"Ughhh."
Grimacing, I clutched my chest.
It wasn't only my chest that hurt. My whole body tingled as if I had been electrocuted.
The pain was so intense, unlike anything I had ever felt, that I was gripped by the fear that I might die like this.
'I can't let that happen.'
I grabbed my phone with trembling hands to call for help, but the pain made even pressing the buttons a struggle.
Just as I felt myself being swallowed into darkness.
Suddenly, as if by magic, all the pain vanished.
"...What was that?"
It had definitely hurt enough to kill me, yet my whole body was strangely fine.
Stunned, I clenched and unclenched my hands and feet, and moved my whole body this way and that.
But nothing was wrong.
"This is really weird."
Should I go to the hospital for this or not?
Thinking I'd definitely go to the hospital if it happened one more time, I went back inside, where Sia was sound asleep, and tried to get back to sleep.
***
The next day.
The first thing I saw when I woke up was, of course, pretty Sia.
Sia was lying beside me, watching me with a bashful smile.
Not as the 'grown-up noona' I had seen last night, but as the Sia I remembered.
"Did you sleep well, oppa?"
I had wondered whether last night's setup might carry over into today, but Sia faithfully called me oppa as usual.
"Mm-hm. I slept well. Did my Sia sleep well too?"
"Super well."
We started the morning with a light hug.
"I'm going to peel some apples. You'll have some too, right, oppa?"
"Yeah."
Getting out of bed, Sia got breakfast ready by peeling fruit, as usual.
It was no different from any other morning.
Yet for some reason, something felt slightly off.
Maybe because I remembered the side of herself Sia had shown me last night.
When I sat there spacing out, Sia, who had been peeling apples, put down the knife and turned toward me.
"Oppa, what are you thinking about?"
"What happened last night."
At that, Sia's face began to flush faintly.
"U-Um— Oppa. I mean, yesterday—."
"Sia noona."
When I playfully called her noona like I had last night, Sia's face turned as red as a beet.
Sia covered her face with both hands, apparently embarrassed.
"Nnngh...."
"Last night you gobbled me up like a real noona, and today you're all shy."
"Ugh. Why did I do that?"
"For someone saying that, you looked like you were having a great time last night."
Not to mention she was the one who had suggested it in the first place.
It seemed the reality check had hit her belatedly.
"Well, I liked it. Let's try a different setup next time."
Worried that Sia might feel embarrassed, I decided to change the subject naturally.
"Is there anything you want to do today?"
Munching on an apple and thinking it over with a happy look, Sia soon came up with an answer.
"A training-ground date!"
Not just a date, but a training-ground date?
In the past, back when we attended the Hunter Academy, we had sometimes done that together.
But now that Sia had become a dragon so strong she had no need for training, I didn't think we had any reason to go on a date at a training ground.
If she was still set on a training-ground date, though.
"Is it to get that old-times feeling?"
That was probably why.
"That's part of it. But besides that, I honestly just want to help with your training, oppa. I told you yesterday that I saw the potential in you to become a ranker in no time."
Sia showed her eagerness, saying she wanted to draw out that potential of mine even a little sooner.
Of course, I wanted to see my potential bloom as soon as possible too......
But that was that; for at least a week, I wanted to stick to Sia like gum and go on dates like a normal couple.
After everything it took to get my Sia back.
Couldn't we just spend a week or so like this?
"Just until three o'clock. After that, no more training-ground date, just a regular date. How's that?"
As if she had read my mind, Sia offered a compromise.
"Let's do that, then."
"Let's!"
After finishing breakfast, we headed to the training ground.
The training ground we went to was one we had often visited back in our Academy days.
I had thought I'd never come here again.
"Being here brings back old memories."
"Me too."
Perhaps because it was near the Academy campus, familiar signs caught my eye.
It really felt as if I had traveled a few years back in time.
When we arrived at the training ground, we unpacked right away and got down to training in earnest.
Although, strictly speaking, it wasn't our training but 'my' training.
I took up the Dragon Bone Sword Sia had given me yesterday, and Sia brought over a chair and sat right behind me.
"Teacher, what should I do?"
I called Sia teacher in a playful tone.
"Teacher, he says. Pfft."
"Well, you're the one teaching me. So that makes you my teacher."
Perhaps because she wasn't used to being called teacher, Sia squirmed.
"I'm getting goosebumps, oppa."
"Then should I call you noona?"
"Nnngh."
Sia neither confirmed nor denied it.
But the joking lasted only a moment.
Sia soon switched into teacher mode and began overseeing my training.
"Let's see. For the monster... a Wood Golem would be good."
"That's a B-rank monster."
I had assumed she'd pick one of the C-rank monsters, but Sia chose the Wood Golem, a B-rank monster, as my opponent.
"Still, it won't be as hard as you think."
It might be different in a real fight, but since this was simulation training, Sia said we should be bold, and I agreed.
'I'm excited.'
At first I had thought it was a little strange, but it brought back old memories, so I was excited, and I was also excited to see how much power I could unleash.
Exactly what kind of talent I had that let me draw out the Dragon Bone Sword's power.
And where its limits might lie.
