Chapter 10: Recovery
The door swung open and a tall figure with orange layered hair cut walks in with the first aid kit.
"Hinata?" Tsukishima said with much disbelief.
"I'm afraid this is the first time we've met. I'm Agent Rey Hinata. Shoyo Hinata is my cousin," she said as she opened up the first aid kit and began disinfecting the cuts all over his body. Wincing and groaning from the pain and stings of the alcohol wipes, Tsukishima tried to muffle the noise till he breathed a sigh of relief when the bandaging was done and she put the supplies away.
"Now if you'll come with me," she said and led the way to the parking garage. Tsukishima was still apprehensive about the changing events but complied with getting into the car. On the road, it was mostly quiet.
"Can you tell me what you know?" Rey started.
"I don't know all that much," Tsukishima replied.
"What you have is fine." Rey said.
With a deep breath, he started. He told her about how he and his friends were captured, who the kidnappers are, how he and the group got split in different locations and how he escaped. Soon they approached a three story brick building. The front gates swung open, and soon they were in the garage and the two got out of the car. Rey motioned to Tsukishima to follow her and they went into a nearby elevator going down to the basement.
Tsukishima's eyes were glued to the sign above the door, "Autopsy", as soon as he stepped out of the elevator.
"Why are we here?" Tsukishima asked. After all that's happened he felt uneasy seeing dead bodies and the like.
"We need to get you de-bugged, those kidnappers that you mentioned earlier likes to implant several trackers on their targets. They're probably following you and your friends' movements as we speak." Rey replied and motioned for him to follow. Once inside, the room didn't smell like death, instead it was the smell of cleaning products and air fresheners. The room was so cold, though, that Tsukishima was sure that he can see tiny puffs of air whenever he breathed out.
"Doc? Doc?" Rey called out, "Doc are you in?"
"Over here" a voice called out from under the desk.
"Hey, Doc." Rey said, unfazed by the state the doctor was in. He was wearing a gray track suit and was lying on the floor with a sleeping bag and a pillow, "Pulled another all-nighter again huh?"
"Yes and I just got in bed. What do you need?" the doctor said with an agitated drawl to his tone.
"This young man is Tsukishima Kei, a surviving and unfortunate victim from the Loved (?) Group" she replied.
Upon hearing the name, the doctor's mood picked up. He got to his feet, sifted through his desk till he found a small metal detector and numbing spray and headed straight for the autopsy table.
"Please lay here," the doctor said as he prepared his tools.
Sweat dropping and feeling like his heart is getting caught in his throat, Tsukishima backed up till he bumped into Rey.
"Don't worry, the doctor is just going to look for the tracking devices hidden in you and then immediately extract it," she stated, "this is not exactly textbook procedure but this is the only way to ensure your safety. And while you two are handling that, I have other preparations to work on."
She turned around and went for the phone. Punching in a few numbers, the phone rang.
"Hello, this is Agent Hinata, is this the Tsukishima residence?" Rey asked, Tsukishima's ears perked up.
A loud roar and cheering was heard on the other end of the line, most of it was "You found him! They found him! He's alright!" Waiting for the other side to calm down she continued, "Yes we did recover Tsukishima Kei, he is here in the federal building in Mito…yes…yes. I understand. Of course, until tonight," She hung up after that.
"Your friends and family are heading over as we speak, Tsukishima. Until then, you are to remain here in the building till they arrive," Rey stated, and began dialing the numbers for Nekoma and Fukurodani. When those calls were done and appointments arranged she headed out the door.
"Doc, when you're done. Please have Tsukishima meet me on the third floor."
"Will do" Doc said as he hovered the metal detector over the body, a few beeps in between and one by one tiny chips were removed from Tsukishima's body. Thanks to the numbing spray, he didn't feel much. When all seemed clear, Doc patched him back up.
"You're lucky. All of your trackers were just underneath the skin, but quite a few of them at that," he said after wrapping the last bandage on Tsukishima's arm, "Most of the victims of Loved (?) had their trackers hidden deeper and in more obscure places."
Tsukishima's only thoughts were of how the other three were doing.
"You heard her, you gotta head off to the third floor, and from what I can tell, your friends and family have just arrived." Doc said as he ventured back to his sleeping bag and fell back asleep.
Tsukishima gave a deep bow and a thank you before heading off.
The feeling of relief was overwhelming, tears threatening to fall, but because of pride Tsukishima tried to suck it all in. When the doors drew themselves, the first thing he sees is the Karasuno jerseys in the office. All heads pointed towards the elevator and a stampede of crows flocked straight for him.
Everyone spoke at once, questions were flying about how he was doing, why he was wrapped with so many bandages, who hurt him, and so many more that his head started to spin.
His brother, Akiteru, cut into the crowd, encasing him in a big hug.
"Welcome back, Kei," he said with tears of relief.
That did it. All the fears, the nausea and the feelings of hopelessness rushed out and Tsukishima began to bawl. His teammates were unable to say anything, and stayed silent as they let their usually snarky and stoic friend have the moment to let it all out. After a few more minutes, what felt like hours, of the crying on his brother's shoulder, Tsukishima calmed down; his expression changed from sadness to relief.
"Now then, where did you say the others were?" Rey asked.
"Kenma is in a tall corn field maze and right next to it is a forest where Akaashi and Kageyama are being held," Tsukishima replied.
"Then, that's where we'll start the recovery."