Ayane's home was quite large for a single person. It was a small courtyard with a large main house, a woodshed, a kitchen, and a forge-like building that had once been used by a blacksmith.
When Ayane returned home, she set the laundry basin down in the yard and carried Matsurize into the main house. Upon entering, the first thing visible was a spacious living room, where meals were usually taken.
To the left of the living room was the west room, where Ayane normally resided. She carried Matsurize into this room. To the right was the east room, which had once belonged to her parents. Ayane only entered the east room to clean it occasionally, as staying there often brought up painful memories of her parents.
There was no way she would let a strange man stay in her parents' room, so she chose to bring Matsurize into her own bedroom instead.
Ayane's room was tidy and lacked the typical girlish items like makeup or vanity accessories. She laid Matsurize on her bed, not caring about the dirt and blood staining her sheets.
After ensuring he was lying comfortably, Ayane went outside to fetch a basin of clean water and a towel. She returned to wipe away the mud and blood from Matsurize's body.
Fortunately, Ayane had some basic medical supplies in her room. Over the years, she had gradually acquired these supplies while managing her ancestral home. Living alone, she had often injured herself, so she had purchased the necessary items to treat her wounds.
Matsurize's luck wasn't all bad—he had encountered a girl who knew basic medicine.
After wiping off most of the dirt and blood, Ayane noticed that some of Matsurize's wounds were still worsening. She touched his forehead and found that he was running a high fever.
His torn clothes were sticking to his wounds, and Ayane muttered to herself, "Don't get distracted, Ayane. Saving him is what's important."
She took a pair of scissors and began cutting away Matsurize's shredded clothing. Ayane worked quickly and efficiently, and in no time, Matsurize was stripped of his tattered clothes.
Even though Ayane was an eighteen-year-old girl, and the sight of a naked man caused her cheeks to flush bright red, she didn't hesitate for long. She remained focused on cleaning his wounds, squeezing out the blood clots, and bandaging him up.
Ayane then went to the kitchen to boil a pot of water. She soaked a clean cloth in the hot water and placed it on Matsurize's forehead. Covering him with a blanket, she watched as he continued to burn with fever.
She wanted to give him some medicine to reduce the fever, but Matsurize was unconscious and couldn't swallow it. That's when Ayane remembered a medical book she had once bought. She had stored it on the bookshelf beside her bed and rushed to retrieve it. Flipping to the page she recalled, she found the section that described how to give medicine to an unconscious patient.
Just as she remembered, there was a method, though it was rather awkward.
Ayane hesitated, even with her normally decisive nature. The book explained that when a person was unconscious, their swallowing reflex wouldn't function, which was why Matsurize couldn't take the medicine. The solution was to stimulate a primitive reflex—the sucking reflex—and the recommended way to do this was by administering the medicine mouth-to-mouth.
Ayane blushed at the thought. After all, Matsurize was a complete stranger.
But feeling his forehead burning hotter and knowing that she had no one else to rely on, Ayane made up her mind. Her home was isolated, and even if she went to seek help, it would take too long, and Matsurize might die by the time she returned.
Understanding that his life was in her hands, Ayane decided to act. Without saying a word—there was no one around to hear anyway—she prepared the medicine.
She poured hot water into a small cup, then carefully crushed one fever-reducing pill after another into powder and mixed it into the water. After blowing on the mixture to cool it down, Ayane took a sip, then leaned down and pressed her lips to Matsurize's, transferring the liquid into his mouth.
Matsurize instinctively began sucking, and Ayane slowly passed the medicine from her mouth to his. At first, she was shy and hesitant, but as she repeated the action, she became more comfortable. In no time, she had successfully given him the entire cup of medicine.
Though her medical knowledge was limited, Ayane had done all she could for Matsurize. Now, it was up to him to fight through the fever.
As she watched over him, Ayane noticed how thin he was despite his broad frame. It was clear that he hadn't eaten properly in a long time, and she realized she had another problem to address—he needed food.
He had come this far, and she couldn't let him recover from his fever only to starve to death in her bed.
Ayane went back to the kitchen and stoked the fire, reheating the porridge she had prepared for dinner. She stirred it with a large spoon, making it softer and easier to swallow.
Once the porridge was warm and smooth, Ayane ladled some into a small bowl and returned to her room. She placed the bowl on the bedside table and checked Matsurize's forehead again.
Her efforts had paid off—his fever was starting to break. Overjoyed, Ayane felt as if she had lowered her own fever.
Taking a spoonful of porridge, Ayane swallowed it herself, then, just as she had done before with the medicine, fed it to Matsurize mouth-to-mouth.