I sat inside the infirmary room once again on the afternoon of the next day because they still couldn't find a person to fill this position. The doctors in the demon world were very few in number. Most of the people thought that It wasn't necessary as they could heal their injury themselves. Moreover, these demons were the kind that hard to get sick, unlike the human who had been waiting at their death door every minute. To be born as a demon is more enviable than I thought.

” *sigh* I'm free…”

I muttered as I flipped through a book.

“Then…Why don't you come sleep with me?” Luler sat up from his occupied patient bed with his sparkling eyes.

“You go sleep alone, Luler.”

“s.h.i.+wa, you are stingy.”

“I'm working right now. Do you want to sleep outside today?”

And he shrieked back to sleep on the bed again. Didn't he look so pitiable? You
should stop at that, Luler. If I spoil him too much, he would only become more conceited.

‘Crack'

“s.h.i.+wa!! My Shelyn…!!”

“I know, she wants water, right? I have already prepared it, you can bring her to soak in the bathtub.”

After hearing Ren's voice, I instantly knew that it was the time for Shelyn to soak in the water to restore her body. A mermaid couldn't be without water for more than four hours, more than that could be considered harmful to their body. It must be hard for her as she had to study too.

As a doctor of this infirmary, I had already thought the solution to this problem.

Ren quickly ran into the toilet and the sound of a rippling water could be heard from here. Fortunately, this room just had the right ingredients for me to make a substance to put into an antibiotic for diluting it. The diluted antibiotic wouldn't be harmful to the demons who had a delicate skin. We had many demons like these in this school so the ingredients like this were very easy to find. This infirmary had one bottle of this left lying on the shelves.

“Ren, come out here for a second.”

“All right, thou wait for me a bit.”

Ren walked out from the toilet with his half-soaked clothes.

“What is it?”

“I just thought of something. If her body receives water, maybe it can relieve her dehydration.”

“Do we have something like that?”

“Yes, even if it is only for a spare.”

I picked a palm-sized bottle of spray out. The truth was that this world didn't have a plastic, so I had to a gla.s.s instead. It was easy to break when this thing fell to the ground. This was still in a trial period as I had to find a better material that wasn't the plastics. Because the plastics were a dangerous material and they were really hard to decay. They would surely cause a big problem in the future.

“This is the spray that I made. It was rather easy to break when it falls to the ground, so you should be careful of that. If Shelyn shows a sign of dehydration, you have to spray it at her neck. It will help her feel better.”

“So It is like this. I'm in debt to thee again, s.h.i.+wa.”

“It's a duty as the doctor of this infirmary. To take care of a student's health is my duty when I'm in this room.”

“Thank thou very much.”
Ren lightly smiled. I didn't know why, but his smile seemed strangely depressing to me…

“Do you have any problem? I saw you making a face like this for some time.”

“No, it's nothing.”

“To give a counseling to the student is also considered as a duty of the doctor too. If you have any problem, you can ask me about it. If it is concerned her sleep-walking then I can help you with it.”

“…It may not be concerned with that but…”

“…?”

“Shelyn, she hasn't been lively as of late. I worry that something wrong with her. But I…Maybe it's because of our age or gender differences that I can't understand her. Even though the thing like this never happened before in the past.”

“It's called rebellion phase in technical term. It's nothing strange at all.”
“Rebellion phase?”

“That's right, this period is the time between a child and a teenager. It's an age where they will develop a capacity for independent decision-making and they are in sync with what they need than before. It will take time to adjust everything inside their mind.”

“If she recovers from it, will she go back to her normal self?”

“I don't know about that, but she will be all right. You can rest a.s.sured because it isn't a disease.”

“I also hope it will be like that.”

“Okay, you should go back to take care of Shelyn.”

“Thank thee…”

“You don't have to thank me.”
Ren nodded and walked back to the toilet. He looked relieved a little, but was it only that? I knew that he hadn't told me everything.
That's fine because it was a family's problem. If an outsider like me interfered with it, it would only cause it to worsen.

But something unexpected happened in the middle of the night.

‘Bang! Bang!'

“s.h.i.+wa, I want to ask thee something!! Please open the door!”

Hm?

I was interrupted when I had this deep sleep. Wasn't I got too little time to
sleep lately?

“Um, Is that Ren's voice again?” Luler sat up as he drowsily rubbed his eyes.

“I will go open the door for him.”

as I finished speaking, I walked to open the door. Ren, who was still wearing his blindfold, has a sweat all over his body and he looked really restless, more than he would normally be.

