Clink Clink

-Blink.

-Blink.

Before I even realized my consciousness had returned, my eyes were already open.

What I saw was a pure white ceiling and soft lighting.

But because I could sense a familiar presence right beside me.

Unconsciously, very slightly.

Really, I just turned my head a little to the side.

“Lu…Lua…”

As I ended up meeting those light purple eyes that were growing wider.

I couldn’t even breathe easily at the sight of tears streaming down Asha’s cheeks.

Of course, I thought I would never see her again.

No, I thought I should never see her again, for Asha’s sake.

-Ding.

[The Bullied Becomes the Bully (P) has been activated.]

[Entity name: Lua is designated as a public enemy.]

I knew that this terrifying power that makes no exceptions for anyone would eventually put Asha in danger.

I knew that even the slightest attack against me would cause not only others but also the attacker themselves to be rejected.

So I frantically tried to escape, even ripping out the IV tube from my wrist.

How I was alive.

Why I was with Asha—I didn’t care about any of that. I just thought I needed to go somewhere with no one around as quickly as possible.

However, unlike last time, I ended up being caught.

Even though I begged her to move aside for her own sake, she blocked my path until the very end.

“Why, why are you doing this…”

I looked up at Asha, overwhelmed by a deeper sense of despair and helplessness than I had ever felt in my life.

The tears that had been flowing for some time.

I felt like I was going insane at the thought that I would be the one pushing the person I wanted to protect into the pit of danger.

Right after that, Asha’s arms slowly began to reach toward me.

As her shadow finally loomed over me, the thought “it’s over” filled my mind automatically.

I tightly closed my eyes, thinking Asha would attack me with all her might, but…

“…Lua, why are you acting like this? Why on earth do you say I shouldn’t be with you…”

What reached my trembling ears was not a voice full of hatred but another question.

No matter how long I held my breath and waited, she didn’t attack me but rather held me tighter…

“A-Asha, sister. Don’t you… hate me?”

I asked for an impossible wish. Like a fool.

Yet what came back was still an answer that she treasured me more than anyone else—something difficult to believe even though I wanted to.

But since all the answers coming back from Asha were nothing but denial.

No matter what question I asked, she shook her head and said she would never hurt me no matter what happened.

“We have to go on a trip… You promised me…”

I finally broke down at Asha’s voice reminding me of a promise I thought couldn’t be kept.

The things I had been forcibly suppressing until then, the things I had been avoiding out of fear of disappointment.

As if timed together, they all poured out at once, blurring my trembling vision and the whole world.

I had constantly given up things about “myself,” thinking it would be fine as long as I could save my precious people.

That it would be okay even if I ended up alone again…

But I realized then that I hadn’t actually given up at all.

I tried so hard to remain calm for a long time. But in the end, I crumbled in an instant.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. I knew you would worry. I knew it was wrong…”

What I felt through the unstoppable tears was guilt.

The thought that I had betrayed someone who had always been excessively good to me and given me nothing but affection kept making me feel miserable.

Yet the gentle voice still only returned answers saying it was okay.

Not long after, I finally admitted that my deepest wish had come true as I began to feel relief.

What happened next was being picked up by two smooth hands without a single callus that came to rest around my waist.

I was carried and laid back down on the wide bed where I had been lying until just before.

Almost simultaneously, I heard a voice telling me to wait a bit while she made some soup.

At first, I tried to politely decline because of the guilt toward Asha that was still weighing on my heart.

Honestly, I wasn’t that hungry either.

However…

“Lua, you’ve been lying down for almost half a year. You need to eat something.”

Because of that one piece of news, enough to make my mind go blank.

The fact that it had already been half a year since the Tower sank left me speechless, and I ended up letting Asha go.

Right after that, I picked up the portable device that was placed at my bedside.

As soon as I checked today’s date, my mouth automatically opened slightly.

Wait, so I really had been sleeping for half a year…?

Yet I didn’t seem to have grown any taller.

“Hmm… I really don’t understand anything.”

I realized then that when people are too shocked, they give up trying to understand or accept the situation altogether.

Well, either way. It doesn’t seem like people have had any dangerous incidents or unexpected accidents.

I became a bit curious about what had happened after the Tower sank.

After that, I spent time searching for various trivial events that had occurred while I was asleep.

Honestly, I thought contacting Rea, Iris, and Adrian should be the priority.

But I couldn’t think of a way to contact the Academy right now.

-Slide.

“Did you wait?”

I decided to eat the soup Asha brought first, then bring up the topic of those three.

However, for some reason, Asha tried to feed me one spoonful at a time.

Even blowing on it to cool it down.

“S-Sister. You don’t have to go that far! Even so, I have enough strength to hold a spoon—”

I tried to stop Asha’s excessive kindness by waving my hands, feeling embarrassment bubbling up from somewhere in my chest.

-Grab.

“If you’re a patient, act like one and just let me take care of you.”

“Bu, bu siser. Ah weally can’t take dis anymore—!!”

As her fingers pinched my cheek for the first time in ages and pulled my left cheek way out.

With tears slightly forming in my eyes, I ended up obediently eating the soup Asha offered.

It was funny that the soup was still extremely delicious even in that situation.

After somewhat filling my empty stomach with Asha’s homemade soup.

I talked about various things with Asha, who had brought a small chair from somewhere in the spacious hospital room and sat next to my bed.

Until when?

-Sparkle.

“Oh. The sun is already up… I don’t want to go to work.”

…Literally until sunrise.

Thanks to having slept for half a year, I wasn’t tired, but unlike me, Asha’s face was full of dark circles.

I cautiously asked if she could take the day off.

But the answer that came back was a sigh saying it couldn’t be helped because of Tana.

She added that Tana still had not even a grain of flexibility, just like in the past—gossip that wasn’t really gossip.

“But well, I’ll only work until lunch and come back. I’ll probably be able to work beside you from now on, even if I do work.”

“Beside me?”

“Yes. Beside you, Lua.”

What followed was a promise that she would never be apart from me again.

I didn’t really understand how she would work beside me, but I didn’t want to oppose whatever Asha said because of the things I had done wrong.

Eventually, I waved my hand slightly to see off the person who was walking away after saying she’d see me later.

Almost simultaneously, click.

“Huh?”

When I slightly lowered my head, I discovered that something like a thin chain was tied around my ankle.

Right after that, a nightmare from some time ago came to mind.

‘I’m…I’m sorry, sister. So please, untie this—’

‘…No. You’re the one who kept breaking promises, Lua.’

-Clink.

-Clink.

‘S-Sister. I feel suffocated…’

‘It’s okay, Lua. You’ll be safe if you stay in this room.’

“That, that really was… a prophetic dream.”

My face temporarily turned pale at the scene straight out of a horror movie becoming reality.

However, as I started thinking about how worried Asha must have been after some time passed. Actually, honestly, I couldn’t even gauge how worried she must have been.

Breaking my promise to wait quietly at the guild headquarters and choosing to do things that would get me in trouble.

As I realized again that it was entirely my fault that this kind person had resorted to doing something like this…

“…I should ask her to bring me some books.”

For now, I decided to stay quietly in the hospital room as Asha wished.

She won’t really keep me confined in this room forever.

If I show her that I’m repenting until her anger subsides, she’ll surely remove the chain someday.

Anyway, I have no reason or intention to do things that would worry Asha again.

Someday we’ll be able to return to our normal daily life.

Yes, we should be able to return to how things were someday…

…Why do I have such a bad feeling about this?