Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy
Iris
The feeling when I woke up was, to put it mildly, the absolute worst.
My lower half felt stiff.
Looking at the note left behind, I realized that Lenny-san had already taken care of the fallout, and I was filled with a sense of relief, but also with a sense of apology.
Then, remembering the bloody catastrophe just before I fainted, I fearfully rolled up the hem of my nightgown… and was relieved to see that it was completely clean down there.
However, when I noticed that something else was stuffed inside my underwear, I became dizzy again and collapsed onto the bed.
As much as I averted my eyes from “it”, “it” finally came.
Thinking about it in another way, it’s probably a miracle that it didn’t happen earlier. After over a month since I was sent to this world, it came as soon as I got used to the peaceful life here. My stomach and other parts of my body hurt, and I didn’t have the energy to get up.
As a result, I’d been lying face-down on the bed and hugging my pillow ever since I woke up.
Seven years of Ayame’s guidance didn’t prepare me for “this” one bit.
Such a delicate topic had always been uncharted territory for me.
As my thoughts went on and on in circles… there was a quiet knock on the door.
“I’m sorry, I had some urgent business to do.”
Aini-san, who had been out on business, entered the room.
The appearance of a professional doctor caused tears to well up in my eyes from relief.
“…You don’t look so good.”
“Aini-san… It hurts so much… Am I going to die?”
“Don’t worry, you aren’t going to die… I have to admit, it’s really unpleasant, though.”
She then slowly patted me on the back. Just that made me feel a little calmer.
“…I’m really sorry. I thought you’ve already experienced it, given your age. I should have explained it in advance.”
Afterward, she took my temperature and examined various parts of my body. I was silent and allowed the examination to continue.
“I’m going to ask you a few questions, so please answer honestly, okay?”
One by one, I answered her questions as she jotted down notes.
At first, she seemed to have an uneasy look, but as the questions went on, her expression softened.
“…Mm, you don’t seem to be sick or anything. The severity of your symptoms is probably due to stress and irregular living habits lately. You’ve been staying up late at night, sleeping during the day, and leaving food on your plate, right?”
“Yes, I can’t seem to sleep well at night, and I have no appetite.”
“But even so, you need to eat at least something to fill your stomach.”
“I’ll be careful about that in the future…”
I was being admonished.
I wasn’t scared by her gentle, older sister-like tone, but I felt apologetic all the same.
…She was right in the money about the stress part. Ever since I came to this world, I’d been under constant mental strain. The few days I’d spent in this capital city were much too peaceful in comparison.
“I know it’s not the best thing, but… How about some sweets?”
“Please don’t…”
I actually really wanted some sweets, but I had no desire to put anything in my mouth at the moment.
Seeing this, Aini-san started brewing some… herbal tea? I stared blankly at the transparent glass pot as the yellow-green liquid slowly filled up.
“Most people tend to get hungry during these periods… but I guess Iris-chan is the type to lose her appetite instead? Can you drink this?”
At her words, I slowly changed my position and sat down at the edge of the bed. I carefully put my mouth to the cup of tea-like substance that she is handing me.
As expected, it’s herbal tea.
The smell was refreshing, like lemon, with a slight tingling sensation of ginger… I didn’t feel nauseous at all, so I guess it’s okay to drink.
When I took a sip, I felt a refreshing scent going straight through my nose, and the faint sweetness of honey made my chest lighten.
“…It’s alright.”
“That’s much better. Now that it’s early summer, be sure to drink plenty of fluids, but don’t drink too much cold water. I’m leaving some tea bags and medicine with you just in case things get really bad, however, you shouldn’t take the medicine more than once every six hours.”
As she said this, she placed the medicine packages one by one on the bedside table, each with a memo attached that listed the dosage and precautions.
“And healing magic is prohibited. This is a physiological phenomenon caused by normal body functions, so I don’t think it would be very good to forcibly stop it with magic.”
“Yes… Although, for some reason, I can’t use it at all right now.”
“That’s probably also a part of your current condition. I hear that the Saints under the Church’s protection also have similar symptoms. My hypothesis is that your body is on some kind of safety mode.”
So I shouldn’t carelessly try to use it.
When I used healing magic on someone else, I would be exposed to its light and get affected by it.
“Here, take this.”
Aini-san took out something from the pouch she was holding.
“What’s it?”
“There’s one already put inside your underwear, but I hope you know how to use it yourself… It has to be replaced quite often.”
I looked closely at the piece of cloth given to me… it looked quite thin.
I was worried that something like this would work, but Aini-san told me that it contained a highly absorbent powder that was painstakingly created by an alchemist, and it would last longer than it looks.
…Apparently, the powder was made by extracting only the water-retaining component of a slime’s mucus. It seemed a little creepy to me.
Also according to Aini-san, there were several types of this thin piece of cloth, such as for heavy usage, or for night usage, which made me realize how difficult it is to live as a girl.
Even though it’s thin, the stiff feeling of having an extra layer wedged between my crotch and underwear was unpleasant.
Knowing that I had to do this for several days, and moreover, it happened every month, I started to feel extremely gloomy about my future.
In the meantime, after the explanation ended, I actually replaced my current one, which had already absorbed a lot of blood, with the one I was given… Aini-san then handed me a small pouch full of these thin cloths.
“I know it’s a lot to take in… but are you going to be okay on your own?”
