Part 3

The time read 10:13 p.m. on her touch-screen phone.

Relief.

She was on her break.

She sighed.

It has been a hectic night for the woman sitting in an outdoor dining area at the hospital.

Reiko Matsumoto.

Her table was a mess, consisting of scattered food wrappers.

She was wearing red scrubs and black sneakers.

She worked as a certified nursing assistant. The core task of her job was attending patient calls, determining the best method to treat patients, checking vitals, helping patients with hygiene, transporting patients throughout the hospital, and so on, but right now her attention was elsewhere.

Haruko Matsumoto.

Her nephew.

Reiko was fidgeting with her phone.

“Why won’t he pick up?”

She was trying to get in contact with the teen; she knew he was up, but now he wasn’t responding to her calls or texts.

She seemed to become much more annoyed by the second.

“Penny for your thoughts, Ms. Matsumoto.”

A voice interrupted her thoughts, causing her to look up at the source of the voice.

“Lovely night, is it not? Do you mind if I take a seat here?” A man walked up to her.

The man had fair white skin and shiny back hair. He was wearing a light blue button-down shirt with his sleeves rolled up and a black tie. He was wearing tan pants with tan dress shoes.

On his coat was a small clip-on badge that read Medical Director.

Antonio Russo.

The appearance of elegance and excellence.

“Oh no, help yourself." She replied in a nervous manner. In a mad dash, she scrambled to clean her trash off the table.

“Something is troubling you, Ms. Matsumoto.”

She frowned and placed the phone on the table.

(Maybe he could help me understand Haruko. It could be worth a shot.)

She turned to him.

"It's about my nephew, Haruko.”

Antonio stared at Reiko.”

“Haruko…..Haruko, he is the one that is always in and out of the hospital with injuries."

"Um, yes,” Reiko replied as she lowered her head in shame.

There was a slight popping sound as Antonio opened his food container.

“He isn’t answering the phone now. I just worry about him because of all the stupid and dangerous stuff he gets into.”

“There could be plenty of reasons as to why he is not answering, but you are dead set on a possible reason, I believe. If you don’t mind me asking, what would you consider “stupid and dangerous” regarding him?”

“He goes around getting into fights under the guise of helping others. Just a few hours ago, I got a text from Alexis saying that he got into a fight with some armed robbers.

Antonio stared at her.

“That was not something I was prepared to hear; while a few fist fights are troublesome, no doubt it could be worse, don’t you think?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Reiko stared at him.

“What do you mean by worse?”

"Well, he could be getting into world-ending events or running around saving the world.”

Reiko felt she lost a few brain cells listening to that statement and just stared at him.

She sighed.

“You read too many books.”

"It's a good way to pass time.”

“Now you’re starting to sound like him.”

The phone that was placed on the table began to vibrate as a call came in.

She picked up the phone and noticed that it was Haruko calling her.

“I have to answer this." She turned to the man, grabbed her bag of trash, and walked a few feet away.

Sighing, she answered the phone.

"It was about time you answered!” Reiko said loudly into the phone.

“H..hey Reiko, what a wonderful night, is it not? How is everything going with you?”

It was Haruko's voice.

A part inside of her calmed down.

“We sort of need your help; you still have access to one of the rooms in the hospital that is currently under renovations”

Reiko paused.

“……Why.”

“I don’t have time to explain fully in detail, but we need to. What is the word? It is on the tip of my tongue…com….commun….commandeer, there we go. We need to commadeer one of the rooms.”

"What?” Reiko said as she stood there. "Haruko, what is going on? What are you talking about?”

She held the phone to her ear, waiting for a response.

“Promise you won’t get mad,” Haruko pleaded.

"Haruko!” Reiko yelled out into the phone.

“Okay, okay, long story really, really short. A girl landed on my balcony, and some guy was chasing her. Yada, yada, some magic was involved, yada, yada, and I managed to save her, but she is in really bad shape. I was hoping to com….oh crap, what was the word again? Take, borrow. I don’t fucking know the word. I could give two shits about the word now.”

