"Hah, hah...!"
"Are you okay?! Goodness, you're drenched in sweat. Over here, over here! There's an injured person! Healer!"
I endured the mind-gnawing pain and returned to the battlefield.
Fortunately, even amidst the chaos, an unnamed superhuman noticed I wasn’t doing well and quickly arranged for me to receive healing.
They must be busy holding back that swarm of spiders.
A mix of gratitude and guilt stirred an indescribable emotion within me.
"Is this the one?"
"Yes. She looks bad. Sorry, but can you take care of her?"
"Go ahead. Be careful not to get hurt."
"Can’t promise that. Things are worse than I thought."
Every breath in and out, every movement sent a wave of pain through my side.
As I tried to steady my breathing to endure the pain, the woman who had lifted the clothes Yu Siwoo had draped over me gasped in shock.
"...Bruises? A traitor? Don’t tell me... those criminals—!"
...Traitor? Criminals?
My pain-dulled mind struggled to process what she was saying.
Ah, I see.
Spider attacks wouldn’t leave bruises.
If there were holes or open wounds, that’d be different, but bruises?
It made sense she’d assume I’d been hit by someone nearby.
"...It’s not like that."
"Tell the truth! What did those bastards—!"
"I’m telling you, it’s not. ...I found the target. A villain hiding here. That’s who did this to me."
"...!"
She looked ready to sprint over and tear someone’s hair out the second I named them, so I hastily cut in.
"Right now, Yu Siwoo is... no, he’s holding that monster off alone. Hurry up and clear this area, then call for backup..."
Yu Siwoo is holding that thing off alone.
Just saying it out loud was agony, so I bit my lip hard.
Looking down at myself, I could see my side—once an unnatural shade of blue from the bruising—slowly returning to its normal color.
Along with it, the pain gradually faded.
But even as the physical pain subsided, my chest still ached, throbbing with a different kind of pain.
"...Is he okay?"
"I don’t know. He said he’d be fine, but..."
...Pathetic.
I was pathetic for needing Yu Siwoo’s help over something like this.
To him, this kind of pain would’ve been nothing.
After all the battles we’d been through, it was humiliating that a single attack had left me needing this much care.
Hadn’t I once gone on and on about raising Yu Siwoo as a hero?
How arrogant of me.
"Don’t be so down on yourself."
"Huh?"
"Your face is full of worry. Kids like that tend to make bad decisions. Are you thinking of abandoning him?"
"...Then isn't that the case?"
"Hmm. If you think so, then I guess it is."
...That’s settled.
She nodded, seemingly satisfied, then started poking and prodding my side.
I flinched, expecting pain, and reached out to stop her—but the pain never came.
"Sometimes it’s fine to let people have their way."
"But—!"
"Hmm, this is a little awkward to say, but... aren’t you someone precious to him?"
Someone precious.
I almost nodded without thinking, but the way she said it didn’t sound so simple. I hesitated.
Was she talking about... love?
"...I don’t know."
"Oh? But what about the other side?"
"Huh?"
"He stayed behind in that dangerous place all alone just to help you, didn’t he?"
Ah.
I realized what the woman in front of me was getting at.
I’d figured it out.
"So even if you don’t feel that way, he might."
Now that I thought about it, it had always been like that.
Yu Siwoo had always been kind and considerate to me.
Even when I suddenly had a panic attack at his house, he’d protected me.
It must have been uncomfortable for him, having someone intrude on his personal space like that.
And yet, he’d still been thoughtful toward me.
Now that I thought about it, had Yu Siwoo been looking at me more often lately?
Up until now, I’d assumed it was because he was worried I might be overwhelmed by anxiety.
Of course, that was part of it... but maybe not all of it.
Did he... love me?
"Then, at the very least, shouldn’t you respond to his feelings?"
"...Yes."
"Then go quickly. You said you had to kill all those monstrous things to save him, right?"
She flashed me a smile, then turned and ran off to find another injured person.
Love.
Something I’d never considered. Or maybe... something I’d known all along but ignored.
The moment I realized it, countless memories from the past flooded back.
Yu Siwoo had spent most of his time with me.
I’d thought he was just keeping an eye on me, but maybe he’d wanted to be with me all along.
Now that I thought about it, Yu Siwoo had spent far more time with me than with Amelia or Dorothy.
I’d assumed the heroine race hadn’t started yet.
But maybe... it had already ended long ago.
"..."
I could feel my face growing hot.
How had Yu Siwoo felt about all the things I’d done up until now?
I’d only trusted him. I’d thought I wasn’t the heroine.
