CH 4

After that event, I went straight back home while still covered in blood and could only apologize for it. Another reason to apologize was that I don’t know what words I could use to explain what happened. All I could say was War Wolf.

My father, Enbray-san, went out into the village to ask if they could give supplementary explanation to what I did, but he returned clutching his head without any information to add.

Since even after all that he didn’t find any information, he was certain that they won’t be getting any information regarding that and gave up. Well I also didn’t say anything after all. Even if they asked me I won’t go upfront and say that 『I want to go out and fight monsters』 to them, after all they will definitely get angry.

◇――――――――――――――――

Later, on a warm afternoon, when I was flopped down on a desk looking at the nothingness, I saw a black haired girl standing beside the door.

「Who?」

I have never seen any black haired girl around here, so I was surprised to look up and suddenly see a black haired girl. Her age was around 10 years old. She was quite small and cute, with golden eyes and a cute yet mysterious face. She was wearing a black long dress that was open on her back.

The black one piece didn’t seem to be a very good match with such a cute little girl. It somehow resembles someone, or more like it gives me a feeling that I’ve seen her somewhere.

When the girl got close to me and touched my cheeks, she lifted the edges of her mouth and then she disappeared.

「……Could it be, a ghost」

I got up from my desk and escaped to the living room while paying attention to the room. But then, I also noticed that my throat was quite dry.

「Was that just a hallucination?」

I wonder if that little girl was just a hallucination of mine. In any case, I went straight to the kitchen to moisten my throat. I took a ladle, but inside the water jar I could see the image of a little girl in the pool of water.

「Uwaah!?」

When I saw the reflection on the water surface, I was so shocked that I accidentally dropped the ladle inside the jar . With long black hair that goes all the way to the back tied in a ponytail along with a white ribbon, red eyes and a pretty cute face.

I was quite surprised, then I remember the face of that person.

「That person a little while ago…」

I was wondering if that was what they would call a doppelganger.

Well, since this is a fantasy world then there might be ghost type monsters that are like that. In my previous life if you met someone who looks exactly the same as you, it would be a sign of disaster, but I wonder what it’s like in this world.

「I should probably be more careful」

I wonder if the trigger was me defeating all those warwolves.

If it suddenly attacks, it would be an opponent highly incompatible with me, because it can easily disappear. Not to mention, I am really scared of ghosts.

I focused for a while to pick up any strange noises in the surroundings, but I did not find any suspicious sounds. I was wondering if that was in reality just a hallucination.

I peeked into the living room once more to check the room and the door. And as expected, there wasn’t anything there beside an open door. I breathed out a sigh of relief and then returned back into the living room.

◇――――――――――――――――

But then again, the doppelganger showed itself once more seven days after that.

「Wah」

「What’s wrong Toto?」

「Mom, you didn’t see that?」

「…what, is there something wrong with the insects?」

「No, it’s nothing」

At first I would always be in a battle stance, but after a few times of appearing and disappearing I couldn’t feel any hostility from it. It was also not visible to anyone other than myself, and it didn’t really bother me that much.

I wonder if it was trying to talk to me, I noticed her mouth moving every time I see her. There are times when my vision doesn’t agree with other senses, and it is such a mysterious feeling.

◇――――――――――――――――

Well, the story goes back a bit. When I was around seven years old, Rikka-chan’s condition started turning for the worst.

In the past I used to play with her for 2 out of 3 days, then it turned in only a full day each five days. Then, it went from playing to just being together with her.

「Is there no healing magic?」

Even if I couldn’t really accept that Rikka-chan’s condition was getting worse day by day, I still continued visiting her.

「The doctor said that it was an inborn disease so no recovery magic would affect this condition, since it was acquired from birth」

「It’s something like that huh…」

No, that was not something I wanted to say to Rikka-chan. I felt sorry because I couldn’t really say anything and I just stayed silent.

But Rikka-chan didn’t mind it and only showed me a smile. She knew how I was so frustrated that I couldn’t do anything regarding this. What a strong will for a child.

◇――――――――――――――――

The story returns to the present. Rikka-chan is now at a state where she can’t even get out of her bed. I want to see her but I just don’t know what I would talk to her, I also haven’t visited her for quite some time now.

「…What should I do…」

Only feelings of frustration where spinning inside me. Even if time goes on, the chances of her being cured still remained zero. It was even doubtful if she could last a year in this condition.

「Something, isn’t there something?」

Yes, I need to do something, so that I may change this.

But since I know nothing about medicine, I don’t have any way to identify her illness, and even if I did, I don’t even know how to use recovery magic, let alone any other spells that would be able to help her.

Well, not even able read characters, magic would be almost impossible to use. It took too long for even a skilled doctor to find ways to cure her. She has been like that for the past year now.

「You don’t want to lose her?」

「Eh?」

「If so, then give her a kiss」

Suddenly hearing a whispering voice in my ears, I noticed that the doppelganger was standing beside me.

I was wondering if the voice I heard was from her, because before now, I could only see her mumbling yet her voice could not reach me.

「Wait, what are y—」

When I was about to reply to her, the doppelganger wasn’t there anymore.

Kiss? You mean that Kiss? Is that what you are saying that I should do?

『If you don’t really want to lose her, give her a Kiss!』

The doppelganger’s voice echoed back in my head.

Don’t lose her, and a kiss is given = Curing Rikka-chan’s disease? Where?

No way, I don’t get it at all, really.

But I certainly heard that voice. The Doppelganger was also present, so it wasn’t just an auditory hallucination.

「Kiss………」

I wanted to ask why, but that doppelganger might not appear anymore since it usually appears every seven days, and even if she did appear, it might be impossible to try talking to her.

More like even if she opened her mouth, her voice doesn’t come out. Why I was able to hear her voice at that time is a mystery.

「Still, I’m thinking, what if that is true?」

I’m also somehow thinking that this might be some kind of trap. The timing was just simply too convenient.

However, if Rikka-chan’s disease is infectious, it’s not like it would become really effective on me. From the rate of progress of Rikka-chan’s disease, it would take a long time for that to propagate, even if I did get infected.

「Might be a prank」

I think that the possibility is quite high, thinking about that Doppelganger. She definitely looks like a mischievous person. I have seen her for quite some time now. She has appeared around 16 times now and it started around four months ago.

「I wonder if it’s really true though?」

Thinking about it again, it’s kind of fishy. You know, it’s that after all. A kiss to heal an incurable disease, wouldn’t that be a plot of some fantasy story for a prince to do…?

「Eh. Seriously?」

I’m scared because, considering that this world seems to be a fantasy type, the possibility is there, right? Is what I would like to say.

「Am I, supposed to be like a prince, is that it?」

Well, thinking about Rikka-chan as a princess, she is cute, clever and has a strong will. On the other hand, the image of a prince would be a gallant warrior capable of defeating dragons, which is so cheat like.

But we were only female friends… I am certain that there were 《Such works》 like that, easy to find in my previous life.

However, there’s no other way for me to help Rikka-chan, other than this. But I could also feel like I’m barely trudging the edge of my sanity.

「Let’s just do this!!」

I made a fist pump to get myself fired up and decided to do it.

[ED: I don’t see any problem there, maybe the gender, but that is not a minus, but a plus.]