https://ncode.syosetu.com/n5562hc/79/
Revival
Two weeks have passed since Nerine, Peony, and Melia were bedridden.
Nerine was the first one to wake up.
A large room in the dorm was refurbished into a medical office, and the three of them were laid down into their own beds lined up against the wall. Nerine, who was sleeping at the far right, groaned and propped up her body.
“Nerine!”
It might’ve been a bad idea for me to hug Nerine when she’d only just recovered from her injuries, but my body was moving without worrying about logic.
“L-Liffy-san. That hurts.”
“Nerine! Say here!”
“Eh…. h-here!”
I hugged Nerine again. She’s alive. She’s actually alive. They brought her back.
“W-What’s wrong? No, maybe, I’m still alive? I remember the dragon bit me, but that wasn’t an insta-kill injury?”
Nerine pulled off her blanket and started looking herself up and down as she asked. The doctor anticipated she’d ask something like this and gave me strict orders on what to do. “Keep your mouth shut.” If the first thing I tell her after she finally regains consciousness is, “A dragon bit you in half, but we brought you back to life, so everything’s okay now,” she’d probably end up fainting again.
“Right. How about we go see the doctor, and they can answer all your questions.”
After getting the doctor, I waited outside the room until Nerine’s examination was finished.
All in all, it went faster than I thought it would. The doctor said there was nothing wrong with her at this point, so there wasn’t much to check.
Walking back inside, I found Nerine still sitting up in bed while watching Melia and Peony continue to sleep.
“Those two appeared to me in a dream I had. I was looking up at this huge gate, and as I was about to walk through it, they grabbed my hands and stopped me. I don’t really get it, but…. thinking about it feels scary.”
Although we hadn’t told her anything substantial about the fight yet, she still had memories of something akin to a near-death experience.
“Nerine, wasn’t there something you wanted to talk to Lily about once the second screening was over?”
“Oh…. you’re right. But since you mention it, how did the second screening go?”
“We were disqualified unfortunately. Things got too dangerous, so we needed some outside help to finish the job.”
Nerine looked at her fingers in disappointment.
“Really? Well, nothing we can do about it. Liffy-san, could you get Lily-san for me? I don’t think I can walk yet….”
“Sure. Just give me a minute.”
“Thanks!”
She’s going for an honorable death. I can’t help but wonder how it must feel like, asking the person who is partially responsible for her rejection for help like this, but I know if I think about it too much, I will end up feeling strangely sorry for her. I killed the feelings growing in my heart and returned to Lily’s room.
Lily was ecstatic when she heard that Nerine had woken up, and she was humming as she walked into the medical room. I know Nerine is going to want her privacy, so I leaned against the hallway wall and waited for the right moment to come in.
Standing there, watching people come and go, it only just now came to me how considerably empty this place feels. I know the number of people who live here decreased from 51 to 30, but since the majority of the second screening’s training was done away from the dorms, I never really understood what that meant.
After around ten minutes, Lily came walking out of the room.
Her eyes were puffy and swollen from tears, the complete opposite of how she walked in.
“I properly declined. Apparently, she has something she wishes to speak with you about though.”
She had hurriedly left the room, and after taking a simple glance towards me while mentioning that, she quickly made her way back to her room.
I know I forced her into a difficult situation, but this might be the first time I’ve seen Lily cry like that. She’s always loved Nerine as someone similar to a little sister, so I’m sure this was harder on her than I could imagine.
I made up my mind and walked back into the room. Nerine was lying back in her bed, so I sat down on the edge and looked into her face.
“You worked hard Nerine.”
“It feels weird working hard to get dumped. And I guess I died apparently?”
She rolled her head to the side to look at me and smiled.
“Eh!? How do you know that?”
“Lily-san told me about it.”
I guess Lily didn’t know about the not mentioning death rule. That’s my bad. I’ve gotten so little sleep these last two weeks that I got careless.
Judging from Nerine’s appearance though, it doesn’t look like she’s upset, so maybe it’s fine to not go through with the lie anymore.
“You did. Melia and Peony used a ton of energy to heal you, and they collapsed immediately after. But since you’ve woken up already, I’d think they will be up soon as well.”
“I can’t thank both of them enough. And you Liffy-san. You’ve been waiting here, believing I’d wake up right?”
“Well…. it’s my fault this happened to begin with. Why did you save me?”
“I wasn’t thinking. I just, didn’t want my friend to die in front of me. I knew I could die, but…. I didn’t care.”
“You should care. A hero….”
Become a hero, gain the fame, get married off to some noble. She hates the very thought of it, so she was prepared to die at any time. I could sense Nerine’s feelings behind her words and kept my mouth shut.
“I’m going to quit. It’s stupid for me to become a hero, so I’m resigning from the competition.”
Nerine’s sudden change of heart caught me off guard even though this is probably what’s best for her.
“Will that be okay? You don’t need to talk about it with your father?”
“It’s fine. Papa has nothing to do with this. I was thinking about becoming a new person before this anyway, but since I’ve died once, I’ve kind of already become a new person anyway. I’ve always known, I want to make magic tools that anyone can use more than anything else. So I’m going to put everything I have into that dream. I already talked to Lily-san about it, and she said she’d give me her support. Apparently there’s someone she knows who can help me.”
Nerine’s eyes were burning with motivation. She has the resolve to leave home and pursue her own path, even if it means getting into a fight with her parents. I’ve always said Nerine seemed unreliable, but right now, she looks stronger than anyone else to me.
“Nerine, good luck.”
The chances for us to meet each other are probably going to decrease significantly from now on, but if it’s possible, I’d want to talk to her regularly even after the audition is over. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and hugged as tight as I could as if that would make the goodbye less painful.
“Thank you! Oh, is Melia getting up?”
I could hear the shuffling of sheets from behind my back. When I turned around, I saw that Peony had woken up at the same time as well.
“You two! Welcome home!”
I took turns hugging them both.
“I’m back Lily-chan. It’s good to see that Nerine is fine too.”
“You’re so annoying. First you’re calling us useless, and then the next thing you know, you’re begging us, ‘Please bring her back,’ with snot running down your face. You just say whatever you want.”
I don’t think I was dripping any snot back then, but it is true that I was acting like a bitch to Peony.
“I’m sorry Peony. I know I was upset, but I said something terrible to you. I’ll do whatever you want to make it up. Just name it.”
“You-…. You don’t need to! It’s only natural to help other people. And Nerine’s my friend too. ….Anyway, I might’ve said some harsh things to you too, so….let’s just consider us even and move on.”
“Peony? What was that last part?”
“It doesn’t matter! You didn’t need to hear that part!”
Peony felt politer than usual, so I let her usual harsh tone pass as just business as usual. But, they’ve both gotten up as well, and since I was able to make up with Peony, we can consider our current issues settled.
At the same time, I’m reminded that we aren’t going to get too many more opportunities to talk like this.
We were disqualified from the second contest. Without any of the bonus votes to prop me up, I’m not going to make it to the next round.
Experimental Translations 