Chapter 83 – Treating Her Illness (Patreon)

The moment she heard her mother's voice, Mai's mind went completely blank.

Especially with the persistent, unrelenting strange sensations still coursing through her body and mind—her usually calm and collected thoughts instantly collapsed into chaos.

Yet the clamor of voices around her never stopped, all of them filled with nothing but concern for the little boy. As if she, as a person, simply did not exist in anyone's eyes at all.

"Could it be..."

Mai's heart trembled. She turned her head and looked at her mother, whose eyes were brimming with urgency. In those eyes—she could find no reflection of herself.

Mai's beautiful eyes filled with utter, absolute disbelief. Never had she imagined that even her own mother would forget her existence. Even though the past two years had been rife with conflicts between them, her mother was still the person closest to her in this world.

This reality—it birthed a profound sense of solitude in Mai's heart, as though she had been abandoned by the entire world. Surrounded by a crowd of people, yet she felt as though she were the only person left on earth. An endless, hollow emptiness swept through her mind.

Until—a tiny finger quietly poked her.

In an instant, Mai was pulled back from that precipice of being cast away from the world. A familiar sensation surged in like a tidal wave.

"Nn..."

"Big sister, don't worry. It's nothing serious..."

The little boy swept a glance over Mai, then turned and smiled his innocent, childlike smile toward Ai, whose lovely face was etched with deep worry.

Mai froze. Just now—that sentence from Kouma had seemed to be directed at her.

"Where's the on-set medic?!"

At the director's bellow, a female doctor gripping a medical kit came rushing over quickly and dispersed the crowd of onlookers.

"Little one, does it hurt here?"

"No..."

"And here?"

"No..."

The female doctor crouched down and swiftly performed a basic examination on Kouma.

"From what I can see for now, there are no fractures. There shouldn't be any major issues.., but the best course of action would still be to go to the hospital for a thorough checkup."

The doctor advised. The moment her words fell, the women all spoke in unison.

"Then to the hospital!"

Just then, Yoko, who had finally been freed from the wire rig, came running over. Her lovely face was filled with guilt. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that her body would have suddenly gone limp like that for no reason at all.

"Let's go to the hospital. I'll cover all the expenses..."

Before she could even finish, the director beside her hurriedly interjected, "The production will cover all the costs. Don't delay this!"

A consensus was quickly reached. During this, Kouma quietly said to Ai, "Is this really necessary?"—but was immediately shot down by the worried, stern look in her eyes.

"No. You need a proper, thorough checkup."

Forget the fact that he had been caught by Mai—even if he had fallen straight onto the floor, the one who needed worrying about would be the floor, not him, but after all, no one else could see Mai, and none of them knew about his incubus constitution.

In their eyes, what they had witnessed was an eight-year-old little boy plummeting from over two meters in the air and slamming straight onto the ground.

Kouma couldn't help feeling a bit like one of those pretty-boy idols from his past life who'd get rushed to the emergency room over a papercut. Though it was a little exasperating, he could only accept it.

And so, the film shoot was halted. After all, the main scenes being shot today were for the supporting actress, Yoko. Now that she too was heading to the hospital with Kouma, filming naturally couldn't continue.

Mrs. Sakurajima brought the van around. Kouma turned his head and looked at Mai beside him. She stood there, her expression complex and silent, staring at this van before her. Lost in thought, she suddenly felt a tug on the hem of her clothes.

"Big sister, come along too. If you stay here alone... you might get lost, you know."

Looking down, meeting the little boy's earnest, sincere eyes, seeing his small hand extended toward her—something in Mai's heart was faintly stirred.

He's right. If I stay here alone... I really might end up lost from this world entirely.

This little boy before her seemed to have become the sole anchor tethering her existence to this world.

Mai's slender, graceful hand reached out, her five fingers lacing tightly with the little boy's small hand. Though, true to form, she kept up that older-sister stubborn tone.

"Hmph. I'm not directionally challenged."

At that moment, Miyako Saito looked at Kouma with a mix of surprise and worry. "Kouma-kun, who were you just talking to?"

