Chapter Twenty
When they arrived at the location one of Jeanie's henchman was able to pinpoint from Keijis Duel Disk GPS, Yuito was literally tearing up.
His best friend was lying face flat in the dirt, his shirt burned up, visible red marks all over his face and the right side of his body.
Yuitos face turned white as chalk as he broke down to his knees, violently sobbing and crying out his friends name.
Jeanie wasn't off much better: She kept on punching and kicking her henchman while yelling profanity at them from the top of her lungs.
That was, until Keiji started moving slightly. And groaning.
When they heard him first, the entire group fell silent and when they could confirm that against all odds he was not dead, they immediately rushed for his help.
From up close, he was pretty badly burned. His right arm and shoulder were full of blisters. His shirt was almost fully gone, with the burns extending partially up his chest and stomach, and down his legs. His face was also red and burned, although it didn't look as severe.
"Get him into the car!" Jeanie yelled at her goons, who immediately complied.
"Shouldn't we call an ambulance?" Yuito asked, but was immediate brushed off.
"And wait until he dies? We'll make it to the hospital in half the time."
Yuito first took that as an overstatement, but when he was sitting in the back of her car – with her driver next to him – he was both impressed and scared for his life, as Jeanie drove like she was on a race track trying to overtake the car on the second spot.
He didn't have much time to worry about his personal safety. Keiji was lying in Yuitos lap and was clearly in agony.
As Jeanies car had a fridge for drinks, they used wine bottles, cold water and ice cubes to try and cool Keijis burns. They had no idea whether that was proper procedure, but looking at the wounded boy in front of them, there was hardly a way to make it worse.
Tailgating an actual ambulance and nearly ramming a car at the entrance, they eventually arrived at the hospital, carrying Keiji inside as fast as they could.
As soon as the employees saw Jeanie, it felt like the entire hospital came and rushed to their help.
Keiji was carried off on a gurney, and, after a heated discussion with Jeanie, the rest of them were put in a waiting room with coffee and – to Yuitos mild surprise – snacks.
"You're gonna be alright," Yuito said to a still unconscious Keiji, "the doctors have taken good care of you, you're gonna be alright."
It was needless to say that his friend probably couldn't hear him, so it was more said to soothe himself and feel less guilty.
Keiji most likely came home, saw the carnage caused by Ava and then when to find him. He didn't know how he ended up in the backyard that they found him in, but most likely he ran into Ava again – the only explanation for his wounds were either magic or a random guy walking around town with a flamethrower.
"You're gonna be alright," he said again, tears running down his face. The doctors had indeed taken care of him, Keiji was bandaged all over his body and his face, and if Yuito understood that correctly, he would undergo surgery tomorrow to replace the burned skin. They said he was not in mortal danger, but that it was close. So if they hadn't found him timely… Yuito didn't even wanna think of that.
Everything in his head was going wild. All the what ifs and the coulds and woulds. Would this still happened to Keiji if he never agreed to join Hatsuko in her quest for the Crosspoint? Tian would have dragged him into it eventually, since apparently the lantern guy and Yuitos dad had an interest in that.
What would have happened if Daichi and him never even went to meet the Garbage Queen? When would he have learned that Keiji was in the hospital? Would he have made it to the hospital?
What if they had a car accident on the way here?
What if Ava came back for him to finish off what she started? To make sure he didn't remember?
What if they couldn't save him when that happened?
"I'm not so sure about that Ito," a voice snapped him out of his thoughts, "I feel pretty awful."
"You're awake!" Yuito said to his friend, who was looking at him from the one eye that wasn't bandaged, "Iji what happened?"
"I don't know," he replied, his voice still very weak, "all I remember is lots of orange. I think I found a Crosspoint, but I'm not sure. I'm also tired as fuck Ito."
"You need some rest," Yuito said, wiping tears out of his face, "we'll figure the rest out later."
"We're gonna," Keiji said, closing his eyes again, "I still wanna know what happened to you."
"This was a rough day, for both of us," Yuito replied, but Keiji didn't hear him, as he already dozed off again. He didn't know whether to blame the anesthetics or the fact that it was already 4 AM and Keiji hadn't slept since morning.
Keiji saying he found a Crosspoint kinda contradicted Yuitos theory he ran into Ava, but after all the boy was drugged and nearly got killed today, so he could be mixing things up rather easily. Especially since he said the Crosspoint was orange – that might as well have been the fire.
"But its not that easy," a loud voice found Yuitos attention, belonging to a doctor arguing with Jeanie on the other side of the room, "he doesn't have an ID, health insurance, or heck, a surname. We cannot give some street rat you bring in a single room and treat him for free!"
"You better take that back," Jeanie yelled, visibly angry with the man, "that 'street rat' is my brother."
