"Twiggy, you're awake." Anby watched nervously as Twiggy slowly opened her eyes, and seeing that she was safe and sound, the worry that had been hanging over her finally settled.
"Anby... where is this..."
"This is the infirmary of Anti-Air Section Six, Miss Twiggy."
Hoshimi Miyabi looked at Twiggy—no abnormalities whatsoever, emotionally stable, mentally sound, no symptoms of Ether Corruption, completely and utterly an ordinary person—and she too quietly let out a breath of relief.
It was the first time she had seen such a technique with her own eyes.
"Twiggy, you've only just woken—rest properly for now. Leave the detailed explanations to me."
Yanagi Tsukishiro took on the task of explaining, and proceeded to recount to her everything that had happened during the time she'd been unconscious.
"So that's how it was. I'm sorry—I made you all worry."
As Twiggy spoke, she tried to sit up, only to be stopped by Yanagi Tsukishiro and Anby.
"Didn't I just say it? You need to rest properly. You still can't move around carelessly."
Although she had escaped the crisis of transforming into an Ethereal, the strength she had lost would not return all at once.
Twiggy had no choice but to heed the two of them, and obediently lay back down.
After seeing Twiggy lie down obediently, Hoshimi Miyabi thought it over and still rose to her feet, bowing deeply toward Twiggy.
"Section Chief Hoshimi, what is the meaning of this?"
"Miss Twiggy, I am apologizing to you for my earlier reckless conduct."
She was referring to the matter of having tried, back in the Hollow, to kill Twiggy when she was being corroded by Ether.
Although she did not feel her judgment at the time had been mistaken, judging by the outcome she had indeed acted too rashly.
"...In truth, I made a wrong judgment as well. I'm sorry, Twiggy."
Seeing Hoshimi Miyabi acknowledge her own mistake in such a humble posture, Yanagi Tsukishiro could not help but step forward as well.
And as Twiggy watched the two of them in this state, although she did not feel there was anything to it, the faint sliver of resentment in her heart dissolved away because of it.
"No, this isn't your fault. After all, in that kind of situation anyone would have made the same choice as you two. If anything—if I truly had had no room for a solution, then killing me would have been the best release for me."
Twiggy soothed the two of them, and everything she said came straight from the heart.
After all, when it came to successfully turning a human back from the Ethereal state, she was the very first instance.
Grace's case didn't count—the core of an Ethereal had not fully formed, and her body had not undergone any Etherealization either.
Whereas in her own case, according to Yanagi Tsukishiro, not only had the core fully generated, but even the other parts of her body had already begun a slow Etherealization.
Had she not known she had a means to resolve it, she too would have taken the same action as them.
'This matter has surely already reached the ears of those two old fellows by now...'
Just as Twiggy surmised, at this very moment, in the mayor's office of New Eridu, Mayflower gazed at the report before him, his expression placid, betraying neither joy nor sorrow.
"Is the intelligence accurate?"
Standing before Mayflower, Lycaon nodded.
Receiving the affirmative reply, Mayflower set the document down and lightly pressed the Jingming acupoint at the inner corner of his eye with thumb and forefinger, as if pondering the implications behind this matter.
"Speaking of which—what about Geno?"
"Mr. Geno was gravely wounded in the battle with the Beast-Demon, and is now together with Miss Twiggy, undergoing treatment at the medical facility of Anti-Air Section Six."
"Hoshimi Miyabi, then—is there anything unusual about her?"
"There is not, Lord Mayor."
"Hmm..."
After brooding for a moment, Mayflower at last seemed to figure something out, then waved his hand, having Lycaon continue the surveillance, while he himself dialed a special number.
"Hello? You have business with me?"
"Mm. I was thinking I'd introduce you to someone—a... rather special person."
Back over at Section Six, having come to understand the present situation, Twiggy began searching for Geno's figure.
She soon found the man she had been longing for on the bed next door.
"Geno, are you all right?"
"Mm."
Geno turned onto his side, his back to Twiggy. Utterly unlike his usual grinning, cheeky, smart-alecky self, he answered Twiggy's greeting with nothing but a lukewarm grunt.
"Are you angry?"
"I'm not."
Even though several people were lying between the two beds, Twiggy and Geno paid them no mind at all; the others exchanged a glance and silently gave up their spots, granting them a little private space.
"Still saying you're not angry—you won't even spare me a single glance right now."
Twiggy gave a somewhat feeble smile; the way Geno was acting now was just like a little kid.
"I told you I'm not."
So Geno said, yet he steadfastly refused to turn his head and look at Twiggy even once.
And just as he was stubbornly determined to carry the cold war with Twiggy through to the end, a pair of slightly cool little hands wrapped around his waist.
"I'm sorry. I made you worry."
Twiggy softly poured out her apology beside Geno's ear.
She knew her own behavior had been terribly reckless—you could even say it was utterly courting death.
But she truly did not want to keep being a vase that, in the face of danger, could only hide behind Geno and seek shelter.
Feeling the softness behind him, Geno's once stiff, cold heart began to melt as well.
"I... mm?"
Turning around, Geno had just been about to say something when a familiar fragrance stopped up his mouth, and the words he'd meant to say were swallowed right back down into his belly.
"Mm~ mm~~ mn~"
The sweetness lasted a full minute, and afterward the two of them just gazed into each other's eyes like that, each seeing their own reflection in the other's eyes—and Geno only found himself a little ridiculous.
'I really am acting like a little kid.'
The moment there's a quarrel, only ever throwing a cold face instead of thinking about how to solve the problem—isn't that exactly like a little kid?
At this thought, Geno sat up and helped Twiggy up as well.
"Twiggy, I don't want you to come to harm—but no matter what it is you want to do, I'm willing to support you."
Geno's tone was solemn and sincere; hearing it, Twiggy smiled too, and pecked him once more on the lips.
"Mm, thank you. And I want to promise you too—I'll never again do anything so rash. I'll care about your feelings, and I absolutely won't make you worry anymore."
As she spoke, Twiggy's eyes flickered, and then she leaned in close to Geno's ear and murmured softly.
"And of course—about you taking a concubine, I'll absolutely support that too~"
"Sweetheart~ chu~"
The tender, lingering whispers drifted into his ear, and Geno felt as though he'd been stung by something.
Tingly and numb, his whole body like melting ice cream, without an ounce of strength.
Looking at Twiggy before him, who had just finished speaking and then gone red in the face herself, Geno felt that the part of him that was like a popsicle had stiffened up firm again.
____
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