Arc 3 - Chapter 20A: Attack (3/3)

"Why are you saying stupid stupid things today?"

After dinner they chatted a bit and when the moon rose they went to their rooms. Actually, they went to bed early, but it didn't matter as they wanted to get up early in the morning.

"What did I say?"

"Don't make me say it! You know what you're saying."

He thought he might hear about fatherhood from her again, but Yurine didn't give Yu what he wanted.

"She sees me as her father..."

Yu smiled at first, but his smile slowly faded, he lowered his eyes to the ground and turned away.

"She sees me as her father..."

Would Yurine ask Yu to be with Rie when they turned back time? If she did, Yu don't know if he could accept such a thing.

His life was short and he could not do such things when he was going to leave them. Otherwise they would have grown more attached to him and suffered more with his departure.

"I say things like that because you're so cute when you're embarrassed."

Yu turned around again, grabbed Yurine by the armpits and lifted her into the air.

"Yu."

"Yes?"

"Sleep next to me."

As he had expected, Yurine wanted to sleep together. Yu was fine with this, as they had slept together for a long time before their trip. Besides, it was cold and sleeping next to someone would make for a warmer sleeping experience.

Besides, sleeping next to his daughter made Yu feel a little more like a father and he liked that feeling.

"I'll take medicine soon."

"Drink here, and if anything happens, I'll help you."

He didn't think anything would happen, but he was afraid of disrupting his normal routine. It was better to do as Yurine said. They did it together most days. Yurine would also help him if he had a headache.

"I'll prepare the medicine in the kitchen first."

Yurine tagged along with Yu as he took the ingredients from his room and went to the kitchen. During the day it was Yu who followed his arrogant lady, now Yurine was in daughter mode and looked like a duck following her mother.

When they entered the kitchen, they met Clara, who was doing a final cleaning before going to bed.

"Young lady, did you want a snack? I can prepare it for you right away."

"I don't feel like anything, I came to stand by Yu."

Yu had put the herbs he needed to make the medicine on the table and was in the kitchen looking for the ingredients he needed. He could have asked Clara where the coffee pots were, but when he couldn't find them after searching for a while, it became a small matter of pride, so he continued to search in silence.

"But you can heat milk."

"Yes, young lady."

Clara took a break from cleaning and got to work, while Yu found the coffee pot he was looking for.

"I can make you banana milk if you want."

"Banana milk?"

"Banana milk. Do you have banana and sugar? I think it's winter here."

"Yes, I do, but how about banana milk?"

"I need banana and sugar, I'll show you."

Yu did not like to drink milk plain. He could drink it plain, but he liked the taste of cocoa, strawberry and banana milk better than plain milk.

But when he wanted to drink cocoa milk every day, it was hard on his wallet, so he learned to make it himself at home. He used to make it with the powders that came in pre-packaged packets, but when strawberries and bananas were in season, he tried to do it all over again and succeeded, and it wasn't difficult.

He took a break from his own work and picked up the ingredients Clara had brought out. In the world he would mix the banana and sugar with a mixer, then add the milk and mix again. It was easy to do, but since there was no mixer here, he have to do it by hand and the drink would take longer to prepare.

"Is there something you want to say?"

He realized that Clara was thinking about something and was afraid to say what she was thinking. Every now and then her lips would move to ask something, only to stop again when Clara gave up.

"I don't want to overstep my bounds."

"Tell me."

Could she say something that would make him angry? Yu didn't think she had the means to make him angry and even if she overstepped her bounds, Yu decided to keep his cool.

"I am surprised that you and young lady are so close, young lady was not like this before."

"Ha! I'm only nice to people who deserve it."

"I'm most lovable person, it's normal for people to like me."

But people who knew Yurine didn't think it was normal for her to be close to Yu, whereas six months ago she was close to no one but her mother.

Yu prepared the drink. He took the banana milk and poured it into a glass, handed it to Yurine, and passed a glass to Clara, curious to see her reaction. He was waiting for their interpretation of the taste of a different world.

"Mmm... Yu well done... I admire you. You should always come to me with such nice things, you should always, always spoil me."

"I'm glad you like it."

It was nice to do something she liked, when he made her happy he was happy with her happiness and seeing her lovely smile made him feel that he had not lived in vain.

"Do you like it?"

"Yes." It was clear from her face that Clara liked it too, she closed her eyes in ecstasy. "I've never tasted anything like this before, it's so good."

"This is a taste out of this world."

After leaving Yurine to drink her milk, it was time to prepare his own drink. The medicine would smell bad, so he needed to ventilate the room. First he opened the windows, even though it was cold.

Clara lit the stove to heat the milk. Yu threw some more twigs into the stove and put the coffee pot on the stove.

As he had expected, a foul odor emanated while he was preparing the medicine, but the cold, windy air from outside diminished the smell and Clara showed no signs of discomfort.

When the medicine was ready, he turned off the stove, poured it into a glass and left the kitchen with Yurine, leaving Clara alone. Soon he would relive that awful experience.

They entered Yurine's room and Yu closed the door.

"Can we open it here too? I feel better when I get some air."

"It's okay, Yu."

