I, holding a long sword in my hand, only know one move

After a while, when Lina came out of the bathroom again, looking at the steaming breakfast that had been placed on the table, she couldn't help but swallow her saliva.

"Has it been washed?"

"Um...."

"Then eat it while it's hot." Cheng Rang pulled out the chair for Lina and said with a smile.

Breakfast was a simple ham sandwich, hot milk and fried eggs, but in Lina's eyes, just being able to have breakfast was a happiness she had never imagined before.

She couldn't wait to jump onto the chair Cheng Rang pulled out for her, grabbed the sandwich with her hands and took a big bite.

Fresh lettuce, toasted golden and crispy toast, and salty ham are sliced ​​thinly, and each slice is of even thickness. The three are mixed together, creating a wonderful reaction in the mouth when chewing...

"Is it tasty?"

Lina raised her head and looked at Cheng Rang, who was staring at her.

——It's delicious, very delicious, very delicious... It tastes like a dream.

She kept answering loudly in her heart, but Lina couldn't stop chewing food.

The sky in the morning is as blue and transparent as yesterday, and the bright sunshine shines into the house through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the apartment balcony, giving people a warm feeling of happiness.

Although it is a small home...

Lina swallowed the food in her mouth with difficulty, and suddenly stared at the sandwich in her hand.

.....It's not a dream.

Then the tip of her nose suddenly became sore. Lina held the delicious sandwich in her hand and took a bite of it herself. The scene in front of her eyes was blurred by tears in the next second.

happiness.

This is a feeling that Lina has never experienced since she was born into this world.

Whenever I wake up from a nightmare and open my eyes, I still face the same world as in the nightmare.

But today it seems that everything has changed and turned into a dream that Lina has never had.

Is this really...a happiness that I can experience?

Tears welled up from Lina's red eyes and dripped on the table and plates.

She sobbed silently.

When Cheng Rang saw this, he panicked and asked quickly: "What's wrong? Did you eat something strange? Did you add too much salt? Or is the Kurussa sauce (a special sauce in HL) not to your taste?" Ah... I really shouldn’t add weird things... Just Chishima-chan or something like that! Sorry, sorry..."

Cheng Rang asked Lina who suddenly started crying after taking a bite of the sandwich.

Classified as his own fault.

But the more Cheng Rang apologized to Lina, the harder she cried, as if she wanted to cry to him all the grievances she had suffered so far. In the end, she even threw herself into Cheng Rang's arms and hugged her tightly with all her strength. he.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

——As if he was afraid that the man in front of him would disappear in the blink of an eye.

Lina just hugged herself and cried violently, saying nothing could help her. In the end, Cheng Rang could only hold her in his arms and pat her thin and painful back.

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, I'm here...No one can hurt Lina...It doesn't matter, don't be afraid."

It stayed like this for several minutes, until the hot milk gradually cooled down, Lina gradually stopped crying, huddled in Cheng Rang's arms, and arched her head restlessly.

"...I'm sorry..." Lina sniffed, lowering her head and speaking in a weak voice.

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Brother's clothes..."

Cheng Rang's clothes were completely soaked from crying, and even had some sticky snot on them. He smiled dumbly and said, "It doesn't matter, it will be clean soon."

"Rather, I want to know why Lina suddenly cried like this?"

"...."

"...Sure enough, it still doesn't taste good?"

"No! No!" Lina immediately shook her head, and then slowly said: "It's because this is the first time Lina has met a person like Brother Cheng who treats me so well..."

"This is Lina...a sight that even in her dreams can't be dreamed of..."

"Lina, I feel happy."

Cheng Rang took a sharp breath, because he found that only by raising his head hard could he prevent tears from overflowing.

"Don't worry, Lina...as long as I'm here -"

"Every day after this, you can feel the same happiness as you do now."

"....Really?"

Cheng Rang nodded vigorously, "This is the promise I made for you...it will definitely be fulfilled."

"What about everyone? Lina wants everyone to be happy together..."

"I will, I promise."

A bright smile filled Lina's lovely cheeks again, and she raised her sleeves to wipe her cheeks that were wet from crying.

"Yeah! I believe it!"

Chapter 18: The Crime of Carrying a Bi

On the other side, Shinoda and Kanade had already driven a car to the hospital where they worked.

"Morning, Doctor Shinoda...eh? Shouldn't you have rest today?"

"Morning, I need to come back to confirm some things. You are busy first and don't worry about me."

The doctor who greeted Shinoda looked at her hurried away figure and was used to it. He just shook his head and walked in another direction holding the medical records in his hand.

【Comprehensive Testing Department】

The instrument used to detect the erosion rate of Cursed Son at home is only a portable model, which is used to roughly detect the erosion rate. The accuracy cannot reach the decimal point, and there may even be an error of about 2% from time to time. After carrying it back and forth to the outer area for so long, I can accept that it may break.

So this time Shinoda brought Lina's blood sample to the department specially designed to conduct erosion rate testing for IISO starters.

Only the large-scale professional instruments here can quickly and accurately measure the virus erosion rate without error.

Every day, personnel will check the reliability of the instrument detection values ​​to ensure the credibility of the reports issued, because even if the report issued here has an error of 0.1%, it may determine the future of an unknown person. The fate of the login starter.

But 5%.

No matter how wrong it is, such a value is too outrageous...

As a doctor, Shinoda has witnessed countless tragedies, and witnessed with his own eyes the feeling that the gastroenterovirus erosion rate in the bodies of the children who are close to him is increasing day by day, but there is nothing he can do.

