"..." Hamuko clasped her mouth shut with the palm of her hand, trying hard not to empty her stomach once again. "MMF!" She gave out a muffled scream. Minato's disfigured body permanently etched into her brain.
"H-Hamuko," Yukari winced herself, patting her friend on the back. The juniors were seated in the hospital, they had to skip school after what had happened.
Junpei was quiet, his head hung low with his trademark cap partially concealing his pained features.
"Who could do such a thing?" Hamuko murmured.
"I have no idea," Yukari bit her lip hard. "I... Minato-kun is so powerful, yet..."
"It's disgusting," Hamuko growled lowly, her eyes glistering with tears. "How can someone do this to another human being!?"
"Despicable," Junpei spoke up, lowering his cap further.
"He'll make it," Yukari assured her female friend who was looking more frail than she had ever seen her before. She arguably took this whole ordeal way worse than the others. "I'm sure he'll make it. Don't worry."
"I hope so," Hamuko whispered. "I just hope I can find those bastards who did this to him..."
"And kick their asses!" Junpei nodded at her.
Nausea assaulted the redhead once again upon remembering his mangled condition. Hamuko made a mad dash for the restroom.
Yukari gave out a sorrowful sigh. "... How did it come to this?"
After what seemed to be a pained eternity, Mitsuru lumbered out of the ICU, her expression rather grim. Hamuko read the expression and balled her fist up, hoping to God it would be anything other than death.
Mitsuru came to a stop in front of the juniors and took a few minutes to calm herself down. "... Arisato is."
"Please tell me he's alive," Hamuko sobbed. "I beg of you senpai, tell me he's alive..."
"He is alive," Mitsuru announced, leading to relieved sighs all around. Hamuko finally let out a cheer and wiped her eyes clean.
"Thank God," The auburn haired female smiled, grasping Yukari's shoulder to steady herself. "I'm so glad."
"However," Mitsuru's expression became doleful once again. "He's in a coma..." The tiny molecule of warmth in Hamuko died down upon Mitsuru's comment.
"The doctors aren't sure how long it will take..." The senior sighed, rubbing her arm. "His injuries were severe and the damage reached deep. His body shut down because of the wounds and stress."
Hamuko wobbled and she leaned onto Yukari for support who was barely standing herself. "What the hell!?" The redhead whimpered. "That is not fucking better!"
"Calm down," Mitsuru was distraught herself. "I really don't know what to say..." She sighed. "I suggest you all rest... the Kirijo Group will handle everything else."
Hamuko started to walk away, without a single word.
"Arisato, you cannot go-" Mitsuru tried to stop her but Junpei cut in.
"Let her be senpai," Junpei said with a sigh. "She was the first one to see him... and she's taking it harder than any of us."
Mitsuru exhaled out a sigh as well. "This is not good."
"I'll be staying as well, for a while..." Yukari mumbled, walking over to fetch herself a bottle of water. She was beginning to feel a little lightheaded.
"Me too," Junpei removed his cap and scratched his head.
"Very well, same with me," Mitsuru nodded. Akihiko arrived moments later after informing the school about Minato's 'accident'. Everyone was shaken up, not just because of their teammate had slipped into a coma, but something even more powerful than Minato was on the loose, and they had no idea how they could deal with that.
Hamuko peeked into Minato's room through the glass and blanched. He was hooked onto several machines and was breathing very faintly. Hamuko took a look around the place and quietly slipped in without anyone noticing.
Even though the doctors had been working on him for several hours, Minato's back was still leaking out some blood, staining the white bedsheets. Hamuko began to feel nauseous once again but she battled it back and slowly made her way over to Minato, and sat on the seat next to him.
"..." She couldn't really find out what to say but just being near him and watching his chest rise and fall steadily calmed her tense nerves. "Minato-kun..." She whispered, hoping for a response but she didn't get one.
"Who did this to you," She asked, her jaw clenching at her own question.
"..." Minato was still quiet, the monitor showing his rather erratic heartbeat.
"Dammit!" Hamuko cursed under her breath and hung her head low. She reached out for his hand and gave it a small squeeze. "Please don't leave us like this." She pleaded, squeezing his hand a little tighter to which Minato's heartbeat surprisingly settled down.
