Chapter 68: Brother, Is it Time to Die?

Sigfried never expected that his second meeting with Welt would be so harmonious.

Back in Poland, Welt had knocked him out with a punch, and Sigfried remembered it well. Considering their opposing positions, Sigfried had anticipated a bloody showdown during their next encounter. However, at this moment, the two stood together, quietly witnessing the reunion of Chase and Sirin.

Cecilia quietly put away the Black Abyss White Flowers in her hand, looking at Welt with mixed emotions.

In the past, neither she nor the trio of Cecilia, Patrick, and Cheng Lixue had ever confronted this man directly. Now, with the passage of time, they unexpectedly encountered him here.

"Why are you here?" Cecilia asked.

"That girl is half my student," Welt naturally wouldn't reveal the relationship between him and Chase, casually replied, and then asked, "What's the relationship between that white-haired youth and you guys?"

"He's my younger brother," Sigfried answered, "He is different from other Kaslanas. His resistance to the Honkai energy has dropped to an absurd level. It used to be fine, but now it has become like this."

Welt nodded, speculating inexplicably in his mind.

The situation concluded with each set of parents taking their own children away.

............

Chase returned to the hospital room with its cold color palette—pure white walls, a pure white ceiling, desolate, much like the melancholy of Chase's own condition.

However, everything seemed different from before. A touch of purple bloomed in the hospital room. It added color to the pure white, as if Chase himself had also gained some color.

Sirin sat quietly by Chase's hospital bed, using a careful but somewhat clumsy knife technique to peel an apple. Her delicate appearance resembled a clinical doctor performing a meticulous surgery.

Chase stared at the side of the girl's face, feeling like laughing but afraid that a sudden sound might cause Sirin to cut the apple peel too long. He resisted, this being the last stubbornness of his obsessive-compulsive disorder.

While Sirin quietly peeled the apple, Chase, also in silence, watched her. The room seemed to be filled only with the crisp sound left by the knife cutting through the apple, quiet and peaceful.

A white figure flashed on the glass of the hospital room door and quickly disappeared, as if nothing had happened.

Cecilia withdrew her gaze, reassured, she said to her mother-in-law beside her, "Rest assured, Mom. Sirin will take good care of her little brother."

"I hope so," the woman with some wrinkles on her face sighed with relief, watching Cecilia's reassuring expression. "Just don't be like Sigfried, claiming to take care of his brother but ending up eating all the fruits on the side."

"Oh, Mom, don't mention that. Didn't I buy another basket and send it over?" Sigfried, who was sitting beside her, couldn't sit still and quickly justified himself.

"Heh," the mother was dismissive, "You just can't change your nature. Originally, your brother's legs and feet are not good now, and you take him to play soccer and make him the goalkeeper!"

Sigfried became even more embarrassed and could only smile, rubbing his head without daring to speak.

"Alright, alright, Mom, let the two kids be for a while," Cecilia said, breaking the deadlock with a light smile.

"That's true."

...........

"Brother, eat the apple," Sirin picked up a piece of apple cut into small pieces with a toothpick, carefully and somewhat awkwardly brought it to Chase's mouth, saying, "Ah~"

"Ah~" Chase also opened his mouth cooperatively, eating the apple that Sirin brought to his mouth, his face full of joy. "Very delicious, thank you, Sirin."

"Hehe~ (′▽`〃)" Sirin also touched her head with a happy face, a bit shy.

Due to the strong requests from Chase and Sirin, both sets of parents chose to selectively ignore the opposition and agreed to their request for a meeting.

So, it became what it is now. When Sirin had nothing to do, she would come to visit Chase, staying for half a day. It made Chase curious and asked, "Isn't your mom worried?"

"Einstein sister has informed mom, saying Tesla aunt wants to take Sirin out to play." Sirin answered.

Chase, after hearing it, couldn't help but twitch his mouth. It wasn't about this reason, but Sirin's way of addressing the two doctors.

Apparently, Dr. Einstein was teasing Dr. Tesla again.

Chase looked at Sirin, who was sitting next to him, giggling. For a moment, he was somewhat speechless. In fact, the situation had started to slip out of his control.

