You have to keep your promises, Seia! - 9

Knock- knock-

 

"I'm coming in."

 

The voice of the Tea Party attendant came from outside.

 

"...!"

 

I wanted to grant permission for them to enter, but unfortunately, my voice wouldn't come out.

 

Creak-! Thud-!

 

Perhaps knowing this, they opened the door and came in anyway.

 

"Seia-nim. I will check your condition today as well."

 

Nod- nod-

 

Seeing my response, the attendant began to check my physical condition.

 

Truth be told, this person is my physician. I wanted to ask the Relief Knights for help, but due to the closed-off atmosphere of the Tea Party, I hesitated to call them.

 

 

"Yes. Fortunately, there are no problems today either."

 

 

Thanks to that, I asked Nagisa to assign a physician to me.

 

 

"Seia-nim. I respect your hard work, but please take breaks sometimes. Getting enough sleep is essential for your health."

 

 

"...?"

'For a Tea Party host, this attendant has quite the nerve to say something like that.'

 

 

"Ah, I-I'm sorry. Was I being too forward?"

 

 

"..."

 

 

Shake- shake-

 

 

Seeing me shake my head, the attendant looked relieved. I gestured for them to leave and went back to my paperwork.

 

 

'Hmm... maybe the closed-off atmosphere of the Tea Party needs to change sometimes? It's good to be secure, but this is too much...'

 

 

But it's not like I can reform things as I please, and it would be rude to Mika and Nagisa.

 

 

"..."

'Since there's no immediate problem, I'll just leave it as it is.'

 

 

* * *

 

 

Seia looked around.

 

 

A vast desert stretched endlessly before her.

 

 

The desert spread out like a golden sea, filled with an eerie silence.

 

 

The sand dunes constantly shifted with the wind, feeling like living, breathing entities.

 

 

The sky was a clear, transparent color, possessing infinite depth.

 

 

The sun blazed intensely in the center of the desert, its light reflecting off the sand like sparkling jewels.

 

 

'... Is this a desert?'

 

 

Under the scorching desert sun, a woman lay collapsed in the sand.

 

 

"...?"

'Is she dead?'

 

 

Tap- tap-

 

 

Seia nudged the woman and realized she wasn't dead yet.

 

 

"..."

 

 

Even if she wasn't dead, what good would it do? Seia didn't know where this place was.

 

 

In other words, there was no way to save this person.

 

 

"Ugh... w-water..."

 

 

"...!"

'Water...?'

 

 

The woman's plea for water made Seia unconsciously search her pockets.

 

 

There was no way Seia would have water in a place she didn't even know...

 

 

'Ah! Found it.'

 

 

For some reason, there was a small water bottle in her pocket. It was the water Seia usually drank while working on documents.

 

 

'Ugh... I can't stand coffee, so I drank water every day, but I never thought I'd use it like this.'

 

 

With that thought, Seia placed the water bottle in the woman's hand.

 

 

"Huh...? W-water...?"

 

 

Seeing the woman's surprised reaction to the water bottle in her hand, Seia chuckled and waved.

 

 

"Wh-who...?"

 

 

Flash-

 

 

"...!!"

'Ah... w-was it a dream...?'

 

 

As soon as I heard the man ask who I was, I woke up from the dream.

 

 

'Whew... gasp. I must have fallen asleep while working on documents...'

 

 

I wiped the drool from the corner of my mouth and replayed the situation in my mind.

 

 

First of all, a dream means a prophetic dream...

 

 

Until now, I've never intervened in a prophetic dream. I've always been an observer.

 

 

But this time, I didn't just observe; I interacted with the dream entity and gave them water.

 

 

'And that woman... she was the teacher I saw in the prophetic dream...?'

 

 

Not knowing what was going on, I decided to form a few hypotheses.

 

 

First, I didn't have a prophetic dream, just a regular dream.

 

 

'Not a bad guess, but I've never had a regular dream in Seia's body, so that's out.'

 

 

Second, the dream was indeed prophetic, and it's a situation I'll face in the future.

 

 

'This is the most likely hypothesis. One thing that bothers me is why I would go to the middle of a desert... I can't explain that...'

 

 

Third, I can intervene in reality through dreams.

 

 

'... That can't be. This is also dismissed.'

 

 

This hypothesis is obviously absurd. There's no way such a ridiculous superpower could exist-

 

 

Thump thump thump!!-

 

 

"Seia-chan!!! Don't tell me you're still working??!!"

 

 

"...?!!"

'M-Mika?!! What's with this sudden outburst...?!'

 

 

Mika's voice sounded furious from outside, as if someone had broken a promise...

 

 

'N-no way? Is it already that late?!'

 

 

Looking outside, I realized it was already getting dark.

 

 

"Seia-chan...!! I clearly said I wouldn't forgive you if you did this again...!!"

 

"...!! ...!!!"

'W-wait!! I just fell asleep and lost track of time! P-please spare me!!'

 

Unfortunately, my screams didn't reach Mika.