The walk back home is long, the air is stagnant, and the group is left in desolating silence. Kotoko hasn't come out of Kojima's messenger bag, which is currently slung across Seiji's shoulder.
After a long time Tokyo Rose lets out a sigh before shaking her head in disbelief, "Guys, he's alive isn't he? The nurse told us that he would be okay, so why are we acting like depressed little pieces of shit right now?"
"Tokyo Rose... why do you think? Kojima went into cardiac arrest and nearly died, wouldn't be the first time either," Umi says.
"Wouldn't be the first time? Why do you say that?" the persocom asks.
Umi looks off into the distance, "I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate me telling you the entire story, but basically when Koj was fifteen his heart stopped when he was in the middle of an Angelic Layer battle..."
Tokyo Rose slowly nods, "I see... but he survived didn't he?" The entire group falls silent.
"Rose, what's the point you're trying to get at here?" Seiji questions.
"My point is, that we should be happy that he is alive, not depressed because he went into cardiac arrest," She states, "think of it this way, he's survived the same thing twice and that's pretty damn lucky. Yes, my Master almost died, but we shouldn't be mourning about what might have happened; we should be celebrating that he has survived, is well, and that it is very unlikely that it will happen again."
The aspiring detective looks up and contemplates these words for a while, before smiling a bit, "Hm, y'know, in a way you're right about that."
Buenos Aires, Argentina. 7:50 A.M
"Oh come on, come on! Why won't you die already?" A middle-aged Japanese woman mutters under her breath as she attempts to slay the final boss in her game, "Ugh! those people on the internet really weren't kidding were they? This guy is tough!"
This woman is known as Mirai Kojima, she is a neuroscientist who is currently studying the brains of people in different countries with a team of 7 others. Right now she is situated in Buenos Aires, Argentina and plans on having a permanent residence there as she travels the world for her studies. One thing that should be mentioned is that this woman is Yoshiyuki's mother.
Suddenly her phone starts going off in the middle of her battle, and she reluctantly pauses the game. "This better not be those bastards back at the lab!" Mirai takes out her phone and looks at the caller ID, "Seiji? he never calls, he's a texter."
"Hey, how is my non-biological, technical son doing?" she answers.
"Well I'm good, relieved that finals are over and we can finally relax, how are you?" Seiji chuckles.
"Yeah, I'd imagine so heh heh. I'm okay, although aging and being an old woman takes a toll on you!"
"What? No, Mirai you are forty! That's far from being an old woman!" He exclaims.
"If you say so!" she laughs, "anyways, how is Yoshiyuki doing? Is he eating properly and getting enough sleep? Because I know how he has problems with those, he has ever since he was a kid."
"Well actually, he's the reason I'm calling you," Seiji's tone of voice suddenly goes from light to serious as the mood takes a sharp decline.
"The reason you're calling me?" Mirai raises her eyebrow and puts down her controller, "why? What's wrong?"
The other end of the line goes silent as he takes in a deep breath.
"Seiji! What's going on!?" She asks urgently, her voice thick with concern.
"Yoshi, he... he went into cardiac arrest earlier today." He says finally.
"What!? Cardiac arrest!?" her eyes widen as her heart plummets to the deepest pits of hell. Again!? Oh God...Dropping her phone, she sits there shaking like a leaf in a cold autumn's wind as tears start streaming down her cheeks.
"I know, it's hard for me too...Mirai?" he says after a couple of minutes of silence
Mirai feels as if she is going to vomit. Is he dead? Oh God please don't tell me that he is dead! Please! she soon shakily picks up the phone and holds it up to her ear, "Please, Please tell me that he's okay! Please!" She begs, sobbing into the phone's receiver.
"Yes, he's okay. Well, He is alive at least. Umi took him to the hospital and they implanted an ICD and he's currently in the ICU," Seiji assures the weeping mother.
"Oh thank God!" Mirai shakily breathes out a sigh of relief, "thank you for informing me Seiji, I'll try and make it back to Japan as soon as I can."
