Kogami had turned the transponder off…who knew how long ago. He could tell by tracking the light coming in through the basement doors that it hadn't been longer than a few hours, which was good. If he didn't talk to Ginoza enough, Ginoza would probably murder him if he ever got back to Japan. Of course, Ginoza might want to murder him anyway, when he finally made contact.

Kogami's infection wasn't getting better. In fact, it was getting worse. He'd managed it for a few…hours, maybe, with pain pills and intermittent sips of water. But then he'd fallen asleep again, and after waking up he'd gone pretty much straight downhill. He didn't have a thermometer in the first-aid kit, so he had no way of knowing how high his fever had gotten. But based on the nasty bouts of shaking, followed by periods where his skin felt almost hot enough to melt off, it was pretty damn high.

He'd told Ginoza he could make it, though, and Ginoza was risking his life on the strength of Kogami's word. He hadn't been lying, or at least, he hadn't thought so at the time. And he didn't want to let Ginoza down any more than he already had.

Grimly, Kogami hauled himself upright using the stone walls of the basement. His stomach howled in protest, and Kogami doubled over the wound as fever sweat dripped off his forehead. It was worse than he'd thought.

Ginoza hadn't told Kogami that the rioting was moving closer to his safe house. But, unless he was actually on the phone with Ginoza, there was always the chance that he'd been captured, or…hurt, and that's why he wasn't calling. Ginoza was an excellent resource, and without him Kogami's chances of getting back to Japan would be slim. But the nature of Ginoza's situation meant that it could be risky for Kogami to call him, and he couldn't completely rely on him. He had to stay on his toes.

Or at least, he had to try to.

Kogami put one hand against the wall, and slowly, laboriously dragged himself up the basement stairs to the cellar door. He wanted to see if he could make his hiding spot either more hidden or more defensible, since he was going to be holed up here for…a little while. He also wanted to listen for any sounds of nearby people, just to be on the safe side.

He'd left the cellar door open, lacking the strength to close it. It was easy enough to poke his head out through the hole, and listen for any sounds of screaming and rioting. Nothing like that. The chaos must have never come this far. It probably hadn't died down altogether yet, or Ginoza would have contacted him already.

Assuming, of course, that he could.

Kogami spent another moment listening for the rustling sound of someone hiding in the bushes or trees nearby. His senses weren't at their sharpest - the fever had taken care of that - but he was pretty sure his hideout still hadn't been discovered. Probably.

He was worried about splitting his wound with the effort it would take to close the door, and even more worried about the strength it would require to push it back open. But he kept falling asleep at inopportune moments, and he was so weak at this point that the last thing he wanted to was to be snuck up on. So he swallowed hard, braced himself, and dragged the cellar door closed.

The cellar doors each came with a filmy window, so he wasn't plunged into complete darkness. Everything did get a lot dimmer though. That was fine, but the tearing feeling in his stomach was decidedly less fine. That was the glue, probably. He looked down. No redness on his bandages yet, but even though he hadn't needed to move around much everything had turned a gross color of yellowish gray. He wished he could save his last change of bandages a little longer, but at this point, his wound really did need to be dealt with. And as much as he didn't want to look at it, he thought at this point that he might kind of have to.

Kogami stumbled down the stairs to get to the first aid kit, pausing every few paces to check to see if he was bleeding yet. Closing his wound back up would be difficult enough, even without it bleeding again.

Groaning, Kogami lowered himself another few steps and paused again. He didn't want to admit it, even to himself, but his breathing was shallow enough that he needed the breaks, even going downstairs.

At the bottom, Kogami sank gratefully down the wall to the first aid kit. He felt around for it, opened it, and stared into the dimness with a sickening feeling. The light coming from the top of the steps wasn't gone, but it was a hell of a lot brighter at the top of the steps than it was down here. It faded from a bright dimness all the way to a murky brown that Kogami thought he might have struggled to see through even at his best. His eyesight was sniper sharp, and accustomed to darkness, but the fever seemed to have dropped a thin veil over all his senses.

"Fuck," Kogami whispered, which did absolutely nothing to relieve his feelings, or banish the pain in his abdomen. Then, he grabbed the first aid kit and hauled himself back to his feet.

It wasn't any easier the second time. Kogami dragged himself back up the stairs, finally giving into the pain and allowing himself to whimper with every step. It wasn't like he really had a choice - at this point, it was probably either whimpering or screaming.