Hamuko smiled to herself, glad she could help him in anyway. She reached below and kissed the unconscious teenager on his forehead. "I'll be back, everyday, until you wake up." She promised.
After much persuasion from Mitsuru, Hamuko finally returned back to the dorm, still quite shaken up. In fact, everyone was shaken up, even the cool and calm heiress. Akihiko hit the sack early to sleep the ordeal off, Mitsuru excused herself and went to the command room to get her mind off what happened.
The juniors were left alone and Hamuko smiled as she felt her bonds deepen with Yukari and Junpei, something like Lovers and Magician respectively. It comforted the redhead, at least she still had people to lean on.
Hamuko stayed in the lounge due to some unknown reason while her friends went to sleep.
"I should have some coffee..." She muttered, rubbing her eyes and leaning back on the couch.
The Dark Hour hit the world and the second in command cursed under her breath. "Great!" The plan for coffee went out of the window with that.
Hamuko spent the next few minutes humming to herself, trying to ease her stress once again. She really couldn't do anything else in the dammed hour, at first it didn't really bother her but with all that had happened in the past 24 hours, Hamuko could use some music.
"This sucks," She stood up, intending to make her way towards her room but something peculiar happened.
Bread my Dread blared through her phone speaker and normally she would hum along but this time, the redhead froze. "What the..." Phones couldn't work during the Dark Hour, so how in hell was her phone blasting music?
The call was from an unknown number and she was really nervous about answering the call. The volume only intensified and now, Hamuko was beginning to feel the suspense as well.
"Um..." She slowly flipped her phone open and held it against her ear. "H-Hello?"
"His life is in danger," Ruby red eyes slowly widened and she barely managed to hold the phone in her hand. "Be quick." The call disconnected and Hamuko dropped her phone in utter shock, the voice was cold and there was not a ting of humor present.
"M-Minato..." She gulped, the hair on the back of her neck standing up. "No..." Whatever put him in that condition, had it returned to finish the job?
She had half a mind to wake the rest up but since it would only waste time, Hamuko bolted for the door. She had grabbed a hold of a spare rapier that Mitsuru kept in the lounge for emergency.
"I'm not go-" She was about to lament regarding the distance but something seemed to have heard her plea. Hamuko blinked as black mist began to spiral around her. Her surroundings began to twist and turn and soon, she found herself inside the hospital.
Hamuko was a little too awe-struck by what had happened but a loud crash brought her back into her senses. "Dammit! The same room as mine!" The redhead sprinted up the stairs and quickly found herself facing the door to his room.
Hamuko kicked it open and stepped inside, and her head began to burn. Someone was standing next to Minato's bed, and it didn't taken a genius to know that whoever stood next to him intended to kill him.
Hamuko could make out that she was a female, due to her figure. She had her face concealed with some sort of hood, draped overall in blue clothes. "YOU!" Hamuko shouted at the intruder, making her stop momentarily.
Margaret sighed. Theodore's guest. How could she arrive out of the blue like this? The blonde attendant didn't even bother turning around. "Leave while you still can."
"Like hell I will," Hamuko snarled in return. "Get the hell away from him!"
"I do not wish to harm you," Margaret replied, cool as ever.
"Well, I wish you bash your face in if you don't get away," She was never really this pissed and she never really retorted to such threats but her head was burning, like it was seconds away from exploding like a volcano.
Margaret gazed at the defenseless fallen one. "I would have granted any of your request but not this one," She clenched her jaw. "This human filth deserves to rot!"
"GRRR!" Hamuko's anger surged to its highest due to her remark. The redhead bolted from the intruder, despite knowing she was severely outmatched.
Hamuko aimed a thrust which Margaret easily dodged and gripped the blade in her bare palm. Hamuko tried to power out but it was no use. The attendant slowly pulled her closer. "I'm doing you a favor..."
"Shut up!" Hamuko kicked her in the gut, managing to make her backtrack a tab.
Hamuko stepped in once again with a slash which Margaret caught one again, the blade not even bruising her palm. "Give it up!"
