Kimura's office was as immaculate as Naegi had last seen with his right eye. It hadn't been all that long since his last visit, but a lot can change in a short time. "Good evening, Kimura-san."

Kimura looks up from behind her desk. "You're looking better, Mr. Naegi. Did you want me to see you off?"

He'd stumbled onto the realization that Kimura was a sarcastic person. You had to be around her long enough to notice behind the veneer of professionalism. "No, I've got someone waiting to pick me up, but I have a few things to discuss if you don't mind."

"Not at all."

Naegi takes slow, wobbly steps to the chair across her. "Before we start, I need to confess: I'm a detective."

Kimura fails to suppress the amused chuckle from behind her mask. "Aren't we a little past that stage?"

"All things considered, I'd like if we're open and honest with each other, and I technically lied first." By omission but still.

"You weren't fooling anyone."

Naegi's expression takes a serious quality. ". . . As I thought, letting Ando's name slip was intentional. Did you also know I'd piece together her connection to Izayoi?"

"I am a very busy woman, sorely lacking the time to micromanage, much less pull the strings you think I do."

"Depending on how you look at it, that oversight brought us both problems." Naegi said.

"I've always seen my methods as standard. Perhaps your boss has more personalized management techniques?" Kimura asked facetiously.

"That's a tough one. Togami's the chief but he's also my friend." Naegi scratched his cheek. "Oh, that doesn't mean I get special treatment or anything. In fact, on my first day Togami-kun said if I really screwed up, he'd fire me in a heartbeat."

"Leaders only have so much leeway to let our emotions interfere with our duties - Is what would normally be the case, but I'm sure he's just being an ass."

That spot-on, but uncharacteristically informal assessment has Naegi questioning, "Do you know him?"

"Moreso we've had to be aware of each other. From what I know, Togami is the latest in a family line connected to multiple government factions, including law enforcement. Whereas I entered a long line of physicians. Our occupations intersect, so our fathers introduced us as children."

They don't sound like childhood friends. "Two questions, if you don't mind."

"If it's about your boss. I won't promise a satisfying answer."

"Not him. It's just . . . entered the family?"

"My name is Seiko "Kimura" Shingen. My adopted father was sterile and selected me from a tank of prodigious children."

"A . . . tank?" He cocked an eyebrow.

"A collection of children without guardians. raised to exhibit qualities favorable to reputable buyers. In other words, among the two-dozen or so others, I was most qualified to be the heir to this hospital." Kimura's tone was as emotionless as the information she conveyed.

"That explains why you're the head of this hospital." Many successful entrepreneurs, businessmen and alike were barely older than he was. Ishimaru was a member of the parliament and they were the same age.

. . . I shouldn't think too much about that, I'll only get depressed.

"For my next question: Why did you hide the truth of Ando's disappearance?"

Kimura pauses, saying a lot as almost nothing phased the woman.

"You're the owner, so everything that goes on, has to go through you." He said.

Kimura shoots him down. "Search and you'll find the rights to this building listed under my name, but it's not mine. It wasn't my father's either, or his father's." Seeing his confusion, Kimura continued. "Do you know this hospital is 300 years old?"

"Doesn't look it, unless . . ."

"It was only renovated nearly 30 years ago."

Agape, Naegi whips his head back and forth, scanning his immediate environment like a cat attracted to glitter.

"I'm pleased to see you appreciate that fact." Kimura's words carried trails of amusement "This hospital is a pillar of medical achievement. It survived the end of the world, became one of the first to administer crystal infusion, a storage for the dead a holding cell for those sick with M0." Her response was practiced, like she'd read from a script.

"My father always said that the perseverance of this hospital mattered more than anything else. Everything else. Not just him either. The workers – old ones – said the same. They were indoctrinated that way. As I indoctrinated those who came after them."

Settling down from his excitement, the detective rested his chin on his palm. "That's your motive then. You buried the truth to protect the hospital."

The accusation fails to provoke a sliver of anxiety in the doctor. "I followed my father's teachings: This hospital does not protect its people, the people preserve it, for the sake of society."

What an awful logic. "So you hid a murder. Likely two. Izayoi's connection to Ando came with the package didn't it?"

"I knew them since I was a child. They'd been attached even longer." Kimura supported his theory, in her roundabout way.

"And he never showed up to the police?"

"Our techniques are quite thorough. If Izayoi tried, there would be consequences." He half-wonders if that threat is directed at him as well.

"With nobody to count on, he investigated by himself."

Kimura slowly shakes her head. "Calling his methods an investigation would be an insult to your profession, Mr. Naegi. Izayoi couldn't live for those months without coping somehow. His substitute for justice was poor . . . but ironically not misplaced. If your recent charge is accurate." Kimura crosses her fingers and with a piercing look, asks. "More on that topic, I have questions for you as well about the matter that transpired in my hospital."

