“…….I’m sorry for making you wait so long.”

A familiar voice rang out.

I stared blankly at the source of the voice that had told me to come back to me.

There was Yoon Si-woo.

Yoon Si-woo, who had risen, opened his eyes, and was speaking.

“……I’m back.”

When he said he was back with a faint smile, tears overflowed.

Yet, I still couldn’t fully believe it.

What if that voice, that laughter, was just a dream or an illusion that my mind conjured up because I longed for it too desperately?

Just like when I had seen Yoon Si-woo in that moment when I was attacked by the Witch of Lust.

So, I approached Yoon Si-woo cautiously and said,

“Y-Yoon Si-woo… Is it really you, really you…?”

I reached out my trembling hand to confirm that it was really him.

My hand shook so violently.

I was afraid that the moment my hand touched him, his appearance would vanish like a mirage and revert to the Yoon Si-woo who wouldn’t wake up again.

“……Yes. It’s me, Scarlet.”

But Yoon Si-woo did not disappear.

He simply gripped my outstretched hand as if to say not to worry because he wasn’t a fantasy.

He only smiled and answered.

Ah, it’s not a hallucination.

Only then could I be certain.

This overly gentle voice of his.

The warmth of his hand that was no longer cold.

It couldn’t possibly be a mere fabrication.

“Ah, haha… It’s real… It’s really Yoon Si-woo… Hehe…”

As I realized that, joy bubbled up, and I laughed.

“Hehe… Huh… Huh… I’m so relieved, so relieved… I’m really relieved… Hoooorng…!”

“Wha?! S-Scarlet?!”

Then, all the anxiety and restlessness that had built up inside me were relieved, and the overwhelming sense of ease struck me as I hugged Yoon Si-woo tightly and burst into tears.

Yoon Si-woo looked bewildered by my sudden action, but at that moment, I couldn’t think about his feelings.

Tears gushed out uncontrollably, more than before, as if the dam that held back my emotions had broken.

So I clung to Yoon Si-woo like gum on a shoe, burying my face in his chest, pouring out my grievances along with my tears.

“Yoon Si-woo…! You jerk…! I was so worried, so worried…! Do you know how much I worried about you not waking up for the rest of your life?! Huh…!”

“S-sorry…”

“Sniff… After collapsing all on your own, claiming you’d save me…! Do you know how much, how much I suffered…!”

“……I’m sorry.”

Suddenly recalling the emotional turmoil I had endured until now, I shouted while crying, and I could feel Yoon Si-woo at a loss for words.

To me, he was like a savior, but at this moment, I felt he needed to be sorry to me a little bit.

You bad person. How much I worried that you might never wake up…

Thinking that made panic seize me.

What if this foolish person collapsed like that again?

Imagining it almost drove me insane.

No, it can’t happen again… I can’t see that again…!

Feeling a sense of urgency, I hastily lifted my head from where it was buried and glared at Yoon Si-woo from below as I spoke.

“Sniff… If you’re really sorry… promise me…!”

“Promise…?”

“Yeah, promise…! From now on, never again leave me behind and run off… promise me you won’t do that…! Got it?!”

I hated the thought of my precious person abandoning me and leaving alone.

To prevent the most fearsome situation for me, I spoke to Yoon Si-woo with trembling voice, begging him to promise.

Then Yoon Si-woo bowed his head, stared at me intently, chuckled softly, and mumbled.

“Alright. I promise.”

“Sniff, really…? You’re promising on our pinky swear…? You better not break it!”

“Yeah, I won’t leave you alone again from now on. Now, let’s pinky swear. Does that make you feel a bit relieved?”

Yoon Si-woo linked his pinky with mine as he spoke.

I gazed absentmindedly at our entwined pinkies.

Even though it was just a promise made on such a trivial place, it strangely filled me with a sense of trust.

No, perhaps the reason I felt so much trust was that the person I promised was Yoon Si-woo.

Someone who despises lies more than anyone, hence I didn’t think he would break the promise he made with me.

Having calmed my anxiety slightly following the promise, I nodded quietly in response to Yoon Si-woo’s question of whether I felt relieved, saying, “…Yes.”

And as my emotions which had seemed to run rampant started to settle, I buried my head again, feeling embarrassed as I avoided Yoon Si-woo’s gaze.

I felt embarrassed.

That I had been such a childish person.

The things I should have said to Yoon Si-woo first weren’t words like the ones I had just said.

So in an attempt to rectify my mistake, albeit belatedly, I quietly uttered an apology to Yoon Si-woo.

“Yoon Si-woo, I’m sorry…”

“…Uh? Suddenly?”

“I’m sorry… More than anything, I should have said this first…”

Yoon Si-woo looked surprised as if he didn’t understand why I was apologizing, but despite that, I stood firm in my apology.

What I had to say first isn’t to complain about the emotional suffering or make Yoon Si-woo feel guilty.

“It’s thank you, Yoon Si-woo…”

I should have said thank you.

“Thank you for helping me back then…”

I was grateful.

Because Yoon Si-woo saved me, I was able to overcome my hardships.

I was able to accept myself, someone I had denied, and because of that, I could be here with everyone now.

I had wanted to convey this gratitude to Yoon Si-woo all along.

But I couldn’t because he had been unconscious, so I was all the more thankful.

“Thank you for coming back…”

You coming back to life enabled me to express this gratitude.

