Rehabilitation Therapist for the Broken Warrior – Chapter 103

“Hey, Hop.”

Ever since I revealed to Zion that I’m a Time Aptitude Holder, he’s always come to me with a smile.

Moreover, the frequency of our conversations has been increasing.

Before, he would only speak to me when he needed help, without a single expression. Now it’s a different story.

Is talking to me fun for him?

“Is there anything you want me to do?”

“Nope.”

With that swift rejection, Zion’s smile vanished in an instant, and he puffed out his cheeks, showing a displeased expression.

“Are you not thinking hard enough?”

“Well, you can’t do anything anyway.”

“That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?”

“But it’s the truth.”

“Ugh…”

Suddenly, Zion started to squirm on the bed.

What is he doing? It looked like he was trying to lift his own body by supporting himself on his arms and dragging his butt up toward the head of the bed.

“Do you want help getting up?”

“No, thanks!”

Despite refusing help, he struggled for quite a while to get himself moving.

“Ughhhhh…!”

He finally managed to sit up against the bedrest.

“Ha, even though it’s tough to face you like this, there has to be something I can do.”

“What is that anyway?”

“Think it over… Is there anything you want me to do?”

In terms of wanting something, naturally, I don’t expect anything from Zion.

But why is he suddenly so curious about this?

I’m not completely in the dark, but…

“Zion.”

“Huh? Have you finally thought of something?”

“Not really, I just wanted to ask you something.”

“Sure. Ask me anything.”

Is he happy that I’ve asked something?

He looked delighted, and his face lit up just from me saying I had a question.

“Is the reason you suddenly want to be nice to me because you want to protect this world?”

“……”

But Zion’s cheerful expression didn’t last long.

His face quickly hardened into a bitter look.

“Of course, you can only think like that, right?”

“Are you saying you want to deny that idea?”

That’s a given.

Zion’s care for me ultimately revolves around wanting to protect the world as it is.

It’s hard to believe there’s any other reason.

“I honestly don’t know.”

“You don’t know…”

“Of course, I want to protect this world. I’m a hero of this world. After going through so much to defeat the Demon King and ending the war, I don’t want to make it all seem like a waste. Even though I’ve fallen apart like this, on the flip side, it means I managed to stop it before completely falling apart.”

“So you’re trying to keep me bound to this world for that reason.”

“I certainly thought that at first, but… I’m starting to lose track of it.”

“Lose track of it? What do you mean?”

Zion lowered his head for a moment, smiling.

“Well, at first, I thought it was for the world’s sake… But then I started to think that living for you isn’t so bad either.”

“…What?”

Zion seemed embarrassed, fidgeting with his fingers on his thighs and turning his head away to avoid my gaze.

“It’s my first time—living for someone else. I’ve only thought about living as a hero my whole life, and after defeating the Demon King, I didn’t do anything… But since the day I said I’d live for you, I’ve been feeling all these new and unfamiliar feelings.”

Though his body seemed to shrink, Zion’s face was shining bright.

Hearing him say that brought up a mix of strange feelings within me too after a long time, but what exactly is Zion feeling right now, to be acting like that?

“When I wake up in the morning, I think of Hop first. What does Hop like? What kind of face would make him happy? What should I tell him to make him glad? It’s all I think about, and it’s so fun and exciting that I don’t know what to do. I keep wondering if it’s okay for me to feel this way…”

What is Zion even saying right now?

He’s twisting and feeling shy while saying those things.

His attitude and words make it feel like…

“Do you perhaps… like me?”

“Huh?”

Zion’s response was akin to someone who just fell head over heels in love.

When I asked if he likes me, his eyes widened in surprise, and he exclaimed:

“Do I… like you?”

His face turned bright red, and he waved his hands in denial.

“That can’t possibly be true!”

For me, Zion suddenly showing such an active attitude seems like he wants to keep me tied to this world.

But that reaction just now? That was absolutely genuine, not an act.

Zion isn’t the kind of person who could fake such feelings.

Even for the sake of the world, since he is a hero, he can only tread lightly on such matters.

If Zion was capable of deceiving me, he could have just slain me already.

Am I seriously losing my mind because of my broken body?

Well, looking after Zion while he does nothing without thought is a significant improvement.

“Whatever, forget it. It doesn’t matter to me anyway.”

“Not that again…”

Zion sulked at my dismissal.

“Well, what can I do? It’s a life filled with no meaning as long as I’m alive.”