Yurine ran to the window, climbed up on a chair, opened the window and ran back to Yu. She wanted to be right next to Yu when he drank

He inhaled the cool, fresh air, sat down in the chair and started drinking, trying to ignore the smell of the medicine, even though it was impossible.

The urge to vomit came again, as it always did. Today Yu felt the urge to vomit much more strongly, but he didn't want to vomit on Yurine, so he made an extra effort to suppress it. He barely managed to finish the medicine, he hadn't even had this much difficulty the first time.

"Your face..."

Yu didn't realize what had happened. His face was flushed and his eyes were suddenly sleepy, he looked sick.

"Yu?"

"Who's talking?"

He could feel someone's small hands on his face, but he could neither see nor guess who it was. His eyes darkened, he could hardly feel the left side of his body as a heavy weight built up in his heart.

"YU!"

Right now he wanted to throw up, throwing up was the only thing he could think of. He could feel the poison coursing through him, it was driving him crazy. He wanted to get it out, to get it out of his body. He knew that as long as he had this curse inside him, he couldn't rest.

When the veil was lifted from his eyes, the woman standing in front of him would make him lose his mind. Purple eyes, brown hair and... A face covered in blood.

"Sist-er..."

"YU! YU!"

He got up from his chair. Despite his sister's decaying face, he wanted to approach her, but he couldn't. He took a few steps back.

He was scared, scared that he wouldn't be able to hold her again. Yu was responsible for this face and now he had to pay for it.

"Sis..."

He tried to take a step towards her, not realizing which of her sisters was in front of him. Unfortunately, he failed to do so and instead of going forward, he went backwards.

Yu couldn't answer her cry for help again as his sister continued to shout his name. Unable to hold it in, he began to vomit. The medicine that went down his throat was nothing compared to the taste of the black pitch that came out.

With his throat burning and unable to breathe, he asked in a feeble voice.

"Why did you leave?"

"I'M HERE!"

It was as if everything in his mind was turning into tears and leaving Yu. There was nothing in his mind right now. He was in such a void that even the existence of the void itself was meaningless.

With his hands shaking, he forgot who he was and fell to the ground.

"Help me."

The last voice he heard was that of the woman who, for the first time, said something other than apologizing.

---

"YU! WHAT HAPPENED YU! I'M HERE! I'M HERE YU!"

It happened again, Yu, who had fallen to the ground, was having another crisis. With tears streaming down her soaked cheeks, Yurine didn't linger and began her healing spell.

"I'M NOT LEAVING ANYWHERE! I'M NOT LEAVING! YU, I'M NOT LEAVING!"

She could not get an answer from Yu, even though she kept shouting, the answer she wanted to hear would not come. The healing spell was not enough to wake him up either.

Yu did not lock the door after closing it, so those outside had no trouble getting in. The door suddenly opened and Sivina and Ana burst in first, followed by Kigaro and Dimen, and then the other inhabitants of the cathedral.

"Help me..."

Kigaro and Dimen were the first to respond to the cry for help that escaped his trembling lips. They picked Yu up and put him on the bed.

"Help me! HELP!"

As Yurine continued to cry for help, Bart, the most experienced servant here, rushed to Yu, who was lying on the bed. Yu was drenched in sweat, and Bart shouted as Yurine stood by his bedside and continued her healing spell.

"Diapers!"

Even though so many people were here, there was no one who could really help him, no one could do anything other than simple interventions.

Clara took a cloth from her waist and handed it to Maia. Maia took the cloth and gave it to Bart while telling Clara and Neltia to bring the vinegar.

Bart first wiped the sweat from Yu's face, so much sweat that the cloth was soon soaked through.

"He has a fever."

Yu was breathing heavily. As his chest rose and fell slowly, Bart took Yu's top off so that he could breathe more easily.

"AH!"

When Yu's upper body was exposed, the sight made Ana scream in horror, covering her wide-open mouth with her hands that wouldn't stop shaking, trying to silence herself.

Sivina and Maia were not so different from Ana. Even Bart was horrified. Kigaro and Dimen, who had encountered this image before, and Yurine, who saw the stain on Yu's body every day, were also horrified.

In İlonya, a cursed sword thrust into Yu's shoulder and he fainted and did not recover for five days.

If the only damage that sword had done was to leave a scar, Yurine would have easily covered it, but the sword had left more than a scar. It left a black stain, a black curse that covered Yu's shoulder, half of his arm and part of his chest and back.

Every night and every morning, Yurine cast a healing spell to remove the stain, but none of her spells were enough to remove it.

Now those who had just seen the stain could not stop screaming, while those who had seen the stain before were horrified because the veins on the stain, on the curse, were swelling and moving.

The purple and blue veins were swollen and pulsating, while the hard black skin was split in several places. A black liquid was coagulating from the cuts.

Bart was the easiest to pull himself together and began to wipe the sweat from his body.

When Clara and Neltia brought vinegar and more diapers, Maia did not let them in so that they would not see what they were seeing and told them to leave after they had the vinegar and diapers.

They wiped the sweat from Yu's body and placed a vinegar cloth on his back. There was nothing else they could do. They waited for Yu's condition to normalize while Yurine continued the healing spell.