"Kuma!!"
When Ginny saw Kuma enter the room and sit on the stool beside the bed, the dazed look in her eyes vanished, replaced by overwhelming delight. After letting out a happy cry, unable to restrain the joy in her heart, Ginny threw herself directly into Kuma's arms.
If everything happening before her was a dream, Ginny was willing to remain in that dream forever.
"Ginny."
Ginny's warm, affectionate gesture caught Kuma somewhat off guard. After a moment of stunned surprise, Kuma gently patted her back and soothed her softly. "I'm sorry, Ginny. I came too late."
"But it's all right now. I've already taken care of everything."
"Rest properly for a while. Forget everything that happened before."
Kuma's palm rested against Ginny's thinly clothed body. She felt the warmth coming from him and breathed in his familiar scent.
Only now did Ginny belatedly realize that everything happening before her was not a dream, but reality.
Ginny slowly raised her head and looked at Kuma's gentle expression. Then she buried her face in his chest and hugged him tightly. This was the first time Kuma had seen Ginny display such behavior and such an expression. In his memories, Ginny had always been an exceptionally strong woman.
Ever since the first time he had met Ginny as a child, that impression had been deeply etched into Kuma's mind.
But simple-minded Kuma did not understand that Ginny was not as strong as he imagined. Her strength had come from having no one to rely on but herself.
But things were different now.
Warm sunlight streamed through the gap in the window and into the room, falling upon Ginny and Kuma, then casting their two shadows across the floor.
The door was slightly ajar. Outside, Mihawk, who had also heard the commotion and