It was nearly half a year since the Dresden Slates were destroyed that it happened: one morning, Yata Misaki woke up blind.

That was it. No explanation. No sudden trauma to the back of his head. No injuries of any kind. Just one day he could see and the next it was all darkness. It was like his eyes were closed, but he was certain they were open. To test it, he lifted a hand to his forehead and slowly moved his fingers downward, feeling his eyelashes just below his eyebrows, meaning the eyelids were up and his eyes were open.

Not sure what else to do, Yata felt his way to the edge of his bed and stood, then carefully stumbled his way towards where the door was. He mis-aimed, however, and ran into the small dresser he had in the room. He didn't hit it that hard because he was moving slowly, but it still hurt, and he swore. He was still trying to remember where the door was from here when he heard it open and Kusanagi's voice entered the room.

"You alright, Yata-chan?" he asked.

"No. I- Kusanagi-san, it's all dark. I can't see."

He heard the sound of footsteps, two of them, and then he sensed some movement near his face. He could only assume Kusanagi was waving a hand in front of his face to confirm what he'd said.

"Did you hit your head just now? I heard swearing," Kusanagi said.

"No. I stubbed my toe trying to find my way to the door. It was like this when I woke up," Yata explained.

"And nothing else has happened? You didn't get hit on the head during a fight recently, or-"

"No, nothing! I haven't hit my head, haven't had any headaches or anything weird like that, and up until yesterday I could see just fine! So what the fuck is wrong with me?" Yata shouted. It wasn't fair to take his frustration out on Kusanagi, and he knew it, but how could you expect him to stay calm in a time like this? Besides, better Kusanagi who knew what he was like than some random doctor or nurse.

"Okay, Yata-chan. I get it. We'll figure this out, don't worry."

"How?" Yata whined, and he was ashamed to realize there were tears in his eyes.

"We can take you to a doctor. Seri-chan owes me a favor, so she can probably do it."

"S- You mean that blue?!" Yata exclaimed.

"Well who is else is going to take you? Anna? Because the rest of our clansmen are too hot headed and scary-looking, and I have to open up the bar, so it's either Anna who is too young or we ask one of the blues. Unless you'd rather I ask Fushimi instead…"

"Don't you dare!" Yata almost screamed. Fushimi Saruhiko was the last person he wanted to see him like this, in a weakened state. If it had been just after the Slates incident, he might have been okay with the idea, but since then, that damn Saruhiko hadn't even been in touch, which meant they were probably back to being enemies, again, and in that case Saru wouldn't even hesitate to take advantage of Yata's lack of sight. Yata clenched his teeth. He'd thought that maybe they were finally back to being friends, damn it!

"Then Seri-chan it is," Kusanagi said calmly, as if Yata had not just flipped out on him. "Don't worry, I'm sure she'll keep quiet about it. She doesn't like to admit that things are actually pretty cordial between the two of us to the rest of the blues. Even if nowadays it hardly matters, since the clans are all gone."

"But the blues are still helping to round up the greens and transition to the new government system. Surely she's busy," Yata said, trying to weasel his way out of spending any time with that woman.

"Actually, she was here just last night complaining of boredom because she's been assigned to go over paperwork. Munakata wants everything in perfect order for the transition, so he asked her to check, but she says the desk staff knows what they are doing much better than her and so they won't even let her touch anything."

Yata clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Fine," he muttered.

"Good boy. Now give me your hand and I'll help you downstairs to the bar. Or do you want to stop at the bathroom first?"

"Bathroom."

Trying to use the bathroom when he couldn't see was challenging. As was getting dressed, and eating breakfast, and everything really. By the time he managed to figure out how to brush his teeth after breakfast, Awashima had arrived and was waiting to take him to the doctor's office.

"Good morning," she greeted coolly.

"Mornin'," Yata mumbled back.

"You have toothpaste on your chin," she informed him. Yata rubbed it off hurriedly, scowling. He bet if she went blind all of a sudden, she'd get toothpaste on her chin too. Or maybe not. Those blues were all so hoity-toity-perfect all the time that they probably would manage to be just as graceful and efficient even without their sight. He'd even bet that Saru would still be able to throw his knives with perfect accuracy. The jerk.

