Arc 2 - Chapter 20: Happy Birthday, I Guess (2/2)

"They were kind people, weren't they?"

"They weren't like other idiots."

The people in the places they had visited before Matan Farm had been very unpleasant. Almost all of these attitudes were against Yurine because she was half human and had white hair.

"It was shorter than our research yesterday and this morning. Did you find out what you wanted to know?"

"'That's it! Now I've got him!' I don't have any information to say things like that... To be honest, in all the murders after the murder of Thomas Chember, almost all the victims were ordinary people. I mean, according to the accounts, they were all people who were just like that."

When they went to the house today, they found no new information.

"But I believe we have enough clues about the killer's algorithm..."

"What do you mean?"

"The killer's choices..."

He had a bad feeling.

"Yurine?"

Next to him sat a girl he did not recognize. This girl with white hair and cat ears could not be real.

Nothing could be real right now. Yu's perceptions of time and reality were disappearing like a faint reflection on the glass, getting farther and farther away. Where was he? What was he doing? He felt like he was moving somewhere unknown.

"What's going on?"

He did not hear Yurine, his body began to tremble.

There was nothing inside his head. There was no time, no names. He didn't know where he was, he only heard a disturbing ringing in his ears.

His eyes didn't even move as the cat-eared girl picked him up and put him on her knees.

"I am sorry."

"That voice?"

---

Yu had just started his sentence when he suddenly went silent and stared at Yurine. After a few seconds of hesitation, his hands trembled and his face contorted, making Yurine's heart ache.

As his teeth clenched together, saliva escaped through the gaps and ran down Yu's chin.

"What's going on?"

She didn't need to ask, she knew exactly what had happened. It was another one of those crises she had faced several times before.

"Is there a problem? Sir?!"

The driver in the driver's seat turned his head at Yurine's alarmed voice and saw Yu's pitiful face in the middle of the attack.

He was about to pull the carriage to the side of the road to intervene when Yurine stopped him from doing so.

"Go on."

When she rolled Yu onto his side and placed his head on her knees, his drool stained Yurine's dress, but she didn't mind.

"What's going on?"

The driver looked back over his shoulder. Needless to say, this was the first time he had encountered such a situation.

"Go on."

Yurine brought her small hands over Yu's head and the mana came out of those hands in the form of light and went inside Yu's head.

When the driver realized that Yurine was a mage, he turned his head to the road and gave the horses a few strokes with his whip to speed them up.

Yurine continued the healing spell until Yu stopped shaking and fell asleep.

***

"My head, it's cracking..."

He woke up with a burning acid sensation in his throat. It felt like there was a void in his stomach and a burning liquid inside that void. He was hungry.

At first he tried to control his burning stomach so he wouldn't vomit, but to no avail. The burning liquid from his stomach rose up his throat and Yu stuck his head out of the bed before it came out of his mouth.

Although he couldn't taste it, he could feel his mouth burning and there was a heavy odor. Brown vomit came out of Yu's mouth and pooled next to the bed.

The surroundings were blurry because of his teary eyes as he vomited. He tried to wipe away the tears with his hands to clear his vision but failed. He could not bring his arm up to his face.

He closed his eyes, trying to remember what had happened. Tears were spilling out of his eyelids.

"Yurine..."

"I'm here."

Yurine responded to being called by the name Yu had given her. Yu was happy.

He remembered being in the car. Now that he thought about it, he realized that he also remembered the moment of the crisis, when Yurine had taken him on her knees.

But this memory felt like it was from years ago.

"It gets worse every time."

Yurine must have been aware of this. Except for the first seizure in the Sigma Tower, each of Yu's seizures was more severe than the last.

"I don't know what's going to happen."

In his own world, he was able to prevent seizures thanks to the medication he was taking. He had epilepsy medication with him when he came to this world, but it soon ran out.

"Even if I had those pills with me right now, I wonder if they would do any good."

Yurine was the only one who could help him with the seizure and she had already helped him through it quickly.

