Chapter 30

                                    

                                          
[Y/n's PoV]
"By the way, where am I..?"
Wherever I was, it's clearly wasn't the church where I had just been.
White walls, beds lined up, a nurse call button at my bedside. This was a hospital.
"Welcome back. Y/n... Where have you been?"
Ei smiled affectionately at me, gently stroking my messy hair back into place with her fingers.
Her face was different from how I had just seen her— matured, and tired, somehow.
Am I not in my student days anymore..?!
My head was still in chaos, but I managed to put together that my time jump had ended and I was back in the present.
But I couldn't for the life of me figure out what I was doing lying here.
I tried desperately to reel my memories back, but my mind was fogging up and I got dizzy.
I started feeling sick, as though a safety device were in place of my memories, preventing me from recalling anything.
I could clearly remember what had happened during my second college experience, but everything from before the time jump was completely gone from my mind.
For the moment, I figured I would get up, at least, but I was astonished to find—
...I can't move my body?
I was like a marionette with its strings cut.
It was like the way my legs fell asleep and couldn't move after I had been sitting on my heels for too long, except with my entire body.
But, unlike a limb falling asleep, my senses weren't returning with time.
My voice won't work, my body won't move. I can't remember a single thing that's happened. What on earth has happened to me..?
Ei watched me anxiously.
I smiled, trying to keep her from worrying.
But to my shock, even the muscles in my face wouldn't so much as twitch.
"Are you in any pain? Are you cold at all? Don't force yourself. Just stay there."
"What happened to me? Tell me, Ei."
"What? What hurts? Your legs? Your arms?"
"Nothing hurts. I just want you to explain all of this."
"Does your head hurt? I'll call the doctor."
My voice wouldn't come out, so I couldn't  carry on a conversation.
Ei pressed the call button and told them excitedly that I had woken up.
I could hear voices stirring from the nurse station.
Even without any explanation, I gradually began to understand.