CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
When Thalia woke several hours after her operation was complete, she was disoriented and unaware of her surroundings. Kirito was nearby at the time; he smiled when he saw her eyes open, and was about to make a joke about visiting her in bed when she made a small, wretched noise in the back of her throat, and her eyes went very wide.
Kirito had more than enough experience with hangovers to understand this obscure body language, and bent to get her the trash bucket. She threw up everything left in her stomach, which was very close to nothing but bile; her muscles contracted so hard she was gasping, tears rolling down her face at the involuntary force of the spasms. He had to turn her onto her side so she didn’t choke, which made him nervous because of the complicated arrangement of cables attached to her newly enhanced arm; he shouted for Saya to get a nurse.
The nurse arrived with sedatives and an anti-spasmodic; it wasn’t long before Thalia went back to sleep, but first she said, “Go tell Tetsu. I’ll be there soon. Tell him. Don’t believe everything he thinks.” Kirito held her hand and nodded, soothing her back to sleep.
Saya had been watching and listening; she was moved by Thalia’s labored words, sympathetic tears filling her big blue eyes. “Well?” she said to Kiri-san once the nurse had departed. “Aren’t you going to do what she asked?”
“Huh?” Kirito replied inelegantly, already engrossed in 'reading' his book with a suspiciously nondescript binding.
“She asked you to go and tell Harada-san” – but Kirito interrupted her, waving this away.
“She’s high on so many kinds of medications you wouldn’t even believe it. She has no idea what she’s saying, trust me. She has the equivalent of a mega-hangover, and I know what those are like.”
“Well, you sound a lot stupider than that with just a regular hangover,” Saya pointed out, scowling at him. His only response was a snort.
Disgusted, Saya left the room determined to carry out the mission Thalia had entrusted to Kirito. She had to stop and ask where Harada-san's room was, and a nurse directed her to Intensive Care, where she had to don a gown and mask before entering to reduce the risk of infection.
“Only two visitors at a time, for an hour at a time,” the nurse warned. “You’re the second; someone else just went in ten minutes ago.” Saya stood outside for an indecisive moment. It was probably not a big deal that someone else was there, she decided; she just had a message to deliver, that was all. It was going to be awkward to deliver it, maybe, but she could do it for Thalia-san.
She went behind the curtain that was drawn around the Vice-Commander’s bed and saw the very last person she would have wished to meet in an already awkward situation: Captain Okada Seizo was sitting beside the bed, his face in his hands as if he was very tired, or very upset, or both. She stood near the foot of the bed, wondering if she could go away and come back when he left, but he looked up after a moment and saw her.
“What are you doing here? Got a crush on Harada-san?” he asked, one corner of his mouth curling up in a smirk. He could not seem to help himself when she was around; he just had to jibe at her for some reason.
Saya blushed, furious at how stupid boys – especially this one – could be. “No, do you?” she retorted, leering. He blushed angrily back at her, and she felt a sense of accomplishment that allowed her a small triumphant smile.
“What do you want?” he demanded.
“None of your business,” Saya snapped.
The nurse came over then and hissed at them both to be quiet or take themselves and their argument out into the hallway. Embarrassed, they glared at each other in silence for a few seconds, then grudgingly shared the bedside.
Finally, Saya spoke. “Look, can you go away just for a minute?”
“Why, so you can poison the Vice-Commander?”
“Shut up, idiot. I’m not the one always harassing him at work or putting death-curses on him for fun, am I? I have a message for him, that’s all,” she retorted.
“Then you can give it to him while I’m here just as well as if I wasn’t here. Just pretend you’re alone with him,” Okada suggested. He had no conscious idea why he enjoyed baiting her so much, but he did know that since she was part of the Bloodfire clan she was incredibly strong, appearances aside. They had even been casual sparring partners ever since they met on a common mission in Edo a couple of years ago, where she had won his respect by keeping up with him in battle. She might be petite, but she was not delicate and would not break from contact with his rough personality. She was one of very few who could take his shit and give it right back. He could relax and be himself with her.
