Hecate and the others have finally accepted me as one of their own, and I’m really happy with how things turned out. Hecate apologized to me for how she treated me at times, which she didn’t have to, and then we shook hands.
I still don’t fully understand her. Neither she nor any of them. She’s usually gentle and somewhat motherly, but she’s completely obsessed with the other girls’ wellbeing. She seems calm usually, but as soon as it looks like danger might befall one of the girls, she kinda loses it.
Then there’s her fashion sense and way of speaking. She always wears black and speaks in a strange and mysterious way, but that’s just a front. Like she’s trying to act cool or something… No idea why, though. But at least I feel she has shown me some genuine kindness today.
Enough about Hecate, though. Where were we…? They’ve accepted me as one of them now, but I still haven’t gotten my explanations. “By the way, what happened after I passed out? Where are we anyway?”
“You can’t tell?” Narumi tilts her head. “Oh, you’ve never been here, have you?” Narumi too… I don’t completely get her… She’s back to her usual ditzy self, but apparently that’s also just a front. Her real problem is that she thinks too much… She seems fine now, but is she really fine? How am I supposed to act around her? Do I just pretend like I know nothing? I asked a question, so for now I’ll just hear her out.
“We’re back at the House of Imaginary Boundaries. We brought you to our infirmary after we found Carol holding you while crying.” Narumi continued, now with a grin on her face.
“Guh! What the hell are you saying, Narumi?! I wasn’t crying! Don’t make things up!” Carol bared her teeth at Narumi before averting her eyes when she noticed me staring. If they can mess around like this, I guess they’re both fine…
“Oh… So we’re at the House… That’s a relief…” I let out a sigh, and they smiled. They recalled my ridiculous worries about being dissected, which are actually not ridiculous, they just don’t know about the VISS Driver! “So was everything fine after the mermaid fell?” Katja nodded her head and gave me the run-down.
“Yeah. Shortly after we picked you up, the PSF and Shinji showed up. They took over the cleaning operation, and Shinji stayed behind in our place to collaborate with their forces. The area remained closed off for the whole day, all the monster corpses were recovered, and the portal was closed.” Eh? The whole day?
“Wait, let me get this straight… You brought me to the infirmary, I slept through the night, and now that it’s…” Judging from the light coming in from the window. “…early afternoon, I finally woke up. Is that right?”
“Nope, you missed a day.” Carol said bluntly.
“You spent the whole day after your fight resting, so now it’s the next day.” Katja cleared up.
“What? I slept the whole day? How!?”
“More like, how are you awake already?” Carol quickly interrupted my complaining. Why shouldn’t I be awake already?
Hecate saw me confused, and she spoke up. “It’s a miracle that you didn’t succumb to such wounds. With a hole that big on your shoulder, it’s a surprise you can move so soon.”
Wa- was it really that bad? It did chunk like half my HP in a single go… Even my recovery speed is suspicious, huh? Can I not catch a break? “Yeah… I remember now… That sure was a big hit, huh? I really got lucky. It was all thanks to that outfit you got me, Katja. Thanks.”
“No need for thanks. I guess that’s the only possible explanation. We fixed the outfit while you were out, so it’s ready next time you need it.” Oh, that’s convenient…
“That’s nice. Thank you.” I flashed Katja a smile, and then an awkward silence settled in. What now? I’ve never been in this position before… I’m back to normal, so maybe I should get up.
“Woah! Don’t try to get up yet.” Katja reached for my “good” shoulder and prevented me from moving. “You need to rest, Iroha. It’s too early for you to be getting up.”
“Eh? But I’m fine now. I don’t have a problem moving around. I can’t spend another day resting. I’m busy.” Or maybe I’m not… But spending all day in bed is the last thing I want to do.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Don’t be ridiculous… You need to rest. I don’t care how miraculous your recovery is, there’s no way you’re good enough to be walking around just yet. At least rest for today. We’ll take care of you, right?” Katja finished by turning her head to the others, being met with nods from everyone.
“Of course! Just relax and let us take care of you.” Hecate then jumped up from her stool, like she just had an amazing idea. “Let’s all share a meal tonight. We can bring a table to the infirmary, and we can all eat together! I’ll make a feast for you, Iroha! Think of it as a welcoming party!” We’ve never actually eaten a meal together before… It always felt like it would be awkward, so I always refused, but now it might work. She just didn’t need to make such a big fuss about it.
“Nice! Do it, Hecate! Do it! Anything’s a good excuse for you to go all out! Oh… I can’t wait! Dinner’s gonna be so crazy!” Narumi enthusiastically encouraged Hecate’s idea. She seems to be more interested in the food than the reason for the feast, but whatever.
“We should start preparing then.” Katja stood up, quickly followed by Narumi. Carol looked at the other three, and she was gonna join them, but Narumi held down her shoulders. “We’ll be taking our leave for now. Keep her company, Carol. It’s your opportunity now.”
“Huh!?” The three started leaving, and Carol wasn’t pleased with Katja’s words.
“Don’t be shy, Carol. You wanted to be alone with Iroha, right? Listen to this, Iroha. You wouldn’t believe it, but she spent all day coming in and out of the infirmary to see you. Isn’t that cute? She must have been really worried!”
“What?! Narumi!!” Carol chased after Narumi, knocking down some of the stools on the way. Narumi passed through the door and held it shut. “Fuck you! Stop making shit up! Why are you trying to embarrass me?!” Carol banged on the door, but it didn’t budge.
