While flying on the magic carpet, even after 10 minutes, Chizuru still hadn't woken up.
I was worried, but seeing that she was still breathing, just sleeping, I felt relieved.
My biggest concern, however, would be when she woke up.
Would she be able to stay optimistic? Would she not try to do the opposite of living?
That really worried me.
That's when I made a decision.
[Sebastian (The Little Mermaid) ★★☆]
It was a card that I didn't have much use for.
However, I wanted to test something.
If something proved to me this past week, it's that by assimilating someone of a different gender, mainly... and Sebastian wasn't simply of the male gender, but also a crab. Maybe the influence of such a being would be good for her. Especially because of Sebastian's personality, even if just a little, if it could influence her...
'Chizuru-san, forgive me for doing this to you without asking, but I believe it's for your own good.'
I don't know if I was trying to convince myself, but deep down in my heart, I really wanted her to get better with this.
Of course, that was only if it was possible for someone else to assimilate a card.
Taking the Sebastian card from my pocket, I placed it against Chizuru's hands.
However, nothing happened, even when I clicked on the assimilate area with her finger.
'She needs to do it herself, or maybe it doesn't work?'
Without taking the card from her hands, I sighed.
'So that's it...'
But before I could continue with my line of thought, something happened.
A miracle, so to speak.
The Sebastian card, still in her hands, shattered. Right after, it started floating like a group of luminous paper fragments, and after hovering about 40 cm in the air, it simply shot towards Chizuru's chest.
'It worked... It's working!'
I rejoiced, praying that this would be enough to give her more will to live.
A foolish wish of mine was that she could forget the last two months, but... I know not everything is a bed of roses.
Almost arriving at the village, Chizuru woke up.
"Ariel?" she murmured, confused.
I almost jumped.
'No way...'
My worst fear seemed to become real. That she had given up, and instead of assimilating Sebastian's card, the opposite happened.
"Chabo..."
However, when she looked in my direction, she murmured the name of her son.
Before I could speak to her, Chizuru fainted again.
Picking her up and laying her down again with the sheet around her body, I was confused about which real identity had taken over the body.
'I just hope the worst doesn't happen.'
I clenched my hands tightly.
Getting close to the island, I landed in a more remote area.
I placed her leaning against a tree after we landed.
After covering her with the magic carpet, I walked back and forth, not knowing what to do next except wait for her to wake up.
...
Four hours later, the day began to dawn.
Chizuru was still sleeping. I didn't leave; I couldn't leave her here alone.
When I heard movement, I saw Chizuru opening her eyes.
Quickly, I went over to her.
When I saw her eyes, although not full of life, they were normal, which was a huge relief to me.
"Chizuru-san, are you okay?" I asked softly.
Blinking her eyes, she replied with a question: "Noah? Is that you? Where am I?"
"At the village," I said. "Near your house."
"House..." She said it as if it were a distant word.
"Yes, house." I confirmed.
"So it's real... You saved me." Her soft voice, low but full of emotions, caught me by surprise. "Thank you, Noah."
"You're welcome." I replied with my best smile.
She tried to get up but almost fell, so I helped her stand.
Leaning on me with one hand and the other on the tree, she murmured quietly: "Who is Ariel?"
I didn't know how to answer.
However, one thing was certain. At least, she hadn't been replaced by the card.
And I had no idea why the name "Ariel" seemed so present. Even knowing it was about the mermaid princess Ariel, I didn't think it should be something Sebastian was so attached to.
At least, regarding that, none of the three cards I've assimilated/been assimilating influenced me to that extent.
I have no memories, nor do I even think about anyone I don't know related to them.
I don't know if the card I assimilated from Elastic Woman was from when she was already a mother. Because if it was, maybe her family, especially her children, should be things I should remember or think about. But none of that happened.
Not even with Hercules, or even with Li Shang, whom I fully assimilated.
All I got from Li Shang was his fighting style and a bit of his posture.
