The Touch of Kindness

Kaito's eyes fluttered open to another unfamiliar ceiling. It was pristine white. Every muscle in his body cried out in protest, a symphony of aches and a profound, bone-deep exhaustion. He felt as though he'd been run over by a double-decker bus, then dragged through a hedge backward.

A soft click of the door. Maria entered, her blonde hair neatly brushed, her eyes still holding a hint of weariness but also a profound relief. "Kaito?" she whispered, her voice a gentle balm. She must have sensed his consciousness with her psychic abilities. She hurried to his bedside, her brow furrowed with worry. "Please be careful. You've been unconscious for three days, and you were... you were near death." Her voice trembled slightly on the last words.

"Please rest," she urged, her concern palpable. "Let me prepare you a light meal to recover your strength." She started to turn.

"Where are we?" Kaito managed, his voice raspy. He tried to push himself up, but a wave of dizziness forced him back down.

Maria paused. "Epsilon brought us here," she answered, her gaze flickering around the room as if still unsure herself. "A girl named Chloe said we can rest here."

As if on cue, the door opened further, and Chloe stepped in, a calm, almost serene expression on her face.

"Indeed," Chloe affirmed Maria's words. She approached the bed, her eyes assessing Kaito with a casual glance. "Once you've rested up enough, and when you're ready to talk, come find me. We have much to discuss... I trust you haven't forgotten our deal?"

Kaito merely nodded, a silent acknowledgment of the heavy obligation now resting upon him.

"Well, I'll leave you to your rest." With that, Chloe offered a small, enigmatic smile, turned, and gracefully exited the room.

A few moments later, the door opened again. This time, Epsilon entered, now completely whole and restored, all traces of battle damage gone. She wheeled in a cart laden with a bowl of steaming porridge, a bowl of glistening fruit, and a pitcher of water.

"Epsilon," Maria said, a hint of exasperation in her voice. "I was supposed to make the porridge."

"Denied," Epsilon stated, her synthesized voice devoid of inflection. "Testing indicates prior result was hazardous for human consumption."

Maria's shoulders slumped slightly. "But..." she muttered, her voice a bit downcast, her attempt at nurturing thwarted by the efficient automaton.

Epsilon, seemingly oblivious to Maria's disappointment, moved with characteristic precision. She sat on the chair next to Kaito's bed, the bowl of porridge held carefully in one hand. With the other, she scooped a spoonful from the top layer of the porridge, brought it to just below her own mouth, and emitted a gentle, cold puff of air, cooling it. Then, she brought the spoonful to Kaito's lips.

Kaito, still dazed and aching, instinctively opened his mouth, and the warm, surprisingly well-prepared porridge slid down his throat.

"Epsilon, what are you doing...?" Maria finally managed, a mix of bewilderment and slight indignation in her tone.

"It is my duty as a maid to nurse Kaito to health," Epsilon stated, her synthesized voice calm and matter of fact. "I have installed proper procedures needed for optimal patient care and recovery."

Maria once again stood in silence, watching the surreal scene of Epsilon methodically feeding Kaito. She tried to find a rebuke, a way to interrupt the automaton's unwavering focus, but the words wouldn't come. A strange, unfamiliar feeling stirred within her, a complex mix of annoyance and something akin to... possessiveness? It was an odd sensation, watching this perfect, unfeeling maid perform a task she had intended to do herself.

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Epsilon, having meticulously fed Kaito the last spoonful of porridge, deposited the empty bowl back on the cart. Without a word, she turned, pushed the cart silently from the room, leaving behind only the bowl of fruit and the pitcher of water atop the bedside table.

Maria, still watching Epsilon's retreating form, seemed to deflate slightly. The perfect maid was gone. She walked over to the chair Epsilon had vacated and quietly sat down beside Kaito's bed. The silence in the room stretched, punctuated only by Kaito's labored breathing and the distant sounds of the city.

Maria picked up an apple from the fruit bowl. Her eyes, still holding that deep-seated weariness, focused on it. A faint, almost imperceptible shimmer of psychic energy emanated from her fingertips, and with astonishing precision, the apple's skin began to peel away in a single, continuous spiral. As the peel came free, it didn't simply drop. Instead, it twisted and curled, shaping itself into the delicate form of a small, perfectly rendered rabbit, complete with tiny ears and a fluffy tail.

She placed the apple rabbit gently on the bedside table, a faint, almost imperceptible hint of pride touching her features. She had once overheard a nurse speaking about leaving small, comforting gestures by the bedside of recovering patients.

After a brief silence. 

"I was prepared," Maria began, her voice a low murmur, unnervingly calm, as if the weight of what she spoke had been carried for so long it had settled into her bones. "I had decided to die in that cell. Not out of despair, but acceptance. Death was the only future I could imagine. It was the only thing I could control. For once, at least a sliver of my life would have been mine."

Her gaze didn't meet his at first, fixed instead on some distant memory. "My life, from the very beginning, was never my own. I was a tool, a weapon, molded and sharpened by unseen hands since childhood. Emotion was trimmed away like excess wire. Loneliness was standard. Silence, expected. Every 'kindness' I ever received was merely praise for a mission well done, a calculated reward for what to motivates us.

She finally looked at him, something fragile and haunted behind her eyes. "And then... there was you."

Her voice caught for the first time—not with hesitation, but with the strain of expressing something she'd never dared give voice to.

"You pulled me out of that cell—forcefully, like yanking someone from beneath ice. You gave me something I never thought I'd receive. That was the part I didn't know how to process. You offered me kindness, not as payment or manipulation, but because it was something you wanted to give. You didn't just give me a new directive... you gave me a new beginning."

Her hand reached out, slow and deliberate, and settled on top of his. A quiet moment passed before she leaned closer, hesitating only for a breath—then gently rested her head against his shoulder, her body leaning into his as if pulled by gravity she'd never allowed herself to feel before. Her long hair brushed against his arm, her presence warm and tentative.

Her voice, when it returned, was barely audible. "You didn't just save my life, Kaito... you gave it back to me. I don't know what to do with it yet. But for the first time, I want to try. And for that... from the deepest part of me—I thank you."

Kaito said nothing at first. He simply moved his hand and gently placed it on her back, a quiet gesture of comfort.