Chapter 153: Climbing the Wall to Escape the Hospital, Encountering Emergency Rescue in the Snow (Patreon)

"The Queen's abode alone — that, I will hold even if it costs me my life."

"Which is why my contractor can only be [Descender]."

"What are you two talking about?"

Natsuka had come back from Aiko's room just then, the doctor beside him.

Kuroneko's face went scarlet in an instant. She whipped her head aside, her voice tangling on itself. "N-nothing! Nothing at all!"

A moment ago Kasumigaoka Utaha had been all stunned admiration. Now nothing was left but contempt.

So you're all mouth too.

One look at the man himself and you wilt.

Her lips curved slowly, a little wickedness in the smile. "We were discussing how to devour you whole behind your little girlfriend's back."

"If we're left holding a child, our philandering Lord [Descender] will have his hands tied, won't he?"

"You wouldn't want to see a poor widow and her orphan turned out on the street, sleeping under an overpass with a thin little blanket, would you?"

Natsuka badly wanted to say: go on, then. Come take me head-on.

But he knew this woman was off spinning stories again, so he simply raised a hand and smacked her on the backside.

"Eep—!"

Kasumigaoka Utaha bolted sideways like a startled cat, straight behind Kuroneko, her face redder than seemed physically possible.

"Y-you, you you you — what are you trying to do in front of your girlfriend?!"

All three of the others turned dead-fish eyes on her.

In Natsuka's head, the catchphrase of his old friend Shadow even rang out.

Heh. Weakling.

"Doctor Kurahashi, I'd like to take Yuuki out for a walk."

In the office, Natsuka got straight to the point.

Doctor Kurahashi thought it over for a moment, choosing his words with care. "If we're talking about taking her out…"

"Given her current physical condition, in theory there's no problem."

"But to be safe, I wouldn't recommend it."

HIV has a long incubation period and a long developmental stage between infection and onset.

Only once it fully erupts does it truly threaten a patient's life.

Most of Yuuki's bodily functions had been repaired by now; she could more or less live a normal life the way she had back in elementary school, maintained on special immune medication.

Managed well, a patient might go an entire lifetime barely distinguishable from a healthy person.

Natsuka understood the doctor's concerns perfectly well, so he laid it out plainly. "My medicine doesn't build up resistance."

"And once we're back, I can cleanse her body one more time."

At that, Doctor Kurahashi was silent for a few seconds. In the end he produced a single, remarkably inspired answer.

"In principle, the hospital does not allow this."

"But I can pretend I saw nothing."

Fine, then.

You're the big shot. Your word goes.

What else is there to do.

Not long after.

Beside the fence at the edge of the hospital grounds.

A small group came creeping into view.

Kasumigaoka Utaha cradled her arms under her chest, her expression peculiar. "Didn't you say you'd already gotten permission?"

"So why are we still skulking around like this?"

Natsuka wore the look of a man dealing with someone who understood nothing, and set about educating her in earnest. "Where's the fun in walking out of prison in broad daylight?"

"When you're greeting a brand-new world after so long, it ought to come with a little thrill."

Then he glanced over at Yuuki. "Right?"

"Yeah!"

Yuuki clenched both fists, as thrilled as a kid cutting class.

The group looked up at the wall — over three meters of it — and not one of them flinched.

Yuuki pushed off the ground, her small body springing up. One hand caught the top edge, she hauled, and with a whisk she was sitting astride it.

"Come on up!"

"R-right…"

Kuroneko tried to copy her.

Her coordination, unfortunately, was a clear notch worse. She clung to the edge with both hands, kicked at the wall several times, and after a long ungainly struggle finally dragged herself up.

Kanade was more absurd still.

A pair of pure white wings spread from her back. One gentle beat and she drifted serenely across, touching down on the far side of the wall.

Natsuka simply scooped Yui up, tapped one foot against the wall, and cleared it without effort.

"Hey!"

Kasumigaoka Utaha was ready to detonate. She stamped her foot on the spot. "Do any of you ever spare a thought for how normal people feel?!"

Natsuka braced a hand on the top of the wall and flipped back down. "That's exactly why I came back for you."

Utaha flushed and turned her body aside, arms crossed over her chest. "Wh-what do you think you're doing?"

"Carrying you over."

"Pervert."

"Tch. You keep calling me your little sweetheart, and now you won't even let me pick you up."

That made her face burn hotter still. She stamped her foot again, refusing to be outdone. "Absolutely not!"

"Crouch down. I'll get up there myself!"

Natsuka thought about it. Sure, why not.

He dropped to one knee, cupped the sole of her shoe in his palm, and pushed her up bit by bit.

"Hey — stop wobbling!"

Utaha had a death grip on the wall with both hands, one foot planted in Natsuka's palm, shaking from head to toe.

"You're the one wobbling!"

"Hurry it up. Any longer and a nurse is going to notice!"

"H-hold me steady!"

She strained with her arms for ages, but her other foot could not find the top of the wall no matter what she did.

"Are you finished yet?"