Kogami hit the wall at the top of the stairs with a thud, sliding down it as slowly as he could manage. Now, it was light enough he could see what was in the first aid kit, and he could see exactly how bad his wound looked.

Not that he really wanted to. Kogami bit his lip and began peeling the bandages back, momentarily wishing for a knife before he discarded the idea. Usually, his hands were sure and steady, and he would have no problem slicing through a wad of bandages without even touching the skin beneath. But from the way his fingers were shaking, he shouldn't risk it.

Unwinding the bandages took longer than Kogami wanted, especially as each strip to come away brought with it a slightly increasing twinge of pain. But time was his most expendable resource at the moment, and he could afford to waste that a lot more than he could afford to push his body towards its limits.

As he got down to the last few layers, he started to smell it. Infected wounds had a very particular scent to them, sharp and sickly and just wrong enough to turn even Kogami's stomach. It had been common enough in the jungles of SEA-UN, and there, it had almost always meant death.

He carefully unrolled the rest of the bandages, and then peeled off the bloody gauze pad that made up the bottom layer of his makeshift dressing. Sure enough, the skin around his wound was swollen, shiny red, the wound itself puffy and leaking fluid. The bleeding seemed to have mostly stopped, at least, but at what cost?

He'd been expecting this. What else could the fever and shivery weakness have meant? But still, it wasn't…great. Normally, wounds like this one started out bad and then got better. They maybe got better very slowly, or didn't get all the way better, especially if you found yourself in a situation like the one Kogami was in now. But improvement was still improvement, and when he'd originally dressed the wound, that was kind of what he had been banking on.

Getting an infection changed that completely. Something like this wouldn't get better without serious medication. If Kogami was lucky, and managed to keep it very clean, it might not get worse. But it probably would. This sort of infection was nasty, and he had very few options for wound care.

Kogami probed the edges of the wound and winced. He had told Ginoza he would be able to hole up in the basement for a few days and recover, and then eventually make his way to an airport on foot and sneak into a passenger plane bound for Japan. Now, he wasn't sure if he could do any of those things. He didn't know how far he'd be able to make it on foot, and he didn't know if he'd be able to get onto a plane without attracting suspicion. He honestly didn't even know if he'd be able to make it holed up in this basement for another couple of days. He was in bad shape, and rapidly getting worse.

But tell Ginoza for…what? Ginoza had needed to know what state Kogami was in to know if the plan he'd started making would work. But Kogami didn't think he had tons of back-up plans that he was just waiting to pull out if the situation changed. He'd probably started putting together the easiest plan first - Ginoza was a smart guy, why wouldn't he? Which meant that any other plans that had potentially been on the table were probably harder. If Kogami was too sick to do the easiest plan, he really doubted he'd be able to make it through a harder one.

But what choice did Kogami have? Ginoza was on the line at this point, so Kogami knew he had to at least try. Ginoza would contact him…soon, probably, and Kogami would do his best to get back to Japan.

Well, it was for Ginoza. Kogami would do more than his best.

Ginoza tipped his head back against the chair, breathing through his nose until the worst of the nausea passed. He wasn't going to throw up, he told himself, not from nerves, not from the sick weight of exhaustion, not from food disagreeing with his somewhat fragile stomach. He wasn't going to throw up. Not now.

He'd lasted over twenty-four hours on the supplies he'd brought from home, supplemented with a few protein bars he'd found in the analysts' desks. Technically, he'd found extensive additional food supplies, but if he was getting hungry, his hostages would be too. Ginoza had only taken two protein bars before passing the rest onto the analysts that remained in the bathroom.

Those had only taken him a bit further, and eventually, Ginoza had realized that passing out from hunger would essentially hand both himself and Kogami over to the Domestic Hostility Agency on a silver platter. All they would have to do would be cut open the door, scrape Ginoza off the floor, and put him on trial, letting Kogami die in a foreign country in the meantime.

So, Ginoza had opened a channel to the man who'd originally spoken to him and announced his intention to trade a hostage for enough food for himself and the remaining hostages. He hadn't had to wait long before somebody responded from the hallway outside, somebody different than the first man. Ginoza assumed that he'd been passed up the chain, and he was now getting to speak to the supervisor.

