Chapter 1706 - 237 - The Moral Regret (4)

"W-Why... did you...?" she asked.

I ignored her altogether after that, figuring that perhaps doing so would make her believe that she had simply misheard me because of the wind.

The problem was that Hasegawa-sensei was a teacher who had known me before my death. She was not someone I could casually dismiss as a stranger who happened to recognize a familiar mannerism. If she started connecting the small details, there was always a possibility that she would eventually arrive at the conclusion I was trying to avoid.

Judging from the way she continued staring directly at me, however, the plan was already looking questionable.

Even then, she probably would not immediately assume that it was me. She would not simply conclude that Leon and the student who had died in a traffic accident were the same person, especially since the circumstances surrounding my death should have made such a conclusion seem completely impossible.

From her perspective, Tsubasa had died. That was supposed to be the end of the story.

Leon was another person entirely.

At least, that was what she should have believed.

"Tsubasa-kun?"

The moment I heard that name, my eyes widened slightly, although I immediately did my best to keep the surprise from showing on my face.

Hearing her say it after so long caught me off guard. I had expected her to question me about what I had said, but hearing my old name from her mouth was something else entirely. For a brief moment, I almost forgot where we were, but I quickly forced myself to focus again.

"What?" I asked, pretending not to understand what she meant while playing dumb as naturally as I could. I then smiled at her and continued, "You seem to have calmed down a little, so that's good."

It was probably one of the weakest attempts at changing the subject I had ever made, but I had to work with what I had.

After I said that, Hasegawa-sensei looked downward again, probably out of curiosity.

The moment she saw the enormous distance between us and the ground, she immediately let out another shriek.

***

We finally returned to the warzone, and as soon as we arrived, I immediately rushed Hasegawa-sensei toward the medbay because there was no reason to waste even a second when Sakai's condition was still so critical. Whatever questions Hasegawa-sensei might have had about me could wait. Right now, Sakai's condition was the only thing that mattered.

Kaori and the other heroes were all waiting outside the medbay, and judging from their expressions, they looked absolutely miserable. Their faces carried the exhausted and defeated appearance of people who had already been pushed far beyond their limits during the battle, and the atmosphere around them was noticeably heavier than it had been before.

Kaori in particular seemed as though she had been crying for some time, still blaming herself for Sakai's death and apparently unable to let go of the thought that everything had happened because of her.

"Hasegawa-sensei!" all of them exclaimed, standing up the moment they noticed her approaching.

Their expressions changed almost immediately, with surprise replacing the exhaustion they had been displaying only moments earlier. Seeing Hasegawa-sensei arrive seemed to give them a small amount of hope, although none of them knew yet whether she would actually be able to help Sakai.

"I'm going to look over Sakai-san," Hasegawa-sensei said, looking at the group with a serious expression. "Please, all of you, get some rest while you can."

She then entered the medbay, and I followed closely behind her while the heroes remained outside where they were.

Once we entered, we saw that Natasha was still tending to Sakai, with several other people assisting her as well. They were doing everything they could to keep Sakai alive, and judging from the atmosphere inside the room, everyone was treating the situation with the utmost urgency.

The medbay was busy, with people moving around and checking on Sakai and the others who were injured in the war while Natasha remained focused on the task in front of her. Nobody seemed interested in wasting time talking about anything unrelated to the situation, which was exactly how things should have been.

"Her pulse came back because I was able to revive her, but her life force is still continuing to spill out, and she has already lost a considerable amount of blood," Natasha explained, looking toward me the moment I entered. "Did you find anyone who might be compatible with her?"

"Yes," I answered, gesturing toward Hasegawa-sensei. "Can you check this woman and see whether she is compatible?"

Although Beelzebub had said that Hasegawa-sensei and Sakai had blood that tasted almost exactly the same, that alone was not enough to guarantee that they would actually be compatible. Similarity was certainly encouraging, but there was still a difference between something tasting similar and something actually working as a proper match.

We needed Natasha to test her properly before we could know for certain.

"Let's test her quickly," Natasha said, immediately getting to work.

I looked at Hasegawa-sensei and gave her a small nod, and she immediately understood what she needed to do and followed Natasha's instructions without hesitation.

She did not ask unnecessary questions or waste time worrying about herself. Her attention was completely focused on Sakai.

"Natasha," I said, looking toward her. "I'm going to leave this up to you."

When I told her that, she smiled reassuringly.

I took one final look toward Sakai before stepping away. I wanted to believe that things would work out, but there was still too much uncertainty for me to feel completely confident. We had finally found someone who seemed compatible, but until Natasha actually confirmed it, there was still a chance that something could go wrong.

For now, all I could do was trust her.

***

The war itself was still not completely over, but the battle that had taken place in this particular area had already come to an end, and fortunately, we had managed to win. The fighting had stopped around us for the moment, although the larger conflict was still continuing elsewhere, meaning that there was hardly any opportunity for anyone to relax properly.

Even after winning the battle, the atmosphere did not immediately become cheerful. Too many people had been injured and had died, too many had been exhausted. A victory was still a victory, but it did not magically erase everything that had happened.

Lilia eventually came over to me, looking considerably more relaxed now that the battle had ended.

"You're back," she said, looking at me as I approached.

"I trusted that you would manage to do it successfully even while I was away, and it seems that you managed to accomplish exactly that," I replied.

"Of course," she said confidently. "It is me, after all."

That sounded exactly like something Lilia would say, and honestly, I could hardly argue with her confidence considering that she had actually succeeded.

She had always been the type to say something like that without hesitation. Under normal circumstances, I might have teased her about being overly confident, but given everything that had happened, I was actually relieved to see that she was still acting like herself.

After saying that, she looked at me for a moment before her expression became somewhat more curious.

"So, how about you?" she asked. "Did you succeed in doing what you needed to do? When you heard the news that one of the heroes had died, it seemed to me that your entire world had almost collapsed."

Did my expression really look that bad when I heard that Sakai had died?

I had no idea, since I had not exactly been in a position to see my own expression at the time. Still, judging from Lilia's words, it seemed that my reaction had been considerably more obvious than I had realized.

"Hopefully, just like you did here, we'll be successful as well," I told her.

Lilia looked at me for another moment, but she did not press the matter any further.

For now, there was nothing more I could do except wait and hope that everything would turn out the way we wanted it to. I had done what I could, Hasegawa-sensei was now with Natasha, and Sakai still had a chance, however small that chance might have been.