Youichi numbly clambered into the ambulance, Furuya, and Haruchi squeezed indirectly after with one of the paramedics. He was immediately instructed to make himself comfortable on the gurney while Furuya and Haruichi sat on a ledge that jutted out along the interior of the ambulance, and the paramedic seated herself on the other side, closest to his wound. As he slowly leaned back with a grimace, the pain finally catching up with him, he spied his seniors outside with Officer Eguchi just before the second paramedic closed the back doors. While the medic strapped him in, Youichi almost asked her if they could come along, but found that he couldn't bring himself to talk. In fact, even his movements felt lethargic, almost like he was viewing everything around him from someone else's perspective. Almost like it wasn't real.

He was in shock. He didn't understand how Sawamura and Miyuki weren't there and had pestered the police to look again, to look harder. Only to be informed that they were going to condone it off from the public as an official crime scene. Officer Eguchi had let him know that police were going to be turning the entire building upside down for any and all evidence they could find, and then they were promptly escorted back to finally receive medical attention. By that point, Youichi didn't have the energy to argue; he was tired, cold, and aching.

The trip to the hospital was filled with forced, light-hearted chatter from the paramedic in an attempt to lighten the mood. She never really got any response from them, but Youichi doesn't think she was expecting any, to begin with, continuing on with the one-sided conversation. Kominato had been silently crying since the walk back while Furuya was staring blankly at his feet. No one wanted to be the first to assume the worst, however, it was almost impossible to completely nix the idea after everything they have been through and witnessed. Youichi had to force the thought out of his head any time he found it resurfacing; putting a stop to it immediately. He could only assume Kominato and Furuya weren't faring any better.

He had to believe they were still alive.

The only time she elicited a response from Youichi was when she inquired about his injuries. Those of which, he simply responded with single words or nothing at all. She had stared at the wound on his side for several long seconds before asking who sewed him back up. When Kominato hesitantly replied that it was him, Youichi briefly watched as shocked horror flashed across her face, but she quickly masked it to return to a neutral state. Anytime she moved or touched him, she announced what she was doing beforehand, and when it required physically laying a hand on him, she would wait for him to acknowledge it before she would continue. Part of Youichi was annoyed at the action, it was as if she was treating him like a wounded animal, making sure to be extra cautious in anticipation of him freaking out and attacking. The more rational part of him, however, was grateful. Right now, even he couldn't predict how he would react.

The paramedic didn't cut or pull the thread out like Youichi assumed she might, to instead, put pressure on it with a wad of gauze that had him wince. Instinctively, he had tried to move away, to escape from the pain with no success. He had since adjusted to the ache that it had caused him, but she had renewed it as well as made him relive the initial stab all over again. She apologized profusely at the slew of curse words that he uttered, even though she warned him about it beforehand. It didn't change the fact that it hurt. His hands gripped the edge of the gurney to prevent himself from pushing the paramedic away.

"Can't I just do it?" Youichi asked through grit teeth. The pressure that she applied felt as if the knife was still jammed inside him, and he would rather bleed out than sit through the entire ride with the agonizing sensation.

"No, I need to make sure there is enough pressure." She replied calmly. Her free hand unraveled more gauze as she spoke, "I know it hurts, but some of the thread has come loose." Youichi clicked his tongue at her response. They better speed the hell up at this rate then.

He leaned his head back against the gurney with a frustrated sigh. The paramedic lifted the bloodied gauze and folded it to a clean section to wipe some of the excess blood off. The rough pass over the wound very nearly caused him to release his death grip to push her away, but fortunately, he managed to restrain himself at the last second. She quickly swapped to a fresh bundle and shoved it against him while she simultaneously tossed the used one into a small biohazard bin built into one of the counters. Youichi hissed out a breath at the contact. He couldn't wait for this to be over.

The whole trip felt as if it had taken hours before they finally reached the hospital. The paramedic had replaced the gauze two more times since the first, to Youichi's annoyance. He was actually slightly relieved to arrive, because then maybe, the doctors would give him the good drugs that would leave him numb. If they insisted, then they could poke around his injuries as much as they please when he couldn't feel any of it. The interior was cramped with the four of them crammed into it, so Youichi was glad when the doors opened up as he was slowly starting to get claustrophobic. The ambulance wasn't meant for that amount of people, but they didn't want to wait for another one to show up to ship Furuya and Kmoninato to the hospital. Youichi had overheard someone say it should be a quick ride with the sirens, but now he felt like he had been lied to. The trip was not quick.

Furuya and Kominato were motioned to step out, and when Youichi made an attempt to stand, a hand on his shoulder halted him. He stared up at the paramedic, however, she wasn't watching him to, instead, instruct the two medical staff that had suddenly appeared.

"I can walk," Youichi interjected, slightly miffed at being treated as if he were incapable. He may be injured, but his legs still worked. The medic turned a blank look towards him and raised a single brow in skepticism. Youichi leveled a scowl at her.