There had been enough back-and-forth and offers and counteroffers to make Ginoza sorely regret not initiating the deal earlier, but eventually, he had gotten the negotiator to agree to his terms. Ginoza had gone to the bathroom and chosen the most terrified-looking analyst out of the bunch, and tried to explain to her that she wasn't going to be harmed, but instead, released. She'd gone with him eventually, and Ginoza had sent her out the door while he held a gun on those who remained in the bathroom. In return, he had received what looked like military-grade rations. Kogami would probably recognize them.

Ginoza didn't want to think about her too much. He didn't want to think about any of them too much. He'd promised himself, if not the analysts, that no one would be hurt. He wanted that to be true in a broader sense than the physical one, and he wanted to believe that none of them would be the worse for their experience.

But all of that could easily turn out to be wishful thinking. Ginoza was risking innocent people for Kogami. He hadn't known he had it in him, and he didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad one.

Ginoza groaned softly as his stomach flipped. The military rations really were disgusting - he felt like he'd somehow eaten too much and not enough. His throat felt tacky. He knew he needed to stop thinking about them, but he couldn't get the taste out of his mouth.

He'd talked to Kogami a few times - unless Kogami was sleeping, Ginoza didn't want to go more than a few hours without at least checking in with him. But Kogami was worried about the transponder batteries, and also clearly getting sick, and so Ginoza had never been able to talk to him for very long. He hadn't spoken to him since he'd had the second run-in with the Domestic Hostility Agency.

Realistically, he knew that Kogami didn't need to know the details of Ginoza's current legal situation, but it seemed strange not to keep him updated. Besides, what if Kogami thought everything was going just fine with Ginoza and then Ginoza suddenly stopped answering his calls? Ginoza could think of little that was worse.

Mostly, Ginoza just didn't want to go too long without hearing from Kogami. He wanted to know he was okay, he wanted to hear his voice, he wanted to not be alone.

Ginoza shuffled through a few papers on his desk - he'd tried to keep all his Kogami-related planning on physical paper instead of his computer, not sure if the network could be hacked. He hadn't talked Kogami through the route he had mapped out to get him to the airport - that could be a talking point, right? It was probably worth a call. Better for him to get that information sooner rather than later, Ginoza figured, so he could make sure everything made sense. Besides, Kogami really should be packing up to head out soon. The journey to the airport was going to take much longer than it normally would, with Kogami as sick as he was.

Ginoza called Kogami without letting himself think about it much more. Kogami didn't pick up immediately, which was…terrifying, and for a few long seconds Ginoza was sure that he wasn't going to. But then there was a soft click, and Ginoza could hear Kogami's labored breathing.

"Shinya?" Ginoza said. No response. At least not immediately. "Are you alright? You sound-"

There were a few long seconds, and Kogami swallowed audibly.

"Gino?" he finally whispered. "I…something…."

"You don't sound very good," Ginoza said. His heart was beating in his throat.

Kogami groaned softly, almost too faint for Ginoza to hear. "I…."

Ginoza swallowed hard, forcing back the suddenly even more distasteful rations. "You sound…sick," he finally finished. He didn't really want to hear Kogami's answer, and held on tightly to the edge of the desk as though that could change what Kogami was about to say.

"Sick," Kogami whispered. "Yeah. Yeah, 'm…sick." There was a sound from the other end as Kogami moved, followed by a whimper of pain.

Ginoza had rarely, if ever, heard Kogami sound like that. He closed his eyes, feeling the world tip around him as his chances of seeing his husband once again diminished. "Shinya…."

Kogami whimpered again, and Ginoza heard him start panting for breath. "Hurts."

"Your…your wound?" Ginoza asked mechanically, feeling his stomach start to rise. Kogami could barely string words together, and he never, ever complained of being in pain. Not like this, lost and far away and expecting Ginoza to fix it somehow.

"E'rything," Kogami slurred. "Can't…. Sorry, Gino. Don' think…don' think I c'n make it. Not like this."

That was too much for Ginoza. In an instant, the prospect of losing Kogami forever was more than a possibility, it was a reality, and the contents of Ginoza's stomach were climbing up his throat. Kogami was sick, and worse than that, he was giving up, and Ginoza wasn't there to snap him out of it.

Ginoza snatched up the trash can from beside the desk and vomited into it, retching painfully over the metallic edge. Kogami was still mumbling out of the transponder, but whatever he was saying, it was lost behind the blood pounding in Ginoza's ears.

Ginoza coughed over the trash can a few more times, gritting his teeth to avoid groaning. His stomach didn't feel any better, and he knew from experience that it wasn't going to. Not with Kogami on the other end of the call, more than half-delirious with a serious infection.

