Chapter Text
Beep
Beep
Beep
The sound was irritating, and something was squeezing his arm. Kiryu Kazuma tried to open his eyes to see what was happening, but his eyelids were too heavy. He took a breath but even that felt difficult.
Where was he, anyway? He took another shallow breath. The air smelled like stale air conditioning and rubbing alcohol. The last time he’d smelled that was… oh, the hospital. That made sense.
The pain he felt was nothing new, although it was much duller than usual. It was the grogginess that was strong. So overwhelmingly strong that he couldn’t move so much as a finger. Was it medication, or was it the toll of everything he’d been doing lately? He couldn’t concentrate. His brain was too foggy.
From that hazy darkness, Kiryu heard a sigh. He wasn’t alone. Once more, he tried to see what was going on and couldn’t. He was too weak to move, much less fight off whoever was there, so instead he listened. The beeping had stopped, and Kiryu heard what he thought was a page turning.
With effort, he stayed on the edge of sleep, trying to strain his ears for anything that would help him understand what was going on. After several minutes, the only thing he’d heard was a yawn. At the very least, whoever was with him didn’t sound like they were in a hurry to cause him harm. With that small comfort, Kiryu fell back into the darkness.
~ ~ ~
Kiryu slept for what felt like a very long time. Slowly, he became aware of approaching footsteps. He tried to look, but it was still too difficult to move his eyelids.
“Have you been here this whole time?” A gravelly voice asked. Nanba. Was Nanba talking to him?
“So what? Somebody’s got to,” growled another familiar voice. It couldn’t be.
“Alright, well, you should at least go get something to eat. You look sickly pale,” Nanba said. Always the caretaker, Kiryu thought.
“I always look like this, ya jackass!”
There was no longer any doubt in Kiryu’s mind as to who was sitting next to him. If he could only wake up just a little more.
Nanba didn’t respond.
Another sigh. “Fine, I’ll be right back,” said the voice of Majima Goro. “Don’t leave him alone, Former Nurse.”
That last part sounded like a warning. There was a shuffling of chairs and a click of footsteps that faded into the distance.
The next voice was Nanba, from his other side. “Don’t worry, Kiryu-san. No one’s going to leave you alone, especially not your guard dog,” he said. “Tch, and he calls me a jackass? I’ve been involved in four fights with that man, and I don’t think he even knows my name. Five fights if you count the doctor he tried to punch yesterday.”
Kiryu wished he could reply, but he was still in that dull, half-consciousness that wouldn’t let him move. Nanba fell silent, which was disappointing. Some more information would have been nice. It was a comfort at least, knowing that people were watching his back. People who mattered to him. It meant he could let his guard down. It meant he could sleep.