I've been asked if I could update soon and yes so here a chapter before Christmas!


Kougami

This job is a dangerous one, there's no hiding it. No amount of excuses you can make to try and validate the opposite. One moment or the other you're bound to get hurt and even get killed in the line of duty; that fate rest mainly upon the enforcers, not the inspectors. We are the one to do the most dangerous work in the field, leaving our inspectors behind and keep them safe as they observe our behavior. As the enforcers of division one, we screwed up big time but it's not us who will get reprimanded for it but inspector Tsunemori will have some questions to answer to the top brass on what went wrong during the investigation. Even though certain things just couldn't be prevented or helped she'll have to explain why Gino was left alone while the target was still at large.

This is a complete nightmare as we wait to know how the surgery went; needless to say that it's been over an hour already, that can't be a good sign.

"My biggest fear has become a reality." Pops says, killing the long silence as he stares at his blood stained hands.

"Gino is strong he'll pull through pops." I tell him but honestly it was more for myself than anything else. That's all I've been brainwashing myself with for the last hour, he'll pull through. Gino is a fighter he'll be alright; he worked so hard to get here, this can't be how it ends.

Pops releases a long sigh as he looks at the clock, already one in the morning. I don't think anyone is able to sleep right now as we're all waiting for the news about Gino's condition. Kagari has been coming around a few times here and there just to get some news but he doesn't stay long. He doesn't have to say anything, it's written all over his face that he feels guilty for what happened to Gino but it wasn't his fault that the ceiling came down on them and blocked their path, that they got separated; there really wasn't anything they could have done differently to have prevented what happened. The ones really at fault is those who allows such worn down buildings to remain standing, that thing must be almost two hundred years old if not older and no maintenance has been made on it for years. That building could have killed us all in there but of course that won't be used as a valid excuse.

"I never wanted Nobuchika to follow in my footsteps. I wanted him as far away from this life as possible but I wasn't able to allow myself to scowl him for his career choice…" He says as he takes me out of my thoughts, his head low starring at the floor.

"Because it allowed you to see him, I know pops." I finish him off.

I remember when I first started as an inspector in division three and I met pops for the very first time, at first I hadn't realize who he was and every time he would finish working on a report and he no longer had any work to do he would watch videos of a child playing around. I had asked him if the boy was his grand kid whom he denied but that it was his son when he was young and that he was my age now. That's when I figured out that pops was Gino's father and I could see that his son was his pride and joy, he'd let himself die if it meant it would save his Gino's life. I can just imagine what is going through his head right about now, the pain and fear that the doctor will come at any moment and announce that Gino didn't make it or that his condition got worst, it just keeps floating in pops' mind. I'd be lying if it didn't wander in mine either.

"Seeing him every day makes my day, even if he's placed a solid wall between us all that matters to me is that I can see him and hear his voice." He tells me as he looks back at the clock.

"Gino is a stubborn ass and he'll never admit it but all he ever wanted was to see you again pops. He worked so hard just to get here, he's too proud to say it but he loves you more than anything in the world." I tell him and it's not a fabrication just to make pops feel better but it's the truth. Pops was a main subject for Gino to talk about when we first met. Yeah he voiced his anger about pops having become a latent criminal but he didn't hate him for that, his anger was more to the fact that pops was taken away from him. In a sense I guess in a way Gino has a small resentment towards the Sibyl system for taking his father away from him, that fucking heartless machine that just keeps destroying families…

My father died when I was young, I don't remember the man but when you know you have a father that is alive but can't see, hear or touch him is got to be just the worst feeling for one to have. The Sibyl system is cruel for cutting off families like that, most people who became latent criminals would have gotten a better recovery rate if they had been allowed to see their families once in a while but that's not even a possibility, instead you are completely isolated from the world. How is that even supposed to make someone better? It fucking can't.

"I know. I can see it in his eyes." He tells me as a soft smile forms on his face. Yeah Gino can't lie, can't keep secrets or anything, his eyes always betray him. If you don't know him you wouldn't be able to tell but when you do, he is so easy to read, just like reading a first grade level book.

"Pops if you want to clean up and change your clothes I'm not going anywhere. I'll message you if something happens." I tell him. His clothes are covered in dried up blood and the smell just reeks off of him.

"Alright Kou, I won't be long…" He replies as he gets up and walks away. Knowing how he is, he'll just wash off the blood on him, put on some clean clothes and that will be it. He won't even take the time to take a shower to help him relax a little, as long as Gino isn't confirmed to be truly stable, pops will be riddled with anxiety.

