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He hated hospitals.
They were clean and organized, two characteristics he particularly enjoyed as a chronic perfectionist, but they couldn’t overpower his disgust and discomfort. The unnaturally white walls reflected the bright lights of the corridor, blinding him slightly if he stared at them too long; the white cloaks moved around frantically, each of them so identical to the next it made him doubt his senses; the overly-sanitized smell of the halls, with chlorine and alcohol burning his nostrils every time he breathed in… It was too much for him.
It didn’t help that he had spent a great amount of time in and out of that very same hospital. Ever since he was offered the possibility to become an exorcist under the Knights of the True Cross, he had to go in once a month to get some tests done on top of his weekly checkups: blood work, biopsies and a plethora of other things he couldn’t bother himself to remember the name of, but couldn’t easily forget how being dissected like that made him feel. As an unprecedented phenomena, he had to be under constant surveillance.
Yukio followed the instructions the receptionist had given him, making his way through the building with his exorcist ID in hand in case anyone wanted to ask him what he was doing walking around so freely without a staff member or a pass. However, no one seemed to care that much about his presence, almost as if he could easily blend with the white walls behind him despite his black attire.
It was the main True Cross Hospital: the biggest one out of all of them and with the best technology in comparison to the other locations, maybe even the most advanced one in the continent. It received funding straight from the Vatican—although the public would never know that—and various other sources like the government, philanthropists, companies and affiliates. With some of the best professionals in the world available at the drop of a hat, it was on a league of its own. And luckily to those connected to the Knights of the True Cross, like him and his students, there was easier access to treatment.
He opened the door to the interior garden, skimming through the faces of the various people that were there taking a break or looking for a change of air. There were patients of all ages: from seniors simply resting on the benches or by the fountains, to adults taking pictures, to little children running around with encyclopedias and trying to recognize the flora in the place. It was peaceful, he noted, and even though he couldn’t recognize most of the plants, he knew enough to realize all of them had guarding properties.
It was on a lonely bench far away from everyone else where he found who he was looking for, sitting in front of a bush of multicolored Valeriana flowers. Even though he could not see the face, the long, dark hair was enough for him to know his search had come to an end.
“Excuse me,” he said softly once he had finally crossed the garden to reach her. She was slightly startled, but her expression softened when she noticed it was a familiar face. “I hope I’m not bothering you.”
“You’re not, don’t worry.” She moved to the left side of the bench, giving him room to sit in case he felt like keeping her some company. And judging by his expression and his body language, she assumed that was the case. “I’m guessing Moriyama sent you here.”
“Not quite. It’s more like I asked her where I could find you,” Yukio replied, choosing to sit beside her. “I wanted to talk to you, but I did not want to overwhelm you by doing so when you were first admitted, Kamiki-san.”
She smiled softly. “Thank you.”
Yukio took the liberty of paying more attention to his student, realizing that some of the bandages they had first put on her, according to Shiemi’s briefing, were now removed. Her body was healing surprisingly well after being forced to host a demon that necrotized her skin, mostly because of the blonde girl’s quick thinking and the help of her familiar. And even though she wouldn’t walk out of this situation completely unscathed, the result was fairly impressive.
“We heard most of what you have been through thanks to one of your familiars,” Yukio commented. Looking back at what the Byakko had commented about her ability to see demons from a young age, it was obvious to him now that what he had felt in the moment was a strong feeling of camaraderie. They didn’t know each other too well, mostly because he wouldn’t ask and she wouldn’t tell, but as someone who had felt ostracized for his connection to Gehenna as well, he could not help but see himself in her. “I thought that, as your teacher, I should let you know, and apologize as well for getting this knowledge without your consent.”
Izumo placed a lock of hair behind her ear. “It’s alright. Sooner or later, everything would have come out, anyway,” she answered. A sigh escaped her mouth, and Yukio could feel the genuine exhaustion pouring out of her. “I believe an explanation was long overdue, and I’m glad it was Miketsu who told you all. I don’t think the words would have come out of my mouth if it had to be me.”
Yukio nodded in response and the two of them fell silent for a while, so he took the opportunity to properly examine his environment. The garden walls were made of glass and in the shape of a dome, and on the highest part of the circumference there was a big skylight that would be opened when the weather allowed it.
The sun was shining brightly that day and the temperature wasn’t too high or too low, creating the perfect conditions for the skylight to be opened. And so, a soft breeze made its way in, ruffling their hair and making some leaves and petals that had fallen off the plants fly from one side of the garden to the other.
He took a deep breath as the scent of jasmine reached his nostrils to gather the courage to continue the conversation.
“I know this question might sound absurd considering everything that has happened, but I was wondering how you were doing,” Yukio said, breaking the silence that had fallen upon them. “I heard you’ll be released soon.”
Izumo nodded. “Tomorrow, if the results come out alright. Moriyama could’ve left two days ago, though, but she insisted on staying until I could leave as well.”
Yukio chuckled. “Yes, that sounds like something Shiemi-san would do.”
