The weather had finally risen above freezing. Though it was still ambiguous to call it spring, a warm breeze blew refreshingly. Buds blooming on the streets had flower buds, and butterflies and bees flew sporadically above them. Kenji sat in the hospital garden and watched the scene.
'Spring is coming soon, I guess.'
It was about time for spring to come. The date had already passed early March, and thick coats had long been stuffed into closets. Most people in the hospital were like that. Now, people wearing padding or coats were rarely seen.
Kenji was the same. However, unlike other patients who had only removed their coats over their patient gowns, he had thrown off both his coat and patient gown. Instead, he was wearing his usual hoodie and black slacks. The reason was simple. Because today was his discharge day.
Unfortunately, his ankle wasn't fully healed, but he had at least gotten rid of the wheelchair. With just one crutch, moving around wasn't a problem. It was a little inconvenient, but that was it. He had experienced this much on Earth several times, so it wasn't particularly bothersome.
"Ugh...."
Kenji stretched his stiff body and got up from his seat. Picking up the crutch placed beside him, he limped toward the hospital's first-floor hall. He had already completed all discharge procedures, so there was no need to stay at the hospital any longer, but there were still people to say goodbye to.
The nurse who seemed like a mess at first impression but turned out to be a good person as time passed. Kenji spotted her sitting blankly in the hospital hall and let out a soft chuckle.
"Mine."
At Kenji's voice, Mine turned her head. She made her emerald eyes sparkle and slightly twisted up the corner of her mouth. Thanks to her elf-like long ears and beautiful wings, even though it was just a smile, she evoked a mysterious atmosphere around her. She was a girl who seemed to live in a fantasy world all by herself.
"Kenji-ssi."
"What 'ssi'. I told you to speak comfortably."
Until a few weeks ago, he didn't know, but Mine was the same age as Kenji. But just for that reason, Kenji had no intention of using informal speech with Mine. Because he didn't want to become a ruffian like those guys who speak down to nurses just because they're younger. Medical professionals deserved respect, and that applied to Mine, who was still a trainee. Frankly, it was true she was better than most regular nurses.
For those various reasons, Kenji continued to use formal speech with Mine. But Mine was the one who first suggested they speak comfortably. The reason was that a thicker bond between a patient and their dedicated nurse was better, but ironically, the one who brought it up insisted on using formal speech herself.
"There's no need for both of us to use informal speech just to build a bond."
"Then wasn't it okay for me to keep using formal speech too?"
"Your formal speech feels like you're putting up a wall. It's like you're pushing the other person away, I should say. So you shouldn't use formal speech."
At Mine's words, Kenji shrugged his shoulders. Then he plopped down on the empty seat next to Mine.
"How does it feel to be discharged?"
"Good."
Kenji grinned. The hospital he was admitted to was quite prestigious even within Trinity. The medical staff's level was top-tier, and they used verified cutting-edge technology for medical equipment and medicine. But still, it was a hospital. It was only natural that walking around freely outside was much better than lying blankly in a hospital room.
Mine knew that fact well too. Though she wasn't a patient herself, being a member of the Relief Knight Club, from a patient's perspective, the hospital was a sufficiently boring place. It wasn't for nothing that hospitalized patients asked, 'When can I be discharged?'
"By the way, the graduation ceremony is coming soon. Are you attending too?"
Kenji asked. Late March. By then, graduation ceremonies would be held at all Trinity schools. There were no exceptions from elementary to middle to high school.
"Of course I'm attending too. And when I move up to high school, I'll officially become a member of the Relief Knight Club."
"Will your trainee status disappear?"
"Yes. Though that child you like, 'Serina', will have to remain a trainee for one more year."
"It's not like I particularly like her or anything."
Kenji smiled bitterly. Mine cautiously asked him.
"...Are you not feeling the headaches anymore?"
Headaches.
Kenji pondered the word as he leaned back in the chair.
The headaches that suddenly started a few weeks ago. That pain that came without warning was sometimes light like a migraine, but other times severe as if his head was splitting in half. Most were the latter. The number of times he woke up from sleep due to headaches wasn't small either.
