On the evening of Sunday, June 16, Miyuki went to visit Minami in the hospital. Just as she was about to leave, another visitor knocked at the door.
“Who is it?” Miyuki asked, standing up from her stool.
Minami looked terrified, but Miyuki gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder and walked toward the door.
“It’s Minoru Kudou,” a voice said outside the room.
“Minoru?” Miyuki echoed.
She spun around to Minami, who nodded bashfully. Miyuki beamed despite herself.
“Coming,” she said and opened the hospital room door, where Minoru stood an arm’s length away.
It was hard to say whether it was fortunate or unfortunate that no one else was there to witness this. There stood two of the most heavenly beauties in the country. A painter might have offered up their soul just to capture this moment on canvas. A poet might have contemplated ending their life in despair after their words failed to accurately convey the scene. To the two subjects in question, however, their interaction felt mundanely normal.
“Welcome,” Miyuki said to Minoru. “Are you here to see Minami?”
“Yes. Um, mind if I come in?”
“Of course.” Miyuki stepped aside, letting him pass by her.
Minoru held a bouquet of red roses, pink gerbera, and orange carnations. Miyuki gave him some space so he could hand these flowers to Minami himself.
He held out the bouquet with a slight flush in his cheeks. Minami accepted them, blushing with her head down bashfully. Though Miyuki felt as if she could watch this sweet scene forever, she knew it wouldn’t be fair, and she broke the ice instead.
“Thank you, Minoru. Where would you like to put them, Minami?”
The pair jolted in surprise, and it took Miyuki everything she had to suppress a laugh.
“Um…how about over there?” Minami replied, pointing to one of the bedside dressers.
Miyuki smiled as she took the bouquet and arranged the flowers according to Minami’s wishes. Unable to stand the awkwardness, Minoru quickly changed the subject.
“Uh…is Tatsuya around?” he asked.
“Oh, were you hoping to see him, too?” Miyuki immediately replied.
It was unclear whether her quick answer was a way to help Minoru fill the silence, a knee-jerk reaction to hearing her fiancé’s name, or a mixture of both.
“He just stepped out to the doctor’s office,” she told Minoru. “Is it an emergency?”
“Not really, but I would like to speak to him.”
“About what?” a voice asked from the open doorway.
“There you are, Tatsuya!” Miyuki exclaimed. “Did you finish talking to the doctor?”
“Yeah, I got all my questions answered,” Tatsuya said.
He walked into the room and shut the door. Miyuki had intentionally left the door open so she and Minami would not be alone with a boy.
“So, Minoru,” Tatsuya began, narrowing his eyes involuntarily before putting on his usual poker face. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
Put on the spot, Minoru found it difficult to reply right away.
After a brief pause, he mustered up the courage to say, “It’s about Minami’s health.”
“Okay, let’s talk somewhere else,” Tatsuya said.
“Wait!” Minami protested. “If you’re going to talk about me, I would appreciate it if you did it in front of me.”
“But…” Minoru trailed off hesitantly.
“Please!” Minami insisted. “I want to know the truth.”
“All right,” Minoru relented. “If you say so.”
“Should I leave?” Miyuki asked.
Her question was posed to her fiancé, but Minoru answered instead.
“No, I think you should hear this, too.”
Tatsuya pulled over a pair of stools for him and Minoru to sit on.
“All right. Take a seat,” Tatsuya said.
With a fearful look on his face, Minoru did as he was told. Miyuki returned to the stool she had been sitting on, and Tatsuya sat down on a stool by her side. With Minoru at the foot of the bed, all four of them were facing each other. Minoru hesitated before he began speaking.
“I’m not sure what the doctor told you, but Minami’s wounds are never going to completely heal.”
His expression wasn’t calm because he couldn’t be. Miyuki seemed the most surprised by this news. Her hands flew to her mouth, and her eyes became as wide as saucers. Minami, on the other hand, maintained her composure, at least on the outside. Tatsuya simply gazed quietly at Minoru.
“You probably knew this already,” Minoru said to Tatsuya.
“No, I didn’t. And I don’t agree. Our definitions of what it means to be completely healed are clearly not the same. You probably mean Minami’s magic-calculation region will never be the same.”
“Do you think everything is fine as long as her symptoms don’t get worse?” Minoru asked.
“Not exactly, but there’s no point in arguing about the details of our definitions. What’s your point?”
“The bodies of engineered magicians are anything but stable.”
“So you’re afraid she might die suddenly?”
“That’s right. There might not be anything wrong with her medically, but she could be gone tomorrow just like a sudden gust of wind puts out a flame.” A shadow crossed Minoru’s face. “This is now the life both Minami and I lead.”
“How did you…?” Miyuki trailed off.
She meant to question how he knew Minami was an engineered magician, but she ended up simply staring at him in silence.
“In other words,” Tatsuya interjected, “you’re saying Minami’s injuries to her magic-calculation region have increased her risk of sudden death.”
“Yes.” Minoru nodded. “Did you know about this risk, too?”
“I have looked into engineered magicians and their risk of sudden death. Someone who was basically family passed away under similar circumstances in the past.”
“I…had no idea.”
Minoru thought about offering his condolences but ultimately decided against it, feeling it would just sound superficial.
“Overheating the magic-calculation region damages the information bodies associated with the physical body,” Tatsuya explained. “That damage then affects the physical form. Typically, the magic-calculation region’s activity is limited enough to prevent self-destruction, but engineered magicians struggle with the effectiveness of their internal safety mechanisms. This is the hypothesis that seems to apply to Minami’s situation.”
“I agree,” Minoru replied. “The only thing I would add is that overheating the magic-calculation region always involves a breakdown of a magician’s safety mechanisms.”
“Are you saying the destruction of safety mechanisms causes the overheating?”
“I don’t know if it’s the safety breaking that causes overheating or the process of overheating that causes the safety to break.”
Despite the uncertainty of Minoru’s words, there was no hesitation in his voice.