"I'm sure you should have gotten reports . . ."

"I've been informed, but I'd like to hear how these events transpired from you personally."

Naegi tiredly grazes his finger against the left side of his face. "It's complicated, but I only realized the truth a few days ago myself."

Naegi flips the pages on the book Owada lent him. Who'd have thought so much effort could go into picking up girls? Or guys. He probably wouldn't have use for them in the near future, but he'd come across strategies that dragged out a few grins. Other tidbits were concerning. Like how it separated advice based on levels of difficulty, personality and such. It only took a few minutes of reading the uppermost level of difficulty and assertiveness to realize "Enoshima's on the advanced course." He recoiled in fear.

He slams the textbook close, having neared the end. His gaze drifts to Tsumiki. She cleans and takes in little else of her surroundings. Least of all, him.

. . . It's awkward.

The two hadn't said much to each other after the argument. Naegi had been a little angry himself, at first, but he was never one to hold grudges. Tsumiki might've been and it was looking like he'd be given the cold shoulder today as well. Despite that, Tsumiki didn't slack off on her duties at all. When it came to checking on his health as a patient, she was as considerate as ever. Caring for him as a person? Pretty glacial.

He'd made some attempts to start a conversation, but each time went nowhere.

It wasn't . . . all bad. Not having Tsumiki breathing down his neck anymore made it easier to investigate. Naegi didn't know hospitals very much, but he doubted Shingen could fit the standard. Specifically, the workers – barring some exceptions – were extraordinary, in a word. There was always someone available on request. No loitering or conversations even when Naegi had been snooping around hoping to find some.

Tsumiki might've been the sole eccentric in the entire hospital, and even her fantastical trips had stopped occurring around him. Hurt to say, but it got boring real fast when he Enoshima became his only consistent source of entertainment. She came over almost every day. The only one else who visited as much in the past week was Kirigiri. Which was surprising as even Saihara hadn't . . .

He banks it on probably needs a break from Komaeda. Heh.

"I'll handle things from here." disrupts his thoughts, so deep into it, that the young man didn't notice the doctor walk in. Naegi recognizes him. The middle-aged man who walked in on him, Tsumiki and Enoshima days before. He wore a long white coat, with a stethoscope hanging down his collar. For now, the stern-looking physician's attention was on Tsumiki. Beforehand, he might not have picked up on the stifling atmosphere, but of his suspicions were accurate, they weren't on good terms.

Tsumiki's one-word reply was respectful but contained little else. Their eyes meet for a moment on her way out. He offers a small wave. Her eyes narrow and she's out the door.

It's easy to see she's stopped trying to hide her loathing for him haha.

Back to reality.

"My name is Sebastian Crow. How are you feeling?" The doctor asks.

"Not terrible." Naegi replies.

The doctor nods, his demeanor was slightly yet noticeably more positive. Whether that was part of the procedure with patients or he disparaged Tsumiki that much, was unknown. Naegi wasn't sure what he felt for Tsumiki presently, but he doubted he'd form a favorable opinion of this man either.

"I have good news. The results came back negative."

"That's a relief." His gaze scaled up the dark-haired man. "Did you find anything else?"

"Yes." He reads off a dossier. "The X-rays were normal, but your blood tests . . . the compatibility with alexandrite was high."

"Lucky me." Naegi said bashfully.

"It was the highest percentage on record." Crow watches with the gaze of a researcher. "There's potential for registering in a higher class. Did your family never think of that?"

"I can't say what they might have been thinking." He never would. "But it's a bit late to be talking about it now."

"Once you've been fused with a crystal, injecting more results in lower survival rates. However, if there is a chance . . ."

Naegi raises his hand. "Um . . . if I might ask, but where's Kimura-san? Wasn't she doing the tests?"

The mention of the doctor's name had the man straighten. "Director Kimura was originally meant to convey your results, but she's presently occupied."

Director huh? "She sent you instead?"

"She doesn't normally take on patients personally, not unless she was well acquainted. While not to her degree, my clientele also consist of more reserved cases."

"I'm honored." Kimura sent someone like this?

His head injury healed a while back. He remained only because of his sudden and persistent sickness. Thank goodness it wasn't anything serious but . . . "If I don't have the disease. Is there something else wrong with me?"

"We can't say. It seems like a common cold or a form of influenza. Rare as that sounds." The doctor explains.

*cough*

Naegi drank a quick glass of water to soothe his throat. It'd become repetitive enough that barely needed to think about stretching his arm out to the desk by his bedside. The cup was empty now though. He wasn't looking forward to asking Tsumiki for more.