Natsuka had been shoving from below for a while now, and the more he pushed, the more this woman seemed to shrink back down. He looked up before he could stop himself.

"Hey! No looking up!"

Mortified, Kasumigaoka Utaha drove a foot straight into Natsuka's face.

"Son of a—!"

"Aaah! Stand still, will you!"

"Then maybe stop kicking me!"

"You've been hoping for this exact plot development, haven't you?!"

"You're the one who picked this!"

"I offered to carry you up. You were the one who said no."

The two of them swayed against the wall, looking ready to come down together at any moment.

The next second Utaha lost her balance entirely and landed sitting on Natsuka's shoulders.

In her panic her legs clamped shut on instinct, locking his head in place.

"Mmmf— mmmff—"

Natsuka's world went black.

He felt like he had plunged headfirst into something soft and dangerous. Silk-smooth against both cheeks, then a downy, yielding give — he could even faintly make out the flutter of a small pulse.

"D-don't move around!"

Perched on his shoulders, Kasumigaoka Utaha was one degree from combusting with shame, whaling on his head.

Natsuka was having a rough time of it himself.

"Big sis, you're so lame!"

Yuuki sat on the wall with her chin propped in her hands, giggling at the show.

Kuroneko, on the other hand, looked thoroughly sore about it.

"Tch. The woman has her tricks after all. She's outplayed me."

Just then a security guard's furious bellow carried over from a distance.

"Hey! You lot over there! Who's that?!"

"Crap, we've been spotted!"

Natsuka's head snapped around — still nothing but blackness in front of his eyes, and a faint drift of perfume.

"Eeek—! Pervert! Creep! Don't move!"

"Then quit squeezing so hard!"

"Wh-what?!"

Natsuka had no patience left for her objections. His hand found the wall, his core tightened, and he sprang, hauling Utaha up and over in a single leap.

Utaha's vision spun end over end.

For one instant she saw a sky far too blue, saw the round moon hanging in the dark, and saw the guard's face in the distance growing angrier by the second.

Only then did she register a pair of large hands cradling her legs.

"There. We're over!"

Natsuka landed steadily, set the thoroughly dazed black-stockings menace down, and rolled his neck. "Phew. That was close."

"You— you— you!"

Kasumigaoka Utaha clutched her skirt down, so furious her eyes had gone red, her face alarmingly redder.

"Yell at me later. Run!"

"The guard's about to charge over here!"

Natsuka vaulted back over the wall and brought Yui's wheelchair out too.

A second later the whole group was in flight.

Yuuki laughed as she ran, her hair flying loose in the wind. "Hahaha! Faster, Natsu-kun! They're going to catch us!"

Natsuka pushed the wheelchair, tearing along the rolling slope.

Yui held on to the armrests, her face radiant. "Haha, faster, faster — deja vuuu!"

Kanade, perfectly composed, kept pace beside them on beating wings.

Kuroneko shouted after them, frantic and exasperated at once. "Idiot! Don't go throwing magic around in the middle of the city!"

And bringing up the rear, all but expired, was Fatty Xia— no, sorry, Kasumigaoka Utaha.

"W-wait for me!"

"I haven't even settled accounts with you yet, you scumbag who has his fill of a woman and then runs off with a different one—"

Natsuka had exactly one thing to say to that.

Catch up first, if you can.

Tropical Land.

Once night fell, the whole amusement park blazed with light.

In the distance the great Ferris wheel turned slowly, its colored lamps drawing bright ring upon bright ring across the night sky.

Even the roller coaster track that circled the park had been strung with brand-new lights, as if to chase away every last ominous shadow of its past.

The giant swinging hammer, the pirate ship, the bumper cars, the carousel…

Every ride glittered, and the air itself carried popcorn, cream and the sweetness of sugar frosting.

"This is where it all began!"

Natsuka stood at the gate with his hands on his hips, announcing it like a tour guide.

Yuuki was already as giddy as a bird sprung from its cage, spinning in circles as she rushed inside.

Kuroneko pushed Yui along right behind her. "If it's the bumper cars, Yui can ride too, can't she?"

"Mm."

Kanade followed after them as earnestly as a trailing chick.

Her heart was weak; she couldn't ride anything too intense.

But she still wanted very much to ride the Ferris wheel, just once.

"W-wait for me, would you…"

Ragged, broken gasps came from behind.

Kasumigaoka Utaha was beyond exhausted, arms and legs gone soft, all but on all fours on the ground, breath short, chest heaving hard. "Hah… haah… I'm done…"

Natsuka's eyebrow twitched at the sight.

"Hey. There are a lot of people around here."

"And exactly whose fault do you think this is?!"

Utaha jerked her head up to glare at him. Every scrap of her usual elegance and reserve was gone, and she looked as wrecked as a soldier fresh off a battlefield.

"Brute!"

That's a line I'd rather save for the bedroom.

Natsuka filed the thought away without a word.

Utaha braced herself against a wall and shuffled over to a bench, easing down onto it.