He had asked Sirin before why she appeared in Berlin at that time. But Sirin's answer surprised him.

Because Brother hadn't replied to Sirin's letters for a long time, and Sirin missed her brother, so she used magic to come back to Berlin.

Just this time, coincidentally, she ran into Chase, who had escaped from Schicksal back to Berlin...

Chase looked up at the sky, feelings mixed. This time, he witnessed the coincidence of fate.

"Brother, open your mouth." Sirin's voice came from beside him, and Chase subconsciously opened his mouth. A piece of apple was delivered into it.

While eating the apple brought by Sirin, Chase turned his head to look at her. He found that she was looking around the ward, her face filled with smiles, her eyes shining brightly, revealing an eager expression.

"Sirin, what's wrong?"

"Brother, can Sirin decorate this place a bit?"

Actually, at the moment Sirin made the suggestion, Chase's answer didn't matter at all.

Because Chase couldn't possibly refuse such a kind request from Sirin.

So, the next day, Sirin happily started to transform the ward with some flowers and plants. After confirming with the attending physician's approval, she began the transformation.

First, she placed a green ivy that Chase often placed in the Berlin home on the windowsill. The bedside table was also covered with a layer of dark blue cushions. Sirin also took a flower vase, filled with blooming flowers, and placed it on the bedside table next to Chase's bed. Chase looked at the flowers on the bedside table and was puzzled about why out-of-season flowers were blooming now, but after some thought, he understood.

There was no need to investigate the magical girl's matters too clearly.

"Sirin, aren't you going to school today?" Chase stared at Sirin, who was humming a song while tidying up the flowers, and asked.

Sirin turned her head, without hesitation, "The teachers are sick, and the school can't find substitute teachers temporarily, so they decided to give everyone a day off."

"Oh." Chase nodded thoughtfully, suddenly stunned.

Why would the teachers be sick to the point where they couldn't find substitute teachers?

He had a bold idea in his mind but shook his head when he looked at Sirin's innocent appearance. Sirin was a little angel; she wouldn't do things that would make teachers voluntarily take leave, just like how teachers wouldn't force students to attend make-up classes during holidays.

Chase stared at Sirin, and Sirin looked a bit guilty, turning her head and starting to use a toothpick to pick up a piece of apple, trying to use the apple to block Chase's mouth.

But that gaze that dodged and dared not look into Chase's eyes was easily caught by Chase.

"Sirin, ah..."

"What's wrong, Brother?" Sirin turned her head, looking at Chase with some embarrassment, her eyes full of innocence.

ε=(?ο｀*)))

"Sigh," Chase sighed, "It's okay; I just think Sirin is very cute."

Sirin: (′▽`〃)

Watching Sirin's innocent appearance, Chase gave up the idea of questioning.

He was going to drown in the purity of the little angel!

.....

Outside the ward, Cecilia was exchanging information with the doctor about Chase's condition. Her mother-in-law beside her was full of worry and tension, anxiously fidgeting with her hands, hoping to get some good answers from the doctor.

"Yes, as Ms. Cecilia expected, judging by the extent to which the condition has spread now, your brother probably won't make it through Christmas this year. In a short time, he will need to be transferred to the intensive care unit."

"..." Cecilia nodded in silence. Her mother-in-law, unable to bear it, cried and ran to the courtyard to calm down.

Cecilia walked to the door of the ward, and even though it was already autumn, the weather wasn't particularly cold yet. However, she felt a chill all over her body. Gripping the cold doorknob, Cecilia took a deep breath and gently pushed open the door.

Then she saw such a scene.

A purple-haired girl sat on a chair beside the hospital bed, her face shy and embarrassed, a mixture of shyness and awkwardness. The boy on the hospital bed held a piece of paper, or rather, a letter, and recited it passionately.

Cecilia could see that what Chase was reciting was probably something Sirin had written... a dark history?

"Last night, Sirin dreamed of her brother again, dreamed of me... Oh, Sister-in-law, you're here?" Chase recited with relish, watching Sirin's complex expression of wanting to rush up to snatch the letter but being afraid of hurting him, then he discovered that the door was pushed open and turned to look. It was Cecilia.