"I'll have one of the other nurses bring you more." The doctor read his mind.

"Thanks."

"Apologies. Tsumiki is an outlier. Why the chief allows that lower-class incompetent to stain the hospital's good name baffles me." He grunts.

Naegi tilts his head. "I didn't know lower-class could qualify to be nurses. Ah- not that it's a bad thi-"

"They can't. Normally." Crow cut his inquiry off, sounding none too happy.

"Could it be because she's related to Ando-san?" He hazard a guess.

Crow's brows shoots up. "How did you know that name?" He asks in a hushed voice.

"I know a lot about her. Kimura-san told me they were friends and that Ando went missing." He recalls Tsumiki's reaction. Much more agitated than the man in front of him.

"The chief?" He cleared his throat, as if deciding it was alright to speak further. "That confirms it. must be a special patient. In that case, you're correct."

So they do know about the disappearance, and nobody said anything. What's going on here? "Maybe the reason Tsumiki hasn't been fired is because of Ando-san?"

"I've thought the same. Kimura gave that arrogant woman too much leeway." At some point, Naegi realized something changed. He felt a sense of inclusion, as if uttering Kimura's name had given him entry into this undecipherable community.

"Let's say just say, her leave didn't influence our work at all, save one exception."

"Would that happen to be Izayoi-san?"

He nods. "Ever since Ando went missing, he'd become unstable. He was wasted on that shady woman. And now that they're both gone, there's nobody to reign in that klutz. All she's good for is-" He stops himself.

"All she's good for is?" Naegi prods his lips in a tight frown.

"Nothing at all."

". . ." Naegi clenches his hand beneath his sheets.

A knock on the door comes. Naegi's expected guest appears. "May I come in?" Koizumi's voice can be heard from behind the door.

The doctor motions towards the door and closes it behind him. He returns less than a minute later. "You have a visitor. So let's wrap this up."

Gladly.

"Presently, we can find nothing wrong with you. Your ailment should clear with rest. I imagine you'll be discharged in the coming days."

"That's good to hear." That meant his time was running out.

He gives Naegi that look again. "Now about your test results. I understand your concern, and they are valid. However, for the sake of society, I insist . . ."

"I'll take a shot in the dark and guess that you've looked up my family." His silence is all the answer Naegi needs. "I'm not my sister. I can't be the person you're expecting me to become."

"I see. I hope you one day reconsider."

He leaves. Koizumi enters.

The homely girl brings a file with her. The wholesome image shatters when she carelessly tosses it on his bed.

Naegi feels the material and opens the envelope. . . "Physical documents."

"Yeah. My source only uses them. It makes it harder for others to track. Like cops." She spat.

He laughed gingerly. "Regardless, Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. It was more expensive than I thought to get this info. You'll need to pay me big." He was afraid of that. "I figure there's advantages to having an insider indebted to me."

"I'm not really following, but if you're expecting me to feed you illegal info . . ."

"Bit late for that or did you forget your promise?" Koizumi arches an eyebrow.

"No."

"Good. You help me out and I help you out." Convincing. Totally outside the rules, but convincing.

Whatever I tell her will be found out soon anyway.

"Deal." He accepts.

"How many victims are there?" She gets to the heart of the matter.

"14 for now. All guys, apparently."

Koizumi snaps her fingers. "I knew it, they were hiding the truth." She reaches into her pocket for a cell phone. "Let's exchange contacts."

"Uh sure but let me go through these first." Naegi draws out the files, spanning 3 pages. A biography on Ruruka Ando.

Naegi zips through and quickly absorbs the information. Once finished, he sets the files by his side and sinks into silence. He doesn't know how much time passes before speaking "This is all legit?"

"I haven't been given wrong info, yet." Koizumi responds

Naegi cups his head and chuckles. "Sheesh, this job is rough sometimes."

"Didn't know what you were getting into?" Koizumi rolls his eyes. "Boys. All they see is a chance to look cool without thinking of responsibilities or consequences."

"Don't write me off yet." He retorts and stares at the picture of the missing woman. The answers he needed were here. The mystery was clear enough that it felt too convenient. "Thanks, Koizumi." He gives the redhead his phone number.

"Nice doing business with you." Koizumi said smugly. With her job completed, the journalist motions for the door. "Let's have our next meeting be somewhere less dreary. I hate hospitals."

"Yeah. It doesn't always have to be business y'know? Just talking's fine." He waved goodbye. With the door closing behind Koizumi, Naegi's gaze lands on his files. "Hey, Fujisaki."

"What is it?" Alter Ego responds.

"Could you cross-check this info. See if you can dig up anything more."

"I can try . . .but why?"

