"...A kiss?"
That was the first thing Prince Elior heard.
Ugh...
There were blotches of white swimming in the darkness, sounds drifting in and out as if someone had turned the world’s volume knob without telling him.
Everything felt off.
For a moment, he even forgot who he was and how long it had been. Then again, those were only secondary to the question of whether he was dead, alive, or somewhere creatively in between.
An understandable concern that he couldn’t even answer.
Unfortunately for him, all he knew was that consciousness was returning in slow, sticky pieces, and the very first sound that reached him were those baffling words.
A kiss?
"Yes!"
The reply was far too enthusiastic to be reassuring.
Elior tried to open his eyes. He failed. They felt impossibly heavy, like someone had stacked entire libraries on top of his eyelids.
He wondered, briefly, which hallucination would it be this time?
__
Outside of Elior’s fading awareness, the room had taken a turn no one could have reasonably predicted.
"Yes!" D-29 repeated, projecting a bright holodisplay into the air. The image shifted through vaguely familiar scenes. A sleeping figure on a bed of flowers. The next, lying peacefully on another bed located in the highest tower of a castle.
In truth, there were also those who apparently required the same treatment for ailments like needing legs to stay on land. But the little system didn’t think it applied to their current dilemma, when such could be solved with Jade Vine.
"When nothing works despite everything being in order," the system explained cheerfully, "this appears to be another viable waking method."
Princess Kira leaned forward, hands clasped behind her back, eyes sharp with concern and sincerity. "Then should we ask Doctor Philip to attempt it?"
Said Doctor, who happened to be named Philip, stiffened.
Before he could say anything, D-29 replied immediately, "Negative, Your Highness. There are additional requirements."
The projection flickered.
"It appears the individual must not be familiar with the patient. They must be a passing stranger. Additionally, their hair must be gelled."
Silence followed.
Slowly, everyone turned their heads.
Doctor Philip lifted a hand and ran it through his very clearly un-gelled mane. "I do not use hair products," he said faintly.
"Confirmed," D-29 replied. "Unfortunately, you do not meet the criteria."
It was regrettable, but couldn’t be helped.
From the side, Luca, who had since recovered after a nap, also felt concerned because, unlike everyone else who once used the pill, Elior still hadn’t woken up even after several hours.
Scans already showed massive improvement and stable vitals, yet no sign of regaining consciousness. At this point, he was willing to try anything, afraid that he had damaged Elior’s consciousness in an irreversible manner.
"By any chance," he asked calmly, "are these individuals trained responders?"
"It doesn’t appear so, Host!" D-29 answered brightly. "They don’t seem to be following any visible or implied emergency manuals."
Princess Kira’s eyes widened in understanding.
"Then I know why it worked," she said with immense seriousness.
Everyone paused.
"If they weren’t first responders and weren’t performing life-saving procedures," she continued, nodding to herself, "then the patient must have woken up to protect themselves from harassment."
"!!!"


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