Chapter 52 - Reita and Risa
Keio University Hospital's burn unit was bustling with activity.
People, when left to their own devices, had a habit of hurting themselves. This happened the most around holiday times such as New Year, Obon, Golden Week, summer break, and, of course, Christmas. Teenagers and children in particular, free from the preoccupation of routine school and homework, were often clumsy in their experimentation with pretty much anything, especially fire.
Take, for example, these teenagers from PK Academy.
The accompanying adult, a priest from Desire Temple, Kasunao, could only shake his bald head during the ambulance ride to the hospital. These children were off playing with flint on the roof of one of the temple buildings and accidentally set the building on fire.
How did these dumbasses think the traditionally straw-thatched roof could carry all six of them was beyond any adult's understanding. Preventing these asinine activities was the precise reason why there was a thing called "summer homework" and "cram school". Children needed to be kept occupied, at all times, to save them from themselves.
Perhaps the Desire Temple was cursed. First that incident with the temple bell and now this thing with fire.
Kasunao now gazed at Toritsuka, as if trying to gaze holes through the boy who was almost a man.
They were in the emergency room's triage.
Toritsuka was mute, staring at the floor as the nurses and doctors measured his vitals and typed the observations into the computerized patience tracking system. Toritsuka had an elevated heartbeat and obvious burn on his arms and patches on his leg that blistered. His face was mostly spared.
The walls of the hospital were thin. They heard the muffled shouts of doctors and the rattling of a rolling bed, taking the worst of the group, a girl named Yuemhara, to the intensive care unit.
The poor girl was bleeding profusely from everywhere and had not regained consciousness. Her entire skin appeared dried to thin, charcoal-like wafers. These skin wafers would slough off by touch, exposing the moist red muscle and raw sinew below. On the way to the hospital, the paramedics and the monks had tried to reach her parents but both were out at work.
Through some sort of miracle, Makino seemed fine. Of the group, she was the only one who seemed to have escaped the ordeal without any injury. She was last seen sitting up, trying to calm the emergency worker who had freaked out earlier because they thought she was not breathing.
Toritsuka suspected that Saiki had something to do with Makino's condition, since Toritsuka was sure that Makino's windpipe had been crushed. The sound of her labored breathing as the air whistled through her crushed throat was something that was going to haunt Torituska's dreams for a long time.
Luckily, Makino's parents were already waiting at the hospital when the ambulance arrived. Her doting parents unabashedly hugged the girl. Her mother even kissed her, ignoring the raised eyebrows from the judgemental patients who were unused to the public display of affection in their reserved culture.
For now, it sounded like the doctors wanted to keep Makino for a few hours for observation before discharging her.
Akechi was immediately wheeled away. He regained consciousness somewhere in ambulance ride which was probably the worst thing that could have happened. By that time, the paramedics had removed Akechi's taped mouth and the poor young man straight up vomited blood like an open faucet. The paramedics somehow got the idea of checking Akechi's joints and found all of them inflamed and many bones fractured. The only sound that came from Akechi was the pained throaty shriek for which a doctor shouted for morphine.
It was another sound that was going to haunt Toritsuka's dreams.
Aiura was okay, though. She seemed the least injured. Though she had some serious burns on her calves, she ordered the doctors and nurses to look after her friends first and stubbornly sat down in the waiting area. She pulled out her cell and began making calls.
As for Saiki...well, Saiki rode to the hospital with them, in the ambulance, occupying the same vehicle as Yumehara. He did not look so hot, judging by the deep bags underneath his eyes, but seemed to move around with his usual languid fluidity.
Upon arrival to the hospital, Saiki went straight through a set of 'staff only' doors. He accosted a well-dressed doctor. It was someone who was nondescript, kinda like that Satou-kid Toritsuka knew back in Year 2, but obviously in a position of authority judging by the posture and the attempt to look down at Saiki.
The pink-haired psychic was not having it with the attitude.
For one, Saiki had hit a growth spurt when he suddenly disappeared from school, so now he was at eye level with most adults. For another, Saiki seemed to have lost his usual, 'do not notice me' attitude. From the visibility plexiglass window in the door, Toritsuka could tell that Saiki had won a brief battle of wits in front of many hospital staff.
What could Saiki accomplish by directly confronting hospital staff?
To procure the best care for his friends, obviously.
But that did not make any sense. The best care for his friends was the usage of psychic power, one that could nearly bring back the dead. Aiura had, at one time, jabbered nonstop about how awesome Saiki was about saving Yumehara.
