40-Thank you for protecting me

Love made people behave suspiciously out of character.

I learned this very well when I realized that I liked Krish-san.

I would find myself staring at Krish-san by accident, and then once our eyes met I would turn my face quickly away in embarrassment.

While I was being held in his arms, we were so close Krish-san's voice left me spellbound and lost in his voice. I could feel his body heat, and embarrassingly, my heart was pounding.I didn't want him to notice my beating heart so I tried to separate our bodies, but Krish-san scolded me and said, "It's dangerous."

I thought I was acting normally, but what was normal like again? Until now, how had I been acting?

The times I was carried before, I wondered, where did I place my hands? Did I place my hands on his shoulders, or did I place my hands around his neck?

I placed my hands on his shoulders to try it out, but until this point I hadn't been aware of his firm muscles. Once I felt his body, my hands started sweating profusely.

I thought that if Krish-san felt my sweaty hands he might feel gross, so I pretended to casually wipe off my sweaty palms on my clothes, hoping he wouldn't notice.

Also, in order to not bother Krish-san further, whenever I had to take the medicine three times a day, I pushed myself to take the initiative and take the medicine by myself. But after all, it was so bitter.

In front of me was a spoon filled with honey that was pushed into my mouth. I blushed and said quickly, "I made you feed me again."

From Krish's point of view, I must have looked very strange, and on top of that he was worried about my stomach.

Since that day, the story I told about being constipated resulted in me eating a lot of fiber-rich risotto, but it's a complicated feeling to have someone you love worrying about your stool.

Also, after all, the morning and evening ointment application is the most difficult. I insisted on applying the ointment myself for rehab purposes, which he accepted, but no matter what, I couldn't reach the area around my shoulder blade. So I had to accept that Krish-san needed to apply the ointment for me.

Krish-san's hand that touched my back might feel the thumping of my heart reverberating through his touch. My spirit wasn't ready for this, and I felt a strange tension in my body.

Because I hadn't been using my muscles normally they were working hard, so the next day, throughout my body, unfortunately, there was muscle pain. The pain from my bruises grew worse, and I unnecessarily caused worry for Krish-san. I was really sorry about this.

He was worried about my stomach and my injuries, so he said worriedly, "Your face is red. Is it a fever?" and touched my forehead to check for one. When he touched my forehead my heart began pounding rapidly like a taiko drum. If this were to continue much longer, I was worried that my heart might seriously burst.

After the ointment was rubbed onto my back, as usual Krish-san and I went to sleep together, but there's no way I could sleep soundly like this. For the first time I was self-conscious of Krish-san's body next to me and I became incredibly nervous. There's no way I could sleep, I thought to myself. In fact, my eyes were watery and I tossed and turned so many times that I made Krish worry about me again.

Furthermore, Krish-san still believed in my story about being constipated and thought that was the reason why I couldn't sleep.

With his body pressed along my back, he slowly rubbed my stomach with a warm hand. I could feel his kindness being transmitted from his hand. Gradually my nervousness dissipated from my tense body and unwittingly, I fell asleep.

Really... my back was useless and getting my stomach rubbed gave me peace of mind and lulled me to sleep? I was really weird... As I thought, my back was my weak point.

From this point on, this became our routine, where he slept cuddling my back. Sometimes we stayed in the same position until morning, and sometimes we faced each other, but either way, I had never woken up before Krish-san so I had never gotten to see Krish-san's sleeping face.

I thought that I'd like to see Krish-san's sleeping face one day, but I didn't think that my heart could take it, so maybe it's better like this.

"Are you up? Morning."

"Oh, good morning."

When we woke up facing each other, I immediately saw Krish-san's face and became so overjoyed that I couldn't help but to have a huge grin on my face, which was a big problem. Today too, the first thing I encountered upon waking up was Krish-san's refreshing face. My face turned red and I hid my blushing face by completely wrapping my head in the futon.

"Shinobu, what are you doing?"

