The Legend of Level 0 in Academy City

Smiling, Inoue Eika helped Saten Ruiko back to bed, then called out to the door:

"Mikoto, are you still there?"

Othinus's attack was all bark and no bite. Although it sent Inoue Hideka flying two or three meters away, Inoue Hideka's body was not actually seriously injured, at least within Inoue Hideka's tolerance range.

"Yes, I'm here. What's up?"

Misaka Mikoto was standing outside the door when she heard Inoue Eika's words, so she opened the door and came in.

"I want to take Ruiko to a place where we won't be disturbed to spend the last days of our lives. It might take a few days. If anyone contacts me during this time, could Mikoto please tell them for me?"

"..." Misaka Mikoto silently looked at Saten Ruiko. Seeing Saten Ruiko nod at her, she said to Inoue Eika with a somber expression, "You bastard, take good care of Saten. If Saten suffers even the slightest grievance, I will never forgive you!"

“Yes!” Inoue Hideka nodded with a smile.

Then Misaka Mikoto walked to the bedside, knelt down, took Saten Ruiko's hand, and said:

"Zaten, I'm leaving you in this bastard's care for the next few days. If she dares to bully you, call me and I'll fly over and beat her to a pulp, no matter how far away she is!"

As Misaka Mikoto spoke, she glared fiercely at Inoue Eika.

Saten Ruiko just smiled and said nothing.

Misaka Mikoto continued:

"Well, I'll talk to Haru and Kuroko, don't worry. These next few days..." At this point, Misaka Mikoto's eyes welled up with tears. She pursed her lips, stubbornly holding back her sobs, and continued defiantly, "These next few days, you must be happy! Otherwise, otherwise..."

Then there will be no chance.

Misaka Mikoto ultimately didn't say those sad words, but instead said, "Anyway, you'll definitely be happy!"

After saying this, Misaka Mikoto could no longer hold back. She quickly turned around, covered her mouth, and ran out, tears welling up in her eyes and scattering in the air.

"Eika." Watching Misaka Mikoto run out with worry, Saten Ruiko turned to Inoue Eika and said, "I'm not feeling well, could you go out and check on Misaka-senpai for me?"

"Okay. Then you lie down and rest for a while. We'll leave later and find a secluded paradise where we won't be disturbed. I'll live a carefree life with you."

Saten Ruiko nodded, looked at Inoue Eika, and smiled happily.

Chapter 499 A desolate scene, a frozen coffin

After that, Inoue Eika and Saten Ruiko left Academy City together and bought a two-story house with a yard in a small town near Saten Ruiko's hometown.

It contained all the necessities for daily life, saving the two of them a lot of time together when Saten Ruiko had little time left to live.

Before officially entering their private space, Saten Ruiko asked Inoue Eika to take her to see her parents.

Perhaps out of a desire not to let her parents experience the pain of outliving their child, Saten Ruiko simply watched her father, mother, and younger brother from afar, without going over to speak to them, and of course, she couldn't let them know that she would soon pass away.

Furthermore, Saten Ruiko instructed Inoue Hideka not to tell her parents after her death, and even asked Inoue Hideka to use an external brain implant to erase her parents' and younger brother's memories of her.

All I wanted was to avoid hurting them.

……

Inside a house with the words "Jing Shang" hanging at the entrance.

kitchen.

At this moment, Saten Ruiko was sitting in a wheelchair, smiling as she pointed at Inoue Hideka, who was busy in the kitchen.

After the initial chaos, Inoue Hideka gradually calmed down, determined to make a meal that Saten Ruiko would be able to eat. He forced himself to follow Saten Ruiko's instructions step by step, suppressing his feelings of rejection.

An hour later, Inoue Hideka looked at the garlic chives and eggs, celery stir-fried with pork, and a pot of congee with preserved egg and lean pork on the table, wiped the sweat from her brow, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

At least the dish doesn't look too bad, and the taste isn't too bad either.

"Raiko, come here!" Inoue Eika walked behind the wheelchair, pushed Saten Ruiko to the dining table, took the bowl and chopsticks and said to Saten Ruiko, "Time to eat~~ This is the first meal I, Inoue Eika, have ever cooked myself. Please enjoy it, Ruiko-sama."

