"Meow meow meow."
"You can't get down, huh?"
Shiina Mahiru set her school bag down and started climbing the tree. Halfway up, she reached out, but still couldn't quite reach the cat. The cat took two steps forward.
Just when Shiina Mahiru thought the cat was about to jump into her hands, it leaped straight down instead.
"Danger!"
Shiina Mahiru showed off her own agility and jumped down after it, catching the cat with both hands. But her left foot came down toward the ground and landed right on a small rock.
(That's why this is dangerous too.)
Saiki used telekinesis to shift the rock forward a short distance, but Shiina Mahiru spotted the moving rock mid-air and quickly switched to land on her other foot instead. Seeing the rock move made her think she was seeing things, and her foot failed to find balance.
"Crack."
"Ouch!"
Saiki: ...
(Why does this make it feel like it's somehow my fault?)
As for the Anpu cat, after landing it tried to jump away again, but Saiki grabbed it by the scruff of fate.
[Meow meow let me go, meow what it's actually you meow]
Anpu had been struggling at first, but stopped the moment it saw Saiki.
"Saiki-kun?" Shiina Mahiru adjusted her footing, blinked her big eyes, and looked at Saiki Kusuo.
"Why are you here?"
[Just passing by.]
At that moment Anpu started struggling again. [Let me go meow, why are you grabbing me meow]
[You little punk, someone saved you and you were just going to run off? She got hurt because she saved you.]
Anpu froze for a second. [I didn't need anyone to save me, I was just testing the height.]
[Cut the nonsense. It's your fault anyway, and you still wanted to just walk away. Are you even a cat? A popular cat doesn't abandon its savior and leave on its own.]
Saiki set Anpu down.
Anpu stood frozen in place. After being scolded like that, it couldn't help but wonder if it really was its own fault.
After a moment, Anpu walked over, licked Shiina Mahiru's finger, and meowed twice to show thanks.
"It's okay."
Shiina Mahiru patted Anpu's head, then tried to stand up, but the sharp pain from her foot made her fall back down.
Saiki quickly stepped forward to support her.
[Looks like it's sprained.]
"Hiss~ Yeah, seems like it."
Saiki glanced at the bench of fate nearby.
[Let's sit on the bench first. I'll help you.]
"Oh—okay."
Saiki supported the limping Shiina Mahiru over to the bench and helped her sit down.
Shiina Mahiru lifted her right foot and looked at it. The black stockings wrapping her slender leg were torn in places, a little blood seeping through, and it looked slightly swollen.
[Not only sprained, but also scraped.]
(It's a bit serious. I can't just use restoration to fix it instantly, that would be too suspicious and unnatural.)
Shiina Mahiru noticed Saiki staring at her foot the whole time. Her face unconsciously turned red. She fidgeted and tried to lower her foot, but touching it still made her wince in pain.
"Hiss~"
[You okay?]
"Doesn't seem too good."
Saiki thought for a moment. [I'll carry you back first. I have some medicine in my room. Staying here isn't going to help.]
Shiina Mahiru looked at Saiki, feeling a little shy and tempted to accept, but also thinking it might be too forward. "Th-this isn't really appropriate, is it?"
[But if you can't walk, are you going to limp all the way home?]
[Come on, it's just a piggyback ride. No big deal.]
(Even though it feels a bit nosy, this started because of me. If I hadn't moved that rock, maybe things would have turned out differently.)
Saiki crouched down and bent forward. [All right, climb on quickly.]
"Then… then I won't hold back…"
[What?]
"I mean, sorry, I misspoke. Sorry about this."
Shiina Mahiru realized she said it wrong and quickly corrected herself. Then she wrapped both arms around Saiki's neck, climbed onto his back, and buried her face completely against his back, as if doing so would make the embarrassment go away.
Saiki didn't say anything. He simply lifted her legs around his waist with both hands and stood up to start walking.
Shiina Mahiru peeked her head out to look at the side of Saiki Kusuo's face. "Will… will I be too heavy?"
[Hm, it's fine. Not heavy at all.]
(If you were tens of thousands of times heavier, then yeah, it'd probably feel heavy.)
Shiina Mahiru let out a relieved breath. "That's good!"
No girl wouldn't care about her own weight.
"Saiki-kun, thank you for helping me again."
[Uh, no problem.]
(Sigh, how should I put this… this time the thanks feels a little hard to accept.)
Shiina Mahiru: "Saiki-kun really is a very kind person."
Saiki didn't reply and just kept walking.
Seeing that Saiki didn't respond, Shiina Mahiru focused on the feeling of being carried on his back. It felt especially warm. Having someone take care of her like this was really nice.
Shiina Mahiru couldn't help but sniff the scent on Saiki's body. It was the same as the one on his bed, incredibly comforting. Without thinking, she rested her head on his shoulder and took a deep breath.
[Hm?]
Saiki turned his head and met eyes with Shiina Mahiru, who was resting on his back.
Shiina Mahiru quickly looked away, her face bright red as she buried it back against his back. "S-sorry, I don't know what came over me, it wasn't on purpose, it's not like that…"
Shiina Mahiru [Ahhh, what am I doing? He's going to think I'm some kind of pervert.]
Shiina Mahiru didn't know why she suddenly did that. The scent just felt so reassuring that she couldn't help but lean in closer, just like the time she had sniffed it on Saiki's bed.
Saiki looked at Shiina Mahiru like this. (I really don't want to see Shiina-san turn into a pervert.)
The two walked in silence until they reached the front door of Saiki's house.
Saiki reached into his pocket, pulled out his key, and opened the door. [I'm home.]
Shiina Mahiru peeked her head out again. "E-excuse me…"
Saiki set Shiina Mahiru—whose face was now as red as a monkey's butt—down on the sofa, then went to the fridge and took out an ice pack.
After sitting on the sofa, Shiina Mahiru gently pressed her foot, hoping it would get better soon. "Hiss, still hurts a bit."
Saiki came back out with the ice pack and saw what she was doing.
[Hm, Shiina-san, when you've sprained your ankle like this, you shouldn't massage or rub it, and you definitely shouldn't use a hot compress. Otherwise it'll speed up blood flow and cause blood to leak out of the vessels.]
Shiina Mahiru paused her movements. "Really?"
[I'm a doctor. I wouldn't lie about this.]
"Saiki-kun is a doctor?"
[Well, half a doctor, I guess. I've been helping my dad at the hospital since I was little. Treating minor stuff is no problem.]
"So Saiki-kun's dad is a doctor."
[Otherwise I wouldn't have had so many medicines in my suitcase for you to use.]
[Use cold compresses as soon as possible. Ice is recommended. Anyway, you can handle this yourself.]