April 25th, 2016: Monday
Tomorrow was the big day. Everything was set. The path was cleared, and it was almost time to take the Treasure.
None of them had any idea if this would even work. They only had a few days left before Kamoshida would go to the school board and motion for him, Ryuji, and another student named Mishima expelled. He kind of felt bad for dragging Mishima into this mess, but at the same time it was partly Mishima's fault that Shiho jumped in the first place.
Was that fair? Probably not. But neither was what happened to Shiho.
That led him to his current predicament: facing the shady Dr. Takemi once again. He and his friends needed to be prepared for everything, which meant stockpiling on more medicine. They weren't out, not yet, but he didn't want to risk running out in the middle of something big.
Having left Morgana at LeBlanc, he stepped into the clinic. Just as every time before, Takemi was still sat behind her desk, but this time she took immediate notice of him. She flashed a smile and said, "You know, it's been a couple days since I told you the next trial was ready."
"Well, you know how it is," Akira mutters, his hands in his pockets. "The economy and everything..."
Truthfully, he was rather nervous about coming back. The idea of drinking the next demonic concoction was not something he was overly keen on, but he knew it was a necessary evil. At the same time, part of him was nervous just to see Takemi again.
Despite how cold she could be, he found her weirdly enjoyable to talk to. She was certainly an interesting person. Something about her made him want to get to know her more.
She laughed at his stupid joke. "Don't I know it. Alright, just head into the exam room. I'll meet you there in a few minutes. Just got to get the next batch of materials ready."
"Here," she said, handing him a glass. This time the color was red. "Drink up."
"Am I going to pass out again?" Akira asked, giving the offending drink a side-eye. At least this time he was already sitting on the bed. He just needed to make sure whatever way he toppled wasn't in the direction of the floor.
Takemi shrugged. "Probably. I made some adjustments from the last trial we performed. I can't promise the taste will be any better, but you should wake up feeling more refreshed than you did last time."
"Yippee," Akira droned, bringing it up to his nose for a sniff test. It didn't burn his nostrils, but he didn't remember the last drink doing that either. Oh well. Now or never.
He threw it down as quickly as he could. Once again, the taste was truly repugnant. In fact, it might have actually been worse than the last time. It was bitter and sour, not the mention the foul odor burning his nose again.
"How are you-?" Takemi began to ask, but she was interrupted by Akira's head hitting the pillow to his side with a thud. She tilted her head and pursed her lips. "At least this time he's already on the bed."
To give Takemi an iota of credit, he did wake up feeling much better than last time. He didn't feel like sleeping for two days straight.
"We enjoy our beauty sleep?" Takmei asked, standing above him.
Akira blinked and covered his eyes. The lights were still way too bright. "Did I wake up again?"
"Nope. This time you slept like a baby." She fell back onto her chair. "If it helps, you're looking much better. You got some color back in your face and those circles around your eyes are clearing up."
"Small blessings," Akira said, rolling away from Takemi. He never realized how comfortable a hospital bed could be. "There wasn't anything weird in that one, was there?"
"Only a slight neurotoxin that'll shut down your autonomic nervous system in a few minutes," she said with a straight face, reaching for her clipboard and grabbing a pen. "I'll make sure your death is in service of science."
"Oh, good," Akira muttered, closing his eyes. "I can get the eternal sleep…"
"Not yet, I need to examine you first," she said. She sat her clipboard onto her lap and grabbed a stethoscope and a thermometer. "After that you can shuffle off from this mortal coil."
Akira rolled over and swung his legs over the bed, sitting up straight. She leaned in and said, "I'll need to reach under your shirt for this. Try not to get too excited, okay?"
"Huh?" Akira blinked before he noticed the stethoscope in her hand. "Oh, right. Yeah."
He felt the cool metal pressed against his chest, but that did nothing to stop him from noticing Takemi was right next to him. He looked away, hoping the redness on his face wasn't too obvious.
"Hmm." She clicked her tongue and placed the stethoscope away. "Heart rate is slightly elevated, but I can hazard a guess as to why. Breathing is good, if a little shallow. Overall an improvement over last time."