“…I see.”

Zion lowered his head in thought, then cautiously looked my way and asked,

“If I say that makes me sad, will you get angry, Hop?”

“Why do you think I’d get angry?”

“Because you might think it’s just pity.”

Now that I think about it, I did ask if he was staying just because he felt sorry for himself.

Is that usually how people think?

But my answer, of course, is,

“I don’t think so. It doesn’t matter to me anyway.”

It doesn’t matter. This was the only emotion I had towards others.

“Hop, you really are consistent.”

Zion once more lowered his head with a sad expression.

“You too, Zion.”

“Really?”

“You always just think about what a hero should do. Even thinking about me all day is ultimately just that. You’re just glad to have new responsibilities keeping this world safe.”

“……”

Zion’s eyelids grew heavy, and he couldn’t muster the courage to meet my gaze.

Did I say something harsh?

Honestly, I was the most surprised by my own words just now.

I might think that all worldly matters have nothing to do with me, but that doesn’t mean I’d toss out empty words irresponsibly.

It’s because I truly don’t care, which is why I’ve always refrained from saying anything and didn’t interfere with others’ actions.

Zion still remained silent.

He seemed to be lost in thought.

But ultimately, that too is unrelated to me.

I simply sat there, doing nothing as usual, watching over Zion.

***

“Hey, Hop.”

“I’m right here.”

“Will you carry me? I want to go somewhere.”

Even after those serious talks with Zion, not long after, he was back to smiling and clinging to me with all sorts of requests.

He insisted that if we eat something delicious, our spirits would lift, demanding we go out to eat.

Or he suggested that if we watch something fun, we’d feel good about it, proposing we go to a show or sports game.

He even nagged me to share memorable stories from all my lifetimes.

He also asked me for materials so he could make me a present, saying he wanted to learn knitting.

He urged me to play one-on-one card games or string games, so basically, Zion, even with his immobile body, was busy enjoying various experiences and spending time with me under the banner of ‘doing things for me’.

“Royal straight flush.”

“This makes no sense.”

Today, we were playing plain old poker.

Zion was always incredibly lucky, so whenever it came to a game based on chance, I was helpless against him.

“Hehe, do you feel the strength of someone loved by the world?”

“Let’s do something else.”

“Well, it is kind of one-sided, so it can get boring, right?”

Is this really fun for Zion?

The longer I spent time with him, the brighter Zion seemed to get.

And the more I saw him enjoying himself with me, the more complicated my feelings became.

Even if Zion continually tries to prevent changes to this world, as long as I choose not to seek death, change will occur, and all of this will be rendered as if it never happened.

Also, as long as I can mold this world’s fate, I cannot fully embrace the kindness Zion shows me.

In the end, Zion is just doing things for the sake of the world.

And for me, spending time with Zion was simply a matter of accumulating memories.

My feelings for Zion growing complicated and my emotions regarding these memories I’d eventually lose are also outside of my concerns.

The reason is that when it comes to using the cost of time magic to pay for memories, the more precious those memories are, the higher their value.

If I, who have begun to feel that everything is unrelated to me, can no longer feel anything at all within those memories, then my lifespan will end at that point.

So, it’s not a bad idea to pile up valuable memories through Zion, who shows me a dedicated attitude.

In the end, both Zion and I are merely together for our own purposes.

Zion was reshuffling the cards, beaming as he contemplated what game to play next.

It has already been nearly five years since the war ended, and I’ve been spending time with the broken Zion.

How long will this relationship last?

That too was ultimately unrelated to me, but…

“?!”

Suddenly, Zion’s eyes widened and became rigid.

The smile had vanished from her face.

“No, no. It can’t be…”

“Zion?”

Zion suddenly began to crouch down, covering her face with her hands, repeatedly muttering that it isn’t true as she trembled.

What is going on? Did some trauma suddenly resurface?

“Are you okay? What’s the matter?”

“Hop. Outside the window… Is that something I imagined? Please tell me it’s nothing… There’s no way there would be something like that outside the window…!”

Outside? Did she see something from the window behind me?

Clutching her head and trembling violently, she barely raised her shaking hand to point outside.

In the direction she pointed…

“……!”

It appeared as if the sky had split open, where an endlessly towering black pillar rose high into the air.

A symbol of despair that had been visible whenever we looked north during the long war.

A passage leading to another world.

Before I knew it, a Gate was once again open in the high northern sky.