Delicately, Ginoza placed the trash can back on the floor and sunk his head into his hands. He allowed himself a few painful, shuddering breaths of near-panic, then turned back to his watch.

"Sh-Shinya?"

Another small moan from Kogami, this one sounding vaguely surprised. "Gino?"

"Yes, it's still me," Ginoza said. His voice was shaky, and he knew that under ordinary circumstances, Kogami already would be asking him what was wrong. Under ordinary circumstances, Kogami would have noticed as soon as he'd thrown up. Even if he hadn't physically been close to Ginoza, he would have asked him if he was sick, if he was anxious, if he could get some water, if he would be alright. But this time, Ginoza didn't think Kogami had even noticed that anything was wrong. On one level, that was something of a relief - as much as Ginoza would have liked comfort, the last thing he wanted was to worry Kogami on top of everything else.

On another level, it meant that something was very, very wrong.

"Are…?" Kogami started. For a moment, Ginoza thought Kogami was going to ask him if he was alright, but instead he just trailed off. There was silence on the other end of the transponder.

Ginoza swallowed carefully. His tongue tasted bitter.

"You're behind on your pain pills, aren't you, Shinya? Do you remember the last time you took them?"

"No," Kogami whispered.

Ginoza had known Kogami a very long time, and he had seen him in every state of sick and injured that a person could be in. He could parse between the vacancy that came with a fever and the mushiness that came from the drugs. And anyways, unless Kogami had literally just taken the painkillers and then immediately forgotten, an extra dose wouldn't pose too much of a problem anyways. Liver damage was very low on the list of things Kogami had to worry about right now.

"Alright, you should have a few doses of the painkillers left," Ginoza said, fighting hard to keep his voice as even as he could. "You might have something to help with the fever too. You know where your first aid kit is, right?"

"Yes," Kogami said. There was the sound of rustling.

"Take two of each. Unless you're thirsty, there's no need to have more than a few sips of water."

"Alright."

There was a long silence, with no sound of pills being unwrapped or water being swallowed. Ginoza could almost picture Kogami, tired and haggard and flushed with fever, sitting on the ground and leaning up against the wall. The image made Ginoza's chest hurt, so he tried his best to force it from his mind.

"Do that now, please," Ginoza said.

"Right."

This time, Ginoza could hear the sounds of Kogami taking the pills. Hopefully that would help, at least a little bit. It seemed that talking to Ginoza had helped some too. That was…a good sign, but not good enough. It was pretty unlikely Kogami would be allowed to board a passenger plane, not in the state he was now. Ginoza needed to get a better handle on Kogami's situation, and then he needed a new plan.

"How well can you move?" Ginoza asked softly, when he was sure that Kogami had finished taking the pills, and his question wouldn't distract him.

"Mnn?" Kogami mumbled, and only the vaguely inquisitive tone told Ginoza that he'd meant to ask a question.

"Can you stand?" Ginoza hoped that the clarification would help Kogami. If he was already so far gone that he couldn't understand something as clear as that, Ginoza wasn't sure what to do.

"Stand," Kogami whispered. "Now?"

Ginoza winced. Even if he hadn't known the extent of Kogami's injury, he could have guessed that he was in pain simply by the sound of his voice and the stiff cadence of his breathing. He didn't want to ask Kogami to stand, or to move, before he had to leave.

But Ginoza needed to know what Kogami was capable of in this condition, so he could plan effectively. He hadn't managed that beforehand, and that was clearly a mistake.

"Yes," Ginoza said, banishing all traces of reluctant guilt from his voice. "Stand up, Shinya."

There was a brief pause, then another rustling sound and a plasticky click - probably Kogami setting down the first aid kit. A sharp intake of breath, another low groan, and a scuffling sound, and then Ginoza heard Kogami's voice again.

"'M… up."

He sounded farther away, presumably because the transponder had been left on the ground at his feet. He also sounded out of breath, and half-sick with the pain of standing, but he was clearly upright. Ginoza tried to frame that to himself as a win.

"Was it hard?" Ginoza raised his voice slightly, adjusting for the extra few feet of distance. "Do you feel alright?"

Kogami's breathing sounded very faraway, and very uncertain. "...Okay. Where…where am I goin'?"

Ginoza shut his eyes, wishing he was there to ease Kogami back down and hold him as tightly as Kogami could handle. "Nowhere just yet, Shinya. You can sit down."

