Emergency workers surrounded a large area of rubble. As they sifted through the crushed bricks, one worker, the secretary of the police department, noticed a stream of smoke rising from underneath.
“Guys! There’s still a fire over here!”
A horde of workers swarmed the area and began to excavate the site. The once small stream of smoke was now beginning to plume out of the cracks. As the final layer of bricks were uncovered, it seemed as though a seal were broken as the entire room caved in. The workers began to plummet into the depths of the smoke, but as they neared the ground, something grabbed them and set them down safely. The secretary was set next to a dome made of the bricks and cement.
“What’s this…?”
As she laid her hand on the dome, it caved in. Beginning to dig at it, she uncovered Yami, who was on his knees with his palms against the floor. Blood and dirt pooled around him, and his breathing was scratchy from choking on smoke.
“Mr. Shinpai!”
Yami was shaking as she laid her hand on his back.
“Is… everyone safe,” Yami managed to stutter?
“I think so. Assuming you were the one who caught us, that was everyone.”
Yami tried to let out a relieving sigh, but the stress made him fall over and pass out.
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Rikai walked into a hospital room with Shitto’s arm over her shoulder. Yami laid on the bed. In the room were about five police officers. The secretary rose from her seat.
“You’re Ms. Ikko, I presume?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll go get the doctor. In the meantime, take a seat, and try to not wake Mr. Shinpai.”
Rikai nodded. Sitting next to Yami’s bed, Rikai saw that the majority of his body was bandaged, and there was significant padding on his temple. Aside from that, he was also connected to a respirator.
After a few moments, the doctor entered the room.
“Hello, are you Ms. Ikko?”
“Yes.”
The doctor set his clipboard onto a nearby ledge.
“How many times are you guys going to come in here?”
Rikai nervously chuckled.
“At least with Mr. Shinpai he recovers quickly - he has remarkable stamina. If this would’ve happened to Mr. Yuutsu, this surely would have been far worse. As you can tell, it’s hard for him to breath on his own, so we’ll keep him on the respirator for the night. He sustained a pretty serious head injury, and he may have a concussion, but he was already knocked out before we could ask him anything. It also appears that his bones are fractured from impacts at nearly supersonic speeds. Aside from that, he has abrasions and lacerations, some mild, some very serious. If we can get him breathing on his own by tomorrow, he has the potential to leave in about a week, but that would require him to be in bed for another two weeks.”
“I understand. Thank you.”
As the doctor exited the room, the secretary motioned for the officers to leave as well.
“We’ll be outside. We can work in shifts until he wakes up.”
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Rikai nodded.
“Thank you.”
As the officers exited, Rikai placed her hand on Yami’s.
“Rikai?”
Rikai looked around.
“Yami? Was that you?”
“Yeah, I’m talking with you through my life essence. I heard what the doctor said, and we don’t have that much time.”
“What do you mean?!”
“I’m a little fuzzy on the details, but I think when I was fighting Shippai she said something like…”
“Like?”
“I don’t remember, I got hit in the head pretty hard. On the plus side, I think I learned something from her: How to heal.”
“Really?! Try to heal yourself then!”
“I need you to draw the Sirushi Inochi on me first.”
“O-okay. Where?”
“My back. You’re gonna have to take me off of the respirator.”
“No! If I do that, you’ll die!”
“If you don’t, everyone will. I’ve come this far, I won’t let this be the end of me.”
Rikai gripped Yami’s hand more firmly.
“Rikai, I’m going to implant an image in your head. Please trace it onto my back.”
“Right.”
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As Shitto continued to sleep in a chair, Rikai grabbed one of Yami’s pens from his clothes. She placed her hand on his.
“Yami? You ready?”
“Yes. Remember, be careful, but don’t take too long.”
Rikai began to undo the binding around Yami’s mouth.
“Here we go, Yami.”
Rikai began to extract the breathing tube from Yami’s throat. With each pull came more tube. After about twenty seconds of pulling out the tube, it seemed that it was successfully removed. Yami began to breath in strange patterns, seemingly gasping for air each time.
“Alright, let’s do this!”
Rikai held up Yami’s back and began to scribble on it. As she tattooed him, his words resonated inside of her head.
“Yami, before any of us knew it, you had already grown to be more mature than anyone. I seemingly blinked, and that little boy who sat alone in class became the man in front of me.”
Wiping sweat off of her forehead, Rikai checked the clock for how much time had elapsed.
“I just wonder if you feel the same about me…”
“Of course I do.”
Rikai’s face was overcome with shock, then embarrassment.
“Rikai, I need you to focus. It’s getting hard for me to remain even this conscious.”
“Right!”
Rikai quickly finished the tracing, then wiped off any blood with a nearby towel.
“All done!”
In the middle of Yami’s shoulder blades was a line with two other lines wrapping around it.
“I’m going to put you back on the respirator now.”
Rikai carefully directed the breathing tube into Yami’s throat, making sure it felt the same way it had before removing it. After Yami began to breathe in pace with the machine, Rikai put the straps back into place. Taking a deep breath, Rikai sat back in her chair.
“Yami, I hope that worked. Sorry for this, but I’m going to take a quick nap. I’ll wake up in 15 minutes.”
Rikai stood up from the chair and walked outside of the room. The secretary approached her.
“I’m going to nap for a little bit. Would you mind taking over?”
“No problem. Take as long as you need.”
“Thank you.”
Rikai walked down the hall and found a bench. As she laid her head on it, she quickly drifted into a deep sleep.
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“Miss?”
A gentle hand rubbed Rikai’s shoulder, waking her up. Wiping her eyes in the new dusk, Rikai sat up.
“Yes?”
“You’ve been asleep on this bench for a while, I just wanted to make sure you were feeling alright?”
Rikai looked at her phone. She had slept for ten hours.
“Yes, I’m fine, thanks.”
Rikai quickly gathered her things and ran to Yami’s room. Shitto laid asleep, and the secretary watched over Yami.
“You’re back, Ms. Ikko?”
“Yes, I’m sorry for taking so long, I overslept.”
“No problem! This is my job, after all.”
The officer walked out of the room, but Rikai stopped her.
“Um, Miss?”
“Hmm?”
“Has he made any progress?”
The officer smiled.
“The doctor said he’s making excellent progress, and should be able to get off the respirator tomorrow evening!”
Rikai bit her lip.
“Thanks.”
Rikai shut the door as the officer walked out of the room. Sitting next to Yami, she placed her hand on his.
“Yami? You awake?”
“Yeah. Is the officer out of the room?”
“Yes, she just left.”
Yami moved his hand out from underneath Rikai’s. Yami reached behind his head and undid the straps that held his respirator in place, then removed the breathing tube. Yami coughed slightly, then took a deep breath.
“Thanks, Rikai. Let’s get the hell out of here.”