1.2

On one’s deathbed

“Don’t worry, it will only hurt a bit”

The ‘doctor’ whispered into the young man ear. On his face a sadistic smirk, showing a set of sickening yellow teeth.

‘So this is what a death reaper would look like’, Hiro thought to himself. Dressed in white and wielding a scalpel. Here he was, surrounded by vultures waiting to pick him apart, or what left of him.

Still, the ‘doctor’ truly meant what he said. The tranquiliser was supposed to make this all painless as Hiro is being mercilessly picked apart. If only that was the case. The young man started to feel pain spreading from the gaping hole in his stomach. It was just a sting at first but in no time at all, it became unbearable. As if millions of mice were digging out his inert, like a thousand hot needles piercing to his very soul.

“Guh…”

His body was still unmoving but he can still scream. But a yell with the magnitude to match would surely shook the heaven. And so, Hiro held back his voice, only let out a slight gurgle. Surprising the ‘doctor’ would spell certain death.

Hiro started to feel his fingers, his muscles warming up. He wouldn’t be able to contain the spasm that was soon to follow.

Lucky for him, someone noticed his fingers twitching. The ‘doctor’ immediately removed his scalpel the moment before Hiro’s entire body shook violently. Soon enough, four men in black were there to hold him down. Their faces filled with discomfort. Not because of guilt but out of inconvenience. What in front of them was still a sickening scene. While they were the people who put the poor man on this dirty table, none of them truly cared. All but one.

“I should have brought more tranquiliser. Tch…” The ‘doctor’ clicked his tongue “We will continue like this, hold him down good boys. Don’t worry, I will make sure the merchandise remains intact”

Too bad he wasn’t the ‘merchandise’, Hiro. With that announcement, the young man found himself locked down, unable to move. It wasn’t necessary, however, because the young man intended to return. There was still someone who would be there, waiting for him at home.

And so he endured, without a sounds nor any sort of movements.

The vultures around him couldn’t help but feel something welling up in them. It was a strange twisted sense of respect. All of them turned away, well, all but one.

___

“Agh”

Hiro sat up violently, his body burning up. The young man was in a wooden house of sort, but he didn’t care. Why would he remember that again, it was already two years ago? Perhaps it was his brush with death once again.

Voice: [Oi, are you alright!]

Hiro: {I… I’m fine, Voice in The Head-chan}

Voice: [What happened, where are we, why is it so hot…]

The voice had many questions, but he couldn’t answer them as his mind was still muddled. A fever was tormenting him, a particularly bad one at that. He could see an unfamiliar blanket and his upper body which was shirtless. Except for bandage extending where it was burning the most. That was where the woman slashed at his back.

Hiro saw a tender hand, picking up a lukewarm wash-cloth. It was her, the one who gave him this injury, who tried to suffocate him to death. She was sitting dutifully by his side, her halo gone and there was a crack on the pearly white mask.

The woman gently pushed the young man back down and washed the cloth. She then proceeded to squeeze then fold it neatly before putting it on his head. All of her actions filled with a sense of grace and tender. It was enough to make the young man and his worried voice speechless. No, more than that, both of them were shocked at the foreign gestures.

Never before had they received such care and attention.

The two minds in a moment became one, flash back to one unified. It was a young boy, also down with a vicious fever. By his side esd a woman, his ‘mother’, muttering to herself.

“So troublesome” “Why are you like this” “Why do I have to endure this”

Tears silently streamed out of the young boy eyes. Before he knew it, Hiro found a single sparling drop trickling out. The woman beside him reached out and wipe it gently, all in this darkened room.

Yes, this was the person who tried to kill them, to mangle them. And yet, Hiro and his voice could feel nothing but peace and gratitude.

And so, they lied there, enjoying the moment, the tenderness…

That was until the door burst open and a man barge in. A blond westerner with eyes as blue as the sky. In his hand was an oil lantern, reeked of the most dreadful smell, fishy to be slightly more precise.

Seeing Hiro, his eyes suddenly lit up. The young man blurted out a stream of enthusiastic gibberish. Well, to be politer, he was speaking in a language that Hiro couldn’t identify at all. To the young man, it might as well be gibberish. While Hiro could sense nothing but friendliness from the young man, he couldn’t help but be annoyed. For his moment of peace to be cut short so loudly.

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Hiro: {What a pain} Voice: [What a pain]

It seemed that man finally realised there was a language barrier at play here. He started to wave his hands around madly, forming pattern of sorts. The movements were just too rapid for Hiro’s tired mind to process, however. Actually, what the young man was worrying about was the lantern being swung around with reckless abandon.

The young man’s charade finally came to an end as a soft but firm voice called to him. Entered a western woman, who stared her companion down and gave a brief lecture of sort.

Sighing, she finally turned to Hiro. She said something that he couldn’t understand. Her sentence was cut short when her companion interrupted to enthusiastically announce something all the while pointing Hiro. The woman slapped his pointing hand away and gave a firm warning of sort. Finally, she pointed to herself.

“Caron, Caron Pryce”

She looked at him, waiting for any sort of response. Hiro deduced that it was the woman name, he gave her a nod. Seeing that, the young man suddenly lit up but before he could say anything, an elbow swiftly mafr contacts to his side. Caron then points at him.

“Owain, Owain Pryce”

Voice: [Are they siblings I wonder?]

