Chapter 42: Academy Heroine's Right Diagonal Back Seat
Chapter 42
Mei stayed in my arms for quite a while until her tears finally ceased.
As the flames that had been burning on my body gradually subsided, Mei calmed down too. She slowly pulled away from me, her face flushed with embarrassment.
“W-What was that flame just now? It didn’t feel hot, just warm…”
“It sometimes flares up like that depending on my emotions. Just now, it happened because I was happy.”
I answered her that way, sensing she was trying to divert attention from her tears by asking about the flames. She seemed to have difficulty understanding my explanation that it was due to happiness.
Feeling a bit embarrassed to say it out loud, but wanting to convey my feelings, I took her hand with my right hand and spoke.
“I’m really glad to be friends with you, Mei.”
“…Me too, I’m glad to be friends with you, Scarlet.”
Her small voice echoed as her face turned the color of the sunset streaming in from outside.
Looking at her, I thought.
Even though we don’t have a deep relationship like family or lovers, a friend who can share joy and sorrow is essential for living. The existence of a friend I made in this world, where I have no connections, is very precious to me.
Like the friends I made during my school days, she has become a pillar of support for me.
Just looking at her makes me forget my worries a little.
While I was lost in thought, I noticed the sun setting beyond the buildings and the outside growing darker.
I couldn't keep her here too late, so I brought up the question I was curious about.
“Can you tell me what happened after I passed out?”
At my question, she flinched and then replied while still sitting quietly.
“Oh? Uh… After you passed out, Leonor defeated the monster and took you to the hospital. When he came back, he told us not to inform others about what happened today. Apparently, there were instructions to hide the details to prevent public panic. After the alarm was lifted, they sent the citizens home, and we were also instructed to return home.”
She glanced at my arm and gave a bitter smile.
“So, the citizens only know that a monster appeared, but they don’t know what happened outside. Even though we should be praised for our efforts...”
When I shook my head, showing that I didn’t mind, she chuckled.
“Even so, they couldn’t hide it from the teachers and students. The news spread on the condition that they keep it a secret. When they heard about your condition, they were all so loud. If the teachers hadn’t told them you needed rest, the room would have been packed. Today, as class president, I came as a representative, but tomorrow, a few more people will come. Jessie will probably come too, so be prepared. She’s going to cry a lot.”
Just hearing it made me laugh, as if I could already see it happening.
“Are the kids who went out to help safe?”
“Yeah, no one was seriously injured. They split into two teams, and one side had a tough time. I didn’t get the details because they seemed exhausted, but they reportedly defeated nearly a hundred monsters with less than ten people. I don’t know if it’s an exaggeration or not.”
As I kept talking and laughing, she seemed relieved, and the atmosphere brightened a bit.
It looks like the events followed the original story.
Yoon Si-woo must have been a real powerhouse.
In the original, even the veteran hero who was with him was amazed by his performance.
Since it was getting close to dinner time, Mei got up from her seat.
“When do you think you’ll be discharged?”
Mei asked. Honestly, except for my inconvenient arm, I could probably be discharged anytime.
I replied that it would likely be soon, and she said she’d see me at school next time before leaving the hospital room.
.
.
.
Is she gone?
After Mei left the room, I waited for a moment before putting my right hand inside the left sleeve of the empty hospital gown.
I had been feeling a strange sensation, so I wanted to check it out.
I put my hand in, but it felt empty.
With no arm there, it was normal for there to be nothing in the left sleeve.
Just as I was about to dismiss it as my imagination,
Something touched my right hand.
It felt small, rough, and hard.
I grabbed it and pulled it out.
When I opened my hand, I saw a small, pitch-black piece.
It looked like a charred fragment with a cracked surface, similar to a piece of charcoal.
And I definitely remembered seeing something like it before.
Swallowing nervously, I focused on the strange sensation I’d been feeling since the flames emerged from my body.
I shut off the parts of my body where I felt the flames were originating.
One in my head, one in my chest, one in my abdomen.
Then, I stopped the flames from coming out from the sources in my legs and right hand.
So, even if I tried to stir up my anger, there should be no flames.
There shouldn’t be, but there were.
Flames were flickering.
From the small, pitch-black piece in my right hand.
As I stared at the flickering flames, I was certain of what I had feared.
