....."
Through my skin, I could feel the beat of Charlotte's heart.
".....I'm happy."
"......"
"Just the fact that you get to keep living—it makes me happy."
A brief silence passed. Then Charlotte spoke again, almost absently.
"......I can hear your heartbeat."
"Well, I am still alive."
"How do I put it..... it's so calm.... and quiet."
Every time Charlotte spoke with her face buried against me, it tickled my chest.
"......It's the kind of sound that could put someone to sleep."
Before long her breathing evened out, and she drifted off with her face still pressed into my chest.
I'd had quite a bit to drink myself; sleep was tugging at me too.
Whenever I fell asleep after drinking, I always used to see my parents' faces.
Faces that looked at me as if they resented me.
But the two faces I saw now were different.
They were smiling.
"Kyaaah!"
"Guh—!"
Someone kicked me awake out of a dead sleep.
"Wh-wh-wh-wh-what?! Why—why was I sleeping on top of you...?!"
"Nnngh.... Let's talk slowly. Slowly. My head is pounding...."
I clutched my throbbing skull and looked up at Charlotte.
"Uh.... uhhh....!"
She kept glancing back and forth between the half-wrecked drinking setup and me.
".......Hey."
"Yes?"
".....We didn't do that, right?"
"Hmm. Even if you say 'that,' I'm afraid I have no idea what you mean."
"Come on, you know—that. Do I really have to say it out loud?!"
"No, I'm genuinely not joking. I truly don't understand."
"I mean, the....."
Charlotte squirmed, deliberately looking anywhere but at me.
"The slightly.... very indecent thing."
".....Ahh. That. You can relax. We successfully pulled off that famously difficult feat—drinking together as a man and a woman and then simply falling asleep."
".....Phew."
Charlotte wiped cold sweat from her brow and let out a long breath of relief.
"First things first—we should head back to Luin Academy. We can only stay here one day at most, and we're almost out of time."
"Understood. Ah, but all this trash....."
"Let's sort it for easy disposal."
Charlotte and I separated the scattered bottles and leftovers by type.
Then she opened a dimensional rift beneath the sorted piles.
The trash was sucked neatly into the gap.
"Does that spell connect to the matching trash bins?"
"That's right. Even if you're leaving, you clean up properly. Good. Let's go."
Charlotte opened a dimensional rift in midair.
I started toward it—then paused and turned back to her.
"By the way, Charlotte-noonim—are you sure you don't need to stop by a convenience store?"
"A convenience store? Why would I suddenly need one of those?"
"I was thinking we ought to buy some bottled water before we head back."
"Water....?"
Charlotte tilted her head, baffled.
I flashed her a bright grin and continued.
"You cried an absolute river last night. You're definitely going to be dehydrated....!"
"Forget it! Forget all of it, you little bastard!!"
Dodging Charlotte as she charged with a clenched fist, I threw myself into the dimensional rift.