Summary: M-21's just doing his job.

Fic inspired by DulcetRipple. :DD

Set after chapter 200.

Part of the Job

By Dark Ice Dragon

M-21 could hear the general noise of the children playing and chatting as he patrolled around Ye Ran High School. There didn't seem to be any problems –there was no-one hanging around the front gates, or up on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, and the scuffles in the playground appeared to be friendly enough- so he continued on.

His eyes were drawn to a shadow peeking around the corner, far too used to people trying to ambush or tail him. The shadow was attached to a student though, her head lowered and her cheeks flushed. M-21 frowned. Was she ill…?

M-21 approached her carefully, wondering if he should say something. She watched him as he did, her eyes getting wider and wider. "Are you feeling all right?" he asked her.

"I – I-" The rest of her face went bright red and she was suddenly sporting a nosebleed. M-21 had to dash forward as the girl fainted, her eyes rolling up and her legs giving way under her. He caught her before her head smacked on the ground, but it was a near thing.

"Hey!" He put the back of his palm to her forehead and hissed - she was burning up. No-one had been this ill around him before, but he at least knew where the nurse's office was. He carefully wiped the blood away, glad that it seemed to have stopped already, looking worse than it seemed to be. It took a bit of manoeuvring but M-21 was able to pick her up with her head cradled against his shoulder and he hoped her legs wouldn't knock into anything as he carried her there.

It didn't take very long to get to the nurse's office, and M-21 ignored the rustle of whispers that followed after him, more intent that the girl didn't get hurt further.

Once the student was in the proper hands, M-21 left and breathed a small sigh of relief when he closed the door behind him. Well, that was different from the usual stuff he had to deal with.

He started patrolling again and found Tao on his own route. Tao waved cheerily at him.

"So, did anything interesting happen on your look-around?" Tao asked, stretching.

M-21 nodded slowly, his gaze being drawn to the nurse's office again. "A student fainted in front of me."

"Oh?" Tao grinned at him, looking interested and raising his eyebrows. "What did you do?"

"Carried her to the nurse's office," M-21 answered him, his own eyebrows coming together in confusion. Of course he did that – he wasn't going to leave her lying there.

Tao opened his mouth to reply, but they stopped short when they rounded the next corner.

There were four students sprawled out over the floor.

Was there an epidemic happening at the school?

M-21 rushed to the closest student's side and then paused and threw a glance over his shoulder when he didn't hear Tao follow him.

Tao raised his hands, his shoulders shaking with constrained laughter. "I don't want to increase the numbers if they find out I'm carrying students too!"

…What was he talking about?