From Hercules, so far, I've only gained part of his divine strength.
"I want to see my son."
Turning my attention back to her, I said: "Mm, he should be at home right now."
She nodded.
"Chizuru-san... If it's not too much to ask—"
She interrupted me: "I know, my mouth is a tomb."
"Thank you."
She gave a weak smile: "What a strange thing to say. I should be the one thanking you."
"You don't need to." I shook my head. "If I were stronger, I..."
"I won't allow you to continue!" She raised her voice.
"..." I stayed silent.
Sighing, she said: "I don't know what got into me. But since I was saved and... since I came back, I feel brave. This is all thanks to you, and neither I nor anyone else, not even you, can say otherwise. So let me say it again." She lowered her head towards me: "Noah, thank you for saving me and stopping this foolish woman from taking her own life!"
I didn't want to, because I wanted to be strong, but tears rolled down my eyes.
Was it strange for me to feel so shaken to have my actions validated?
My voice was a little choked when I replied: "You're welcome."
She hugged me right after.
–
–
After I left Shizuru at her house, she promised not to leave home for the next two days.
It was a single request I made to her, and I also asked her to have her son, Chabo, keep her return a secret.
If Arlong finds out that she's back, he might suspect something and even try something against her, after all.
In my room, lying on the bed staring at the ceiling, I extended my left hand, looking at my fingers. I closed them into a fist, making a promise to myself.
'Arlong, you're next, and your end is not far away!'
--
I don't know when I fell asleep, and I don't even know why Nojiko didn't wake me up. Because when I woke up, it was already past noon, and I only woke up because an annoying beep kept buzzing in my mind.
[Warning!]
[Level Promotion Mission Available!]
[Warning!]
[Level Promotion Mission Available!]
[Warning!]
[Level Promotion Mission Available!]
[Warning!]
[Level Promotion Mission Available!]
Waving my hand in front of my face, I said in my mind: 'Okay, okay, I get it... Wait, promotion mission? Show me!'
════════ ××× ════════
[Promotion Mission to Level 2!]
Mission: A Stranger in The Little Mermaid's Dimension
Objective: Go to this dimension, find out who the stranger is, and get rid of them. Their presence is interfering with the world's balance and preventing the reset from happening!
Time to accept the mission: [2:39... 2:38... 2:37...]
Failure Penalty: You won't be able to accept a promotion mission for the next 60 days.
Difficulty: ★
[Accept] – [Decline]
════════ ××× ════════
A bit unexpected, a bit rushed, but I couldn't... Or rather, I didn't want to miss this chance.
Not to mention, two months may seem like little, but even if the two months pass, there's no guarantee that a new promotion mission will appear for me.
Besides... The difficulty seems pretty low. So, why not?
'But... If I go to The Little Mermaid's dimension, what will happen if I disappear for several days? How will I explain it... and... If I take too long, I can't even imagine what would happen, especially since I killed that trash Nezumi.' I thought.
1:19 seconds...
The mission timer kept running.
I couldn't delay any longer. It was all or nothing, pretty much.
I took a deep breath. As much as I tried to find a better explanation, I couldn't.
All I could do was place my hopes on the possibility that the flow of time worked differently — and that, in my world, time would pass more slowly while I was in The Little Mermaid's dimension...
The worst scenario, however, would be if there really was this difference in the time flow, but instead of time running slower here, it started passing two, three, or even ten times faster.
When there were only ten seconds left, I took a deep breath one more time and clicked "Accept."
As soon as I did that, a kind of black hole opened in the middle of my room, and a powerful gravitational force began pulling me in.
"Ahhh!"
What happened after I got sucked in was that I was faced with pure darkness until I could see again.
"F***, ahhhhhhhhhhh!"
I couldn't believe it. As soon as I came out, I found myself falling from the sky — more than a thousand meters high.
To make it worse, I wasn't with the magic carpet!