“I don’t think I can properly answer your question, though,” she added, after a small pause. “I don’t think I’ve had a chance to wrap my head around it. I’m sorry.”
“Please, don’t apologize, Kamiki-san,” he immediately interjected, turning around to face her. “You should take as much time as you deem necessary. And if you ever feel like it, you can always rely on your classmates or your teachers; myself included.”
There was a small smile in the corner of her lips; it was barely recognizable, but it was there and it was genuine, and for now that was enough. The lingering sensation of tragedy was still looming over them, pulling their ankles from deep within, but the fleeting gesture was enough to know that her feet were still on the ground even if her spirit had been beaten down. “Thank you.”
“I also wanted to say that your mother has been completely purified and that she is being kept safe by the True Cross, under direct order from the Principal. It was Sir Pheles who wanted to be the one to come here and let you know that the ceremonies can start whenever you’re ready, but I thought it best if it was someone you were more accustomed to.”
This time, Izumo didn’t reply. Her eyes were filled with tears that she was trying hard not to shed, so she simply nodded and looked at her lap, where her hands were intertwined and her wrists were decorated by bandages and hospital identification tags. Yukio decided to give her some room to breathe before continuing with the conversation.
“I… I went a bit out of my way, too,” he continued, “trying to find more information on your sister, Tsukumo. It was a bit hard, but I managed to confirm she’s safe and sound.”
“I know.” She bit her bottom lip and took a deep breath. The answer left Yukio surprised, as he was fairly certain this was a top secret matter that he was sure she would have no knowledge of. “Takara Nemu… he came to see me today. I don’t know why. But he… he told me that a branch of his family were the ones who had adopted her, and that it was directly overlooked by the Knights of the True Cross.”
“... Takara-kun?”
“I’m just as surprised as you are. I can’t quite believe it, either,” she added, letting out a dry laugh. “Takara gave me a key. Here, I’ll show you.”
Izumo reached for the pocket in her hospital gown, bringing out a single golden key with a design he knew all too well. She handed it to Yukio so he could inspect it. “A magic key? To where?”
“Tsukumo,” Izumo replied, once again lowering her gaze. “Or Takara Tsukiko now, according to Takara. He said it was a get-well present for me, and that I could keep it.”
“Did you go?
She nodded. “Yeah. He took me there, actually.”
“Did you see her?”
She nodded again, now a bit more frantically. “Yeah,” she muttered, her voice trembling too much this time around for her to be able to hide it. “She’s growing up beautifully, and she looks healthy and like she has a happy life… but… but…”
Yukio saw how Izumo was clutching her gown, holding tightly onto it as she tried to muster the courage to keep talking. He decided to not say anything, giving her space to continue once she felt better or to drop the conversation altogether if it was too hard.
“But she… she doesn’t remember me. Not anymore,” Izumo said, with one tear falling down her face and then another one, silently crying and without raising her gaze. “And I know it’s better this way because she is safe, and that she was just three when we got separated five years ago. It’s been over half her life and she was so young… but when she looked at me? I saw the same disconcert in her eyes whenever I had to drop her off at the Inari temple when I had to go to school and she stumbled upon a new face.”
Izumo finally broke down to a full cry, hiding her face behind her hands and letting the sobs come out freely. There weren’t many people around in this corner of the garden, so at least she had some privacy to get it out of her system, even if just a little bit.
Yukio didn’t know what to do—he had never been good with emotions to begin with, and he couldn’t help but think his brother would be better equipped to deal with a situation like this. He didn’t know how to comfort Izumo or how she would react, so he limited his behavior to patiently wait until she was ready.
“I hate that it came to this,” Izumo said, her voice coming out strained and so full of anger that it made his heart ache in his chest. Yukio offered her his handkerchief, the one that had once belonged to Shirou and one of the few possessions he managed to keep from his father, and she accepted it with trembling hands to wipe her tears. “ Sensei … how did you feel when Okumura-kun was taken by the Vatican?”
The question caught him off guard. He had never expected for the conversation to derail to that matter, and he had to think his answer through for a second before saying anything. It was one of the topics he had been refusing to think about, mostly because he didn’t know what would happen if he dwelled on it too much. It was too frightening.
“I’m sorry if I overstepped. I—”
“It’s okay, Kamiki-san. You just caught me by surprise,” he answered truthfully, and Yukio found himself being honest about something for the first time in a while. “The first time, during the exam, I was terrified… And the second time, at the Kyoto temple, it was ten times that and triple the fury. I’m still afraid that maybe they will change their minds and execute him. My brother is not the most responsible character, and he can be quite impulsive, so I fear that one day he might say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing, and the Vatican will simply take him away and never give him back.”
“How do you deal with that?” she asked in a whisper, locking her eyes with his. Yukio could read Izumo like a book, because all her emotions were being reflected in her puffy, shiny eyes; fear, sadness, solitude… it was all so clear. “I know it’s not the same, and that the True Cross is a formidable organization and that they’ll do anything to keep Tsukumo safe… but the Illuminati are not a threat to be taken lightly. They even had Pink Head amongst them and we were none the wiser… So how do you cope? How are you not paralyzed with fear?”
