Rehabilitation Therapist for the Broken Warrior

It’s morning, and I’m getting ready for work, keeping my routine of 4 hours and 30 minutes of sleep.

Perhaps thanks to my hard work, I’ve been able to share some of the work with the interns and residents, allowing me to get one more sleep cycle.

It’s a good thing that my sleep time has increased from 3 hours to 4 hours and 30 minutes.

‘I wonder when Sion will come out…’

Since I’ve brought the physically challenged Sion into my house, I should be taking care of her.

However, I was waiting without going into her room, curious about what would happen if I left her alone.

After a quick wash and getting dressed, I receive freshly baked bread as always and prepare breakfast, then listen closely to see if anything is happening in Sion’s room.

– Bang!! Crash!!

As expected, there’s a sound of something bumping and falling…

“Mr. Hope!”

Sion’s voice calling me starts to be heard.

I guess it’s okay to laugh since Sion isn’t watching, right?

But since Sion was asking for help, I’ll stop smiling for a moment,

I take a deep breath, pretending not to be happy or that I was waiting at the door, then slowly went inside.

“Sion. What’s wrong?”

As expected, Sion had fallen off the side of the bed and was lying on the floor with both arms stretched out in front of her, and her ‘Wheelchair’ was pushed all the way to the wall in the direction Sion’s hands were stretched out.

Judging from the situation, it seems she tried to move from the bed to the ‘Wheelchair’ on her own, but the ‘Wheelchair’ rolled backward, causing her to fall to the floor.

“P-please… help me…”

Sion, feeling my presence, placed her hands on the ground, lifted her head, trembling, and looked at me, asking for help.

“Sion. From now on, I’m going to put my hands on your sides and lift you up.”

“Why on earth are you explaining that!”

“You told me not to handle you roughly last time. If you want a different way, tell me. I’ll do it that way.”

I could help her right away, but I ended up saying strange things because I wanted to see Sion struggling on the floor, lifting her head with all her might.

Sion’s reaction to this was,

“Being on the floor is more embarrassing than being lifted, so please help me quickly. You can lift me any way you want, please…”

Perhaps she had run out of strength, as she dropped her head and pleaded.

Having enjoyed it enough, I put my hands on Sion’s sides as I had announced and lifted her, then moved her to the ‘Wheelchair’ and sat her down.

Sion, safely seated in the ‘Wheelchair’, quickly manipulated it to move to the mirror, pressed her squished face to smooth it out, quickly fixed her messy or sticking-out hair to roughly fix her appearance, and then turned back to me.

“Whew… Now what should I do?”

“We need to go to the ‘Center’. Are you going to have breakfast?”

“Yes. I always ate while I was with Serin. Nao kept telling me to eat…”

“That’s good. I’m busy, so I only have bread. Is that okay?”

“That’s fine.”

Leaving the room and moving to the dining table, Sion followed me in her ‘Wheelchair’.

I felt this when I first saw it, but no matter how I look at it, that ‘Wheelchair’ is moving even though she’s not rolling the wheels with her hands.

I pulled out a dining chair to make a space for her, Sion went to that spot, I brought the bread and put it on the table, then sat across from her.

“Director Hope. This…”

“Why? Is there a problem?”

Sion’s eyes widened at the sight of the freshly baked bread steaming in the basket.

“Didn’t you say you were eating bread because you were busy?”

“Yes. I did.”

“But this… This is freshly baked bread! Did you bake the bread yourself?”

“Oh, no way.”

Bake bread?

Not only do I not have the time, but there’s no way I have that kind of talent.

“It seems that among the retired soldiers who completed ‘Rehabilitation’ at our ‘Center’, there was a baker’s son. His mother was so grateful that she baked bread every morning and I’ve been receiving it.”

I’m probably the only one in the entire ‘kingdom’ who has the luxury of receiving freshly baked bread from the ‘Baker family’, famous for its bread in the ‘Capital’ every morning.

“That patient was serious too. He had post-traumatic stress disorder from the war, along with hallucinations, auditory hallucinations… they call it ‘Schizophrenia’, he had something like that, and his left arm joint was also damaged by a ‘magic’ injury.

We used a combination of psychological, buff, and drug treatments, along with correction and training, to almost completely cure him.

He won’t be able to swing a sword with that arm, but he’ll have no problem living. The ‘Baker family’ parents were so grateful…”

The pain of war doesn’t easily disappear even after the war ends. I

t’s hard to imagine the pain not only of those who participated in the war and were injured, but also of the families who had to just watch it happen.