"Just a precaution. It's not that I distrust Koizumi, but I should at least try to verify my sources."

He probably dreams it, but he almost detects a hint of irritation from Fujisaki. "Then why did you strike that shady deal with her? I could have helped you pull up information on Ando."

"But only on official channels, right?" Naegi said. No way these files Koizumi acquired could have come from an honest source, supposing it was true. "I'm considering my options and thinking outside the box here. I want to see just how much data we can cross reference to build. What we can't get on the records"

"will be how much Koizumi's intel is worth." Fujisaki heads him off.

"Y-yeah . . ." Am I that straightforward or is alter ego too smart for his own good? He's hoping it's the latter "If the info's tough to find for even you then . . . partnering up with Koizumi's a really good idea huh?"

". . ."

"What?"

". . . It'll take a while for me to research Ando's history. Until I'm finished, please don't call me until then. For anything." Fujisaki's voice was soft as ever but carried a mechanical quality like the other alter egos.

Which shouldn't be the case.

"Is something wrong?" Naegi asks.

Fujisaki had a strangely intense gaze, evident even on a separate dimensional plane. "I think you should figure it out yourself and reflect on what Kirigiri-san said the other day." Without awaiting a reply, the alter ego signs off, leaving a perplexed Naegi by his lonesome.

"Was he . . . angry?"

Mikan Tsumiki tends to the flowers in Naegi's room. The artificially crafted lilies, made of crystal were on a vase, right next to a jug of water.

She finds Naegi dozing off, lying on his side with his back facing her. Without a care in the world, like every day she'd known him.

Tsumiki is a problematic girl, that's a mystery to none, least of all herself. Her social skills were non-existent; even the most harmlessly awkward situations result in Tsumiki accruing the blame upon herself.

That was a lie.

Tsumiki was calculating, more intelligent than most and better at reading people than most. What made others tick? What were their weaknesses? What cues did they leave? Tsumiki could discern all of that within a few interactions. It was so easy to slip through their guard when they – in all their bloated egos – thought her a subspecies.

She liked pain, but that didn't make her a masochist. Pain meant you were acknowledged. If someone hurt you, they recognized you enough to do so. Cry out and others would notice. If they didn't, then just cry louder.

She spent her childhood like this. Eventually, everyone got tired of her and would stop acknowledging her. She needed to find new methods. That's when she stumbled onto her calling. Tsumiki was wounded so often that she'd learned how to treat her own injuries properly.

Before she knew it, others came to rely on her. The sick hung on her every word. Power corrupts was a common dichotomy. In her case, she was corrupted before she rose to power. Why not continue when she finally had it?

However long she could keep it – Tsumiki bit her lip and glanced at the sleeping man.

Naegi was a thorn in her side. In many ways. He looked normal, she might have even called him attractive if not for the unfashionable glasses, that went unreplaced even when broken. No, what was strange was everything else. Tsumiki studied and knew people. Usually, patients have some melancholic atmosphere surrounding them, regardless of their sickness, but Naegi met everything with a mostly positive reception, save for one exception.

It made her sick. He was a patient, but he didn't behave like one, and more importantly, acted like he didn't need her.

Tsumiki reached for a small, square packet in her uniform. She unfurls it and salts the water with the contents. All of it. This time for sure . . .

She placed the cup on a tray and turned to Naegi's bedside where her eyes met his dead on.

The tray falls and glass shatters.

Naegi had been awake the whole time. He'd seen the alterations in Tsumiki's facial expression – watching her features twist with anger and indignation. No doubt at him, given how she was muttering curses with his name mixed in the middle.

Naegi's eyes slower slightly to the spilled water coating the floors and flowing towards him – clear and seemingly harmless.

True to phrase, water was a silent killer.

"That's poison, isn't it?"

He said, his voice hoarse from the very same toxin.

"P-poison? That was just your medicine." She lied. It was clearer now, with how she spoke to him the way she used to.

"I wasn't told about prescriptions. If someone approved that without my knowing, since when?"

"You don't remember giving me consent? Maybe your head's was worse than we thought." He couldn't tell if Tsumiki feigning ignorance or making a jab at him. Could be both.

Naegi taps his temple. "I'm a surprisingly healthy guy. I've taken worse and still came out okay. Which is why I thought getting sick out of the blue was too much of a coincidence. Especially while I was tracking Sonosuke Izayoi's killer. That'd be you, right?"

"I don't even know who that is."

"Izayoi was a doctor here and reported dead on February the 14th this year. You can't expect me to buy you've never heard of him . . ."

"This is a big hospital, and I don't get along with the others. It has nothing to do with me."

"Then what about Ruruka Ando, your former supervisor. She and Izayoi were in a relationship."

"So?"

