"…Hmm."
"You're awake." The voice cut through the haze of sleep, startling me. "Mm..." I groaned, my bleary vision slowly sharpening until the first thing I could recognize was... those strange eyes.
"You...?"
"Yes, me." It was that very girl I had seen when I first woke up.
Wait.
"I fell asleep?" I asked incredulously.
"...Yeah?" she said, raising an eyebrow.
"When?" I don't recall dozing off. I mean, I can remember her hugging me, and...
Wait.
That's it.
"I don't know when, but it was probably after I hugged you. You must have gotten a bit too comfortable in my arms and fell asleep." She puffed her chest out proudly. "I'm not trying to brag or anything, but a hug from me is as difficult to obtain as killing a high-tier ether beast. Many guys would literally kill for such a privilege. And no, I'm not a narcissist—I'm just stating plain fact. You must know how valuable a hug from me is."
I stared blankly at the 'not-a-narcissist' singing her own praises.
"Well... you have no idea just how honored I am to receive a hug from greatness herself," I said flatly.
It was only now that I actually realized why her face had seemed to be hovering over mine from the moment I woke up. She had sat on the bed and repositioned my head on her lap. At this point, I don't even understand what's happening. Who the hell is she? Does she work in the infirmary or something? I mean, hasn't she been here for a long time?
Well, that aside, I didn't consider getting up from her lap. Why? Because it was comfortable—that was one reason. The other? Well, I can't really explain it. I just feel good with her caressing my head. It's a strangely calm feeling, completely different from that disturbing numbness I felt when I first woke up. I think that was related to the changes my DNA was undergoing.
When I get the chance, I should take some samples of my blood and check just how much it's affecting me, at least on a genetic level.
But that aside, I think I'll stay this way for a while.
"Good thing you know," she gave me a smug smile that was definitely cute, totally ignoring the sarcasm in my words... or did she not sense it?
Maybe she just ignored it.
"... Who are you?" I asked, getting straight to the point. She was acting too comfortable with me for my liking. This isn't how first-time acquaintances work... or is it just me?
"... Ella," she said. "Ella Attrill." Her expression changed as she mentioned her surname.
I froze—literally froze—gazing at her with widened eyes.
No.
It can't be, right?
"Attrill?" I asked, but she just kept silent, taking a deep breath.
"Like... Eric Attrill?" I asked apprehensively, hoping it wasn't what I was thinking.
"... Eric WAS my brother." And that was it.
My brain literally short-circuited.
ERIC HAS A SISTER?!
Wait.
I have to calm down.
This can't be real.
Eric Attrill.
He was the reason I hadn't drawn my katana all through my second year in this messed-up institution... or rather, what happened to him was the reason.
It's been a whole year and a few months since it happened.
The fifteenth phase we had, a few months before our final exams during the first year. If I remember correctly, it was some mission—a survival mission to find and retrieve the core of a high-tier ether beast. Things went wrong that day in more ways than one. Our team, which consisted of five members, got caught in a siege. It was on that mission we lost Eric, that very mission we lost our strongest member.
It was my fault.
It was all my bloody fault.
I was so stupid not to accept the simple fact that I was... weak.
I let frustration get to me, and it ended with the loss of my only true friend in this cursed place. He died trying to help me escape the horde of monsters that almost killed me. It was because of that incident that Freda came to hate me so much. After all, she had feelings for Eric.
Sigh.
"!"
I remember now. No wonder she seemed so familiar. I remember seeing her in that room where everyone who knew Eric paid their last respects. I was by the door that day—I just couldn't find it in me to walk into that room.
I think that was the reason everyone turned on me, even Lungris.
"... Sigh, so you know who I am, huh?" I spoke quietly.
But why isn't she trying to kill me?