"I see, when it comes to great-grandmother, by this wor… this country's perspective, she's 'like a monster'. Indeed, due to childbirth, illness, accidents, wars, monsters, nutritional status, and so on, there are very few people who can live long enough to see their great-grandchildren… Oh, by the way, in this country, 2%, or 2 out of 100 people, live to be 100 years old.
…Many of them are women." (Mitsuha)
"Whaaaaaat!!" (Sabi-Colé)
Sabine-chan and Colette-chan let out a cry of surprise.
Well, that's surprising, wasn't it?
"Being 100 years old is simply impossible, even for the village elders!" (Sabine)
Well, it's a world where you could easily die from a cold or appendix. There were also diseases like tetanus that could be contracted due to injury.
It seemed that even on Earth, in the past, people could die from tooth decay…
...And as long as I'm not killed, I can probably live to be over 100 years old...I think.
"So, for the sake of your classmate's great-grandmother, who is not even your best friend, do you want to risk your secret being revealed? For the sake of an old woman who has already exceeded the average lifespan and has taken over her life?
Pneumonia is a fairly common cause of death in this country, and it's not like it's an unexpected death or a tragic end. They would pass away in bed surrounded by their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Is there any need for outsiders to get involved with this?" (Mitsuha)
It might seem cold, but that's normal…or, no, it's probably a happier death than normal.
"……" (Sabi-Colé)
Yes, I'd stick with it…
"If this happened to your 11 or 12-year-old classmates, I'd think about it a little more. But isn't she your classmate's great-grandmother? If you keep worrying about things like that, there will be no end to it. What about another classmate’s great-grandparents or grandparents? What if you are told that their dog has heartworm disease? Are you going to deal with all of that? How far will the scope of relief be expanded? Only families of people in the same class? What about the families of those in the same grade? What about other grades? What about teachers and traffickers? What about the uncles and aunts in the shopping district?
You can't just deal with just anyone like them, right? Do you want me to raise the average life expectancy of this country and confuse the statisticians?" (Mitsuha)
"……" (Sabi-Coleé)
"Besides, if you do that, your secret will be revealed and you'll have to cancel your study abroad program. Are you okay with that?" (Mitsuha)
"…it's okay." (Sabine)
"Yeah!" (Colette)
…eh?
"It's a shame that my study abroad program ended prematurely, but it's not a big deal compared to not having to see my friends cry." (Sabine)
"I agree!" (Colette)
….
…….
Well, it's Sabine-chan and Colette-chan…
What should I do…
Two days after that.
…no, it's already 2 a.m., so it's three days later.
The preparations had already been made.
I asked Sabine-chan to find out the name of the hospital and the room number where Kaizuki-chan's great-grandmother were hospitalized.
Then, during the day, I chose a time when the staff station was busy and boldly enter the ward bearing get-well gifts.
I passed the hospital room I was aiming for, turned the corner, made sure there was no one in sight, and headed home via teleportation.
I was planning on teleporting immediately if I was questioned, but there was no problem.
Well, I didn't think there were many people who would be suspicious of a girl who looks around 15 years old and was carrying a gift.
Besides, ghost stories about girls disappearing in a flash wouldn't be uncommon in a large hospital.
If this were an apartment building, the price might go down due to bad rumors…
Well, that's why I could always transfer to the hospital room of Kaizuki-chan's great-grandmother.
Maybe it's because she's rich or because her condition is getting worse, but she seemed to have a private room. I was grateful because it reduced the risk of being discovered.
…why did I decide to accept it?
This was where she used up all the credit point earned so far!
Not only Sabine-chan, but also Colette-chan!
Part of that was because Colette-chan risked her life to protect me.
…there's no way I could refuse!!
Ha ha ha….
It's this time. As expected, the two of them were already asleep.
No, if I were to act tonight, I'd definitely say I'd stay up and wait for them, so I was secretly acting without telling them anything.
The two of them had school tomorrow…or maybe it's already today…
You couldn't your children go to school without sleep. That could lead to injuries and accidents.
I was wearing a white dress so that when found, people would think it was a ghost.
Then I placed in a large cardboard box with double camouflage.
Alright, transfer!
I appeared in the hallway in front of the target hospital room.
I stuck my head out of the cardboard box and quickly checked my surroundings.
It's similar to how they use a periscope on a submarine to instantly search their surroundings.
…and I felt relieved when I confirmed that there was no one around.
Staff stations… Nowadays, there were physical therapists, occupational therapists, medical social workers, and various other people in addition to nurses, so it seemed that more and more hospitals are no longer calling their stations nursing stations. Although the direction was bright, the only light in this area was the night light.
Alright, transfer to the other side of the hospital room door!
The reason for this effort was that it's too risky for the disease to spread directly to a hospital room where the inside had not been seen.
Once I was transferred to the front of the door, I could safely appear inside the hospital room by re-transferring, "1 meter from here, to the other side of the door."
If someone saw me in the hallway or there was someone in the room, I could immediately teleport to my room in the apartment and said, "I heard there was a ghost in the hospital last night." There's no problem.
Also, I could just try again at a later date.
…okay, there's no one but the sick person, and the sick person also seemed to be sleeping.
There was a device that monitors vital data and sends an alert if something happens, so there was probably no need for humans to be present.
Of course, that's why I chose this time at 2 am.
It was an ideal pattern, which I figured had a probability of about 85%.
And in order to carry out my purpose safely and reliably, I'd done many visualization exercises beforehand.
...Not to train me, but to help the fragments of the spiritual life form that were fused with me remembered and understood the image of what I was trying to do.
…yes. The things that have been swallowed from the trachea and lungs... food, saliva, etc... and bacteria that caused inflammation in the trachea and lungs by transferring them.
When I removed something from my own body, I would leave what I wanted to remove there, and then transfer myself, but if it's inside someone else's body, I'd just leave that person behind. All I had to do was transfer the item I wanted to remove.
The decision to only ingest food and bacteria was left entirely to the part of it, mental entity that had merged with my mind.
That part, like the external hard disk, didn't seem to have any ego, but it got everything done with ease.
Thanks to this piece of mental intelligence…it didn't have any rationality or sensibility such as will or emotion, but it seemed to have intellectual abilities…it could accurately memorize transfer points, or roughly specify things that couldn't be seen directly. It was possible to selectively metastasize even those that had been transferred.
Otherwise, there would be no transfer of bacteria!
In this case, I would probably comparing and confirming the images of "Things in the trachea and lungs that are harmful to the human body" and "Things that are not found in the trachea and lungs of healthy humans," as well as my knowledge of the structure, function and role of the trachea and lungs, and my knowledge of bacteria, excluding bacteria whose presence is necessary.
According to the knowledge that it thrust directly into my head…
Then, I stared at the patient's chest.
If I were to transfer from a place far away from the hospital room and said, "All the bacteria in the hospital room, follow me!", there was a risk that I would take her with me, so I decided to do it at close range to be safe….
It would be a little bad if I accidentally took all the bacteria in her body with me, including intestinal bacteria.
There was no such thing as overdoing it when it came to safety measures.
…alright, taking along the bacteria and aspiration, transfer!