Saya, who would have been very surprised to hear his thoughts, blushed even harder. “It’s not from me, you stupid fool – it’s from Thalia-san!” she hissed, trying very hard to keep her voice down, though her increasing irritation and embarrassment made it difficult.
“Oh,” Seizo said, his face changing. “She’s awake?” he asked.
“If I tell you she is, will you go away?” Saya asked, exasperated. “Kiri-san and Kyoko-san are with her already, so they’ll make sure you don’t play any sick jokes on her if she’s asleep.”
Okada blushed and gave her a murderous scowl, then got up and went outside the curtain, making as dramatic a show of pulling it closed again as he dared, trying not to be loud enough to rouse the wrath of the nurses. Then he stayed right outside, waiting to hear the message.
Saya looked down at Harada-san and was filled with sadness; this was not how she would ever have wanted to see him, especially because Thalia loved him. Thalia and Kyoko were the closest she had to big sisters, and she adored them both. She reached out and touched his hand.
“Harada-san,” she said softly, bending over him so he would hear. “It’s me, Saya-chan. I came because Thalia-san asked us to give you a message. She said to tell you she’s coming soon, and not to believe everything you’re thinking.” She stopped then for a moment, unsure what to say next. He lay so still, so silent, so unlike himself; it began to upset her. “Harada-san, please get well quickly. We all miss you, even your stupid coworker.”
She stood up quickly then, and brushed tears out of her eyes.
Seizo had stayed until he was sure she was finished speaking, then left in a hurry. His disappointment at finding Thalia unconscious again was enormous, especially when he heard that Kirito and Saya had been the ones to see her when she first awoke.
“Why should she wake up for you guys?” he complained. “We’re her family, not you.”
“Probably because she wanted to throw up on me even more than she wants to on her coworkers,” Kirito explained. “That’s all she did, you know. You didn’t miss anything profound.”
“Oh. She didn’t say anything?” Okada asked, narrowing his eyes a little.
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“Nope,” Kirito said, lying through his teeth.
Saya chose that as her opportune moment to return, chewing on a piece of candy.
“Oi, Saya, you liar,” Okada said to her in an insolent tone, knowing it would instantly piss her off, “your boss says you made up the thing about having a message to give Harada-san from Thalia-san; she didn’t say anything. So I guess you do have a crush on him, no? You had no other reason to come up to his bedside.”
Kirito was instantly wary, and for good reason. Saya exploded in indignant denials and reprisals, most of them against him. Okada joined in before long, and both of them were soon angrily punching him while he tried to explain himself without shouting.
“I didn’t think that what Thalia-san wanted to say to Harada-san in what was probably a delirium anyway was any of our business, Captain! Not yours nor mine either,” he said, provoking Okada to punch him again. Finally, Kirito burst out of his chair. “Enough abuse! We’re in a hospital room – don’t you idiot children have any respect at all?” he huffed. “I’m going to see Yamamoto and get some strawberry milk. Don’t follow me!”
With that he left, and Okada was stuck with Saya again. There was an odd tension between them comprised of equal parts hormones, competitive instinct, and secret admiration. Okada was old enough to understand it at 18, but Saya still chalked it up to an especially intense dislike of him at 16.
“I’m not leaving this time,” Okada said aggressively, though his volume remained low. “I haven’t visited Thalia-san since this morning.”
“No one asked you to leave, stupid,” Saya retorted, taking Kirito’s former seat beside the bed. “Just don’t talk to me.”
“As if I’d want to,” Okada muttered. Then he looked at Thalia, startled to see that her eyes were open and she was smiling at him.
“You two never stop, do you?” she asked in a hoarse voice.
“Kaa-chan!” Seizo exclaimed, forgetting himself.
“Thalia-san!” Saya shouted at the same time.
“You’re both adorable,” Thalia said with a smile, and fell back to sleep, still under the influence of strong sedatives and painkillers.
Saya and Okada looked at each other with flaming faces, then quickly looked away. “Guess I’ll tell the nurse she woke up again,” Saya said, and left.
***
The officer sitting beside Yamamoto’s bed departed soon after Kirito’s arrival, saying he wanted to get some lunch. Kirito sat down awkwardly, not certain what to say now that he was here.
