Return of the Fallen Volume 3 Chapter 34
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch34
Nunully began healing Asuna’s bruised hand and asked in disbelief.
“Ryuta, I don’t understand why you think a bit of pain will wake her up. Just look at her hand. Mei used plenty of strength on Asuna’s hand and yet all we got out of her was a small twitch. How can you be so confident.”
Shin as well didn’t think it would work.
“I’m with Nunully. If pain worked then she should have already woken up by now. Don’t tell me you really want to throw her off a roof, I was kidding when I mentioned that.”
Mei’s tears were just starting to settle down but she was ready to tear up again at a moment’s notice if Kazuki’s next words weren’t to her liking.
“Big bro, what did you mean a second ago? I don’t get it, what are you trying to do to big sis?”
Kazuki gently picked up Asuna’s hand and stroked it smoothly. He didn’t notice before but her skin was quite supple. Turning it over, he sent a few strands of ki into her palm. To others, he seemed to be staring intently at her hand but really he was inspecting her body very closely.
“I told you all before that in order for me to awaken I had to almost hit the ground inside my head. For me, it wasn’t the actual impact that did it, instead, it was the thought of what would come when I did hit it. I didn’t actually experience pain but I thought I might and I believe that thought is where our solution lies. Not the pain itself but the idea of pain.”
Kazuki’s ki stretched and wrapped itself around Asuna’s body. Infiltrating her depths and encompassing her every nerve.
“What does that even mean? The idea of pain, is that like a scare or something?”
Shin’s question was on everyone’s mind but Kazuki himself wasn’t 100% sure on how to describe it.
“Hmm, maybe. What I want to do is kind of like that. In essence, I want to trick her body. Since we can’t get to her mind the natural way, we have to go the roundabout way through her body. If that makes any sense.”
Shin shook his head.
“I still don’t quite get it but what did you have in mind?”
Kazuki smiled fiendishly.
“It’s really simple, we drop her.”
Mei jumped up and screamed.
“No you can’t!”
“Little Mei, don’t worry, I won’t be the one to do it, after all, I can’t reach that high. No for this, there’s only one person we can count on.”
All eyes turned to Mei as they understood what he meant. Mei though was still left confused and wondered why everyone was staring at her until finally, it clicked.
Mei hurriedly backed away into a corner.
“No no no, I won’t do it, no no no. Big sis, I could never drop big sis, no no no.”
Nunully and Kimi both sympathized with her, while Sam seemed more worried about Asuna.
“Ryuta, are you sure that something like this can work.”
Kazuki shook his head.
“No, but this is the best thing I can come up with right now.”
Kazuki could feel the worry from everyone.
“I’m serious, If anyone has another idea I’m open but we are in a situation where the sooner Asuna wakes up the better. If that thing comes back and we’re not firing on all cylinders, we’ll be forced to give up on this village and we’ll have to retreat. Who knows what happens after that.”
Kazuki gave everyone a chance but in the end, there were no more ideas.
Now the only problem was…
“Mei, come on you can do this.”
Mei repeatedly shook her head.
“No, not big sis. If I drop her, she’ll die she’ll die!”
Kazuki tried and tried but no matter what he said or how e bargained with her, Mei would not budge even an inch from the corner.
Finally, Nunully grabbed Kazuki’s shoulder.
“Ryuta, let me try and convince her.”
*Haa*
“Please do.”
Nunully sat down next to Mei and wrapped an arm gently around Mei’s shoulder.
“Big sis, I don’t want to do it, what if big sis Asuna gets hurt or dies because of me? I don’t want her to die, I really really like big sis. She’s so kind and funny, especially when she gets mad at Shin. Please don’t make me drop her.”
“Mei Mei, if you really don’t want to do this then no one here will force you. Even if they try, big sis here will shield you, so don’t worry about that.”
Mei’s big teary eyes looked up at Nunully.
“Really?”
Nunully nodded.
“Really.”
A moment of silence passed and Kazuki wondered if he should interfere and try again when Nunully waved him away.
“Mei, you know, big sis will be in danger if she stays asleep.”
“Huh.”
“Yes, if Asuna stays sleeping then her body will grow weak. She won’t be able to eat delicious foods with us nor drink any water. Her body won’t last and she’ll pass away.”
Mei’s eyes went round.
“What. Big sis won’t be able to eat yummy food with us anymore and she’ll die. No, I don’t want that!”
