It took the girl a moment to realize she had no idea where she was.
A white ceiling. Her eyes settled on the thin blanket, almost as white, draped over her where she lay in bed. An astringent smell, like disinfectant, filled the room. There was also a young man in the room wearing a turquoise uniform.
Huh…?
Upon waking up, Kaguya Shinohara promptly cocked her head, confused. She could have sworn she had been somewhere fun, somewhere amazing. What was she doing in this bed?
Wait, where am I…?
She took a slow, careful look around. The young man in the turquoise uniform was staring at her in shock. He seemed astonished. Kaguya wasn’t sure how to respond.
After all, she had only just woken up. Her thoughts were still in a jumble. It felt like there was a fog hanging over her head.
Part of Kaguya realized she must have still been half asleep. She felt like you do when you wake up in the morning after sleeping for too long and the blood won’t circulate fully to your head.
But those bluish eyes were staring straight at her. Kaguya was still trying to shake the dust out of her mind when the young man with the silver hair spoke hesitantly.
“Kaguya…?”
It took her a moment to realize that this was her own name. She then remembered the name of the young man as well.
“Captain…Azuma…?”
Her lips felt like they were operating separately from the rest of her body. After saying his name, Kaguya finally registered the situation she was in.
She was in a hospital room. At Headquarters. And the young man standing before her was one of her colleagues from Charon. Yuuri Azuma.
The boy suddenly skyrocketed in resolution, eventually materializing into a solid concept in her mind. From a theoretical sign to a flesh-and-blood comrade. One whom she had fought with, side by side.
“What…what in the world is going on? Why are you staring at me like that?” she asked him.
“Y-you don’t remember what happened to you?”
Before she could ask what he meant, it all started to come back to her. The last thing she could remember was fighting a hero. And then she had lost consciousness. She had collapsed after fighting heroes before. Perhaps this had been something similar.
Satisfied with that explanation for now, Kaguya put on her biggest smile and said nothing.
“Kaguya… Do you know what day it is?”
“What day?” Kaguya cocked her head to the side. It was early July, wasn’t it? The fifth, maybe? “July fifth, right? But why are you asking me that?”
Azuma furrowed his brow uneasily. “Kaguya…,” he said gently. “It’s already August. It’s the first week of August. It’s been nearly a month.”
“What?”
That didn’t make any sense. Did he just say August?
“It’s August…? Today? Now?”
“Do you remember the last thing that you were doing?”
“Th-the last thing that I was doing was fighting a hero, wasn’t it…? If I remember right, you pinned the hero down for me, like you always do. And then I entered the hero’s psyche…,” Kaguya said, listing the events as they occurred to her.
But that was where she hit a wall. She couldn’t remember anything after connecting with the hero. No, that wasn’t entirely true—there was something she could still recall.
“And then…I think I entered some kind of darkness…”
Kaguya recoiled slightly in fear. After that, there was nothing. Apparently, she had lost consciousness. There were no further memories to be found.
But what about the hero?
“H-how long have I—?!”
“A whole month. You’ve, um…been unconscious.”
Azuma explained how she had been in a coma.
But why…?
Not just unconscious but fully comatose. Kaguya didn’t think she had been in poor health beforehand, physically or mentally.
“I’m sorry for worrying you…,” she told Azuma.
“It’s fine. More importantly, how do you feel? It will probably be hard to move at first, but other than that?”
Kaguya shook her head, indicating she was okay. He was right—she could barely move her body. But that was natural, considering how long it had been since she had used any of her muscles.
“What about the others?” Kaguya managed to croak out. Where were they? Koyuki, Rindou, Haru, Mari, and the Director? For some reason, she wanted them there right now. “Where is everyone?”
She had barely managed to get the words out when the door to the hospital room slid open.
“Speaking of which, I forgot to mention—,” Koyuki said, already mid-sentence as she entered the room.
“What…?” Koyuki froze in obvious shock, the door still half open. Kaguya waved. “Kaguya…?!?!”
Koyuki’s voice was so loud it bounced off the walls. Kaguya didn’t even have enough time to register the shock before the other members of Charon came rushing back into the room.
Kaguya gasped as their familiar faces became real once again—she could physically feel the change.
“G-good morning, every—”
“Waaahhh!!”
“?!”
Kaguya was thrust backward into her bed as Mari catapulted into her arms. She clung to Kaguya, crying in a way that Kaguya had never seen her cry before. Mari could be a little childish at times but never so impetuous as this. Kaguya was flabbergasted.
“M-Mari, what’s gotten into you?”
“Into me?!” Mari cried unreasonably. “There was no one left… I was all alone…”
“No one left? What do you mean?”
