---

Year 992 of the Unified Era, March.

“It’s a girl, Zion. She seems to have been born healthy.”

“Hah, hah…”

Hop Harvey, holding the precious baby passed from the midwife, was my cherished lover and the father of this child.

I was so eager to see what the expression on the teacher’s face looked like as he gazed at her, but my vision was obscured by sweat and tears.

“Could I have a towel…”

“Here you go.”

Wiping my face with the towel handed over by the teacher, I checked both the baby’s and Hop’s faces.

As I watched the teacher gently smile down at the baby, I felt a bit more at ease.

“Do you want to hold her?”

My neck ached, and I was exhausted, so I just nodded in response, and the teacher carefully placed the baby in my arms.

‘Finally, I can hold this baby.’

She was the child we had waited so long for.

A symbol of the love we had confirmed countless times yet could never truly possess.

At last. At last, I’ve been able to hold her…

“Zion. Have you decided on a name?”

“Yes. I’ve decided. A name that can be used for either a boy or a girl.”

Since the teacher had no memories, I had planned to name the child myself.

The name for my baby would be,

“Risen. This child’s name is Risen Harvey.”

A name that means ‘reason.’

What we so desired and exchanged with each other.

What we so… wanted to have.

“That’s a nice name.”

I was relieved that the teacher liked it too.

It was also fortunate that I was able to safely give birth to the child.

For the time being, I would have to focus on postpartum recovery and rehabilitation.

While Hop traveled the rehabilitation centers of the world using recover magic, there were still no signs of his memories returning.

Rehabilitation is a slow process.

I’ve done a lot of waiting.

I have always been waiting.

So this time too…

***

Year 993 of the Unified Era, March.

On Risen’s first birthday, we held a gathering with welcoming guests.

Naona insisted we should have a grand party, but after some persuasion, we managed to hold a modest celebration for Risen’s first birthday.

The teacher still seemed a bit awkward with Naona, but ever since Risen was born, he had been showing a bright demeanor even in his state of memory loss.

Looking at how well he cared for Risen, despite my worries about how he would accept the baby, there were many days that made me smile.

Despite visiting various rehabilitation centers and using recover magic, the teacher always lit up when he saw Risen, playing happily with him.

Even without memories, Hop Harvey is still Hop Harvey, it seems.

I momentarily forgot that although he seemed only capable of loving the broken, he chose to fix rather than break people.

The King of Barrow, who understood our circumstances, sent various supplies to ensure the child could grow well, and even Keineu, who was busy interacting with humans, changed his schedule to join the gathering.

It seems Kainu developed a special non-alcoholic beverage that tastes like liquor for the sake of Naona, who can’t drink alone.

Surprisingly, that special drink tasted and smelled just like real alcohol, but it didn’t make Naona collapse at all.

When she drank it, Naona exclaimed, “So this is what alcohol tastes like,” thanking Kainu. Can these two really hit it off?

Serin has retired from her imperial special agent position and is now leisurely living off her retirement while gradually learning nursing.

She mentioned wanting to work in one of the rehabilitation centers in her homeland’s empire or the one where Naona is, but really, she just wanted to learn rehabilitation under Hop, who joked that he would call her when he gets his memory back.

With a newfound hope that he might regain his memory and with the birth of our child, suddenly everything feels like it’s going well.

If only the day where the teacher regains his memory would come.

If only…

***

Year 994 of the Unified Era, May.

Today marks the historic day Risen took her first steps.

Watching the baby grow, babbling, and beginning to walk is so magical and joyful.

However, strangely enough, Risen seems to prefer her dad, who is out and about for rehabilitation, over me, her mom, who takes care of her all day long.

She hardly says ‘dad,’ which is hard to pronounce, and when both the teacher and I call her from either side, she always walks towards the teacher.

Does affection take after the parents?

So is Risen mimicking my feelings for the teacher?

After asking around, I learned that feeling jealous of a child is natural, but knowing that the teacher doesn’t like me any more than his affection for the child makes it unavoidable for me to feel a bit gloomy.

