File 45: Nosocomial harm
Blood squirted from Murota's forehead injury as he fell back on the grass. People screamed, believing he had been shot dead by a sniper. Yusuke raised his torso and called him before turning to the man who was still there, smiling, staring at them like at crawling maggots... his eyes that clearly said 'my way of saying hello, Urameshi Yusuke'...
He's the head guy! The detective realized in a second. However, now was not the time to go after him. For one, they knew nothing about him, and Murota needed to be treated immediately. Also, he had simply vanished. In the ambulance, Yana was panicking. They had to take the bullet out quickly or Murota would die! Genkai reassured him though. He wasn't going to die. She showed them what hit their ally: a chunk of pencil eraser. It was hard to believe but they had no choice but to accept the evidence.
Keiko and Shizuru had also arrived at Mushiyori City. Keiko felt unsure that their friends were really in this city, however, there were no doubts for the older woman. Puu had flown here, and all those weird bugs around... they had certainly gotten caught up in some trouble again. Of course, Yukimura didn't see what bugs she was talking up since she had no spiritual awareness, but given their sheer numbers and disgustingness, Shizu deciding against explaining. There were things people felt better off not knowing. But then, they saw an ambulance rushing past them, followed by Puu. Kuwabara deduced that ambulance must have something to do with her brother and the others and they dashed after it.
Sensui was watching the ambulance – and the ones chasing it – from the rooftop of a building. Someone landed behind him, a teenager with black hair and sharp purple eyes, rather handsome, somehow ressembling a mix between Yusuke with his hair down and teen Koenma.
"Sniper..."
"Those guys didn't chase after us, huh?"
"Urameshi was unexpectedly cool-headed."
"Seaman is tailing Katsuyama and that group. Urameshi and the others are heading to a nearby hospital, without knowing that Doctor will be there."
"It's only a matter of time before the hole connecting the Demon World and the Human World extends far enough. However there's a powerful kekkai in place at the border. A person who has the ability to cut through that border could be among them. Sakyo suspected and was planning to use Katsuyama but capturing and getting her under control would prove most difficult. A hostage would be needed. And even then, there are no guarantees. We must first confirm whether there isn't anyone else we can use. Then we'd only have to make sure she can't get in our way. And that goes for the others too. We'll dig a grave for all people. The seven of us will dig a hole..." The seven of us will dig a hole!
"The seven of us will dig a hole! Dark Angel, Gatekeeper, Sniper, Gourmet, Gamemaster, Doctor, Seaman, the seven of us." At Daikyo Hospital, Murota, his head bandaged, on one of the benches of the large entrance hall, repeated Sensui's thoughts to Urameshi and the others. What were those names? Were those people the ones trying to open the gate to the Makai? He didn't know (although it could be relatively safely assumed). That was all he could hear in that man's mind that could serve as clues. Other than that, there was only that extraordinary bloodlust. But 'Gourmet', 'Doctor', those seemed to be nicknames that certainly had something to do with their abilities. Genkai praised Yusuke for not having gone after the enemy. It looked like he had grown a little.
"I couldn't go. I could feel it at first glance. There's something... dangerous about him. He had a nasty look in his eyes, like he was bidding his time until the enemies were caught in his trap. If Toguro was like a fastball pitcher, that guy felt like he threw knuckleballs."
"And to take it farther, he doesn't seem likely to show you the knuckleball until the very last moment. The only time he shows his own ability is probably when he's finishing his enemy off." The old woman agreed. The fact that he wasn't the one who had shot Murota backed that up. That man had been standing slightly on the side, but the bullet had come from straight ahead. His looking over had been nothing more than a signal. She showed Murota the bit of eraser that had hit him. It still had some youki left. The one who had shot it must have coated it with youki making it as hard as a BB, and then shot it using his mind. Genkai had estimated the trajectory but still hadn't been able to see the sniper. He had probably shot from over 500 meters away. And the fact that he was spot on from that distance without killing meant the opponent was one of quite substantial ability.
"Leave me alone now, I don't want to die! I don't want to die!" Murota begged, holding his head, overwhelmed with fear. They didn't know they were already being watched by the enemy, a man with glasses wearing a doctor's white coat. In any case, it seemed they were in the sights of a quite awful bunch. They couldn't let their guard down. But suddenly, they felt this familiar sense of displacement. Someone had extended their territory. They all tensed up. Murota franctically looked around. He could hear him... it was one of the Seven! He was a real doctor! And he was out to get them! Yusuke told them not to leave any blind spot as they didn't know which direction that guy would be coming from. Back to back, the five assumed their battle stance.
