CH 9

Finishing up Futaba-san's emergency treatment, I decided to take a nap for the time being. Though it hadn't been long, quite a few things did happen, and I was genuinely fatigued. Just how many traumas does this day have in store for me? It's been one anxiety after another.

After that, not being aware how long, and not wanting to go to the trouble of restarting my powered down phone to check the time, I slept soundly till my body had its fill. It was on top of the grass but surprisingly comfortable. In addition, there wasn't an ever-so-pleasant dream with Curse God Ruinhilde making an appearance, so I'd woken up quite refreshed.

"Futaba-san... seems to be alright"

Her peaceful breathing reminded me of a Holstein taking a nap at a farm. No, not as in her boobs, but in the sense of her tranquil presence. The color in her face returned somewhat, she was resting calmly.

Nevertheless, her defenceless posture lying before me does in fact incite an urge to squeeze. We~ll, there's no way a loser like me'll actually do anything. Well naturally, since I'm but a lowly virgin boy whose age equalled exactly the amount of time he hasn't been with a girlfriend.

"Sigh... I'll make more meds"

Since I'm still not feeling up to dungeon crawling, I started remixing more of Ointment A to replenish the portion used up.

To be honest, if you just knew the effect of the herbs with Intuition Pharmacy, you didn't need to be a shaman to actually make these ointments. There was no game-like convenience of casting some magic and getting the desired item. Basically, you had to collect the herbs and diligently grind them with your own two hands.

I work at the process single-mindedly, with the regular flow of water from the fountain as BGM. I take a branch from a Fairy Walnut tree as a pestle, and a convenience store plastic bag (small) I discovered deep in my bag, as a mortar, finally throwing in a mix of ingredients eyeing out the amount of each.

We take leaves from the Fake-elionfalse dandelion, and Fairy Walnuts, but as for this white-lily-like flower- umm, let's just call them White Blooms- we need not the leaves nor the petals, but the nectar inside, which has medicinal effects. Since I don't have any way to properly wring out the honey, I can only tear off the petals and throw in the ones that seem to secrete nectar. I worried if this rough method would be effective, but Intuition Pharmacy whispered "It's fine, It's fine", in my head, so I decided that it was.[1]

Anywho, in that manner, I had made more Ointment A, the thing that seemingly healed Futaba-san, proving its great efficacy. With this, there's much less danger from quite a few types of injury.

"Still... What do I do..."

It's not about the ointment, or about what I'd do with the dungeon, but on the subject of Futaba-san who I happened to have saved.

Now that I've calmed down, inevitably, doubts rise on whether this was the right thing to do. No, there's no guilt about the fact of saving her. At that moment, I hadn't for a single moment thought of abandoning her.

That would be because I am a person of great empathy and heart, which is not the case, but actually because I'd just seen such atrocious things done to another dead girl's corpse. I didn't want to see someone dying in front of me. There's not much other reason.

And it's fine that I saved her, but we now get to the primary problem, this unchanged situation akin to a battle royale. Though I've saved her life, there's no guarantee that Futaba-san will feel any gratitude towards me.

Although she was asking for help, she could have just been utterly despaired from this situation and desiring death. Or perhaps, she's like Higuchi, the type to kick down and use people. As the number of people who'd be able to escape, who'd survive, was clearly declared to be 3, there's no simple way of trusting anyone.

If that number had been 1, I'd currently be facing the even crueler internal debate of killing her or not. In that sense, the number of 3 is appreciable in that one can have 2 other allies. There's a ways to go in trusting people- but, as soon as the 4th person appears, someone must be cut off, it's a harsh, restrictive number.

"hmm..."

Honestly, I don't think I can get along well with Futaba-san under these complicated happenstances. Will we aim for escape together, or will we distrust and go our separate paths... No, me being a shaman, I need to bring Futaba-san to my side by any means.

No way to know what her vocation might be, but whatever it is, it'd certainly be better than acting as a lone shaman. Even if you take away the vocation, Futaba-san simply has more power than me. Her upper arm is as thick as my thigh, it's slightly tight in her sailor uniform. Extending from that pleated skirt, her thighs are each as wide as my waist. She's not only thick, but tall too. An overwhelming body difference. Minimum-class Momokawa vs. Heavy-class Futaba, I don't think it's hard to decide who to bet on.

"If it's Futaba-san, she may be able to bash in at least one of those demons.[2]"

I must get my hands on that power. If you think about Higuchi's 3 member party, the students I'd encounter from now on likely wouldn't be going solo. In fact, if I meet another 3 man team, at worst, they might actively try to kill me.

Furthermore, as a shaman who lacks any and all offensive ability, I'd hinder any party I'd have hopes of joining.

But with this Futaba-san here, her being alone, she's moreover someone I've saved. There's no greater a condition for inviting her to join me.

"Damn... that's just evil..."

