91 – Reunion
Ddu. Ddu. Ddu. Ddu. Ddu.
Constant and static mechanical sound.
White textured ceiling.
An unidentified IV dripping its contents drop by drop.
“…… “Fuuu.”
When I tried to breathe, the area around my mouth seemed to be blocked by something.
Hot breath hovered nearby.
Is this a hospital?
Thinking like that, Hero Masquerade strained his drowsy whole body to get up.
“Just lie down like that.”
However, he was immediately stopped by a man’s voice.
That voice is one I have heard before.
A new hero with nullification abilities.
It was the voice of the hero handler.
“With my ability, I was able to prevent the overflow of my abilities, but they said that my body, which had been damaged so far, must be gradually repaired with the power of medicine.”
The handler shook his head and muttered.
“This is…” …. Is it a hospital? … ?”
“No. “It’s a place no one knows.”
A place no one knows about.
That was the time when Masquerade slightly rolled her eyes at those questionable words.
A woman lying on the same bed next to her.
My nemesis, Ruina, was doing a similar thing and was asleep without the world knowing.
“Right? “There is no hospital anywhere in the world where heroes and villains share the same room.”
“hahahaha… …. “It’s sophistry.”
Masquerade once again took all the power she had put into her body.
How many years has it been since I lay here without thinking?
She lived a life where she advocated for justice and chased after Louisa all the time to find herself.
“Have you found out who you are?”
I was deep in thought.
The handler’s voice suddenly cut in.
“…… Unfortunately.”
“Well. “It’s strange that I remember the past with so much hitting and fighting.”
“Handler. “Who are you?”
“Yes?”
“You are asking what your relationship is with Ruina.”
A strange person who is coincidental but doesn’t seem to be a coincidence.
The man with the strongest scent of Ruina.
The hero handler glanced at her Ruina and smiled at her.
“I am the lover of the person lying over there.”
“………… Is it.”
In his words, there was no feeling of sympathy at all.
That is. Those words could not be more true.
“Now I understand what Ruina said while fighting with me… ….”
“What did you say?”
“I found eternal love… …. She said she’ll scold you if her face gets hurt…….”
“hahahahaha.”
The handler blushed slightly and scratched the back of his head, as if he was embarrassed.
“Ah. Wait a minute.”
Then touch Masquerade once.
Eventually, she got up from her seat, gently touched Louisa’s sleeping face, and returned to her original position.
“My ability is limited to a maximum of 3 minutes.”
“So they kept nullifying our abilities like that…? … ?”
“If you don’t do this, the abilities you played with in the lab will run wild.”
“Research Institute… ….”
Masquerade brought back fragmentary memories.
A long time ago, he said something that would hurt Sister Ui’s heart, saying that he would die tomorrow.
And the past memory of calling her ’35’.
“RF, 35….”
“Huh?”
“I see… …. Ruina is 35…? ….”
“Huh?”
The handler’s eyes grew wider as Masquerade muttered.
“Ho, did your memories suddenly come back!?”
Rather than Masquerade, who had found his old self even if only fragmentarily, the third party, Handler, made more of a fuss and showed an embarrassed face.
“The handler makes a lot of fuss… …. Only a few memories came to mind…….”
“Ah… ….”
“Still.”
Masquerade looked at her chair again with a more relaxed expression on her face.
“It’s clear that defeating that guy won’t bring her memories back… ….”
Distant past. Two nameless girls I met at the research institute.
The last survivors of the laboratory, codenamed 24 and 35 respectively, were able to reunite dramatically after becoming adults.
* * *
“I’m here.”
After getting off work.
I entered a building quite far away from my house.
“Welcome baby~♡”
As soon as I opened the door and entered, Ruina immediately clung to me.
“How are you?”
“Yes!”
“Hey. The game isn’t over yet. “Please return to your seat.”
“Huh?”
At the sharp voice, she craned her neck and looked at her bed.
Masquerade, who had cut her wild hair into a neat bob, was sitting upright on the bed.