"Okay, hold on. WHAT? UMI! NO I'M ON THE PHONE WITH KOJIMA'S MOTHER!" he yells, some other voices can be heard but not very well at all. "Ugh, gotta go, Umi is calling me over, but um... can you tell me when you're coming to Japan and for how long when you know?"
"Yeah," she agrees, "before you go, can you update me on how Yoshiyuki is doing when you can?"
"I will. Okay, love you bye." Seiji says.
"Love you too." and with that, they hang up.
Ms. Kojima sinks down further into her couch, grabbing at her hair and tilting her head back.
"That's the second time in five years that he's gone into cardiac arrest... I should have never agreed to Mihara's experiment, then they wouldn't go through so much pain..." she sighs and grabs a picture of her two now adult children, "I'm sorry Yumeyukki, Yoshiyuki for being such a terrible mother..." as she utters these words, tears start hurling out of her eyes and breaking onto the glass-framed photo.
Meanwhile in Pheonix...
"SANS!" Papyrus yells, stomping over to Sans' and Frisk's room and banging the door open.
"sup bro?" Sans greets, he is currently laying on his back on the bed scrolling through his phone with one of those touch screen pens attached to his bony finger.
"SANS FOR THE THIRD TIME THIS WEEK YOU HAVE HIDDEN MY SPAGHETTI IN WEIRD PLACES ALL AROUND THE HOUSE!" the still aspiring Royal Guard impatiently taps his booted foot on the ground and crosses his arms, "WHERE DID YOU PUT IT NOW!?"
"i dunno, you must've walked pasta it." a loud BA DUM TISS can be heard in the background, leaving Sans snickering as Papyrus just glares at him.
"OH MY GOD SANS! THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR YOUR PUNS!"
"ahhh c'mon you're smilin!"
"NO I AM NOT! MY MISSING SPAGHETTI IS A BIG ISSUE!"
"i dunno where it is," Sans looks on top of Pap's head, "so it'll be impastable for you to find it."
"UGGGGGGHHHHHHHH! SANS I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR PUNS! THEY'RE LIKE PUN-ISHMENT!"
"oh. my. god pap!" Sans gasps in amazement, "you just made a pun!"
"ONLY BECAUSE YOU MADE ME!"
"Woah! Woah! Woah what's all the yelling for?" Undyne interrupts, barging into the room.
"SANS HAS HIDDEN MY SPAGHETTI AGAIN AND NOW HE IS TORTURING ME WITH HIS TERRIBLE PUNS!" Papyrus answers. Undyne's eyes travel up to the top of Papyrus's head where a plate of three-day-old spaghetti is perched.
"Uh Papyrus... Check the top of your head," she points to her head and pats it. Papyrus copies her actions, only to have his gloved hand plop onto a cold, slimey mass.
"OH IT APPEARS THAT THE SPAGHETTI WAS ON MY HEAD THE WHOLE TIME! CRISIS HAS BEEN AVERTED, COME ON UNDYNE!" The younger skelebro yanks on the fish monster's arm, dragging her out of the room.
"heh heh." Sans quietly laughs to himself, closing his eyes, "oh pap. wish i could be as clueless as you are sometimes..."
"Are you sure about that Sansy?" a sweet sounding voice asks.
"hm?" Sans peeks open one of his eye-sockets to see Frisk laying there beside him "oh, hey there kiddo, didn't even notice you climbed in."
"You're still calling me 'kiddo' after everything that has happened?" Frisk giggles.
"at this point it's more of a pet name bucko," the skeleton chuckles, reaching out to touch his partner's cheek.
Frisk blushes, expecting the usual feeling of rough bone being dragged across their skin, but is instead greeted with a completely different sensation. "Sans, why does your hand feel... warm and flesh-like?"
"hm?" Sans retracts his hand and looks at it "what're you talking about? it's just my normal ha-" in the corner of his "eye" he can see that one of his fingers has a quickly disappearing patch of dark brown skin and flesh. "what the hell?" If he were human, he would be feeling the adrenaline rushing through his veins making his heart pound.
"What's wrong?" Frisk asks, the concern in their voice apparent.
"it's probably nothing," he dismisses, shaking his hand, "don't worry about it kid."
