Kasuka fell sick.
As it turned out, her body was indeed the weakest amongst them, even with the protection of a Halo, she couldn't fight against the natural enemy of people, deseases.
Did she catch the flu? Perhaps a mosquito brought over an infection to her.
As Kasuka had said previously, her body was weak.
Perhaps the only reason she was able to move around for a whole week previously was merely due to the fact that she wanted to watch her 'beacons' live their lives.
Peer grit and determination, she used both of them to feign strength just so she could witness her 'beacons' at their happiest.
It seemed like she finally relaxed herself.
And due to that, she suddenly fainted in the middle of the street, right after Atsuko had reassured her of a brighter future, a future where they are all together.
...Did she feel relieved upon hearing it from one of her 'beacons'?
"How is she?"
"No use. We don't have proper medication to treat a serious illness like this. At best, we could only feed her painkillers to avoid suffering too much."
"..."
Hearing this, Saori gritted her teeth.
They're already in a tough position right now, but now, one of their own suddenly fell ill without any sign of getting better.
"...What's her temperature?"
"I don't think-"
"Just say it."
"...She's dangerously within the border of earth and hell. 41°C, no sign of going down." Even as she said this, Misaki didn't stop tending to the fainted Kasuka. Turning slightly in a lower tone, she spoke to Hiyori, "Get another basin of water. Actually, get two more."
"Un...Understood...!" Quickly making her way to the kitchen, Hiyori returned back with extra basins of water.
"Take off her clothes, we'll need to constantly wet her body, otherwise there's a possibility her illness might worsen."
Nobody could say anything against that.
They merely followed orders.
Even if the information doesn't sound true, as long as it could prevent Kasuka from feeling further pain, they'll do it.
Slowly, each piece of garment was taken off Kasuka's body.
"...It's still here."
It was then that they finally noticed the red bruises on Kasuka's stomach had turned purple, some parts were even turning a darker shade of black.
They had to hold themselves from vomiting right then and there.
"Why... why hasn't it healed?" Hiyori's face had their color running away as she covered her eyes, only peeking through her fingers slightly to look.
Atsuko covered her mouth, afraid a sound might escape.
Saori gritted her teeth.
Misaki continued on her assessment.
"...We haven't given her any painkillers since the day she woke up. There's a possibility that she had been holding her own even while feeling the agony every waking moment."
So, not only did Kasuka have to deal with constant headaches, she also had to force herself to smile just to prevent any hint of pain from escaping.
"...I can't help her. I'm simply not built for treating people. Plus, we don't have proper medication. Even if we do, with our lack of knowledge, we might as well not touch anything at all in case we make things worse."
That was the nail in the coffin.
The tense atmosphere was stuffy.
Even breathing took a little bit of effort to get by.
"...Then, what about her injured head? We already disinfected it, right?"
"...Yes, we did. But since Kasuka said she knew how to replace the bandages herself, she didn't need our help. We trusted her to do it herself."
"Then..."
Another fear gripped their mind.
'She took care of herself, right?'
Unlike her stomach, the injury on Kasuka's head was way more serious. Although it wasn't deep enough to show bones or anything... (Hiyori exaggerated).
Since they already disinfected it, it shouldn't be worse, right?
"...take it off."
"..."
"I'll do it." Atsuko stepped forward, seeing that nobody else seemed willing to do it.
Slowly, her hand met the bandage, and she began to unwrap the tightly tied knot.
'So much pressure, how is her head not squished to the point of oblivion?'
Indeed, the moment the knot came undone, the previously long roll of bandage had turned into a short roll.
Which meant that Kasuka had pulled on them tight enough to make sure a couple extra centimeters could be tied.
'It's not elastic! Is she cutting off her own blood flow!?'
But as Atsuko panicked, she didn't realize that the others had become silent.
Finally noticing, she was about to explain what she concluded... but then, she realized, nobody was looking at her.
All gazes were attracted towards one point.
"...Ahhhhhh!!!!" A scream shook them all awake as they realized that Hiyori had already fainted right after screaming her lungs out.
"...I know I said she's not right in the head, Leader... But I didn't mean it literally." Misaki quietly said, her gaze never leaving the source of discomfort everyone was seeing.
Even Misaki felt like vomiting, how else would Hiyori, who was a natural coward, react?
Perhaps fainting early was a good thing.
Because the more she scrutinized the wound, the worse it got.
"...We disinfected it, I'm certain of that. But then, why is there no sign of healing? No, it seems like the wound got bigger?"
Although it was natural for big wounds like the one on Kasuka's head to take a long time to heal, they didn't expect to not see a single positive change.
Not only did the wound become bigger, there seemed to be a crack that's originating from the wound, slowly crawling their way towards Kasuka's eyes.
It looked extremely ominous.
"This... we can't deal with this ourselves." Even without saying it out loud, everyone had the same idea.
They're not enough.
The only people that could help them right now are the adults.
But they don't trust the adults around them.
Even so, they're desperate.
They could just leave the wound be, perhaps it'll heal by itself, right?
But what if that wasn't the case?
What if it became worse instead?
"...Don't worry. I'll go seek help. Even if I have to starve myself for another week, I'll be ready for it." Saori said. "Put on the minimal clothing she needs, I'm moving immediately."
"Leader." But the voice of Misaki stopped her.
"..."
"Are you certain about this?" Misaki continued. "There's no turning back after this."
"..."
Hearing no response, Misaki sighed and palmed her face.
"Whatever. I'll follow your decision. Please help me, Hime."
"Hm."
They clothed Kasuka back and re-bandaged her injuries.
More delicately on the head, more delicately on the stomach.
Just enough to not cause pain but to also reduce side effects of running quickly.