"Just a moment," Kusanagi said, stopping Awashima and Yata before they went out the door. He walked to Yata's side, and then Yata felt something sliding over his temples and being settled on his ears, and there was a new weight on the bridge of his nose. Glasses.

"There, now you look like a proper blind man," Kusanagi said.

"I've seen you without those sunglasses before, but it still looks weird every time," Awashima said. "And it looks even weirder seeing them on him instead."

Yata wasn't sure which of them he wanted to punch more, but it didn't really matter since he'd probably miss and hit a wall instead. Or worse, he might hit something Totsuka-san had brought into the bar. He'd never forgive himself if he did that. Nor would the rest of HOMRA. And Anna. There's no way Anna would ever talk to him again.

Awashima and Yata set off, not talking as they walked along to the train station. Yata hated to admit it, but Awashima was actually a pretty good guide, giving him good warnings about obstacles, stopping him in good time, and even pointing out how some of the crosswalks had chirps to let him know whether or not to walk. With her help, he began to rely on his ears a bit more, and soon learned the sound of an intersection. But he still needed her help to navigate, and to get through the train station, and to help him find a seat on the train- which was apparently rather empty for this time of day if there were open seats. They reached the station they were getting off at and exited the train and then the station. When they entered the sunlight, Yata could feel it on his skin, but there was no difference in the darkness that surrounded him. Whatever had affected his eyes, it had him completely.

Three intersections after leaving the train station, Awashima guided Yata into a building. He could tell they'd gone through a door based on the dinging of a bell and the sudden drop of temperature caused by entering an air-conditioned area. He shivered a little as Awashima tugged him forward, then had him sit. He heard her walk away, and could just vaguely hear her talking to a receptionist of some sort. He didn't hear what they were saying exactly, but he knew it had to be about him and why he was there.

It was nearly 20 minutes before they were called in to see the doctor, and in that time Yata grew extremely irritated. This place seemed designed to annoy him. There was the waiting time, there was the AC that was on too high, there was the repetitive sniffling of the receptionist who probably had a cold because of the AC, and there was the tinny sound of muzak coming through the speakers for patients to listen to as they waited. There were probably magazines to read- which would almost certainly be stupid gossipy stuff about what diets which celebrities were on or whatever- but the fact that Yata couldn't read anything at the moment thanks to his sudden loss of vision was the whole reason he was here in the first place. It was infuriating. This place couldn't get much worse.

Once in the examination room, the doctor presumably conducted some sort of eye examination, but Yata couldn't be certain of much other than the doctor asking him to take off Kusanagi's sunglasses, then asking him to read an eye chart. After Yata finished cussing him out, the doctor went ahead and tilted Yata's head this way and that, probably shining a light into his eyes as he did, though Yata didn't see anything. The doctor kept muttering things like "odd" and "I've never seen anything like this", which wasn't exactly reassuring. Then Yata was asked to sit while they performed some scans or something with machines that hummed quietly and beeped. He was sent out to wait for the scans to be processed, and subjected to more of the waiting room hell. When he was called back in, it was only for the doctor to carefully avoid saying that he had no clue what the heck was going on because as far as he could tell, everything was perfectly normal. They left quickly after that, as if Awashima suspected just how pissed Yata was getting. Which was extremely pissed. All that trouble to be told that there shouldn't be anything wrong with him? What bullshit.

Over the next few days, they repeated the process three more times. Go to a doctor's office. Sit in a waiting room and feel the homicidal impulses slowly build. See a doctor who didn't seem to understand that "I can't see anything" meant "I have no clue where the freaking eye chart even is, let alone what is written on it, dipshit". Undergo some tests. Wait for results. Get told that nothing is wrong. Hurry on home before an actual murder gets committed. Hooray. After the second such excursion, Anna also accompanied them, since Yata tended to behave a bit better after a sharp word from his king, even if she wasn't truly a king anymore.

After the fourth attempt at a diagnosis, Yata refused to go to any more of them. They weren't accomplishing anything. He already knew he was blind, and he already didn't know the cause. He didn't need doctors to tell him the former and not do anything about the latter.

Yata was blind. And it seemed there was nothing he, or anyone, could do about it.