But what happened this time was worrying him. Normally the healing spell brought Yu back to himself quickly, but this time he fainted and woke up in his bed.

"Why me and not someone else?"

He couldn't remember how many times he had rebelled against his situation. He could only dream of getting rid of this disease that had plagued him since he was seven years old.

"It's as if the world repays me for every smile it gives me."

He was fed up. The smallest moment of happiness was followed by trouble.

"What are you doing?"

"You should be grateful to me. It is not something I will always do, I am doing it just for today. You can see it as a debt. Pay me back later by serving me well."

Yurine was cleaning up where Yu threw up.

"You didn't have to do it for me."

"These are not the right words to say thank you."

She had thrown one of Yu's clothes on the floor and was cleaning up the mess by moving it with her foot.

"Thank you."

Yurine was embarrassed. Yu's thanks were sincere.

"Where are you going?"

When Yu regained his energy and was able to move his arms and legs, he stood up.

"I'm going to wash my mouth, and I want some fresh air."

His mouth was still burning and he could feel it stinking. He had to get rid of it.

First he opened the window to let in fresh air, then he poured water into a bucket on a table, where he rinsed his mouth.

This bucket was there to drain the water left over from shaving, washing the face and brushing the teeth. When the bucket was full, they emptied it into a pit in the backyard of the guild.

After washing his mouth several times, he went to the window and inhaled the cold air. As the air filled his lungs, his mind cleared.

"Who brought me here?"

"I told the driver to carry you."

"I hope you meant that in a polite way."

Yu spoke in a sarcastic tone. He knew that Yurine was not, at least not yet, the kind of child to ask for things politely.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen today."

Today was an important day and he did not want anything unpleasant to happen.

"I..." He didn't know how to get to the point. It was a simple thing, but it was difficult for some reason, perhaps because he couldn't predict Yurine's reaction. "I won't claim I am good at choosing gifts."

"What do you mean?"

After pushing aside his expensive dress with her foot, Yurine gave full attention to Yu. She wondered where the conversation was going.

"Usually when I have to give a gift, I want it to be something useful, because most gifts are thrown away never to be used. Of course, useful gifts are also expensive and I am poor, so I would prefer to give my sisters a service rather than a product as a gift. By service I mean cooking, entertainment center, massage and so on. Because compared to something that will never be used, these turn into good memories and relaxing."

This was Yu's general idea of gifts.

"But there are no entertainment centers in this world and I didn't know what you would like, so I chose something classic."

He left the window and opened the wardrobe inside the room. After rummaging around a bit, he pulled out a small brown plush bear hidden under some clothes.

"It might be a cliché gift to give to a child and I don't know what use it is." How to play with a toy? Yu didn't know that. "You've never had a toy as long as you've been with me, so maybe you might like this."

He handed the gift to Yurine. Yurine was both surprised and hesitant. She stretched out her arms and took the toy in her tiny white hands.

"I'd like to say that I splurged, and unless Lylphia bought something cheap and put it in the rest of the money, it's the best teddy bear you can find here."

"So this is the other job you talked about before Lylphia left."

"Yes, that was it."

Yu was always with Yurine, so he couldn't go alone to pick out a gift. If he wanted to go to buy a gift, Yurine would have to come with him and the surprise would be spoiled.

"Yurine."

Yurine's red eyes locked on Yu's amethyst eyes. Those red eyes were about to be wet with tears.

Yu put the best, warmest smile he could on his face.

"Happy birthday."

Yurine's cheeks were flushed. She tried hard not to let her eyes well up, but she couldn't stop a few tears from falling.

"How did you know?"

"How did I know? You must have forgotten that you and I issued ID cards at the same time. Besides, I carry your identity card, of course I will know your birthday."

Yurine's birthday was on September twenty-third, three and a half weeks after Yu's birthday. Unlike Yu, Yurine was a Libra.

"Thank you."

A shy, timid but sweet thank you. She was giving Yu the purest of all the happiness he had ever felt.