But suddenly, Yanagisawa and Murota yelped and looked at their hand. A sort of weird yellow bug, similar to an overgrown mosquito with a large round abdomen, had stung them. But what scared them was their serynge-like mouth that discharged liquid into their veins. They smashed the bugs but it was too late. They had been infected. The green mark left spread all over their arm and they fell on their knees, clearly in pain. They felt cold and were hurting all over. They had a terrible fever too. Murota had got the information. It was a virus! The guy could make the people sick within his territory! More bugs came, surrounding them. They crushed them in their fists but their unnatural actions caught the eye of a nurse who asked them what was wrong. She too was in the middle of a small cloud of disgusting virus-injecting apparitions... and was unable to see them. Moreover, those things were clearly after them! They had to find the ability-user! They dashed, leaving the nurse to take care of their friends... and ignoring her warning not to run in the hospital. They were thinking of clobbering all the doctors since they didn't know the appearance of the one they were looking for and it was the quickest way. It was also faster for them to split up. However, the enemy might not be from this hospital so they should each grab a nurse first and have her look for unfamiliar doctors.
Kido was running alone in a hallway when he saw a nurse leaving a room. He ran to her and holding her arms, pushed her back inside, scaring and angering her a bit. He warned her that there was a criminal posing as a doctor in this hospital and asked her to come him to see if there were doctors she didn't know. He was so serious and panicked she accepted. A bespectacled physician looking in his late twenties came in, scolding the teen for the racket he was making. He was going to disturb the patients!
"Ah, Kamiya-sensei! This person was saying something strange!" The nurse complained. The doctor menaced to call the police.
"Yeah! Call them! There's a dangerous person inside the hospital! He could be posing as one of doctors here! You have to believe me! My friends were injected with pathogens by this guy and are in danger! If we dawdle around, every person in this hospital will be at risk!" Kido urged, cold sweat running down his face. Kamiya agreed to look with him and told him to let go of the woman. The blonde finally noticed his hand had been on her shoulder all this time and quickly withdrew it. Kamiya knew all the doctors in this hospital so if there was one he had never seen, he'd tell immediately. He told the nurse to call the police and slightly pushed Kido's back.
"Right! But Kamiya-sensei, isn't today your day off?" She inquired as the two men were leaving. Kido's face twisted in horror as he realized his mistake. Before he could react, the Doctor, smirking evilly, pressed many points on his body and Asato fell, paralyzed. The woman screamed. Kamiya Minoru slashed her from the left hip to the right shoulder, killing her on the spot. He knelt at Kido's side with the expression of a madman. His ability allowed him to cut through human flesh like a scalpel with his bare hands. He cut the boy's wrist and blood started flowing. The teen was unable to move his arms or legs or even raise his voice.
"They'll say some phantom slasher attacked a nurse in broad daylight. We will eliminate every last person who stands in the way of our wishes." The psychopath whispered, chuckling maliciously. Another nurse entered and screamed. Urameshi was alerted by the noise. Kamiya clicked his tongue. He couldn't let this commotion get too big. He told the nurse to call the police. A suspicious man had just run out of here! There was a criminal in this hospital posing as a doctor! She ran out to do as he had said. Genkai was still darting through the hallways. The man's territory seemed to encompass the whole building. She couldn't let her guard down. A crowd had gathered before the room in which the malefactor had committed his crime. Yusuke pushed through them and saw his fallen friend surrounded by six doctors. One stood up and asked if he knew him. It looked like a man with a sharp blade had attacked this youngster and the nurse. A colleague reassured him. They had found him soon enough so there was no need to fear for his life.
Relieved, Urameshi could return to his mission. He gritted his teeth. There were several doctors here. Was the culprit one of them, or had he already escaped? One of the physicians ordered the nurses to alert the whole building. The criminal seemed to be posing as a doctor and could still be prowling about with his weapon. The Spirit Detective inferred it was not someone from this hospital after all. He knelt at his friend's side.
"Kido, where did the enemy go? What did he look like?" He questioned. A medical practitioner told him to stop as his body had become stiff due to shock of his wounds. He was in no state to handle questions. Urameshi was going to leave and catch the guy when suddenly Kido activated his territory, making him unable to move. Yusuke understood the message: he must not leave... because the enemy was still there! And Asato used his last energy to make his own shadow move to write a message to Urameshi with his own blood, shocking the doctors. And they were even more shocked when they read the name it had written... KAMIYA. Everyone turned to him. He cut the other physicians.
