Chapter 89 – NTO
Dreamed for a while
It was a memory of not long after waking up in this world.
The clumsy days when you couldn’t be called a proper pilot. The time when I was wandering without acknowledging the reality yet.
To be honest, they weren’t very pleasant memories.
In a way, it could be called black history,
In a way, it was the worst memory I could count on in my life so far.
Still, it wasn’t all bad memories.
Because there was a child who was the only one who reached out to me on that dangerous day, as if standing on the edge of a cliff.
He was a bold child.
How many people can put an umbrella over his head and comfort a stranger he has never seen before.
Is that why? To be honest, I was a little disappointed.
I should have looked at his face back then.
Foolishly, I parted without even seeing his face, let alone his name. Now that I think about it, that’s really stupid.
But.
—From now on, we will not run away from each other… No matter how painful and difficult it is, I will not give up…
I could feel the strong will of the girl, and the words of the girl are still vivid in my heart.
That day, she did not know what the girl was thinking when she said that, but she was a great source of strength to him.
…At least now I’m not giving up so easily.
A story that has been around for years.
Recalling the memories of that day,
Netoru’s consciousness, which had been immersed in deep darkness, began to emerge slowly.
Feeling nothing, like a jellyfish floating in the open sea, the senses were slowly returning to the body that could not do anything.
The first sense that came to life was touch.
You can feel the soft feel of the duvet and the unique elasticity of the mattress behind your back.
Am I lying down now?
The next sense that came to life was the sense of smell.
It seems that there is a fresh scent of flowers somewhere, but I can vaguely feel the smell of disinfectant unique to hospitals.
Am I in the hospital now?
It was then that his hearing awoke.
What was the first thing you heard at that moment?
“Eight…”
It’s a cute voice like a child playing. Thanks to that, the moment he heard it, he wondered if he had heard it wrong.
But he wasn’t wrong.
Back. Back. Kwok…
Ceres’ play with his hands, poking at the cheek.
Have there been a lot of things piled up in the meantime? No matter how much, you’re harassing someone who was sleeping like this.
It’s ridiculous, so I’m going to laugh out loud.
Suddenly, Ceres stopped playing with his hands and began to burst into tears.
“Wake up. Because it is a request.”
Embarrassed. Why is this girl crying all of a sudden?
So, inevitably, Netoru opened his eyes.
Then, he looked at Ceres, who was crying, and said,
“······You, I feel it every time, but you cry really well.”
“…What?”
Are you surprised? Ceres’ eyes, which had been wiping away tears with the back of her hand, widened. It was funny because his eyes were red, and he looked like a rabbit for some reason.
“Are you crying because of me?”
“·······”
When asked insinuatingly, Ceres closed his mouth tightly. It was a puzzled face.
Soon after, she pursed her lips and struggled to get her words out.
“······You. When did you wake up?”
“When you’re poking your cheeks at eight?”
“···Ah.”
The color in Ceres’ eyes instantly disappeared. It was something like despair. Earlier, he said that he wished he would wake up, but his reaction is strange.
Netoru, who found that funny, twitched her lips and smiled.
“Thanks to you, I had a lot of trouble. Whether this should happen or not.”
“Therefore···. That is···.”
Ceres stammering. The purple eyes couldn’t bear to look at Netoru, and were wandering in the air. In hindsight, he seemed ashamed of his actions. Even so, the tears that were in the middle of the day are clearly left in the eyes.
Originally, it would have ended here, but
I can’t stop looking at something like that. Besides, I hated the play with my hands that I had just been playing with.
“But Ceres, you suddenly started crying. I, too, couldn’t just watch it.”
“… Ugh.”
In the end, Ceres, who couldn’t hold it this time, lowered his head with his reddened face.
2.
After waking up like that, the first thing Netoru did was to check the state of his magical nervous system. It was only natural that his memory right before he lost consciousness was like that.
Still, seeing that he was sober, he seemed to have avoided becoming a disabled person, fortunately, but it would have been difficult if there was something wrong with his magical nervous system.
I had no intention of stopping the fight here yet.
Anyway, after checking the magical nervous system, Netoru opened his eyes.
From Netoru’s point of view, it felt like I just woke up from a normal, deep sigh, but
In reality, it seemed that a lot of time had passed. Thanks to this, even Netoru couldn’t help but be surprised.
“I’ve been sleeping all day?”
“…To be precise, I was in a coma.”
Ceres, who had returned to his usual form before he knew it, replied. I can’t find the look of the tears that have been in the middle of a while. It’s just that I’m just making a sad expression somewhere.
I must have been playing around too much just now. He generously shows that he is angry.
But how are you going to hold on to it?
“I guess I was overdoing it at the time.”
Netoru tried to ignore Ceres’ gaze and began to relax his frowning body. Certainly, I thought my body was heavy for sleeping on something, but maybe this is why.
While I was warming up by pulling his arm, Ceres cautiously asked me.
“···You. What about the magical nervous system?”
“Ah···. That’s it.”
Netoru lightly squeezed his chest near his heart. Then, Ceres’ eyes trembled.
“If···. Is there something wrong with your body?”
“No. No problem.”
“···Yes?”
Was it an unexpected answer? Ceres blinked blankly. Netoru shrugged his shoulders.
