‘We finally meet again.’
A voice, one I couldn’t quite place but felt I’d heard before, echoed in my mind.
“I’m so happy, but it’s not time for everything to end yet!”
The words were at once nostalgic and endearing.
“So please wait a little longer, just a little bit more.”
For some reason, they possessed a calming magic that settled my heart.
“This time, I absolutely, absolutely won’t let go!”
It was like a mother’s gentle, loving whisper.
****
“Ah!”
Itsuka Shido jolted upright, his eyes snapping open from the depths of sleep.
“Thud!”
His head collided with something unusually soft, bouncing back immediately.
“I’m sorry, ugh!”
Shido meant to apologize but instinctively cried out instead.
He couldn’t be blamed; moments before, a strange woman had pried open his eyelids with her fingers, then shone a small, flashlight-like device directly into his eyes.
“Hmm, it seems you’re fully awake now!”
The speaker was a stunning older woman, likely in her late twenties or early thirties, clad in a pristine, loose white lab coat.
Her flowing, grayish-white hair was casually tied back, and her meticulously sculpted features, akin to a work of art, converged to create a divine beauty. Yet, upon that sacred face, an expression of ‘weariness’ was etched. Far from detracting from her allure, this weariness blended seamlessly with her delicate features, imparting an endearing charm.
In short, the woman before him was a captivating beauty, and Shido had just made intimate contact with her breasts, yet she showed no hint of anger.
Even though Shido didn’t know her yet.
“Y-you… who are you?”
“Me?”
The older woman straightened up, her expression unchanging, and wearily swept a stray lock of hair from her forehead.
Only after they had put some distance between them could Shido clearly see her attire.
Beneath her lab coat, she appeared to be wearing a military-style uniform. Strikingly out of place, however, was a scarred, small teddy bear peeking out from a pocket on the uniform. Though incongruous with the military attire, it paradoxically became a distinctive part of her appearance.
“My name is Murasame Reine. I serve as an intelligence analyst on this battleship, the Fraxinus. Unfortunately, the medical officers have been away on business for the past few days and aren’t on board, so I’ve been looking after you. It’s been nine days now!”
“What? Nine days?”
Shido, with an expression of disbelief, gripped Reine’s shoulders and asked.
“How is that possible? I’ve been unconscious for nine days?”
“That’s exactly right!” Reine affirmed with a resolute expression.
“I’ve been looking after you day and night for these nine days, so I’m absolutely certain you’ve been unconscious for that long!”
“Day and night? You haven’t been sleeping?”
“Hmm, now that I think about it, it has indeed been a very long time since I last slept!” Reine, looking as if she might collapse, leaned against Shido’s shoulder.
“So, how many days has it been since you slept?”
Hearing Shido’s question, Reine adopted a thoughtful expression, then held up three fingers.
“Three days? That must be really tough!”
“About thirty years, I suppose.”
“That’s an exaggeration!”
Shido had mentally prepared himself for her to say three weeks, but he never expected her to claim thirty years without sleep.
From Reine’s appearance, she didn’t look older than thirty. If her words were true, it meant she hadn’t slept since birth.
However, this made Shido disbelieve her even more. After all, how could a human possibly survive thirty years without sleep?
“Pardon me, it seems it’s time for my medication!”
With that, Reine nonchalantly pulled a pill bottle from her pocket, and then a scene that utterly astonished Shido unfolded.
Right in front of Shido, Reine swallowed the entire bottle of pills in one gulp.
“Hey! That’s an insane dosage!”
“…Mmm-hmm, but even this much doesn’t really do anything for me.”
“What kind of medicine are you taking?”
“They’re all sleeping pills. I seem to have a bit of insomnia.”
“Sleeping pills? Taking that many could be fatal!”
“It’s fine, I’ve taken them so many times, and nothing has happened. It seems these pills just don’t affect me!”
“What kind of constitution do you have, eating sleeping pills like candy?!”
“…Hmm, this bottle is lemon-flavored. They’re quite tasty!”
“You really *are* treating them like lemon drops!”
After his outburst, Shido let out a sigh.
“I wouldn’t normally believe such things, but after experiencing all this, I suppose I have no choice but to. It seems there are many things in this world that can’t be judged by common sense.”
“…Mm-hmm, good boy, you’ve grown up.”
Reine gently reached out and stroked Shido’s hair.
Reine’s hand was small compared to Shido’s, and felt slightly cool, yet when it stroked his hair, it was incredibly gentle, evoking a sense of nostalgia within him.
It was like the feeling of his birth mother caressing his adorable little head when he was an infant.
“Waaah…”
Without realizing it, tears began to stream from Shido’s eyes.
“Are you crying?”
“Yes, just now, for a moment, I was reminded of my birth mother. Even though she abandoned me when I was very young, and I don’t remember her face at all, I still remember how warm the hands that held me were, and that distant feeling of warmth… Miss Murasame?”
It turned out that while Shido was lost in his memories, Reine had, without him noticing, embraced him.
“Just call me Reine!”
“Miss Reine!”
“Mm!” Reine nodded gently. “If you can, you may think of this as the embrace your mother once gave you. Feel free to use my arms to recall that warmth.”
“Though… it might not quite replace that original feeling.”
“Mama, Mama…”
Shido’s emotions poured out like a breaching dam, and he sobbed uncontrollably in Reine’s embrace.
“There, there, there…”
Reine allowed Shido to lean against her chest, gently stroking his hair.
“Such a good boy, my child!”
“Mm, Mama!”
Even as tears soaked the front of Reine’s clothes, she did not release her hold on Shido.
As if to compensate for something owed from the past, to make amends now…
And so, Shido and Reine remained in that embrace for a very long time.
Until a flurry of hurried footsteps echoed from outside the room.
“Shido, you’re finally awake! I came personally to greet you, so you’d better be grateful…”
Kotori rushed to the infirmary door, adjusted her posture, opened it, and delivered her long-prepared line, only to be met with a shocking sight.
“Reine, you idiot brother! What are you two doing?!”