Chapter 3: Because If You Had Died, Neither My Sister Nor I Would Have Been Able To Forgive Ourselves

Several days had passed since I’d been stabbed while protecting the Tsurugi sisters. I’d genuinely thought I might die, but fortunately, it seemed my injuries weren’t life-threatening.

“Well, I guess getting stabbed after running into a random street attacker doesn’t exactly count as being lucky in the first place.”

Incidentally, when I was told that there had been a very real chance I could have died if the knife had damaged any of my internal organs, I got genuinely scared. Apparently, the culprit had been addicted to illegal drugs. That would explain why he’d been acting so strangely.

“…Still, I’m bored.”

I’d been kept in the hospital for a while as a precaution, and since I basically had to spend all my time in my hospital room, I was incredibly bored. On top of that, I was a loner, so I didn’t have any friends who might come to visit me.

The only people I could expect to visit were my dad, my mom, and my younger sister, Mio, who was three years younger than me.

I was lying in bed reading a light novel and thinking about all this when someone suddenly knocked on my door.

“Come in.”

I’d assumed the visitor was a nurse, so I was surprised when I saw the two people who entered my room.

They were none other than the Tsurugi sisters!

“Sorry for showing up together so suddenly. Reona and I really wanted to thank you in person, Yagami-kun.”

“Thanks to you, we’re both safe. Thank you so much for saving us that day.”

“So you two came all the way here to visit me? Well, I’m just glad you’re both okay.”

Having the two of them express their gratitude so directly made me feel a little embarrassed. I couldn’t help smiling as I spoke.

I mean, what guy wouldn’t be happy to have two beautiful girls come visit him in the hospital?

“I’m relieved to see you’re doing well too, Yagami-kun. I’ve been worried about you this whole time.”

“Neither my sister nor I could stop worrying.”

“Well, if a classmate died because of something that happened to you, it’d definitely weigh on your conscience.”

“That’s why, if you had died, neither my sister nor I would have been able to forgive ourselves.”

The moment she said that, I got the strange impression that something thick and murky was oozing out of the two girls. But that was probably just my imagination.

In any case, it seemed they’d been incredibly worried about me.

“I still have to stay in the hospital for a while so they can keep an eye on me, but as you can see, I’m doing perfectly fine. Apparently, I won’t have any lasting complications either, so don’t worry about that.”

“Oh, that’s good. Then it sounds like you’ll be okay.”

“We didn’t want you to suffer because of us.”

After hearing my explanation, both girls visibly relaxed. It seemed they’d really been concerned about my condition.

“How did you two find out which hospital I was staying at, anyway?”

“Oh, your family told us.”

“We asked them because we wanted to thank you in person.”

“I see.”

After that, the three of us started chatting.

They were my classmates, but I’d barely ever spoken to Reona, the older sister, before. So naturally, I’d been pretty nervous at first. However, thanks to how approachable the two of them were, I eventually found myself talking to them quite comfortably.

“It’s almost the end of visiting hours, so we should probably get going.”

“…It’s already that late?”

Visitors were only allowed to stay for thirty minutes, but to me, it felt like barely five minutes had passed.

I guess that was just how much fun I’d been having.

Unfortunately, I figured there was practically no chance I’d ever get to talk to either of them again after this, so I couldn’t help feeling a little sad to see them go.

But the Tsurugi sisters were people I normally wouldn’t have had any real reason to interact with. Someone like me, Mob Character B, was practically worlds apart from them.

So I decided to think of this whole experience as something like winning the lottery.

Just as I was thinking that, the younger sister reached out her hand.

“Hey, can I borrow your phone for a second?”

“Sure, but what do you need it for…?”

“I want to add my sister’s and my contact information to your phone.”

“Huh?!”

Her request had been so completely unexpected that I couldn’t help shouting, momentarily forgetting that I was in a hospital room.

If this hadn’t been a private room, I was sure everyone around me would have glared at me.

Apparently, an event I’d always thought might as well be an urban legend, exchanging contact information with a girl for the first time in my life, was actually about to happen.

“…Yagami-kun, did you not want us to?”

“If you don’t mind, I want you to add both my sister and I.”

“I-I don’t mind at all! Here, go ahead and add yourselves.”

I hadn’t intended to refuse in the first place, but seeing the two girls looking so disappointed filled me with an overwhelming sense of guilt. I unlocked my phone and handed it to the younger Tsurugi sister.

She immediately began operating it at an astonishing speed.

“All done! I’ve added my sister and myself to your phone contacts and as friends on LINE.”

When she handed my phone back, I checked, and sure enough, both Tsurugi Reona and Tsurugi Riona had been added to my contacts and my LINE friends list.

“Thanks. This is actually my first time exchanging contact information with a girl, so I’m pretty happy.”

“Oh? So we’re your first, huh?”

“We got to be your first.”

Unlike before, both girls now wore delighted expressions.

For just a moment, I thought they even looked a little excited, but that was probably just my imagination.

Actually, now that they’d gone out of their way to exchange contact information with me, maybe they intended to keep in touch from now on.

“We’ll come visit you again tomorrow after school, so look forward to it!”

“See you tomorrow.”

With those parting words, the two of them left my hospital room.

I sat there frozen for a while, unable to process what had just happened. Eventually, though, I began to grasp the situation.

“So exchanging contact information with girls wasn’t just an urban legend after all…”

Until now, the only girls whose contact information I’d had on my phone were my mom and my little sister, Mio. But now, two incredibly beautiful girls, the Tsurugi sisters, had been added to the list.

It all felt so ridiculously unreal that I started wondering if I was dreaming. However, when I pinched my cheek, it actually hurt, so I guess that wasn’t the case.

In an absolutely wonderful mood, I picked up the light novel I’d been reading earlier.

Anyone who saw me right now would probably have thought I looked incredibly cheerful.

I continued reading for a while until the notification sound from my phone caught my attention. The moment I looked at the screen, something seemed off.

“Huh? My phone’s battery is already this low…?”

The battery had been above ninety percent earlier, but now it had dropped to around fifty percent.

I hadn’t touched my phone even once since exchanging contact information with the girls, so why had it drained so quickly?

“I’ve had this phone for quite a while now, so maybe the battery’s starting to wear out. I guess it’s about time I got a new one.”

After thinking it over, I couldn’t come up with any other explanation, so for the time being, I settled on that conclusion.