She was a little concerned—Kouma hadn't hit his head and started hallucinating, had he?

"Just... no one."

Kouma shook his head and was promptly scooped up by Miyako into the van. Right alongside him—a young girl none of them could perceive, holding Kouma's hand, climbed into this van she knew so very well.

Mai looked around the interior of the van. It hadn't changed much from how she remembered it. On the side table, there was even a photograph of her.

"Yoko-san has already arranged a private room. We can head straight there."

Miyako glanced at her messages and informed Mrs. Sakurajima.

"Alright."

Mrs. Sakurajima followed Yoko's van all the way to the hospital.

...

St. Juliana Hospital.

Under Yoko's arrangements, Kouma was admitted directly into a VIP room. Then a whole battery of tests commenced.

"Some of the test results will still take a while to come back. Based on what's already come through, there don't appear to be any major issues."

The doctor looked at the group of devastatingly beautiful women before her and spoke evenly, but just as the women were about to breathe a collective sigh of relief, she changed tack.

"However, there could still be hidden injuries. There have been cases before where problems didn't show up in initial exams and only surfaced a couple of days later... The patient is only eight years old. To be safe, I'd recommend staying one night for observation."

"Then we'll follow the doctor's advice—one night of observation!"

Yoko said decisively.

Lying on the hospital bed, the little boy was thoroughly exasperated. He had never imagined things would escalate all the way to actual hospitalization and judging by the resolute expressions on the women's faces, this hospital stay seemed set in stone.

"Then I need to let Yukino-nee and Yukinoshita-obasan know..."

Kouma weakly raised his hand. If he explained things to Mrs. Yukinoshita, who knew about his incubus constitution, she'd certainly understand. As for Yukino—he could already predict that the moment she heard the news, she would frantically rush straight over.

Seeing Kouma pull out his phone and start making calls, the women exchanged glances and quietly stepped out of the hospital room, letting him rest.

Outside the room, Miyako Saito spoke up, "I'll go buy a chicken and stew some chicken soup for Kouma-kun."

"I'll help. I used to stew chicken soup pretty often for my..."

Mid-sentence, Mrs. Sakurajima suddenly paused and froze. She had used to stew chicken soup quite often, hadn't she? She'd cultivated quite a good hand at it, too, but... whom had she been stewing that chicken soup for?

Yoko looked at the two of them and said, "I'll go handle the hospitalization paperwork and see if any more test results have come in."

The three mature women divided up their tasks and left the hospital room. Ai stayed behind to look after Kouma.

...

The Service Club room.

Yukino, who had just been about to pack her bag and head home, received a call from Kouma.

Is Kouma-kun heading home early today?

A flicker of joy danced through Yukino's eyes. She answered the call.

Her ears caught Kouma's small, weak voice.

"Yukino-nee, I'm at the hospital... I won't be coming home tonight..."

Before Kouma could even finish speaking, it was as though a thunderclap had detonated inside Yukino's head. Her mind went utterly, starkly blank.

"Hospital?! What happened?! Are you hurt?! You need to be hospitalized?! Which hospital?! I'm coming right now!"

Anxious, panicked words spilled from her lips in a rapid-fire torrent. At the same time, Yukino burst out the door and sprinted toward the school gates. After learning which hospital it was, she hurriedly called Akemi.

...

Inside the hospital room.

Hearing the flurry of panicked sounds from the other end of the line, Kouma shook his head. Then he called Mrs. Yukinoshita.

Compared to Yukino's panic, Mrs. Yukinoshita was far more composed. However, the moment she heard that Kouma was hospitalized, her voice instantly trembled noticeably.

"Don't worry, Yukinoshita-obasan. I just took a fall. You know my incubus constitution better than anyone..."

Kouma hadn't expected that even Mrs. Yukinoshita, who knew his constitution, would still want to come to the hospital. It took a great deal of effort on his part to finally convince her otherwise. After hanging up, Kouma let out a long sigh.

Beside him, Mai, who had been sitting there the entire time, looked at him curiously. "That thing you just said about an incubus constitution... what does it mean?"