Basically, I'm planning to make Futaba-san owe me. It's the best course of action. Me having a clear benefit, saving her was no longer an act of kindness.

Disgusted at my own self-centered cunning, just thinking of it, I'd hesitate in trying to draw her in, but ultimately, I'd do it. I'll paint over a filthy facade, concealing my avaricious intentions with a cool front.

haha, being all chummy without a speck of trust. I'd never party up with such scum.

"Nn... Uu nn..."

Just then, Futaba-san sluggishly stirred her body like a cow, letting out a strangely alluring voice. Her thigh-sized arm moved and her thick fingers rubbed around her eyes.

"Futaba-san... you woke up?"

Though I'd planned to forcefully drag her into my camp, I was unable to show a calm, refreshing smile, and ended up posing her that question with a strong, yet stiff feeling. Seems I haven't got an ounce of acting talent.

"Ah... Momokawa-kun"

Slowly raising her eyelids, she called my name with a similar slack.

"G-good morning"

"Yeah... good morning... good mor-eh, huh, Momokawa-kun?"

Her languished eyes shot open as she became aware of me.

"No way, Momokawa-kun, why are—"

"Stop, don't just get up yet!"

I panickedly stopped Futaba-san who had started to quickly raise herself, perhaps from the surprise of me being present. The wound on her belly hadn't completely closed off yet.

"Huh, but, I... umm..."

"It's okay, take it easy. I put some ointment on the wound on your belly, so please just rest for now-"

"Eh, my belly- Kya!"

Raising a truly feminine yelp, Futaba-san moved with unprecedented vitesse, and lowered the hem of her shirt. Seems exposing her barrel-like middle in front of a boy was quite the embarrassing situation.

"Ugh! Ouch!"

"Wha-, are you ok!? No, more importantly, the wound hasn't closed so just don't move!"

"Uu... S-sorry..."

Futaba-san apologizes teary-eyed. May be insensitive of me, but just now her expression seemed just like that of a chastised puppy, kinda cute. If that face wasn't so round, she'd be no different from a pretty girl. Her eyes were large and round, and her face itself was quite well balanced in fact.

"Is it, bleeding?"

"No... it's fine..."

For now, we had avoided the great disaster of the closed cut reopening.

"A, umm... Momokawa-kun, you saved me, right?"

Futaba-san asks with a timid feeling. Seeing the pure light in her eyes, my heart slightly jostles.

Prepare yourself, Momokawa Kotarou. This is the critical moment, you have to make her indebted to you and make her an ally, any means possible.

"Yeah, when I got here, I saw you collapsed. I quickly put on some ointment, and gave you first aid. I'm glad you're ok."

"Th-thankyou... truly, you're really the one who saved me Momokawa-kun. I thought I'd been dreaming"

Apparently, her memory of when she said "Help me" vaguely remained. Nice, with this there's no doubt that I'm the one who saved her.

"I, thought I was gonna die... So, so scared... But, I was so happy when Momokawa-kun came... So happy, you'd save someone like me again... Thankyou so much, Momokawa-kun, thankyou-u... uu..."

"Eh, please Futaba-san, don't, cry so much..."

As if overcome by the great emotion of narrowly avoiding certain death, Futaba-san started crying unabashedly, so hard that it seemed talking further was impossible.

"Uuu, Momokawa-kun, thank you... weeeh!"

"I-it's fine, no problem, you're all good now, so relax--"

With this and that, for a while I was busy consoling the crying Futaba-san.

At some point, I found myself really irking the me thinking only about cleverly making this girl my ally.

At a scene like this, it would have looked much cooler if I concentrated solely on soothing her. But these idle thoughts kept popping up one after another, and I could give her words coated in sugar on the surface only.

"Sorry, Momokawa-kun. I'm, fine now."

Nevertheless, with the solver of all things known as time, Futaba-san had come to relax. Now, it was finally time to have a real talk.

"So well, for now, can I get you to tell me how you got injured like this?"

Can't rush things. First is to collect info. I have no idea why she was collapsed like that. I should get on with the main subject after knowing what happened to cause that.

"Aa, umm, I was... err..."

I had meant to ask the obvious first question, but Futaba-san's expression began to clouden. What, was that the bad option?

Welp, gotta Quick Load and have another go now! My confused head could only output this kind of dumb thought.

"I, I was... uuu..."

As Futaba-san's tears had reinvigorated their journey to the ground, I realized my complete lack of talent in giving proper counselling.

No, don't give in. Even without talent, the conversation can't progress without knowing her circumstances first. I have to get it out of her even if she's crying.

"Calm down Futaba-san, it's alright. First, from the beginning, right, please tell me, one by one, what happened after you left the classroom."

"Uuo-okay..."

While sobbing relentlessly, Futaba-san gave me an affirmative nod. Alright, seems like she'll talk.

"No need to hurry"

"Mm, Thanks Momokawa-kun... so you know, I-"