Chapter 88: Deaf, But...
"Following the procedure, first lie down in the Medical Pod. Right, then raise your right hand and hold it for five seconds without moving. Then, Tail will collect the blood..."
Rekka squinted at the thick, overly complicated manual his previous 'Erudition' state had left behind. He stood before the massive, humming Medical Pod, playing the role of a surgeon for Delta.
"Hmm... mm-hmm, red means danger, yellow means normal, and green means..." He leaned closer to the console, tapping the glass over the indicator lights. "Green means the Separation Surgery is a go."
Inside the sleek metallic pod, Delta lay flat, her skin dotted with an array of biometric monitoring patches. Her usually restless, swishing tail lay coiled stiffly against her legs. Her knuckles were entirely white where her fingers dug into the edge of the synthetic padding.
"Start already," she gritted out, her jaw tight. "I don't want to wait another second."
"Understood." Rekka straightened his posture, dropping the casual act for a brief second. He stepped up to the main console. Following the overly detailed diagrams in the manual, he reached out and slammed his palm down on a massive, glaringly red circular button.
He didn't actually know the first thing about complex neuro-cellular separation surgery. Thankfully, his Erudition persona had anticipated his current lack of brainpower and rigged the entire multi-billion-credit medical suite to operate on a single, idiot-proof one-click completion macro.
A pressurized hiss of exhaust vented into the room as the thick glass canopy of the Medical Pod slowly descended, sealing shut with a heavy mechanical thud. Immediately, a viscous, pale blue liquid began surging from several hidden valves along the interior base, rapidly rising to submerge Delta.
Rekka flipped to the next page of the manual, his eyes darting between the text and the digital progress bar on the main screen. "Once the fluid covers your face, you'll fall asleep. The whole process takes about... one system hour. During this time, the machine will automatically strip Liliya's consciousness and cellular tissues from your body, then transfer her into that small Incubation Pod next to you to reconstruct her physical form."
Delta didn't offer a snarky comeback. The blue fluid had already crested her chest. A wave of heavy, irresistible artificial drowsiness washed over her features. Her eyelids fluttered, growing heavier by the second, until the white-knuckled grip she had on the padding finally went slack.
Rekka dragged a rolling stool over and planted himself beside the pod.
Despite his breezy, confident tone, a bead of sweat rolled down his neck. He was actually incredibly nervous. To compensate, he rigidly tracked every single line in the manual, his finger tracing the words like a malfunctioning robot.
"Phase one, consciousness separation... progress at twenty percent," he muttered under his breath, eyes glued to the page. "In case of a continuous alarm, please turn valve number three half a turn to the left. No alarm, good."
Inside the sealed chamber, the pale blue liquid completely enveloped Delta. A faint, rhythmic pulse of red and blue light began to shimmer around her submerged form, illuminating the dark room with an eerie glow.
"Feels like I'm stuck in some kind of Rules Horror game," he whispered.
Right on cue, a bright yellow light flared to life on the console.
[Beep. Beep. Beep.]
The synthetic chime wasn't particularly loud, but in the dead silence of the medical bay, it hit like a physical blow.
Rekka jumped, his heart skipping a beat. He frantically shoved his face back into the manual, aggressively flipping pages.
Yellow light? What the hell did the manual say about a yellow light?! Which page was it on?!
His eyes scanned the dense text at breakneck speed.
"Got it! 'When a yellow light prompt appears, it indicates that the separated consciousness's energy is too low. An Awakening Agent must be manually injected. Please open storage compartment number two, extract the green vial, and insert it into the injection port on the right side.'"
Rekka practically tore open the drawer beneath the main console. Sure enough, a single glass vial filled with glowing green liquid sat perfectly nestled inside the foam padding. He snatched it up, zeroed in on the circular slot marked with a syringe icon on the right side of the machine, and violently shoved the vial straight in.
The yellow light flickered twice, gave a pathetic little sputter, and died out.
"Whew... scared me to death." Rekka let out a long breath, wiping a layer of cold sweat from his forehead.
As the surgery marched forward, faint, ethereal wisps of blue light began to materialize inside the thick, transparent cabling connecting the two pods. Those luminous streams moved with a strange, almost organic rhythm, pulsing like a heartbeat as they slowly traveled through the tubes and emptied into the smaller Incubation Pod beside the main unit.
Rekka deliberately kept his eyes averted from the smaller pod. He really, truly did not want to know the exact biological mechanics of how Liliya was currently being constructed from scratch. The moment clinical terms like flesh reorganization or skeletal matrix construction crossed his mind, he knew the actual visual would look less like a medical miracle and more like a grotesque monster factory straight out of a horror flick.
The medical bay settled into a heavy quiet. Aside from the low, steady hum of the machinery filtering the fluid, the only sound was the rhythmic tapping of Rekka's fingers against the armrest of his stool.
Time crawled by at an agonizing pace. A hundred and twenty minutes felt like a lifetime when playing god with someone's sister.
Thankfully, Ai-chan was there to monitor the background diagnostics.
[Surgery complete. Operator, please perform the final confirmation.]
