The smell of the hospital was much the same as it had been a year ago. This time, however, the background chatter was not of serial murders and choking fog, but of much more simple things, like the complaints of patients and the events of the previous night. It went a long way to ease Yu's apprehension on being back there.
The security wasn't particularly tight around the room of the convict; it only took a moment to find the guards, obviously bored out of their minds, distracted enough not to notice that the janitor was not the usual daytime staff member. It was easy to see why security wasn't particularly worried. Adachi was fully trussed in soft restraints, but one look at the patient's face suggested he was currently riding the bliss train of a cocktail of painkillers. He was lucid enough to notice an uncommon visitor, however.
"Ooooh...hello mishter janitor…" Adachi blinked for a moment before the face in front of him registered. "Oh, ish you. Did you come to gloat? Or to make shure your uncle didn't manage to kill me?"
Yu didn't say anything, and as he suspected, he didn't need to.
Adachi's bandaged hand flailed against the restraints. "Bad...bad enough I got beaten by bunch of snotnosed bratshs the first time…. W-what the hell happened to Dojima? Bashtard's fuckin' lava handprint is gonna leave a scar, they said. Mu-my hand's gonna scar too… but now I gots to walk around with that old battle-axe's brandsh on me? Not fair…." Adachi tilted his chin to stare at the bandages at the base of his throat. "Wash...was that really him? Not shome persona dopple...dopple...copy, yeah? D-did some goddessh bitch bang him into a god? Haaaa, Dojima a god….he'd be the god of s-shupid detectives, drunks, and b-bad parenshs….heheheeee."
"That's not quite what happened…." Yu faded off. To be honest, no one was really sure *what* was happening to his uncle.
"Shupid asshole….bad enough they stuck me with the one cop who ackually did all his work… they shtuck me with… with the one hottie on the force to get th'chicks who dig men in uniform, but too...too shupid to know it...or let his partner have 'em…"
Yu grimaced. This wasn't something he needed to hear… Adachi's misogynistic ramblings… or that he seemed to think his uncle was hot...and not just the kind that put the burn on his chest. "Adachi, did...you tell them what caused the burns?"
The convict's head rolled back. "Naaaah...nah. Unckie Dojima's secret powahs are safe. S'not like they believe ol' crazypanshs here. But ish not fair...why did he get the cool schtuff?"
A silver eyebrow rose. "Because the last time an elder goddess gave you powers, you used them to kill two women and terrorize an entire town."
"Oh, yeaaaaah." Adachi's eyes drooped. "I'ma...I'ma gonna sleep now, 'kay? Bu...But...tell… Dojima… sh-sorry. D-didn't mean to do it. Th….the….tv...world...messed...up...my...head…."
Yu said nothing as the former detective drifted off into a medication induced sleep. He quickly wiped a rag over surfaces to make it look like he'd just been tidying up, then slipped back out to the hall. If he was lucky, his uncle would be out of his appointment shortly.
This was humiliating.
Beyond humiliating, really. Worse than the time he almost arrested a visiting police chief...at least then he'd been allowed to keep his pants. Last winter when he'd been stuck in this hospital, at least then he was actually hurt, and could blame his injuries for his sorry state. Now he was here, mostly of his own free will, without pants.
Whoever invented hospital gown to open in the back should be shot.
"Now, Dojima-san, I'm just going to take your vitals before the doctor arrives. Try to sit still, please." The nurse strapped two diodes to his fingers, measuring his heart rate and blood pressure. The nurse noticed his confusion. "You were expecting the big cuff and the stethoscope? They upgraded the equipment last year, after the fog scare. It's a lot less invasive, and faster too. Makes my job a whole lot easier." She read the screen and typed in a few notes. "My, my... excellent. They definitely try to keep you boys down at the police station in tip top condition, don't they? Some of the doctors could learn from your example, Dojima-san…."
Dojima bit his tongue from mentioning the police department had nothing to do with his good health, and were probably hoping he'd fail this physical exam spectacularly.
She had him step on the scale, and a small tendril of dread crept through his gut when she raised an eyebrow suspiciously at the reading it was giving her. The worry grew when she had him step off, then on again twice more. "Hmm. You've gained a bit of weight from our records last year, but that may be just due to your injuries. I'll make a notation to have the doctor formally check your BMI." Dojima had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but he suspected he was going to be lectured about eating habits and avoiding take-away food.
His temperature was next. Again, the nurse's eyebrow arched at the first reading, muttering about new-fangled equipment breaking easily. She stuck the probe back under his tongue, and Dojima mentally willed the embers and ash to not screw this up. If they find one reason he shouldn't be in the field…
"I knew that last reading was a quack. Nobody functions at 43⁰C. A half degree above the norm, but that's actually fairly common." A long breath of relief escaped his lips, wondering what the nurse would say about him copping to boiling a cup of coffee with his bare hand the other day, while getting frustrated over the insistence he needed to pass the physical again before he'd be allowed back at a crime scene.
Any joke he had in him left when he saw her pull out a sterile needle case. "Scared of needles?"
Yes, but not for the reason you think, lady . How was he going to explain it when she couldn't get the needle in him?
Sure enough, the first time she went for a vein, the nurse's mouth tightened into a frown. She tried again and tapped the skin lightly, then rolled her fingers to either side of the vein, sliding the needle in at glacial speed. This time, he felt the prick of the syringe, and the nurse's frown turned to a satisfied smirk. "You've got some thick skin, but nothing I can't handle. We just need to fill three vials ...and we're done." The vials in question were quickly labelled and bagged. "Now, we just need to head over to cardiology for your stress test, and the doctor will look over your results."
