CH 6

(Third person POV)

The Japoterasu Divine Sanatorium.

It is a hospital established and operated by the Gods of Japoterasu and humans through the combination of their knowledge and technology, and its medical treatment is said to be capable of treating people provided that they are not dead, or even if they are dead, can be treated as long as their body is intact.

However, access to this technology is restricted to a very small minority of people, and the majority of it is kept confidential due to the highly advanced technology as well as demands from the higher-ups for special treatment.

“Are you certain?”

“Yes. Although the god’s rank isn’t that high and they don’t seem to belong to Japoterasu, there is no doubt about it.”

And in a room at Japoterasu Divine Sanatorium, several human doctors in white coats… working at the Divine Sanatorium are discussing with materials in their hands, racking their brains.

“You mean putting a whole god in one person…?”

“It’s hard to swallow. You could say that it is an impossibility.”

“If the compatibility of the two is excellent… no, that would still be a challenge.”

“But it is a fact. As long as it’s a fact, we have to acknowledge it.”

“Besides, they’re still alive with those wounds. Perhaps this isn’t so unreasonable.”

“It was one step away from the heart, wasn’t it? It was a wound that would have caused death under ordinary circumstances.”

“Right. According to widespread belief, a person can still survive after their death as long as their body is retained, but our power can only do so much until death. Conversely, it is our cognition that God’s power can do anything even after death.”

“So, any identification of them?”

“Since they were wearing the uniform of the Security Organization, their personal belongings and their identity were verified from various sources.”

“Any results?”

“None. There was no resemblance to the owner of the uniform they were wearing. So we’ll have to wait for them to tell us who they are.”

“In other words, we’ll have to wait for them to wake up…”

“Good grief.”

“What a quandary.”

“Ashitekou-sama has already healed most of their wounds, so I reckon we’ll just have to wait and see.”

The human beings in the room all share a distressed look and are wondering what to do. At that moment, a knock on the door resounds, to which the person who seems to be the representative among the human beings in the room grants permission to enter.

“E-Excuse me for interrupting.”

“What’s wrong?”

“The patient in question has woken up!”

[[[!?]]]

Then, the humans in the room all rise at once and begin to move as the nurse bursts into the room with her words.

■■■■■

(Akira POV)

“Here is…”

After opening my eyelids, an unfamiliar ceiling is reflected in my vision.

I make an effort to move my body, but even the notion of doing so induces anguish throughout my body, causing me to move only from the neck up to assess my surroundings at a pain-free level.

Turning my head to the right, I first catch sight of windows with glass panes, a feature that is only available in a handful of Japoterasu locations due to price and maintenance concerns, and beyond the windows are a series of tall buildings with immaculate white exterior walls.

Besides, there are a lot of medical appliances with names like “intravenous drip” and other devices whose names escape my knowledge, and the lines from these devices are directed to my body.

“So I am in a hospital… huh?”

That is what I have concluded as a result of the information I have obtained from what I can see around me.

“That means I survived… ugh!?”

I lower my eyelids and try to draw in a breath, yet the moment I do so, the image of that woman with the bloody hatchet I encountered in the “Maze,” surfaces in my mind, evoking the fear I felt at the time, accompanied by a feeling of nausea.

Fortunately, it seems that nothing has entered my stomach, leaving only a sound leaking out of my mouth. Even though I am inclined to puke, I couldn’t, which only makes me feel sicker.

“Geho, geho… ngh?”

However, while moving my body in such a nauseous state, a strange feeling of uneasiness washes over my body.

To be more specific, that feeling is from my chest area.

Even more specifically, when I cough, I feel a swaying sensation from side to side.

Furthermore, when I turn my face towards the bottom of my body, there is a peculiar bulge around my chest that is blocking my line of sight, whereas before there should have been nothing obstructing my vision.

“… No, no, no, it can’t be. Take a deep breath, take a deep breath. Huff…”

I take a few long breaths and tell myself, “This can’t be right,” as undesired perspiration trickles down my cheeks and a terrifying foreboding races through my thoughts.

I then cast my gaze downward again. Needless to say, the bulge has not disappeared.

“…Ahh, it must be that. It must be the lines from the medical equipment or something that are making the bulge appear all incongruous.”

As if by divine revelation, I utter the answer that first thing that comes to me, and to confirm that the answer is correct, I place my hand on the edge of the hospital attire I am wearing, which is designed to be opened from the front.

Right, this cannot possibly be real. I feel like my voice is somehow higher than it was before I signed the contract with Ys, but no matter how powerful God is, there is no way that such a thing can happen. If such a thing as transcending that boundary were to take place so soon, human society would not be able to function.

“All right!”

I firmly open the front of my hospital clothes and fix my attention on my own chest with determination.

“…”

A distinctly disproportionate amount of cold perspiration breaks out all over my body at the sight of what is there.

“…”

I avert my eyes once and then look at it again.

Of course it is still there.

“…”

I tear my eyes away for another instant, pause for a breath, and then glance back at it.

In any case, it is unmistakably there no matter how I regard it, connected to my body, covered in bandages, and with a circular object attached to the end of a line that extends from the medical equipment.

“What the hellllllll!?”

Not even bothering with the fact that I am in a hospital, an outburst of screams involuntarily rises up from my throat.

But my reaction is inevitable.

I am a man. Even though I’ve only lived 16 years of my life, I am undoubtedly a man since the day I was born.

No, perhaps I should say that I was a man.

Because what I have on my chest right now is something that only women should have… and even among women, the size of it is a rarity.

In short…

It is a magnificent-sized breast.