“Have you seen Lieutenant Cairde?” Yamamoto asked in a voice that was little more than a whisper. One of Hellfire Rising's members had choked him senseless, so his throat would be tender for some time. He had been quite upset when informed that Harada was comatose and Thalia had been shot and was hospitalized also; he cried when told by Chief Kato that they had moved him out of harm’s way despite their own wounds, and that Harada had guarded them both after she passed out until the squad came. Yamamoto asked about them both every time anyone came to his room.
“Just came from her room, yes,” Kirito replied. He told Yamamoto about her operation, that it looked like it was successful, and that she had woken up especially to vomit on him. Yamamoto grinned at this exaggeration.
“What about the Vice-Chief? Is there any change?”
“No change yet,” Kirito said, shaking his head.
Yamamoto’s eyes clouded. He was terrified by Harada’s strictness and temper at times, as were all the junior officers; but this was combined with deep respect and affection. He himself had not realized how much he valued the Vice-Commander until he’d thought Furutani Aimi killed him on the warehouse rooftop.
"That violent first-squad captain of yours told me your version of events on the ship is not to be missed. Feel like storytelling?" Kirito asked with a self-deprecating grin. "Doesn't have to be a true story," he added, knowing Yamamoto naturally defaulted to confidentiality - if it were otherwise, he would be a terrible spy.
Yamamoto considered this carefully. Nakamura Kirito acted a fool in public, but it was an act, for the most part; he had private business with Sekiguchi Teiji, and made no secret of his hunger for any and all information from anyone who had interacted with him and had any light to shed on his most recent activities and whereabouts. Yamamoto also knew the Chief had taken Kirito into his confidence, at least for this specific situation. Their whole agency had been a constant presence at the hospital since before he awoke, and almost qualified as an auxiliary squad, he'd overheard the Chief remark - much to Kirito's horror. So he gave in to the relief of unburdening himself of his tale:
"One of the guards on stakeout mentioned seeing the Vice-Chief turn the corner from the window - the one they use to keep watch," he began. "I decided to catch up and give him a quick update, since I'd just confirmed a rumor of Hellfire Rising's presence in the city."
Harada had just been vaulting to the rooftops when Yamamoto caught sight of him and decided to follow at a distance, not wanting to ruin what was clearly a spontaneous covert op of the Vice-Chief's. He had broken from cover to follow the traitor up to the roof, his own internal alarms blaring when he observed Wataru Aoi entering the warehouse. Yamamoto had been knocked back down to the first story in a skirmish with the traitor's partner, however, which delayed him quite a bit.
He had been unable to get access directly to the roof after dispatching his opponent, since the single flimsy staircase was destroyed in the fight. By the time he leapt the gap from the building beside it, Furutani Aimi had already taken aim at Harada, who was obviously wounded. The relief he felt when he saw they were taking the Vice-Commander captive instead of killing him outright had taken him a little by surprise. He determined to stay with the Vice-Chief out of his devotion to Thalia, but also out of loyalty to Harada himself, though he could not get close enough to be of any use to him on board the ship.
The treatment Harada received was terrible for Yamamoto to watch, though with this group brutality was never surprising. The Vice-Chief’s stoic way of taking the beatings and constant abuse increased Yamamoto’s respect for him, but his sudden attempt to throw himself overboard had been terrifying. The fact that he could kill one man and seriously wound another with his hands bound behind his back was astonishing, but it was something one would expect of the Demon Vice-Commander. It would increase his legend, and deservedly so.
But why he would try to kill himself by jumping overboard, Yamamoto had not understood; he assumed Harada must have been crazed with pain or fever to do such a thing. Kirito shook his head a little at that, but stayed quiet. He understood his moody friend all too well; one day, he thought, so would the young spy. Seeing the attempt at suicide by his Vice-Chief had spurred Yamamoto to risk exposure to get an urgent message to Thalia. Privacy was nearly impossible onboard ship, especially in an atmosphere so rife with suspicion; so it did not surprise him when he was caught. In fact, he explained to Kirito, he had been astonished to wake up again in this life at all.
So when Yamamoto had been told that despite his efforts the Vice-Chief was in a coma from which he might never awaken, the guilt he felt over having been unable to protect him or help more in some way was devastating.
