Silent Minds
Title: Silent Minds
Pairing: Samezu Kai/Ushigome Soutarou
Rating: PG
Usually Soutarou didn’t spend much time in sick bay. Outside of the occasional work-related incident - or sometimes Kai-related incident - he didn’t usually have any reason to spend time there. For a Starfleet ship the Sky Island was usually pretty quiet, despite the fact that they spent a lot of time in the less well-travelled sectors of space which existed even inside the Alpha and Beta quadrants. That would probably change when they made their way to the Gamma quadrants. He was spending time in sick bay now though and he didn’t plan on leaving any time soon. He squeezed Kai’s hand tightly, wishing he had some way of knowing if Kai even realised he was there.
“Is there any change? At all?” he asked worriedly, but all Doctor Shiraki could do was shake her head and pat him gently on the shoulder. Kai’s expression was calm and he didn’t seem to be in any kind of pain, which Soutarou supposed was a good thing, but he just wouldn’t wake up. It wasn’t just him either; Lt. Tendou occupied one bed, while Umeko Tarou and Rei Hino from the diplomatic section occupied a couple of others. Across the room were a couple of the ship’s counsellors - Lt. Carson and the junior counsellor Kai’d had that food fight with - Hikaru something? - they were both there, as was the quiet chef from Ten Forward. All of them with the same virus that had knocked Kai out. None of them were waking up either. Ryu had only been the first.
***
It was just an average day, when it all started; quiet, with no major crises to deal with in botany and the worst bit of drama from Kai’s lab was Kai running out of coffee and sulking when Soutarou wouldn’t let him have anymore. Ever since that … incident, back when Lt. Sargain had been in charge of the science division, Soutarou had kept a careful eye on the amount of caffeine Kai consumed, not wanting a repeat of that, thank you very much, and in this case Sydney was his willing accomplice, no matter how often Kai called her a traitor for limiting his caffeine intake.
Taking a break for an early lunch, Soutarou swung by the biology lab that Kai and Sydney shared to drag Kai off for lunch.
“But the results are almost done!” Kai protested as Soutarou tugged inexorably on his arm. “Just five more minutes!”
“It’s never just five more minutes with you,” Soutarou replied firmly. “More like two hours. Time to eat, Kai, before you pass out.”
“That happened once,” Kai sulked. “You’ll never let me forget that, will you?”
“No,” Soutarou answered calmly. “Like I said before, you’re not allowed to scare me like that again.”
Kai huffed in annoyance but stopped protesting, and once Soutarou had let go of his arm he slipped it around Soutarou’s waist in a quick hug. “I didn’t mean to worry you, you know.”
“I know.”
Carefully manoeuvring his way through the lunch crowd, Soutarou turned back at the sound of a brief yelp from Kai’s direction, only to find Kai stepping back out of Lt. Tendou’s way, rubbing at the back of his head the way he only did when he was really embarrassed: it looked like he’d bumped into the lieutenant by mistake and didn’t quite know what to do next, whether he should laugh it off or just apologise and move on; for all Kai’s academic smarts his social skills weren’t as well honed. Fortunately the lieutenant just grinned amiably and clapped him on the shoulder before crouching down to pick up his tray.
Kai flushed and bent down to help before making his way over to Soutarou and flopping into the spare chair. “This was a really bad idea,” he muttered, poking at his food unenthusiastically.
“It could be worse,” Soutarou replied thoughtfully. “It could have been the captain. Or the commander.”
Kai winced and sank lower into his chair. “Sure. Rub it in.”
“Sorry.”
They ate in silence, which, while unusual, wasn’t exactly unpleasant, until a clatter from the other side of the room permeated the quiet buzz of the room and every head turned in time to see Lt. Tendou collapsing on top of his companion - Gai something, Soutarou thought his name was - before one of the people clustered around him called for a med team.
“What do you suppose that was about?” Kai asked curiously as they made their way back to their respective labs. “He seemed fine when I bumped into him.”