"Change of plans: I'll kill every person in his hospital." He lunged at Yusuke who managed to avoid. Because Kido had lost consciousness, his territory had disappeared, rendering his ally free to move again. "I wanted to play the gentle Kamiya-sensei for a little while but Urameshi Yusuke, once my identity was revealed to you, I had little choice."
"You know me?" The detective interrogated. Doctor answered he had heard about him from Dark Angel.
In the Reikai, Ayame came to Junior with new data concerning the hole. As he had surmised, the hole appeared to be centered several hundred meters underground. The energy involved was so great that it was going to take a while longer to measure the precise location. After her report, she returned to her duties. Georges asked what it meant. The prince explained as simply as possible that the situation could be a lot more serious than anticipated but the ogre still failed to get it.
Kurama's group was walking around in the city. Disgusted and annoyed by the pests, Akari had erected a barrier and Botan was sticking to her like glue (the closest to the center, the farther away from those things). Since Kuwa didn't know what it was about, Kura told him about the Makai bugs. But the punk still couldn't see them. Kaito noted it hadn't been that bad last time he had been here. It was clearly an effect of the spatial distortion, and proof that the situation was progressing faster than expected. Still, Botan envied Kazuma for not being able to see. Kuwabara leant closer to Kurama and asked in a confidential way if anyone was following them but no, noboby since they had reached the busy streets. Well, they ought to consider that the spy had gone over to Yusuke's group. Given the bad situation of the city they could also assume that they had met up with ability users. Having decided to join up with their friends, they dashed.
On a rooftop, another teenager had joined Sensui and Sniper Hagiri Kaname. Seaman said those were the remaining guys. He had dark wavy blonde hair, blue eyes and delicate features. Dark Angel commented they all had such naïve looks on their faces. At this rate they would soon enter the Doctor's territory. They were going to let him show Urameshi Yusuke and the others how they fought against humans.
In the hospital, both staff and patients started collapsing, injected by the virus. Keiko, Shizuru and Puu burst through the hospital doors. Thanks to her spiritual awareness, the older woman immediately sensed the feeling of displacement. But the younger one only reacted to the scene before her: all those people who seemed to have fainted so suddenly. What could have happened? This situation wasn't ordinary. They might have stumbled upon someplace terrible. Puu-chan suddenly started freaking out and tried to drag Keiko away. Shizu saw the danger and crushed the virus-wielding mosquitoes. She grabbed her hand and ran with her. Genkai was also being chased by those weird bugs.
Kamiya presented his other technique. He could make others fall ill within his territory using viruses created by his own mind. Those were very potent viruses. The weaker you were mentally, the fastest you died. Urameshi's friends, injected first, had no more than thirty minutes.
"I'll defeat you before then!" Yusuke lunged and rained blows on him, knocking him out of the room. "I know that when an ability-user loses consciousness, the effects of that ability disappear. So I'm gonna turn your lights out right now!"
"Put my lights out?" Doctor chuckled disdainfully. "That's impossible." He sprang on back on his feet and escaped, the boy after him. Soon, he reached a dark corner and hid. Yusuke arrived. Kamiya, who had been holding his breath against the ceiling, swooped down on the teen and slashed. However, because he had yelled 'Die!' the sneak attack didn't work and Yusuke avoided. The psychopathic physician kept slashing and stabbing and yelling 'die'... without any effect... until he managed to land a little scratch on the detective's cheek. Urameshi caught his arm and heavily punched him in the gut, making him throw up blood, before kicking him away. Kamiya crashed against the wall and collapsed but he recovered a second later and let out a small, smug and wicked chuckle saying it wasn't going to work with him.
"Judging from your moves and toughness, you don't have the strength and endurance of a normal human, huh?"
"When my ability first appeared, I first thought of some way to improve the body functions. I can control the supply of stimulants inside my brain at will. As a result, I feel no pain at all!" The Doctor stood up, brimming with confidence despite the state of his body after the beating he had received.
"You mean you've turned into a monster, then? With a human opponent, I pulled my punches a little bit but now it appears that won't be necessary." Yusuke smirked.
"I'll dissect you with my bare hands!" Kamiya lunged. The Reikai Tantei aimed and fired a reigun that ripped the physician's left arm and rocketed to the sky.
"I don't consider you a human anymore. Next time I won't miss." The boy warned. However, he had forgotten that his opponent's ability was 'doctor'. He could easily regenerate himself and perform reattachment surgery. He fixed his arm back.
Keiko and Shizuru were sprinting through the building. Cornered by swarms of bugs, they escaped into an elevator with Puu. It appeared that they were saved for now. However, while Keiko was voicing her worries about Yusuke (and the older woman was reassuring her), she suddenly yelped in pain and fell on her knees. One of the insects had stung her neck. She tightly hugged herself, Puu against her chest, as she felt herself growing colder by the second. Shizu anxiously knelt at her side.