Sweat slid slowly down her pale neck and into her collar, soaking everything underneath.

She gave in and undid one button, heat all but visibly steaming out of the opening.

Natsuka came over, dug around in his 4D Pocket, and produced a black bottle frozen hard, which he pressed straight against her cheek.

"Aah, that's cold—"

The chill made Utaha shudder.

"It's only cola."

"Ooh. How lewd of you."

Natsuka covered his mouth and snickered.

Kasumigaoka Utaha shot him a glare and turned her head away. "Not drinking it."

"Ice cream, then?"

"Or a cappuccino?"

"A Snickers works too."

"What are you, Doraemon?"

Utaha's cheeks puffed out, her breathing still uneven.

"Mm. That's exactly what I am."

Natsuka actually looked rather pleased with himself.

Utaha leaned back against the bench and lifted her chin, utterly shameless about it. "Can't move."

"Feed me."

"Fine, fine, fine."

Natsuka sat down beside her and tore the wrapper open, his mouth misbehaving as always. "Tell me — don't the two of us look like a couple in the afterglow right now?"

Utaha eyed him sideways, closed her mouth around the chocolate he held out, chewed unhurriedly, and answered in a lazy drawl, "It's your first time. Of course it feels strange."

"Come back for a few more rounds and you'll manage fine."

Natsuka nearly let her lead him into the ditch and hit the brakes hard. "Did you ever think about giving up?"

"The rest of us all count as espers, after all."

"What I mean is, you could have just taken a taxi instead of dragging yourself through all this with us."

"No."

"Why not?"

Utaha leveled a look at him that said you're still playing dumb, then reached out to pinch his cheek, drawing out her words with the last of her strength. "Oh my~"

"Why do you think that is, Natsuka-chan?"

After that, Natsuka carried her on his back.

The deeper the night, the brighter the neon along the streets.

The noise of the amusement park fell away behind them, and the city eased back into a different sort of quiet.

And then, at exactly midnight, time itself seemed to be flicked by something.

The second hand crossed the mark.

And snow came drifting down out of the sky.

"Yesterday it was summer, today it's winter."

"Sure. Fantastic."

Natsuka hitched Utaha higher on his back, freed one hand to fish a heavy coat out of his pocket, and draped it over them both.

As they were passing the city park.

He crossed paths with a red-haired man.

There was a little girl on the man's back, eight or nine years old at most, bundled in a down jacket, the edge of a hospital gown showing beneath her sleeve.

Natsuka looked back without thinking.

Something about that receding figure pricked at him.

His hearing was excellent — good enough to catch the man talking to the girl without pause the whole way.

But bit by bit.

The answers from the girl stopped coming.

The man finally halted. He stood there in the snow with his head bowed, trembling in silence, as though he were weeping.

On his back, Utaha quietly opened her eyes and saw it too.

Natsuka didn't hesitate for a second. He went straight after him.

"Hey. Are you all right?"

The man raised his head blankly, his eyes horribly empty.

"What about her?"

"Do you want me to take a look at her?"

As if he finally had nothing left holding him up, the man sank slowly to his knees in the snow with his sister in his arms, tears falling without stop.

"Hey! Hey—!"

Natsuka freed one hand and shook him hard.

"I wasn't asking about you!"

"I'm asking about her!"

"Her heartbeat is already faint. If she isn't helped now she really is going to die!"

"You—"

"It's no use."

The man pressed his face to his sister's small, steadily colder one, his voice shaking. "There's nothing I can do…"

Watching all of this, Natsuka felt his temper flare up in one rush.

He shoved the man aside and snatched the little girl into his own arms.

"Enough."

"I don't want to watch a man be this pathetic."

"If you don't want her to die, then get a grip!"

The man froze.

For one instant his eyes had turned savage — and then, as though the strength had been drained out of him, he simply stopped where he was, staring dumbly at what Natsuka was doing.

Natsuka reached into the front pocket of his clothes and pulled out a purple vial.

He bit the stopper out, tipped the girl's chin up, and poured the liquid down her throat.

"Hey! What did you just make my sister drink?!"

"Medicine!"

"Medicine?!"

"Do you have a better idea right now?"

"You can't do anything anyway, so take the gamble. Trust me!"

With that, Natsuka started chest compressions at once, his palm driving down again and again, steady and quick.

"Don't just sit there!"

"Can you do rescue breathing or not?!"

"I— I'm her brother…"

Even now the man's mind hadn't caught up.

"This is no time for that!"

"Or would you rather I did it?"

"No arguing. Do what I say!"

"R-right… right!"

The man finally snapped back, pinched his sister's nose with shaking fingers, bent down, and breathed for her.

One minute later.

The little girl broke into a fit of coughing.

"Cough— cough, cough…"

"Big brother…?"

Looking at his sister awake again, the man's tears came pouring out all at once. "Thank goodness, Hatsune!"

"You're all right. You're really all right!"

"Nii-chan…"

Hatsune's voice was very small, but color had plainly come back into her little face.

"Hatsune feels… a lot better."