“Tired, maybe?” Soutarou suggested. It was an open secret that Lt. Tendou wasn’t coping well with the loss of his fiancée and had thrown himself into his work instead. Maybe it had just finally caught up with him.
“Maybe. It’s just weird, you know?”
Soutarou nodded and ran his fingers briefly through Kai’s hair before leaving him at his lab. “Hey!” Kai protested. “Is that all I’m getting?”
Soutarou flushed and looked around guiltily. “We’re in the middle of the corridor,” he pointed out.
“So?” Kai didn’t give him a chance to reply, grabbing hold of his shirt and yanking him forward into a kiss that left him breathless. “Mm, better,” Kai murmured when he finally let go. “I’ll see you later,” he added smugly before he stepped fully into the lab, tossing Soutarou an equally smug wave as he bent over the computer console to study the results he’d been waiting on, shifting his weight so that the back of his shirt slid upwards to display the barest sliver of skin.
Soutarou stumbled over his own feet and cursed Kai for being such a tease. He was going to make Kai pay for that later, that was for certain.
***
“Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked for what felt like the hundredth time. Kai’s forehead was creased in pain and he’d been complaining about headaches all day, to the point where he’d eventually given up trying to work and come home to curl up in bed instead.
“I’m fine,” Kai muttered from under the covers. “I just need my head to stop pounding is all. Computer, what time is it?”
“The time is 2105.”
“Damn. Still another hour before I can take anymore meds. This sucks.”
Soutarou bit his lip and rubbed at what he thought was Kai’s shoulder; it was hard to tell under all the covers Kai had dragged on top of himself. “Maybe it’ll be better in the morning,” he suggested. “When you’ve had some sleep.” He wasn’t so sure it would but he couldn’t just see Kai in this kind of pain and not try to help, even if he was apparently incredibly ineffective at it. And besides, it wasn’t as if Kai had ever been cheerful when he was sick anyway but still… this seemed different.
“If I ever get any sleep,” was the grumbled reply. “Stupid headache.”
The next day, however, Kai did seem much better and Soutarou was able to sigh in relief and put the previous day down to stress and a severe migraine, which, while obviously painful, wasn’t as worrying as Kai actually coming down with something. He headed into his department with no worries on his mind except for wondering whether the treatment on the Rigelian plants was going to prove effective or not.
He kept an ear out, though, for any sign of trouble in Kai’s lab. If something happened, Sydney was sure to call him, of that he was certain.
***
“Your turn,” Kai announced and Soutarou jumped, turning in surprise at the sound of Kai’s voice behind him.
“What?”
“Your turn to be dragged out the lab. Come on, Soutarou, it’s late and I’ve got plans I didn’t get to use yesterday.” The smirk on Kai’s face left no doubt what he meant and Soutarou flushed at the quiet wolf-whistle from somewhere in the room.
“Oh, shut up,” Kai responded easily. “Just because you’re not getting any. Come on, Soutarou. Don’t make me come over there.”
Soutarou shut off his workstation and made a hasty exit before Kai could make good on his threat and drag him forcibly out the room. Anticipation was a steadily growing heat low in his belly and it really wasn’t helped by Kai’s fingers brushing against his as they walked, or by the self-satisfied smirk on Kai’s face. All in all it was promising to be a very interesting evening indeed.
Kai stumbled and tottered sideways, sending Soutarou lurching into the wall with Kai squashed against him and for one brief moment Soutarou thought it was part of the ‘plans’ Kai had mentioned before, that he was planning on starting things right here where everyone could see them, but that was only until he took in the suddenly glazed expression on Kai’s face and all of the anticipation he’d been feeling vanished, replaced by an icy dread. “Kai?” he asked sharply. “Are you alright? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know,” Kai gasped. “Soutarou… I don’t feel so good.”
Damn, damn, damn. Of course it hadn’t just been a migraine, Soutarou cursed himself as he carefully pushed them both away from the wall and got an arm around Kai’s shoulders to keep him upright; Kai had never had migraines before, why would he start now? “Okay,” he said as calmly as he could. “We’ll go to sick bay, alright? Doctor Shiraki can take a look at you.”