A checkerboard was placed in front of her.
“What were you doing?”
“Her sister and Omok. Even though I’m already winning for the 21st time, I don’t know how to give up. Ugh.”
“Giving up is like counting cabbages!”
A manly tone of voice that does not match his pretty face.
No matter how bare the face was, the Masquerade was still a Masquerade.
“My sister. It didn’t feel like that before……. “Ugh tsk tsk.”
“Anyway, come back Ruina! Game 22 has only just begun!”
“Ruina. “Go.”
“Nune~”
Ruina finished hugging me and hopped onto her bed.
This is a building owned by the Strategic Crisis Response Team.
Since there was no way there was a hospital facility that could treat Ruina and Masquerade at the same time, this place was being used as a hospital.
Special security personnel from the Strategic Crisis Response Team were stationed around the building, and even medical workers for just two people were deployed within the facility.
It was truly a secret agency that poured all its budget and manpower into responding to national crises.
After receiving treatment for several days.
The two people had recovered properly and were relaxing like that.
“hehehe. “I won again♪”
“Ugh… ….”
Meanwhile, it seemed that Ruina had achieved her first win again.
Unfortunately, the memories of Masquerade did not completely return.
However, thanks to the fact that I now remember who Ruina is, she no longer runs at me like she used to.
“Please do it for me, sister.” “I’m tired now.”
“Are you running away?”
“Switching players is stupid. Nyah.”
Ruina stuck out her tongue at her Masquerade, then pushed her back against her.
“Okay, then I’ll deal with you instead.”
I put down my bag and coat and sat down on the bed.
Masquerade looked dissatisfied, but he soon showed his will to win by picking up a white Go stone.
“Because I am careful not to stop the fight that is coming.”
“Then let’s do it first.”
Omok is a game where the person who plays first has the advantage.
Since she lost to Ruina 22 times, she readily gave her the advantage.
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Eventually, the black and white stones lined up one by one on the square checkerboard.
“Ugh… ….”
“……… ….”
As a second-tier player, I easily won the first game due to Masquerade’s ridiculous mistake.
I never thought he would not know that he had 4 stones.
“Ha. “I need to stop.”
Perhaps losing interest in the confrontation with me, Masquerade let out a long sigh and stood up.
“Where are you going?”
“I just wanted to get some fresh air outside. “Would you like to join us?”
“Ah, then me too!”
“Then let’s all go out together.”
We soon rushed out of the hospital room, which was not a hospital room.
The two people’s treatment was almost complete, but for some reason they were still unable to go outside.
So the destination we were heading to was not the ground, but the top.
It was an empty rooftop of a building.
In the past few days. The world was completely colored white.
The three of us were standing side by side looking at the city skyline covered in pure white snowflakes.
“hehehe. “She’s so hot, she should stick close to herself.”
Louis I wrapped my coat around her shoulders and she clung to me in my arms.
Masquerade is in a unique arms-folded pose.
I was standing there wearing only a thin patient gown.
There was no point in asking her if she was cold; I already knew that her body temperature was extremely high as a side effect of her abilities.
“Handler. “I really wanted to say thank you to you.”
“Yes?”
It was an unexpected thank you from Masquerade.
“Although I did not completely regain my memory, I was able to achieve some of my long-held wish. “I wouldn’t have been able to come this far without you as a bridge.”
I feel a bit embarrassed when I suddenly receive compliments like that…….
“Yes, yes. “I’m so, so, so grateful to you.”
Eventually, I heard the same gratitude from Ruina in my arms.
“You were able to teach me about love and ease the guilt of surviving alone, right?”
Ruina was always tormented that she had destroyed everyone and escaped from her laboratory.
However, her joy was indescribable because her sister Ui, who graduated from the same research institute as her, was still alive.
“Neither of them would have been possible without her. Thank you. I love you♡”
“Aha. hahahahaha…….”
Being caught between two pretty women and being praised endlessly?
As expected, this strange fate.
I thought we did a good job of protecting it until the end.