The next morning, Flander was in the infirmary with Naigus. The older woman was sitting at the desk, holding a clipboard. Flander was sitting on the bed, looking down.

"Okay, Flander," Naigus prompted quietly. "We can begin, if you're ready."

"Okay…."

"Let's begin with why you're here."

"Brother's worried," Flander replied monotonously. "And I'm worried too."

"What are you worried about?"

"…" Flander thought about it before answering. "There are maggots in my blood."

An Uncanny Disease; Reapers Can't Get Sick, Right?

"Maggots?" Naigus tilted her head. She'd never heard that one before.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Flander asked. "You won't tell anybody unless there's something wrong with me, right?"

"I'm sure there's nothing wrong with you. You've just been having a few hallucinations lately and it's probably just—"

"NO IT'S NOT!" Flander screamed, glaring at Naigus with piercing golden eyes. "Do you promise or not?"

"… Of course."

Flander sighed. "I was in my room, thinking about everything that's been going on lately. I was staring at my reflection, and all I could hear was mocking. They were all mocking me for what I was doing. I thought that if I rid myself from the world that everyone would be better off."

Naigus nodded slightly as she wrote this down. It was a common suicide case so far.

"What else?" she pressed.

"I decided to slit my throat with a bit of glass from the mirror, but when I did… maggots started coming out." Flander's voice raised a higher pitch as she continued describing the horrific event. "They were everywhere in my blood, in my body. They tried crawling back in, as if the air was poisonous and my blood was pure. It itched. Oh, it itched! And then, when Nii-nii found me, he acted like he didn't even see them!"

"Is there… anything else?" Naigus stopped writing at this point, a bit more focused on Flander. Flander looked up for the first time, her eyes wide and innocent and filled with regret.

"Would you like to see?" she asked. Before getting an answer, she got to her feet and walked over to the desk. She reached into one of the cylinder organizers and grabbed a pair of scissors.

"Hey, wait a minute," Naigus cautioned. Flander positioned the blade over her wrist and gave a skilled flick of her fingers. As she'd described, blood and little, tiny parasites began oozing from the small cut. Naigus's eyes widened. How could that be? "Do you mind if I examine a sample of your blood? This could be serious."

Flander nodded. "Go ahead. I'd be glad to be rid of these as soon as possible."

Naigus used a pair of tweezers to remove a few of the maggots from Flander's bloodstream and set them in a small glass tray on the desk. Flan watched as the little things squirmed about and writhed in pain, as if the air was killing them.

"One last thing, Flander," Naigus said as she stuck an empty syringe in Flander's arm. "How long has this been going on? The maggots in your blood and the hallucinations."

"Ever since I went on that mission, I guess," Flander murmured. "I must have caught a rare disease; I haven't been feeling that well. Maybe I should go home and just rest."

"That sounds like a good idea."

"Can I leave now?" Flander asked, pulling her jacket back over her shoulders.

"Yes. I'll have the test results soon. And don't worry… I'll… keep this between us."

Flander smiled at her. "Thank you, Naigus-sensei."

Soul Eater

Kid went downstairs into the kitchen to cook dinner for himself and the girls. He'd been under so much stress lately; he hadn't realized how late it had gotten. However, Flander was already there, holding a small boxed meal out to him.

"Here, Kid," she smiled at him when he took the box. "I made dinner for you."

"I see," Kid smiled back at her. It was nice when she tried to help. "What about the other two?"

"I sent them out to eat," Flander replied. "And I already ate so it's just you tonight."

"Thank you, Flan." He ruffled her hair. Peace and quiet is just what he needed. She knew exactly what to do. He lifted the lid off the box. "So what is it?"

"Ohagi," Flander replied proudly. "It's basically like a giant meatball. See they're labeled? Well, there's a special one in there that Patty helped me make. If you can guess which one it is, you'll get a special reward."

She smiled and winked at him. He grinned nervously and sweat-dropped. Nothing like gummy bears in meatballs.

Naigus was just studying the test results on her desk. It had been hard to devise this diagnosis with such few resources, but she was sure of it now. Trying to remain calm, she turned to the mirror behind her desk and dialed Death's number. She knew she kept a promise to Flander, but this was serious.

"Sir, you have to come to the infirmary right away. It's about Flander."

Kid sat down at the table and Flander went upstairs to her room. He eyed the six ohagi cautiously. A, B, C, D, E, F… F was the only asymmetrical letter there, so that was probably the bad one. Nevertheless, he picked it up and tore of the paper label.

Lord Death, Spirit, and Stein gathered in the infirmary with Naigus. They all knew she'd been Flander's therapist, but they had no idea that medical tests were involved.

"Sir, we all know that Flander's been acting strangely lately," Naigus began. "This morning, she told me that there were maggots in her blood. She showed me, and these aren't hallucinations. I did a few tests, but I don't think you'll be happy with the results."

"Just tell us, Naigus."

Kid hesitantly took a bite of the ohagi. It was pretty good. He froze and got to his feet in a panic as something sharp lodged in his throat. He coughed into his hand desperately, waiting for whatever it was to fall out. He withdrew his hand and gasped at the small, shiny object in his palm.

"N-needle!" he choked out.

"I think Flander has been infected with the Hinamizawa Syndrome."

Dun, dun, DUN! Okay, so this isn't a crossover, but a big reference in there. Flan doesn't think she can trust anyone and she's slowly becoming an axe murderer. She tried to kill her own brother! This one feels kind of short… I guess I'm a bit in a rush, but here's a bonus to make it all better!

*Flashback to chapter 5 when Flan had to dress up like a maid*

"You're full punishment is to dress up like a maid and play the Pocky game with Kid."

"That's incest!" Kid and Flander screamed at the same time. However, they had to do it. They knelt on the ground in front of each other and Kid grabbed a stick of Pocky.

"This is so inappropriate," Kid gritted his teeth. "I can't believe you guys are making us do this."

"It's not that bad," Flander whispered. "I mean, we're siblings, so it's not that weird, right?"

"Right, I suppose," Kid nodded. He put one end of the Pocky stick in his mouth and extended the other end towards Flander. She put her lips on it gently. Slowly, they inched a bit closer to each other until Flander suddenly ducked her head and tilted her chin up, snapping the Pocky in half before their lips touched. Kid sighed with relief.

"Thanks, sis."

"No problem."

Yeah, yeah, flame if you want, you know it was funny, and I was dared to do that anyway. As a punishment. I lost Twister. Freaking games, man.