When Kai only nodded instead of protesting that he didn’t need to go to sick bay, damn it, and Juri’s a pyscho with that hypospray, Soutarou, Soutarou’s apprehension rocketed up towards, but not quite reaching, panic. This was bad. This was really, really bad. And why did sick bay have to be three levels above them anyway? “The turbolift’s not far,” he said encouragingly. “We’ll be there soon.”
“It’s so loud,” Kai whispered, his free hand pressed tightly against the side of his head. “It’s so loud, Soutarou.”
“What’s so loud?”
“Everything. Everyone.”
Which wasn’t at all coherent and where was a doctor when you needed one? The doors to the turbolift slid shut and Soutarou sighed a little in relief; they were almost there, sick bay was just around the corner from the lift and… Kai slumped at his side, tugging Soutarou’s arm down as he sank to the floor.
“Kai?” he tried, kneeling at Kai’s side and shaking his shoulder gently. “Kai? Kai?” There was no response. Kai was out cold.
***
“It’s a virus,” was all Doctor Shiraki could - or would - tell him. “But it only attacks telepaths; it targets the paracortex - the part of the brain that enables telepathic communication - and their psilosynine
levels.”
“But Kai’s not telepathic,” Soutarou protested. He’d know about it by now if Kai was, he was sure of it.
“Not actively, no,” Juri agreed. “But he carries the DNA. You did know he’s part Betazoid, right?”
Did he? No, not that he… wait a minute. Kai had mentioned a cousin on Betazed once or twice, he’d just never put it together. “He might have mentioned it,” Soutarou admitted. “But it didn’t really come up.”
Juri nodded sympathetically and folded her arms across her chest. “Being an active telepath isn’t necessary for this,” she told him. “Anyone with the potential, latent or not, can fall victim to it.” She looked over at her other patients and sighed. “It probably only took so long with Kai because his abilities are latent instead of active.”
“But he’ll be okay, right?” Soutarou persisted. “You know what it is, you can fix it.”
“It’s not that simple.”
***
Onedera Yuusuke from security stopped by later, checking up on a couple of people, but he lingered for a bit by Kai’s bed, making meaningless small talk while they waited. The Bajoran was one of Kai’s friends outside the labs - which wasn’t usual, as most of the scientists tended to keep their relationships within their own social groups - and the two made a very effective double team when it came to making mischief so it was no wonder Kai’s partner in crime was worried.
“The captain’s turned the ship around,” Yuusuke said eventually, staring at the far wall. “They think something happened on Lt. Tendou’s last away mission so we’re going back there to see what we can dig up.”
“They think it was deliberate?” Soutarou asked in surprise and Yuusuke shrugged.
“No-one else from either of the away teams has been affected and he’s the only telepath that went down to the surface. Considering all the people hit by this are telepaths it’s just a bit too coincidental and the captain takes it personally when someone tries to pull this crap on his people.”
Soutarou nodded slowly; Captain Shishi was highly regarded among his crew, both Starfleet and civilian, for the loyalty he had demonstrated on their behalf time and time again. If there was an answer to be found back on that planet, Captain Shishi would find it.
***
Soutarou didn’t give much thought to the preparations going on around him, or the rumours flying around over the two days it would take to get back to the planet they’d last stopped at. Kai had been unconscious for three days now and showed no sign of waking up, no matter how much Soutarou talked to him, held his hand or stroked his hair. He was only concerned that even at warp nine it would still take two days to get back there, which was another two days of seeing Kai like this.
Yuusuke wasn’t the only person who stopped by, of course. Gai Yuuki had seated himself at Lt. Tendou’s side and wouldn’t be budged, while Domon and Akira kept vigil over Umeko. Other people stopped by in fits and stops for Hikaru, Gouki and Hino-san respectively and Sydney was the most familiar of the people who dropped in to see Kai, but very few of them stayed long. Soutarou didn’t mind; they’d come, that was the important thing and he knew Kai would appreciate it when he woke up, even if he made sarcastic comments about stupid sentimentality.
