[I hated a world where one had to burn even people to survive.]
[The flames burning within my body gave birth to endless pain,]
[The pain of my body burning gave birth to endless anger,]
[The anger burning my body gave birth to endless flames,]
[So the flames burned without ceasing.]
[I didn't know how to stop,]
[And I didn't want to stop.]
[So I decided to burn everything.]
[Burn,]
[Burn,]
[And as I burned,]
[There was nothing left around me,]
[In the end, only one thing remained.]
[And I burned even that last thing with my own hands.]
[You, too,]
[Will become like that.]
*
“Huh......!”
My eyes snapped open, and I shot up from the bed as if I had been jolted awake.
My body was drenched in cold sweat.
I had a dream, or rather, a nightmare.
The content of the dream didn't seem good, but...
...I couldn't remember it clearly.
Even though it would have been better to forget a nightmare, I felt an eerie sense that it was something I shouldn't forget.
I tried to grasp the hazy memories from the dream, but most of them had already evaporated, and all I could recall was a vague memory of seeing flames.
I sighed and, to wash away the sweat and the eerie feeling, I dampened a towel with water in the bathroom and wiped my body.
With one arm missing, there were inevitably parts I couldn't reach.
I strongly wanted to take a shower, but I decided against it because I couldn't rewrap the bandage around my left shoulder by myself.
After wiping my body, the hospital meal arrived.
Because I had overslept due to the dream, lunch became my first meal of the day.
I sighed as I ate.
The content of the dream wasn't important.
Today's lunch was very delicious.
Surely, the breakfast must have been delicious too?
I felt very sad that I had missed it because I was asleep...
Determined to make up for missing breakfast, I ate lunch with twice the enthusiasm.
Just as I was eating, the door opened, and a middle-aged man with a receding hairline entered the room.
He was the man who said he was my legal guardian.
Why was he here? I immediately realized the reason.
Thinking about it, it was natural for the hospital to contact my legal guardian since I was admitted.
I slightly bowed my head to greet him.
He nodded back and, seeing that I was eating, quietly pulled the chair prepared for visitors and sat in the corner of the room, away from the bed.
Should we start talking since he came to visit?
I stopped eating and remained silent for a moment, but he gestured to the bowl in front of me, indicating that I should continue eating.
If he says to eat, I should eat.
I wasn't the type to lose my appetite just because someone was watching.
While I was eating, he sat in the corner, watching me with a complex expression.
After I finished eating, a silence lingered.
It was awkward...
It was a bit difficult to sit quietly in the same space with someone I didn't know well.
As I hesitated about whether to start a conversation, the man sighed, moved his chair closer to the bed, and spoke.
"That arm... you lost it trying to protect people, right?"
As soon as he spoke, a very heavy topic came up.
Well, what else could he talk about with me right now?
After looking at my arm for a moment, he spoke with a voice filled with regret, as if he blamed himself for what happened to my arm.
"Are you... not regretting it?"
"I don't regret it."
I shook my head and answered immediately.
I didn't regret it.
I did it so I wouldn't regret it.
That's why I could answer without hesitation.
His eyes trembled at my immediate response.
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
He asked why I didn't regret it.
Well, there were several reasons.
If I listed all the detailed reasons, it would go on forever, but the reason I didn't regret it was simple.
"Because people survived."
That was enough for me.
I thought losing an arm would be less painful than watching people die in front of me.
Since I prevented that, losing an arm was a small price to pay.
Hearing my answer, he bowed his head.
His shoulders trembled, and with a voice filled with moisture, he said,
"......Scarlett, you've become such a kind person......"
The man looked both happy and sad.
I couldn't even guess what he was thinking, so I just remained silent.
"Thank you, really, really thank you."
"......"
"Thanks to you, I can also... not regret it......"
He murmured in a small voice and then lifted his head.
His eyes were red, but his expression looked relieved.
I reached out to give him some tissues from the table next to the bed.
As I leaned forward, something in my shirt pocket fell to the floor with a thud.
It was the black fragment I had hastily put in my pocket the night before.
The moment he saw it fall, the man was startled and picked it up.
"This is...!"
He looked at the fragment with a puzzled expression and then, with a serious face, handed it back to me.
"Never lose this, and always keep it with you. Try not to show it to anyone else."
I took the fragment and put it back in my pocket.
From his words, it seemed he knew what it was.
He definitely knew something about my past, so I was about to ask him about the strange events from yesterday and other things.
Suddenly, a vibration sounded from somewhere.
The man took out his phone from his pocket, looked at the screen, and stood up with a stiff face.
"I'll see you later. And remember what I said. Don't show that to anyone else."
He left the room in a hurry, leaving those words behind.
I had questions, but I wasn't that curious to hold him back when he looked so urgent.
Since he was my guardian, I would have another chance to see him later.
I put my hand in the pocket containing the black fragment.
What was this thing that he said I shouldn't show to anyone?
My curiosity grew, but I had no way of finding out.
I rolled the black fragment in my hand for a while, then, feeling drowsy from the fullness, I lay back down and fell asleep.
*
I ended up taking another nap.
Maybe it's because I'm in the hospital, but I feel like I'm sleeping more.
Surprisingly, sleeping a lot doesn't necessarily make me feel less tired...
On the contrary, I felt a bit groggy from sleeping too much.
I tried to shake off the drowsiness, but the door creaked open.
"Sniff..."
Hearing the sniffle, I looked toward the door and saw Jesse, already prepared to cry.
She sat next to the bed, grabbed my hand, and started crying.
"Why is your arm like that...?"
Why, you saw it too...
I had a feeling this might happen when Mei said Jesse would visit yesterday, but it was still awkward to see her actually crying.
"Scarlett is still a patient, so she needs to rest."
Seeing my troubled expression, Daniel, who had entered the room, told Jesse, and Andre picked her up and moved her away from me.
They came too.
I subtly made a gesture of thanks to them, and Daniel winked, while Andre nodded.
With two inhibitors by her side, Jesse didn't burst into loud sobs as I had expected, but only sniffled a bit.
I patted Jesse's head with my right hand to comfort her, and Daniel spoke.
"Ms. Sylvia said she's sorry she couldn't visit because she was busy with the aftermath of the regional defense battle after school."
The successor of a prestigious family must be very busy.
Thinking that Sylvia must be quite upset about not being able to visit, I nodded.
"......What about the arm? What do we do?"
As Daniel cautiously started the conversation, Jesse stopped sniffing and listened to my answer.
They all seemed quite concerned.
"The doctor said I need to get a prosthetic arm."
Hearing my answer, Jesse wiped her tears and said,
"If you're getting a prosthetic arm, please let us do it."
Confused by her "our company," I looked at Daniel, who explained.
"Her family is quite famous in that field."
He showed me a search result on his phone, and it was a huge company.
He showed it to me as if it wasn't surprising, and I was intimidated by the backgrounds of the students at Aegis.
"I owe you my life, so I'll use my own money to get you the best one."
Jesse's eyes were very determined.
She looked like she would really use all her money to get me a prosthetic arm, so I quickly waved my hand.
"That's not necessary. I heard they're covering the full cost."
"Full... cost? That means they'll cover whatever it costs to make it?"
At the word "full," her eyes lit up.
"Then we'll make you the best one we can. Please tell us any requirements! If we put enough money into it, it might even shoot magic bullets from your hand!"
Her words had a kind of madness to them, and I felt a bit uneasy but nodded.
Well, if something comes out of your hand, it's not really a prosthetic arm anymore...
I was a bit tempted, but I decided not to worry about it for now since a mediocre one wouldn't work against monsters.