It feels like time is going by so slowly and yet the hands on the clock look like they are on fast forward, it's going to be two in the morning in bout fifteen minutes, almost two hours since Gino was rushed into the operation room.

The sound of doors opening catches my attention as I hear wheels rolling on the floor followed by footsteps. I get up when I see the doctor coming my way as he removes his surgical cap and brace myself for whatever news he's going to tell me.

"How is he?" I ask.

"He's stabled. He had internal bleeding that I missed earlier and I apologize for that it was my error." The doctor answers with guilt. Good thing pops isn't here right now, he wouldn't take his error as forgiving, not in his state anyway. His error could have cost Gino his life.

"Can I see him?" I ask not that it would matter the answer he would give me, nothing will stop me from seeing Gino. I won't be able to sleep as long as I can't see him with my own two eyes.

"Yes you can." He answers and with that he leaves me to resume his work and I make my way towards Gino's room as I call pops to let him know about Gino's condition, that he's in stable condition and that he should take the time to take a hot shower. I follow by giving a quick call to Kagari and Kunizuka to tell them the news and hang up as I arrive at his room.

I open the door and let myself in as I close it behind me gently so it doesn't make much noise. He's got so many tubes connected on him, I think he might have more than before. It's hard to take and I have to mentally talk to myself as I slowly approach him. His face is bruised and swollen, his eyes have been taped for whatever reason I'm not sure why but it must be for some purpose.

I take the chair in the corner of the room and drag it closer to the bed; I quickly look at the monitor before sitting down. All seem normal except for his blood pressure it is a little low but then it hit me; Gino always had a low blood pressure so for him I guess it's normal.

No matter how much I stare at him, it just doesn't feel real that it just can't be Gino lying in that bed and yet I know it is. I just don't want to accept it as fact. I should be the one lying in that bed. I'm nothing more than a hunting dog that's got nothing left to lose and yet I'm sitting here watching my best friend who might not even live to see next week. That the last time I saw him with his eyes open was minutes before we entered that fucking building.

Shion believes that a person who has fallen into a comatose state can hear everything that goes on around them. When she was studying in her field before becoming a latent criminal, she had found documentation about people describing their experience after waking up from a coma. They described the feeling like they were trapped in total darkness while they could hear everything as if it was distant and yet near; some have even been able to say what the people around them were wearing at the time.

I believe maybe that they might be able to hear us, the subconscious must still be alert at some extend and a part of me wants Gino to hear me but I don't believe that he can see us though. Thinking back earlier, just moments before his heart started beating faster and his blood pressure had rapidly dropped, tears had slid down his face as if he heard what pops had told him. Like he was hurting by the fact that pops was sadden by what happened to him.

A lot of things are currently going through my head as I think back at what Shion had said about either he lives or dies that it's all up to Gino to decide and to what the doctor had told me about the internal bleeding. What if Shion is right, what if hearing pops' hurt tone caused Gino to sink into a form of despair and at that moment he had decided to let himself go…

"Gino…" There's so many things I want to say but I just can't say it and all that consumes me is anger, I'm angry that I allowed this to happened. Back when I met Gino in high school, I always made sure no one would ever hurt him again. I took every hit and shielded him from anything that could cause him pain. During his hardest periods I was there for him, gave him my support when his mother and grandfather died, I never left his side.

When we were in our senior year, his mother had died the year before so by then he was staying with his grandparents and one afternoon I came over. Gino went to wake his grandfather from his afternoon nap because we were heading out for a little while just to change the pace when I heard a loud bang so I hurried only to find Gino on the floor his back against the corner of the room with a horrified look on his face. His grandfather was still sleeping and when I touched him he was cold, the autopsy report had said that his heart had simply stopped beating, his death had been painless and peaceful but it had affected Gino pretty bad.

His grandfather was the closest thing to a father figure he had when he grew up, he was very close to him and considering that he had lost his mother the year before it hit hard. Not long after, about two years I think his grandmother decided to go live in a retirement home leaving Gino by himself in his grandparents' empty home.

The sound of the door brings me back to reality as I get up to give the chair to pops. He looks like he hasn't slept in over seventy-two hours straight but I'm glad to see that he listened and took a shower.

"Hey pops… He's stabled." I tell him as I walk out the room without looking back…


Review and tell me what you guys think and have a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays or whatever you guys do. Toodles!