Mei pushed her face into Nunully’s chest and cried more. Nunully didn’t stop it and added more fuel to the fire.
“Not only that but that monster might even see her as easy prey. Without Asuna, our party is weaker and the monster will be able to take her away very easily then and eat her up like a tasty snack.”
“NO! What do we do?”
“There’s only one thing to do. Mei do you really care about Big sis Asuna, do you really care about Me?”
Mei tearfully nodded.
“Then what would you rather happen, Big sis Asuna get eaten or we all help wake her up together?”
Mei pulled her face away from Nunully and her crying became less than a whimper as she whispered.
“together.”
Nunully patted her head and smiled brightly.
“Right, I want to wake her up together as well. As long as we all work together it becomes less dangerous. So even if you drop her, big bro Ryuta and big bro Sam will be there to catch her, am I right?”
Kazuki quickly stepped forward.
“Right, I’ll make sure to protect big sis Asuna.”
Sam as well took a large step forward. Although he said nothing, he gave Mei a big thumbs up and even softly smiled at her. Mei’s crying finally stopped completely and she couldn’t help but smile back at Sam’s soft expression as this was a rare sight for her to see.
Kimi as well smiled and pointed at herself.
“Me too me too. With just a wave of my staff, I’ll make a barrier if need be. Mei, you can count on me as well.”
Shin rubbed his head before stepping forward lastly.
“I think it goes without saying that this hero will lend a helping hand if need be.”
Mei’s face crumpled a bit hearing Shin’s announcement. Kimi as well laughed at him.
“Hahaha, Shin the humble will bless us with his gifts, aren’t we special.”
“Hmpf, if you and a dog were hanging on the edge of a cliff I’d rather pull the dog up.”
Kimi grew irritated and barked back.
“What did you say?”
Shin turned around and started whistling, completely ignoring Kimi’s fangs.
With everyone stepping up and reassuring her, Mei felt a little more confident but she was still scared.
“What if I mess it up?”
“I’ll be right there with you and everyone else will be there on the ground, so even if you mess up, we’ll all be there to help. Besides, your job is the easy part. All you have to do is drop her, the rest, you just leave up to them, got it?”
Mei finally calmed down. With a hard swallow, she felt much better now.
“Big sis, thank you. As long as everyone is there, I promise I won’t be a scared baby bird.”
—————————————————————————-
*Whosssssh*
A large gust of wind continuously blew past Nunully’s ear threatening to tare her eardrums. As Mei ascended higher and higher A piercing cold would easily feel as though it were stabbing at the skin. Nunully, however, was used to the cold. With her element being water and ice, this much cold felt merely like a cool day. To anyone else who was normal, their skin would have turned blue and then black in only a few minutes.
Nunully rode on Mei’s back. Behind her, Kazuki held onto Asuna and kept her wrapped in a warm blanket. Kazuki also wrapped her entire body in ki. It didn’t keep out the cold completely but it did help plenty. Right now, Asuna’s complexion was rosy indicating how warm she actually was.
The idea was simple enough, Kazuki would recreate the fall within his mind that awoke him. Except instead of doing it within his mind he would fall down with Asuna for real. He was hoping even with her mind lost, her body would still feel that odd rising sensation in her guts and then relay that feeling to her mind. Not only that, Kazuki would fall with her while using his ki to stimulate every nerve in her body.
With her nerves becoming extra sensitive, he hoped the feeling of falling would increase so much so, that her body forced her awake, thinking it was on the verge of death. In order to this though, Kazuki had to fall with her, he had to remain in contact with her body so he could continuously send his ki to her nerves.
Kazuki wasn’t afraid of heights but knowing that his only safety net down below was Shin, well, the feeling he got was definitely not a good one.
It wasn’t the most intelligent plan or rather it wasn’t that great an idea at all but it was all they currently had.
As Mei broke through the clouds, her metallic black feathers shuddered nervously. Nunully inhaled the cold air deeply into her lungs and felt the wonderfully natural feel of the cold. Stroking Mei’s back, Mei felt a sense of calm from Nunully and her jittery feathers became composed and steady.
“Good Mei, your job is already over. Just hover here and it will be over soon.”
Nunully turned her head back to Kazuki and whispered to him.
“Ryuta, are you sure you want to do this?”
Kazuki shook his head.
“Absolutely not.”
Right after he said that, with Asuna still in his arms, he jumped off of Mei’s back and dove rapidly toward the ground.
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