Recuperation. [I]

Through the familiar darkness of shut-eye came a familiar morning light. I opened my lids and looked around only to see blurry silhouettes of curtains around me.

And then I saw a familiar ceiling. It felt like I had been sleeping for months. But at the same time, my rest barely lasted.

"Guuh." I tried to put my hand behind me but my body was sore. Everything felt heavy. My blurry vision was now focused on the surrounding of my bed. I was definitely in the castle.

Feeling thirsty, I attempted to get up again but a hand stopped me. It firmly kept me pinned on the bed.

"Don't get up yet." Yuuno loomed over me to check my vitals. By looming over I meant full-on belly over face suffocating... I felt her tug at a machine attached to me.

"How long was I out for?" I wasn't going to pretend I had insomnia, I recalled everything that happened previously and made sense of it too.

"About 3 days." She replied.

"Yikes."

I relaxed pushing back into my pillow. The room I was in was the one I used to live in before I went to live with the old guys.

When I came back to live with my family every holiday, I took the room right next to the one I was in. Today though, I was in the room I had spent my childhood in.

"Here have some proteins, your body is an actual wreck right now." She handed a glass over to me and then some meds on the side.

"At least give me wat-" Yuuno placed her hand over the glass and a stream of water trickled down. "Oh, hell nah- man... That's nasty. I'm not drinking your body wate-"

"Tch. It's not my body water."

Yuuno grabbed my arm and my body stiffened up. She opened my mouth, threw the pills in and flooded it.

"!!"

The water was sweet and my belly started to feel warm.

"I mixed some of my enzymes while I was at it." She said before releasing me.

"YOU WHAT?"

"High vampire enzymes. It'll help you get back to normal in no time!" She plopped back in her chair and threw her feet on my thighs. I mean, she was thinking about me.

'But is that really how you treat a patient?'

"Ahem... So how did cleaning the mess up go?" I pulled her calf up. My knee was still a little injured.

"It didn't go anywhere. Your parents are still at it downstairs trying to make it go. Apologising to the media for the security breach."

"I don't think they need to... It wasn't like they could have done anything about it. It was so out of the blue even the main inhabitants didn't see it coming."

"You try saying that to the public." She sighed. "Anyways, on the other side, we have Pepe apprehended. Popo died." Well, yeah… I killed him.

Still remember that one clean hit I landed on his head. Oh well, he didn't have the largest role to play in the attack. He was inconsequential- and so was Pepe to be honest. But there was that one person who wasn't.

"Did you get the mastermind?" I crossed my finger.

"Mastermind?"

Dang it! Looks like they didn't.

"There was this one dude who used sound projection magic on the large scale. He seemed like the one pulling the strings and seemed moderately strong too."

"I don't think I saw anyone like that. And I took every terrorist down too… You sure you didn't dream about him?"

"You can ask JiiJii, he was out too that time."

"Guess we'll have to torture it out of Pepe."

"That's hmmm…" Well, I can't be bothered anymore. I had enough of this nonsensical fighting. "Oh, wait! How was the funeral?"

"We held a large military funeral a couple of days ago. Clintarou's resting place is at the center of the garden." That seemed befitting. He did sacrifice his life for the greater good of the General's son.

Who was I kidding? That mutt died trying to save me. I couldn't think of myself as worth more than his life. The more I thought about it the sadder I became. I was anything but ungrateful. As his owner, I needed to confront his inexistence.

"I'll go there a little later… And… Luha?"

"Luha is with her family right now, safe and sound. The old people are staying in the palace's guest chambers."

Everything seemed to be falling back into its place.

I guess three days was really a pretty long time. The people worked like ants while I was busy resting. But you couldn't blame me or hate me for it. Since I was the one who saved the entire village (for the most part, if you disclude killing the final bosses and actually making everything work out. that might have been Yuuno).

But who called her there? Yeah! It was me.

"You did pretty well playing the Hero. How'd it feel?" She asked smugly. It was like she got me to do this one thing that I refused to do. Like a cat, who finally gave in before going into a bath.

"For starters, hell would surface before I actually do that again. It was tiring and my shoulders ached from all the responsibilities. I mean, do you see these bullet holes-" I raised my hands and there were none.

Huh, what happened? I got three gaping holes while trying to cup the bullets. I flipped my hand around and not even a single scar! No... actually there were spots where the skin was a little whiter, but the rest looked impeccable!

"Your dad took care of those. The damage would have been worse if they were an hour or so late."

"Damn, he's in his own league." Almost as good as some of the demons who served under me.

