──side Daiki──
「Hey Daiki, if you’re free on Sunday, want to come over to my place?」
「Oh, is that okay? I don’t have any plans, so if it’s not a bother, I’ll come.」
「There’s something I want to talk about, so I’d appreciate it if you could come.」
「That’s unusual… You’re usually the one giving advice.」
「Yeah, well. Even I have one or two things to worry about.」
It’s really rare. Shougo asking me for advice, is it going to snow or something?
I’ve known Shougo for less than two years, but I think we’ve built a pretty strong relationship of trust.
Especially because of our experiences over there──no one would believe it, but our time spent in another world was significant.
Looking back, we hardly had any relationship at all when we were here.
Even though Shougo, Hikari, Asaki, and I, four people of the same age, were hospitalized in the same room.
Come to think of it, the fact that these four people gathered in one place might have been some kind of destiny.
Not to brag, but I can pretty much do anything I set my mind to. Probably the same for Hikari. Our natures are very similar.
That’s why I couldn’t even imagine getting seriously injured, and now that we’re back in this peaceful world, I can’t imagine getting hurt here either.
As for Asaki, she may not have any special talents like Hikari and me, but she’s incredibly quick-witted and has a great ability to anticipate what’s coming.
Yet, the fact that she suffered injuries severe enough to require hospitalization seems unnatural.
Well, I probably won’t find an answer by thinking about it, but there’s another unnatural element. Shougo.
It might be self-centered to say this, but I think Hikari, Asaki, and I are outside the norm of this world.
Of course, the world is vast. If we search, we’ll surely find beings more special than us.
But there’s nothing special about Shougo.
No, there wasn’t.
In that other world, the three of us except Shougo could understand the language right after being summoned, but Shougo couldn’t.
We were told that this was because of the presence or absence of magic power, which instinctively activates a spell to understand language, but Shougo had zero magic power.
It was supposedly impossible, but since the organ that produces magic power is formed in the spinal cord, and Shougo’s spinal cord was damaged, that organ wasn’t formed, so he was summoned with a body that couldn’t possess magic power. That’s the hypothesis.
──Light Novels──
──Read Here──
If that’s the case, it seems even more abnormal that Shougo ended up in the same hospital room as us. If it’s someone’s doing, was it intentional, or was it an irregularity…
Well, I won’t find an answer by thinking about it.
More importantly, about Shougo.
As I mentioned earlier, Shougo couldn’t understand the language of the other world and had no magic power. He had no special talents and couldn’t even move properly because his lower body was paralyzed.
In fact, when we were summoned, there was no such thing as a wheelchair, so I had to lend him my shoulder.
That’s why even the people over there recognized Shougo’s existence as almost nonexistent, and in a sense, he might have only had value as a hostage to us.
Well, at the time, none of us could trust anyone.
But Shougo overcame everything.
He learned the language by himself and became able to have basic conversations.
He clung to survival through sheer effort, despite having no magic power or talent.
He repeatedly broke and healed his body, clinging to the slightest hope of moving his lower body.
He literally overcame all his disabilities.
I think that’s abnormal. Of course, there was still a big difference in physical ability between him and Hikari, and he didn’t become able to do the same things.
But Shougo used everything he had cultivated himself, not what was given to him, and finally became the catalyst for our return to this world.
I think that’s a great achievement. We probably wouldn’t have been able to come back here without Shougo.
But because of that, what Shougo lost was so great that it might be fair to say he is broken.
He broke his heart to the point of not hesitating to kill for our sake.
He broke his body to make up for the difference in ability.
To the point where I wonder if the original Shougo is still there.
That’s why we can’t hold a candle to Shougo and respect him.
But that doesn’t mean we became friends out of guilt. I’m genuinely attracted to Shougo as a person and want to be friends with him.
This probably applies to Hikari and Asaki as well.
So when Shougo said he wanted to consult with me, I was surprised but also happy. I finally felt like I was being relied on.
Sorry to him, but I’ll look forward to seeing what kind of consultation topic will come up.