Hot Spring Therapy (2)
"Mr. Hope? What on earth are you doing with that blanket?"
"From now on, I'm going to carry you on my back, but I need my hands free even while doing it."
Luckily, the hot springs had all sorts of blankets. A thin, long, comfortable one perfect for this purpose. And on top of that...
"This waist strap is just right. Thank goodness for this."
"No way... you're going to bundle me up in that blanket and strap and dangle me around like a sack?"
"Of course not. I clearly said I'd carry you on my back, didn't I?"
With the props ready, I got set to head out and sat on the floor, offering my back to Sion.
"Hop on, Sion. Let's get going."
"Ah... okay."
Sion, who had been leaning against the wall, leaned forward into a prone position, then crawled over with grunts, draped her arms over my shoulders, and climbed onto my back. I pulled her limp limbs—still lacking strength—tight against my body to adjust her position properly.
"Up we go."
I stood, leaning forward to keep her from slipping, then draped the blanket over my back. I pulled up the bottom end to cradle her like a sling, tied a knot in front, then looped the long strap around again, securing her firmly to my body.
"W-what is this?"
"What else? A baby sling. You don't know what a baby sling is?"
"I don't know that kind of thing! M-more than that...!"
"What? Too tight? I'll redo it if it's uncomfortable."
"It's not that, but..."
Sion twisted her head around in a panic, checking out her bundled-up state, then let out a sigh of complete resignation. She wrapped her arms around my neck and clung on.
"I was prepared for it to be embarrassing, but this is... too snug, you know?"
Too snug? Now that she mentioned it, yeah, it did feel that way. I'd pulled her in tight to secure her with the sling. Through my back, I could feel her body—light and warm and soft, her muscles mostly gone and her frame thinned out. But one part felt heavy and large, pressing firmly against me. The way it was touching...
No way?
"Does it hurt where it's pressed?"
Women get pretty sore if that's squished, right? Was that why she was complaining?
"Huh? Pressed where...?"
She sounded confused, paused to think, then...
"Ah!"
Something dawned on her, and she suddenly started smacking the back of my head wildly.
"Ow! Ow ow ow!! What the hell, Sion?!"
"You seriously don't know what you just said? How does a doctor make a joke like that about a patient's body?!"
"Aaa! It wasn't a joke! I was just asking if it hurt!"
"So that counts as a medical check? Was that your way of taking a history? That? That?"
"No, but still—ow! Just in case—aaack!!"
With her strapped to my back, I couldn't shake her off, and her attacks came from right behind me—no way to block.
"Yoooou... you've been looking at me like that this whole time...!"
"Like what? You're seriously misunderstanding something here..."
"Misunderstanding?"
"Aaack!!"
Every time I tried to speak, she'd whack the back of my head again. And now my head was throbbing from all the hits...
"Ugh... my head..."
"Mr. Hope?"
It felt like I'd eaten something ice-cold—dizzy, hard to keep my balance. With someone on my back, of course standing got tough when my head started pounding like this. I just staggered a bit, but my balance tilted sharply, and I began to wobble.
"Huh? Mr. Hope?"
—Thud.
"Mr. Hope!"
Thankfully, I managed to fall forward without hurting her.
"Are you okay, sir?"
"Huh? This shouldn't... happen."
No way I'd just drop like that from a few smacks to the head? And my consciousness had flickered for a second there? Ah, this was it. Nothing major, but the inevitable had arrived.
This was...
************
"Overwork, plain and simple."
Sion, the hot springs manager she'd urgently called, the manager's call to Leonard Elder, and the elder's doctor in tow. The four of them sat in a row, gazing down at Hope, neatly laid out under the blankets.
"Overwork?"
"Yep, looks like it. He'll wake up after half a day or so—probably by evening."
"Phew..."
Sion, who'd feared she'd caused something serious by hitting his head, sighed deeply in relief at the dwarf doctor's diagnosis.
"Passing out's no joke, but since you're here for rest, it works out. Take it easy together."
"I will. Thank you so much, Elder."
"No trouble at all. Call anytime if you need us. We'll head out now."
"Take care."
The grateful dwarves who'd rushed over at the news of Hope's collapse departed, leaving just Sion and Hope alone in the room again.
Hope lay fainted on the floor, blanketed thickly. Sion sat beside him, gazing down with distant eyes.
"Mr. Hope collapsing from pain... Guess I'm the caregiver today."
But as neither doctor nor nurse, she had no idea what to do and just stared. She checked his forehead—no fever. Simple accumulated fatigue from work. Powerless, she endured the frustration as time dragged on.
"Stay calm, Sion Laurel. Mr. Hope will wake up if you wait."
She steadied her quickening breath. Hope lay straight, facing the ceiling—and suddenly, his face looked like someone else's to her eyes. Like a comrade from battles past...
"No... no, Sion. It's just another hallucination. Can't I even watch over someone lying still? Can't I even do basic caregiving...!"
The face of the dead was just trauma's illusion. Hope's collapse had weakened her mind, letting it in. Steel yourself, she thought. But the chest-squeezing frustration persisted. She slumped forward, hand on her heart, clenching her fist as if to rip out the pain.
"This isn't a corpse. He's alive. Check his breathing. He's breathing because he's alive..."
To escape the hallucination and pain, she mustered courage and lifted her head. And before her brave eyes appeared...
"Nao... Hanamana..."
Her two comrades. Surely another illusion, but facing them froze her thoughts.
"Sion. Iri is already..."
"Sniff, because Hanamana couldn't heal her properly, Iri..."
"......"
Sion's eyes widened, body rigid. No, no... this isn't real...
With superhuman hero's willpower, she repeated it inwardly. But her mouth and body were seized by excruciating pain, unable to move.
Pain makes people scream. But extreme agony beyond words paralyzes even that. Reflex nerves lock up. Sion's every nerve screamed at that level now.
She couldn't twitch a finger—like trapped in frozen time. And turning her head with effort, Hope's face no longer looked like Hope's.
Iri...
Pale skin, utterly still—her dearest comrade. Then Nao lifted the blanket over Iri, covering her face, vanishing it from Sion's sight.
The moment of accepting a comrade's death hit Sion once more. A sensation that never grew familiar, no matter how many times. In dreams, reality, daily life, hallucinations... any tiny trigger brought it crashing back.
Her senses tricked her brain into perfect reality, dragging her to unwanted past moments endlessly.
Trauma. The wound etched into Sion's soul. Like memories sealed in barbed wire, it flew at her without warning, as if demanding she never forget—piercing her body endlessly with sharp thorns.
Ugh, kuh... uwaaaaa...!
Before such irrational torment, Sion was always just a powerless being, eyes squeezed shut, unable even to scream.
**********
"Ugh..."
I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling. My body wrapped in cozy blankets. Damn, collapsing from overwork. Doctors say you know why just before you faint—and it was true. I'd thought I'd held up these past three years, but breaking my routine on night shift had toppled the fragile balance.
More importantly, what about Sion? She couldn't have spread blankets and laid me down alone...
Still fatigued, I moved my creaky body...
Huh? Feels heavy.
Like something weighed on my chest. No, not just on—it was pressing down with all its might.
What the hell? I craned my neck at a right angle and looked ahead. There was...
"Sion!"
Sion, clutching her head, sprawled atop me, trembling violently.