"What did you expect from the best national support mage?"

"That's true."

Ah… Well, my hand looked pretty again.

"That was a lot of work, huh?" I felt tired just thinking about it." All for just getting to see another day."

If no one fought we would have never had to go through this. The total outcome was nothing.

"Just remember Mao… When you help people out, people want to help back. Each one of the 207 citizens owes their lives to you."

"Well, at the end of the day you were the one who… you know? Killed the bad guys." I tried to be modest.

Again, if it weren't for me, the world wouldn't have known about the terrorists. So I did sort of solo carry this bitch of an operation. Well, Rune was there to help me along the way. But he was behind the screen.

I was the executive.

"Stop trying to act like you don't think you did the entire thing by yourself. Trying to be coy doesn't suit you." She slapped my bicep.

"You're right, if it weren't for me and my bravery and perseverance, everyone would have died. It was all because I was so benign and badass actions. I am the greatest! Haha!" I laughed but my torso cramped up.

"Guess you're back to normal, then. You can deal with the issues now that you have this much energy. Mind you these people have been by your bed almost every night." Yuuno turned her head towards the door. "UNCLE, AUNTIE, MAO WOKE UP!"

One sentence. One scream. And the ground started to shake like it was that stampede scene from Jumanji and the doors got flung open. It wasn't just Mom and Dad. The king, the queen, Hime-nee, Alez-san. Everyone rushed in.

I was alive and well looked after, but there was no way I was in the state to greet so many people!

"TeeHee!" Yuuno knocked her head before sneaking to the side. That little! She just wanted to see me suffer.

I curled up inside to minimize any damage but I got squashed. The sound of a long "MAOOO KUUUNN!" and the weight of the entire living population of the palace hugging me on the bed was brutal. My wounds didn't open up, but I could feel the life getting squeezed out of me. I was short of air, and covered in sweat, some tears and probably some sweat.

Despite all that, I felt at home. The familiarity brought another level of warmth and safety to me.

I had to say, this whole operation in the village was tough. But seeing all their happy faces because of me being alive was worth it.

Eventually, after a really long time, endless doting and a tiring inspection, all of them headed back reluctantly. This was probably the busiest that had been, ever and the ones left in the room were Yuuno and me.

"How long until I can go outside?" The windows were closed and I was severely deprived of any fresh air. I had that little bout when I couldn't quite fill my lungs to the fullest.

Outdoor time seemed relevant.

"I mean, you can go out whenever you want, your body is totally fine. The only reason you were in bed in the first place was because you were exhausted."

Ooof... That was a pretty pathetic reason to be knocked out.

"Take me outside then… I want to see his shrine." I raised my arms.

"Okay… let's go." She yanked the little needle in my arm and got me off the bed. Every joint was stiff but it would only get stiffer the longer I let it stay like this.

She gave me her hand.

"What's that for?"

"Can you walk on your own?"

"No."

"Then here you go." She grabbed it.

"Like I said, what's the hand for?"

"To help you walk."

"What are you on about? Carry me. I'm injured. Can't you see me in such a miserable state?"

"I won't carry you!" Boi that was a high-pitched 'won't'.

"I did your job of saving people for you, you should have at least a little decency. I was the hero!" I blackmailed her.

"MAO! Just do it yourse-"

"Carry me."

"No."

"Carry me."

"You, shut up."

"Carry me."

"URRGHHH!!" Yuuno bent down and grabbed me behind my knee and threw me over her shoulder.

"Oi! I'm delicate! Give me a piggyback."

"Don't test my patience, I can literally break you in half in this position."

The side of her face looked serious. Scary!

"Sorry, ma'am. I am eternally grateful for your services."

I was getting kind of used to getting carried like this. First, it was Yuuno, the day it rained, then it was JiiJii, when he was carrying me over to the house, and now it was her again.

Her shoulders were rather hard. Yuuno didn't seem to have skipped a day of working out.

"I've been meaning to ask you… what's with the black hair?"

Emo Kaneki wench.

How many times was she gonna change her hair? First, it was pink in her previous life Then after being reborn, it was blonde, then it turned to silver when she turned into a high vampire. As she trained, it started to get iridescent. And now it's black?!

{a/n: The original joke was 'is this supposed to be MaoTensei:Re or something' but I didn't want to make the characters self-aware.}

"Oh this?" She started to twirl her hair while walking down the stairs that lead to the hall.

"Yeah that. Obviously that."

"Well, it's cuz I'm a devil now."