Captain Okada had visited earlier that day and told him not to be ridiculous, that it had been Yamamoto’s message to them that enabled the Shinsengumi to come and rescue them. Without that, Thalia would have tried to find the ship by herself; and even if she had succeeded, they’d seen what the outcome of that scenario would have been.
“You’re the reason they’re alive right now, Yamamoto,” Okada had said, seeming sincere and emotional for once. “And they’re the reason you’re alive, and they are also the reason the Shinsengumi is not walking into a trap that would end in massacre. None of you is replaceable.”
Yamamoto had been shocked and moved by this accolade from the urbane, unflappable young Captain. He had taken his leave not long after delivering that speech, and Yamamoto slept better that night than he had since waking up in the hospital.
Kirito put one hand on Yamamoto's shoulder when he finished telling his tale. "Thank you for telling me," he said with rare sincerity that made them both uncomfortable. He stayed and watched TV with Yamamoto for a while, departing when the hospital dinner was delivered along with the night’s dose of painkillers, sedatives, and antibiotics.
It was nice to feel safe, Yamamoto thought drowsily. It was as if they had all been drawn closer together by the traumatic events. He drifted off to sleep feeling pleased that Thalia would be all right, and thinking that if only the Vice-Commander recovered also, they would all be so happy.
After Okada reported the apparent escape of Sekiguchi and Wataru, Chief Kato had, in fact, hired Kirito's detective agency to help protect the three in the hospital from possible further attack by any remaining Hellfire Rising members, the leaders at large in particular. The Shinsengumi could not do their job and also watch over their own; they could not have peace of mind unless someone they trusted was with the patients at all times.
So it was that when Thalia awoke fully alert at a little past two in the morning, Saya was asleep with her head on the bed, holding Thalia’s hand, while Seizo slept in a chair. She smiled, loving them both for their sweetness. Then she rose, startling them awake, removing her IV with brisk efficiency and only stopping to put on the pair of fuzzy socks Kyoko had made for her and brought over that afternoon as a get-well gift.
“Kaa-chan, where are you going?” Seizo asked, worried that she was delirious or sleepwalking.
“Thalia-san, the nurse will yell at you for taking that out by yourself,” Saya added with something like awe.
“I don’t need it,” Thalia said with cheerful determination. She was mobile without the IV, since the extra cables had been removed from her enhanced limb, and she was beginning to learn how to use it. It was still healing, of course, but she was on the mend. “What I do need is for you to bring me up to Harada-san. It’s time for me to be with him,” she added.
“I’m not sure the ICU nurses will agree,” Seizo said, but got up to go with her. “Also, they only let in two people at a time, for an hour at a time.”
“Then I will be temporarily invisible,” she replied. She gave them a brief explanation, then demonstrated so they would not be startled. The three of them left Thalia’s room, treading rather cautiously to avoid unnecessary run-ins with well-intentioned but tyrannical medical staff. Thalia did not want to strain herself by trying to stay camouflaged longer than she really needed to.
When they reached the ICU entrance, Thalia disappeared into a vague shimmer, and the other two donned gowns and masks. The nurses were kind and did not object to visitors even at this hour, so they made their way to Harada’s bedside, the one closest to the eastern window.
Thalia looked down at him tenderly, her eyes full of pain when she saw the state of his body.
“It was worse when he got here,” Saya said, intending to reassure her. “He’s getting better,” she added. It was true, the bruises were beginning to fade, and the wounds were closing slowly but surely. Yet there had been no change in his awareness; the only possible indications of consciousness they could find were the changes in his vital signs at certain times, seeming to indicate stress.
This was the fifth day of the hospital stay, so the doctors were becoming grimmer, not offering much hope of the Vice-Commander recovering consciousness. If he had been on life support, they might have begun hinting at disconnecting it; as it was, they could only shake their heads and look regretful.
“My poor love,” Thalia said, bending to touch his face and kiss his lips, seeming to forget the others in the room. They blushed, embarrassed to witness such an intimate moment. The numbers on his pulse and blood pressure began to rise, but did not go so high that they set off the alarms.