Courtesy to : Lionmask
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"Yay! a fairy square!"
Seeing the only bright, peaceful place in this dark, gloomy dungeon I, like a rising high-school player reaching home base at Koushien, slid right into the room.[1]
The fairy square gave me a feeling as if I'd returned back to where I left from. The neatly spaced trees of fairy walnut, the medicinal flower garden in full bloom. Finally, the save-point-like fountain with the cute fairy statue. Water, food, medicine, I could get them all right here.
But, what I needed the most was the sense of security of the fairy square, where monsters don't approach. Obviously, because I came to know, how that kind of violent, man-eating demon runs rampant in this dungeon.
Looking back, those things had clothing, and used weapons such as the axe. One could see an intelligence greater than monkeys but less than men. In RPG terms, they gave the image of Goblins or Ghouls. In a game they'd be beginner level mobs used for grinding exp, but seeing something like that in real life only gave me fear and panic. There's likely more of those than the three I saw. Implying, this dungeon, is literally teeming with them.
I should… just live here from now…
Like an office worker(salaryman) who'd just been laid off, I was sitting at the edge of the fountain, head down, mumbling these heart broken words. Rather than continuing this dangerous dungeon exploration, god knows when the next safe location will be, I ended up genuinely thinking I should just stay put here.
No, I get it. I know doing that isn't possible. But, at least, I can't really jump into that abyss right now-"Nn… uu…"
I feel like I heard a groan. It's not a sound I myself leaked out along with some auspicious sigh.
"Hu-Who's there!?"
My first reaction was wary. I won't be smiling like an idiot when meeting a classmate anymore. It got a bit hazy because of that gory scene from before, but Higuchi's loathsome grin instantly flashes back into mind.
Only three can escape from here. Having been betrayed by my best friend, I know there won't be anyone capricious enough to let me in their group, if only to make up numbers. To add, my vocation is that of shaman. You can't rely on me in fights either.
"I… know you're there, show yourself."
With my shaky hands, I take out my boxcutter and fully unretracted, and repeat the Curse incantations in my head countless times. With ‘Red Fever' and my newly received Curse, I should be able to hold them off somewhat. It's better than doing nothing, is my general feeling.
"Come out dammit!"
My already shrill voice, becoming even more soprano from the tenseness, echoes pitifully in the fairy square- but, the other party hasn't made a single reply.
If they're hiding, I'll just have to find them. That being said, I already know what places a person could hide in this room.
I glance at the trees lined up on both sides of the room but, nope, you can't completely hide yourself behind those. I don't see anyone there.
That being the case, there's only one more place. That is, right behind the fountain I'm standing in front of. If you lie sprawled out on the opposite side, you'd be completely out of my visual range.
I prepare myself, and sneakily begin tip-toeing around the fountain. Only the splashing sounds of flowing water hits my ears. The moment of truth, to be revealed in a matter of seconds. It's a small fountain in the first place, walking slowly, a round-trip wouldn't even take 30 seconds. Even less time if the distance is halved.
"- Ah!?"
Indeed, it was a classmate. Like the one I peeked at through that door just before, dressed in the same sailor uniform, a girl from class, lay there collapsed.
However, the impression was completely different. Compared to the unknown girl from before, the one in front of me right now lying pale was practically twice her size. The girl boasting such a large figure, there could only be but one.
"Futaba-san!"
Futaba Meiko. From the seat next to me, the big-bodied girl. But also someone whose body shook enough to not be able to draw the magic circle, a classically girlish, small-willed person. That girl, was lying there, paled blue.
I don't have any particularly special feelings for her, and when I handed her a copy of the magic circle in the classroom this morning, it was nothing but a whimsical act of small kindness. Honestly, that much of a relationship isn't enough to put my trust her. And right now, I need to be wary, first and foremost- but, I quickly ran over to her. Along with the boxcutter, I threw away my panic, wariness and steeled heart.
"Futaba-san, are you alright!"
