NOVEL NEXT “Sis, make sure to eat well while I’m gone!”
“I will. Take care of yourself, and have a good trip.”
Three days after my outing with Plona, I saw her off at the orphanage.
She was usually too busy to come by except on weekends, so I was surprised to see her during the day on a weekday. Turns out, she has a long business trip right away.
I heard there’s still something left to investigate at the place we went to.
Honestly, it’s not like I could help anyway, so all I could do was wish her a safe journey while thinking, “Oh well.”
She needs to come back safely.
Here, turning seventeen means legally being an adult, but seeing her act like a child while having to wield a sword makes me a little uneasy.
Of course, I know she’s strong despite how she looks, but worrying is unavoidable.
I waved goodbye until Plona was completely out of sight.
“By the way, it’s a new feeling to be told by someone younger than me to eat well.”
Sure, Plona’s age is technically compressed from real life, and I’ve only had a life spent in a sickbed, so it’s hard to argue about my ability to survive with her concerned gaze.
But hey, I’ve evolved a lot too! My cooking now perfectly balances the stew!
And the stew doesn’t make that food waste sound anymore!
As I defended myself against my atrocious cooking skills, I felt a bit glum, so I started scrubbing the windows.
I hadn’t cleaned them properly for about two weeks, and dust came off in chunks.
So, was Plona right that eating well keeps you healthy? Ever since that dinner, I felt dramatically better even though I was weak for a while.
The steak was great, and Plona was like a goddess.
With a healthy body comes a healthy mind; as my physical condition improved, unnecessary worries and anxieties faded, making daily life enjoyable again. Today, in that spirit, I would do a thorough cleaning.
I made the window frames shine, and soon it was time to prepare dinner.
Taking this lesson to heart, I planned to start eating balanced meals properly from now on.
When I eat stew now, I’ll make sure to add some meat too!
Though honestly, I want to tell the kids to have as much food as they can, I realized that if I’m sick and can’t work properly, that would just be a bigger nuisance.
And above all, I don’t want to be sick anymore.
When I think about it, getting a new body and life feels surreal and a bit uplifting, but I wonder if I’ve treated my body too roughly up until now.
From now on, I’ll take care of my health and strive for a long, happy life.
*
How did it come to this?
In the backyard, holding a broom with trembling hands, I sat down, reflecting on the past week.
I’ve eaten well, worked just enough without overdoing it, and slept fine.
There shouldn’t have been any aspects of my routine that could harm my health.
At least, that’s what I thought. So why does my body feel like this just a week after Plona left?
When I sit still, my hands and feet tremor, and I can’t seem to summon strength.
My concentration drops, and I tire easily with even slight movements.
I force myself to eat, but I still have no appetite.
My body’s condition seems to have returned to how it was about ten days ago. No, it feels worse today.
Am I really sick?
It’s terrifying.
Having died once, I vividly remember that fear and despair, and the thought of going through it again terrifies me.
What’s most frustrating and scary is that I know something must be wrong, but I can’t pinpoint where or what it is.
If I went to the temple and met a healer, I could find out if I’m sick, but without medical insurance in this world, it’s far too expensive for a poor person like me to even dream of affording treatment.
That’s why I haven’t visited the temple until now.
Working odd jobs at the orphanage and just getting my first paycheck, where would I get that kind of money?
Of course, if I asked Plona, who’s also part of the Luminous Church, there might’ve been a way to sort it out.
But I didn’t want to owe too much to that kind-hearted girl who really goes out of her way for me. The more precious the relationship, the less one side should rely solely on the other.
Though I know it’s shameless, I feel like I might actually need to ask Plona for help now.
Especially since I got to eat that expensive meal. But it’s better than ignoring whatever sickness it is and letting it turn into something serious again.
Then, tomorrow I’ll… oh, right, Plona’s on a trip. She said it would take some time to return.
If I’d known this, I should have mentioned it sooner.
I’ll just have to hang on until Plona gets back, and if my condition doesn’t improve by then, I’ll ask her to take me to see a healer, and if the treatment costs too much, I can pay her back by earning it.
“Ugh.”
As I got up and stretched my back, a groan slipped out.
I want to rest a bit more, but if I don’t head back soon, they’ll start to worry.
Since my last outing, I pretended to be fine to avoid worrying the Director or the kids, but I can’t throw that all away now.
Putting the broom back in its place and stepping into the building, a delicious smell hit my nose from the hallway.
What’s this? Suddenly, my appetite surged.
Is the Director preparing something special for dinner tonight?
Besides that steak Plona bought, I’d usually had little appetite. I ate just thinking about providing my body with nutrients.
