endurance 1

It had been half a year after the incident, when Moroboshi had somehow gotten wind of the fact that she had been researching a method to utilize the body's cells to regrow lost limbs via magic, and came to her.

「Doc, please. Help me fight once again!」

He likely had not consulted his family at all before dragging himself from Osaka to Hiroshima, bringing only his muddied, wounded body… and a singular determination.

"I accepted without hesitation. Of course, it wasn't because I was moved by his passion or anything. To me, his arrival was just awfully convenient, as I was looking for laboratory rats for my research. Haha, I'm a cruel woman aren't I? At that time, I thought that I could do anything, that it was fine for me to do anything. So I stepped into the realm of the gods, and created new parts to replace the missing ones."

"So, Moroboshi's current legs are…."

"Yes, I cannibalized components from the rest of his body at the molecular level and coalesced the dispersed parts into a pair of false legs."

As another water user, Shizuku was rendered speechless at the skill of the White-Robed Knight. The number of water users in the whole world who could recreate a pair of new legs for someone who had lost them could not be more than three. Moreover, by her method all the components would originally come from Moroboshi himself, thus ruling out the occurrence of foreign body rejection as might happen in a transplant.

However—

"Hmm, but don't the legs account for close to half of the human body's total mass? Wouldn't a transfer of that sort be detrimental to the rest of the body?"

Arisuin's question was exactly the same as that which Shizuku was thinking. And their fears were spot-on.

"You have a good eye for this. It's as you say. We had problems. First there was the severe atrophy of his musculature all across the board, to the point where his life was in danger. The density of his bones was also decreased due to the creation of the large and robust leg bones, thus causing him to develop osteoporosis."

In the period just after the operation, Moroboshi had been so weakened that the mere act of inhalation and exhalation would cause his chest bones to ache. He was closer to death, most likely, more than he was right after the accident.

But that was only the beginning. In order to allow his by then thoroughly skin-and-bones body to regain a satisfactory degree of mobility, he had to build up his muscle mass. He also needed to do so as quickly as possible, as his reduced musculature would soon lose the ability to sustain his basic bodily functions.

Thus Kiriko had forced him, with that stick-thin body of his, to undergo an exercise regimen meant for first-rate athletes.

"Of course, it was unpardonable to make him do that with his body all the same."

His hollowed bones broke, his weakened muscles tore. His softened tendons split, his nerves snapped everywhere. Swallowing his agony, he ran on shattered legs, lifted dumbbells with ruined arms. His wounded body was healed each time by Kiriko's recovery magic, but that only meant that he would experience ruination for times uncountable.

It was a reckless process no different from torture. Vomiting and incontinence became everyday occurrences. In the end—

"Three months. That was how long it took to give up."

"That was unavoidable. Such recklessness…."

"Or should I say, that it's amazing that he could hold out for three months."

The common opinion between Shizuku and Arisuin had been that three months was way too long. It had clearly surpassed the bounds of treatment—could anyone continue doing such things?

Yet reality went against their reckoning.

"And that's where you're both mistaken. The one who gave up… was me."

"Eh…?"

"At first, I had always treated him like a lab rat, observing his progress and writing it down in a journal. But even though this seems obvious… he isn't a lab rat. He's a living being with the same shape as me. Watching that living being writhe in the throes of pain that had far exceeded human tolerance for days, for weeks, I couldn't stay calm… to be honest, I was going insane. Even in my dreams, I could hear his cries of agony."

After three months, she could not but think of her research as the work of the devil. She had to stop this immediately. The existing technology for prostheses was amazing. They could neither replicate very subtle movements nor allow mana to flow through them like one's original legs, which meant that Moroboshi could not again become a knight, but were advanced enough they would pose almost no obstacle to one's daily life.

Wouldn't that be enough?

Thinking thus, she had requested that Moroboshi cease the rehabilitation process and allow her to perform the operation that would return the flesh in his legs to his upper body.

"…But he told me this."

Even today, she could not forget his words then, could not help but remember them. With sweat matting his brow, and his breathing a mess, he said—

「Y'see, Doc. What d'ya think were the last words Koume spoke? Her face all messed up with tears, she said, 'I'm sorry'. Since then, I've never heard a thing from her. It's all my fault, it's all because I'm so pathetic. She has to bear a burden she shouldn't have to cuz' I was hurt. She jus' wanted to go t' the amusement park, but now she thinks that kind of cute selfishness is a sin… so I can't let it end here. I wanna let her know. That she don't need to apologize none. That she don't need to worry none. But I can't do it with this pathetic body. The things I lost in that accident—my legs, my strength, my place in the world—I'm gonna get 'em all back, to show her with results, not words like 'I'm okay now', or I'll never forgive myself! That's why…! Until I make Koume forgive herself and become able to speak once more, it don't matter how many times my bones break or my muscles tear…! I ain't ever gonna let her see my bent back ever again! That's what… an older brother is!」

"As he said, he never stopped—never even desired to stop—till his rehabilitation was complete… and after a few years, his desperate hard work finally bore fruit. The Star of Naniwa Yuudai Moroboshi returned to this stage, his strength not at all less than it was before."

And then he climbed, all the way to the summit of Japan's student knights—becoming the Seven Stars Sword King.