Maria...
When Noah regained consciousness, the first person she thought of was Maria, who had suffered the impact of the repaired Dustworld Sound from the music box with her. This time, it was entirely her mistake. She had thought the sealed Dustworld Sound posed no threat, so she kept it with her, only to be ambushed. As an archer, she absolutely couldn't have dropped the music box due to a shaky hand, which meant the music box fell on its own.
She was still too naive, actually putting Maria in danger—
No, she had to check on Maria first...
Perhaps due to urgency, or perhaps out of habit, Noah reached out beside her as she got up. Usually, no matter the situation, her wheelchair would be by her bed. Kuro always did this to prevent Noah from being unable to move if she wasn't present. But this time, she touched nothing. Noah subconsciously turned her head, realizing there was no wheelchair in that spot. Had Kuro been negligent?
No... I...
Noah seemed to realize something. She put her hands in front of her eyes. These were somewhat unfamiliar hands, yet they appeared so vividly and alive before her—she could see?
Noah froze. She didn't know if the emotion stirring in her heart was joy or bewilderment. The complex emotions caused her brain to momentarily crash, even forgetting to check her physical condition.
No—Maria was what mattered. How was she doing?!
When Noah came to, she planned to support herself on the bedside table to get out of bed. She always had to hold onto something when getting out of bed, then use her arm strength to drag her body off. She had done it so many times, it had become a conditioned reflex. But when she swung her lower body off the bed, the bedside table's wheels moved with it, causing her to lose all support and fall to the ground with a thud.
All the furniture in her room was fixed in place precisely to prevent such things from happening. Noah fell, but didn't feel much pain. She rolled over, propping herself up with her hands. Even if she could see... she was still so clumsy, or rather, even clumsier than before. She found it funny, but when she looked at her feet, she froze again.
...Did I just see my toes move?
To confirm it was real, Noah tried wiggling her toes again. Watching her toes curl, she felt as if she'd been struck by lightning, her entire body trembling.
"...You've got to be kidding, right?"
Her legs, which the doctors of Rhodes Island had struggled so hard to save but couldn't... could move freely? That meant, she could walk?
Noah, who hadn't used the skill of walking for too long, clearly couldn't get up and walk as smoothly as before in a short time. In fact, she fell several times while trying to support herself, as if these legs were no longer her own. Although, strictly speaking, that was indeed the case; Noah, who hadn't used her legs to walk for a long time, had almost forgotten what walking felt like.
Like a rehabilitation exercise, when Noah slowly and tentatively took two or three shaky steps forward, leaning on the wall, an unprecedented joy welled up in her heart.
She could really walk... What was the principle behind it? Was it related to that blast from the Dustworld Sound?
"No... Maria!" Noah slapped her cheek. She was happy that she could walk and see again, but she didn't know how Maria was doing. She had to go see Maria first. Noah forced herself to open the door, staggering out of the room. This was the first time she had seen her long-lived house with her own eyes. She hadn't paid much attention to the decoration back then, but now it indeed looked very much in the Kazimierz style—with various inexplicable wall hangings everywhere, either paintings or taxidermied animal heads.
The things left by the previous owner indeed didn't quite match Noah's aesthetic.
She leaned against the wall, feeling the joy of regaining what she had lost, and at the same time, worrying about Maria's condition. But before she could take a few steps, she heard something fall. Noah turned her head in confusion, and Zofia had already rushed to her, "Why are you out of bed?! How are you feeling? Does anything still hurt?"
"I... I'm fine." Noah was a bit flustered. "Zo... Zofia?"
To be honest, her voice did sound like Zofia's, but this was the first time Noah saw Zofia in her current appearance, who looked much more mature than when she first knew her.
"...You're so disrespectful." Zofia rolled her eyes at her, then asked with concern, "You've been asleep for three days. Can your body handle it...? I just... Oh, my porridge!"
Zofia only then realized, belatedly, that she had spilled the cooked porridge because she was too hasty. She looked at the steaming vegetable porridge on the floor with some annoyance. "I finally made something edible..."
"Pfft..." Noah just found it funny. "I'm fine, I've never felt so good."
"How can you be fine, you... You worried me to death." Zofia affectionately reached out and stroked Noah's head. This surprised Noah; although Zofia and she had a good relationship, Zofia rarely stroked her head, perhaps considering Noah might find it awkward, or for some other reason. But this was truly the first time Zofia had stroked her head. She subconsciously nodded, "I made you worry... Zofia."
"...What's wrong with you? Didn't you used to call me Sister Zofia? Isn't it too early for you to call me by my first name? Are you in your rebellious phase?" Zofia suspiciously pinched Noah's cheek. "Never mind, I won't scold you since you just woke up. Your uncle is also very worried about you. Eat something first, then go find Manner."
Noah nodded. Although she indeed considered Zofia her elder sister in her heart, she usually just called her Zofia, and rebellious phase... how long had she been an adult? Zofia had also never made such an intimate gesture as pinching her cheek before. What was going on? Had she woken up in a new timeline?
"Don't rush yet, how is Maria doing? Is she still unconscious? I need to go check on her." Noah said, but this sentence drew a confused expression from Zofia.
"Huh? Did something really happen to Maria?"
"...Maria, are you still not fully awake? Didn't you just wake up?"
"...What did you call me?"
"Maria?"
"...Huh?"
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