He just wished they had a solution and hoped desperately that they would find an answer on their return.
***
“It was one of the scientists,” Yuusuke sighed as he flopped down into the spare chair. “He has this thing about Betazoids apparently. He visited Betazed when he was younger, had a bad experience there and it just ate away at him under the surface. Tendou turning up gave him an unpleasant shock but it also gave him the chance to test something he’d been working on, which was apparently more effective than even he expected.”
“There’s an antidote, though, isn’t there?” Soutarou asked anxiously. “He can reverse this.”
Yuusuke smiled grimly. “He’s not been given a choice. He’s helping Doctor Shiraki right now and I think she’s got Doctor Mizuno in there as well. Between them they’ll work this out, it’s just a matter of time.”
And so it proved. Almost a week after he’d collapsed, Kai was blinking up at him blearily and asking him why he looked like hell.
“Long story,” Soutarou told him, squeezing his hand tightly. “I’ll tell you later.”
Pairing: Samezu Kai/Ushigome Soutarou
Rating: PG
Usually Soutarou didn’t spend much time in sick bay. Outside of the occasional work-related incident - or sometimes Kai-related incident - he didn’t usually have any reason to spend time there. For a Starfleet ship the Sky Island was usually pretty quiet, despite the fact that they spent a lot of time in the less well-travelled sectors of space which existed even inside the Alpha and Beta quadrants. That would probably change when they made their way to the Gamma quadrants. He was spending time in sick bay now though and he didn’t plan on leaving any time soon. He squeezed Kai’s hand tightly, wishing he had some way of knowing if Kai even realised he was there.
“Is there any change? At all?” he asked worriedly, but all Doctor Shiraki could do was shake her head and pat him gently on the shoulder. Kai’s expression was calm and he didn’t seem to be in any kind of pain, which Soutarou supposed was a good thing, but he just wouldn’t wake up. It wasn’t just him either; Lt. Tendou occupied one bed, while Umeko Tarou and Rei Hino from the diplomatic section occupied a couple of others. Across the room were a couple of the ship’s counsellors - Lt. Carson and the junior counsellor Kai’d had that food fight with - Hikaru something? - they were both there, as was the quiet chef from Ten Forward. All of them with the same virus that had knocked Kai out. None of them were waking up either. Ryu had only been the first.
***
It was just an average day, when it all started; quiet, with no major crises to deal with in botany and the worst bit of drama from Kai’s lab was Kai running out of coffee and sulking when Soutarou wouldn’t let him have anymore. Ever since that … incident, back when Lt. Sargain had been in charge of the science division, Soutarou had kept a careful eye on the amount of caffeine Kai consumed, not wanting a repeat of that, thank you very much, and in this case Sydney was his willing accomplice, no matter how often Kai called her a traitor for limiting his caffeine intake.
Taking a break for an early lunch, Soutarou swung by the biology lab that Kai and Sydney shared to drag Kai off for lunch.
“But the results are almost done!” Kai protested as Soutarou tugged inexorably on his arm. “Just five more minutes!”
“It’s never just five more minutes with you,” Soutarou replied firmly. “More like two hours. Time to eat, Kai, before you pass out.”
“That happened once,” Kai sulked. “You’ll never let me forget that, will you?”
“No,” Soutarou answered calmly. “Like I said before, you’re not allowed to scare me like that again.”
Kai huffed in annoyance but stopped protesting, and once Soutarou had let go of his arm he slipped it around Soutarou’s waist in a quick hug. “I didn’t mean to worry you, you know.”
“I know.”