Kouma paused briefly. He had momentarily forgotten that Mai was still sitting right there. Still, there was no harm in her knowing. It was bound to happen sooner or later anyway—a few minutes didn't make much difference.

"Mai-nee, you don't know about the incubus clan?"

Kouma turned his head toward Mai, a knowing smile tugging at his lips.

Under the little boy's gaze, Mai felt her heart inexplicably skip a beat. She pressed her long legs together tightly.

"I read about it once... in some boring urban legends book."

Mai's eyes rippled as she shifted her gaze away, then continued. "They seem to be a dying race? Because of the incubus clan's special constitution, if you... dual-cultivate with one, you can enhance your own physical abilities and strength, which brought calamity down on them..."

Mai recalled the contents she had once read. Halfway through, she suddenly realized something. Just now—Kouma had said he had an incubus constitution.

Mai's beautiful eyes instantly snapped toward Kouma, and she asked in astonishment, "Kouma-kun, you couldn't be...?"

"Mhm. I'm one of the few remaining incubuses."

Kouma nodded. Then, under Mai's stunned gaze, he continued, "Actually, the incubus clan doesn't just enhance other people's strength. Through special means, they can also cure illnesses."

"Cure illnesses? What do you mean?"

Mai didn't follow.

"Mai-nee, have you ever heard of Adolescence Syndrome?"

"Adolescence Syndrome?"

Mai's lovely face froze. Another term that felt both unfamiliar and yet oddly familiar. She felt like she had seen this name somewhere before too—in that same urban legends book.

"It's a condition where the patient exhibits supernatural-like phenomena... things like being able to hear other people's inner thoughts, seeing someone's future, or having two people's personalities swap..."

Mai's voice trailed off as she recalled. A gleam of clarity surfaced in her beautiful eyes. She looked down at herself.

"So... other people not being able to see me... is because I have Adolescence Syndrome?"

Mai fell silent. A strange, absurd feeling swirled in her heart. This kind of mystical, unfathomable illness actually existed—and it had manifested in her.

Recalling what Kouma had said just moments before, she abruptly lifted her beautiful eyes and fixed them on the stunning little boy before her.

"Kouma-kun... what you meant just now—you can treat this condition?"

"I should be able to..."

Kouma replied. Though his tone carried a hint of uncertainty.

He glanced once more at the description of Gospel Fluid: LV1 Gospel Fluid: Allows your bodily fluids to pass through channels and enter the target's body, granting effects of healing injuries and dispelling negative statuses. (Note: the higher the level, the stronger the effect. At max level, it rivals divine nectar, capable of granting eternal youth and longevity!)

If it healed the body and dispelled negative statuses... then Adolescence Syndrome, to a person, was undoubtedly a kind of negative status.

"Also, it requires... a rather special method."

Kouma added.

"If it can cure this problem... no matter how special—"

Mai started to say, but then she suddenly realized something. Kouma was an incubus. So the "special" method had to be dual cultivation... which meant...

The scene from the library surfaced in her mind once more. Her body and heart seemed to recall the state she had been in back then. Mai's lovely face gradually flushed crimson. Her body went weak and boneless as she leaned against the side of the bed.

"Mai-nee, you're not imagining anything strange right now, are you?"

"...Mm. Wait, isn't it exactly that..."

"No... actually, yeah, it's exactly what you're thinking."

The little boy's teasing words made Mai angrily twist his arm. "Let me make one thing clear—for a mature older sister like me, even that is no big deal." Mai folded her arms and straightened her slender waist, putting her graceful figure on full display.

"Oh really? But that mature older sister, back at the library..."

Kouma chuckled lightly. Before he could finish, Mai had clamped her hand over his mouth in mortified indignation. Their eyes met at close range. In those beautiful eyes of Kouma's, Mai could clearly see her own reflection. An unfamiliar, tingling tremor surfaced through her body and heart. She looked at this little one—the only person in the world who could still observe her existence.

Mai bit her lip lightly. Her beautiful eyes gradually grew dazed and hazy.

"Last time doesn't count!"

"This time... I'll show you what a real mature older sister looks like."

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