Yuito didn't know what kind of reaction he expected from the doctor, but stunned silence wouldn't have ranked high if he made a list.
"Yes I just said that," Jeanie went on, "now say it again in your head, process it, realize what it means and act accordingly. He gets all the treatment money can buy, he gets a room on his own and he gets a spare bed for someone to watch him."
The doctor oddly enough didn't argue any longer; he just nodded and turned to leave, but Jeanie stopped him.
"I'm not finished yet," she said threateningly, "if what I may or may not just have said leaves this room in any means, or if I even read about it in the newspapers tomorrow, I will hold you accountable. And by that I mean that you're gonna be the one who's gonna be declined at hospitals because of a lack of health insurance. No need to respond, just look frightened and scuttle."
The doctor did as commanded, leaving Jeanie and Yuito alone in the room with the sleeping Keiji.
"That was impressive," he said, "and unsettling."
"You know, if father knew that Keiji was in here, he would come swarming through that door with as many police officers he could find to embrace his missing son. I doubt that would be good for Keijis health. And every mayor news network would send their reporters after him and me, which I totally don't need before Saturday."
"Sounds reasonable enough," Yuito answered.
"I heard you talking to yourself," Jeanie said, as she walked over to Keijis bed, "maybe you should get some rest as well."
"I wasn't talking to myself," he replied, "not all the time. Keiji came to be for a few seconds before he dozed off again."
"He did?"
"Yeah. He sounded pretty beaten, but he doesn't remember what happened," Yuito explained, "maybe it'll come back to him when he's fully fixed."
"I doubt he will," Jeanie replied, "the doctors say that they can do skin transplants to fix the damage, but they cannot guarantee it won't leave scars. Especially in the face, as that's difficult to do."
"We should be careful breaking that to him."
"I'll let the doctors do that."
"Sounds like a good idea," they both took a few seconds for contemplation, before Yuito continued: "And what now? Are you still gonna help me hide? Or do you need to take care of Keiji?"
"Who says I cannot do both?" Jeanie replied cockily, "I'm a modern woman. We can do anything."
Almost on command, there was a knock on the door and, after Jeanie allowed him to, a not-so-familiar-anymore face entered the room.
"You wanted to see me, my goddess? I mean, Miss Jeanie?" Daichi hastily corrected his words, visibly nervous about talking to the Garbage Queen – or a pretty girl in general.
"Yes," she answered, ignoring what he had said, "I have a job for you, if you are interested. Just for a few days."
"Anything for you," he quickly replied, before retreating: "I mean, what is it?"
"I want you keep your eyes on Keiji," she said, pointing to the bed, "they're gonna put a second bed in here so you can get a rest as well, I'll dispatch another guy for your bed time. Food and drinks are on me and if you're nice I also provide entertainment. Magazines, movies and the like."
"That's it? Not saying I wouldn't a hundred percent do it, by why watch over Keiji?"
Yuito was about to answer, but much to his surprise Jeanie cut him off: "He was working for me quite a while ago and we were really good friends. Plus whoever did this to him might still be out there and look for more. I'll better be safe then sorry."
"So, getting free food and drinks watching a good friend of mine sleep while also making a goddess like you happy," Daichi summarized what Jeanie asked of him, "is this really supposed to be a job?"
"Yes, because if anything happens to him, you'll see that the goddess has a lot of devil inside of her."
"It's getting better and better every second."
"I'm not joking," Jeanie said, "but I like your enthusiasm."
The two of them were interrupted by another knock on the door, and without the courtesy for waiting Alessia immediately barged into the room: "Yuito! What happened, I've been locking all over the town for you!"
"Alessia?" the boy replied confused, "how did you find me?"
"I gave most of the hospitals in the city a call and asked whether they have a patient with your description. They didn't have any patients but half an hour ago someone called me that you actually came as an escort for another patient and so I came as fast as I…," she explained, but stopped dead when she realized who was lying on the bad there, "is that Keiji?"
"Yes," Yuito replied, not wanting to worry her more than she already was, "he's got very severe burns. We don't know how, or from whom, but the doctors said he was gonna be alright."
"Oh my god," she walked over to him, teary-eyed, "who would do something like that?"
"Possibly the same one who assaulted Yuito in his apartment," Jeanie replied, "I don't believe we've met. You should take better care of your top duelists."
"Oh my god," Alessia said yet again when she realized who was talking to her, "It's such an honor to meet you like, god, what is happening here?"
"I picked your client off of the streets," Jeanie tried yet another different story, "and we found his friend here, rushing them to the hospital as fast as we could. He told me he was attacked in his apartment by a shape-shifting woman with a katana, so I had to help them."