There was an annoyed huffing sound from the other end, one that Kogami always reserved for times he felt Ginoza was being varying degrees of unreasonable. Hearing it made Ginoza feel ever so slightly better, at least until he heard Kogami whimper his way back to a seated position.

"Are you okay?" Ginoza asked, before he could stop himself. Kogami wasn't, and answering would just waste his obviously limited breath.

Kogami didn't answer. Ginoza opted not to press him.

"Alright. You can just sit there for a few minutes. You just took painkillers, so I am hoping that you'll start feeling better soon. If not…." Ginoza swallowed and trailed off - he doubted Kogami would notice. "I don't think you'd be allowed on a commercial flight right now, so I need to think of a new plan. I want you to stay on the call with me, so I can ask you questions if I need to, but you shouldn't need to talk much. Just…let me know if there's anything else that you need from me."

"Okay," Kogami slurred. There was some rustling as he settled himself against the wall.

If Kogami could board a plane as a passenger, Ginoza still thought that was the most foolproof plan. In fact, it was the only real plan he had for getting Kogami across EENA's borders. Ginoza knew of no Japanese allies in Kogami's area that might be willing to help. EENA was landlocked and Japan was an island, so a ship or train were both out of the question. Given enough research and time, Ginoza might be able to figure out where and how EENA delivered their exports to Japan - he knew that the two countries had a fairly good trade relationship, assuming the recent unrest hadn't disrupted it. But Ginoza had frankly no idea where to locate that information, and having Kogami be "exported" didn't seem very safe or comfortable anyways.

Ginoza couldn't see Kogami, but from the strain in his voice and the labored sound of his breathing, Ginoza could imagine that he looked terrible. All that wasn't even taking into account the fact that he'd been living in…the woods?...for the past week, and he was surely dirty and bedraggled and very much not someone who looked like he should be boarding a plane. If Kogami were more cognizant, Ginoza might have trusted him to play the part of a stranded backpacker or something. But as it was, the best thing that could happen to Kogami was him being turned away. If he was unlucky, he might come off suspicious enough to get arrested.

Ginoza scrubbed a hand across his face. He needed to think. But he was still nauseous, and he was still anxious, and…and….

At this point, the only real plan Ginoza had to get Kogami back to Japan was on a passenger plane. Kogami was too injured and sick for that plan to work, but did that by necessity mean that Ginoza had to rethink the plan? Or could he instead try to make Kogami less injured and sick?

Kogami's supplies were limited, but it wasn't like he was lost at sea or something. He was in a civilized country, hiding out in a basement. His identity was still a secret - if EENA's government had identified the man who had done the assassination, Ginoza was sure that Kogami's face would have been plastered all over the news. Ginoza knew it wasn't - he'd been checking religiously.

That meant that Kogami potentially could get access to things like antibiotics. Real medication that would fix him, instead of just stopping him from passing out in the basement of some abandoned house.

"How far do you think you can walk?" Ginoza asked, hearing Kogami's breathing stutter in response to his question. He was already pulling up a local map of EENA, locating pharmacies and other potential areas that might have the medication that Kogami needed.

Kogami hummed uncertainly, which could either mean that he wasn't sure how far he could walk, or he'd forgotten the question.

The airport was, luckily, only about five miles away. Ginoza knew that ordinarily, this would be nothing to Kogami. Even badly wounded, Kogami had made it farther. But with the way he was right now, Ginoza wasn't sure that was an option.

But he could at least get him part of the way there. Ginoza selected a pharmacy that was about halfway between Kogami's current location and the airport, pushing it a little closer to the airport.

"Can you walk three miles?" Ginoza asked, eying the dot on the map with some amount of trepidation.

"Three…miles?" Kogami sounded breathy, and Ginoza was not convinced that he could walk any distance at all. But Kogami laughed softly, the almost-soundless laugh that always meant things had gotten very bad indeed. "Sure."

Ginoza had been with Kogami a very long time, and he suspected that what Kogami meant was that if he could force himself to walk at all, the distance wouldn't really matter. Once he started moving, he wouldn't stop.

Ginoza hoped that was true, but he didn't have a backup plan if it wasn't. He frowned at the screen a little longer, then turned back to the call.

"Alright. Shinya, are you there?"

Kogami's slow, labored breathing stuttered again, as if Ginoza had surprised him. "Y-yeah. Here."

