Prologue Ep-8

 When I woke up, I was in a hospital room.

Déjà vu.

What was slightly different this time was that Hime-chan was sitting right beside me, firmly grasping my hand and staring straight at my face.

“Hime… chan…?”

“Matsuri-chan, you’re awake!? Please wait just a moment!”

With quick, practiced movements, Hime-chan pressed the nurse call button. Before long, a doctor and a nurse arrived and began asking me various questions.

Apparently, Mom had gone home to fetch a change of clothes for me, and after receiving the call from the hospital, she was on her way here as fast as she could.

Once the routine examination and explanations were finished, only Hime-chan and I were left in the hospital room.

It seemed that two days had passed since I collapsed. During that entire time, Hime-chan had been here from morning until visiting hours ended in the evening.

Still holding my hand.

Hearing that made me worry that I might have caused Hime-chan unnecessary trauma, but since she herself said, “It’s okay,” I had no choice but to believe her.

Then, suddenly, I realized something. Wait. Wasn’t the day Kagami-kun was supposed to make his tentative proposal to Hime-chan yesterday, according to the timeline?

If she had been here from morning to evening the whole time, then…?

“Eh, Hime-chan, what about Shin-kun’s move…?”

“That’s less important than Matsuri-chan. I thought you were going to die, you know?”

Even now, Hime-chan was still gripping my hand tightly.

“Eh, but we went through all the trouble of collecting acorns…”

“Be quiet now.”

“Yes.”

After that, we stayed still for a while, listening to the voices and footsteps that drifted in from outside the hospital room. With nothing to do, every minute and second felt unbearably slow.

“Um, Hime-chan, you can let go of my hand now…”

“No.”

She was surprisingly stubborn. Where had the usually obedient, well-behaved girl gone?

“Matsuri-chan, when we met the moms in the park, you lost consciousness.”

“Hm? Yeah, I heard. And I remember a little from that time too.”

“The hand that was connected to mine… it lost its strength too.”

Hime-chan said this very quietly, staring at our joined hands. Was the person sitting in front of me really a six-year-old girl?

“I thought you had died.”

“…”

“I thought Matsuri-chan had died because of me. Because of me. Because of me. Because of my…”

“Hime-chan…”

“So, I decided.”

“Huh?”

“I’m going to become a more dependable person. A strong adult. Someone who can protect Matsuri-chan.”

Hime-chan’s eyes were serious. It was hard to believe this was the same girl who had been calling me her prince until recently.

“So I asked Papa and Mama what I should do to become a strong adult. To be able to protect Matsuri-chan.”

What exactly did you ask your parents?

In the first place, the reason we almost got lost in the park was because I had suggested searching for a present for Shin-kun.

At worst, it could have led to them saying, “You’re not allowed to play with that girl anymore.” The blood drained from my face.

“Um… what did Papa and Mama say?”

“They said that experiencing lots of different things is important.”

“Eh? Hime-chan’s Papa and Mama aren’t angry at me?”

“Why would they be angry? Matsuri-chan got hurt because of me. Papa was saying to Matsuri-chan’s Papa, ‘I’ll commit seppuku to atone!’ It was a huge scene.”

Seppuku…

If I remember correctly, according to the official setting, Hime-chan’s father is a police officer. She probably explained to the adults that it was all her fault, and that must have made her father feel deeply responsible.

This is serious.

“…Um, what did my dad and mom say?”

“Um… they said that if Matsuri-chan is left alone, she might really die, so they want me to stay with her and stop her.”

Ah, my parents really understand me.

But somehow, I, who was supposed to be the caretaker, had ended up being the one taken care of instead.

“Matsuri-chan, I’ll always stay by your side. I’ll protect you.”

“Eh, but…”

“Matsuri-chan, you’re starting lessons, right? Swimming, math tutoring, and English tutoring.”

“Th-that many?”

I had said I wanted to take lessons, but I had not decided on anything specific yet. I had just conveyed my enthusiasm to my parents, and we were supposed to discuss the details later, but given my current situation…

“Everyone already decided. We’ll become elementary school students soon, so we won’t have as much time to play, but we can still be together. Ah, Matsuri-chan’s Mama said judo too, since it’s better to be able to break your falls.”

My face twitched at Hime-chan’s words, “I’ll take them with you.”

I had never heard of a heroine taking this many lessons. But if we did this, we might be able to raise her stats significantly by the time she entered high school.

“…Alright. Let’s work hard together.”

That way, we would raise her stats, and once high school began, she would capture the targets one after another.

“Yeah! We’ll be together forever! Even when we’re grandmas. Promise.”

As she said that, Hime-chan held out her pinky.

“Y-Yeah.”

Hesitantly, I hooked my pinky around hers.

--Pinky swear.

And so, without knowing whether our understandings truly aligned or not, we made a pinky promise. Time passed like that, and before we knew it, the two of us had become high school students.

At last, we had reached the age at which the game begins.

(Prologue end)