Monica shivered from within his embrace, but he didn’t have time to deal with her right now.
The normal barrier he’d erected had proven to be of no use, so he had to focus on defending. With Monica in his arms, he gently crouched, then touched the floor with his right hand.
” ‘This is my territory, my realm, trespass will not be permitted.’ ”
With his hand clad in ‘power’, he gave that decree, and it spread to cover all of the area.
“Hina, what’s your situation?”
Before anyone knew it, Shinichi had moved to where the Sister was, and after undoing his
“Y-Yeah… She’s been healed already. She just needs to get some rest now and she’ll be fine!”
Her face twitched a little, but she nonetheless guaranteed the Sister’s safety. In truth, the Sister’s breathing was still ragged, but Shinichi just nodded to reassure everyone else.
“You heard her.”
“Ah, that’s good to hear.”
Monica sighed in relief, and the boy nodded. Myuhi had moved as soon as he protected Monica and intercepted the mysterious bullet.
The tremor shaking the entire building had stopped, so Myuhi was able to quickly approach the Sister and perform treatment.
The enemy was attacking using incomprehensible means, so she figured it would be better to focus on treating the Sister instead and leave the rest to Shinichi.
“Well, what about your side?” Myuhi asked.
“It’s exactly as you can see,” Shinichi said.
That’s why she too asked about his situation.
She spoke vaguely because there were other people here, but her intentions got across. Shinichi shook his head, and Myuhi frowned. Myuhi was asking not only about Shinichi and Monica, but also about the attacks. Evidently, Shinichi and Monica were safe, but the fact that he shook his head meant that the attack was not yet over. The fact that he had the leisure to talk now was only because of
“What are you chatting so normally for!? You need to treat the hands too!” Monica said.
“Unu? I don’t see any wounds, though. Does it hurt somewhere?” Shinichi said.
For better or for worse, Shinichi was the only one who could tell how safe they were right now. Meanwhile, Monica pestered for him to be treated, while Shinichi, in his usual antics, accidentally ended up started a quarrel over that. As for the children, their attention was mostly directed to the Sister, so they didn’t know Shinichi and Monica’s situation.
“Where are you looking at!? It obviously looks hurt!”
“Ah, sorry, I don’t really see anything. Where does it hurt?”
“Hyaa! What are you touching my hand for all of the sudden!?”
“I’m checking up on you?”
Shinichi grabbed Monica by the arm to examine her. Monica’s hand and eyes shook, but she had to be considerate of Shinichi’s right hand. As expected from Shinichi, it was a conversation that didn’t make sense at all.
“…He’s not doing it on purpose, but it’s still annoying.”
Myuhi knew that Shinichi was dead serious, but she still felt like slapping him. The fact that he held Monica with his left hand also cast doubts on him truly not understanding what Monica was getting at. Not to mention, he’d even positioned his right hand so that the children wouldn’t be able to see it easily.
“Icchi, the songstress is talking about your right hand.”
At this rate, they would be making no progress, so Myuhi just bit the bullet and pointed it out for them.
“My right hand? Ah.”
The flesh had been torn, the bones broken, and all of the digits looked off. Stained in blood and burned black, almost nothing of it looked like it did before. He had been too slow to switch powers, and since that moment, his right hand had been in this state.
“…There’s no way that you didn’t notice a wound that big!” Monica said.
“Oh… I just forgot,” Shinichi said.
Monica grabbed Shinichi by the collar and questioned him.
He looked somewhat embarrassed but he answered honestly nonetheless.
He had been aware of it, but he put it at the back of his head to prioritize the safety of the others.
But he didn’t give that much detail since it seemed as though that would just lead to him getting scolded even more. In that regard, he really was like a child.
“You forgot?” Monica said.
“Ah, yeah, I can relate pretty well to how you feel right now, nyaa. You really want to hit him, right?”
But to Myuhi and Monica, his answer was just too unexpected. The sight of Monica stupefied made Myuhi laugh, but of course, her eyes weren’t laughing.
“Umm… I’ll fix it myself, so you go tend to the Sister,” Shinichi said.
“A student from the academy said that she’s fine, so there’s no need for an amateur like myself to interfere! More importantly, if I don’t help you, who saved me, then the Sister is sure to scold me later!”
“Oh, that’s true.”
Myuhi frowned as she supported the Sister. The songstress might sound right, but she just looked like she was up to no good. Those words sounded like an excuse too.
“Oh, but my first-aid kit can’t do anything about this, and a normal healing skill won’t be enough either…”
The Songstress seriously pondered on what to do about his ghastly right hand.
She knew that that attack earlier was meant for her, but instead of cowering and becoming afraid, she prioritized the person that protected her.
That might have been common sense, but there weren’t many people that could do it.
And as far as Myuhi was concerned, wasn’t that exactly the kind of girls that Shinichi liked?
“Wait a moment, you’re a student too! Hurry up and heal it yourself already!” Monica said.
Shinichi nodded with an amused smile, while Myuhi looked up to the heavens in quiet lamentation, and the children looked at her with an unusual expression. Until now, he’d shown next to no interest to her, but that was starting to change.
“Okay, but it’s a serious wound, so I’m going to use a skill I normally don’t use in front of people, so don’t look, okay?”
Unaware of Myuhi’s concerns that were more or less correct, Shinichi said that, and Monica turned to the other direction. But for some reason, she didn’t leave his embrace. Shinichi found that curious, but regardless, he tried casting a healing spell and skill on his right to no avail. Clicking his tongue, he used the Divine Words instead.
” ‘Go back to normal’ ”
“!?”
Monica shook again, but Shinichi ignored that and just focused as his bloodied hand return to normal like a video being rewound, then he secretly gathered the blood he’d spilled.
No matter what, something had wounded him to the point that he needed to go this far just to recover. It annoyed him that he had to rely on the power of the Evil God. He had an inkling what that thing might have been, but none of his guesses were good.
“Unbelievable. What are the odds of something like that appearing in my era?”
──What a terrible thing to use to kill to a lone woman.
The words he said out loud, or the words he said in his mind… It was curious which of the two was his true thoughts, but what was certain was that he didn’t like this situation.
“Sister, you mustn’t!”
When Myuhi’s panicked voice called out, Shinichi noticed that the sister had stood up and was now headed toward him. On her face was written a powerful resolve to move.
“Huh? …W-What!?”
Shinichi figured that it would be better for him to be the one to approach her, so he picked Monica up into a princess hug and approached. The children cheered, while Myuhi turned white. Monica was flustered, but she was nonetheless relieved to see that his hand was now better. Shinichi smiled and whispered by her ears.
“You can’t stand up, right? So obediently allow yourself to be carried.”
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