"The way I think about it, each person's ability is closely related to that person's likes, personality and environment. While I have the abilities of a doctor, what I'm doing is murder. And it appears that I'm more suited to this than my occupation as a doctor!" Minoru commented. Urameshi agreed and recognized him as one of the sevens. There were Dark Angel, Gatekeeper, Doctor, and so on, right? Kamiya was surprised that he knew this much but his side too were quite informed about the spirit detective and his friends. Yusuke tried to make him tell the identity of the other members, where they lived, the location of their headquarters, and as a response, Doctor just attacked him again... and had his blows neatly evaded until he was blown away by Yusuke's punch once more. He stood up again. That hit should have knocked him out but thanks to his cerebral anesthetic, he felt fantastic. The Tantei ordered him to withdraw his territory and release everyone from his illness. Then at least, his life would be spared, but he had no intention of letting him go. Either way, he was headed to jail. Naturally, Kamiya refused. The virus would keep progressing as long as he was conscious, and he wasn't about to go to prison either.
"Do you really want to get killed?"
"Can you kill me? You seem to misunderstand. I'm not a youkai. I'm human." The degenerate physician reminded him. Urameshi charged. Doctor barely evaded the blow that blasted a crater in the wall.
"If that's my only choice, I'll gladly do it you bastard!"
"Is that so? It looks to me like you're wavering."
Genkai was blasting bugs when she heard the bell of the elevator ringing at her level. She prepared for any enemy but was surprised to see Shizuru. And the latter was very reassured given Yukimura's condition. As another swarm arrived, the Master pushed her back into the elevator and blew the apparitions with her reiki. It was bad for everyone here, there was no safe place except maybe this elevator. They were going down. Genkai was worried about Yusuke. She comforted Shizu. The virus would be cured right away once the ability-user was defeated.
Akari's group had come to the hospital gate. Kuwabara wanted to storm inside but Kurama stopped him. It was strange. It was too quiet. Of course, Kazu didn't get it at all; hospitals were supposed to be quiet after all. So his friends had to explain everything in detail. Earlier, they had seen Urameshi's reigun shot from this building, meaning he was fighting an enemy. Normally when there's such a commotion, people should scream, try to escape or do something. That there was absolutely nothing meant the hospital was 'sealed' by the enemy territory and something had happened to the people inside. Rushing in head first could be dangerous, especially for Kuwabara since he had lost his spiritual abilities. As proof, they weren't tailed anymore, like there would be no need to tail them further if they entered this place. Akari and Kurama went alone to check things out. The two ran to the building. They jumped onto the rooftop with the fox aiding himself with his rose whip. As soon as they landed, there was the usual sense of displacement, proof they had entered someone's territory.
Of course, they were being watched by Sniper, Seaman and Dark Angel. Kaname reported that Kurama and Akari had avoided the trap set by the Doctor at the entrance. Seaman resented their sharpness and wanted to go help their comrade but Sensui refused. There was no need. It would be a good opportunity to see what kind of man Urameshi Yusuke was. It was also good that there were some sharp people among them, or it wouldn't be enjoyable otherwise.
Kamiya told the detective that in ten more minutes, all those injected with his pathogens would die and the only way to prevent that was for him to pass out. However, he couldn't be knocked out. In that case, there was no other choice but to kill him. Urameshi had never killed a human. He laughed maliciously.
"You're such a nasty bastard you make me want to puke." Yusuke commented as his spiritual energy gathered at the tip of his index. Doctor couldn't believe he was serious yet fear was gripping him, this fear you felt when you saw your own death on you.
Genkai left the elevator and Kuwa-nee closed the door after her. The blue creature puued urgently. Keiko's state had taken a turn for the worst! Shizuru knelt down at her side and tried to comfort her. Yusuke would definitely do something!
Meanwhile, after taunting and goading him so much, Kamiya was now franctically trying to change Yusuke's mind about killing him. If he killed a human, he was headed right to prison! But the boy couldn't care less about that. The doctor had turned to run away when a very sick nurse opened a door and stumbled upon them, begging for help. The psychopath took her hostage. Yusuke couldn't shoot. Kamiya's overconfidence returned and he started teasing the detective again. Now, Urameshi had an excuse not to kill him!