He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. “That is where you got me, Kamiki-san… I’m not the person to ask.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t ‘deal’ with it,” Yukio answered simply. He could not bring himself to be shameless enough to fake an advice for her to follow. “I don’t even like to think about it.”
She tilted her head in confusion. “Really? With all due respect, sensei , I didn’t think you were that kind of person.”
“And what kind of person would that be?”
“Avoidant. I thought you tackled things like this head-on.”
The comment got a genuine chuckle out of him, and the reaction softened Izumo’s features. “Well, you are mistaken, Kamiki-san. However, I do not recommend you do the same. It’s just a disaster waiting to happen.”
“If I find a way to deal with it, I’ll let you know.”
“That would be most appreciated.”
Izumo dried her face by gently tapping the handkerchief against her cheeks. Once she was done, she folded it neatly, leaving the embroidered name visible as she handed it back to Yukio. “Thank you, sensei .”
“You… you can keep it, if you want,” he blurted out, owning himself yet another confused stare from the girl sitting next to him. It would hurt him to separate from it, yes, but maybe she would find a better use to it than let it sit idly at the bottom of his pocket.
She ran her thumb over the silver embroidery. It was carefully sewn and soft to the touch, and despite the handkerchief looking old, it was still in top-tier condition. “The characters here… They read Fujimoto, don’t they? This belonged to your guardian.”
Yukio nodded. “Yes, it did.”
“I couldn’t possibly accept this,” she answered simply, shaking her head no. “However, let me hold onto it until we’re back at the dorms and I’ll hand-wash it for you. Is that okay?”
“You don’t have to bother, Kamiki-san…”
“It’s my way of thanking you, sensei , for checking up on me,” she interrupted him, determination making its way into her eyes through the heartbreak and loneliness. “And also for looking into my sister’s situation and checking the pulse on my mother back at the facility. I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
He nodded, giving in. “Okay.”
“I’ll take good care of it,” she said, putting it in her pocket next to the magic key that led her to her sister. “It’s me who got it dirty in the first place, anyway.”
After a short moment of silence, Yukio breathed in. “There is something else I think you must know, Kamiki-san…”
“What is it?”
Yukio wasn’t sure if he was even allowed to tell anyone, as it was just a coincidence he ever found out about the matter. However, looking at everything Izumo had been through the past couple of days, he felt it was only right for her to know, even if him telling her about it—or anyone, for that matter—was wrong.
“It concerns Shima Renzou-kun.”
He immediately saw how her body tensed up as soon as she heard the name, and in her face there were a couple of contradicting emotions that she was trying to hide behind a neutral expression. Even if the shrine maiden hadn’t allowed herself to get close to anyone but Noriko, Yukio could still tell that Renzou’s betrayal had caught her off guard and that, deep down, it had hurt her inexplicably.
“What about him?”
He sighed. “I’m not even sure I’m allowed to tell anyone, because so far only Suguro-kun and I know about the situation… But we met with the Myo Dha Sect not so long ago, and Juuzou-san told us that Shima-kun is actually a double agent for the Knights of the True Cross, and that he has been since before enrolling into the Academy.”
She rested her elbows on her lap and hid her face behind her hands, letting out a deep sigh that seemed to come from the core of her being. Yukio couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty for dumping this on her, considering everything else she had to sort out, once her shoulders started to shake. “What am I supposed to do with this information?”
“Whatever you must, Kamiki-san,” he answered simply. “I’m not expecting a certain reaction from you or anything of the sort, I just strongly believe you deserve to know.”
She sighed once again, rubbing her eyes before raising her head. “Thank you for your honesty, sensei . I’ll make sure not to let anyone else know until it’s safe to do so,” she replied, sounding less tense than before. She stood up from her seat and stretched her muscles just as another soft breeze hit them. “Shall we head back?”
“Sure,” he answered, standing up as well. “I’m pretty sure Shiemi-san is worried about you.”
Izumo chuckled, as the two of them began to walk back. “Yeah,” she answered. “About Moriyama, sensei … I have a question.”
“Hm?”
“I know you and her have known each other for a while, because her family runs the Futsumaya shop… She seems to feel very close to you and Okumura-kun, but why are you still so distant with her?”
“I’m… not sure I understand.”
“Your brother is more imprudent than you are, so maybe that is not the best example, but he has already dropped the honorifics with all of us. But you, who have known Moriyama the longest, still follow the formalities,” she explained, walking through the door that led them back inside the hospital that Yukio had opened for her. “I’m sorry if it doesn’t make much sense, but I have been wondering for a while.”
“You’re quite observant, Kamiki-san,” Yukio pointed out, scratching once again the back of his head. “Well, for starters, she is my student. I can’t be over-familiar with her or anyone else, not even my own brother.”
“I get that, but still… I don’t know. To me, it feels like you don’t wanna get too close to her, or anyone else for that matter.”
“Well, that makes two of us, then, doesn’t it?”
Izumo chuckled. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”