BEF-1.
A disease originating from a certain type of bacterium in the year of 2003. It is an active decomposer that once contacts to the internal system of a living organism, it will either passively or aggressively eat away the flesh of that organism.
Out of the very few studies, there state that there is a very low likelihood for plants to die when the bacterium's conditions are met.
However, very brief studies states that the bacterium is more active when invading specifically to a human body for still unknown reasons, and animals on the mammal class second. In the nigh 20 years of the bacterium's existence, there is only one case that it has attacked an animal's body, while only 17 cases were reported of it affecting humans in the entire world, with a Japanese individual in 2020 as its latest case; hence the reason of researches that had not reached concrete theories and conclusions.
There are currently no reports of it being contagious; otherwise it would cause the world to once again lockdown as the situation would instantly be under the state of pandemic as it is currently categorized as one of the deadliest illnesses in the written history.
Observations reveal that the bacterium starts attacking without a known pattern hence the first conclusion being that it begins spreading out at a random part of the body. Some also reveal that there are slower spread on parts that are away from the major organs, especially when the patient is put to a stationary state with very minimal movements from the affected muscles. BEF-1 also does not seem to directly affect the blood vessels, however its threat comes from its resistance to the cells' defenses against it, ultimately overpowering them. Furthermore, it poses as a worse threat when it decides to start invading the major internal organs within the nervous, circulatory, respiratory, and endocrine system as it literally consumes the organs which would result to a swift death.
All that being said… out of the 17 cases that have been recorded, the victims—after diagnosis either with regular or severe cases…
…have only survived for a maximum of four months.
▪ ▪ ▪
‹Gin›
I don't know. I don't even know how should I even respond from that… and it was the same for the one beside me. Weirdly enough, I couldn't feel her or my hands trembling. It was somewhat tranquil in between the three of us… it was so silent, so silent…
Yet, this silence is frightening me, turning my insides upside down.
"…" Kurt Snetr, the doctor who had declared the diagnosis, was also reluctant to say anything, hesitating with a visible sorrow on his face.
A face so pained that as if it was saying that he can't do anything to help, even as a medical practitioner.
…
Finally, I was able to muster the courage to let out with my throat that had been dried.
"Were… you able to identify… how long had the bacteria been in her body…"
"T-T-Thankfully, it was at least within our ability to find it. It has only been two months, in contrast to previous diagnosis where it found that bacteria had become active a year before that.
I-It… It was also a difficult decision for us to declare this immediately, Ms. Akanami and Mr. Sakato… While there are no factual information to support it, we are afraid of announcing it to the patient would affect the speed of its activity if it was stimulated cognitively."
"I-I… understand…"
"We highly recommend that Ms. Akanami be confined to a room for the moment to monitor her. In that event, we have already prepared a room for her in advance."
"Before we decide, it is okay if the two of us talk alone, Dr. Snetr?"
"A-Ah… Then I will leave for the moment…"
The door opened, and then briskly shut.
Once more… the room was filled with silence, with us petrified.
But when I prompted to reach for my pocket to get my phone, Rin's grasp suddenly tightened on my hand. I wanted to just not move, yet I still slowly pulled my phone to dial a number.
"Hello, Uncle Shuu?"
It was so… difficult and painful to put up a calm voice even over the line.
"Are you with your Aunt Sumi?
…
Can we ask you to come to the hospital right now?"
From the other side of the line, even from the originally muffled sound captured by the phone, an audible gasp and a series of deep breaths was heard clearly. And after a long silence, I finally heard a response, albeit somewhat weak.
"A-Alright… We'll get there as soon as possible."
Upon the doctor's entrance anew, it was with anxiety and concern that he prompted us to immediately move to the reserved room. While it is in fact that the disease do not transmit to others in any ways, it is quite understandable that the doctor would be in panic as we are all encountering one of the deadliest diseases, and this may well be the first case in Orio.
In Rin's parents' arrival, I fetched them from the entrance. I quickly observed something, or rather, I observed nothing different from the normal around the people and the hospital staff, we can likely mean that the appearance of the disease has not yet left the mouth of the doctors and a few nurses involved upon the diagnosis.
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Soon, Dr. Snetr oriented them of the results in the room where Rin is now staying at, not as a doctor, but that of a human with deep-rooted compassion.
…
Moments after a few minutes of silence I felt a heavy grasp on my shoulder, while Uncle Shuu walks without halt, facing the door. Meek, I followed him without knowing if even I'm getting his context, or if there was even one to begin with. Promptly, we sat on the bench outside across the hall.
It was then that the tears fell from his eyes.
"I… I am her father, and you are the man that she chose… You should be the one to know most how equally we want to protect her…
But Gin… What are we even supposed to do at this point… What…"
I wanted the tears to roll down, but my cursed body wouldn't even allow me to do so.
"I really… really want to stay with her all the time from this point on, but…
I might be going to run towards nowhere… but no matter how much I hit a dead end… I will try to find any way… anything…
Just like you, Uncle Shuu… I don't want to lose her. But still… if she's doing well for the time being, the last thing we do is make her sad."
In a rare occasion, Uncle Shuu gave me an embrace and a tap that borders a slap. Right after, he prompted to stand up.
"I'm going back to the room. If you wish to inform your friends now, you decide for yourself, okay?"
"Right."
"How do I even begin to tell them…"
How do I even begin to tell everyone… that Rin is… dying…?