Before starting the training, I gave the sword a few light swings.
As expected, I still didn't get it.
"Even if it's a simulation, you know, right, oppa? Don't think of it as training; give it everything you've got, like it's the real thing."
"Of course."
That line, I think, was something I used to say to Sia now and then on our training-ground dates.
I never imagined I'd have it thrown back at me today.
"Think of every Wood Golem that comes out as a bitch who's after your number, oppa. One swing each, snap, snap! You know what I mean?"
"Of course."
Her tone was playful, but judging from Sia's eyes, she didn't seem to be saying it lightly.
'Fair enough.'
If I had been in Sia's shoes, that incident would have bothered me too.
I didn't know whether to laugh or not.
Anyway.
With a spirited cheer, the simulation training began.
As soon as the training started, training Wood Golems began spawning from the wall on the far side.
'What's the right way to take them down?'
For starters, the Wood Golem I was up against today had quite high defense, but its movement speed and attack power were pitiful for a B-rank.
In that case, agility and stamina would be the key in the end.
Going back over yesterday's fight, I figured my agility wouldn't be much of a problem; the problem would probably be my stamina.
Still.
'I'll just have to push through on grit and guts.'
There was a saying like that a while back.
That what matters is a heart that doesn't break.
Chewing on that one thought, I gripped my sword tight and charged into the heart of the enemy ranks.
The Wood Golems, which had been approaching sluggishly, gradually picked up speed, but I paid it no mind.
In this moment, I had decided that boldness mattered above all.
I picked out the golem farthest from the rest of the Wood Golem pack, ran straight at it, and swung my sword.
Swish!
It might not have shown on the outside, but I could definitely feel it.
"Got it."
Judging by how it staggered, the blow had landed properly.
But I couldn't be satisfied with just this.
I rolled forward, dodging the golem's sluggish attack.
The moment I dodged, I slashed horizontally at the golem's leg this time.
SHUNK!
It wasn't my imagination. Now that I held this sword, something had definitely changed.
'But she said it wasn't simply because of the sword's power.'
I had to keep thinking about what that reason was as I swung.
All the more because this was training.
A massive golem arm swung at me, but I ducked my upper body to dodge it, then leapt hard and drove my blade into another golem.
'The reason I can run wild like this.'
The Dragon Bone Sword.
Being made from a dragon's bones meant it held a dragon's power.
Dragon.
Right, let's focus on the existence called a dragon first.
How am I supposed to draw out the power of a dragon, the being that reigns supreme over the earth?
'Sia said dragons are beings that reign and rule.'
Reigning and ruling. Those were the keywords.
I felt like something was about to click, but it didn't quite hit home.
Words like reigning and ruling hardly suited a mere D-rank Hunter like me.
But if I wanted to draw out even a little of the dragon's power in the sword, shouldn't I first become someone worthy of that stature?
According to Sia, those who had drawn out the Dragon Bone Sword's power to its limit had mostly become rulers.
One rose from a lowly station to reign as king, and a king of a weak nation unified the continent and reigned over it.
Then shouldn't I, too, swing my sword harboring the ambition to become a ruler?
I still didn't really know why I had been able to draw out this sword's power so far, but I felt I had a vague idea of what mindset I should wield it with.
I couldn't take the stance of a challenger.
I had to swing as if I were standing above their heads from the very start.
Not intending to learn a move from them, but intending to teach them one.
I struck the golem as if I were hitting a practice dummy.
KRAAAACK—!
With a heavier impact than before, one golem went down in a single blow.
Seeing the golem fall, I checked Sia's reaction.
"Nice, oppa!"
Sia's face was full of astonishment and delight.
"One number-snatcher, cut down."
Pointing at a golem that was staggering bit by bit under my blows, I said it playfully.
Being a dragon, she would never be able to forget yesterday's unpleasant memory, but I hoped the bad feelings could fade even a little.
"Not that any of them could even reach my Sia's toes anyway."
"Right, right."
I had deliberately thrown in a cheesy line, and Sia nodded, seemingly satisfied.
Sia was happy, and I was starting to get the hang of it.
All that was left now was to push forward.
I decided to forget what sword I was holding, or what enemies stood before me.
The number of Wood Golems kept growing, but I paid it no mind at all and kept swinging.
A confidence and an exhilaration I had never tasted before began to sweep through my body.
Could this be what they called a state of perfect absorption?
Little by little, my mind began to grow hazy.
'...No.'
At first I mistook it for that, but something was different.
My mind was growing hazy, but conversely, and strangely, unbearably painful aches began to spread through my whole body.
It was the same pain I had briefly felt on the rooftop last night.
The pain was so hard to bear that my legs began to give out.
"Oppa? Are you okay?"
I had to tell her I wasn't okay, to ask her to help me.
But strangely, the words wouldn't come out.
At this rate, I'd probably collapse soon.
CLATTER—!
As the strength drained from my hands, I dropped the sword and immediately reached out toward Sia for help.
"Si... Sia...."
But for some reason, the words wouldn't come out properly.
The sight of Sia rushing toward me in a panic was the last thing I took in.
Then I lost consciousness.