"I'm here. Don't look. Your brother didn't come today," Cecilia nodded, adding, "Mom is worried that he will do something again and doesn't want him to come."

After hearing Cecilia, Chase also laughed. Since he sat in a wheelchair, family members rarely mentioned words like "running" or "walking" in front of him to avoid upsetting him. But one day, Sigfried suddenly came in and said to Chase, "Older brother, let's play soccer!"

Then he dragged Chase to the goal, instructed the kids on the other side to be careful when shooting, and told them not to kick too hard to avoid kicking him to death. The kids, seeing this scene, dared not kick the ball towards Chase, fearing that they might kick him to death...

Even so, they still lost, which surprised Chase.

Of course, after that, Sigfried was severely scolded, and his mother did not let him visit anymore. Sigfried had no choice but to wait for his mother to calm down and occasionally go out to deal with a few Honkai beasts.

After Cecilia finished speaking, she looked at Sirin again and greeted, "Sirin, you came today too. Thank you for your hard work."

"It was Sirin who wanted to come and take care of her brother voluntarily," Sirin hurriedly shook her head, smiling at Chase. Her face still had a blush from the relaxation of the dark history just now, "Because Brother has taken care of Sirin a lot before."

The more Cecilia looked at Sirin, the more satisfied she became, and the more she wanted to grab this girl as her sister-in-law.

Although... But...

She glanced at Chase lying on the hospital bed, her expression suddenly somewhat desolate, her eyes also revealing a complex emotion.

Chase, as if sensing Cecilia's thoughts, said to Sirin, who had just left, "Sirin, today, my brother bought some snacks that you like. I think they should be here soon. Can you help your brother get them?"

Sirin nodded and walked out of the ward.

Seeing Sirin leave, Chase then spoke, "Sister-in-law, how is my condition?"

"You're always so sensitive. Sometimes I wonder if your body wasn't so bad, maybe you would be the most outstanding in our generation of this family..." Cecilia smiled bitterly. This situation had happened many times in the ward. Every time the doctor informed Chase of the seriousness of his condition, Chase could always sense it from their changing expressions.

Chase sighed, "What did the doctor say? How long do I have left?"

When it came to his own condition, the family's attitude was surprisingly unanimous. To avoid upsetting him, they would choose to conceal it. But their emotional hiding was often not done well enough, and Chase could always detect it.

"Perhaps you can make it through Christmas... that's the most optimistic scenario," Cecilia said.

After hearing this, Chase's heart sank, and an inexplicable pressure enveloped him. It was already October, just two months away from Christmas.

People are born not wanting to die, but people are born to move towards death. This means fear.

But then he felt relieved. The most optimistic scenario was to live until Christmas, so he could spend a birthday with Sirin...

The process of being sick is also a gradual understanding of satisfaction. Having a fever makes one realize how refreshing the days without a fever are. Coughing makes one appreciate the tranquility of a throat without coughing.

In the beginning, the erosion was not considered severe, and the crumbling slowly pressed on his nerves. For several consecutive days, he could only lie twisted and turned, but now, his nerves seemed not as sensitive as they used to be. Chase even felt that the days of serious illness were clearer now.

Although Chase knew that every organ in his body must be emitting painful groans, he couldn't feel it. He couldn't feel that intense pain; instead, he could sleep more peacefully at night.

Chase nodded, "Sister-in-law, you've worked hard."

Outside the ward, the purple-haired girl, who had not truly left yet, leaned against the hospital's white wall, her lips trembling.

The wall on the side of the ward seemed to have become a stamp, a ship ticket, and a tomb. Ordinary things separated Chase and Sirin, and although they were close, it felt like a great distance.

The conversation inside the ward seemed to become a dreamlike illusion, making Sirin feel dizzy for a moment.

[How long can I live], [the most optimistic], [Christmas]

But it's already October now...

The conversation between Chase and Cecilia seemed like a murmuring, hovering around Sirin's ears, constantly uttering words that were hard to comprehend.

Brother, are you going to die?