Maybe, in my escape from this world, Yu Siwoo had been the only one I could rely on, and that was why I’d acted the way I had.
The memories of all my past actions surged back, each one more painful than the last.
What had Yu Siwoo been thinking all this time?
I couldn’t begin to guess.
"···Ugh!"
But the embarrassment was only momentary.
Even with my face burning red, I had to move—now.
If I wanted to help Yu Siwoo, I needed to take care of those bastards as quickly as possible.
I undid the clothes Yu Siwoo had given me, then—just like in those hero movies I’d seen before—shot out a thread, attached it to a building, and swung my body forward.
Unfamiliar with the motion, I wasted most of the thread on the clothes before finally reaching the dormitory.
Desperate to change as fast as possible, I didn’t even care that I was running through the halls completely naked.
I burst into my room and hastily threw on new clothes.
"···Ah, that."
As I did, I suddenly noticed something—there were no unfamiliar objects around.
That was Yu Siwoo’s prized possession.
That was the thing I’d bought a while back, now just gathering dust.
Looking around the room Yu Siwoo and I shared, it hit me.
I’d spent most of my time in this world with him.
"···."
Watching over Yu Siwoo, walking with him, living with him.
If coming here counted as being reborn, then hadn’t I already spent more than half my life by his side?
The thought struck me out of nowhere.
After finishing changing, I was about to layer on another set of clothes for the trip when—
I felt my body trembling.
Maybe it was because I hadn’t fully recovered yet, but the idea of rushing back into battle made me hesitate without realizing it.
But instead of giving in to the shaking, I reached out and traced the bracelet.
The precious gift Yu Siwoo had given me.
"···This’ll be fine."
If things got dangerous, Yu Siwoo would come to help me.
He was always by my side, after all.
As the trembling gradually faded, I threw myself back toward the battlefield.
The cold wind cooled my heated body, but my heart still burned fiercely.
I accepted it.
There was nowhere left to retreat.
I admitted it—that the bracelet Yu Siwoo had given me brought me far more comfort than having some transcendent author clinging to my side.
···I’d fallen for Yu Siwoo.
I acknowledged that the way he felt about me and the way I felt about him weren’t so different after all.
I had no choice but to.
Maybe I’d already been in love with him long before this.
"Damn it, there’s too many!"
"It’s endless···"
"Commander! If this keeps up, the front line will collapse! We’re barely holding it together, but we’re at our limit!"
"···."
Anxiety gnawed at my lips as I bit down hard.
No matter how unruly they were, they were still my subordinates.
I’d managed to keep them alive so far, but even that was reaching its breaking point.
Was this endless tide of enemies simply too much for us to handle?
"I thought we could hold out for another three hours..."
"Are you insane?! We’ve already lasted way longer than we should have! This alone is a miracle!"
Lionel’s lightning, raging harder than ever to protect his daughter, split the sky.
The monsters crumbled along the path of that lightning—only for the gaps to fill in an instant, as if nothing had happened.
"...Hmm."
He could still fight.
He didn’t feel like he was out of stamina.
He’d thought they could last another three hours because their skills were good enough to justify that estimate.
The problem wasn’t physical strength—it was mental.
No matter how many waves they blocked, the endless tide kept surging forward, and doubts had begun to creep into their minds.
Could they really hold the line?
Could they actually survive this?
None of them showed it. They knew their duty, and they’d all accepted the possibility of dying here.
But no matter how hard they tried to ignore it, their morale was slipping.
Retreat was the right call.
Abandon this position, regroup a little farther back, then launch another assault.
Their numbers had thinned.
If they reorganized five more times, they could finish this.
...But the words wouldn’t come out.
Because to retreat, they’d need to leave behind a force to buy time.
A force to hold this line and delay the enemy.
And holding this line was the same as a death sentence.
But the commander forced his stubborn mouth open.
It was his duty.
For the many, he had to sacrifice the few.
"No choice... Retreat—"
-Slicing-
Just as he steeled himself to give the order,
the countless spiders at the front lines began to fall, severed all at once.
"W-What the—?!"
"...An opening."
A girl descended from the sky, suspended by a single thread.
Everyone stared, bewildered, unable to grasp the situation—but the commander understood everything in an instant.
That was his Ability.
...To resolve this crisis, he needed to wrap things up here as quickly as possible.
Reinforcements were on the way.
The commander made his decision swiftly.
They had to end this here.
"Reinforcements are coming! A specialized unit for mass slaughter! Hold on just a little longer!"
"WAAAAAAAAH!"
Perhaps it was the sight of the spiders being sliced apart in the blink of an eye.
Hope flared back to life in their hearts.