And one chapter of Ototsukai too! Because this one is way too cute to keep it for myself any longer xD
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Chapter 25: The Pressure of a Guilty MindIf you don"t quickly deal with the fever caused by the Poisoned b.u.t.terfly"s poison, there"s a high probability it will bring about your death.
Watching Tameiki-san stretched out on the ground with a flushed face, after sucking in all the scales of the Poisoned b.u.t.terfly, I was fairly panicking.
Her facial expression was still composed, but I actually knew.
That the poison of a Poisoned b.u.t.terfly is extremely painful. I can also hear her fast pulse.
Because I only inhaled a small dose of poisoned scales, I could deal with it by myself, but by looking at Tameiki-san"s condition, she most likely inhaled a considerable amount.
"Tameiki-san, please drink some water!"
When you inhale the scales of a Poisoned b.u.t.terfly, you deal with it by drinking a large quant.i.ty of water. This is what"s written in the encyclopedia.
That"s also what I did.
"…….I can"t."
"Please, drink!"
I lifted Tameiki-san"s upper body in my arms and forced her to drink the water.
Some of the water dripped from her mouth.
"Please wait here. I"ll go find the ingredients for mixing an antidote!"
After I covered Tameiki-san with both sleeping bags, I rushed out of the tent.
The Poisoned b.u.t.terfly"s poison is an unpleasant one for it takes advantage of your own antibodies.
It penetrates your body like a parasite and generates a high fever that leads to your death.
What is therefore important is the antidote mixture. You need holly olive gra.s.s which is effective for stopping the fever, and great sweater gra.s.s which causes your body to sweat considerably. You mash these with water until the mix becomes a muddled liquid and you have to drink an entire cup for it to be effective.
Since holly olive gra.s.s and great sweater gra.s.s grow almost everywhere, I was able to find them quickly and picked up a considerable amount of both.
Holding the two types of gra.s.s under my arms, I returned to the tent, washed an empty tin can and stuffed in the leaves of holly olive gra.s.s and great sweater gra.s.s.
I pierced the top of the plastic bottle and poured in some water, then I grabbed the rum that somehow slipped into my food luggage and mixed it in as well.
"Ha………ha………"
When I heard Tameiki-san"s rough breathing I started to panic.
She definitely inhaled those poisoned scales on purpose.
I took a deep breath then continued to stir the mixture. I can"t loosen my vigilance outside the tent either.
After a while, the contents inside the tin can become muddled. An offensive gra.s.s-smelling scent hanged in the air.
However, she can drink it now.
I helped Tameiki-san sit up and brought the can to her mouth.
"…….I can"t do it anymore."
"What are you saying! This will most likely help you if you drink it, so please hold on!"
"My body feels powerless……I already exceeded my limit……."
As I thought, she"s doing this on purpose!
Moreover, if she can afford to talk, she can definitely drink!
I continuously pressed Tameiki-san to drink the antidote.
However, she kept her mouth sealed, not wanting to open it.
Don"t tell me that……she just doesn"t want to drink it…
"Why don"t you drink it!? Please don"t say because it looks disgusting!"
"It looks disgusting. I can"t drink something like that."
d.a.m.n it! Precisely as I thought!
Besides, frankly, she"s still rather composed, isn"t she?
But that can"t be. I was very close to dying after I inhaled only a small amount of poisoned scales.
The truth is Tameiki-san"s breathing is still rough and her pulse is still fast.
And yet, why does she act so composed?
Is there another way of saving her without forcing her to drink the antidote?
Nope, there isn"t.
It"s definitely better to make her drink it.
Then what the h.e.l.l is she doing when she"s so close to dying!?
"Please, do me a favor and drink this!"
"I can"t drink that."
Is that so? In this case……."
I also have an idea, you know?
I took a mouthful of the muddy antidote and held it in my mouth, then I pressed my mouth onto Tameiki-san"s.
Yes, it was mouth-to-mouth feeding.
This way, I can force her to drink it.
If she gets mad afterwards it can"t be helped.
Ah, my first kiss…….
Why does it have to be like this!?…….I wonder if this is Tameiki-san"s first kiss as well?
Sigh……
I"m quite a romanticist.
"Ugh…..fu……!"
Her eyes closed and her mouth sealed, when I started to feed her the antidote, Tameiki-san opened her eyes in astonishment.
Her body trembled slightly because of the shock and her pulse accelerated even more.
Tameiki-san"s lips were warm and soft.
However, the nauseously bitterness of the liquid present in my mouth was ruining everything.
"Ugh…….ngh……"
Tameiki-san"s nasal breathing tickled my face.
Although she didn"t resist, there was no sign of accepting the antidote either.
Well, if she continues to act like this, I will thoroughly go along with it as well.
Excepting the bitterness of the antidote, the rest is nothing but rewarding.
After a while, seeing that I wouldn"t give up no matter how much time pa.s.sed, Tameiki-san gave in.
She accepted the bitter antidote and started to swallow it.
Even though "injected" is quite an unpleasant way of describing it…….for the time being, I injected all the antidote inside my mouth into hers, then released her.
"…….Ha…….ha………You"
"There are two mouthfuls left! Excuse me!"
"Ngh…….!"
I was already in despair.
I, once again, fed Tameiki-san the antidote.
She closed her eyes, inclined her face to the side and drank it up.
"Ha……, haa…….