She placed the thermometer into his ear and got his temperature, then she pulled out a stick and told him to open his mouth and stick out his tongue. "Alright, now say 'Dr. Takemi is a genius.'"
Akira shot her a look, but repeated it back to her.
"Thank you, but now I need you to say, 'ah'."
He did with the unasked for addition of an eyeroll.
Takemi smiled and returned her equipment. "Everything is looking good. Are you still feeling slightly tired?"
He shrugged. "A little."
"That's not a surprise." She scribbled out the last bit of her notes before placing her clipboard back on her desk. "Once you've regained enough strength to get up and walk, some movement should be enough to wake you up. I'd like to perform a few motor skill tests, but we'll save that for when the medicine doesn't knock you out."
"Lucky me," Akira snarked.
"We're in the final stages now, I just need to stabilize the fundamental formula—"
Takemi was interrupted by the exam door opening and a police officer walking in. He acted as if he owned the place, not bothering to knock or even ask if a patient was being seen. He just slammed the door open, walked up to the doctor and sneered down at her.
"Doctor."
Akira's gaze immediately hardened at the police officer. He couldn't help but be inherently distrustful of anyone wearing that uniform.
"Officer," Takemi seethed, a twitch beginning to develop in her left eye. "I believe I've informed you that if you want to investigate me, you'll need a warrant."
The guy actually harrumphed and Akira never wanted to punch a police officer more in his life. "We received a report about some suspicious activity occurring in this clinic. I'm going to need to see a detailed statement of medical expenses and full medical records."
A smarmy grin crossed his face as he folded his arms. "No way you had enough time to hide any incriminating evidence."
Takemi didn't bother to hide her disgust at the police officer, and she let loose a scoff. Regardless, she leaned back, opened a drawer, and pulled out a file. She held it out to the officer. "Here."
The officer blinked and looked down at the offered folder. "What's this?"
"The records you wanted?" Takemi shook her head. "Look, if you're going to waste my time, at least pretend to do your job while you're doing it."
The officer swiped the folder and began flipping through it's contents. Whatever he was looking for, it was becoming increasingly clear that he wasn't finding it.
She leaned back and gestured to Akira. "This kid here is my only patient for the day. If you're asking about his medical expenses, I assume you were sent on a report of improper billing, but as you can see here everything is above board."
"I don't understand…" He snapped his gaze towards Akira. "You don't look sick to me. What are you here for anyway? Not doing anything illegal, are you?"
That question was so straightforward and blunt that Akira was taken off-guard by it. How the hell was he even supposed to respond to that? Was this guy's first reaction to seeing a kid in the hospital to assume they're doing something illegal?
It was a rather moot point, as Takemi stepped in. "He is my patient, and he does not need to answer any of your questions. Those documents right there state that everything is in order, so he is not a factor in whatever investigation you're conducting."
Akira turned to her in shock. It had been a rather long while since an adult had stood up for him like that.
"You…" The officer seethed.
Takemi smiled at him. "If there's nothing else, could you please leave? I'm a little busy right now."
He blew out a huff of air. "Fine. You're infuriating, you know that? I suppose I'd expect nothing less from the Plague."
Akira furrowed his brow at the name. The "Plague"? Why did he call her that?
Takemi's left eye twitch, but she didn't drop her polite smile. "Have a wonderful day, officer."
It was only after he left that she let her shoulders sag her smile drop. She threw her head back and groaned. "Ugh. I'm so over this…"
Akira leaned forward. He was tempted to ask her what the guy meant by calling her the Plague, but he put heed to that notion for now. It was most likely neither the time nor the place.
"Dude was a prick," he said, laying back down on his side.
Takemi laughed again, and rubbed her eyes. "Couldn't agree more. I think we're going to get along just fine, Kurusu-kun."
Kurusu-kun, he thought to himself, his smile widening. That had a pleasant sound to it when she said it. "What was the deal with that anyway?"
She waved him off. "Just my old supervisor trying to get me into trouble."
"Why would he want to do that?"
