The picturesque rice cakes are delicious today

I woke up. [M]

The smell of disinfectant solution.

The feel of the sheets.

Blurry light through the blinds.

Pulling an infusion tube attached to my arm, I gently pushed the nurse call.



Final Chapter: Today's Painted Rice Cakes Are Delicious



Looking at the busy nurse all the time around me, I think she's back.

This is the original world. It's not a fantasy world that was created, it's an original world that has nothing to do with it.

My body is generally fine. There are a lot of painful areas, but that's all.... well, it looks like one broken leg, but that's all.

"Um, excuse me. How long have I been asleep?"

"I see... about 18 hours?" I'm so glad you woke up. ”

When I asked the nurse, it seemed that one day had not passed since the incident.

I see. In three days, Safe. Faye won't be angry.... when I think about it, it's kind of weird and I'm a little lonely.

Faye's gone. You're not angry that I've slept for more than three days. In such a world, I have returned. [M]

"... um, is Yutaka-san in the hospital?" I think you were in an accident with me. "

Unaki-san? No, you're not in the hospital.

I asked just in case, but the doctor doesn't seem to be in the hospital.... well, that's right.

Maybe he was taken to a hospital that wasn't this hospital... and even if he were here, maybe he wasn't hospitalized. I wonder if they're in a mausoleum or something, Doctor.

Then, a little while later, my parents came into the hospital room.

"Kirigoe! Oh, thank goodness... I was worried."

"You haven't woken up in a long time."

It was a bit fresh because it was somehow the first time I had seen them. Well, I'm sorry to hear that.... yes.

"Thank you for your concern. But as you can see, I think I just broke my left leg..."

I had to say something for the time being, so I said it... somehow, my mother and father looked weird.

"Kirigoe, you... just broke it!" You're hurt bad, aren't you? Even though there's a final exam soon..... "

”...... I wonder if I can be discharged by the time of the test”

What is a test in the first place?... no, I'm fine. But I think there's something missing from my studies while living in a different world... well, I don't want to take the test right now. No, I didn't want to take the test in the first place.

"I'll tell the doctor to get you out of the hospital by the end of the exam..."

No, no, no, no, no. I don't want to embarrass the doctor. If you say "hurry up", it will heal immediately. I don't think there is anything like that.

... and then I suddenly overheard my mother unloading my luggage and my father talking about the case...

"Hey, can I ask you a favor?" I want paper, pencils and eraser.... I want to paint "

"... eh?"

"Yes, the painting."

I don't think so, but I'd rather draw something than just be in the hospital.

I'm a bad speaker. That's why I want to draw and let out what I think. Lyla was saying that, but that's how I'm supposed to be a vocal creature.

"...... Don't say such stupid things, now focus on healing your injuries"

But apparently, I won't be allowed to draw.

"I don't think it's going to heal faster if you stay here without drawing."

"Don't answer. Don't embarrass your mother."

"...... Are you so troubled?"

"Cut it out!"

The nurse who seemed to be in the hallway came in in a hurry when her mother cried out. Besides, my mother smiled like she was going to take care of it, and nothing happened.

... that's all, though. But if you end up here, nothing will change.

"Father. Mother. Hey... no, I need to talk to you, but can I have a minute?"

Yes, I tried cutting it out.

I didn't have anything to say to you. I haven't done anything since I met my teacher. [M]

I fell into the middle school exam and was pulled up by my teacher to jump into the river, where I was able to live by drawing... I managed to survive by secretly drawing.

But I didn't tell my parents anything about it. That's why I thought I should do it now.

... even though it's my fault.

"I'm busy too." All of a sudden, you're in the hospital. Let's talk about it again. "

"... yes. I understand."

It seems that you can't talk about it like that.... well, I guess I can't help it.

In the end, my parents left my bags behind and did some formalities.

A little change of clothes, a little daily necessities, and plenty of study tools are left in my hospital room.

