Answer and Questions
It came as no surprise to Sakaki that when he left the operating room, the first thing he saw was Sakuya, Alisa and Soma waiting for him. It made sense that Hibari would tell someone about what happened in the latter half of the mission but he was happy to see that not everyone found out what he did.
"You're not going to let me rest a little?" he asked with an amused face but their expressions remained constant. He sighed a little then walked past them, heading to his room.
Once there he made sure that no one else could interrupt then took his seat and took in a deep breath.
"It was after you all left, James stayed back as there was something important he wanted to tell Tsubaki and I", he began.
"He said very clearly that this kind of attack could not be the work of feral aragami and that there had to be a powerful leader that was in charge of this. He also predicted that the attacks on the north and north east side would intensify after some time had passed, prompting us to focus our attention there allowing the aragami to attack from the south side."
"Is that why he had Soma and I stand in reserve?" asked Sakuya and Sakaki nodded.
"The idea he had at the time was you two would be able to stem the tide of the new aragami. If not then he'd have to fall back on the backup plan and we all know what that was".
"Of course James also knew that he would not last long facing the bulk of the enemy forces but he believed that with the additional support to both the defence and recon, you'd be able to take care of things on your end and hurry over to his location to provide back up".
"But there's one thing here I don't understand", said Soma "Had we remained in our current positions, then James, Alisa and Kota could have faced the enemy forces together instead of him taking on all the punishment on his own."
To this Sakaki let out a wry chuckle as he took off his glasses and cleaned them a little before putting them back on and said "There's a cold pragmatism to James' tactics".
"I too thought of the same thing and voiced my thoughts. James stated that in such a scenario everyone else would suffer major injuries and in the worst case scenario we might lose two or three god eaters in the process. Compared to that, the option of losing only one soldier was the best that we could hope for."
Soma banged both his hands on the table then shouted "SO YOU'RE TELLING ME YOU WERE OKAY WITH SENDING ONE OF OUR OWN TO THEIR DEATHS?"
"Of course not", replied the doctor still keeping his calm "Strange as this may be to believe, I don't want to lose a single one of you in this war with the aragami. But when it came down to the 'ruthless arithmetic,' multiple soldiers being gravely injured versus one soldier dying"
Sakaki looked away from Soma's furious gaze and added "I won't make any excuses for how things played out and I am truly sorry for not informing you. All that we can do right now is pray for the best".
"All this aside", said Alisa "Director how is he?"
"I won't lie to you; James is in a very bad state. We've managed to stabilize him and James has proven to be somewhat resilient but things are still up in the air right now."
In the end there was nothing they could do but turn around and walk away. When they got out of the room, they headed back to their own rooms to collect their thoughts.
After a few days had gone by, Alisa finished her latest mission and headed to the hospital wards. She made it a point to visit James every chance she got like how he did when she was laid up. When she got there she found Sakuya and Kota also standing outside apparently waiting for her.
"How did the mission go?" asked Sakuya when they went inside.
"Pretty good although Soma does seem a little high strung", she replied with a chuckle.
The light hearted moment was soon gone when they sat at his bed. It pained Alisa to see James almost fully wrapped up in bandages, the only part of his body that could be seen was his hair, eyes and mouth. The monitor at his side maintained a constant rhythm, a good reminder that despite how bad he looked, he was still alive.
The three of them quietly talked about their day and anything interesting that happened. There were moments that looked like he was reacting but that turned out to be wishful thinking on their part.
"I promised mom and Nozomi that when you wake up, we'd go there and have dinner together", said Kota with a pained expression "So you'd better wake up buddy".
Sakuya gently patted Kota on his back trying to reassure him.
"You know when I first got here, I never thought I'd get along with anyone", said Alisa holding James' hand "I pushed everyone aside, even when others tried to take the first step forward. Even the two of us weren't exactly best buddies when I first got here."
"But somehow you became the first friend I made here and it's thanks to you I've made more and more friends."
The girl started to sob now as she tearfully said "So you'd better not quit on me got it? I've lost enough in my life and I can't lose anyone else. Because if you don't then I swear I won't forgive you".
Sakuya smiled a little while watching Alisa gently stroke James' bandaged hand. She was shocked when she and the others noticed James' hand weakly rise up and held Alisa's hand.
Upon seeing this, Alisa gasped in shock while Kota darted outside to call for help. Tears of joy rolled down Sakuya's and Alisa's eyes, a tragedy now averted.