She's really gonna play dumb the whole time? "The longer it takes for you to talk, the harder this gets."

"I've done nothing wrong, stop picking on me!"

Naegi sighed exasperatedly. "If you want to hear, here's my theory based on the evidence I've dug up. Stop me if I get it wrong."

"We'll be here all day then." Tsumiki eye-rolls.

I'll take that challenge. "Ruruka Ando. Age 25. Beryl Class. A bixbite. She was on the fast track to assistant director in this hospital firm. For a couple reasons." He brought his fingers down while listing each "One would be her close friendship with Kimura-san. The other would be her charm. She had quite a few contacts, not all good people but always important people, for the lack of a better word. One of them was you. Ando was an alumni at the same medical school, and she scouted you. I bet that'd look good on both your resumes." Ando had an eye for talent if Kimura was to be believed.

For now, Tsumiki was quiet. Least it shows he was on the right track. "How was that by the way? Did she treat you right?"

"Yes. Ruruka paid a lot of attention to me." It was a weird way to phrase it. If 'attention' was the same as Doctor Crow offered. Naegi didn't think it was on accident. More of an ingrained response to negative treatment.

"Then you liked her? Could you call her a friend?" He prods. "Doubt it. You shot that possibility down yourself last time we talked."

Tsumiki averts her eyes. "I don't remember. Did we have a conversation like that?"

"Yeah, Koizumi can verify that later." He smooths over her lie. "You know what I think. Ando-san abused you."

Her posture straightens. One lesson Kirigiri had taught him was to look for bodily gestures more than facial expressions. People had ticks they were less aware of.

"She's not the only one either. The others do it too. If I could catch on so quickly, there's no way your coworkers can't. This kind of behavior doesn't happen in an establishment like this unless someone normalizes it, and that needs influence. Something Ando-san had, and that's why you murdered her." Naegi theorized.

". . . "

"That's when Izayoi comes into the picture. If his lover disappeared one day without warning, the biggest suspect would be you, with an obvious motive. He might have tried to catch you in the act, even investigated you. Eventually, you got rid of him with that poison."

"Fufu. Hahaha." Mocking laughter rings in his ears. "This is going waaaaay too far for teasing, Naegi-san. With an overactive imagination like that, you should be a writer!"

"Not hearing any rebuttals."

"It's nonsense. Me? Killing because they acknowledged me? Because they treated me like the ugly piece of pig meat that I am? Why would I do something so stupid?" Tsumiki held her hands together, her face a mix of confusion and amusement. "Ando-san wasn't even that cruel, compared to so many others. If I killed for a silly reason like that, I'd have been imprisoned before I turned 10."

Any words Naegi would have spoken in response were caught in his throat. What Tsumiki just implied. He almost couldn't process it. He didn't want to.

"I don't like it." Tsumiki meekly fumbles with her fingers. "The way you're looking at me. It's irritating me just a liiitle bit." She smiles. It doesn't reach her eyes. "But maybe you can't help it. Everything you do gets on my nerves. Maybe you should stop breathing?"

Naegi carefully eyes her movements. "That'd be convenient, I bet. You knew I was a detective. I'm not sure how, but it's the only thing that makes sense. You might have somehow been able to reason it because of how familiar I was with Kirigiri and Saihara. Maybe you overheard me with Togami too, I can't say. But I can't think of any other reason you'd pick me of all people to get rid of."

"Of all . . . people? What's special about you?" Tsumiki's halted speech is punctuated with a twitch of the eye.

Naegi blinked

If Kirigiri-san was in his position, she'd say whatever she could to keep Tsumiki talking. Right until he found an opening. "Even if I was, I haven't done anything to deserve being on your hit list."

"Look, you're doing it now too. Talking back, arguing against me. Why can't you'd just lie down and shut up like everyone else and let me take care of you!?"

"You're trying to kill me." It's insane he has to voice that

"AND!?" She screams.

He breaks into a cold sweat. At least two wires refuse to connect in her brain.

I-I think this might be out of my depth after all.

"If it's not because I'm on to you, then why are you after my life?"

"You're disgusting. That's all." Came a brutal answer. "To be honest, I can't explain well. It's just what I felt from the day you woke up. You're not much, and your personality is boring as dirt, but you're surrounded by beautiful people." Tsumiki innocently saunters to the door. The act of locking the only exit was not so comforting. "Kirigiri and Saihara, was it? It'd be fine if they were just detectives, but they were obviously your friends. I could tell from listening outside the door. I could also tell they were very good at their jobs."

Naegi's gaze drifts around the room. There's nothing in the vicinity he can use to defend himself.