“Anyway, let’s eat. I didn’t know, but this place is said to be one of the best bakeries in this area. I eat it every day, so I can guarantee the taste.”

Freshly baked bread has a soft and fluffy texture that those who haven’t eaten it can’t even imagine, and not only does it taste good, but it also has the advantage of melting in your mouth and being eaten quickly.

After all, as the ‘Director’ of the ‘rehabilitation center’, I was always a busy person.

“Director Hope…”

Unlike me, who was busily stuffing bread into my mouth as usual, Sion held the warm bread in both hands, leisurely feeling the warmth and aroma, and gazing at it deeply.

“What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with the bread?”

“No. I just thought that Director. Hope is a good person.”

A good person…

A ‘rehabilitation specialist’ is certainly a person who does good work, but I had never thought of myself as a ‘good person’.

Well, I’m just doing this job to see what I like.

And what I like right now is Sion, but to think I’d hear the person herself say I’m a good person.

But, you see…

“Then what did you think of me?”

This was a question I had to address.

“Someone who likes to touch me, lift me, or see me in embarrassing situations… That kind of person?”

Wha, what? Is this the ‘hero”s insight?

Sion gave an answer that was so close to the truth that I was unconsciously startled.

“That… I didn’t want Sion to fall out of bed and call me while lying down.”

“That’s because Director Hope didn’t come to help me! Serin always came on time!”

“Serin is here to do that job, so that’s different. Besides, couldn’t you just call me before you fall?”

“But it’s embarrassing enough to show you my appearance right after waking up! Once I get in the ‘Wheelchair’, I can look in the mirror…”

So that’s why she tried to move from the bed to the ‘Wheelchair’ by herself and fell.

Once Sion is in the ‘Wheelchair’, she can move.

But how? It was something I was curious about, so I thought I’d ask her now.

“Besides, how does that ‘Wheelchair’ move anyway?”

“Oh, this?”

When asked about the ‘Wheelchair’, Sion left the table as if to demonstrate driving, moved forward, backward, and made U-turns all over the living room, then returned to the table and bit into the bread.

“There are 8 ‘pressure’ devices on the wheels that can control the rotation and direction of the wheels. It’s my own ‘Wheelchair’ that I can move with my ability.”

As expected.

A customized item for Sion, who can use her abilities even if her body doesn’t move well.

“Nao specially made it for me, but actually, I fell a lot at first. The device is small, and to move freely, you have to operate several devices at the same time… I practiced a lot, you know? It took me a whole month to move like this.”

A month of ‘Wheelchair’ driving practice… Sion’s ability was always used to erase ‘pressure’ on a wide range, so was it difficult to control it precisely?

Regardless of anything else, as expected of a ‘hero’, I have to acknowledge her perseverance.

“If you put that much effort into ‘rehabilitation’ training, it’ll be quick.”

“I guess so… I have to keep trying.”

Her ‘rehabilitation’ training was starting today.

Full-scale training would probably start after she was hospitalized, but until then, I would check Sion’s condition and conduct various examinations and tests.

Once her condition is confirmed, a training ‘routine’ will be created accordingly, and repeated.

If her condition improves or changes, a new ‘routine’ will be created and repeated.

Repetition upon repetition.

Days of ‘training’ awaited her until she reached her target.

“If you try that hard… it will definitely be quick. I think so too. But Director Hope.”

“Yes?”

“‘That hard’ how hard is it exactly, do you know, Director Hope?”

“……”

Sion’s hands, tightly clutching the bread in both hands, were trembling.

“Sion?”

“It was something that didn’t exist in the world, so I went through a lot of trial and error making it.

A ‘Wheelchair’ that moves with ability.

I needed a process to set things like sensitivity and size.

If too much ‘pressure’ was applied, the ‘Wheelchair’ would spin around several times in an instant, and there were sudden accelerations, sudden stops, and sudden turns…”

The bread in Sion’s hand was pressed and crushed.

Could it be that she’s putting all her strength into it?

“Every time that happened, I would be thrown from the ‘Wheelchair’ and fall to the floor, get dragged or rolled, hit the wall… There were even times when I hurt Serin, who was watching. Every time, every time…”

At some point, Sion’s face turned pale and her eyes lost focus.

“It hurts, it hurts… It hurts so much…!!”

Is it another seizure caused by ‘Trauma’?

I came to my senses, put down the bread I was eating, and checked Sion’s condition.

This time, unlike last time, it was a dangerous situation.

Immediate action was needed.