When she woke up again, she was in the infirmary.
She wasn’t very familiar with the school infirmary.
As she slowly opened her eyes on the bed, she found herself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling, and soon she realized that someone seemed to be sitting beside the bed.
Lifting her head, she saw the woman seated at her bedside—tall and slender, wearing a pair of thick, round-framed glasses, with a gloomy, frigid air about her, forever fixed in that expressionless, indifferent look.
The woman was flipping through a book at that moment.
Upon noticing that Kirishima Ai had woken, she lowered her head and said casually:
“You’re awake?”
Kirishima Ai’s eyes were still heavy with sleep.
She rubbed them a little and tried to sit up in the bed, but she still felt somewhat drained.
She lowered her head and asked, not yet fully lucid:
“What happened to me…?”
As she recalled it, before she’d passed out she had been fighting a monster as a magical girl, holding on until another magical girl arrived.
After that, her strength had suddenly given out and her consciousness had gone hazy…
Ms.
Haibara spoke in her usual flat tone:
“You passed out.
Some of your classmates carried you here.
If you’re feeling unwell, I’ll take you to the hospital in a little while.”
Perhaps it was because she had just fainted, but the woman’s tone was a bit gentler than usual—or maybe she always spoke this way, only now with a touch more concern for her.
Kirishima Ai grew a little clearer-headed.
She shook her head and said in a low voice:
“No, I’m fine.
Thank you.”
She glanced at the clock.
It was probably afternoon by now; nearly an hour must have passed since she’d fainted.
Monster incidents were hardly a rare thing in this city.
Even with a monster attack like today’s, the school had no intention of canceling classes.
Once the magical girl had restored the places that were destroyed, everything went back to normal.
Because magical girls existed, a great many people had little sense of caution toward the monsters.
The one thing a magical girl could never restore was a human life, so in incidents like these, the only thing that truly mattered was the people themselves.
Haibara was still reading that book, no longer concerning herself with the student beside her:
“Don’t worry about it.
If it turned out like three years ago, it would be a real hassle for me too.”
The woman had reverted to her usual self.
But Kirishima Ai didn’t quite grasp what Ms.
Haibara meant.
She did seem to catch a somewhat familiar phrase, though—”three years ago.”
After mulling it over for a moment, she remembered where she had heard something like it before.
That Kite Monster had mentioned three years ago as well.
This school… had something happened here three years ago?
There was no use dwelling on things she didn’t know, and Kirishima Ai felt she was just about ready to get up.
She didn’t much want to go to class, but she wanted even less to stay this long alone with Ms.
Haibara, so she slowly pushed herself upright in bed.
“—Growl…”
It was the sound of Kirishima Ai’s stomach.
For a moment, the atmosphere turned a little awkward.
Only then did she remember that she’d eaten less than half her lunch before the monster attacked—her lunchbox had even been trampled to pieces.
Today she would not only have to sit through an afternoon of classes on an empty stomach, but she’d also have to buy a new lunchbox after school.
At the thought, on top of her embarrassment, Kirishima Ai felt a little dejected as well.
Ms.
Haibara shot her a glance:
“Didn’t get a chance to eat lunch?”
“Mm.”
Kirishima Ai nodded.
The aloof woman pushed up her glasses and rose from her chair, saying:
“Then wait here a moment.”
Kirishima Ai watched, a little bewildered, as she left the infirmary.
But since the teacher had told her to wait, all she could do was stay in bed and wait for her to come back.
When Ms.
Haibara returned, she was carrying a lunchbox, which she set down on the small table beside the bed.
Kirishima Ai lifted her head and looked at Ms.
Haibara.
Ms.
Haibara looked back at her:
“This is my lunch—I haven’t touched it yet.
It’s probably gone a little cold.
The utensils are disposable.
Go on, eat.”
This was Ms.
Haibara’s lunch?
“Then what about you, Ms.
Haibara?”
“I’ll go buy some rice balls later.
I don’t have any classes this afternoon anyway,” she said indifferently.
Kirishima Ai still didn’t quite understand, but she simply nodded, then carefully opened the lunchbox.
Inside was a meal far more refined than she had imagined.
A golden-brown fried cutlet—though it had dried and stiffened, its shape and color were still enticing—sat beside a row of neatly arranged rolled omelets that looked to be drizzled with ketchup, along with a teriyaki chicken drumstick.
It was all so lavish that she felt a little embarrassed to eat it.
She was rather taken aback; she’d assumed Ms.
Haibara was the type who couldn’t even be bothered about meals.
“I’ve been teaching myself to cook lately.
Do me a favor and be my taste-tester.
If it’s bad, well, there’s nothing to be done about that.”
Ms.
Kirishima Ai nodded softly, then snapped apart the disposable wooden chopsticks and began to eat.
First she put a bite of the fried cutlet in her mouth.
The breading had likely lost its crispness now that it had gone cold, but the balance of sweet and savory was just right, and the meat inside had been fried until tender.
As she ate the rice, she suddenly noticed that a little design had been arranged on top of it with sesame seeds and mayonnaise.
Out of curiosity, she took a careful look:
“Ms.
Haibara, is this… a Snake?”
The question slipped out almost on reflex, because—how should she put it—the design on the rice was a bit abstract, both ugly and adorable.
It was hard to imagine Ms.
Haibara had been the one to arrange it.
Ms.
Haibara froze for a moment, the book in her hands halting halfway through a page-turn.
“…That’s Xiaobai.”
For once, there was a complicated note in Haibara’s voice, as though even she found it a little embarrassing.
“Eh?”
Kirishima Ai looked utterly blank.
“It’s my pet Snake.
What, doesn’t it look like one?”
Though her tone was cool, it left one curious about what on earth Ms.
Haibara was thinking.
Kirishima Ai took another look at the cute, stubby little snake.
“You keep a Snake, Ms.
Haibara?”
It was rather surprising.
After all, it wasn’t the sort of pet an ordinary high school teacher would keep.
Then again, Ms.
Haibara gave off such a gloomy, aloof impression that keeping a Snake didn’t really seem out of place for her.
“I suppose I would.
They’re cute, after all, and not very bright—about on par with you kids, probably.”
“……”
Kirishima Ai wasn’t sure whether that counted as praise.
Still, this was the first she’d heard that Ms.
Haibara liked Snakes.
She took another bite of the rolled omelet.
It was just as delicious, with a sweetness to it that suited her taste perfectly.
Come to think of it, did that mean Ms.
Haibara liked sweet things too?
Kirishima Ai realized that Ms.
Haibara seemed a little cuter than she’d imagined.
Though this cuteness would probably only last for this brief while after she’d collapsed.
And with that thought, Kirishima Ai finished off the last of the lunch.