Step... step
She slowly walked, one step at a time, toward the operating room.
"..."
Whoosh
"...Haruta....?"
The Haruta that Hina saw was not the Haruta she knew.
One eye was already gone, apparently judged unusable after being exposed directly to the blast. One leg was missing, and one arm too.
"..."
It was Haruta’s fault for rushing in so quickly, thinking it was over before he could react, but still.
"Haruta... sob... I’m sorry... I... I’m sorry... hic... sniff..."
"..."
Without saying a word, she brushed Haruta’s bangs back from his forehead. He didn’t react at all.
But even so, she could clearly feel that his breathing was still there, irregular as it was.
"I... couldn’t protect you..."
"...Hina... how is Haruta right now...?"
"...S-Sensei... H-Haruta..."
"..."
"Sensei... please, do something... please... I’m begging you..."
"...I tried too... I thought maybe I could save him with an adult card... so I used it..."
"...Th-then..."
"Yeah... for some reason, the adult card wouldn’t activate... like it was blocking some kind of loophole... like a game banning cheats."
Whoosh
"...Haruta!"
It was Nagisa who opened the door and came in. She must have abandoned her own duties to rush over here.
"...A-ah..."
With every step Nagisa took toward Haruta, her feet seemed to grow heavier and heavier.
"..."
Then her eyes met Hina’s, and for a moment she glared at her. It was probably a prejudice-filled thought, one that assumed this had to be Gehenna’s doing.
"...Sensei... how... how did this happen...?"
"...Haruta... was trying to protect the girl here... and overdid it... so now he’s just sleeping for a bit..."
"...If Mika saw this..."
"...Sensei doesn’t know the exact relationship between Gehenna and Trinity..... Even if Sensei knows about the Eden Treaty... you still don’t know the details... but you do know the two sides don’t get along... right? No, everyone knows that...."
"...Then... the person loved by a major figure from both Gehenna and Trinity..."
"..."
"We may have to go to full-scale war with Gehenna..."
"..."
"And I’m very angry right now, too."
"...Haah... what on earth did you get up to while I wasn’t around, Haruta..."
"...Sensei... sorry... I... I just..."
"Hina? Why did Haruta come looking for you again?"
"...To tell me I did a good job... and praise me..."
"Right... then don’t do anything like this again, so you can hear that praise one more time... no, even just to celebrate when Haruta comes back, don’t ever do this again."
"..."
"Haruta isn’t dead yet... and he still has his halo, so he’ll recover soon enough."
"...Okay... thank you... Sensei..."
"Haruta... I’m sorry... I..."
"Yeah... for now, let’s give him some space..."
With Sensei’s words, everyone stepped away.
Haruta, who wasn’t just a critical patient but someone who needed absolute care and stability—no, he was so badly damaged he was almost more corpse than patient—
lay quietly in his room, his breathing the only thing breaking the silence.
"..."
Crackle
Crackle
Sizzle
Snap
Boom!
"...? What was that? What was that sound!"
"...That sound?!"
The only room on the top floor of the hospital was Haruta’s room.
"...Haruta!!!"
Boom!
The moment Hina stepped outside, she leapt straight up to the top floor again. No—she flew there.
Crash!
"Haruta! Are you...?!"
What Hina saw was Haruta lying there, and
Haruta’s halo slowly collapsing.
"Ha... Haruta!!"
Thud
Instinctively, she slammed the emergency button. Then—
Weeeeee-ooooh
A siren poured out of the wall-mounted speakers. No, the noise was so loud it echoed through the entire hospital and shook the top floor.
"...Haruta! Please... just hold on a little longer!!"
Hina carried Haruta on her back and ran downstairs. But—
Crackle
"Haruta!! Please... hold on just a little longer..."
"What happened?!"
"H-he... Haruta is..."
"...The halo is collapsing...?"
"P-please, save him..."
"Understood! We’ll do everything we can."
Whoosh
Watching Haruta being taken into the operating room again from the closest possible distance, Hina fell into despair once more. No, had she already been in despair? She had only forgotten for a moment because of the relief that Haruta had survived.
"..."
Right now, Haruta was the kind of person who could die at any moment.
He was practically a corpse.
"...Please... Haruta... stay alive... I’m begging you..."
"...What’s the problem...?"
"...This... it looks like the heart has completely stopped functioning... no... it seems the entire body has stopped functioning..."
"...Then..."
"He’s... dead..."
"Haah....."
The doctor lamented his inability to save the patient, wondering why he hadn’t been able to do it—if only he had paid a little more attention, if only he had focused a little more on restoring the organs... maybe he could have saved him.
"...How am I supposed to tell them this...? That student from earlier... he really looked precious to her..."
"...Haah... this is the first time someone has died on us while we’ve been doctors... right?"
"...More precisely, this is the first time a student has died... yes."
"...Yeah... first, we should tell them the news."
Crackle
"...? H-his... his heartbeat is returning to normal...?"
"...? What are you talking about...?"
"...W-what...? Th-this shouldn’t be possible..."
The nurse, flustered, tapped the machine a few times, then turned it off and back on to check again.
"...This patient was definitely... dead..."
"...Have you ever seen anything like that in your years as a doctor?"
"...This is my first time seeing anything like this at all..."
"...Haah... then what about the other organs right now...?"
"...All of them... are functioning normally..."
"Move him back to the critical care room for now... and tell him not to move around as much as possible when he wakes up..."
"Yes... understood..."
And so, when Haruta was brought back to his room, he was sleeping peacefully in bed as if nothing had happened.
"...Haruta... thank goodness... really... truly, thank goodness..."
"...Hehe... Haruta... if you keep making us worry like this, I’ll really scold you, okay...?"
"Haah... thank you, Hina..."
"No... this happened because of me..."
Sensei thanked Hina and looked at Haruta.
"Haah... that idiot Haruta... no matter how many times I told him..."
Sensei had taught Haruta to think of himself first, no matter what happened. But the foolish student had not listened to his teacher. And the result was—
"...Haah... I told you not to overdo it..."
Sensei was drowning in guilt and sorrow, not just for Haruta, but for failing to protect his own student.
Knock knock
"...Um... visiting hours are over now..."
"...Ah, yes. We’ll be leaving now."
"...Haruta... I’ll come again tomorrow..."
"Hehe... sorry, Haruta... I’ll come tomorrow too..."
"I’ll come tomorrow too... Haruta... and don’t go causing trouble."
"Then..."
"See you tomorrow... Haruta."
"Let’s meet again..."
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