***

Year 995 of the Unified Era, November.

As the child grows more active, my worries deepen.

Last time, I wrote about whether affection resembles the parents, but could it be that hints also pass from parents to child?

Every time Risen picks something up, she tosses it on the floor, and it seems the household chores cannot survive.

Does it feel good to break things, you little Hop Harvey…?

Even when Risen breaks something, Hop quietly approaches and cleans up, playing with whatever it was that got broken, and it makes my head spin.

They say children are shaped by their parents’ souls, but if the hints are indeed passed down from parents to children, then I’ve definitely chosen the wrong partner.

When Risen can think, I’ll have to educate her properly, right?

But I firmly believe that Risen has also inherited Hop’s warmth and kindness.

Even if she acts freely in her innocence now, later she will surely help others like the teacher.

Imagining what the child of a hero and a rehabilitator will become as she grows is incredibly enjoyable.

One day, I can tell stories that will make our child proud, alongside the teacher who regained his memories.

For now, I’m just waiting excitedly for that day to come.

***

Year 997 of the Unified Era, March.

Now that Risen is starting to think for herself, it seems she is curious about many things about us.

Today, she asked why I call Hop “teacher.”

She said she has never seen anyone refer to their husband this way.

The truth is, we still haven’t married.

It’s because I couldn’t have a wedding with the teacher who lost his memories.

How on earth do I explain this to Risen?

Risen said that her dad is neither a doctor nor a school teacher, but I earnestly explained to her how incredible a doctor the teacher was.

He’s still going around the rehabilitation centers using recover on patients, so strictly speaking, he’s still performing rehabilitation activities.

Risen responded with a somewhat dissatisfied expression that she understood, but I have a feeling that we won’t be able to hide the fact that we haven’t married for long.

Once the teacher regains his memory, should we hold a grand party as Naona always says?

Our true wedding celebration.

***

Year 998 of the Unified Era, June.

Hop has been dreaming more frequently lately.

The contents of his dreams are quite varied, but most often, I appear in them.

Dreams of me hanging onto him, dreams of us breaking into the Demon King’s castle as a hero party together, and he even mentioned winning a chess game against me in four moves once.

I was outraged, thinking how could that be, and when we actually played chess, while it didn’t end in four moves, I ended up losing.

Nonetheless, the fact that he is dreaming of various things might signal that his memories are returning?

It’s already been seven years since the teacher started memory rehabilitation.

Risen will turn 6 next birthday.

I’ve waited so long, but finally, it feels like an end is in sight.

At last, at last…

***

“Did you come back?”

“Yes. I’m back, Zion.”

Hop returned late in the evening after leaving the rehabilitation center.

He must have used recover magic abundantly again today.

“Daddy!!”

Risen, who still loves her dad, ran towards him as soon as Hop stepped into the house, arms outstretched to leap into his embrace.

“Whoa, Risen! Did you listen to your mom?”

“Yes!”

Hop lifts Risen effortlessly into his arms.

Watching Risen cling to the teacher, touching his cheeks, I find myself feeling envious now.

I can’t even remember the last time I hugged the teacher.

Though we haven’t married, we can’t call ourselves a couple, the bond we share now feels like a childcare community tied together by our child.

Living with a loved one while being unable to confirm and share our love is incredibly painful.

But I guess it’s fortunate that the teacher loves Risen so much.

Now I’m more accustomed to finding surrogate satisfaction through Risen than feeling jealous of her, but it still feels so pathetic and pitiful.

“I’ve prepared dinner.”

“…”

The teacher glances at me, as if gauging my mood while still holding Risen in his arms.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“?”

Is it just my imagination, or do I sense some discomfort in the teacher’s expression as he slightly smiles before heading to the dining table?

Placing Risen down beside him, he sat at the table, looking warmly at me as I headed into the kitchen to get the food…

“Wait, what’s this? There are raw eggs piled up on all three prepared plates, and even the cracked shells are all there.”