"That sounds like you're gonna send him to a closed institute," Alessia said, "Yuito did you talk to Jeanie about this magic thing you've been telling me?"
"Would there be any plausible explanation for both the assassination on Yuito and Keijis scars that isn't magic?" Jeanie replied, "get off your high horse woman and try to be a believer for once."
"You were assassinated?" Alessia turned to Yuito again. This must have been a lot to understand for her. Hell, it was a lot to understand for Yuito.
"Yes, by a girl named Ava. I met her a while back when I claimed my Crosspoint. But back then she wasn't that violent."
"Okay," Alessia said, "this is enough, I'm gonna call the cops on her ass."
She picked up her phone, but Yuito tried to stop her: "If you're telling them what happened, they're gonna send you to a closed institute."
"That might even happen," Alessia contemplated before putting her phone back down, "so what do you intend on doing? Nothing?"
Yuito noticed that Jeanie was also firmly looking at him. He never gave her an answer on whether he wanted to take part in the convergence or hide until it was over. A part of him was still excited but seeing what carnage the Crosspoints caused – if this was done to Keiji by the Crosspoints – maybe the wisest thing would be not to pursue them.
"Exactly," Yuito said, "hide until this is over. If our suspicions are correct, I'm only in danger until the convergence is over, that being Sunday morning."
"In that case I'll take you in," Jeanie said, "I have a few safe houses around the city, and I can spare a bodyguard and maybe a driver if you wanna visit Keiji. I'll make sure you won't be bothered."
"And what am I gonna tell to Mr. Sonjun?" Alessia asked, "Yuito I'd prefer if you'd take refuge in one of the agencies other apartments. We can easily afford a bodyguard for you to, plus you'd be available for training and PR."
"Yeah, great idea," Jeanie replied sarcastically, "it's not like that crazy chick already found one of your apartments already. Yet she has no idea I exist. I mean, she knows I exist, everyone does but, she doesn't know Yuitos staying with me."
"You barely know this woman," Alessia said to Yuito, "trust me, staying with the agency is a lot safer."
"I'm sorry Alessia," Yuito said, "but Jeanie has a point. Ava already found me once, I should stay in a place she doesn't expect me to. I need you to find an excuse for Mr. Sonjun, please. Just trust me, okay? I promise Keiji won't ever call you nicknames again."
"You know he will," Alessia laughed, "but what can I do? If the boss throws you out, I'll probably have to go right after. And I cannot force you into anything."
"Just a heads up," Jeanie said, "if worse comes to worst, I'll put in a good word for you at my agency. We're always looking for scouts also."
"Can't say it soothes me you're spending the week with someone who can steal you from our agency," Alessia said.
"There's no stealing, there's only good business," Jeanie replied, "but I think its settled."
"I wanna know the place you're taking him. I'll be discreet."
"Sounds like a deal."
They parted ways at the hospital; Alessia went to the agency to give Mr. Sonjun a report on what happened tonight, Daichi stayed behind with a still sleeping Keiji and Jeanie took Yuito to an old building on the outskirts of town. It had a locked basement like the one they met her in earlier this morning, just that this one resembled an apartment more than a throne room.
"I use this one if I want some downtime," Jeanie explained, "it's a metal door you can only open with the correct key and the basement is not in any plans of the house, so effectively it doesn't exist. You have full service here, and you can use your Duel Disk for talking, its signal is not traceable."
"I'm so thankful for this Jeanie," Yuito tried to find the proper words.
"Don't mention it," Jeanie replied, "I failed to keep my brother save, you can bet I'll do my utmost for you. He'd want me to."
"I'm still gonna mention how thankful I am," Yuito replied, "it's not like you can stop me."
"Wait for me to be gone then," Jeanie said, "so, here's the deal. There's gonna be a bodyguard out there all the time. If anything happens in here, just press this button and he'll come in guns blazing. Don't do it for fun though, he's not that well paid."
She handed him a key, with a small remote dangling on its key chain.
"This one opens the door from the inside, but not from the outside, keep that in mind. You can call my driver to take you to the hospital to see Keiji, but I'd appreciate if you didn't overdo it with the trips. He won't take you anywhere but the hospital though, I'm not shitting fuel."
"Not that I'd want to," Yuito tried to overstretch her hospitality.
"Oh well," she said, "I should be going, I need my beauty sleep. You should probably get some rest too. I feel like there's a lot of stuff in your head you need to sort out."
Yuito wanted to disagree, but he realized how tired he really was. He hadn't slept the entire day, and it was almost 6 AM now. He needed sleep, she was right with that.
It didn't take Yuito long to get comfy, although it felt strange not having Keiji around like usually. He'd sleep now and would later figure out where to go from here. And he'd call Hatsuko, she needed to know what happened to him. More likely than not that she was in danger too.