Part 5

There was an uneasy feeling in the air.

Or room.

At the moment, that was the feeling Haruko was feeling.

In a room of the closed-off section of the hospital that was under renovations and is now currently occupied by Haruko Matsumoto, Alexis Matsumoto, Reiko Matsumoto, and Aoi. The room was dark except for Haruko and Alexis phone flashlight.

Everything in the room was quiet except for one noise.

The sound of someone tapping their foot on the floor

Haruko tried his best to ignore it, but he couldn’t. The more he tried, the more he became aware of it.

"So, let me get this straight, just so we're all on the same page."

Haruko turned to Reiko.

Alexis was wrapping bandages around his right arm.

Reiko was sitting in a chair that was wrapped in plastic to prevent paint from dropping on it.

Her voice had a level of subtle anger behind it.

"This girl landed on your balcony; someone was chasing her."

"A magician, I think," Haruko replied back.

"You think," she angrily said back to him. "And you two fought."

That was exactly how he explained it to her, but he had to be careful how he answered. While she appeared calm on the surface, he knew better. He was playing it safe. One wrong move, and there wasn’t any telling how she would react.

"Yeah, that's exactly what happened and how we got her," Haruko said, not looking her in the face.

He really wanted to lie to her, but the girl lying on the bed needed help.

Reiko looked over at the girl.

Aoi was lying on a hospital bed on the floor.

"Your first thought was not to run away."

"Once he attacked it, that was no longer an option. Everything happened so quickly; that guy had a crazy ability to manipulate metal and create a shit-ton of weapons. The only way to escape the guy was to beat him completely," Haruko said.

Alexis stared at Haruko.

"That…..is…a lie," a soft voice broke out in the room.

"Eh"

"I blasted him out of the house so that he would not interfere in the fight and allowed him to get away safely, but he kept coming back." The voice came from Aoi as she laid down on the makeshift bed.

Her voice sounded like she was struggling to breathe.

"Oh, really?" Reiko turned to Haruko. He tensed up as he felt a chill run down his neck.

Haruko turned to Aoi.

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"If you aren’t done trying to get me killed, do you think you can start healing yourself now? "You don’t have time to mess around."

Aoi looked at Haruko.

"Right," Aoi said as she laid there. She pushed herself up using her elbows. As she sat there, she closed her eyes, and then there was silence in the room.

Haruko watched her.

(What is she doing? It almost seems like she is doing what she did before in my room.

Haruko moved his arms to cover his face.

Reiko looked at him puzzled.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"This was something she did in my room, and then suddenly everything got all freaky and weird. Stuff was flying all over; I was almost blown away by the shockwaves of her power."

Reiko stared at Haruko puzzlingly, wondering if he had made up or exaggerated that part.

Suddenly, a blue light began to illuminate the girl's body, alerting all three: Haruko, Alexis, and Reiko.

"What the hell?" Haruko shouted out.

The blue began to surround her body. Reiko shielded her eyes with her hands, but Haruko and Alexis kept staring at the girl, their eyes seemingly unaffected by the light illuminating her.

The more Haruko looked at the light from the girl, the more he noticed that it wasn’t light, not entirely. Whatever was illuminating her body was physical and solid in nature. It began to surround her body fully.

It was a smaller version of what was surrounding her body when Haruko saw her on the balcony.

Her eyes were shut tightly, as if she were concentrating on something.

The light began traveling down to her midsection.

Aoi exhaled.

Haruko and Alexis watched as the light on her body began to cover her wound. Suddenly, the wound began to shrink and slowly close up.

"High-speed cellular regeneration," Alexis thought as she watched the hole in her lower midsection begin to close. She was a spell-caster, so she was knowledgeable in a variety of healing spells even though she couldn’t use them, but watching the girl on the bed, she could tell that this was on a much different level.

Suddenly, the light on the girl was blowing off, creating a small shockwave in the room. The small pieces of light scattered in the air like fireflies and faded out.

Haruko lowered his arms as the room began to darken, except for the two phone flashlights.

(Did it work?)

Haruko looked at Aoi. He couldn’t see the wound due to the shirt blocking it.

She sat on the bed, breathing hard.

"Hey, did it work?" Haruko asked Aoi, not getting a response from her.

Aoi fainted and fell back.

Haruko quickly moved to catch her as his left hand held the back of her head.

"Haruko, be careful with her," Reiko said as she moved closer to the girl.

"Hey, are you okay? What was that?" Haruko asked as he held her up, but she didn’t answer. He opened the rip portion of the shirt, revealing her midsection.

The wound was gone.

(It healed.)

The hole was no more; the only thing that was left on her brown skin was dried blood.

"I was able to heal my wounds to the best of my abilities, but it was only superficial. I used what was left of my own life energy to close the wound. The spear managed to miss most of my vital organs."

Haruko stared at the girl blankly.

"I won’t even pretend I understood a word you just said, but are you good now?"

"I lost a lot of blood during the ordeal, and right now I am feeling weak. It will take a few hours before my body is fully healed."

"I see. Just rest up for now."

Alexis turned to Haruko.

"Why did she land on your balcony?"

"Land" Reiko also turned to Haruko.

Haruko felt all eyes on him now.

"Oh, um, she said that she was looking for something within the city and that she just happened to land at our house. I didn’t ask anything beyond that, and I maybe sort of said that I would help her."

"You what!" Reiko shouted out as she stood up, "Look at you! Why would you get involved with something like this?"

He knew that this was coming, especially from her.

"There are people after her; I can’t really abandon her."

"And what kind of help can you offer her with your body the way it is?"

"……….." Haruko could not answer.

Haruko turned to Reiko.

"There are people after her; you can’t expect me to leave her like this," Haruko shouted out.

"Please don’t yell."

A calm voice spoke out from outside the door, alerting the four to his presence.

"I understand if this is a dire situation for you, but this is a place of business.

"Crap," Reiko said under her breath as she turned to the closed door.

The knob began to turn, and the door opened slowly.

(Is this another enemy?)

Haruko moved to cover Aoi's body.

The door opened, revealing that the person behind it was Antonio Russo, the medical director of this hospital.

"Well, this is more than I thought it would be; I managed to overhear everything she said outside."

"Mr Russo…." Reiko said as she looked at the man in the doorway. She straightened herself up, trying to look presentable. "I’m sorry for using the rooms without authorization."

He glanced at Reiko.

"We can talk about that later. As for right now, Ms. Matsumoto, you can place her on one of the spare stretchers and transport her to the special rooms on the second floor," he said in a calm tone.

He turned his attention to Haruko.

"As for you, Mr. Matsumoto, if you would accompany me to my office, I believe I have some questions for you."