"Togami-san even had the same air Kimura does. Then there was Ishimaru? What the hell? Why would someone like you be connected to a big shot politician like him!? And even his husband and child! Did you brainwash them? Why do these great people pay attention to you? It's not fair! You don't even have to humiliate yourself for it!"

Slowly, he reaches into his pocket, dialing the emergency buttons on his cell phone. He had to stall somehow. "I . . . don't know what to say to you, but I won't apologize for having good friends who like me for being myself."

Tsumiki giggles, expecting a response of that nature. "Then I won't for hating you either. Maybe you're just a walking bag of luck, but what I really can't stand is how you rub it in my face." She leans over to the ground. Naegi feels his insides twist when she picked up the shard of glass. Her malicious smile is the dressing on the salad. "Always so happy, even when you're sick, you don't act like it. You have the nerve to feel sorry for me." Her lips curved downwards into a deep frown. A fierce hatred mars her features as she exclaims in a heated passion "You're my patient. You can't do anything on your own. You're not allowed so lie there and let me take care of kill you!" That declaration was the firing signal.

Tsumiki lunged forward.

Not enough time! Naegi evaded the thrust by moving to the right. That's as far as he gets before his crazed attacker latches onto him on the rebound and pins him down. The shard's edge rests above his face. "Y-You can't think you'll get away with this. Don't make your crimes any worse!" He pleads.

"What's the difference? I already killed Izayoi-san. There's no escape for me!" Panicked tears struck Tsumiki's face.

Normally, it'd have been easy to overpower the frail girl but weeks of hospitalization took its toll. Looking back, he should have expected it would give out at the worst possible time. His chest heaved as loud coughs erupted from his throat. His concentration scatters and his grip lost.

The tip comes down and pierces the already cracked frame. That small resistance makes the difference.

The makeshift weapon pierces through the barrier of his glasses to reach his left eye.

Returning strength accompanies his loud scream as he kicked Tsumiki off him. His hands fly to his injured eye.

His heart beats like a drum as a myriad of thoughts chaotically bounce around every corner of his head. His ears, unhampered, pick up on voices he doesn't recognize. They came from outside the room, rattling the door. The lightheaded detective sits up.

I . . . have to . . . get out.

Tsumiki stared at the door with trepidation. She had the gall to take her eyes away after stabbing him.

"What happened?" "Who's in there?" Whoever heard his screams would be converging on the other side right about now.

"I-I told you. You won't get away with this." It hurts.

Tsumiki whips her head towards him, her eyes red with tears and skin blanched in horror.

What's with that look? It's too late to play the victim "Forgive me!" She clasped her fingers.

"H-huh?" Naegi stopped thinking. Did he hear that right?

"Please help me, Naegi-san! I didn't mean to kill anyone. I didn't have a choice." She whimpers.

"I just gave you one!" He yells, and the door banging grows louder.

"I'll do anything." Tsumiki shakily sunk to her knees. "I'll be your slave. I'll let you write on my body. Use me however you want."

"I don't want any of that!" Naegi backed away in fear, not of his attacker, but of what could have made her like this. That was his mistake.

"You . . . won't forgive me." If it was at all possible, she looked even more afraid than before. With dropped jaws, she continued. "I can't go to prison. Nobody would depend on me. Nobody would care if I got hurt. Nobody would acknowledge me there! Forgive me already! If you were in my shoes, you'd forgive yourself right away."

Naegi stood his ground against the onslaught of pleas. There was a wrongness in her thought process. to correct. "Even if I did, we all have to take responsibility for our actions."

Tsumiki's hands slumped by her sides as she stared rejection in the face. "No. I won't go. I won't." From her pocket, she took out a similar packet to the one he saw before. There wasn't a brand name, just a neatly sealed container. The utter desolation of hope Tsumiki's eyes conveyed burned itself into memory.

'She wouldn't.' Feeling bizarrely light, Naegi reached out for her, only to trip over himself.

Tsumiki unfurled the wrap and with great hesitation, dumped the sprinkles in her mouth.

Naegi's mouth hung rigid and open. "Why did you do that?"

"Ha…haha." With an equally resigned and terrified excuse for a laugh, she uttered words that would haunt Naegi's dreams for days to come. "It's too much for me . . . If I'm alone . . . I'll go crazy . . ." A harsh cough follows. Nothing at all as gentle as Naegi's had been.

Tsumiki's arms grasp her heaving chest and throat. Her mouth parts open, wide as her dilating eyes.

Naegi scrambled to his feet and ran to unlock the door.

"I need help!"

Naegi tips his glasses upwards and palms the bandages wrapped around the left side of his face. "I made a mistake. If I'd been more careful, Tsumiki wouldn't have tried to take her own life."