Hiro: {Nah, those two don’t look that alike to be honest}

Voice: [I don’t know, all of them just look the same to me]

Hiro: {That’s… unexpectedly racist}

Voice: [I prefer the word ‘unfamiliar’]

Hiro: {I don’t remember meeting any foreigners in the time between you and me actually}

Voice: [… Maybe they do look different after all]

Anyway, now would be the perfect time to introduce himself.

“Hiro, Hiro Hanazawa”

Owain seemed overjoyed at the revelation but he finally learned to keep his mouth shut. He pointed at the woman with the cracked mask, still sitting there dutifully in silent. Perhaps he was asking her name from Hiro. Well, they both had black hair after all…

The young man finally noticed, behind the masked woman was her naginata, leaning against the wall.

Hiro signals that he didn’t know, luckily his hosts understood. Owain then tried to say something, throwing a bunch of gestures however they were just as impenetrable as his language. Signing once again, Caron pointed at the masked woman and made a x mark at her mouth. This Hiro could understand.

His two hosts then has a quick conversation, allowing the young man to look around. The room was completely devoid of any sort of technology. And there was a strange glass ball hanging on the celling. It was filled with some sort of fluid and Hiro couldn’t tell what that for was. Then the lantern, which smelled absolutely horrendous. It was as if a stream of dead fish with their dead bulgy eyes all assaulted your nose at once.

Noticing his gaze, Caron pointed at the item with a disgusted look. So he was not the only one bothered by the stench. She then proceeded to point at the glass ball and made a x with her arms. The woman then took the lantern for Owain to leave the room. He still poked his head in to say something, however. The young man seemed happy.

Caron let out a rather loving sigh before opening a box she had been carrying. She pulled a chair next to Hiro and sat down. Pulling out some fresh bandages she signalled him to sit up which he obliged. Then, with great care, she proceeded to remove the wrapping on the young man body. He could feel a tinge of pain on his back and soon the smell of herbs filled the room. It was supposed to be a pleasant smell but mixing the lantern produced an even more horrifying stench.

A thin layer of ointment made of herbs were applied on his back. It was cool compared to his heated body, enough to make him shudder. Hiro was then bandaged and laid down once again. Caron checked his temperature with her hand with a satisfying look. She then signalled him to lie down.

Packing up, the woman left the room with the blasted lantern. She still left behind a disk of sort which started to spread a faint pleasant sound.

Once again, Hiro found himself alone with the masked woman in the darkened room. He was filled with emotions, to receive such care from two people no less. Maybe being slashed and suffocated weren’t too bad after all.

Voice: [Hmm, what’s her game?]

Hiro: {Who?}

[That masked woman of course] Voice in The Head-chan was the first one to stop revelling in the comfort [First she attacked us, nearly killed us even, then this…]

He hesitated, his voice filled with conflict. This sentiment was something Hiro can understand. They could now no longer feel anything but gratitude. So they couldn’t feel any hatred against their assailant, this was something the young man could accept.

Hiro: {Who know…}

Both of them remained quiet, trying to enjoy this moment. However, a faint noise sneaked in like an annoying fly. It was the sound of…

Voice: [Moaning!]

Voice in The Head-chan as right, it was the sound of someone moaning. To be more precise, a woman, to be even more precise, Caron, judging from the voice. It soon turned quiet but Hiro couldn’t relax, this felt too much like the calm before the storm.

His prediction was correct, unfortunately. The young man and his disembodied companion were then assaulted by the most horrifying of noise. It was of Owain, groaning in… whatever. His voice then got louder and louder. If one tried to focus, one could also hear Caron, trying to be as quiet as possible.

Hiro: {Guess they aren’t siblings after all}

Voice: [I hope]

Hiro: {…}

Voice: […]

Hiro: {That’s just gross, Voice in The Head-chan}

Voice: [I should never have said that]

Well, this was certainly an awkward situation. While the noise wasn’t that terribly loud, it was still the only present. And so, the young man couldn’t help but focusing one it. After a respectable amount of time, those two were finally done.

Voice: [Finally]

As soon as Voice in The Head-chan finished talking, the sound started all over again. It as round two, and maybe more to come.

Hiro: {Let’s talk about something}

Voice: [Ok, what then]

Hiro: {…}

Voice: […]

Hiro: {Suiren}

Voice: [What?]

Hiro: {I am just thinking about the masked woman, we don’t know what to call her. I was thinking Suiren sounds nice}

Voice: [But why that name…]

Hiro: {I noticed that’s what on her komon, water lilies}

Or at least that was what he thought. Completely indigo coloured, it was hard to tell the pattern, especially in dim light earlier. Technically he did see her earlier beneath the tree but her unassuming attire wasn’t much to look at, now it still wasn’t.

Voice: [So you are going to call her Suiren? Isn’t that rude?]

Hiro: {Nah, it will just be between you and me}

After a moment of contemplation, Voice in The Head-chan agreed. But then, he realised something.

Voice: [Wait, how are you going to call me?]

Hiro: {Voice in The Head-chan?}

Voice: [That’s too long! And what with the -chan?]

Hiro: {Then how about Momo-chan then}

Voice: [Why that! And again, what with the -chan?]

Hiro: {Well, it sounds cute, both the name and the -chan}

Voice: [So you call yourself cute?]

Hiro: {No, just you. Trust me, from my point of view, a high school me is incredibly cute, probably because of how naïve and stupid I was}

Voice: [I truly wonder if that counted as self-deprecation or not]

After some moment for self-evaluation, Momo-chan sighed in acceptance. The two then stayed silent before both mentally agreeing to get some sleep. Unfortunately, the enthusiastic man certainly had quite a bit of stamina and so was his partner.