Raga of the Dry Branch

“Sleep more. Fay blessed you and Heli, along with Mahoren, healed you, but it will hurt till the poison is out.”

“… I guess… It was poison after all.”

“It was said that if it were a normal human, they would have died. But Al is alive.”

Juli’s voice was low.

“Sleep a lot more. Shang-di bought some scented candles, so you can sleep better.”

I could feel the pain gnawing into my bones as they kept speaking. At the same time, I felt my consciousness slowly drift away again.

“Yah! Why is a healthy, normal person now suddenly in the form of a corpse!”

The moment Shag-di saw Al in the hands of Juli, she couldn’t hold back her anger.

Unfamiliar human figures came out from the air and bowed to them. They all were shadows which were compelled to keep their eyes on Alkeris.

The rest of the three were too shocked to even say anything and stared at the scene. In the meantime, Shang-di got up and kicked her shadows relentlessly.

“I asked what happened.”

“Who fed my Sign something and turned him into this, huh?”

A man with black mustache answered as he kneeled on the ground.

“It was the lady of Count Boizana.”

“What a nasty bitch… How did she manage to do this? In a place where even the kings fear to intervene!”

“I-I apologize! Lord!”

“Enough, how does he look?”

Hali looked at Al who was asleep but seemed to still have tears that threatened to spill over.

“It is poison… I scanned it, it was already in the body…”

“Stop crying and tell me clearly.”

Shang-di urged her. In the end, Heli burst into tears and shouted.

“The poison was in her body right from the start, her body was full of it. Uahhhh! What, what did they do!? It wasn’t because of this one pill, but it went piling up and piling up! I don’t even understand how… alive… auahhh!”

“… sigh”

Shang-di couldn’t understand how absurd everything around was, so she approached Alkeris who was still lying down and went close.

“You have been with him till now and you weren’t able to know?… no, I’m not in a position to even blame anyone.”

As soon as Faysion came to his senses, he blessed Al with a recovery and purification. And then called for Heliciad and Mahoren.

“Julius placed the primary recovery so it isn’t life threatening, but shouldn’t we give a proper treatment? The progress has stopped, but the recovery with my blessing is too slow. The two of them are the best, so look after him.”

“Yes, you don’t even have to say that! euuu-!”

Heliciad kept weeping as she looked at Alkeris.

“If Al was a normal human, Al would have been dead. How the hell was Al living till now?”

Looking at Alkeris, Faysion asked in a low voice. Was he trying to answer? Alkeris opened his eyes.

“Al! Are you awake?”

Shang-Lodihara approached and asked. The other four, including Poppy who was sniffling in the corner, approached Al and went close.

Ah… smile.

The light blue eyes which were out of focus till then, began to stare at the blurry figures, and then smiled. Everyone held their breath as they saw it. And Alkeris’ lips opened.

“Don’t worry. I wont die… just… it just hurts.”

And soon ALkeris passed out again.

“Don’t worry? How can we not? Does he even see what condition he is in?”

Shang-Lodihara smiled a little as she stroked Alkeris’s hair. And pulling her knees close to her chest, she buried her face.

“This Sign is a weird one… very weird, this one. Why is it making me so angry? Is this how this is supposed to feel?!”

“Why are you yelling out, what will you do if he wakes up again! And this is how it normally is, so shut that mouth of yours, it interferes with our work.”

Mahore grumbled at Shang-Lodihara who was screaming.

Instead, Faysion answered her questions.

“What Ren said is right. Signs exist to control us in the first place. Did you really think that weak humans could control us by force? This is why most of our kind struggle after such things, they go crazy because the humans leave them.”

Then, they should get their declaration and walk away from the human…

Looking down at the pale face of Alkeris, Faysion smiled bitterly.

“Shang-di, how did that background search go?”

Julius asked as he kept patting the hair of Poppy.

“Not yet. But soon.”

Shang-Lodihara pulled up her face and answered, and her eyes gleaming in more terrifying way possible.

“We will get it soon.”

A soft and fluffy and then something ticked my face. I really liked feeling something soft, so I kept burying my ace deeper and deeper in it. A sweet sigh escaped from my lips.

And then, I woke up, awoke. And the moment my hazy mind cleared up, my eyes opened.

“…!”

Hotel room. I wondered when I came back, but then I remembered the anxious faces of everyone. Along in the room, no, it was two of us, me and Poppy who were still asleep.