“Risen!”

Destroying the food again!

I can’t believe it after warning her numerous times…

“Why?”

“Risen really doesn’t understand why mom calls her?”

“Uuuh…”

After scolding her, she finally lowered her head.

“Risen. If you break the food mom carefully prepared, it makes her sad.”

“But dad likes it.”

“…”

Seeing Risen looking at me with a downcast expression makes me at a loss for words, especially since I couldn’t refute her claim that the teacher likes it.

It seems that educating a child is something both parents must contribute to.

Is the teacher’s condition ultimately affecting the child as well?

“Don’t scold her too much, Zion.”

And Hop steps in to defend Risen once again.

“That’s how you always are…!”

In the end, I lose my temper with the teacher.

While I believe this necessary, a part of me feels this isn’t right, blocking my actions.

And that contradictory feeling wells up into sorrow, which then turns into tears, leaving me unable to continue speaking.

“H-huh…”

But no matter how tough it gets, I can’t afford to cry.

If I break down now, this family is over.

I’ll be fine. I’ll endure it. Surely, if I hold on…

“So…”

Desperately pushing down the emotions that felt like they would overflow, I shook my head and managed to compose myself, lifting my gaze to meet the teacher’s.

“Could you wait a bit longer? I can just redo the food…”

“It doesn’t seem necessary.”

“Eh?”

The teacher continued to gaze at me with a faint smile.

What does that even mean? Has he grown tired of my cooking now?

“I was actually going to give you something but forgot.”

“?”

Something he was going to give me? When was that?

My head became blank as I had no idea what he was talking about.

And then, the teacher extended his hand into the empty space and grasped something that appeared from thin air.

“…!”

It was a loaf of bread, warm and steaming as if freshly baked.

Bakera’s morning bread.

“Shall we have this for dinner? It might be a bit too little for three of us…Whoa!!”

– Crash!

Before I knew it, I had dashed over to the teacher, knocking him over.

It caught him off guard; he couldn’t quite catch me, and we both toppled into the chair.

“Teacher just used space magic…!”

“Zion…”

As I hugged Hop, who lay spread on the floor, he too reached out and embraced me back.

Feeling our mutual longing, we savored those longed-for emotions.

Ah, finally, finally…!

“Um, teacher. I… I held on. It was so hard, but I managed to endure and waited… somehow, somehow…!”

I had so much to say, yet no words could come out.

It felt like my throat was being constricted painfully, and tears streamed endlessly from my tightly shut eyes.

Then I felt the teacher’s warm hand stroking my back.

So warm, soft, and longed-for.

Finding comfort in his embrace made me squeeze firmly with trembling arms and neck, nestling deeper into his warmth.

“Don’t cry, Zion. I’m here.”

“Wuuuuuh…”

Although the teacher told me not to cry, as soon as he said he was here, I couldn’t help but release my heart’s cries.

Now that I think about it, the teacher had always been right beside me, yet why did I crave to hear this?

The teacher was also silently shedding tears, holding my head.

I had undoubtedly lived for this moment.

The endless and seemingly never-ending war has finally ended, and the one I thought was lost to me has come back in Hop.

I had endured times of pain from not seeing the teacher, but even those pains did not last forever.

“You’ve worked hard, Zion. Really, thank you.”

I always wondered why I was born and why I was living, but now I feel like I understand it all.

I have lived all this time to hear these words.

Waiting and enduring is sometimes so incredibly tough and painful that…

I have crumbled and broken down, but…

In the end, all pain comes to an end.

Rehabilitation is a waiting game filled with endless efforts.

A struggle toward a small flicker of hope.

That process is so slow that at times, faith in that hope wavers, leading to despair.

Although it can sometimes feel meaningless to repeat the same actions over and over…

Every effort returns as results; one day, it must come.

That is probably the reason we all live.

While working hard, hoping, and waiting, one day it will surely arrive…

To meet that ‘someday.’

——————————————–

Broken Hero and Rehabilitator

– fin –

——————————————–

 

---