Dojima groaned, resigned to his fate.
He took it back; before was not the most humiliation he'd ever been put through. No, being half-dressed on a treadmill with annoying wires stuck to him, while several nurses, doctors and technicians watched him run...that was truly the pinnacle of humiliation, even with his pants on. Every couple of minutes, the tech would announce a speed increase, and an incline change. He spent most of it contemplating a watermark near the ceiling, just to avoid the stares of the medical staff.
After what felt like an eon, the treadmill was slowed, the electrodes removed, and he was allowed to step off and take a long drink of water. The next stop was the doctor's office, to go over his results. Dojima just hoped that there weren't too many irregularities to raise suspicions, or for the administration to make good on their benching threats.
The detective fidgeted in the uncomfortable chair as the doctor looked over the file in front of him, hemming and hawing at various results. This felt like the various interrogations he'd done in his career; making the suspect wait to put them off kilter and have maximum impact when accusing them.
The doctor finally looked up from the file, nodding. "I must say, Dojima-san… your results are impressive for a man *half* your age. You've made a remarkable recovery from your car accident last year. I know the nurse had been mildly concerned about your weight, but a more detailed analysis from our exam shows that can only be attributed to muscle mass, and not a concern of fat. Normally, with results like that, I might suggest taking it easy with the exercise for your body's sake, but the stress test says there's no issue there. Whatever you're doing is having an excellent effect on you. I can report that there is nothing here that would make me hesitate to recommend you back for full duty."
Dojima sighed with relief as he stepped into the hospital lobby. His nephew looked up from a magazine that was probably older than he was, and followed his uncle out the door.
"How'd it go?"
Dojima scratched the back of his head, glad to be out of the stuffy hospital. "The doctors gave me a clean bill of health. Said everything came back 'normal'." He snorted at that. "Guess people see what they want to see, huh?" He slipped into the front seat of the car, and his nephew took the passenger seat. "Did you…."
"Adachi's fine. Annoyed he's going to have your, ah, 'brand' on him for the rest of his life according to the doctors, but fine. He even apologized...sorta. I think some of it was just the meds, though."
Dojima snorted again, but this one held back a bitter laugh. "Yeah, it's hard to figure out how much of what he says is his true feelings, and how much of it is just him fitting what he knows you expect to hear. And here I was starting to feel bad for burning him…."
Yu shook his head. "Trust me, you do not need to feel sorry about Adachi." With a moment's hesitation, he relayed some of the convict's medically induced ramblings. At one point, Dojima had to pull the car over, he was laughing too hard at the nonsense being relayed to him.
"I swear, that idiot doesn't take responsibility for anything… the little creep kept running his mouth around women, he was long beyond help, anyways." Dojima shook his head. "He used to complain to me about seeing you with all your friends at Junes. I should had realized what a monster he was from the beginning."
Yu watched the landscape pass by, letting out a brief sigh. "Unless we know the truth, we see what we want to see…"
Dojima stared ahead. "Yeah… yeah, you're right. I didn't believe you, even when everything pointed to something strange going on. Still… I almost lost everything. You kids saved us all…."
The car ride was silent for a while after that, until they were almost home. "Nanako should be back from her friend's house momentarily. When she does, we'll head to Junes and grab dinner, alright?" Dojima was struck by a thought and winced. "...and I need to pick up a new safe. Damn, I forgot I did that."
Yu blinked at his uncle. "A safe?"
"Yeah...for copies of important documents, deeds and such. I forgot to unlock it before opening it… it was the iron bar all over again."
His nephew smiled at him, seemingly unfazed at his uncle once again admitting to another superhuman feat. "At this point, you could probably make your own…" The young man sniggered slightly.
Dojima shook his head at his nephew's cavalier attitude. "Yeah, and how am I going to explain it when someone raids the house, looking for all those weapons you've been hiding? No thanks."
A drop of sweat beaded under the grey hair. "Touche, uncle."
Nanako practically bounced into the house after they returned from Junes. Only she could manage to make that annoying store jingle adorable. "Daddy, hurry up!"
"Alright, alright! Slow down, Nanako…."
They settled around the kotatsu, and Nanako flipped the tv on as the family settled into a comfortable silence.
"In other news, police are still dealing with aftermath of the riot at the prison just outside of Inaba last week that led to three deaths and five convicts escaping. We can now confirm one of those still on the run, Adachi Tohru, was recaptured two days ago, bringing the number of convicts missing down to three."
Dojima grunted, staring at the three mugshots on the screen. One of the pictures was a face the detective recognized; a former security guard who'd been caught running a robbery ring in the area. He'd been caught after he'd put his longtime girlfriend in the hospital, and stupidly threatened her in front of a cop. Seitou, if he remembered correctly. The other two he was unfamiliar with. Hopefully, with passing his physical, Dojima would be able to look at their files.
"While the police say they are closing in on the escapees, they do warn those in the Inaba area to be careful, making sure to keep doors locked and not to leave running vehicles unattended."
Nanako bit her lip. "Um, Big Bro, will you walk with me to school tomorrow?"
the young man nodded with a smile from across the table. "Oh course, Nanako."
Dojima smiled softly at the exchange. "I want you both safe."
Nanako nodded. "Uh huh! And you'll go catch the bad guys, right Daddy?"
He mirrored her nod. Damned straight he would. "No matter what. As I said, I want you both safe."