"This is…impossible…" My personal doctor whispered, staring at the clipboard like it was a personal offence. "This-, does not make sense. This is not how biology works! This goes completely against–!"
"Please…quiet…" I whispered, grimacing as my ears pressed down onto my head in a vain attempt to try and stop the painful ringing deep in my ears.
The doctor's eyes went wide, and he quickly cleared his throat. "A-Apologies, Blossom-san. I did not mean to…" He paused for a moment, before he sighed. "No. This is a conversation better saved for late night gatherings." He smiled apologetically. "Do you require any aid? We can administer some painkillers."
"I'm…fine." I croaked out, smiling wryly as I winced. "They…don't work…anyway."
"That-, is unfortunately true." He sighed once more, suddenly looking decades older than he already was. "I'll see myself out for now, Blossom-san." He smiled politely. "Please ring the bell if you need anything."
I slowly raised my hand and flashed him a thumbs up, and then winced in pain. The cracks all over my arm didn't start bleeding again, but I could feel the newly regenerated muscles straining as I moved my thumb.
He nodded before he left, and my hospital room returned to pleasant silence. I inwardly sighed as I sunk into my pillow.
It'd been five days since the [Japan Cup], and my condition had suddenly taken a turn for the worse. It wasn't anything drastic—I wasn't suddenly teetering on the edge of exploding from the inside again, but my metabolism had drastically slowed down, and with it came the end of the miraculous healing that'd allowed me to exit the ICU in mere hours.
Every doctor that was monitoring me was understandably confused. They first assumed that my True Blooming just ended, except further tissue analysis revealed that I was inexplicably at the beginning of it, with my hair turning white being the first physical transformation I experienced. And with further analysis bringing in no useful data, the entire Tokyo hospital was practically going crazy trying to find out what happened.
It was just a shame no one bothered to ask me directly, because I was pretty much the only one who knew what was going on.
[Na█e: Blo█som █t█r]
When I woke up this morning, aside from the heavy weakness that pulled at my body, I also noticed my System was beginning to glitch out. Letters began corrupting into ineligible clusters, some numbers began being obscured, and the [SP Shop] had outright collapsed in on itself.
It wasn't hard to realize what happened;
My System's battery was running out. Just as Eclipse had told me, the System had completely burnt itself out after the three years it spent with me. All the energy it spent to help me improve and keep me alive was not one it could restore on its own, and now my trusted companion was shutting down.
And since the Hero System was similarly in the hospice, the regenerative capabilities it held had shut down. Now, my healing had been reduced back to its basal level—which was still far faster compared to others thanks to my unique physiology, but significantly slower compared to what should've been.
[The █ero ne██s not wor█y. █he S█stem ██ll █nsure th█ Her█ and the Bea█t re█ove█ to parti██pa█e i█ the fin█l d█n█e of t█e Mi██cles!]
"Don't…stress yourself." I said softly, keeping my voice low in an effort to not irritate my overly sensitive throat.
[T█is i█ the Pro██nitor's fi██l Wis█]
I closed my eyes. "Eclipse's…" I muttered softly.
There was still much I didn't know about my friend. Things like how she even ended up in the umamusume universe in the first place, how she created the System, how she even knew about things like Destiny and the Three Goddesses. It was hard to fathom that the cheerful yet somewhat morbid girl that often frequented me during my final moments could turn into a pseudo-deity capable of rivaling genuine gods.
But-. it was precisely because she was my friend that I didn't question her. Instead, I slowly opened my eyes as I stared into the glitching panel, my blue eyes slowly washing into a gleaming gold. "What's…the price?"
[Wi█h the r█main██g Ener█y co██aine█ wit█in the C█re Eng██e, ██inten█n██ of █oth Res█orat█on of Co███ious█ess a█d Re██very of the B█d█ i█ im██ssible. Sy█tem collap██ wi█l oc█ur b██ore eithe█ re█ches com██etion]
[The █nly opti█n is to c█mp██mise on █he fo██er]
"So…a coma…?" I simplified, my eyes fully turning gold as I felt a strange well of energy rising within me. The surging heat was painfully familiar, but instead of surging forward with the strength of a supernova, it instead spun within me, cycling to and fro as the last of the System's energy coursed through my veins.
Slowly I raised my arm, and my smile turned a little awkward as I saw the cracks running across my hand beginning to glow a faint gold.
I sighed quietly. I could already imagine the reactions that'd follow once someone enters my room.
…Oh well. It wasn't my problem to deal with anymore.
Finally submitting to my fate, I finally stopped resisting the weakness that followed the surge of vitality, and my eyes closed as sleep finally claimed me.
…
Minutes later, a terrified shriek echoed down the halls of Tokyo Hospital when a nurse entered my room for a routine inspection. Following that scream, a small platoon of doctors and nurses also entered to see what was happening. Second later, they too began screaming as they saw me glowing like a cracked light bulb.
Suffice to say, no one in Tokyo Hospital had a good time that morning.
.
.
.
A few rooms down from mine, Oguri Cap laid on her hospital bed with a remarkably calm expression, despite being able to clearly hear the terrified screams that sounded from just a few rooms away. And paradoxically, a relieved smile came onto her lips just seconds later.
"She's asleep." She said with confidence, despite having not visited her at all today.
"tHe hErO. aSLEep aT LAst." Her friend said, having taken the shape of a blackened dove as it sat atop her head. "A reTuRN, iNvasIon of tHE mYstiQUE."
She hummed as she extended her hand forward, and her finger began glowing with a silver that surpassed even the brightness of moonlight. She quickly shook her hand, just before another coughing fit escaped from her lips. "Ow." She whispered, grimacing as she pressed a thumb onto her chest.
Her friend shook their avian head. "tIMe, evOLutIoN." They pecked her forehead with their beak. "MoOnLiGHT, and itS beAsT."
She nodded hastily, quietly promising not to make another attempt until she was at least fully healed. Her friend squawked as it felt her promise and finally stopped pecking her forehead.
Oguri was quiet for some time, before she frowned slightly when she noticed that her friend had disappeared.
Her friend spoke in strange, mystical ways, but Oguri was not blind. As more days went by after the [Japan Cup], she'd noticed that the phantom began appearing less and less. And whenever it did, the forms it took constantly grew smaller with each appearance.
A few days ago, their friend had appeared as an umamusume. Yesterday, a garuda cloaked in clack. Today, a dove.
How much longer did her friend have left?
…
At least, she wanted her friend and Star to finally converse. For one last time.
.
.
.
AN: Unfortunately, things are a little busy today, so there'll only be one chapter for today. Tomorrow's upload should be normal though.