This burning piece was my left arm,
Completely incinerated inside the monster’s belly.
My mind started to spin in confusion.
When my arm went into the monster's belly, I thought it could emit flames since it was cut off right away.
However, for some reason, this black piece continued to burn in sync with my emotions, even though it had been quite a while since it was separated from my body.
I always thought my power was simply to produce flames from my body based on my emotions, so this strange situation left me baffled.
What was even more unsettling was that I had no memory of picking this up before I passed out.
There's no way someone would have picked it up and given it to me, and besides, I had changed clothes, so there was no way it could have ended up here.
Although this world had peculiar monsters and the existence of magic and superpowers, I still wasn’t used to such inexplicable occurrences, leaving me deep in thought.
"Patient, your meal is here."
"Oh, thank you."
As I was contemplating, the door opened and a nurse brought in my dinner.
I quickly shoved the object I was holding into the pocket of my hospital gown and unfolded the table attached to my bed. The nurse placed my dinner on the table.
Dinner was porridge.
I wasn’t sure if this was a special consideration or if all patients received this, but the colorful porridge in the bowl seemed easy to eat with one hand, which was a relief.
The porridge was filled with various ingredients.
Meibe they were vegetables, abalone, or meat.
Meibe it was all three.
Honestly, for patient food, it looked quite luxurious.
It might be because I was in a private room, but this porridge was extravagant.
I had never had anything other than plain white rice porridge before.
Of course, eating plain rice porridge with soy sauce was tasty too...
I took a big spoonful of the porridge, feeling a sense of anticipation.
Steam rose from it, indicating it was freshly cooked.
Even though someone who could withstand being on fire wouldn’t care if porridge was hot or not, it was the mood that mattered. I blew on the spoon to cool the porridge and carefully put it in my mouth.
The porridge spread across my tongue without needing to be chewed, melting in my mouth.
Even so, I chewed it, savoring the taste.
As I swallowed the porridge, a warm sensation spread throughout my body, and I exhaled the residual heat.
Just one spoonful from a single bowl.
But the variety of flavors mingling within it was beyond count.
With so many ingredients, one might expect an imbalance, but it was surprisingly harmonious.
It felt like a new horizon of porridge had opened for me.
It was more shocking than the time my colleague bought me a caramel frappuccino from a coffee shop, with all its fancy ingredients, after I had only ever had instant coffee.
While plain rice porridge and instant coffee weren’t bad, expensive things have their reasons for being so...
Each spoonful seemed to rejuvenate me, making me feel like this was truly patient food.
By the time I came to my senses, I had cleaned the bowl, savoring the lingering taste.
The nurse who came to clear the empty bowl smiled.
Eating delicious food helped calm my complicated thoughts.
Well, worrying about the unknown won’t yield answers anyway.
It’s better to eat something tasty and sleep well.
After washing up and brushing my teeth with one hand in the bathroom, I fell asleep recalling the conversation I had with Mei and the taste of the porridge I ate today.
Ignoring the strange sensation linked to the object in my pocket.
Thank you very much. Thanks Ashborntl
ReplyDeleteThx for the chapter
ReplyDeleteThank you for the chapter
ReplyDeleteThat object might be her hand trying to regrow itself ?!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chapter !
Could she quite literally be fire herself and could regrow as long as one piece of her is alive? That would make a lot of sense
ReplyDeleteI honestly hope that’s true. It’d be cool af.
DeleteWell, that object must be the experiment's consequence.
ReplyDeleteWhat i'm wondering is if it has some sort of ego/conciousness or not.
My guess is yes though, because she did hear a voice when she gone berserk.
I guess that it either helps regrow the limb, or MC is able to make an arm from fire, that would indeed be original.
I have a feeling the MC is actually a Witch.
ReplyDeleteWitch of Wrath.
Thx for the chapter
ReplyDeleteSo, it’s pretty obvious that Scarlet is probably the Witch of Wrath, right? Or at least it’s vessel. She has a flame motif, her fire feeds off of her anger, and she’s connected to what may be one of the other witches(purple haired girl) and has a couple other strange things related to her with the experiments and stuff. With all this put together I feel like it’s almost certain she’s probably Wrath.
ReplyDeleteI’m guessing she’ll regrow her arm. Fire not only represents destruction, but also rebirth.
ReplyDelete