But the cause of the headaches couldn't be identified. Even when examined at the hospital, they didn't prescribe anything beyond simple headache medicine. And taking medicine didn't make the headaches disappear either. The doctor who examined him in the first place only tilted his head and couldn't give an accurate diagnosis.
That made sense.
'Because it's not a headache caused by illness.'
Though others couldn't feel it, Kenji sensed an unsettling feeling rising from somewhere deep in his chest. He didn't need to think to know what the source of that unease was. The 'seed of terror' that the black man had mentioned. It was clearly because of that.
The headaches occurred when he could consciously sense that seed. The alien unease was constantly felt, but not the seed. It appeared suddenly without any warning, causing a sensation of something filling his chest. And when that sensation, as if rolling through blood vessels, started from near the heart and reached his head, the headaches would soon begin.
It was never a pleasant sensation. The feeling of a centipede slowly crawling up from the tip of his toes and penetrating his brain through his ears could never be pleasant. Fortunately, the frequency of headaches had decreased recently, but anyone could see that wasn't a positive sign.
It had taken root. To obtain nutrients.
The headaches occurred. Because it had sprouted.
Then what's next? It must grow the sprout, right?
Growth.
No one could predict what would happen during that process. It was a kind of time bomb. A bomb that could swallow up the surroundings or kill only me.
He no longer thought this would have no effect. It only caused headaches while sprouting. When it blooms buds and fully blossoms, it definitely won't end with just headaches.
He was certain. This was a judgment arising from a kind of instinct. The instinct honed through multiple uses of the simulation room never betrayed him. And that animalistic sense pointed to only one outcome.
If left alone.
Everything ends.
Fortunately, two months was a sufficient period to organize his thoughts. What choice he should make—he had finished thinking it all through.
"I'm fine."
Kenji smiled and said that. It was an ordinary smile that shouldn't be strange, but Mine felt an inexplicable sense of discord from that smile.
"...Are you really sure you're okay?"
So she couldn't help but ask again. But Kenji's expression didn't change. He twitched the corner of his mouth and chuckled.
"Worried about me? Ha, don't fall for me. I have a lot of women."
"...Huh?"
"If a few more women get involved here, I'd probably get stabbed and die for real. So don't fall for me. I don't want to die yet."
"...Haa."
Worrying about him was a loss, Mine thought as she let out a deep sigh.
After that, trivial small talk continued. The time was approaching 3 PM, and Kenji checked the clock hanging in the hall and got up from his seat.
"I should get going. It's almost time for them to come pick me up."
"Ah, it's already that time."
"Don't follow me, go back. Your senior is running over there."
As Kenji said, a girl wearing a Relief Knight Club badge was running down from the 2nd floor. Mine saw that and stood up. Talking with Kenji was enjoyable, but she couldn't neglect her duties. Aid where aid is needed—that was her motto. If there was work that required her, she could never turn away.
"If our paths cross again later."
Kenji said to Mine, who had turned her head toward her senior. Mine's gaze returned to him.
"Let's meet again then."
"...? Why are you talking like someone going far away?"
"...Right. Was I being too sentimental?"
Kenji answered with a bitter smile. Then he waved at Mine and moved his steps toward outside the hospital. Mine felt a strange mood but dismissed the question that arose in her mind. There was too much to do to think about him right now.
They would meet again someday, as he said.
Mine thought that and followed her senior.
*
As soon as Kenji came outside the hospital, he spotted three people walking toward him. The timing was quite exquisite. He chuckled softly and waved his smartphone-holding hand at the three. Mika, who noticed him first, beamed a bright smile and raised both her arms high.
"Kenji!"
Mika shouted his name loudly and ran toward him. The distance was quite far, so it took some time to reach right in front of him. It was enough time to read the message that arrived on his smartphone. Kenji read the message that appeared on the screen and clicked his tongue.
It was an instant. A brief moment so short that even the running Mika, and Nagisa and Seia who were approaching with quick steps while maintaining distance from each other, would have trouble noticing. He erased the coldness from his face and grinned.
"You came?"
Kenji said as he put his smartphone in his pocket.
The un-turned-off screen still displayed the message he had read.
[I will prepare it.]
The reply sent from 'Gematria' was truly simple and clear.