"I have a new plan," Ginoza told him, trying to sound confident, rather than terrified. "Instead of the airport, you're going to a pharmacy. I'm going to guide you there, and I'll describe the medication you'll be looking for. You're going to get antibiotics for your infection, and better fever reducers. Whatever you have there doesn't seem to be doing the trick. Then, you can lay low near the pharmacy for a day or so, until you've gotten well enough to board a plane without suspicion. At that point, you can follow the original plan. Does that make sense?"

Ginoza tried not to think about whether or not he would last another few days. He supposed at that point, it might not matter as much. If Kogami managed to get the fever under control, he might not even need Ginoza's help getting onto the plane. Ginoza would really like to be able to see Kogami when he got back, but if he couldn't…the important thing was that Kogami was still able to get back. Ginoza's situation was immaterial to that, and since it was mostly out of Ginoza's control, it didn't bear too much thinking about.

"That makes sense," Kogami said.

If Ginoza had been looking at Kogami, he probably would have been able to tell if he was actually understanding, or if he was sick enough that he was just repeating what he thought Ginoza wanted to hear. "Repeat back what I said," Ginoza said.

Silence, aside from Kogami's raspy breathing.

Ginoza licked his lips. He couldn't believe it had been less than ten minutes since he'd thrown up - now his mouth was bone-dry. "Phantom," he said. "Repeat your understanding of the plan."

Kogami made a whimpering sound, and Ginoza heard him swallow. "You'll…give me location of a pharmacy. I'll walk there. It'll be five miles."

"Three."

"Three miles. I'll get medication there. It'll help me. Then I'll…hole up somewhere safe. Wait a day or so. And when it's started working, I'll get on a plane to come home."

Home. Just hearing the words from Kogami's mouth made Ginoza's chest feel tight. God, he hoped this worked.

"That's right," Ginoza said. "That…you do think you can handle all that, right?"

"I can't ask for meds at the pharmacy," Kogami whispered.

"What?"

"Don't…don't speak the language. I have the dictionary, but…I don't think that sort of thing will be in my book, right? Can you…?"
"Of course," Ginoza said, a little bit embarrassed that he hadn't thought of that himself. He worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - remembering details like that was supposed to be his job. He must be exhausted. He hoped this whole ordeal ended sooner rather than later, or this wouldn't be the only detail that got forgotten.

Ginoza ended the call so he could fully concentrate on putting together a primer of the language Kogami would need to get the medication, promising to call Kogami back in no more than a half hour. It ended up taking a little longer than that - before Ginoza could determine the names EENA used for various Japanese medications, he had to first determine what medications Kogami needed at all. Ginoza was far from an expert on this sort of thing. Ordinarily, he probably would have simply been able to ask Kogami, who was an expert on this sort of thing. But right now, Kogami could barely be trusted to follow a conversation, much less give medical advice.

Eventually, Ginoza was able to locate a fever reducer and heavy duty antibiotics that were available internationally, and after a little more research, he was able to find the terminology that EENA used. The packaging was different, as well, and once again, Ginoza was thankful that Kogami had reminded him of the issue before he had wound up in the pharmacy.

After going over the pronunciation by himself until he was confident he could repeat it back to Kogami, Ginoza called him back. Kogami activated the transponder immediately this time, although he didn't speak when the call connected.

"Are you there?" Ginoza asked hesitantly, after a few seconds of nothing but Kogami's heavy breathing.

"Mmhm," Kogami whispered softly.

Was it just Ginoza's imagination, or did he sound even worse than he had on the last call? He couldn't have gotten sicker in less than an hour, could he?

Ginoza told himself firmly that that wasn't possible. Telling himself that he was being anxious didn't really stop him from feeling anxious, but it did at least help him avoid making it Kogami's problem.

"I need you to repeat after me, okay, Shinya?"

Kogami mumbled something, hopefully an agreement. Ginoza still couldn't tell if he was paying attention, or if he remembered what he was supposed to be doing.

"I'm going to tell you the names of the medications you're looking for, remember? And then you're going to repeat them back to me." Ginoza waited a few seconds, but there was no response from Kogami. "Shinya?"

"Y-yeah?"

Ginoza banished any trace of worry, or tenderness from his tone. "Phantom. Repeat after me. Do you understand?"

The response was immediate, if still exhausted sounding. "I un'erstand."

"Good work," Ginoza said. "Now, I'm going to begin."