Why couldn't Saiki just simply heal all his friends?
Was it something that crazy spirit that they had summoned had said? The crazy spirit had said a lot of things, though one stuck out the most.
-"I suggest that you avoid using temporal abilities on your little pets. Don't want them to suffer the same fate as our dearly departed Ani, do we?"-
What did that crazy spirit mean by "temporal abilities?" What was Kuusuke's fate? All the evidence, from what Toritsuka saw at the time, was that the crazy ghost was an independent spirit. Saiki Kuusuke had died in a fire, at least that was what Saiki Kusuo had said.
-"Our dearly departed Ani?"-
Come to think of it, no one ever asked Saiki how many siblings he has, did they? One would've thought that was a common enough question during the process of making friends, but it just never seemed to come up.
In fact, the topic of family did not come up often at all.
What did all this mean?
Times like these, Toritsuka wished that he was not naturally so stupid and had studied a little harder in school. If only he was smarter, then maybe, he could actually help instead of causing even more trouble.
"Toritsuka Reita," said Kasunao with a sigh.
The calling of Toritsuka's full name dragged Toritsuka's head back to the present.
They were now in an individual hospital room, one where the nurses and medicine tech were busy scurrying around, bringing in gauze, salves, and bandages. The hospital staff came in and out of the room, but remained mostly out of the room.
Toritsuka was now sitting on the edge of the bed, as the pressure of the hospital bed against his skin was notably painful.
High Priest Kasunao was in the room with Toritsuka. They were now alone.
Though Kasunao had the ultimate responsibility for the temple, Kasunao was also Toritsuka's legal guardian. The bald old man had hesitated for a moment, deciding between his responsibilities: whether to manage the fire at the temple, making sure that no further fire damage could occur or whether to follow Toritsuka and minding after his ward. In the end, Kasunao decided on the ambulance ride and delegated the authority of the temple to another senior monk.
Currently, Kasunao's expression was one of resignation.
Toritsuka grimaced at Kasunao's face, but did not say anything. Torituska was in trouble, that much he knew.
Would Kasunao kick Toritsuka out?
Removing the head of a hallowed buddha statue to hide Toritsuka's porno collection was one thing. It took time to fish out the porno from the statue. But burning down an absolution room, reducing it completely to rubble resulted in real damage and cost. Not to mention the increase in insurance and the dangers of having the fire spread to other parts of the temple.
How much did a single-roomed absolution building cost?
How long would Toritsuka have to save until his allowance make up the cost?
Probably the next two hundred years?
If Kasunao allowed Toritsuka to live, that is.
"I don't know what to say to you," said Kasunao. He did not seem angry. There was no popping of a vein or steam coming out of his nostrils that usually came when he interacted with Toritsuka in just about everything.
Not exactly what Toritsuka was expecting. After a long agonizing silence, Toritsuka asked hopefully, "Uhh...You...you're not going to scold me?"
Kasunao shook his bald head. His expression was chill, as if he was meditating. His nostril hairs that usually quivered with steady energy were still. "You're not going to listen to me anyway."
Toritsuka felt his heart skip a beat. Somehow, not being yelled at for his misdeeds hurt far more than the many verbal lashings that he received since he was caught. In the end, he could only manage an "Oh."
"You'll be turning eighteen soon, Reita," continued Kasunao, not meeting Toritsuka's eyes. "Stay and finish your high school career PK Academy. But I will not make you follow the monk's disciplines any longer."
At those words, Toritsuka blinked. He did not fully understand the meaning of Kasunao's words. Toritsuka only knew that he did not like the direction that Kasunao was taking. "Wait. What are you saying, Kasunao-Osho?"
The monk merely shook his head, threw his hands up, and sighed.
The chain of events seemed to be turning out much better than Toritsuka could hope for.
Toritsuka wasn't reprimanded and Kasunao was seemingly more ready to forgive this one major transgression than all of Toritsuka's many little misdeeds. Toritsuka should be celebrating that he'd gotten away with something. He should feel relieved.
Instead, Toritsuka felt a strange sort of hurt that was even worse than all the times that girls had outright rejected him. It seemed deeper and it left an impression on him.
Before Torituska could say anything else, there was a knock on the door.
One glance and Toritsuka gasped.
