episode_0049

“······Hmm. Haaah. Hoo.”

Dain Adamas stretched and yawned deeply, feeling as if he were breathing in fresh air upon awakening.

A pleasant pressure and warmth enveloped his entire body.

Though the intensity of the pressure was weaker and the total amount of warmth was less than what he had experienced just before losing consciousness, it was more than enough to make him feel refreshed.

“Heh heh. She kept holding me even though I fell asleep?”

Just before slipping into a pink fantasy that felt like his nose would burst from hearing “Did she ovulate?” from Stay’s mouth, Dain Adamas worried upon waking up, “What if this comforting warmth and pressure are gone?”

However, even after waking up, she was still wrapped in warmth and Stay’s arms.

There was no need for such worries in the first place.

“······I’ve felt this before, but Stay is really sincere.”

Before becoming a plant-human, Stay had been so small that she barely surfaced in his memory. Now, she had become quite a significant presence for the current Dain Adama. He felt upset when she wasn’t by his side upon regaining consciousness.

Contrary to his concerns, Stay being by Dain Adama’s side made her feel good.

“After teaching her a couple of times, she knew to bring what I needed without me having to tell her directly. She always checked my expression with sidelong glances to see how I was feeling.”

Perhaps due to feeling good, Dain Adamas found the Stay from his memories of training camp quite cute.

“I should have taken her with me on that day, when I graduated from training camp. Then I wouldn’t have felt so frustrated for no reason.”

To the extent that the past Dain Adamas considered loneliness as something natural, the current her felt regret about the past decision, finding Stay too adorable.

“Yes, once the treatment is over, let’s take Stay with us. I’ve complained to so many people throughout my life, but no one has been as quick-witted as Stay. If we offer a high salary, she’ll probably come willingly, right? Heh heh. Living with Stay as my secretary…”

Due to the aftermath of an overwhelming pleasure that almost made her lose consciousness, or perhaps due to the warmth of Stei’s embrace, Dain Adamas’ eyes clearly showed a hint of confusion.

She was the world’s strongest hero and the greatest hero in the world. The disparity between the two was unmistakable, as Stei had merely been an F-grade emergency room assistant. Dain Adamas knew this fact well, but in her eyes, clouded with confusion, such reality did not seem to exist.

“Since you’re my secretary, you can just live at my place, right? Will Stei be able to cook? I should take you to hotel restaurants to let you know my taste. Well, you’ll probably figure it out on your own. You’re quick-witted and quite clever, after all.”

Without even asking for Stei’s opinion, Dain Adamas simply began to assume that he would naturally be by her side even after treatment. As she freely envisioned a life with Stei, a slightly weary yet affectionate voice reached her ears.

“······Are you awake?”

Stei’s voice came with a sensation of their hearts connecting. Feeling a sense of fulfillment that was indescribable, Dain Adamas responded to his words, as warm as the embrace she received, with a reply filled with pure coquetry, completely unintended but so joyful due to Stei’s greeting.

“[Y-yes, I’m awake… Hehe.]”

For someone who had just imagined Stei as a charismatic, world-renowned hero being treated as a secretary, it was an unexpectedly playful response.

“······.”

Dain Adamas’ unintentionally pure coquettish response, driven by the joy of Stei’s greeting, caused his expression to crumple.

Fortunately, Dain Adamas, currently unable to see an inch ahead like a plant, smoothed Stei’s crumpled expression and spoke after calming her emotions.

“I see.”

As she uttered those words, Stei withdrew his right arm, which had been supporting Dain Adamas’ head, and placed a pillow in its place for her head to rest on.

“[Wha-what?]”

Suddenly, as Dain Adamas was caught off guard by the strength and firmness of the arm that had been supporting him, Stei lifted his left arm, which had been wrapped around Dain Adamas’ back, and then got out of bed.

“Huh?”

The sudden disappearance of the weight of the left arm and the pleasant pressure. As Stei got out of bed, all that remained for Dain Adamas was the lingering warmth, faintly proving that Stei had been there.

Before covering himself with the blanket again, Dain Adamas, whose disheveled feathers were being tidied up by Stei, asked in a trembling voice, “Wh-why did you suddenly get up? Or, maybe… ugh.”

Words that could never come from Dain Adamas’ mouth, words that always made everything she did seem confident, even if it wasn’t, could never come out of her mouth.

“W-why would I say something like that?”

She barely managed to stop herself from saying such absurd words, not even knowing why she had tried to say them. But right now, such doubts were not important.

“Why did you get up?”

“Y-yeah! Why did you suddenly get up without saying anything?”