Kaguya glanced toward Azuma for help. Azuma moved with a start, forcibly detaching Mari from her. Mari meekly allowed herself to be pulled away. Kaguya could see tears welling up in Mari’s eyes.
Azuma took Mari’s place, stepping in front of Kaguya.
“Warrant Officer Ezakura, Kaguya has only just come out of her coma.”
“O-of course. I’m sorry…”
Mari reluctantly gave Kaguya breathing room. Before she could get away, however, Kaguya spoke up to stop her.
“Mari, what did you mean earlier, when you said you were all alone?”
“Oh…!” Mari covered her mouth as if realizing she had said something she shouldn’t have.
An uncomfortable silence ensued. Something was wrong. Kaguya could feel some sort of tightness building in her chest.
There was only Mari and her colleagues from Charon in the room right now. Someone was missing. Not that Kaguya would expect the Director to come visit her in the hospital, Kaguya knew she could be standoffish about such things. But still…
“Where is the Director…?”
Once the words left Kaguya’s mouth, the air in the hospital room seemed to freeze.
Something was clearly amiss. At the mention of the Director’s name, several of the others averted their eyes, unsure of where to look. The expression on Azuma’s face as he stood in front of her was visibly pained.
“Kaguya, the truth is…,” Azuma said, his voice soft with concern. His face was contorted in pain, and he seemed worried about what effect his words would have on her. “The Director is already…”
Kaguya stopped hearing what he was saying halfway through. The Director was dead—not only that but she had been stabbed through the throat with a Chronos and was found with a gaping hole in the middle of her forehead.
“B-but…,” Kaguya said, finally managing to string together her words. “How could something like that happen? An accident? It was an accident, right? What did the Bureau say?”
“They’re calling it a suicide.”
“That’s not possi—hurk!”
Kaguya wretched harshly, the sudden strain on her vocal cords having apparently been too great.
There was no way the Director could have wounded herself twice if it had just been an accident. As for suicide, regardless of which wound she caused first, the throat or the forehead, she would not have had enough strength left to cause the second.
It had obviously been murder.
Kaguya was in so much shock that she didn’t even cry. Maybe it just didn’t feel real yet; Kaguya’s boss, someone she had spent the last two years with, was suddenly gone.
“In any case,” Koyuki said gently as she rubbed Kaguya’s back, “now isn’t the time for this conversation. You’re probably going to need a lot of rehabilitation. You should take your time.”
“You’re right… I’m sorry.”
Azuma looked uncomfortable. The atmosphere in the hospital room felt strange and dour. Kaguya was still having trouble accepting the situation.
Ah…speaking of which…
Suddenly remembering something, Kaguya began scribbling across a notepad as she pressed a hand to her throat. The battles with the heroes. These were very important. What had they been doing while she was gone?
“Wh-what about the battles with the heroes?”
“…”
There were many things that question could mean, and Azuma registered them all.
“Things have returned to normal,” he said, keeping his face neutral, as if they were just making small talk. “Back to how they were before you came here. We’re back to just defeating the heroes again. I know you must not be happy to hear that.”
Kaguya looked disappointed, as expected. “No, I’m sorry. I know it’s the only way.”
There was nothing Azuma could say in response. It was the truth, after all.
Kaguya’s eyes were downcast. She lifted her face again and turned toward Azuma, cocking her head slightly. “You know, it’s kind of funny… Seeing that expression on your face.”
“This expression? What do you mean?”
“I guess you’ve changed. You used to insist that heroes were nothing but monsters.”
“Oh…” Azuma felt oddly wistful. Come to think of it, there had been a time when he had thought that way. “You must have rubbed off on me, I guess.”
“I have? On you?”
“Is that so hard to believe?”
There was a mischievous twinkle in Kaguya’s eye. Azuma waved his hand in the air dismissively.
“You can be very adorable when you want to be, you know that, Captain Azuma?”
“You’ve just woken up. Stop babbling and get some rest.”
“Rest is the last thing I need. I’ve been asleep for a whole month. If anything, it’s about time I got out of bed and got some work done.”
Her attitude made Azuma uneasy.
“There’s no need to overdo things…”
“Overdo things? Who’s overdoing things?” Kaguya said, smiling like normal. “I’m just trying to get back in the saddle. When have I ever not tried to save one of the people inside the heroes?”
Never. Not as far as Azuma knew. Even when it was impossible, she had still given it a try. Which was precisely what was making Azuma feel so uneasy right now.
Someone who didn’t know when to quit was sure to break eventually. Break into so many pieces that there would be no coming back.