A relatively tall woman walked in. She moved with a grace that almost made it look like she floated across the room. With the appropriate white lab coat, a starched white shirt, black slacks, and a pair of leather shoes with medium heels. Unlike most older doctors and nurses in the hospital, who had gained a certain girth, she was lanky. All business-like, her yellow eyes quickly flickered to the status board as she walked over to the chart. Though she had fine lines on her face, a marking of age, the set of the bones about her cheeks and jaw unmistakably resembled the late Saiki Kuusuke.
"I'm Suzuki Risa," said the woman, all business-like. "I am your physician. I see you've had an incident with a fire?"
At the introduction, Kasunao seemed uncomfortable. The bald man was of an older generation, with experiences concentrated with priestly occupations; he never saw female doctors. Professional roles were reserved for men. Women were not considered to have the mental capacity to be competent. He had started watching the woman with suspicious glances.
It was a glance that Risa immediately returned. Cool and challenging, her stare was knowing, as if she already knew of his prejudices.
Kasunao muttered the usual beseechment of the Amita Buddha for strength whenever he felt disquieted. In the end, he excused himself. "I'll go see how the others are doing," he said to no one in particular. "I'll have to explain the situation to their parents."
"Very good. Hold on a moment, though" said Risa. She pulled out a notepad and a pen from a deep pocket of her white coat. "Here," said Risa as she quickly and neatly scrawled on the paper and tore out a page and held out the paper.
Kasunao took the paper.
Risa kept on speaking. "It's their names and rooms. If any of the staff give you trouble, mention my name and have them come to me. You can't be in the same room as Yumehara-san, though. She's in critical condition so you can only see her from the outside the door."
Upon hearing news of his friends, Toritsuka was immediately filled with renewed questions. "Yumerahara is in critical condition? What about the rest of my friends? How's Arisu-chan? How's Akechi? What about Tits McGee...I mean, Aiura-san? And..."
Risa held up a hand, a universal gesture for people to stop talking to her.
"Various states of unwell, except for Makino and Kusuo-kun," said Risa in a clipped fashion. "But the crisis of the moment has passed."
For the moment, Kasunao studied the sheet of paper, quickly looking for mistakes. "This is missing a name," said Kasunao. "There are only four names instead of five."
"Kusuo-kun already left," said Risa, without missing a beat. "He had other matters to attend to."
Toritsuka seemed crestfallen by that fact. "What else is more important than his friends?"
"His life, I'd imagine," remarked Risa.
At that, the spirit medium made a face. "What? His coffee jelly and shitty video games are more important than us?"
Risa gave Toritsuka a piercing look. Before she could respond, though, Kasunao asked, "Wait, which one is Kusuo-kun?"
The two others in the hospital room turned their attention to the bald priest.
Toritsuka was getting more agitated by the moment. "Pink-hair-guy. You know, about" - he raised a palm -"eh tall. Glasses. Doesn't talk all that much. His full name is Saiki Kusuo. He's in my class, well, until recently. He came by for a school club thing during Year 2."
Kasunao looked contemplative. He somewhat recalled the friends that Toritsuka occasionally brought around the temple. There was that overly developed gyaru girl who always made Kasunao nervous. Then there was the blonde kid named Akechi who talked so much and said nothing of substance. The Yumehara and Makino girls came around intending to look for ghosts from time to time, hormone-addled brained that they were. The only normal-ish, somewhat responsible-looking kid that Toritsuka had brought around on occasion was a quiet young man whom Kasunao swore never spoke.
After a while, Kasunao managed to utter, "Oh. That kid who looked constipated all the time?"
At that, Risa gave a small grin. "Yes. 'Pink-haired constipated-looking kid' indeed."
Kasunao missed the amused sarcasm. Instead, he focused on a fact he heard. "I thought he was hurt," said Kasunao, looking confused and concerned. He looked to the purple-haired young man. "Reita. Didn't you say something about him having fallen on his stomach or something? That he was coughing up blood?"
Toritsuka did remember that, as well as the spirit summoning that went wrong and he'd probably be wise to gloss over that. He did not need to get his friends in trouble. "Errr. I think so. He um...landed on a post...um...when we..um...fell off..um..the roof..." Toritsuka shifted nervously as his eyes darted between Risa and Kasunao. Lying for a friend was harder than he thought.
"Toritsuka-kun. Relax," said Risa with an understanding look. "Just tell me as much as you want for now. All of you took a nasty fall, remember? You might have difficulty with your memory."
"Well...I didn't fall, no...I...," Toritsuka trailed off, his eyes kept on darting to Kasunao nervously.