What mattered most to Dain Adamas right now was that the warmth and pressure that had made her feel good had disappeared in an instant.

“We scheduled the treatment day for every three days so that one person could have a full day. S-so, you shouldn’t get up now. My day isn’t over yet. So answer me. Why did you suddenly get up?”

It was a reflexive question that emerged suddenly due to the tension and anxiety that surged when Stei fell away from her side. But it was a fairly logical question, so Dain Adamas could deduce a plausible answer to her own question.

“Did Stei perhaps want to go to the bathroom? Did he get up as soon as he confirmed that I got up? If that’s the case… it means he was considerate of me. He can tolerate me suddenly getting up without saying anything. If Stei managed to get up while I went to the bathroom, my mood would definitely have soured. To prevent my mood from souring, Stei must have desperately held back his need to go to the bathroom. Heh heh. Overflowing with such consideration, how wonderful would it be to have him by my side?”

Dain Adamas, without receiving any response from Stei, happily chuckled to himself, thinking that she had come up with a plausible answer and that he had been considerate of her.

Thanks to this seemingly plausible answer, all the tension and anxiety disappeared, and Dain Adamas felt the warmth of Stei’s imagined care, even though she wasn’t physically embraced by him.

Having concluded this delusion, Dain Adamas wanted to say something only she, with her current state of mind, could say to Stei: “If you need to go to the bathroom, you can go quickly. But come back fast. I don’t like being alone. Come back quickly and hug me again, okay?”

“Huh? But didn’t your treatment end today?”

[…Huh?]

However, before Dain Adamas could say something only someone in her current state of mind could say, Stei quickly responded to her question.

“Dain Adamas, you’ve been unconscious for a long time. It’s already past midnight, and I need to sleep now too. I have to rest well to treat Meiluna tomorrow. Still, I was waiting to see if you’d wake up, and I was getting anxious about when you’d wake up.”

Even though Dain Adamas heard Stei’s voice right in front of her, which sounded so matter-of-fact, she couldn’t quite understand what he was saying.

“Is it over? Just like that? Today, the day that Stae was supposed to be all about me, ends like this? N-no way. That can’t be right. I just took a nap today. I didn’t do anything with Stae. I just fainted from the pressure of his lower abdomen against mine while hugging tightly. That’s all I did. Just that… Why is it already over?”

Stae continued calmly, indifferent to whether Dain Adamas was in turmoil or not.

“Anyway, your curse recovery rate hit 30% as part of today’s treatment, and your wrist injury healed because you were lying in bed. There won’t be days like today where we patch things up haphazardly, so don’t worry. I’ll be going now. You worked hard today with the treatment.”

The words “it’s over” left no room for Dain to rectify her confusion, an unfeeling farewell from Stae.

In truth, it wasn’t particularly heartless, rather, Stae had waited for Dain Adamas to wake up, so from her perspective, she should have felt grateful for his consideration, but she was someone far from normalcy.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

“No, no, this isn’t right. I can’t let him leave like this!”

The sound of Stae’s footsteps growing distant.

Dain Adamas, far from normal, felt Stae’s farewell and footsteps to be undeniably heartless, and desperate to stop him from leaving, she hurriedly halted him.

“W-wait! What will happen if you leave like this?”

Still confused, unable to properly hear Stae’s words, her top priority at the moment was not letting him go.

“Hmm?”

Fortunately, Stae stopped at Dain Adamas’ words, and in her extreme confusion, she forced herself to turn back and detain him.

“Stae, I have something to say…”

“Oh, right. I totally forgot.”

But once again, just as before, Stae interrupted what Dain Adamas was about to say.

The interruption was certainly unpleasant, but since the words that cut her off came from Stay, who could only say such things as “the person who should come back because they forgot something,” Dain Adamas didn’t feel bad at all.

Instead of having something to say, she felt awkward about Stay coming back to her, saying that she had forgotten something first.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

“Y-yeah. This isn’t right. I just said my wrist is all better now, so with this fully recovered wrist, I should at least accept the development of Porchio, so that both Stay and I can be satisfied, right? Yes, this time, enduring it for a long time, we should have a lot of constructive conversations with Stay today and in the future…”

“I almost left this behind. Here, Speaker. It wouldn’t be fair if Mei Luna and Mir Ryuin received theirs but not you, right?”

Toss.

[Huh?]

“Well then, I’ll really go. See you in 3 days.”

Contrary to Dain Admas’s hope, Stay left her hospital room without any lingering regrets after those words.

Clack. Thud.

As the sound of the door closing echoed outside, there was a sensation of the connection with Stay being severed.

“…Huh?” That’s how Dain Adamas found herself alone.