"Ummm, it's hide and seek."

I couldn't believe I said that! Come on, think of a better excuse than that! But it's because it's too dazzling. The truth was, it was Krish-san's fault because he suddenly attacked me with his dazzling smile.

"Hide and seek... I know the word 'hidden,' but what does that last part mean 'nbo'?"

Oh, Krish-san, you cut off the word there.

Now that you mentioedn it, I wondered what the heck "nbo" is. I didn't know either.

"Let's see, it's a game called 'hide-and-seek,' and you lose if you're found."

"Then, Shinobu loses?"

Exactly. I lost. That's the reason why they said, "The one who falls in love first loses." I didn't think there would ever come a day when I could win against Krish-san.

Even though I was making myself feel flustered over Krish-san, my bruises started to feel better. The sofa that Krish-san had prepared for me was very soft and comfortable.

Because I could see out the open window if I propped myself up with a pillow, I didn't feel lonely and sad anymore.

My family gathered around the window and they each took up a position and passed the day with me. All the knights followed Krish-san's commands as they trained and searched for the aloe diligently.

As I watched them working from the window, I could easily understand how much the young knights idolized and looked up to Krish-san.

When he's giving the knights instructions, they listened with a serious expression on their faces, but when it's time to take a break, they gathered around Krish-san to lightheartedly chat.

"Krish-san is too cunning! Don't you agree that it would be better and we would work more efficiently if we worked without wearing our armor?"

"What are you talking about? When you go on a trip you'll be wearing armor everyday all day long and still have to keep walking. If you can't handle this much, then you won't be able to go on the next trip."

"Ahh please wait! That's not what I meant to say."

The sound of laughter surrounded us and in spite of myself I also started to laugh with everyone.

"Krish-san, let's go eat some good meat for the first time in a while. Of course, you're paying."

"That's all you guys do. If you let yourselves get used to eating such rich foods all the time, you'll have a hard time when you travel."

"Is that really not good? Then why don't you tell us about your famous travel stories?"

As I listened to the lively conversation, it reminded me of high school sports activities. I was part of the "go-home" club, but my friend was part of the kendo club and would always tell me about how his seniors would buy them ramen and okonomiyaki as a treat on their way back home after club activities. I thought that sounded really fun.

From my point of view, Krish-san very much looked like an adult, but actually he was only 22 years old. If I thought about it, in my original world he would be about the same age as a college student.

As he was chatting with the young knights, Krish-san looked younger than usual. Seeing the person I liked with a different facial expression than usual was making my heart pound.

"Look, breaktime is over. Everyone get back to your post."

"Yes sir!"

But the Krish-san who gave directions crisply was also really cool too.

As I watched the knights push their way through the gigantic plants, I looked at the sky with a warm and fuzzy feeling.

"Somehow it's peaceful."

That stormy night felt like it was a lie. I wished these days could continue forever.

"Bark!!"

Pochi had heard my voice and jumped up and put his forepaws on the window sill and put his face through the window.

"Pochi thinks so too?"

"Bark Bark!!"

As soon as I started spending time in this place, Pochi was camped out right under the window, looking like he wanted to play. The young knights had been taking turns helping me take care of my family members, but I hoped I'd get better soon so that I could do it by myself.

But as soon as I got better Krish-san would probably go home, so I felt a little complicated about it.

My condition was getting better, and little by little I was able to pass more time outside. I went from greeting my family in the morning while being carried, to being able to walk down the stairs on my own, and then taking walks to build up my strength.

Maybe it's because I was exercising, but I slept soundly at night, and when I woke up in the morning, I didn't feel as drowsy anymore when I roused.

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping and stretched out. Today, I woke up feeling more refreshed than I had in a while.

Yesterday I fetched water for the first time in a long time and became really tired. I slept so well I didn't even dream.

The muscles that I had developed since coming to this world have completely deteriorated, so I could only carry half a bucket of water slowly. But, after all, it felt great to move your body.

