Next, he slid Yae’s hands down his abdomen and to his waist. The area around his waist was surprisingly firm, and his abs were gorgeous. Yae screamed again.
“My thighs were in the process of petrifying as well,” he said.
“I get it, you’re healed, congratulations, couldn’t be happier! Now please let me go…,” Yae pleaded, on the verge of tears. Just as Sui let go of her wrists and she thought she was free, he pulled her in and hugged her tight.
“Thank you, Yae.” His eyes, now at point-blank range, were shining so brightly that she thought they might produce rainbows. His smile was one of pure, unadulterated joy. Yae was speechless; she even forgot to breathe. “I love how it feels to be whole; I’d forgotten what it felt like. You’re amazing, Yae. Simply amazing. I have a pulse.”
“Uh, mm-hmm…,” she responded in a daze just before Arai rushed into the can.
“What was that weird shrieking?! …Sui? You woke up… Huh? Why are you half-naked?” he asked, perplexed.
“Brother! Touch me!” Sui shouted, leaving Yae and hugging Arai with a beaming smile. He made his brother touch his body just as he had with her. Arai looked stunned.
“I wonder if I’ll be able to feel the coldness of water, too? I’m going to the river!” Sui left Arai in a state of shock and sprinted outside, frolicking like a child. Yae felt like a tornado had just passed through. She walked toward Arai, who was similarly tense.
“…Was he actually healed?” he asked.
“Seems so,” Yae answered, staring at Arai.
“I have a pulse. You’re amazing, Yae.” Sui’s words had made her chest feel warm. I’m amazing? Me? I made someone think that I’m amazing. I made someone so happy that it looked like their eyes were going to shoot out rainbows. She suddenly felt a pain in her chest. But it was different from the pain she had felt before.
“Um, Arai… Thank you.” The words had escaped her mouth before she realized it. Words shouldn’t have a taste, but her mouth was filled with a sweetness like nectar. Arai looked confused as to why he was being thanked.
“Yeah, um… In any case, thank you.” The words tumbled from her mouth again, and Yae felt her whole body fill with warmth. “You were the one who killed the corpse bug, and I only drove it out of his body, but… Still, I feel amazing, like I’ve done something I can be truly proud of.”
For that one moment in which she saw pure joy on Sui’s face, it felt like the anger and dejection she felt toward the Miya Province men and the helplessness she felt when Arai had tried to kill her were expelled from her heart without a trace.
“I’m glad that I met you two, and that I was able to free you from the stone monument,” she said. No matter what specific circumstances had led to this moment, she knew none of it would have happened without Arai.
He stared at her unblinkingly, then took a step back as if frightened. That returned her to her senses.
“Uh, sorry, that was probably weird of me to say… Sui’s excitement must have rubbed off on me. Forget about it. I’m going to, um, go outside and…look at the silver!” Yae blurted, flustered, and walked past a still-speechless Arai.
The sunlight stung her eyes when she walked outside. It was so bright that she could cry.
Afterward, she collected Sui, who was diligently playing in the river, and Arai, who was still slightly dazed, and set them to work cleaning the can with her. They were currently taking their one break before sunset.
“You’re sure that’s real silver, right?” Yae asked.
“Yes, it has definitely turned to metal,” Sui declared. He was skilled at distinguishing all things related to curses and assured her there was no issue with the silver. “Nevertheless, I would never have thought a corpse bug would change into valuable silver.”
“There are so many uses for it—personal accessories, magical tools, medicine… We would be better off keeping the source secret,” Arai said meaningfully. The brothers exchanged a look, but Yae had a more pressing question.
“Does that mean it’s okay to use it to buy daily necessities and food?” she asked. Arai and Sui looked puzzled. “You’re a Blessed Nature, right, Sui? Can you use thaumaturgy to cool and heat quartz? I’d also like you both to help me with remodeling the Can House—the mysterium, that is. I think I want to make this my base until I decide what to do with my life going forward.”
She looked at the brothers hopefully, and they smiled. They seemed impressed by her toughness.
“…A-and you both can live here, too, if you want,” Yae added shyly. She wanted to kick herself for not being able to skillfully ask for their company.
Sui, kind as always, picked up on the parts Yae couldn’t voice, and his smile shone even brighter. “We will stay by your side.”
“…I was released for your sake, so I’m not going anywhere,” Arai said, though with slight hesitation. He met Yae’s gaze and looked away as if troubled.
For the next few days, they found themselves very busy with remodeling the Can House and exterminating wild animals and shades that had started to appear in the area. The frequency of shades was especially high, possibly because of the number of mysteriums.
Despite this relationship with shades, it was important to remember that mysteriums were different from objects afflicted by deformation. Mysteriums had simply drifted here from another world—likely Yae’s original world—and were enlarged. Deformation was an illness unique to this world. That meant anything with a vague presence in this world, like Yae and the mysteriums, was not going to catch it. The tiger brothers’ souls were recycled and reborn in this world just like Yae, but they had almost entirely lost the memories of their old lives, making them susceptible.
One thing that made deformation difficult to deal with was that it didn’t only affect humans and animals; even plants and objects could catch it. Some of the shades that the brothers caught were able to be saved. Some were inanimate objects such as an old mirror, and others were wild animals. Some of them even turned out to be spirits. They let the animals go, but they gladly made use of the mirror and other tools that could be used in the house.
The problem was the spirits. Not all of them took human form. Some of them even lacked the intelligence of humans. Naturally, they needed to be handled with care. Some fled once they regained their sanity, and others attacked. Occasionally, they left jewelry as thanks for healing them. Arai and Sui took these items of value to passing peddlers to exchange for cloth and food.
And that was probably how word of Yae and the two brothers got out.