Kimura listens in silence and leans back into her chair. "Thankfully, you both survived, though I would say barely in Tsumiki's case. Although, depending on her wishes and what might happen from here, I can't say if that's good luck."

"There's no downside to being alive. No matter what you've done." Naegi says.

"Then we'll call it good luck. If there is such a thing." The matter of survival becomes an afterthought in the face of her following inquiry "A product that can forcibly desynchronize our connections to the crystals and simulate the virus. Are you sure that's what it was?"

"It had to be. It's what killed Izayoi-san. You even said I had the same symptoms."

"But you lived. As did Tsumiki." Kimura interrupts. "Naegi-san, there is no cure for the virus. We hardly understand it and once you've contracted it, death or freezing are the only options. As I understand, you came out with symptoms of a minor cold despite reapplication of the poison for days. Tsumiki's case was severe, but she recovered. Why?"

"I'd rather count our blessings . . ."

"I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but these are the questions that must be asked. The only explanation I can think of is that Tsumiki was given a dud. Although that would still be fantastical from a scientific perspective." Kimura looked askance.

"That's what we're looking into. Once Tsumiki's ready for questioning. She'll have a lot to answer for." Naegi frowned. "Once she's ready." He repeats.

Kimura casts him a long look. "Such a strange person. Unlucky too. After going through some severe lengths to arrange the circumstances of your injury, only to end up losing an eye in an attempted murder. If nothing else, I have a better opinion of how efficiently Byakuya runs things."

"Hold on there." Naegi raised his hand. "That's not it at all. I was attacked." Kimura raises an eyebrow. "Ending up here of all places was just coincidence."

Kimura deeply furrows her eyebrows. "I see. Well then, I hope you learn a great deal from her about this drug. It was remiss of me to let it slip right through my fingers."

"Yeah. If somebody's producing them, they need to be off the streets asap."

"I'm not interested in that." Kimura corrected. "A drug that can disturb our unity with the crystals and leave barely a trace. If I had gotten it off Tsumiki, we could research its foundations and perhaps find a breakthrough."

. . .

Spoken like a model caretaker. Nothing at all like the impression she's left him with.

"This hospital confuses me. I used to think doctors were the most caring people around." Naegi said.

Kimura scoffs. "We're not all humanitarians because we save lives. For some, it's responsibility. Others, perhaps some twisted gratification. Isn't that the same for the police? Not all of you go out into the field with thoughts of protecting the peace as a top priority."

"I'd like to believe we're all better than that. You wouldn't have clued me in on Ando and Izayoi otherwise." He counters. He doesn't get the reaction he'd like to see from the iron doctor. "I can't see what you'd get out of the case being resolved. If anything, there'll only bad publicity once the news gets out."

Kimura did what Naegi least expected.

She laughed.

"W-What?" He stuttered. More taken aback that she could do that than what he'd said to provoke the reaction.

Kimura clears her throat. "Pardon me. You and I are only a few years apart in age, but I can't help but wonder what it's like to hold such an immature view of the world."

"I get I'm not the wisest guy but-"

"Ruruka and Sonosuke's deaths won't make a ripple in this sea." Kimura cut him off. Her jovial behavior seconds ago dream-like.

"Huh?" Now he was lost.

"In Shingen Hospital, people of all kinds come in. It's not unusual that they never leave."

"You said you'd prefer to prevent that."

"Did I?" He's certain of it, but doubts he'll get answers pursuing that front. "Putting aside. I owe you a word of thanks at the very least. For protecting my hospital and saving me the work of writing up more bodies."

Naegi deadpans. Standing, the brunet turns his back and walks to the door. He probably won't be back for some time, if ever.

He didn't mind that much. He'd fallen into the 'not a fan of hospitals' camp.

"Mr. Naegi. A moment before you leave." Kimura leaves him words of warning as a parting gift. "In my experience, when the pieces fit so neatly, it tends to be because someone designed it that way. Keep that in mind when next you find yourself in the middle of these rare 'coincidences'"

. . .

"Was that an admission of guilt, Kimura-san?"

"Pardon me?" Her eyebrow raised answered his question.

Naegi closed the partially open the door and turned to fully face her. "I know how agonizing it feels to have lost a close friend. I can't imagine what it'd feel like to lose two, knowing that their murderer was right next to you, all thanks to the restrictions you set for yourself." Had Kimura allowed Naegi to depart, their conversation would've stopped at the conclusion that the director was criminally negligent. Any offense on her part would have been inaction towards Tsumiki's affairs.