“Those rooms are off-limits; if she is injured, just bring her to the emergency entrance. We can take her from there and get her treated."

“No, no, that is not possible; this whole plan to save her relies on the fact that no one knows that she is here."

Reiko paused as she heard that statement. It had sounded like Haruko had gotten himself something big.

“What did you get yourself into?”

“It’s a long story I can tell you later, but I need to get her help, and time is not on her side.”

Reiko stood there.

An ambulance started its siren behind Reiko as it left the parking lot of the hospital. Reiko paused when she heard those very same sirens on the other end of the phone.

"Haruko, where are you?” She asked, looking around the courtyard.

“You know the alley between the pharmacy and the part of the hospital has scaffolding on it; that is where we are.”

She turned her head to the right and saw the pharmacy.

Reiko hung up the phone and began walking towards the pharmacy. Antonio watched as she left the courtyard.

As she walked into the alleyway, the first person that came into her view was Alexis.

“H-hey Reiko.” Her voice was shaking as she weakly waved at her.

"Alexis, what are you doing here, and where is your brother?”

“Right here, she decided to tag along, and I really couldn’t leave her at the house." Haruko's voice came from down further in the alley behind a metal trash bin.

Reiko slowly walked to where she thought she heard Haruko's voice.

There was a flickering light nearby on a wall.

She walked down the alley and saw that he was kneeling over a girl who was slumped over the wall, unconscious.

She noticed that Haruko was covered in blood and dirt, holding the girl's front and back midsections. There was blood seeping through his fingers.

The girl was in bad shape.

In such an instant that she could not tell if it was instinct or not, she immediately rushed and kneeled down near the girl. She placed her fingers on her neck, checking for a pulse.

"She is alive; she just took a few bad hits, lost a lot of blood, and has a really bad wound.”

Reiko removed her fingers from her neck and grabbed her black walkie-talkie hanging from her right pocket.

“Hold on, I can call someone and have them bring a stretcher here and-”

“Wait don’t’’ Haruko shouted to her as he couldn’t move; he moved his hands from her midsection. “No one can know that she is here.”

Reiko looked at Haruko's right hand, which was on the girl's midsection, and she saw that blood was pouring past his hands.

"Haruko, she is losing blood rapidly; she will go into shock if he isn’t treated, regardless of what your reason may be.”

Haruko paused.

“The reason no one can know that she is here is because people are after her; someone chasing after attacked me and her at the house. If other people find out about her, there is no telling who will come after her next.”

Reiko looked at Haruko and then turned to Aoi. She didn’t have the strength or time to question his story. She turned back to Haruko.

"Haruko, she is bleeding out; how do you expect to have her treated if you don’t want anyone to know about her?”

“She said that she could heal herself.”

“And you believed her,” Reiko shouted to him.

“I don’t know what to believe right now. An hour ago, I woke up from a nap, and the next thing I knew, she fell out of the sky and some guy was chasing her. None of this seems real to me, but it doesn’t change the fact that it happened and that she needs help now.”

Haruko turned to her with pleading eyes.

"Please, Reiko I really need your help.”

Reiko looked at Haruko.

She didn’t know what was going on right now, but she didn’t have time to understand, and neither did the girl, who was bleeding out and slumped over on the wall. She could not leave her out like this; it was her duty to help.

Reiko exhaled and stood up. The girl was not going to get help like this with them arguing outside.

“Fine, there are a few unused rooms that she can use, but you better hope that you know what you are doing.”

Reiko took off her badge and placed it on a scanner near the wall.

There was silence, followed by two beeps and the sound of an electronic door unlocking. Reiko turned the knob and opened the door.

“This way and hurry before anyone sees you.”

Haruko picked up Aoi in a bridal carry and began walking towards the door, Alexis following behind him.

“Just hold on, Aoi.”

The door behind them closed silently, shutting them out to the outside world.

A sigh broke outside as the door closed, coming from the edge of the roof a couple of blocks away, coming from the medical director watching the previous event unfold, his lab coat flapping in the wind.

“It seems my night is going to be a little more hectic.”