Because she'd been injured. The first thing I notice is the redness of her abdomen under that blackened sailor uniform rolled up to the chest. The wound was, different from mine received form the Armor Bear, a straight slash across the belly, as if torn up with a knife.
The shirt was rolled up, not to invite men into attacking her, but to somehow treat the wound herself.
However, she didn't have the means to carry out any treatment of such a terrible wound. And that would lead to her present state.
"Ah… Mo, mokawa… kun…"
She thinly opened her round eyes, and saw me, who was calling out to her, by her side. Traces of tears on the edges of those eyes. How long had she cried in fear of being so close to death. Now, she didn't have the strength to even cry.
"Hold on, Futaba-san!"
"H… Help… me…"
"I will! I'll help you right now!"
"Don't… please don't… leave me… behind"
Leaving that, Futaba-san's eyelids were again, shut.
"Futaba-san!? Futaba-saaaan!"
No reply. No reply, but she's still faintly breathing. I quickly decided to check her pulse. Reaching not for her wrist, but her pale neck. That was closer. As I touch, I'm surprised at the softness of a maiden's skin. Soft, white skin. But fat.
I'm damned tired of my male instincts rising first, but on my finger, I indeed feel her pulse.
Futaba Meiko, she's not out of the game yet.
"Please… work!"
With a prayer, I turn over my bag where I'd put the medicine I, as an amateur shaman, earnestly made at the first fairy square.
Fak-elion(false dandelion) and fairy walnut leaves ground together with the flowers that looked like white lily, I grab first grab the medicine named ‘Ointment A'. Of course, there's a B and C made with other combinations of herbs. But, right now I don't give a damn.
Ointment A was stored in the tupperware from Takashima-kun's lunchbox that'd saved my life. And now it would be saving Futaba-san's life too, this miracle tupperware.
"Aa, umm, before applying I have to disinfect… no, don't have any disinfectant… no, no before that, I need to wash the wound itself, ah, I need to wash my hands too!?"
Paramedics would cry seeing this disorganized excuse for first aid.
First of all, I washed my hands in the fountain, grabbed the plastic bottle out of the contents of my upturned bag, and quickly twisted the cap. This was something I was carrying, the one half filled with an energy drink. By the first fairy square I'd already emptied it, and filled it with the water from the fountain. In the end, I hadn't drunk a drop till reaching here, so it's filled to the very brim.
"E-excuse me…"
After apologizing for some reason, I reached my hand towards Futaba-san's plump belly. It didn't look erotic as it was covered in blood, but when touching, I felt an enticing warm softness from it. Bearing the urge to vigorously rub it, I used the water from the plastic bottle to rinse the wound, carefully so as not to widen the cut.
Though the blood was somewhat washed off, since some time has passed since the injury, some of the blood had hardened. At this rate, I wouldn't make any progress. After making the area clean enough, it was finally time for ointment A.
Fortunately, the cut wasn't deep enough that her guts would pop out. However, the horizontally running slash right below the navel was still bleeding out bit by bit. Death from blood loss would be the highest risk factor.
"It's ok… this should, this will work…"
I'd survived with the slight haemostasis-only effect of the fak-elion. This now greatly upgraded version, ointment A, will definitely make quick work of a smallfry wound like this. Believing that with my all, I grab some of the pasty, wild-grass-scented ointment from the tupperware, and smear it on Futaba-san's belly.
This should definitely stop the blood flowing out, but if it should have the opposite effect… No, let's not, I can't just worry about everything. Though I think that, when I see Futaba-san's blood-drained pale face, the word ‘too late' inevitably comes to mind.
"Now… I can only pray, huh."
Using up half of the contents from the tupperware, I had nothing else. I had neither bandages, nor blood transfusion packs. To boot, there was no clean bed to quietly rest her on either. It's unfortunate, but she'd have to keep lying on the grass here.
"If this doesn't work… maybe I'll get cursed by Futaba-san…"
[1] Koushien, a baseball thing.
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