Eight or nine days had passed since Saten Ruiko woke up in Academy City. Because Saten Ruiko could barely muster any strength and was panting even when walking, Inoue Eika prepared a semi-automatic wheelchair for her.

The armrests have switches and a steering wheel. Wherever Saten Ruiko wants to go, she can simply turn on the switch to move the wheelchair there.

Saten Ruiko smiled as she took the bowl and chopsticks, picked up a piece of egg, tasted it, deliberately frowned and pondered for a while before suddenly laughing and saying, "Well... it's pretty good! Okay! You've passed!"

"Ha..." Inoue Hideka finally breathed a sigh of relief. He sat down next to Saten Ruiko, picked up some food for her, and said, "Eat as much as you can. Look at you now, you've lost so much weight."

Previously, when standing next to Misaka Mikoto, Saten Ruiko was noticeably more voluptuous than Misaka Mikoto, unlike Misaka Mikoto who was rather thin.

But now, looking at Saten Ruiko's face, which was not only bloodless but also thin and gaunt, Inoue Eika felt very sorry for her.

"No, Eika." Saten Ruiko pouted slightly and said unhappily, "I'm not a pig, unlike Eika, I can't eat that much."

“What Ruiko means is…” Inoue Hideka concealed the heartache in her eyes and feigned anger, “Am I a pig?”

“Yeah, yeah, didn’t you know?” Saten Ruiko smiled matter-of-factly.

"I, uh... then if I'm a pig, and Ruiko is my girlfriend, then wouldn't that mean..."

"Don't say it!" Realizing she had shot herself in the foot, Saten Ruiko immediately interrupted Inoue Hideka.

"Hehe! Okay, okay, let's eat, let's eat..." Inoue Eika had no intention of really making Saten Ruiko angry, so she wisely stopped and didn't continue.

"Oh, this preserved egg and lean pork congee is quite good, it's already one ten-thousandth as good as mine!"

Saten Ruiko scooped a spoonful of porridge into her mouth, her eyes immediately lit up, and she looked at Inoue Hideka with admiration, giving her a compliment.

"Are you praising me or insulting me?" Inoue Hideka retorted speechlessly.

"Of course I'm praising you. You know how rare it is in the world to reach even one ten-thousandth of my culinary skills. Shouldn't you be proud?"

"Tears, your narcissism has grown ten times faster than your cooking skills."

"Hmph! You don't understand. A top chef must have confidence. If you don't even believe in yourself, how can you possibly make dishes that are perfect in color, aroma, and taste? As a famous saying goes, if you want others to respect you, you must first respect yourself... uh, you know what I mean?"

Saten Ruiko was eloquent, and if one didn't ignore the fact that she was in a wheelchair and her pale face, she wouldn't look like someone on the verge of death.

"Do you even understand what you're saying?" Inoue Eika was pleased to see Saten Ruiko so energetic and chimed in with a reply.

Speaking of which, is there a direct connection between self-confidence and self-esteem? And, is self-confidence the same as arrogance?

Simply put, it's about finding a grand and plausible reason for one's arrogance, and then making the reason so nonsensical that it's incomprehensible. But precisely because it's incomprehensible, it seems to appear very sophisticated.

That's probably how it is, isn't it? Inoue Hideka thought to herself.

There was a time when arguing with the lively Ruiko Saten was a daily routine for Eika Inoue, but now, such things probably won't last much longer.

However, no matter what, as long as Saten Ruiko is happy, Inoue Eika will be happy too.

Lunch passed pleasantly amidst their playful bickering.

In the afternoon, at Saten Ruiko's request, Inoue Eika bought many different kinds of potted plants in town and placed them in her yard. She also bought two cherry blossom saplings and planted them with Saten Ruiko on the left side of the front of the small building.

night.

Inoue Eika held Saten Ruiko as they slept peacefully. Although the prospect of intimacy between men and women was very tempting for Inoue Eika, who was experiencing forbidden fruit for the first time, he couldn't muster any interest in it, considering Saten Ruiko's physical condition.