“Ahahahaha! Is that not how it went? Ooops… I guess I was just seeing things… Sowwy, Cawol…”
“Damn you… That’s right. You imagined everything. Now open the door so I can teach you a lesson!”
“Here you go! Try and catch me!” The sound of Narumi’s footsteps echoed in the hallway outside. Carol slid the door open loudly and peeked outside. She could run after Narumi, but she didn’t. She returned to the room and let out a loud sigh.
“Sorry about that, Iroha. Narumi’s never happy unless she’s making problems for someone. Ignore what she said, okay? She was just making things up to mess with me.” So she says, but I’m not sure I wanna just ignore what she said. If Carol really was worried about me, that’s super adorable!
“So it was all lies? Which parts should I ignore?” Carol slowly returned to her seat with a slight blush. My pitch went up a notch as I joined the teasing Carol initiative.
“Everything! Don’t listen to a single word, got it?”
“So… you weren’t worried about me? At all?”
“Guh!” Carol got startled by my question. “I wouldn’t exactly say that… I was a bit worried, but it was the normal amount. Nothing weird like she said, okay?” Yeah… yeah… I’m sure that’s it… She may be trying to hide it, but one look at her blushing face tells me everything I need to know. Makes me kinda happy… Hehehehe…
“Anyway, forget about that. The real reason I wanted to talk to you was to thank you.” Carol averts her gaze and her voice grows mushy. “I was kinda losing my mind and what you said really helped me. Thanks…” Ugyuuu! She’s so cute!
“Right, what happened after that? Like, are you fine now? Are you still hearing that mysterious voice? I promised I’d help you with that.”
“Actually… I think that’s over now. Your words gave me the strength I needed to control it. My headaches are gone, and I haven’t heard any voices since then.”
“Wait, really? You solved it on your own? Wasn’t that the result of some kind of magic from the other world? I’m surprised it was that easy…” I didn’t even have to do anything… Well, I technically did if what helped her was what I said… But that shouldn’t have broken the spell or whatever it was… “Is that thing on your ankle gone too?”
“Oh, that! I gotta show you something!” Carol ignored my question and jumped on the bed next to mine. She then placed her feet on the stool between both beds and took off her socks. “Look!” She showed me her ankles, and there was nothing on them. Then, after a second, the same weird bracelet from before appeared and started shining. Off, on, off, on… Wait, that’s not what happened last time! “See? I can control it now. Not sure if it does anything, but if it’s the reason I was hearing that voice, it’s under control now.”
“What? How are you doing that!?” I didn’t know it was possible to understand what’s going on less than I already did. “Wait a second, Carol. That thing… We’re pretty sure it’s magic, right?”
“Yeah…? What else could it be? Why? Does that matter?”
“Don’t you get it? If it’s magic and you’re controlling it, that means you’re using magic! A normal human from this world using actual magic from the other world, isn’t that crazy?!”
“Is it? It doesn’t do anything! It doesn’t count, does it?” Carol herself hadn’t arrived at this conclusion and was struggling to accept it.
“That doesn’t matter. It may be a bit of a technicality, but you’re definitely using magic. Not even I can do that… Everything I’m able to do is thanks to the VISS Driver. But you’re doing it on your own. It’s revolutionary, right?”
Carol soon recovered from the surprise and crossed her arms pensively. “Well, I guess you’re right…” She tried her best to suppress a grin. “I’ve never met anyone other than you who can use magic. Maybe I am one of the first ones…”
“Wow… I never expected I’d wake up to you telling me that you can use magic now… This is wild…”
“Damn you, Iroha… Now you got me thinking… If I can use magic, does that mean I can learn how to shoot fireballs? How do I do it, Iroha?” Carol became uncharacteristically giddy.
“Sorry, but even I can’t help you with that… I don’t know how to shoot a fireball with the VISS Driver, much less without it.”
“*Sigh…* You’re useless…” Carol flashed me a playful smile. “What can I do with magic then? Do you have any idea? I hope turning the lights on the tattoo on and off isn’t all I can do…”
“I’m not sure… I told you about skills before, but I have no idea how they work without the VISS Driver.” If what’s called a skill even exists without the VISS Driver. “Some people can use magic in the other world, so there might be a way for you to learn some spells too. I don’t know how, though.”
“Is that so… That’s a shame too… It would have been a good way to get stronger.” Carol looks down with a slightly disappointed look.
“Uhmm… You said you have the weird voice under control, but are you okay? You’re not thinking of yourself as a burden anymore, are you?” She’s still thinking about getting stronger, so I’m scared of her answer. Even without the spell causing her to act recklessly, if those feelings continue to make her suffer, that’s bad.
“…” She stares at me with an annoyed look. She ponders an answer and whether to give it or not. “I’m still focused on improving, got it? I’m not gonna be satisfied until I show you all how awesome I am!” Then her expression softened. “But it doesn’t bother me anymore… I may not be as strong as any of you, but that doesn’t matter. You helped me remember what was the point of getting better in first place. I wanted to repay the others for everything they’ve done for me. Even if it takes a while, it’s fine as long as I get there one day. You better not slack off, you hear me? Otherwise, I’ll catch up with you again in no time. That wouldn’t be any fun.”
I see… That’s much better than before… Maybe that’s the perfect attitude… Only time will tell. Carol paused for a moment, and her cheeks grew red. She averted her gaze and quietly mumbled. “I also need to repay you now… I want to… You better be ready…”
Gah! Carooool!!! Sooo cute!!!