After getting the girl from the warehouse Kotori had Umi look after her. Kotori had denied Yukio’s attempts to see her. If Yukio saw the state the girl was in it would likely upset him quite a bit. This was Kotori’s way of trying to be considerate.

“So how the girl?” She asked Umi

“She’s a little thin, and underfed but otherwise she physically alright. She is however… unresponsive. The entire time I was examining her she didn’t respond or react once.” Umi reported.

Kotori pursed her lips. Although they saved the girl she was already near catatonic after becoming addicted to the sweet leaf.

She had never tried the drug herself, but apparently in low doses the drug would give a mild high and only in higher doses would the victim act like this.

This was why it was so difficult for the kingdom to control it. Frankly, if used responsibly and carefully there was no issue but the drug was still very addictive and even the strongest of wills could succumb to it.

Ironically, Fawks actually didn’t mind if Gerard was dealing the drug. If it weren’t for the fact that Fawks was going to use it to take out the Atlean merchants he said that he would even consider joining the business

[Those merchants only think about money don’t they…] Kotori thought upon hear Fawks remarks.

The issue remained with the girl. At the very least after forcing some soup down her throat some color had returned to her cheeks, but she was still in a sorry state. Kotori could only wait until the current drug left her system and start working from there.

This country had no sort of “Rehab” system, so Kotori was going to have to work from the ground up. Thankfully, she still had some knowledge of human biology from her past life. While, she wasn’t a doctor she would at least be able to make sure the girl was able to get over a simple drug addiction.

Kotori left the room where a concerned Yukio was waiting outside. He was being held back by Shu.

“Let me see her!” He shouted. Kotori had unbound him after she made a deal with him.

Kotori shook her head

“The girl in your memory and the girl now are going to be two different people.” Kotori said.

“I don’t care let me see her!” Yukio demanded.

“She’s healthy enough alright? We’re not going to do anything to her. I just need sometime to fix her up.” Kotori explained

“She doesn’t need fixing, I saw you bring her in she looked fine!”

Kotori sighed,

[Kids are troublesome] She thought, completely ignoring the fact that she was one herself

The people in the world didn’t understand the concept of “addiction” to them it was an issue of personal mental self-control rather than a physiological condition that needed to be treated.

If Yukio saw Kotori micro dosing the girl he would be furious and not understand the purpose behind Kotori’s actions.

Kotori had no clue what the withdrawal symptoms were for sweet leaf but when it came to other drugs in her old world, forcing a person to go cold turkey could cause death or seizures

She could only slowly wean the girl off the drug.

Whether the girl would be strong enough to deal with lingering withdrawal symptoms were not her issue, but at the very least she was not going to let a girl she had just rescued die just because the medicinal practices in this world were too primitive

Kotori felt her karma go up slightly

[Oh?] It seemed like the system registered this as a good action.

Kotori shifted her strategy and tried to explain the problem in a different way.

“Look the girl is… sick only I know the cure ok? So let me take care of her for now. I know she looked fine but I promise you she might die if she gets left alone”

Yukio stopped struggling against Shu after hearing Kotori’s explanation. Shu let him go, and he dusted off his body.

“Can you at least explain what she is sick with?” He said pleading. Yukio evidently cared quite a bit about this girl.

Kotori shook her head.

Yukio’s eyes seemed to sadden,

“Can you at least promise me that you’ll make her better then?” He said mournfully

“Of course,” Kotori said nodding, and giving a reassuring smile.

Kotori was sympathetic to him after all. He was finally getting the chance to see the girl who took care of him, and Kotori was blocking him from her. He was already used to being young and helpless and it was obvious why he was upset. She had already kidnapped him; it was the least she could do.

[Still, it almost feels like he had a crush on her] Kotori could see why the boy would fall in love with the girl. She was pretty enough, being taken care of by such a girl would make a kid fall in love easy. She probably was the one point of warmth in his life. He was still a bit young to understand the feeling, but Kotori could see him growing into it in the future.

Looking at the pitiful figure in front of her Kotori could only hope for the boy.

[Grow big and strong ok! Girls like it when guys can protect them!] She thought, rooting for the boy

Kitsura

I think soft boys are pretty cute too...