Overloaded With Attributes Chapter 01

You Know... I'm Starting to Think That 'God' Was Actually a Demon.

A sensation like floating up from the bottom of a dark pool of water. Slowly, my consciousness began to surface, and the heavy fog in my head started to clear.

I didn't want to move. I'm still sleepy, just leave me alone. I somehow managed to fight that impulse and forced my twitching eyelids open... ...to a plain white ceiling.

"Nngh... ghh... (Where... am I?)"

The first thing I saw when I was sent back from that other world to Japan (my original world) was the front bumper of "a truck barreling right towards me." That's right. That bastard I don't even know... sent me back to the exact situation I was summoned from—the very instant I was caught in the traffic accident.

...You know... it wasn't just me. All the other people summoned to that world... Every single one of them said they were transferred right as they were about to die.

"Mmmgh... mmmh... (I don't know who the hell that 'God' was, but...)"

He used us up, and as soon as we were done, he was just going to have us all killed, wasn't he? So, does that mean this is the afterlife...? No, that doesn't feel right. There's a fluorescent light on the ceiling.

I tried to move my arms and legs, but I couldn't budge an inch, as if my whole body was strapped down. Wait, my face? My mouth? I'm being forced to bite down on some kind of mouthpiece, and there's something transparent covering my nose...

"Mmmph... (What is this...)"

I could only move my eyes, so I scanned the room.

White ceiling. White walls. White sheets, white curtains.

The room was way bigger than my bedroom back home. It had a sofa and a table, even a big TV. It almost looked like a pretty expensive hotel room, but... There were dozens of tubes running out of my body. And to the left of the bed, a whole bank of imposing-looking machines.

"...Mmmgh... (A hospital?)"

Well, I was in a traffic accident. If I somehow survived a crash like that, it's not strange that I'd be hospitalized.

The familiar electronics that didn't exist in the other world. The room must be soundproofed, because I couldn't hear any outside noise, but beyond the window, I could see tall buildings and colorful signs.

...I see. So... I'm really... back in Japan.

The second my brain processed that, something hot welled up from deep in my chest. An emotion I never felt in the other world—or rather, never had time to feel. It wasn't nostalgia, it wasn't pain... It was something I couldn't put into words.

"...Mmm... Mmm... (Mom... Dad...)"

For ten years. I hadn't even let myself think about them. My parents. I had pretended I'd forgotten them, just to survive in that other world.

But now, back in my original world... I could clearly hear Mom's gentle voice, feel Dad's rough hands, even smell the dinner the three of us ate together. It all came flooding back.

"...Mmm... Mmm..."

Just as I mumbled their names again, the hospital room door, which was in a blind spot from where I was, opened with a soft click.

＊　＊　＊

This is Ouji Hospital. It's one of the few hospitals in Osaka Prefecture with a dedicated male-only ward. Of course, the number of male patients we actually admit... is just a few a year, if that. Which is exactly why! You can't blame me for being a little hyped right now, can you!?

Because the patient in the room I'm heading to is a brand-new, teenage BOY! That's right! Not a cross-dressing girl... not a cosplayer... a real, actual guy!!

Yes. I'm well aware that I shouldn't be happy about a patient being hospitalized. Yes. I'm sorry...

Anyway, my patient. He's a boy who was brought in by emergency transport after getting caught in a traffic accident. His injuries were severe... so severe that he normally would have died. Thanks to Dr. Saitou's quick thinking, his life was miraculously saved... but it's been three days since the surgery, and he still hasn't regained consciousness.

Of course, it wouldn't be strange if he woke up at any moment, you know? But, conversely... it also wouldn't be strange if he never woke up. So, today, just like yesterday, I visited his room for a routine checkup...

And what I saw... Was the boy in the bed, letting out small noises, tears streaming down his face.

...

...

...

Wh-wh-wh-WHAT DO I DO?!?!

Talk! I should just talk to him, right!? But... but he's crying! He looks super emotionally unstable!

If, in a situation like that, a woman! And, of all people, a woman like me! Small, but with a chest that's... well, more than 'a little' big... If I tried to talk to him, it would just make him panic more... Ah, he made eye contact with me!?

...Wait! Hold on!! We just made eye contact, right!? No, I should have realized the moment I saw him crying!! This means... he's conscious! He's awake, isn't he!?

Eh, eh, eh? What do I do in this situation!?

The nurse call button!? Use the nurse call to get a nurse!? Ah, I'm the nurse!!

Then a doctor!? That's it! I have to get a doctor, right now!!

＊S ＊ ＊

Thinking of Mom and Dad, I couldn't stop crying.

I'm lonely. I don't... want to be alone.

Maybe my feelings reached someone, because I sensed a person enter the room. I turned my eyes and saw... a petite nurse, standing there with her mouth hanging wide open. Her face was hidden by a mask, but her big, round eyes looked just like a baby raccoon's. She was definitely a cutie! ...Or so I felt. Maybe.

"Oh... oh... oh..."

For some reason, the nurse was frozen in place, making a noise like a seal. ...Huh? This is a hospital employee, right? She's not... a trespasser, is she?

The sudden fear made my body jolt, and in the next instant, the suspicious, raccoon-cub-like girl... exited the room with a shockingly smooth moonwalk.

...What the hell was that?

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