My Gift Is “Beauty”. I Think It’s Useless, but It Seems to Be an S-Rank Gift With the Strongest Buff Effect for Beautiful Girls - Chapter 19.2: Everything Is For This Moment (1)

Chapter 19.2: Everything Is For This Moment (1)

Once her left side was fully exposed, it revealed a horrifying condition that was painful to even look at. Her right side, however, was in good shape, and because of that, her overly large breasts were clearly visible.

But once that part was covered, it helped eliminate unnecessary distractions.

The nurse had already left, and now there were four people in the room.

Only those who understood Hiroyo’s skill were present.

“—Alright, here I go. Skill: Skin Quality Improvement.”

A faint white light appeared on Hiroyo’s hands.

He then placed them on Asumi’s burned face.

“Ugh… what is this… I’ve never felt it like this before—my whole body feels like it’s being drained of magic…!”

“Takanashi-san! Are you okay!?”

“Y-Yeah! I don’t feel like the curse is transferring to me or anything… but it’s… intense… it’s draining me…!”

This was probably a level of Skin Quality Improvement unlike anything before. The powerful burden of the curse was pressing down on Hiroyo’s body.

“Huh…?”

“What’s wrong?”

“My hands… they’re burning… It’s so hot… if this keeps up, I might end up getting burned too…”

“—!”

It wasn’t enough to burn through bandages or hospital gowns, but if he kept touching her like this, he might suffer a low-temperature burn.

It was almost a miracle that Asumi was still alive in this condition. Maybe she had survived because she had a Gift related to fire magic, giving her resistance to heat. That was the only explanation Hiroyo could come up with.

And then, just when things seemed to settle, it happened.

“GAAAAAAAAHHHH!?”

“Whoa!?”

Suddenly, Asumi twisted her body violently as if in agony, even with her eyes still closed.

Shocked by her reaction and the heat, Hiroyo instinctively pulled his hand away from her face.

“!?!? Asumi…! But the anesthesia was just administered… We can’t give her another dose so soon—!”

“What do we do, what do we do…!?”

Mizuki and Haruka panicked, completely at a loss. They looked nothing like the respected A-rank adventurers everyone admired. They were just two 18-year-old high school girls—ordinary girls, desperately worried about their dear friend… Anyone could end up like this.

“—Pain Relief Imbuement!”

It was then.

The door to the hospital room opened, and a black-haired girl entered, raising her hand and activating a skill.

“Ah… ahh………………”

Asumi calmed down as if the storm had passed. She stopped writhing and returned to sleep.

“Koharu…! And Hibiki, Kirino…!”

The ones who arrived a little late were three beautiful girls.

“Y-You’re…?”

Fuyutsuki blinked in surprise.

“I’m a friend of Hibiki-chan and Hiroyo-kun. My name is Kushima Koharu. Hibiki-chan told me about what’s going on, and I couldn’t just sit still. If it’s not a bother, please let me do what I can to help…!”

“No, the pleasure is ours! I’m Hosaka Mizuki, and this is Akise Haruka—”

“Of course I know you. You’re famous.”

“And Koharu-chan’s current skill is…”

Everyone was curious about Koharu’s skill.

Neither Hiroyo nor Hibiki knew about this skill.

“Actually, it’s a skill I recently learned. It’s called ‘Pain Relief Grant.’ This lets me use my skill ‘Pain Reduction,’ which lessens pain, on others.”

“Koharu…! That’s amazing!”

Behind them, Hibiki jumped in excitement.

“Ah, Hibiki… sorry for suddenly showing up at this time…”

“Mizuki-nee… it’s fine. Haruka-chan and Asumi-chan helped me a lot, too. Besides, all I could do was bring Hiroyo here.”

“Thank you. I really owe you.”

“Oh, stop it. What matters now is Asumi-chan. Let’s get back to that, okay? From the way things look, something bad must’ve happened, right?”

After Hibiki and Mizuki talked, they took a moment to organize the situation and decided to discuss how to treat Asumi.