I was so thankful for that.

Really, really, I was relieved to finally be able to say thank you directly.

“Thank you… Yoon Si-woo, sniff… thank you so much…”

As I spoke, my emotions swelled again, and I burst into tears.

And while being unable to control my feelings and crying like a child, Yoon Si-woo spoke softly.

“…I should be the one thanking you.”

His hand gently patted my head while his voice echoed in my ears.

“I might not know it exactly since I was unconscious, but at least I know that you, Scarlet, never gave up on me and tried so hard.”

“Really, how do you…?”

He said he was unconscious, yet asserted that he knew I had tried, which I couldn’t comprehend, so I asked through my sniffles.

Then Yoon Si-woo slowly replied, continuing to stroke my head.

“I heard you. Scarlet, I heard your voice.”

“…My voice?”

“Yeah. I heard your voice telling me to come back.”

That I had told him to come back.

I had certainly said that just a moment ago.

However, considering how softly I had murmured it and how I was outside the room, it shouldn’t have reached Yoon Si-woo.

Could it really be that, just as I had prayed, a miracle occurred at that moment, and my voice reached Yoon Si-woo?

Though I didn’t know why, what mattered most to me was that he had woken up.

And hearing him say that made me feel that what I had done wasn’t meaningless.

I felt like I had repaid a small portion of my debt to Yoon Si-woo.

“So, does that mean I’ve repaid a bit of my debt to you?”

So I asked in that way, and Yoon Si-woo smiled awkwardly as he replied.

“It doesn’t matter. Debt, what’s a debt? If we’re both thankful, then we’re even. Let’s not worry about it anymore.”

“B-but being thankful is still being thankful…”

I said that thinking I couldn’t just dismiss my gratitude since I had received so much, and Yoon Si-woo playfully flicked my forehead with his finger.

“If we start counting every little thing, it feels like we’d be calculative. We’re friends, so it’s natural for us to help each other out.”

Yoon Si-woo said that while smiling.

Seeing that made me feel the corners of my mouth lift into a smile as well.

“Yeah… we’re friends. Hehe… Huh…”

Tears began to flow again.

Talking with Yoon Si-woo made me feel like he really had woken up, and my emotions overflowed with joy.

But I didn’t dislike it.

Rather, I wanted to feel it more, so I held Yoon Si-woo even tighter.

The sensation against me made me feel that he really had come back.

While I was savoring that feeling, I heard Sylvia’s voice.

“Um, you two…? Isn’t it time to start distancing yourselves…?”

“What? Sylvia… Are you feeling jealous because Scarlet and I look too close right now?”

With a teasing tone, Yoon Si-woo replied to Sylvia, who quickly retorted.

“Jealous? Absolutely not! I’m not that insensitive to interrupt such an emotional reunion! But, but…!”

“But, but what?”

Sylvia, who seemed to hesitate to say something, suddenly shouted as if unable to contain it.

“Right now, there’s a terrible smell coming from Yoon Si-woo! I can’t take it anymore!”

“…Huh?”

At Sylvia’s shout, Yoon Si-woo froze.

After a moment, Yoon Si-woo slowly turned to Sylvia and asked in a trembling voice.

“W-wait a minute… do I smell?”

“Yes!! Since you woke up, it smelled like something was peeling off your body! I saw something oozing from you like sweat…! Did you mess yourself somehow?! Ugh…! The more I smell it, the more nauseous I feel!”

As Sylvia pinched her nose and shuddered, Yoon Si-woo’s face turned pale with shock.

Hearing such words from a girl was bound to be shocking…

While I was thinking that, in a state of panic, Yoon Si-woo shouted with his complexion gone pale.

“AAAH! S-Scarlet! Get away! I smell!”

Perhaps he was overly concerned about the smell.

Yoon Si-woo desperately tried to shake me off.

But what did I care?

“Whaaa…! No, I don’t want to leave…!”

At that moment, feeling the reality that Yoon Si-woo was alive was my top priority, and his body odor didn’t matter to me at all.

What did the smell matter?!

Right here, the unicorn! No, Yoon Si-woo is alive, isn’t he?!

So, through tears and snot, I clung to Yoon Si-woo like gum on a shoe, resisting his desperate attempts to shake me off!

“Whaaaaa…! Yoon Si-woo…! I’m fine, it’s okay if you smell…!”

“No, I’m not okay! I feel like I’m going to die from embarrassment! Just let me go! Please…!”

However, our little struggle soon came to an end.

“Stop it! Hurry up and go wash! Since you smell, Scarlet smells too!”

Due to Sylvia’s forceful intervention, I was forcibly separated from Yoon Si-woo and dragged off to the bathroom.

At first, I cried out like a child because I felt like my beloved stuffed toy was taken away, but as I washed, my senses started to come back to me.

I might have thrown a tantrum close to regression, so once I calmed down, I felt like I wanted to disappear.

Yet, I was still better off than Yoon Si-woo.

After hearing that he smelled, Yoon Si-woo came out from the shower looking almost half-dead.

I wanted to offer some consolation, so I said to Yoon Si-woo,

“Yoon Si-woo, don’t worry too much about what happened earlier. I don’t think of you as a smelly person at all, and I’m confident I’ll always see you as my friend, no matter what.”

Hearing that, Yoon Si-woo tried to jump out the window.

I was being sincere; then why…?