“Shelyn…Shelyn has disappeared from her room!!.”

“Ah, I get it. She must be sleep-walking again. I will help you find her.”

“No…This time I'm pretty sure that she isn't sleep-walking.”

“What?”

“She…She escaped from the window. Normally, she would go out using the door in her sleep-walking! I also locked the door tightly today…”

“Escape…? Shelyn?”

“I don't know! I don't know what I'm going to do right now. I can't change to my dragon form because of a magical seal here. Shelyn…”

His face paled as he recalled that this school had the magical seal that limited the power to change the form of those kinds of demon that could change their body to that of a large animal. Even a tiger demon couldn't change their form, don't ever mention about a dragon. They were also prohibited from using their power. The school feared that they would be dangerous to the students inside.

“You don't have to worry. I will help you find her. Luler! You go get Lookz and Bella to come here. We want their wings to find her. I will go get Akane and Teo, maybe they can use their nose to track down Shelyn's smell.”

“Um, I understand.”

Luler nodded and then his body changed into a bat-shaped shadow. He must be using a transportation magic. You really had a really convenient thing…

“You, Ren, should try to find her as much as you can. You should start at a place near to the source of water, maybe she will go there.”

“I understand. I-i won't forget this debt ever. I only want Shelyn back…I will do everything that thou wish for.”

“Both of you don't have to say anything like that. Even if it's unintentional but, we are bonded as friends. We have to help you.”

“Thank thee…”
He quickly ran away and disappeared into the hallway. Shelyn…What were you thinking?

To think would be a waste of my time, so I ran to Akane's room and Teo's room. I told them to help Ren find Shelyn as they could use a smell or anything that they could remember. They looked really agile when it was a tracking mission. Was it because they are a dog?

‘Flap Flap!'

“s.h.i.+wa, I haven't seen Shelyn anywhere!” Bella hovered over me with an uneasy expression.

“I also haven't seen her anywhere too.” Lookz flew down from an opposite direction. Even he hadn't found her? This was too strange…

“s.h.i.+wa! I haven't found or smelled anything!” Akane ran to me with her face was covered in her sweat.

“I don't find anything too.” Teo followed Akene along.

“I haven't seen her…” Luler, who appeared back, could only shake his head.

“What about Ren?” He is the only one who hadn't come back yet.

“I saw him swimming in the pond near the school. I think he is finding her in there.” Lookz answeres my question with a deadpan voice.

“Where is she? That doesn't matter, we should try finding her again for one more time. Perhaps she should be somewhere around here.”
We split up again to find Shelyn. I could only think…think about where could she go…the place that we hadn't been yet.

Think about it, my brain…

If she wasn't found outside of the school…

maybe…

it would be that place…!!!

I ran back to the school and pa.s.sed through many rooms and pa.s.sages. I stopped in front of the infirmary and opened the door to step inside. I could hear a sound of a water from a faucet and feel a wet floor.

“Shelyn…”

“s.h.i.+…wa?”

A feeble form of her body was lay inside a bathtub. Shelyn s.h.i.+fted her tail to fit the bathtub and sat in there.

“Why are you here? Everyone is finding you right now.”

“I-i only wanted to go back, but I didn't know which way is it. I didn't know where to go. But when I got my conscience back, I had a dehydration so I came here.”

“Go back? Where do you want to go back?”

“The sea…My homeland.”
Shelyn's eyes contained a sorrowful expression when she spoke about her home.

“What about Ren? Did he do something to make you angry?”

“No! Onii-sama…Onii-sama takes good care of me but…”

“But…?”

“He has hurt far too much because of me. I'm weak, but I still stay beside a strong person like onii-sama, that's what makes him hurt. Everything is because of me…because I insist…because I want to have my family back. I thought that he's similar to my brother, so I wanted to lie to myself that my brother still hasn't died.”

“Shelyn…”

“But he is a dragon…He is like a G.o.d, but I'm only a mermaid. I don't have any worth or anything at all.”

“About that…Did you ask Ren about this yet?”

“Ah…! Ask?”

Shelyn, who's lower her head down, looked up. Her eyes were red as though she was just finished crying her heart out. She stared at me with a doubtful expression.

“Did you try to ask him about this? That did he really think of you as a burden? Was he thinking the same as what you think of it yourself?”

“I…”

“Did you try to ask him? Are you really worthless in his eyes?”