However, bugs had found a way inside the elevator and were threatening the two women. They had to escape elsewhere. The lift stopped at another floor. Kuwabara Shizuru took Yukimura, opened the door and jumped away. Barely a few seconds passed that they were targeted by another swarm, but suddenly, a blast of reiki eradicated the menace. The two were pleasantly surprised to see Akari and Kurama running towards them. They were saved.
Urameshi cursed the Doctor. Was he even aware of what he was doing?! The hole they wanted to open was going to draw everything into it! Did they think the youkais coming out of that hole would just sidestep them when going on a rampage?! They were suicidal! But Kamiya was perfectly aware of that. All his life, he had been hard-pressed to choose the way he was going to die. He didn't want a decease or time to kill him but dying atop a pile of countless dead bodies at the hands of a youkai was fine by him... as long as they killed the rest of humanity too.
"You die by yourself!" The nurse suddenly said, startling them both, as she splashed the liquid from a vial at the murderer, burning the right side of his face. He was forced to let go. The woman smirked. Kamiya swore and cut her. Blood gushed from her abdomen. She transformed back into Yanagisawa who slumped against the wall. "Serves you right!" He savoured his revenge despite his state. The Doctor was shocked. He was also an ability user! And he could still move around! The mad physician tried to escape again, only to face Genkai. He had nowhere to run. Yusuke gave him a final warning: release everyone from the virus or die. Kamiya acknowledged his defeat and took a small case from his white coat, admittedly containing the serum that would cure the illness. Actually he didn't want to die, so he was telling the truth! Urameshi slowly approached. However, Doctor's true heart was read by Murota who had managed to crawl his way here. He was lying! There was just glucose in those! He was planning to kill him once he got close! The White Coat swore again and slammed the case on the floor.
"There's no saving you...!"
"Shut up you bastard!" Kamiya roared as he lunged. The Reikai Tantei rained blows on him and finished with a heavy reiki-powered punch that sent him flying through the window and skid and collapse in a heap in the courtyard. The shock of the impact caused a dysfunction in his system, provoking a seizure that killed him. Instantly, all those infected returned to normal and started coming to. They talked about calling the police, how could Kamiya-sensei do such a thing... Urameshi was staring at his fist in anguish and frustration. He was trembling. He had killed a human... but that was the only thing he could do! That guy hadn't let him any choice! However, no matter how justified his action had been, that didn't make the guilt go away. But then Genkai lightly hit the doctor's chest with the side of her reiki-active fist. Kamiya coughed and started breathing again. She had resuscitated him. It was like an electric shock. There was no reason for Yusuke to be saddled with that bastard's death.
Kurama and Akari arrived, followed by Shizu and Keiko and Puu. They were soon joined by Kuwabara, Kaito and Botan. Akari and Botan started healing the wounded and Puu rushed at Yusuke who hit him on the head for having brought those girls. Crying, the creature flew back into Yukimura's arms. She scolded her childhood friend. She had come because she was worried about him!
"And look where that took you: you nearly died. And here I thought you were smarter than that." Akari commented, her tone bitingly scathing. She might not have done much this time around but she was speaking in general. Kuwabara and Yusuke reproached her for being so harsh and tried to intervene but Kurama stopped them. He trusted her lover. "We're grateful that you care but courage and feelings don't make up for lack of strength. Even if you're worried, mindlessly jumping into danger and getting yourself killed won't do us any good. You have zero spiritual awareness, you can't protect yourself. Your job is to stay out of harm's way, wait for us and believe in us. We already have our hands full protecting ourselves so don't come out and get in our way! We don't need a dead weight holding us back! We can fight because there are people waiting for us. Don't do anything that would waste our efforts!"
"...I'm sorry." Keiko hung her head and apologized after a time, suddenly so meek and sincere. At first she had wanted to speak up against Akari's attitude, but she had understood the meaning of her words and seen the feelings her eyes. Akari truly cared about her and couldn't stand the idea of her being in danger. The best she could do for them was to stay safe so they could do what they must without having to worry about her. It was then they heard the sirens of the police. Things would become troublesome if they stayed here. Nonetheless, someone was still needed to explain the situation. Kaito took on that role. Well, he was smart and had a way with words, so he was probably best suited for that. And he wanted to have Kido admitted as a patient. Everyone else darted away.
Hours later, Kamiya Minoru was being interrogated by the police. And he shamelessly, even proudly declared his intentions. It was not like he wanted to kill somebody, but all mankind, including himself. His disgust for humanity had turned to hatred when he had become a doctor. There weren't any creature uglier than humans, right? They were boundlessly greedy, consumed everything, destroyed everything. Although he kept quiet about the rest. Their lives had only been extended by the slightest amount, his, and theirs...