“…I’ll do my best.”
“This is Iris-chan’s first time, so I don’t think it’ll be too much… but do let me know as soon as you’re running low on those. Also, even if it doesn’t leak, replace it at regular intervals and before going to bed at night, okay?”
“Yes… Thank you for everything, Aini-san.”
I thought back to the terrible state of the cloth I just disposed of, and this wasn’t considered “too much”?
As it turned out, studying about my body left me even more depressed than before.
After telling me to call her in the room next door if anything happened, Aini-san finally left, leaving me alone in the quiet room again.
“I guess this is proof… that my body is ready to bear a child?”
It was an incredibly surreal thing to think about.
If this was my old world, if I had still been “him”… having my own children was something I’d long given up on.
But now, I had a body that can grow a baby in my own stomach…
Although I didn’t really feel it right now… I wonder if the day would come when I’d have a child.
When touching my lower abdomen, which still felt heavy, I began to fantasize…
“…?!”
My body suddenly jumped up. My heart was pounding.
Why did the first thing that comes to my mind has to be an image of me with a large belly being supported by Reiji-san?!
It’s not like I hadn’t imagined something like that before, but…
“…Let’s just sleep.”
I collapsed onto the bed, stopped thinking and fell asleep, as if to run away from something…
I woke up again to the sound of pottery.
“…Sorry, did I wake you up?”
“Nii-sama?”
“I brought dinner… Could you give it a taste?”
When I heard about “dinner”, I looked outside and saw that the scenery beyond the window was already starting to change from red to black, and the sun had set quite a bit. It seems that I had been asleep for a few hours.
Though I still felt sick, I was feeling a little bit better now.
Aini-san did tell me to eat more, so I decided to get up and eat the food Nii-sama brought.
“…Huh?”
I was surprised at Nii-sama’s choice of food.
On the table was chicken and daikon radish in a stew. The smell of soy sauce and ginger stimulated my empty stomach just right. And then…
“Is this… red rice?”
It was, undoubtedly, Japanese cuisine.
Rice cooked with red beans was served in a bowl.
“Haha, well… I was simply fulfilling a promise I made to you.”
“Does that mean… you cooked all this, Nii-sama?”
Looking back, I think he did say something like that when we were losing against that shadowy monster.
He really kept those words to heart, I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself.
“But where did you get the ingredients?”
“It wasn’t easy to find someone selling goods from the Eastern Islands in this city, but I took my sweet time doing that. All for you, of course.”
And so Nii-sama led me to my seat.
Taking a pair of chopsticks, I put them in the stew in front of me, starting with the daikon radish, which I was most comfortable with.
It seemed to be well-cooked, as I easily broke off a piece with my chopsticks and brought them to my mouth.
“Ah…”
“How does it taste? I did a pretty good job with it, if I say so myself.”
It had a very nostalgic taste.
The daikon radish soaked up the flavor of the ingredients well, and had a slightly sour citrus taste, and was lighter than I expected, so I was able to swallow it without much resistance.
If I had to describe, it tasted like…
“Nii-sama, you…”
…like my grandmother’s cooking we used to eat when we were staying at our grandparents’ home. Such a distant memory from my old world was coming back in full force.
“…Looks like my skills haven’t gotten rusty here. Do you know that Grandma cooked me this dish when ‘that day’ came to me the first time?”
“I see… Thank you, Ayame… It’s really delicious…”
I couldn’t control my emotions, and tears started to well up in my eyes, but I couldn’t put down my chopsticks.
The red rice was also more delicious than I expected, and I was filled with joy after eating a proper meal for the first time in days.
“…It must have been tough for you, with that body.”
“What was it like for you back then, Ayame?”
“It was… super rough. I guess it’s in our blood. Though, you’re surprisingly calm during all this, Iris. I was so… irritable during those periods.”
“That’s because… I used to be in my twenties, I think.”
Because I’d already gone through puberty once, I had a psychological brake on me, and I didn’t feel like lashing out at people around me at this point.
“Maybe you’re right… Onii-chan was a grown adult after all…”
“Ayame?”
Her face suddenly darkened.
“…This is supposed to be a good occasion… but thinking on it now, I feel a bit complicated.”
“Complicated? How so?”
“Iris, you didn’t become a girl on your own volition, did you? Would it be inconsiderate of me to celebrate you for such an occasion like this?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve already accepted body for what it is, and it’s not Ayame’s fault that we were sent to this world.”
“…Yeah.”
“And… I’m not sure if that applies to everyone else, but I… I’m sure I’m going to stay like this forever even if we somehow return to our world.”
“Is it because of what happened during your reincarnation?”
“Yes… I think that the white book must have completely overwritten my original existence…”
I let out a strained smile.
Seeing my expression, Nii-sama just blurted out “I see”, and gathered up the empty plates and got up from his seat.
“I’ll be going, then. Get some rest, and please show a healthy face to Reiji soon, okay? He’s been looking really worried.”
“Wait, did Reiji-san know about…”
I really didn’t want any man to know what exactly happened to me, especially him.
“He doesn’t. I figured that you don’t want any man to know about it.”
“Thank goodness…”
“So, rest well, Iris.”
“You too, Nii-sama.”
The door was then closed again.
I decided to focus on resting for the rest of today as well, and prepared for bed.
APM - Translation 