"Okay." She began incredulously, "Give it a shot." She stood up from her seat, hands held up to show that she wasn't going to stop him. The two new staff members appeared to be baffled by her response but didn't say anything to her, at least, not out loud. Youichi amped up the glare as he slowly pushed himself until he was fully seated upwards. Only for the sharp pain to flare into his abdomen. With a bitten-off gasp, he fell backward to the slightly angled position of the gurney, his hand hovered over the wound, but he knew that the pressure would not help. In fact, the pressure the medic had applied was why it hurt a whole lot more now. If she hadn't, Youichi was confident the task would have been easier before it was aggravated.

And with that, the three medics wheeled the gurney out of the ambulance and in through the emergency hospital doors. There were more staff members down the hall that all stared at him in shocked awe, and Youichi couldn't figure out why, other than that he must look like utter shit for those kinds of reactions. He hasn't exactly seen his reflection in quite some time, on top of not bathing in however long it's been since he was kidnapped, he knows he must be a sight to see.

As they neared an elevator, Youichi realized he hadn't seen Kominato or Furuya since they exited the ambulance before him. Burying his earlier annoyance, he asked one of the medics where they were. Apparently, they were already moved into rooms to await thorough examinations. Right as the elevator dinged open, a doctor hailed them down as he jogged over to join them. He introduced himself as Doctor Sako as he not so subtly examined the wound on Youichi's abdomen. Doctor Sako had short black hair and glasses and had to be in his late thirties to early forties. Youichi quickly grew uncomfortable under the scrutiny as the doctor seemed too interested in the injury, with the fascination in his voice while he looked over it.

The elevator opened with a ding on the fourth floor, and as soon as the doors completely slid wide, Doctor Sako immediately announced that Youichi will need to go into surgery. Doctor Sako mashed the button for the second floor before anyone could object or question him. Everything was happening too fast for Youichi's brain to currently take in what was going on around him; he felt helpless as he was simply pushed onto the second floor to be prepared for surgery. The doctor was explaining the process of it as he led the way, but Youichi couldn't bring himself to fully listen with his mind racing. Did his parents need to be contacted before that could happen? Did it not matter if it was life-threatening? Was it life-threatening? Youichi couldn't help but stare at the injury, as if he would be able to discern what the doctor saw in it; other than the loosened thread, it didn't appear to be any different to him.

Next thing Youichi knew, he was laid out on a table, mask over his nose and mouth as he was instructed by Doctor Sako to count backward from one-hundred. Youichi reached ninety-eight before he lost consciousness.

Youichi was flipping through the few channels on the hospital television, but couldn't seem to find anything that would be mind-numbing enough for him to blank out. He cycled through all of the stations several times already in hopes that something new would be on one of them. Youichi had woken up from surgery six hours ago to a nurse asking what his parent's phone number was as well as to inform him to expect a visit from the police in the near future to record his statement. Shortly after, he remembers drifting back to sleep, only to reawaken to Doctor Sako holding a clipboard. Apparently, the wound was roughly four inches deep and punctured his intestines while his large intestine received a small nick. They had to stitch his colon up as well as cut out any dead tissues, some of which were chunks of muscle in his abdomen. The sutures on his intestines will dissolve over time, while the exterior will have to be pulled later on. During his first bandage change, Doctor Sako pointed out that they left one end of the wound opened slightly to allow drainage.

Currently, he had a tube jammed up his nose and down into his stomach, and he was secretly glad he hadn't been awake for that process. To no one's surprise, Youichi was malnourished and with the injuries to his intestines, he was put on an all-liquid diet. Whatever it was that they were pumping into his stomach was a burnt orange color and supposedly contained all the vitamins and nourishment he could ever need. One of the nurses told him that they couldn't give him as much as they wanted to in one sitting, and had to spread the amount out little by little throughout the day so as not to overwhelm his stomach. The IV they inserted into the back of his hand alternatively changed between bags of water to hydrate him and antibiotics for the infection that had developed. Occasionally, they would give Youichi pain meds to leave him blissfully pain-free for the first time in a while. Youichi had expressed his concern about the infection but had all the staff that attended to him constantly tell him that he should make a full recovery.

At the moment, Youichi wasn't allowed to have visitors as they wanted to limit his exposure to any germs until his immune system was in a better state. That also did not allow him to receive visits from Furuya or Kominato as they also quarantined in their own rooms. He had been told that his parents arrived not soon after the hospital called them and were staying in a hotel nearby until they were allowed to see him. Youichi could have cried at the thought of seeing his parents now. And he would never admit it, but he may have shed a few tears when he was finally given a moment alone.

Youichi paused as his heart skipped a beat as his face was blown up across the entire screen of the television. It was an older picture of him from one of Seido's past games. Belatedly, he realized it was a news station as his picture was minimized to reveal the newscaster sitting behind a desk with his, Furuya's, and Kominato's pictures lined up on a digital screen behind her. She spoke about how three out of the five students that were kidnapped had been found last night. She apologized, saying she couldn't give out much information about the case at the moment, but assured all the viewers that they were alive and local police were searching for the remaining two as well as the culprit.

The remainder of Sawamura and Miyuki was sobering and swiftly had him feeling antsy simply sitting in a hospital. Oh, how he wished he could be out there searching for them as well. It still didn't make sense to him how they weren't anywhere to be found. As well as why the rest of them were left to make their escape.