One day later, 5:01 PM, Tokyo, Japan.
Seiji nervously taps his fingers on the kitchen counter, where his other elbow rests, supporting his head that is cupped in the palm of his hand.
'It's been almost a full day and I haven't heard anything from the hospital... Please don't leave this world Yosh... We've already lost Yume, I can't lose you too...' he clenches his hand into a tight fist as he stares off into the distance, looking at absolutely nothing.
"Hey Seiji," Umi taps on the man in a daze in an attempt to snap him out of his trance, "look, I know you're upset about Kojima, we all are, but you can't stay like this forever. You haven't eaten since we got home yesterday and you've been moping around all day. You need to snap out of it!"
Seiji sighs, completely ignoring the woman before walking over to a nearby chair and grabbing Kotoko.
"I'm going out." Is all he says, putting on his shoes and walking out the door.
"She has a point you know." The laptop comments once they've started walking.
"Hm." Is all he responds with, but almost as if this entire event was scripted, Kotoko starts to receive a call. "Seiji, I'm receiving a call, it's from the nurse!"
Seiji's eyes widen, "answer it!"
Kotoko nods as she closes her eyes and reopens them.
"Hello, is this Seiji Shimbo?" the nurse asks, "I am the nurse who spoke with you last night."
"Yup," he confirms, "How's Kojima? is he okay? is he out of the ICU?"
"Yes, we have taken Mr. Kojima out of the ICU once we concluded that his ICD was working properly, and that there is a very small possibility of his heart stopping," the nurse informs.
"Oh thank god!" Seiji breathes out a sigh of relief, "can I see him?"
"Yes, however due to his current condition you will be limited to twenty minutes of visitation. He is in room 6014 on the sixth floor."
"Thank you sir." he promptly hangs up before smiling to himself, "he's okay!"
They soon arrive on the sixth floor of the University hospital, with the scent of disinfectant and medicine burning the human's nostrils with every inhalation, and each of his steps echo in the seemingly abandoned hallway. Kotoko had to be put in a specialized locker, as a safety and privacy precaution.
Seiji soon arrives at the closed door that is the gateway to Kojima's room, and reaches for the door handle but hesitates. Part of him is too scared to see his sick partner, the other part can't wait another second longer.
"Okay... we can do this..." he takes in a deep breath before opening the steel door and stepping in.
The ominous sounds of suction and expulsion from a mechanical ventilator, and the repetitive but steady beeps of a heart monitor fill Seiji's ears as he walks past two empty hospital bed sections to the end of the room.
"Yoshi?" he pulls away the curtains and peers at the comatose figure on the hospital bed in front of him.
Kojima is shirtless with the hospital blankets covering his lower half, revealing a few IV drips and adhesive patches attached to the heart rate monitor beside him, a respiratory mask is secured to his nose and mouth, and his glasses are resting on the medical tray attached to the bed.
Seiji gulps a little as he gently holds one of Kojima's hands and brings it up to his lips, closing his eyes.
"Hey Yoshi," he greets, his voice wobbly and cracking as a tear slides down his cheek, an he doesn't move, until he slowly opens his eyes.
"Huh? What the hell is that?" Upon opening his eyes, Seiji notices something that he hadn't before. There is a strange patch of brown... fur? on Kojima's left shoulder, the majority of his arm covered by a blanket.
The curious and confused man walks to the other side of his lover's still body, hesitating before removing the obstructive piece of cloth, expecting to see Kojima's arm with a couple IV drips, but is greeted by a strange sight. Instead of a regular human arm, he is greeted by an arm-sized, brown cat's paw.
"What the hell!?" Seiji gasps, putting his hand up to his mouth in shock, "K-Koj, w-why do you have a cat's paw as an arm!?" He shakes his head in disbelief and moves to glide his hand along the fur, but just as he manages to touch it, the paw transforms back into a normal human hand.
Seiji retracts his hand with his heart thumping and his mind going in all different speeds and directions, he slowly walks to the other side of the bed and sits down in the chair beside Kojima.
What are you all hiding from me Yoshiyuki?