Last night was the last time I had to have the ointment rubbed on my body; from today onward I didn't need it anymore. Finally I was released from the mortifying heart palpitations, but now that I thought about how Krish-san wouldn't rub the ointment on my back anymore, I felt a little sad.

"Looks like you slept well last night."

"Yeah, I guess it's because I've been moving around more. I feel so refreshed."

Today, when I woke up in the morning, Krish-san wasn't holding me, but instead he was snuggled up to me as I slept, which was kind of embarrassing.

"Krish-san, morning!!"

I hid my embarrassment with a cheerful greeting and quickly got out of bed.

I rose early this morning, but the young knights had woken up before me and had already started working. Pumpkin-Knight-san said, "It's really hard to be a new knight." Even though the work was hard, they seem to be having fun.

Pumpkin-Knight-san's dream was to become a first-class knight, make lots of money, and become popular with the ladies.

It had become my morning routine to greet the knights, but today things were a little different.

"It's been a long time. It's good to see you."

"Felix-sama!!! It's been a long time!!!"

They usually would have begun work by this time, but instead the knights were gathered in front of the house. Felix-sama stood at the center of this gathering.

"What brings you here today?"

"I thought it was time for me to check in."

When I looked in the direction Felix-sama was pointing, the view was different from yesterday's.

"The weeds are... Why? They were normal yesterday."

The giant weeds that had been growing lushly and vigorously yesterday were making a crunchy, dry sound as the wind blew.

The leaves and stems had turned yellow and were dying.

"They've done their job and are going back to the earth."

"What job?"

"Yes. These were originally very ordinary weeds. They had been forcibly transformed to synchronize with Shinobu's desire to save your family, but I guess there was a limit to that. The plants I collected from here withered and decayed in less than a day, just like now. I guess taking them so far away from you made it impossible for them to keep their shape."

The yellowing giant plants that surrounded my house created a scene of autumn that does not exist in this world.

I walked up to a giant weed that was growing where a field used to be and gently stroked its thick stalk.

You were protecting me, weren't you? You were protecting me and my family. I only watered them a few times on a whim.

The plants did more than enough to repay this favor.

I gently pressed my forehead against the yellowing, hardened stem. I closed my eyes and thought, "Thank you," and I felt like I heard the sound of a tiny little bell ringing in my ears.

The small sound of the tiny ringing bell made my heart ache and my eyes burn.

"This situation suggests that Shinobu's 'plant-based cheat ability' is partly dependent on the size of his emotions. If that's the case, the plants that are to be the new medicinal herbs must have been created by the same 'cheat ability' as these weeds. Now that the plants are dying, it is unlikely that we will be able to find them even if we continue our search. I'm going to call off the search as of today. Good job, everyone."

"Yes sir!!!" all the knights shouted.

"Krish too, thanks for your hard work. Starting tomorrow you can go back to your normal duties."

Finally, the day had come. When Krish-san went back to his normal duties, living together with Krish-san would end too.

I knew that we wouldn't be able to live together forever, but I didn't expect it to be so sudden, and I hadn't been able to sort out my feelings at all.

Once I was feeling a bit better I was planning on farming again, and I would make a meal out of the vegetables I grew to thank Krish-san for everything he had done for me. Starting from tomorrow, no, from today, I had to go back to my life without Krish-san.

I unconsciously grasped the fabric of my pants.

Translator: FrankenWife

TL Note: In this chapter there is a change in how Shinobu addresses Krish over time. In the beginning he is using more formal language, like you would use with a teacher (desu/masu) and then towards the end of the chapter there is a shift and he starts speaking to him like a friend (da/ta). What is important to note is that Shinobu's internal thinking he always speaks pretty informally (da ne), so that is his "natural" voice. What the author is showing through this is that Shinobu is slowly becoming his natural self around Krish... I wonder how long it will take to drop the honorifics though lol.