But the tempting aroma wafting through the orphanage now was even more enticing than that steak.
There’s no way they could have prepared such an expensive dish given the orphanage’s situation.
So, could it be that I’ve discovered a dish I didn’t even know I liked? Well, given that my body has changed, it’s only natural that my tastes would too.
With excited anticipation, I followed the source of the aroma.
I could hear the children bustling around, possibly gathering to watch.
As I swung the door open, I turned to see what delicious dish was wafting that fantastic smell. What I saw was not food.
It was Jack, the troublemaker, clutching his bloody knee and crying.
Looks tasty.
I licked my lips, imagining how good that delicious liquid could taste, and thought about biting into that soft, warm neck.
“—Jack was playing in the yard… sis! Sis?”
The sudden change in her tone snapped me back to reality.
The girl explaining Jack’s injury stopped speaking and looked up at me with a worried expression.
Drip.
A drop of clear liquid fell to the floor.
Realizing it was drool slipping from my mouth, I quickly closed it.
What kind of expression am I making right now?
If I was maintaining the usual smile I gave to the children, they wouldn’t be looking at me like that.
I need to come up with an excuse or something.
Swallowing the excess saliva pooling in my mouth, I opened it.
“…I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m feeling a little sick.”
At least I managed to show some kind of concern, so I think my expression management is still in check.
Calm down. Just calm down.
Don’t look! You can’t look at me!
If you keep staring, I’ll definitely raise suspicions again. It looks good, but hold back!
“Rinse your wound with running water and apply some medicine. I’ll go find some.”
Normally, I would’ve applied it myself, but I couldn’t bring myself to say that.
I didn’t have the courage to endure it till then.
Not even thinking to tell the Director, I made up an excuse and slipped away from there.
I fled from the tantalizing sweet aroma and ran out of the room.
I belatedly realized that I was not in a dining room or kitchen.
There was never any delicious food in the first place.
Panicking, I hurried to find the medicine and dashed outside.
I ran.
Without thinking, I sprinted toward a place where I suspected there would be no people.
Heading toward the opposite direction from the street where I usually go shopping. Into the forest behind the orphanage, somewhere I’d never been.
I ran until I could barely breathe, and only when I stumped my foot and tripped did I finally stop.
“Ow…”
I fell, scraping and bruising myself, hurting all over.
My knee was scraped, and my elbows felt sore, but for some reason, what hurt the most was my heart, which should theoretically be unscathed.
It hurt so badly that I wished I could soothe it a little, so I put my hand over my chest, but the pain didn’t touch my fingers.
“It hurts… so much, so much…”
It would have been better if I were sick.
It would have been better if my body was the one hurting.
I just wished to never be in pain again, to heal from my illness.
I never thought I would come to prefer being physically sick.
Having lived as a human all my life, I had never faced a situation more bewildering and desperate than a physical ailment, and I never imagined I would experience such feelings.
Thinking back, there were some odd points.
The only dish I found tasty was the steak that Plona bought me.
In a culinary level far behind the 21st century, and even coming from a supposedly high-end restaurant in this rural town, why did I enjoy eating that practically raw piece of meat that still reeked of blood?
And yet, I’d claimed that I preferred my meat well-done?
Moreover, since I started feeling sick, my symptoms had only worsened, except for that brief period after eating the steak. After a few days, I began to feel worse again.
Yeah, I could deny it to a degree, perhaps.
But just moments ago, looking at Jack’s dripping human blood, I felt an insatiable hunger and thirst like never before in both my past and present life. That was something I could not deny.
I wasn’t sick all along. I didn’t catch a disease.
Of course my condition would be awful if I hadn’t eaten in a month. The few drops of animal blood I consumed from that steak probably gave me just enough energy to feel decent for a short time.
I also noticed how my night vision was oddly sharp.
Though maybe not to Plona’s insane level, I had quite a bit of strength compared to my delicate appearance.
I happened to recall having heard about beings that shared these traits.
Vampire.
Monsters that walk in the night, shunning the sun.
The natural enemy of humans, appearing human yet drinking human blood.
For some reason, I could walk under the sun just fine and had no adverse reactions to silver, but I seem to tick all the other boxes of being a vampire.
Ah, seriously.
What on earth is happening to me?
I was just thankful for this second chance at life.
I could tolerate a gender difference.
I was okay with starting my life from the bottom with nothing.
But now…
But why…
I just wanted to enjoy a normal, simple life, like everyone else, and live it out fully.
But it seems like the heavens have no intention of granting my wish.
Earning a second life after dying once isn’t something you can just demand and receive.
By claiming a second life, I paid the price of becoming a being that has the heart and memories of a human, yet is the natural enemy of humans.