In the hospital room, which has become quiet again, I look up at the ceiling in a daze. [M]

The broken leg is fixed with cast iron and cannot be moved. However, other than that, it's something that can be moved properly while it hurts, and the head also naturally moves, so... I think about it.

... nothing has changed.

When you come back from a dream world, reality doesn't change anything. As always, my parents don't seem very interested in me, and the test is waiting for me. [M] Even though, the teacher isn't here.

Then I was dazed for a while. The food was brought to the hospital and I ate it. [M] It wasn't very delicious, but I ate it without leaving it. Because by eating this kind of food, I feel that my mind will gradually become accustomed to reality.

While doing so, the sun gradually went down, dinner came out, and it was time to turn off the lights...

...... Lying on the bed in the darkened hospital room, I still feel asexual.

Everything is different... but I remember that this is normal and normal.

Memories of twitching and recollection firmly paint inside me. Your awareness is getting clearer. It's becoming more and more 'realistic', and that's how it feels.

"... I wonder if it was a dream."

Somehow, I have a strange feeling about it. I was in a strange, gentle and warm world, but I feel like it was a dream after all. A dream for those who see it while they sleep.

Magic doesn't exist, and it's funny to think that there's such a warm and soft world. Whether you really have your creations, the days you lived there and laughed happily... are just a dream.

Yes. I think everything was a convenient dream of mine.

... the more you think about it, the harder and colder the loneliness of reality will infiltrate me. Everything is a dream, it doesn't exist, I just lost my teacher.

If you start thinking like that, a sense of loss will come to devour me. Until now, the place where the warm stuff was packed gradually became a chubby hollow.

There's nothing I've ever experienced, nothing I've seen... nothing I've ever loved!

It was all illusions, all lies, all dreams. "And yet, I'm sure you're not just dreaming about Sensei..."

... when I thought about it, I felt like I was getting deeper and deeper. I don't know if that world existed, but there's no way to prove it. Since such a world did not exist in the first place, it would make no sense to find the manuscript of the teacher. What was I supposed to do when I found the manuscript? Do I have to continue? You can't write a novel?

I felt like my thoughts were swirling around, swallowing up there, and my chest was filling up in the darkness of the night. I just felt like it was cold all the time, without ever falling asleep on the bed...

... suddenly, the room is getting brighter.

When I saw the clock, it was already dawn. A window with a blind peeks through the gap between the blinds and sees a light blue sky.

I've been sleeping all night, and when I thought about it, looking at the window... eventually, a strong light came through the window blind.

I was attracted to it somehow, and I managed to move my immobile legs and get out of bed and go to the window. Then I put my finger between the blinds and looked out the window...

There was a view of the chicken.

Everything was golden in the morning sun... and glowing in the colour of a chick. Someday, just like when I saw it.

I fell in love with the beauty, twitched back and forth, and pulled up the blinds in a hurry. I tried to open the window as it was, but to prevent it from falling, I only opened the window a little... but I sucked in the cold air of dawn blowing in from outside the window and the sharp scent, and looked at the view through the glass.

It was beautiful.

Glittering dazzling skies, bright skies, and cityscapes are all high contrasting chick colors and shadows.

”... I knew it wasn't a dream”

I remember. I was looking at a view of this color.

The morning I thought I wanted to live by painting. I certainly saw the scenery in this color... and thought that I would never forget this scenery. And certainly now I remember. I do remember. Everything about your feelings at that time.

I don't care if that world was all a dream.

For me, that world, whether real or not... was my favorite and most important place. There's a lot of stuff I got in that world.

It's still in me. Everything you did, everything you encouraged, everything you loved.

So... it's okay.

"... I want to draw it."

I think you want to paint this view. That's why I'm fine.

... Sensei, I'm still dreaming.

"...... I was......"

Suddenly, my palms hurt. I thought it was because it was pressed against the window frame, but I felt the tingling pain was somewhat different.

I wonder what's going on in the morning sun, and I look at my palm.

... and then...

"Ahh!"

There was a burn on my palm that turned white. [M]

This was just burned in the last attack of the Kakikachi King of Arson.