Seeing Toritsuka repeat stutter, Kasunao sighed. He could see what was happening. For whatever reason, Toritsuka was uncomfortable to say exactly what happened, at least, not now. "I'll go check on the others," declared Kasunao. He looked with Toritsuka and tried to look upon the young man with the kindest expression he could muster despite how infuriated Kasunoa was earlier. "Reita. Just be honest with the doctor. It'll be easier on all of us."
With that, Kasunao excused himself.
There was long silence once it was only Toritsuka and Risa.
Risa was the first to break the silence. "Well, that took a little longer than I expected."
At that, Toritsuka frowned at Risa. "Wha?"
Risa looked at Toritsuka with a gaze that was all too familiar. There was that look of obsessive ulterior motivative that seemed to look through and past Toritsuka. "Your suspicions are correct," said Risa. "I am related to Kusuo-kun. I've been told that his older brother highly resembled me, in particular." As to emphasize the truth, Risa gently touched her neatly braided and bunned blonde hair.
With the verbal confirmation, Toritsuka absorbed more of Risa's appearance. "Wait...What? for real?"
"Yes," confirmed Risa. "I am Kusuo-kun's grandmother on his father's side."
Toritsuka's mouth opened a little bit. He could definitely now see the resemblance. They all had that similar lanky build, with that creepily non-threatening natural stance. But it was the gaze that looked the same. "Well, then why is your surname Suzuki? And not Saiki?"
"It was a matter of adult adoption," said Risa without missing a beat. "The last head of this hospital was Suzuki Hano. He wanted to indulge the honor of his name and professionally convenient."
Toritsuka had heard of such practice. Though, he heard that such adoption only happened with politicians and traditional occupations. In their very much male primogeniture society, adopting a female for the sake of family reputation was even more usual. This only meant that Risa must be so capable and had such promising ability that the previous leader risked gossip and criticism from their peers and fellow professionals.
Risa gave Toritsuka a knowing look. "That is a rather silly thought, Reita-kun. Do you really think an esper could ever be anything less than perfect in a professional setting?"
"Esper?" repeated Toritsuka. His slow brain was having trouble trying to figure what was happening.
Did the woman just read his mind?
At that thought, Risa smiled at Toritsuka. "Of course. Where did you think Kusuo-kun got his ESP from?"
Toritsuka's mouth opened wider as he further understood more of who was standing in front of him.
Without changing expression, Risa continued. "Yes. ESP runs in the family. It skips, sometimes, as it did with my younger son, Kuniharu, at least as far as we can discern. It runs too strongly within Kusuo-kun, I suppose." Before Toritsuka's mind could catch up, Risa further added, "I am telepathic with mild empathy. Luckily, in terms of ESP, I have one of the weaker manifestations. Still, I do know what you're thinking and feeling."
At that Toritsuka only swallowed. Far from being reassured, he only felt more exposed and nervous.
It was one thing for someone like Saiki to read his mind. Saiki was a dude, most of the time. So Saiki understood how must Toritsuka was like the rest of the male population. Even though Risa was an experienced doctor in a position of authority, she was also a grandmother. Toritsuka found the idea that a grandmother finding out how his thoughts slanted toward the perverted a little disturbing. Even Toritsuka had tried to keep some of his endless expositions to his ghost grandmother tame.
Wait, Risa must already hear all of that!
With that most familiar glassy, glazed look that Toritsuka had seen too often on Saiki, Risa said, "Be at ease, Toritsuka-kun. I've experienced worse during my psychiatric rotation at a prison." She reached into the deep pocket of her white lab coat again and pulled out a nondescript gray ring. "Here, I'm sure you've seen Kusuo-kun use something like this from time to time. It's a telepathy blocker. Would it make you feel better if I wear it?"
Still too surprised to talk, Toritsuka was not even aware that he nodded.
After slipping on the ring, Risa gave an encouraging smile to Toritsuka. "I am now more of a normal human, though I can't see ghosts, as far as I know. It must be such a scary thing, growing up, not knowing if what you saw was real or not. You must be real proud of yourself to have integrated fairly well into society, despite such...handicap."
"Ho...How did you know?" Toritsuka uttered before shaking his head, clearing that thought out of his head. "Nevermind. You can read minds."
"Not with this germanium ring on," reinforced Risa. She paced over and sat down on the chair that Kasunao vacated. She looked comfortable, like a queen upon a throne, with her legs crossed and leaning back. "Now, tell me more about the incident? From beginning to end." Risa seemed keen. "Specifically, I'd like to know a little more about Kusuo-kun's 'coughing up blood'."