For three days, Inoue Hideka pushed Saten Ruiko in her wheelchair and took her on a good trip.

After getting up on the first morning, the two bought two sets of fishing gear in town, and then, taking advantage of the sunny weather and pleasant temperature at noon, they went fishing for half a day in a nearby lake.

When they were baiting the area, Inoue Hideka used a lot of fish bait, which attracted a lot of fish, and the two of them managed to catch a few fish.

So lunch turned into the fish the two of them caught. Inoue Eika was in charge of grilling the fish, while Saten Ruiko continued to watch the float. Once the fish was cooked, they started eating.

In November, the temperature starts to drop a bit around 3 p.m.

Afterwards, Inoue Hideka and Saten Ruiko returned to their own little villa and spent time together playing games or watching TV.

The next day, Inoue Hideka took Saten Ruiko to see a movie in the city, and then pushed Saten Ruiko in her wheelchair and accompanied her shopping at the mall for an afternoon.

The two didn't go back until Saten Ruiko felt tired and wanted to lie down on the bed.

On the morning of the third day, Inoue Hideka helped Saten Ruiko choose her favorite rings. In the afternoon, the two of them, each wearing their own rings, went to take wedding photos.

Of course, given their ages, they were not allowed to get married, and neither Inoue Eika nor Saten Ruiko were the type of people who pursued formalities.

Only two sets of wedding photos were printed.

Inoue Hideka had one set, and Saten Ruiko said she would take one with her.

So, the fourth day arrived.

According to their original plan, Saten Ruiko intended to donate money to the city's orphanage today, as the last good deed she would do before she died.

But things didn't go as planned.

When Inoue Eika opened her eyes in the morning, she saw Saten Ruiko, whose condition had suddenly worsened.

Her face was deathly pale, and the skin at the extremities showed severe signs of atrophy. The skin on her hands and feet was covered with fine wrinkles. Moreover, Saten Ruiko was now unable to get out of bed.

According to her, she could not feel anything in her body and had no strength at all.

Like a patient who is completely paralyzed, she is now essentially a mentally active person in a vegetative state, except that she can still speak and see.

Inoue Eika was panicked, but he knew this day would come sooner or later. All he could do was let Saten Ruiko leave this world as comfortably as possible.

Looking at Saten Ruiko lying on the bed with a terrible complexion, Inoue Eika asked softly:

"Tears, where do you feel unwell? Are you hungry? Do you want to eat something?"

"It's alright, Eika, don't worry. I'm not feeling unwell, and I don't want to eat anything," Saten Ruiko whispered softly, trying to comfort the anxious Inoue Eika.

"Okay, I understand. It's good that you're not feeling unwell."

Inoue Hideka knew very well that Saten Ruiko was lying to keep him from worrying; no one would believe she wasn't in pain looking like this.

Even so, Inoue Hideka had no way to solve the problem.

Then, Saten Ruiko made a strange request to Inoue Hideka: "Hideka, could you go and buy an ice coffin?"

"Huh?" Inoue Hideka was surprised, but then he thought that Saten Ruiko might have sensed that her death was coming and was making arrangements for her own affairs, so he said, "Leave the rest to me, Ruiko, don't worry about it."

“No, that’s not what I meant.” Saten Ruiko’s eyes dimmed slightly. “Eika, you saw it too, right? My hands and feet have started to atrophy, and later… it will probably spread to my whole body. I don’t want Eika to see me so ugly. I hope that in Eika’s heart, you will always remember the most beautiful me, so…”

“Yinghua, go buy an ice coffin and freeze me before my body becomes like that.”

! !

Inoue Hideka's heart trembled violently.

Recalling the scene described by Saten Ruiko, Inoue Hideka felt extremely heartbroken. He even felt that... Saten Ruiko was a little cruel at this moment.

The fact that his girlfriend was about to die was already a very sad thing, but if Inoue Eika did as Saten Ruiko said, he would have to face... killing her with his own hands and watching her die slowly, bit by bit?

He couldn't understand it, much less accept it.