That couldn't be farther from the truth. Kimura had done much and all without lifting a finger. "Izayoi wasn't the only one who couldn't inform the police . . . following the same rules, you couldn't either. You also couldn't lay Tsumiki off, because that means the culprit would get away. It must've been good luck for someone like me to appear, to solve all your problems without you getting your hands dirty. And all I needed were a few slips of the tongue and people being in the right place." True to Kimura's word, there were too many coincidences. The biggest of all being that the killer had been the detective's caretaker. "Setting us up was one thing, but we both nearly died." Naegi said with a rare restraint. Just speaking aloud the string of incidences served to confirm the connecting dots further in his mind.

Kimura was seemingly taken aback. She hadn't expected he'd caught on so far, but a cold response follows her brief stupefaction. "The decisions were all yours to make. I didn't force either of your hands."

"Either way, I'd have a hard time proving it in the court. But even if nobody else knows the truth, you can't deceive yourself."

"That's why you're naïve." Kimura followed up with a tremored voice, unbefitting her usual demeanor. "You say all that and still appeal to conscience? I'm not sure if I'm I overestimated you or the other way around."

"If you didn't have one, then Tsumiki would still be here, and my vision would still be twice what it is." He said solemnly. "I kind of feel sorry for you. I've caught a few suspects myself, all of them scared of the prospects of being convicted." Tsumiki was no exception, but he feels Kimura would be.

"With you, I think – in some ways – it's excessive to arrest someone already living in chains."

He struck an unexpected chord. Kimura was dumbfounded for a few seconds before her face morphed into anger, visible even beneath her face mask.

"Get out."

He didn't need to be told twice.

The glass doors slide open. Naegi breathes in the fresh night air. A warm wind brushes against his face, signaling the beginning of spring.

The detective angles his head back and overhead, going as far as he could to take in the impressive hospital behind him. It stood at a titanic size and was one of the largest constructs in the sector.

"Preserved by society' huh?" He muses.

He was barely average height compared to most guys. In the face of this tower, practically a pebble. "Small as I am, I've got the freedom to go anywhere I want." Even if this building lasts forever, it'll always remain here, less a hospital, and more akin to a museum.

In a sense, Shingen General was more of a cage than the holding cells Naegi knew.

*Honk*

The blares call Naegi's attention. His ride awaits.

Naegi slips into the passenger seat of Owada's truck. The ex-biker sports a wide, welcoming grin. "Yo. You finish up?"

"Yeah."

Owada slaps him on the back and starts driving. "Nice job cracking the case."

"I didn't do all that much." He wasn't being modest. The table had been set beforehand, and the unexpected assistance of Koizumi had dumped vital pieces of information onto his lap. He felt a distinct lack of accomplishment.

"Don't sweat it. You bagged that psycho bitch." Owada clicked his tongue. "Can't believe that chick had it in her."

"Me neither. But that just means we didn't know Tsumiki." A blind-spot he intends to rectify. While Tsumiki was surely their culprit, a few things didn't add up. She must've had a benefactor and she may be the only one who can answer his questions. Whenever she would be ready to.

"It gonna be okay?" Owada inquires with a deeply concerned look. "Your eye."

"The surgery went fine. My glasses stopped the blow somewhat so it should heal within a few weeks." In the interim, he'd gotten a new pair. "My eyesight won't ever be the same though."

"Better than nothing . . . it should help plenty." Owada all but whispered the last part.

"What?"

"Shit man. First I wanna say I'm sorry."

"For?"

"Breaking the bro code ain't my style, and usually, ya clean up your messes, but this time . . ." Owada peels his eyes to the road. Naegi has a sinking feeling it's less out of driving courtesy and more to avoid his gaze. "Shit, I think a scar's cool. Manly even. But not everyone else thinks that way."

"Where are you going with this?" The detective's hairs stood on end.

His oldest friend confesses his betrayal. "It's better that I told Sayaka, than let you put it off and she finds out. "

Naegi's sole eye widened sharply. "You didn't."

"It was the right thing to do."

Naegi gaped. "T-That's bullshit. You're just scared!"

"I ain't getting a knife in my back because you wanted to hide away from her!" Owada yelled back.

Naegi leans forward and rests his face in his hand. "Why me?"

"Bad luck as usual." Owada so unhelpfully explains.

He looks to the road. "Um . . . I think you missed the turn to get to my place."

"That's cuz you're staying at my place." He said.

Naegi raises a delicate brow. "I . . . don't exactly mind, but why the consideration? Are you sick?"

"I ain't about to just let ya go back there the first day you get off." Owada took one arm off the wheel to scratch his hair. "Taka's already making dinner so I can't take no for an answer."

Naegi faces front and a small smile graces his features. The detective's eyes grow heavy. "No. I'd love to come over, but mind if I take a nap till then?"

"Just don't get drool on her."

With Owada's consent, Naegi leans the seat over on an angle and rests his head back. The lights dim and the gentle motions of the car carry him off to sleep.