All right, it was my fault……So, please do it slower………, let me drink it slowly…….."
Because of the fever, Tameiki-san"s face was bright-red.
Her heart was pounding violently as well.
She"s seriously ill.
I must hurry and make her drink all the antidote.
I drew near in order to mouth-to-mouth feed her again.
"……Wait, Shion. Please wait……."
"What is it?"
"……..It"s too embarra.s.sing, so you should close your eyes too……."
"Understood."
I lied.
Most likely this is the first and last time I am able to see Tameiki-san"s cute face from this close.
There"s no way I"ll miss the chance.
I held in my mouth the last mouthful of antidote and kissed Tameiki-san, keeping my eyes slightly opened. Her eyes closed, she received the liquid.
Since she told me to do it slowly, I slowly poured the antidote into Tameiki-san"s mouth.
As Tameiki-san slowly swallowed the antidote, I don"t know what she was thinking about but she placed one hand on my back, surrounding it.
Maybe she just couldn"t support her body anymore. Because of this situation, the gesture was not even romantic.
Before long, I transferred all the liquid in my mouth into Tameiki-san"s, then I parted from her.
Likely because she used up all her strength, she threw down her body with a flop.
"Shion…….you little…….You did it this time……."
Staring dimly at the tent roof, Tameiki-san said to me.
Her face was still red and her pulse still fast. It"s not like the antidote works immediately.
"Forgive me. But all that"s left now is to warm up your body and rest.
Because you will most likely sweat a lot, I"ll hurry to bring you some water."
"Understood……."
____________
After she drank the antidote, Tameiki-san"s fever started to go down.
She sweat so abundantly that I had to constantly wipe her dry. I only wiped the nape of her neck and her face, since she would probably get mad if I were to wipe the rest of her body too.
After about two hours, she stopped sweating and, looking a bit better, I asked her to changed her clothes.
Of course, I didn"t watch her doing it. I waited outside the tent.
Next, as a reaction to the holly olive gra.s.s, Tameiki-san developed intense shivers, so I helped her getting inside the sleeping bag.
I gave her even my spare clothes to wear, so she was perfectly equipped.
It was already night.
A period of time when magical beasts become rather active.
Inside the tent, I kept being vigilant.
I camouflaged the tent with all sorts of dry leaves, so even if magical beasts get close to it, they probably won"t attack. I didn"t use any light either.
Still, it is best to be cautious.
"I"m cold. I"m way too cold."
I shrunk my body in one corner of the tent as I stayed alert of the outside situation when I heard Tameiki-san murmur.
She wears so many extra clothes and she"s still cold?
We"re in a desert area so it is colder during night time, but it appears that the side effects of the holly olive gra.s.s are greater than I expected.
Maybe I used too many leaves. Anyway, the shivers should disappear soon too.
"Shion"
"Yes"
"I"m cold, so come here."
"Okay?"
"Get inside here."
"Inside the sleeping bag? It"s too tight for us both."
"You"ll fit. Come."
"Eh……"
I"m not really that eager right now.
Still, my ultimate goal was to secretly sneak into Tameiki-san"s bed when she sleeps.
Because it was pitch dark, I couldn"t see Tameiki-san"s face.
"Hurry up."
"All right, all right."
I stooped to where Tameiki-san lay.
"Come inside. Can you see?"
"I can"t."
"It"s here."
"Ah, understood. Wait, I can"t fit in there.
Two bodies inside a single person sleeping bag is overdoing it."
"We"ll fit. Hurry up, I"m cold."
I somehow managed to get inside the sleeping bag, but it was extremely crowded; Tameiki-san and I were now glued to each other. There"s no way I can turn over, or even move.
Tameiki-san"s soft body twined itself around me and it felt good.
It was extremely warm as well. A little wet too because of all the sweating.
"You"re warm. You"re a great human pillow."
"This is a normal body temperature though."
Tameiki-san hugged me tightly, and I desperately tried to hold back my seething erection.
I"ll gladly become Tameiki-san"s human pillow.
"…….Shion, you easily fed me that antidote mouth-to-mouth. Do you have such experience?"
"No, I don"t. It was my first kiss."
Though, I"d rather not count it as a kiss.
"I see. Mine too.
Well, I"ve done artificial respiration a few times before.
But only to women."
It appears that Tameiki-san didn"t have any men in her life until now.
Well, she"s too scary, this Tameiki-san.
For some reason, I managed to rather quickly open her heart; she"s still scary but not like before.
"And you offered your first kiss to me, huh?"
"You were in a state of emergency. If it weren"t for that, everything would"ve been like a perfect reward."
"……..Don"t tell me you like me!"
"Eh? Well, I like you very much, of course."
She"s teaching me all sorts of things and she"s kind sometimes; and she"s beautiful as well.
She forces you to play with death, but she"s truly a great master.
"I see. You like me……."
Somehow, Tameiki-san"s embrace got stronger.
"I"ll sleep now."
"All right. Good night."
I can"t fall asleep. That"s because I have to stay alert to what happens outside.
Despite being in a warm and comfortable place, not being able to fall asleep is like torture.
A short time later, I heard Tameiki-san"s sleeper"s breathing.
She fell asleep while embracing me.
I somehow managed to turn over and was now lying on my back, face up.
Then, I took the liberty to rub Tameiki-san"s b.r.e.a.s.t.s to some extent.
Today"s nursing charge and annoyance fee.
Translation: Nana