The second in command gave a sidelong glance at her leader and something stirred inside her. This time, her kick made Margaret stumble. The blonde attendant replied with a kick of her own and that sent Hamuko crashing into the wall.
"Darn it," Hamuko swallowed the pain and valiantly stood up. She had to defend Minato.
Hamuko clutched the evoker to her temple and switched to Orpheus. "Persona!" Margaret easily sidestepped the incoming ball of flames and sighed in annoyance.
Margaret was looking to unleash a massive ball of flames to respond in kind but she relented. This was Theodore's guest after all.
Hamuko stepped in and took advantage, slashing the attendant on her knees which made her take a step back.
"FOOL!" Margaret punched her in the ribs, she held back but it was enough to crack a few of Hamuko's ribs who cried out in pain. The redhead dropped to her knees and Margaret harshly grabbed a hold of her head.
"Last warning, leave while you can," Margaret warned.
"Go to hell!" Hamuko spat. "You think I'll let you kill him, huh!?"
Margaret wanted to shout at her, tell her everything that he was going to do, but she didn't have the liberty to do so. "Let me just say," She took a deep breath, giving a death glare to the fallen one. "This boy will damn everyone you ever loved, he's nothing but a vengeful demon who deserves to burn in hell."
Hamuko's breathing had became quite erratic, her head was spinning due to sheer rage. "H-How dare you..." She muttered under her breath.
Margaret smashed her face onto the ground and kicked her to the side with enough force that she would pass out. The blonde attendant uttered an apology and made her way over to Minato.
"..." Hamuko watched on as Margaret ripped all the equipments away from his body and tossed the blue haired boy to the ground. Something inside her started to overtaker her soul.
Hamuko clenched her fist so hard that it turned bony white. Minato's face was beaten black and blue and that goddamn female was still not done with him.
"..." A small, spine tingling sensation halted Margaret but she shrugged it off and rolled Minato over with her foot. "You will pay for what you did..."
A blackish aura began to revolve around the wounded redhead, and her pain completely went numb.
"Stop it.." Margaret stopped, that voice was far deeper than Hamuko.
"That's enough..." Hamuko said through clenched teeth. Margaret bit her lip and was about to finish Minato off but...
"I told you to stop it!" Hamuko shouted on the top on her lungs, causing a tremendous amount of pressure on her vocal cords but again, the pain was numbed for her. The rather horrific shout finally halted Margaret.
The attendant spun around and was welcomed by a fist to her face that sent her crashing into the window, the glassware shattered and it ended up damaging Margaret who cringed in pain.
Hamuko's eyes were pitch black, she was oozing hate and dread and it was strong enough to make Margaret raise her guard.
"Foolish mortal," Hamuko growled, her tone strikingly different from the usual one.
Hamuko charged for Margaret once again and this time, the punch sent Margaret flying out of the building. The possessed redhead watched on as Margaret disappeared from her view the moment she hit the ground.
Still enraged and under the influence of something extremely powerful, Hamuko scanned around the room and she marched towards her target, the blue haired boy lying defenseless on the ground.
Every step Hamuko took pained her but she kept on trudging and came to a stop before Minato. She crouched down his level and crawled onto him, her hands reaching for his vulnerable throat.
His battered face made her rethink the whole idea but she pressed on.
"..." Her hands started to quiver.
"Blast," Hamuko swore as she finally grabbed a hold of his throat.
She tried to squeeze it but the whole morning ordeal began to deter her resolve.
"Ugh..." Hamuko cringed, as something kept pounding in her head, forcing her to crush his throat.
"I-I can't..." She muttered, her normal voice somehow coming back to her.
KillKillKill!
"I won't..." Hamuko took a deep breath, something was trying to force its way out of her psyche, again.
"NO!" The redhead growled to herself, retracting her hands from doing something that she would regret. "I-I'm in control here..." She chanted again and again and the supernatural grip began to lessen and lessen.
Hamuko let out another deep breath and the binds that were holding here body finally gave away and the redhead felt herself once again. She ended up collapsing on top of her leader to catch her breath.
"..." The room was quiet and right now, she was kinda afraid.
"... What the hell was that..." Hamuko asked herself, slightly horrified and mostly confused.
#Catfight!
Welp, we'll see you later.