"You remember the conversation you were eavesdropping on earlier, right?" Takemi asked. "That was him. He's trying to put pressure on me. This is the third time he's called the police on me."
"Can't you do anything about it?"
"I don't really care one way or the other," she said, shrugging. An obvious lie. "Whatever. Back to you, though, I'll need to draw some blood."
And thus that conversation was over. Takmi went full doctor mode going over how the blood test was going to go, warning him that he may feel a little anemic afterwards, and how he'll be fine within the hour.
"To help with the progress, I'll give you a little something to help," Takmei said, opening her desk.
"Not more medicine," Akira groaned, placing a hand on his forehead and staring up at the ceiling. A juice box then appeared in his line of sight. He blinked and flailed as it was tossed into his lap.
"Drink up, big boy," Takemi said, smiling down at him. "It'll help keep you on your feet until you get home."
Akira grunted, but couldn't keep the smile out of the sound. He sat up and poked the straw through the box and began sipping on it.
Takemi pointed with her foot towards Akira's school bag at the edge of her desk. "As usual, I put the medicine in your bag. Try not to overdose on all of that. Can't afford to lose my perfectly good guinea pig."
He grabbed his bag and bid Takemi goodbye. The walk back was uneventful as usual and he braced himself for another round of lectures from Sakura-san.
It was to his everlasting shock that the second he stepped in he had to bring up a hand to catch a object flying at his face. Thanks to honing his reflexes in the Metaverse, it wasn't a problem, but the last thing he expected was to have stuff thrown at him.
He was about to give Sakura-san a piece of his mind when he opened his palm and saw… a key?
Akira looked up at the cafe owner smoking nonchalantly against the counter. He peered over his glasses at him, a frown still on his face. He raised an eyebrow, daring him to say something smart.
"What's this?" he asked.
Sakura blew out a puff of smoke and put out his cigarette. "It's called a key. Are those glasses of yours just for show?"
They were, but shut up. He shoved the key in his pocket. "Why are you giving it to me?"
"I'm too old to be waiting up every night for you, kid," Sakura-san explained, untying his apron and tossing it under the counter. "Do you realize I haven't had a customer in the last two hours?"
How long was I asleep? Akira asked himself.
"If you're going to get a job, I'm not going to sit here and not serve zero cups of coffee." He grabbed his white jacket and hat and put them both on.
"You're just… giving me a key? Like that?"
"There's some rules, you understand," Sakura-san explained, walking around the counter and up to him. "No going outside the neighborhood after dark. If I come by in the morning and see that you haven't locked up, your key privileges are revoked. Understand?"
Akira tilted his head and looked off to the distance. "I don't know… those are pretty complex instructions. Can you repeat them?"
Sakura scoffed and moved past him. "Just stay out of trouble."
"No promises," Akira said, watching as his guardian left the building. As he was left alone, he reached into his pocket to pull out the new key given to him.
Maybe the old troll had a heart after all.
Akira put the key away and moved up the stairs. He was too tired to take advantage of his newfound freedom today, and he needed to get some rest.
That was until his phone went. He pulled it out and brought it up to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Hi, my little guinea pig," Tae's voice said. "Just calling to check up and see if you got home safe. You were pretty dizzy when you left."
Akira smiled as he walked up the stairs. "I think I might have superpowers now."
She laughed. "If you're fine enough to joke, I don't think I'll have to worry anymore."
"You were worried about little ol' me?"
"I worry about all my patients, not just you. Just make sure to get plenty of rest and have some dinner before you go to bed."
"Aye aye, Capitan," Akira said, throwing a salute that she couldn't see.
"If you do start to feel sick, give me a call. Take care, guinea pig, I'll see you at the next trial."
Akira pulled the phone away as she ended the call. The next trial…
Tomorrow was the day they'd be taking down Kamoshida. He needed to be ready for that. He needed to survive it.
For Ann. For Ryuji. For Shiho. For everyone that bastard has ever hurt and ever would hurt in the future.
But also? If he didn't, he wouldn't be able to help Takemi with her trials. And that would just be a major inconvenience to everyone.