Chapter 6
Ellen
I love you with my all.
Your fingers, voice, eyes, I love with my entire body.
I don’t need my eyes anymore.
I don’t even need my legs.
I can just see with your eyes.
I can just run with your legs.
So please, give it to me.
All of you, to me.
1
The moment that "spell" was used, the entire forest was shrouded in darkness.
A powerful wind blew, and birds took off in surprise.
Sleeping beasts woke up with a start, looking around cautiously in all directions. Because they didn’t know where the air of unrest was coming from.
Among them, only one, a child, with eyes like gla.s.s, faced the correct direction.
The wise beast child knew.
That this forest was under someone’s control. An ent.i.ty in a realm far above even the brown bear. That it observed this great forest, and intervened. And that they beasts were little more than toys in that ent.i.ty’s palm.
The child saw the red roofed house - the house where the witch lived.
That was the place from which this unrest came.
Now, some sort of change was occurring with the master of the forest.
A great, unprecedented change.
It knew not what it was. Perhaps this had something to do with the life of the master.
In fact, for that reason, there was no grief. Even if the master died, they beasts would simply go on living in the forest.
The beast child’s mother saw her unlucky child and sharply howled.
That was when it happened.
A lightning-like flash of light spread through the entire forest.
Only for a moment. Only for a moment did the white light take vision from the beasts, then promptly was gone. And with it also left the black fog of unease.
The forest regained its afternoon brightness as if nothing had happened.
The birds and beasts were relieved, and began to move.
…But the beast child did not.
A calm wind blew through the forest. It was somehow different from that which had always blown; it seemed to carry a sorrowful tone.
The beast child felt it with its eyes and ears, its entire body. But it was meaningless, as it had no way to express the emotion.
Again, its mother howled.
The child followed its mother, vanis.h.i.+ng into the trees.
Had the beast child the means to express itself, perhaps this is what it would have said.
Now, one tragedy has ended - and another begun.
2
The white light filled my head.
As the light gradually faded…
…I slowly opened my eyes.
I heard the wind rustling the leaves of the trees.
It was very calming.
And I didn’t think so because this was a house deep in the forest.
There was no longer a noisy ringing deep in my ears.
There was no longer a headache a.s.saulting my temples.
It was completely silent.
I heard only the breathing and pulse of my body.
I could see.
That alone told me it was not my body.
I was still sitting in the chair, fallen over the bed.
I moved my eyes around to look at my body.
There were no bandages on my hands. I could delicately move even my fingertips. My legs were both there. Touching the ground. There were not bandages around my feet, but leather shoes.
I slowly got myself up, and a golden braid swayed at my shoulders.
…Unmistakably, it was Viola’s body.
The spell had worked.
I could tell my cheeks were heating up. I held them with both hands and yelled.
"Aah…! Wow…! Thank you! Thank you, Viola! Look, look at me! I’m in your body!"
I looked at the girl lying down.
Lying on the bed, I - Viola, rather, was still unconscious.
Bandages were wrapped around both eyes. The pale lips opened slightly, taking shallow breaths. The long purple hair lay strewn across the bed. One of the little hands reached toward me.
The hand I’d been holding hers with a moment ago.
I could still feel the sensation in my hand.
Reacting to my voice, Viola’s eyebrows moved slightly. Finally regaining consciousness, a moan came out of her mouth.
"Ugh… ahh…"
"Viola!"
Viola turned her head toward the source of my voice. Then her face cruelly warped itself into an attempt at a smile.
Suddenly, she held her forehead like she’d been punched, and began to scream.
"Aaaaah! - G-GAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
"Hey, hey, Viola! Look! Look, it’s me! I’m in your body, Viola! Wow, this is great. It feels so light being in a body that doesn’t hurt."
I stood up from the chair and spun around, making the skirt flutter.
"Aaagh… hah… hh…"
"Oh, sorry. You can’t see, can you?"
I softly touched Viola’s forehead. My hand was rudely pushed away.
She couldn’t properly respond to the pain of the body. She pushed the hand away so weakly, it was like being brushed by an angel’s feather.
"…Ah!"
As if only just realizing, I put a hand to my mouth and gasped. I whispered in concern.
"…Viola, does it hurt? Ohh, I bet it does. Sorry, just wait, okay? I’ll get you some medicine to stop the pain."
"…P-plea… se…", Viola said as if about to cry, catching her breath.
Looking at her, I went to the cupboard. I opened the drawer and quickly found the medicine. But I purposefully took my time rummaging around.
Viola gripped the sheets, desperately trying to endure the pain. Ahh, it was so comical, so darling.
Soon, I heard a hasty rustling of clothes.
"E-Ellen, m… m-my legs…"
"Hm? What’s that?"
"Ah…"
When I pretended not to hear, Viola swallowed and asked nothing more.
What happened to my legs? Boy. Did she only just notice they were gone?
How stupid was she?
After taking enough of my sweet time, I grabbed the medicine and returned to the bedside table.
I filled the cup with water from a pitcher.
The sound of pouring water seemed to alleviate just a fraction of Viola’s tension.
Then I dropped a grain of the candy-like medicine in the cup. It dissolved in an instant.
The water remained the same clear