It made her want to give up this career several times.

But it's not possible, because here, there are almost no people who can have a friendly attitude towards the Cursed Children.

If he also leaves, then the children who are the victims will face the cruel data with their own eyes, and will usher in the end of destruction step by step in the nightmare that is just around the corner.

When Shinoda walked into the Comprehensive Testing Section with the samples, there were also several policemen who had been responsible for the inspection before.

After seeing Shinoda, the children who were initiates changed their cold expressions and immediately waved to her in a friendly manner and called her Aunt Shinoda affectionately.

"Good morning, Aunt Shinoda!"

"Good morning, I'm very cute today~"

After quietly telling his colleagues on duty again not to hand the report directly to the initiate, but only to inform their colleagues, Shinoda dove into the testing room.

...

At Shinoda's house, the sun was about to set, and Cheng Rang, because he couldn't go out easily during the day, simply squatted at home and watched TV with Lina for a day.

Perhaps it was rare to have a remote control and be able to control the TV to broadcast the programs she wanted to watch. Lina enjoyed looking at the TV screen all day long.

It was also because she found an animation called Tenchu ​​Shoujo in a TV video. According to her, it was very good-looking and she liked it so much that she pulled Cheng along.

Let’s watch together.

Regarding this point, Cheng Rang didn't have much interest in this kind of animation that seemed to be subtitled at first, but the protagonists in it were quite...cute, so he kept watching it with Lina.

It wasn't until the time reached six forty and the sky had darkened that the sound of keys jingling came from the door.

It's Shinoda who's back.

As a doctor, returning to the hospital on a day off is actually throwing yourself into the overtime queue.

Shinoda, who wanted to go home after getting the results, inevitably encountered various things, including lack of manpower. So I was called over to help, but I was busy helping until I got off work, and I couldn't be free for long.

"I'm so exhausted...Phew!"

As soon as Shinoda entered the door, she completely lost her capable and reliable appearance in the hospital during the day. After a tiring day, she didn't even have time to care about her image. She loosened her hair and threw herself on the sofa. She let out a sigh of relief. I don’t want to move either.

"Thank you for your hard work, Miss Shinoda. Dinner is already prepared. Do you want to heat it up?"

"Excuse me...huh?"

Shinoda seemed to have recovered from his tired trance and raised his head from the sofa.

The TV was still playing in the living room, Lina was watching it with interest, and the man in front of him wearing a pink apron... who seemed to be wanted by the police...

What kind of strange sense of déjà vu is this?

Shinoda, who finally realized that there were other people in his home, jumped up from the sofa, quickly pushed up his glasses, and his cheeks turned red.

"Yes, I'm sorry! I made you laugh..."

"It doesn't matter. A busy day as a doctor must be very tiring." Cheng Rang smiled and expressed understanding, "Well, Miss Shinoda..."

Cheng Rang gestured in Lina's direction with his eyes, and Shinoda immediately reacted, took out the report from his bag, frowned and said, "Ah, yes! If my colleague hadn't reminded me, I almost forgot about it."

The report that had been printed out had been kept in the portfolio for a day because he was too busy. Before leaving, his colleagues reminded him to take it away. Even Shinoda himself had not had time to read it.

"There shouldn't be any problems this time—"

Shinoda said, opening the bag and taking out Lina's erosion rate test report. Cheng Rang also came together to watch.

[Gastroenterovirus erosion rate——4.97%]

[Forecast remaining activity period - more than 999 days]

"......this!"

Shinoda saw the eye-catching numbers on the report, and even the fatigue in his body was swept away. He almost jumped up from the sofa, but was pushed down by Cheng Rang.

Cheng Rang put his finger to his mouth, signaling Shinoda not to get too excited.

"How is it possible? I have never seen this situation before. Lina's erosion rate should be at least 32%!" Shinoda stared at the report in his hand and lowered his voice.

In this regard, Cheng Rang seemed to have some understanding. As for why Lina's gastroenterovirus erosion rate dropped, it was probably related to the Avalon implanted in her body when she was rescued last time.

In the isolated Utopia (Avalon), the legendary holy sword - the scabbard vowed to win, has the power to heal all injuries and protect the holder.

Even...even the curse can be cured.

The Avalon implanted in Lena's body at that time was transformed from Nyarlathotep's dress and did not have complete properties and abilities. Even so, the virus erosion rate in Lena's body was reduced to an extremely low level. level.

So does that mean that Snow, who was treated by the real Avalon at that time... the situation went further?

But even though Cheng Rang understood all this, it was impossible for him to tell Shinoda.

Putting aside whether she believed it or not, in this twisted world, even just learning such information could be a huge disaster for Shinoda.

Cheng Rang took the report sheet out of Shinoda's hand.

"I don't know...but it's best not to let more people know about this matter. I may have to go to the hospital where I work with you tomorrow."

"What to do?"

"Eliminate hidden dangers."

Chapter 19 A Self

Shinoda and Kanade stared at Lina who was sleeping beside her. She had not slept well all night.

As a doctor, she knew very well what the change that happened to Lena would mean. This was a twist that could change the entire world's view of the Cursed Child.

An unstoppable increase in erosion rates has dropped to incomprehensible levels in just a few months, meaning that the short and tragic fate of these children is about to be reversed.

They will not be regarded as monsters destined to be abandoned after risking their lives to fight the gastrea and save mankind.