Fate stared at his right arm, disoriented, clutching it, only to feel a painful stinging that caused him to trash around in agony. However, as his vision finally cleared, he was able to see that his entire arm had been extensively bandaged, while his hand was closed off in a ball of wrappings.

 

Over the lower half of his body, rested a simple, thin blanket, which had no patterns covering it, and was blue in color. Due to the pain that assailed his mind, he didn’t bother to try to move his limbs anymore, much less take the cover off to see the state of his lower body.

 

He found himself barely able to wiggle his legs and feet, and, though he was able to move his upper half, trying to move had caused and would cause him, even more pain. This left him only able to move his head freely.

 

He could only slowly lower his upper body back down, allowing the burning and stinging pain to die down, as he flopped his head onto a soft pillow below. He looked up at the ceiling in a daze, looking at the stone-built surface above his head with unsure eyes, as if questioning, despite the pain being proof enough, if what he was seeing was real…

 

Fate: “...I-I’m...actually alive…I can’t...believe it…”

 

Fate had slowly begun to steady his breath, silencing his gasps, and his writhing body had begun to slump down, when, suddenly…

 

???: “Fuuuuu….”

 

Fate heard the sound of slow breathing, and a faint breeze began to tickle his chest. His eyes widened, as he slowly shifted his gaze to the left side of his body, where the tickling sensation and sounds were coming from…

 

???: “Fuuuuu…”

 

Sitting next to him in a wooden chair, with her head nuzzled into the blankets that surrounded his body, was Liza, who was sleeping soundly beside him. However, rather than feel embarrassed that she had seen him in such a pathetic state, Fate’s attention was drawn to her arms...

 

Liza: “Fuuuuu…”

 

Her right arm was beneath her head, acting as a pillow, but her other arm was dug into the blanket that hid his body, diving under it.

 

-...Where is her arm going…?

 

 Fate could already feel himself becoming even more flustered, but quickly spurred himself to action,  working through the pain and weakness of his left arm to pry the blanket from off his body.

 

He felt his heart thump in his chest, and his face slowly heating up, as he managed to force the covering off of him, revealing his body underneath as it fell to the floor…

 

Fate’s face had turned tomato red at this point, and continued to redden further towards a beet-red, as the sight of Liza’s hand, poking through the bandages that wrapped around his side filled his vision. He suddenly felt a sensation working its way through his pain and weakness, and into the forefront of his mind.

 

-...Wha…!

 

Liza: “Fuuuu…”

 

The feeling of her hand pressing her slender hand around his naked skin was burned into his head, along with the embarrassment that came with it.

 

 He wanted to escape or shout in surprise, but, due to the condition his body was in, and for some reason finding himself unable to disturb Liza, who was sleeping beside him so soundly, he could only try to block it out…

 

-...W-why is she...her hand…L-liza…?!

 

However, not only was he unable to disregard this feeling, but, even though he was extremely flustered, he somehow found himself enjoying it, his body betraying him by slowly absorbing the warmth from her hand…

 

Fate felt his tense body becoming loose again, as the strange warmth flowed from his side to every corner of his frame, and pain and fatigue he felt were slowly fading into the background of his thoughts...

 

Liza: “Fuuuuu…”

 

However, as he slowly accepted his helplessness, and allowed the strange feeling to seep into him, his gaze suddenly became cloudy...

 

He was still able to feel the burning and stinging pain that attacked his right arm, despite it now being dwarfed by Liza’s warmth, and the relief he felt from being alive now were replaced by a sense of guilt that began to sprout in his chest…

 

-Her arms…

 

Fate’s gaze locked on the smooth skin of the hand below Liza’s head, despite it almost being hidden from view, his cloudy eyes analyzing it, as the guilt began to sting his insides…

 

-...She...I…

 

He could feel tears beginning to build behind his eyes, as his gaze now shifted between his bandaged, burnt right arm and Liza’s arms…

 

-...I...did this to myself...but to her…

 

The guilt he felt was terrible, as he began to recall the day when he had tackled her to the floor and burnt both of her arms with his flames…

 

He had experienced the burning of his flesh before, such as during his『Fire Magic』experimentation, his escape from his captivity by Atlas, and during his battle with Jacob, but never had he felt such pain and fear as he had when he faced the boar…

 

Fate’s gaze shifted back to Liza, his eyes locking on her gentle, sleeping face, as tears began to roll from his eyes…

 

Fate: “...How...did you deal with it...this pain…?”

...