[Serialized Novel] "Heart's Chick" Episode 12

Previous Episode Episode 1 Next Episode

Since I was young, I often lost consciousness when I bumped into people.
Raised in an orphanage, I lived my life without ever knowing why I existed, let alone who my parents were. That was a long time ago.

"Kokoro-kun. Come on, hold hands with so-and-so."
During walks, we were forced to hold hands so we wouldn't get separated. I held hands reluctantly. The emotions of the other orphan, who I had no interest in, would immediately flood into me.
Even if they were smiling, sometimes an overwhelming feeling of sadness would flow into me when we touched, and I remember being constantly bewildered.

It was fine when I was a small child. By the time I reached puberty, the emotions became more complex. I was confused by emotions that changed rapidly by the second. Even without holding hands, just by bumping shoulders or elbows, I would touch their "heart."
The orphanage had children without parents, a housemother, various rules, and studies; I think it was a reasonably fun place.
If I didn't touch people, I wouldn't have those strange sensations. While I was aware that I didn't fit in with others, I think I lived by drawing a line and keeping things at a level that wouldn't cause trouble.

It was the housemother who noticed my nature and told me about it.
She said she had an acquaintance who was similar, told me about that person's experiences, and showed me the path to curing mental illness, suggesting it was something I could do.
I learned later that the acquaintance had fallen ill himself while trying to cure others' mental illnesses and committed suicide.
You can cure other people's hearts, but you cannot cure your own. Despairing at that fact, the acquaintance gave up on living.
The housemother told me this. Was it a warning? I accepted it honestly.

I worked desperately to become a doctor and treated many patients under a mentor I respected. Patients came one after another. Day by day, I felt negative emotions—sadness, pain, anxiety, and anger—swirling thickly inside me.

"Kokoro! Are you okay?"
My mentor was someone easy to work with. He would spontaneously place his hand on my shoulder and instantly set things right. I don't know how many times he saved me.
"You, are you eating pudding again!"
"Isn't pudding expensive? Why don't you make it yourself?"
"Don't make such a pathetic face. People are people, and you are you! Draw a proper line!"
In contrast to me, my mentor was tanned and laughed heartily. His arms under his lab coat were bulging with muscle, and standing next to him, I was a very frail young man.

My mentor was quite famous in the field of mental illness, and when I asked him about it, it turned out he was a senior to the housemother's acquaintance. He knew that the man had committed suicide, and although my mentor didn't have my nature, he seemed to have various thoughts about it.
It was after that when my mentor got involved with "Capture-chan."

"Capture-chan?"
I let out a strange voice at the odd name. My mentor gave a bitter smile.
"Well, it's a placeholder name."
"I see. And why were you approached, mentor?"
"It's a terrible story."
At the time, before Capture-chan was used in hunting fields, the entire medical industry, starting with mental illness, was in a situation where they had to pour huge amounts of money into drug research. There were too many patients. And recovery was slow.
I think now that it was only a matter of time before they set their sights on the power of the Sylphs.
"Fairies... that sounds like a fairy tale."
"That's the general consensus."
"Meaning..."
Fairies exist. That had already been proven in the medical community. Research into their tears and living blood was also underway.
"Living blood... No, I mean, there is snake wine and cobra wine, but..."
"That's not blood. In some regions, there are dishes stir-fried with pig's blood, but well, it's already been proven that such things can be miracle drugs."
What did that have to do with my mentor? The story I heard was as follows.

The Capture-chan of that time was incomplete, and its practical application was being rushed.
If it were just collecting living blood, killing them would suffice. The problem was the tears.
When hunting fairies, they wanted a proposal for a method to make them cry to ensure they shed tears. The means didn't matter. No matter how cruel the method, they wanted a structure created to constantly collect enough tears to meet human demand.

They said that if you were at the top of heart research, you would know both how to stop tears and how to make them flow efficiently.

I silently took a sip of my coffee. What my mentor and I were aiming for should not be used for such purposes.

"Kokoro. I'm sorry, but I intend to follow my own heart."
"Follow... your heart..."
I repeated my mentor's words.
"That's right. I actually wanted to stay by your side, but... unfortunately, it seems I can't in my position."
Saying that, my mentor gave a self-deprecating laugh.

"Become strong."

That was the last thing my mentor said to me.
My mentor, who refused the request from the upper management, was accused of being a traitor and was erased from society.

(To be continued)

Click here for the next story

Click here for the "Heart's Chick" serialized novel magazine

#OriginalNovel
#CreativeAward2024
#FantasyNovelCategory