It felt so good that he was next to me, that I rubbed my cheeks on his fur. I could see how his lush fur was crushed underneath.

Pretending not to know what happened to the fur, I turned my head to check my condition, and noticed that the buttons were down til the top of my chest. It looked like I was drenched in sweat, but it seemed like it was all washed off with magic. I was happy that they didn’t undress me.

“Ah, Ah~”

My voice sounded normal, and I couldn’t feel pain from last night. And I stretched out my arms and wondered if I really was in pain. My body seemed fine.

I was in a lot of pain last night… I cried and cried as if I went back to the time when I was 7.

There was a time when I was locked in a warehouse because I didn’t listen, and as time went on and no one brought me out, I cried and cried, but never after again that.

People say, the heart goes weak when we are in pain, and I thought it was good, one day my heart would go so weak that it will stop.

“…”

A cool breeze came from the open window. For some reason, golden rays of light entered the window and the mountain which was outside too. I was mesmerized by the sight of gently moving white curtains.

I was so lost in thought in the quiet room that I only heard the breathing of the beast.

In the beginning, I wanted to be loved. When I realized that being loved was impossible, I struggled, wanting to die, because I didn’t want to get sick and then stay longer in this world.

Actually, I wanted to live, but the fear of my wants turning worse for me, stopped me. It was the most painful moment in my life, being stabbed in the back by the only person I had high hopes for, and being denied the only wish I wanted. I thought it was the price I had to pay, for being hungry for love, and a lesson for me to see the reality and be aware of my fantasies.

So I wandered in search of a place where I could breathe. I think I wandered in the back alleys a lot, thinking if I wasn’t born where I was, where would I be?

I would pray for my death, but couldn’t achieve it.

And when I realized that I had nothing in life, it seemed boring to me. Life was boring, so boring and I only dreamed of death because I was tired.

Well, at least until recently that was the case.

“Should I live? No, can I even live?”

“… I want to live.”

When the words finally came out of my mouth, I understood everything.

There were people who were troubled with my existence, but not a single person was glad I was alive.

Even if they wanted me dead, I wouldn’t have had any regrets. I would have thought that I got what I had to get and just disappeared quietly.

But now I want to live.

There were people telling me that I needed to live.

At the beginning, I was just being dragged around by them. It was bothersome how they wanted to interfere with me, but then it was weird when they would look at me with worried eyes.

It was for a short moment compared to what I lived, but I longed for a constant warmth and now it was making me want to live despite the disgusting memories.

But then, there would be a day where I would have to part with them.

But at least I know they won’t cheat or betray me. Even if I chose to run away, I know they won’t harm me or despise me.

Such belief and the reason was unclear.

Maybe it is because they are strong.

[Wung-]

As I felt my heart tug, I rubbed Poppy who was sleeping. He giggled despite being in deep slumber.

When I felt the room, everyone was in the living room, each in a different place, but the moment they saw me, they jumped out.

And then, with their eyes on me, each began to toss Juli some paper. What were they doing?

“Ah! Finally awake?”

Shang-di approached me with a bright smile.

“Let’s see. You look better. Was it uncomfortable sleeping? I was about to change the clothes, but Fay stopped me, so I only opened the buttons, what a pity. Let’s get you out of the clothes…”

“Shang-di, enough.”

“Tch”

I held her hand as she began to unbutton my shirt and looked around.

Mahoren and Fay were standing close to me checking my condition, and Juli was lying on the sofa with a lot of stuff on his stomach. It made me sad that his hood was back on. It’s a pity, since his eyes were amazing.

“Heli?”

Contrary to the usually cheerful voice, I was puzzled as the one to greet me first didn’t come, and I saw something coming from the corner. I looked at her covered in a blanket approaching me with strange steps.

“Al – how is your body?”

Heli was inside the blanket.

“My body is fine. In fact, I feel a lot better thanks to you all. Thank you.”

“Yes. I worked hard to understand what was in you. There is no poison in you anymore.”

“… is that so. But what are you doing?”

Heli went silent, it was strange, so I pulled off the blanket.

“Ack! My blanket!!”

“… Heli, your face?”

She struggled to grab it again.

I grabbed Heli’s chin and looked closer at her. As if shocked by the sudden closeness in our faces, I could feel Heli breathing go still, and looking at her frozen face, I smiled.