Hiroyo had used the ‘Skin Quality Improvement’ skill, but it consumed a lot of magic, and Asumi’s burn was too hot to stay in contact for long.

On top of that, Asumi was in terrible pain, and if it kept going, she might die from the shock.

They had to solve those two issues first.

“I’ll use ‘Pain Relief Grant’ to ease Shishido-san’s pain. The skill should last for several hours right now. If I use a large amount of magic, I think I can keep it going for half a day. So, I’d like to keep coming here.”

“That would… really help… I’m so glad you came…”

If Koharu hadn’t come at that moment, they might not have been able to treat Asumi at all.

“But the heat from the burn…”

Hiroyo’s hand couldn’t stay in contact for long. And the ‘Skin Quality Improvement’ skill wouldn’t work unless he touched her directly, so there was no way around it.

“—I’ll handle that.”

“Huh?”

The one who suddenly raised her hand was the overwhelmingly beautiful girl among them—Hyoudou Kirino. Since entering the hospital room, she had only nodded lightly, and though Mizuki and the others were curious, they figured she was Hibiki’s friend and didn’t mention it.

“Kirino-chan… is this about what happened earlier?”

“Yes… I’m sorry I’ve been hiding my Gift all this time. Since I knew Hiroyo-kun wanted to become an adventurer, it was hard to bring it up…”

“Kirino…”

It had been Kirino’s way of being considerate.

She had received a combat-type Gift, but she had no interest in becoming an adventurer. She thought she could live without using it and even believed she didn’t need it.

But just a little while ago, she realized this Gift was necessary—and her mindset changed.

“—So, that icicle earlier was yours, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, I made it.”

◇ ◇ ◇

This goes back about thirty minutes.

A huge signboard fell from the rooftop of a building, about to hit Hiroyo directly below.

Hibiki screamed, thinking it was all over.

“—Pierce it!!”

Kirino raised her hand, and in an instant, a massive icicle formed in front of her. She launched it powerfully at the falling sign.

The icicle shot straight upward and hit the sign above Hiroyo’s head perfectly.

The impact launched the signboard high into the air, and then the icicle’s absolute-zero freezing power caused it to instantly freeze.

“—Shatter.”

When Kirino spoke that final word, the frozen signboard exploded into crystal shards—super-fine particles that rained down from the sky.

“—Snow.”

Someone looking up at the sky whispered softly.

They were right. The frozen shards, now light enough to float, sparkled as they drifted down, creating a magical scene—as if celebrating a snowless Christmas in Tokyo.

Several people filmed the moment on their phones and posted it on social media with captions like “It snowed in Tokyo!”

“Kirino… you…”

“Kirino-chan… that was incredible.”

Hibiki and Koharu were stunned by the shocking scene. But Kirino’s eyes were already looking past it.

“Hiroyo-kun! Go!!”

She shouted loudly, waved, and pushed his back as he ran.

The reason Hiroyo wasn’t crushed by the sign and survived… was thanks to Kirino’s Gift—‘Ice Aura.’

◇ ◇ ◇

“Kirino… thank you.”

“I couldn’t let Hiroyo-kun die in a place like this. From now on, I’ll always protect him.”

Her eyes were full of firm determination.

“Uh… I’m really sorry to interrupt at such a time… you said your name is Kirino-san, right?”

“Yes.”

“Could it be… is your family name Hyoudou?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Upon hearing that, Fuyutsuki’s face went pale as if struck by a chill, and she trembled.

“Wait a minute… if you’re Hyoudou Kirino-san, then thirty years ago—after the first dungeon appeared in Japan, the one who founded the government-approved Adventurer Guild, officially called the ‘Adventurer Guild Association’—was Chairman Hyoudou Genroku!?”

“He’s my grandfather.”

“Wha…! Then the current president of Japan’s most famous dungeon-related company, ‘Japan Dungeon Guild Co., Ltd.’—Hyoudou Isori, who is known for making the trade and sale of items mainstream—is your!?”

“He’s my father.”

“……………………”

A silence like time had stopped spread across the hospital room.

““Ehhhhhhhhhh!?””

The next moment, everyone in the room shouted in shock.