A crisp, cheerful electronic notification chimed through the room's speakers. Simultaneously, every single indicator light on the massive console shifted to a soft, comforting green.
Inside the primary Medical Pod, the blue liquid drained away rapidly, hissing as it vanished into the floor vents. Delta remained flat on her back. However, the deep, permanent crease of anxiety that usually marred her brow had completely smoothed out. Even the distinctive horns on her head appeared slightly smaller, a physical side effect of extracting the dormant half of Liliya's essence that had been keeping her mutated body in a constant state of overdrive.
"Thank you."
A quiet, slightly raspy voice broke the silence.
Rekka turned his head. Liliya was sitting up in the smaller Incubation Pod, her bright eyes fixed directly on him.
"...Um, but," she tilted her head, a hint of confusion in her tone. "Did you help me get dressed?"
Rekka's entire body stiffened into a board. A deep, agonizing awkwardness washed over his face.
"Well, you see, let me explain," he stammered, holding his hands up defensively. "It was a strict medical necessity! The pod requires a base layer for the bio-scans to calibrate properly, and the automated mechanical arms were glitching out, so I had to manually... Anyway! I swear on my life I kept my eyes closed the whole time! I didn't see anything!"
Liliya blinked slowly, completely unfazed by his panic. "I am not blaming you."
Before Rekka could dig his grave any deeper, the large Medical Pod emitted a soft beep. The heavy glass canopy hissed and slowly lifted open, releasing a cloud of chilled, sterile air.
Delta's eyelashes fluttered rapidly. She drew in a sharp breath and slowly opened her eyes.
For a long moment, she just stared blankly at the stark white ceiling, her mind struggling to process the waking world. Then, reality snapped back into place. She bolted upright, her gaze instantly sharpening into a defensive glare.
A second later, she turned her head.
Her eyes locked onto the neighboring hospital bed. Liliya sat there, swinging her legs slightly, looking right back at her.
Delta froze. Her entire body locked up, completely paralyzed. She didn't even dare to blink, utterly terrified that the impossible scene before her was just another cruel, illusory bubble generated by her countless, agonizing nightmares.
"Liliya...?" The word tore from her throat, trembling so violently it barely sounded human.
Liliya slid off the edge of the bed. Her bare feet hit the cold metal floor with a soft patter as she walked quickly across the gap between them. Without a word of hesitation, she threw her arms around Delta's neck.
"Rozaliya. It is me."
Delta's hands hovered awkwardly in mid-air for several agonizing seconds. Her fingers twitched, desperate but terrified to touch the illusion. Finally, the warmth of her sister's body registered. She slammed her arms around Liliya, crushing her into a desperate, bone-tight embrace. She buried her face deep into Liliya's shoulder, her own shoulders shaking violently as years of repressed grief and guilt finally shattered.
Rekka rubbed his nose, a small, genuine smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He quietly stood up from his stool and tiptoed backward toward the exit, giving the twins the space they desperately needed.
Slipping out of the medical bay, he pulled the heavy door shut behind him until it clicked softly. He leaned back against the corridor wall and let out a long, satisfying stretch, his joints popping in protest.
'I really am a great guy,' he thought, thoroughly pleased with himself.
He opened his eyes—only to jump back in shock.
Two heads were currently popping out from the corner of the hallway. March 7th and Stelle were peeking around the edge of the wall, stacked perfectly one above the other like a bizarre human totem pole. Both of them had their eyes blown wide, staring straight at him with intense scrutiny.
"Are you two seriously stacking up over there?" Rekka deadpanned.
"We're just concerned!" March 7th whispered loudly, her pink hair bouncing as she broke formation. "How's the situation inside?"
"The sisters are safe," Rekka replied, his tone softening. "The Separation Surgery was a complete success."
The heavy door hissed open again. Delta and Liliya stood together at the threshold.
Delta's eyes were still noticeably red, and the faint, damp tracks of tears hadn't been entirely wiped from her cheeks. Yet, the suffocating, heavy tension that used to cling to her—the feeling that she was a coiled spring ready to snap and destroy everything around her—had completely vanished. Beside her, Liliya's complexion was still somewhat pale from the reconstruction, but she looked remarkably energetic as she curiously sized up March 7th and Stelle.
Delta stepped forward. She stared hard at Rekka, her lips twitching several times as she struggled to find the right words. Finally, as if psyching herself up for a life-or-death battle, she squeezed her eyes shut. A furious blush spread across her cheeks, turning her face bright red.
"Um—" Delta sucked in a massive breath of air, puffed out her chest, and screamed at the top of her lungs like a soldier barking a military slogan. "THANK YOU SO MUCH!"
The sheer volume echoed down the metal corridor of the Astral Express. Rekka aggressively rubbed his ringing ears, physically wincing from the sonic assault.
"If you're going to thank me, just thank me normally!" he complained, shaking his head to clear the ringing. "Why are you yelling? You're going to make me go deaf."
Stelle crossed her arms, her expression completely deadpan as she offered a piece of deep wisdom. "Deafness is a sign of an emperor."
Rekka shot her a withering glare. "If I hear you quote one more line from the New Three Kingdoms, I will personally stab my own ears deaf."
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