“…”

“He is the mighty dragon. To him, you are just like a snack that can be broke in half from his chewing. Isn't it strange that he chooses to keep you? He takes care of you as though you are a jewel in his eyes. Didn't you take a time to think about his opinion of you?”

“Because…onii-sama is gentle.”

“That's not it at all. He isn't gentle, you know. He almost chewed Luler's head out once if I didn't appear just in time.”

“When was that!?”

“It was the time that you disappeared…He worried about you very much. He even begged me to come to find you even when he is the mighty dragon himself…”

“…Urg”

“If you don't say it, n.o.body will understand what you think. It's a good thing that you're honest with your feeling, but you should also be honest about the feeling of the people around you too. Especially, the people who love you.”

“I…”

“If you want to say something then you should talk with him. He is diving in the pool right now. I guess he's already completed the lap in there.”

“Yes…”

Her fishtail changed into a pair of legs and then she stood up from the tub. I supported her body and walked with her to find Ren at the pool. In that place, we could see a masculine body of a man who was diving in the pool located in the middle of the garden. He was diving up and down in the water without any break. He must take his s.h.i.+rt off because It would be much easier to swim without them. But to swim in the middle of the night without a s.h.i.+rt, wouldn't he get so cold to his bone?

“Go…He won't stop if you don't go.” I lightly pushed Shelyn's back for her to take another step forward.

“Yes…”

Her beautiful pair of foot slowly walked up to him. By the way, I didn't follow her. It would be better if I go back to the dormitory to wait for the news.
More importantly, It was a family's matter, so I shouldn't interfere with it.

Ren was anxious as he kept diving up and down deep into this pool to find his important person. It had been already past an hour as this pool was very vast. Even though it was dirty and a little muddy, but for her, he would…!

“Onii-sama..!”

“Shelyn…”

A similar voice called him from another side of the pool. Shelyn…His Shelyn was standing there! He hurriedly swam back to her side without any hesitation!

“Shelyn! Are you all right!? Did you get hurt anywhere!? How did you climb down from the window!? I'm worried sick about you, you know. You haven't fallen down from the window, right?”

“No…onii-sama.”

“This…Why do your eyes swell up like this? Who was the one that made you cry!? Tell me, I will go deal with them!”

“No, it's not like that. I was the one who harmed myself.”

“Shelyn…”

“Onii-sama…Can you truthfully answer this question?”

“Okay.”

“I…Am I troubling you?”

“Shelyn…”

“Because of me, onii-sama has to struggle. Because of me, you have to move here…Because of me…”

A drop of tears slowly flowed down from her amber eyes. She had to try very hard to keep her voice from shaking any more than this…

“I don't have the right to answer this question.”

“…”

“I tore you apart from the sea and your brethren, and let you live in the middle of monster's den that can attack you anytime. You have to bear and suffer this fear. I-i am the one who is selfish, and I can't let you go.”

“Onii-sama…”

“Are you troubled that you have to live under this circ.u.mstance?”

His sorrowful face was reflecting in her eyes. He was hurting, very much so, when he knew that she was escaped from him. He knew the best in his heart that he should send her back from the beginning.

But he couldn't do that…

“I'm not troubled at all! I-i want to stay with onii-sama…*sob*”

“Don't cry, Don't you know that I am weak to your tear…”
Her tears continued to flow upon Her cheeks because she couldn't hold her tears back anymore. Even Ren, who used his finger to tenderly wipe away her tears, couldn't make her stop crying.

When she thought that she couldn't stay with her onii-sama anymore, she felt hurt. But if it's for him, no matter how hard it is, she would endure it. However, It's more difficult than what she expected. Right now, she had to be strong. She had to tell him her feeling that she had towards him.

She had to be honest!

“I love onii-sama…”

“I love you too, Shelyn.”

“Onii-sama.”

Shelyn stood on her tiptoes to untie his blindfold off of him. He always wore this blindfold because of her. She had rejected him at that time.

“You don't have to cover your eyes anymore. I love…your beautiful eyes.”

“Shelyn…”

“It's starting to get cold. We should go back to our room. I have many things to tell you.”

“Um, that's fine.”

Ren scooped her up in a princess carry. He collected his discarded s.h.i.+rt before walked away to the dormitory. That night, they had many things to talk to each other, both new and old stories, including their hidden feeling towards each other.

It's as if they…could start their life in a better way than before.

…And that's the night that her sleep-walking hadn't shown itself for us to see again.

–Next>>

TL: h.e.l.lo, thank you for reading!