“There is no big problem. If you stay calm for about 15 days, I think your magical nervous system will be fine.”
“Fortnight? If it’s just that, is it really okay? Don’t overdo it again and take a good rest…”
Ceres seemed hard to believe.
Haha Usually, if you overuse your magical nervous system to the point of vomiting blood, in the worst case, you will become a disabled person, or it is common for you to recuperate for a long time for several months.
So, to say that Netoru is fine in this way would only look like bluff.
However, in the case of Netoru, it was a little different. Should I say that he recovers faster than others? Maybe it’s because of the ability he possesses.
Anyway, thanks to this resilience, Netoru was able to become stronger faster than anyone else.
The more you abuse yourself, the more you cross the line,
It was because I was able to stand firm and move forward alone when others couldn’t hold on and collapsed.
…Of course, I don’t know how long this will be possible.
“Don’t worry too much. Because I’m fine.”
“Even if I tell you not to worry… You know what?”
Ceres’ eyes, which had been blurring the end of his words, slowly began to narrow. As if he recalled some bad memory.
“Every time you tell me not to worry, I always don’t like the results.”
“You didn’t like it? What happened?”
Netoru tilted his head. In response, Ceres let out a low sigh and grabbed his forehead.
“Do you remember when I told you not to worry because you have plans for everything when you go to stop the Death Worm?”
“Ah. Is that what you mean?”
Certainly, Ceres was frightened at that time. He reassured me, but the way he showed me was simply ignorantly rushing to block the front.
“…And I told her not to worry when I killed the Death Worm and went to couple with Karen, but the result was this.”
Netoru inadvertently let out a wry smile at Ceres’ sharp gaze.
Certainly, at this point, Ceres was not very trustworthy. Unlike Karen, he told her not to worry, but mostly left only bad memories.
This, for sure, may have done something sorry.
So, Netoru apologized honestly.
“···Sorry.”
“…”
Shocked by Netoru’s apology, Ceres clasped her hands that had been placed on her lap.
Finally, he let out a shallow sigh and rose from his seat.
“Anyway, you. Don’t move recklessly just because you’re awake, stay calm. I will call the doctor.”
“Okay. Please.”
Ceres turned her back and walked out of the hospital room at a brisk pace. Netoru, who kept staring at her until she disappeared, looked around her.
Then the table near her chair, where she was sitting, caught her eye. There were piles of books there. Perhaps Ceres brought it for her to read.
“…Did you always stay by my side?”
Out of curiosity, Netoru picked up a book she had brought and looked at it. I was wanting to read something.
…So I read for a while.
“······Hmm.”
Interestingly, it was a romance novel with a fresh feeling that girls would read.
Where did Ceres get these things from?
That’s a grown up girl.
2.
“Karen. How do you feel?”
Somewhere in downtown Prasion.
Asked by Asuna in her genital warlord hangar, which was temporarily renovated and used for the stationing of her 393rd unit, Karen rubbed her belly for a moment before answering.
“…Even if it’s impossible to fight, I think it’s possible to clean up the rubble like the other members of the unit.”
More than she thought, Karen’s magical nervous system was quickly stabilized. The throbbing pain in her lower abdomen was also suddenly felt.
It was a strange thing.
It wasn’t just Netoru who was overdoing it that day.
Karen was also in a state where her magical nervous system was somewhat loaded due to the fierce battle. However, she suffered fewer side effects than expected.
…As expected, did this guy use his hand in that battle?
To be honest, I don’t remember very well.
When saving Natsuo, Netoru seemed to have touched her magical nerve system inside her body in order to use her magical discharge.
I don’t know what kind of method she used, but Karen smiled bitterly as she felt her magical nervous system touched by him. Seriously, putting your hands on someone else’s body without permission is just like a guy…
In that respect, the biggest problem for Karen, even more than her overheating, was the design of her magical nervous system, which suddenly changed her structure. Thanks to her, she had to struggle quite a bit to contemplate her own magical nervous system, which suddenly changed overnight.
“Anyway, I’m glad to hear you’re okay.”
“Does it seem that there is a shortage of workers?”
“What···. Actually, it’s not urgent. It would be nice to have at least one more sexual cavalry. But, have you still not reconciled with Natsuo?”
“Hmm···. That’s it…”
Karen avoided Asuna’s gaze and scratched her cheek.
To be honest, she is still in a state of awkwardness…
She had to distinguish between public and live.
She couldn’t be reluctant to help the citizens because of the personal feelings of human relationships.
Karen struggled to change her story.
“By the way, Natsuo says he’s okay? She doesn’t think he’s in good shape yet…”
Even though she said that she was a bit uneasy now, she didn’t want Natsuo to hurt her body by overdoing it for nothing.
“Ah. That···.”
“Don’t worry. Because I’m fine.”
But at that time, it wasn’t Asuna who answered that question. Before she knew it, Natsuo, who appeared at the right time, replied confidently.
Karen cautiously looked behind her. She then paused, blinking her eyes.
What should I say?
Is it an illusion to think that Natsuo’s mood has changed overnight?
In such doubts.
“… Karen. I’m sorry about yesterday.”
“Eh? Now, wait!?”
Suddenly, Natsuo hugged Karen and said.