~ ~ ~
"Yuka Gin?! Is Ringo-nee in that room?!" unexpectedly, Ms. Sora, her father, and an attendant came running in the hall, approaching me right when I was putting down my phone.
"M-Mr. Kagurazaka…? She is inside-"
Ms. Sora then briskly bowed her head and entered the room while the others remained. Nonetheless, it goes without saying that the surprise painted on my face is obvious in front of Takezo Kagurazaka himself.
"You can go ahead and wait outside," he directed to his attendant and sat beside me.
"I'm very sorry for what you are going through, Mr. Sakato. To reiterate to you in verbatim, we will 'provide medical support for your family in emergency situations', and this is the emergency situation.
…
To be completely honest with you… Even I don't know how to respond to you right now. My life leading from my lowest to where I am right now does not amount to what situation you are in. Perhaps I take for granted the wealth I have that helped my family stay well physiologically hence why I have never been put through on the shoes you are in at."
"…
Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Kagurazaka…"
"BEF-1 as of this moment is still incurable, and may well be one of the most dangerous illnesses in history, but I suppose it is a wake-up call for me to finally prioritize my support towards healthcare.
You're the first one to know, and if anything, this is somewhat of an arbitrary decision on my end—but from now on I will be providing material support to fight the illness. I don't know how long it would take… maybe my daughter would be the one sitting on my chair by the time it happens… but to the best of my ability I will seek a way to find a solution as fast as possible."
"Thank you… Thank you…"
▪ ▪ ▪
A few days later.
With an extremely heavy heart, Gin has declared to those closest to him the situation—family, friends, and to the Exiles—the ones the child trusts the most that would not disclose the disease, as it would in no time reach the public and the media if ended up in the wrong people.
The Blue Ink High School was unusually quiet, only after a few minutes of the school hours ending. The entire staff excluding the security has left the campus to make way for the arrival of several high school alumni, without notice nor questions walking straight to the administrative office, and deeper towards Taketo Juushiro's secure room.
"It felt as if we all somehow thought in the same wavelength. This was totally unprompted, but I appreciate you all for coming here, greatly assuming that all of us have heard the news."
"I called Kuroko earlier. He said he can't come today since he's stuck with work in the Capital, as much as he also wanted to go," G started.
"That's fine. If he returns to the base, we can fill him in."
"Before we get to the elephant in the room, I'd like to know if there's still anything we haven't been told about Ringo's condition," a somewhat displeased Shiro inquired.
"All we know is that besides the past episodes that we already know, Ringo is doing quite well, although she's under hospital care for an indefinite time. The Kagurazaka's are in full support, but Dr. Kagetora is taking a leave for the moment. Meanwhile, Dr. Kurt Snetr of Mykes chose nurses that would observe her.
That's pretty much the brief of what we've gotten from Gin. She's staying healthy, but for what we know, things could turn a 180 since there aren't enough data to support BEF's research internationally. The world is basically going in this blind.
Alright… with that in mind, I know that we really shouldn't be playing some kind of mind-bending games now, but to be sure that we're in the same page…
Nagi, why did this impromptu meeting come about?"
Without pause to think, "It's about the dangers we could expect in the event that… Rin might… die… A-And… and… the possible aftermath of that… for Gin."
"And the possible outcome of that for our town, I'm guessing," G immediately added.
"Do we have any suggestions on how we're going to prepare for this?"
"Akira, as much as it pains us to say, we don't have enough substantial ideas. We honestly would like to ask for the Exiles' support while we take care of the status quo.
We're literally powerless—we have no way to stop him in the worst-case scenario."
"You heard Jean. I know I am at least physically capable, but I'm no way close to the abilities of anyone who's entered the Room or Makoto. But if anything comes to that, I would like to ask for a set of AMM."
"You didn't have to ask, Ginji. That much was a given. The base is pretty much up to speed with what's going on so we can be on guard. I'll have Makoto ask for a favor to Detective Juno, if not the CPD.
What's clear to us is we don't know what exactly could happen, not even Gin. I am sorry to tell you this, as you are friends of him, but for now we have no choice to consider Gin as… a potential threat. But we'll assure all of you that we'll try to pacify the possible situation as safely as possible.
Can we agree with that compromise?"
The entire room sent a nod.
"For now, please don't let this get to your regular activities. I'll just ask you to support the two of them in ways you can do while we try to iron things out on our end.
I'm glad that we came to this und-"
All of a sudden, the sound isolated room was disturbed with a phone call…
…from a resurfaced.
"Yes, what is it?"
"It's not yet out in the press, sir, but the country is about to go under emergency."
"What kind of situation happen to reach this state?"
"Capital's maximum security prison is on red alert."
"That's all I needed to know. I'll get back to you later."
*beep*
"All of you, go home as soon as possible. NOW.
We're heading to the base immediately, Akira."
"W-What's going on, Sir Tenth…?"
"…
Horach escaped from prison."
▪ ▪ ▪
The night of the same day upon the clouds fading away from the bright moon; unknown location.
"I don't like this welcome, you know."
"You think I also like seeing you right here, right now?"
"How did you find me anyway?"
"I remembered something that my mother said about this place."
"Hahh… If you're going to be all sentimental and poetic on me, then piss off.
Or what, you're going to kill me?"
"…"
Ryota Mizuno, who was once Teardrop, fell back to silence in the words of his father.