Carefully manoeuvring his way through the lunch crowd, Soutarou turned back at the sound of a brief yelp from Kai’s direction, only to find Kai stepping back out of Lt. Tendou’s way, rubbing at the back of his head the way he only did when he was really embarrassed: it looked like he’d bumped into the lieutenant by mistake and didn’t quite know what to do next, whether he should laugh it off or just apologise and move on; for all Kai’s academic smarts his social skills weren’t as well honed. Fortunately the lieutenant just grinned amiably and clapped him on the shoulder before crouching down to pick up his tray.
Kai flushed and bent down to help before making his way over to Soutarou and flopping into the spare chair. “This was a really bad idea,” he muttered, poking at his food unenthusiastically.
“It could be worse,” Soutarou replied thoughtfully. “It could have been the captain. Or the commander.”
Kai winced and sank lower into his chair. “Sure. Rub it in.”
“Sorry.”
They ate in silence, which, while unusual, wasn’t exactly unpleasant, until a clatter from the other side of the room permeated the quiet buzz of the room and every head turned in time to see Lt. Tendou collapsing on top of his companion - Gai something, Soutarou thought his name was - before one of the people clustered around him called for a med team.
“What do you suppose that was about?” Kai asked curiously as they made their way back to their respective labs. “He seemed fine when I bumped into him.”
“Tired, maybe?” Soutarou suggested. It was an open secret that Lt. Tendou wasn’t coping well with the loss of his fiancée and had thrown himself into his work instead. Maybe it had just finally caught up with him.
“Maybe. It’s just weird, you know?”
Soutarou nodded and ran his fingers briefly through Kai’s hair before leaving him at his lab. “Hey!” Kai protested. “Is that all I’m getting?”
Soutarou flushed and looked around guiltily. “We’re in the middle of the corridor,” he pointed out.
“So?” Kai didn’t give him a chance to reply, grabbing hold of his shirt and yanking him forward into a kiss that left him breathless. “Mm, better,” Kai murmured when he finally let go. “I’ll see you later,” he added smugly before he stepped fully into the lab, tossing Soutarou an equally smug wave as he bent over the computer console to study the results he’d been waiting on, shifting his weight so that the back of his shirt slid upwards to display the barest sliver of skin.
Soutarou stumbled over his own feet and cursed Kai for being such a tease. He was going to make Kai pay for that later, that was for certain.
***
“Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked for what felt like the hundredth time. Kai’s forehead was creased in pain and he’d been complaining about headaches all day, to the point where he’d eventually given up trying to work and come home to curl up in bed instead.
“I’m fine,” Kai muttered from under the covers. “I just need my head to stop pounding is all. Computer, what time is it?”
“The time is 2105.”
“Damn. Still another hour before I can take anymore meds. This sucks.”
Soutarou bit his lip and rubbed at what he thought was Kai’s shoulder; it was hard to tell under all the covers Kai had dragged on top of himself. “Maybe it’ll be better in the morning,” he suggested. “When you’ve had some sleep.” He wasn’t so sure it would but he couldn’t just see Kai in this kind of pain and not try to help, even if he was apparently incredibly ineffective at it. And besides, it wasn’t as if Kai had ever been cheerful when he was sick anyway but still… this seemed different.
“If I ever get any sleep,” was the grumbled reply. “Stupid headache.”
The next day, however, Kai did seem much better and Soutarou was able to sigh in relief and put the previous day down to stress and a severe migraine, which, while obviously painful, wasn’t as worrying as Kai actually coming down with something. He headed into his department with no worries on his mind except for wondering whether the treatment on the Rigelian plants was going to prove effective or not.
He kept an ear out, though, for any sign of trouble in Kai’s lab. If something happened, Sydney was sure to call him, of that he was certain.
***
“Your turn,” Kai announced and Soutarou jumped, turning in surprise at the sound of Kai’s voice behind him.
“What?”
“Your turn to be dragged out the lab. Come on, Soutarou, it’s late and I’ve got plans I didn’t get to use yesterday.” The smirk on Kai’s face left no doubt what he meant and Soutarou flushed at the quiet wolf-whistle from somewhere in the room.
“Oh, shut up,” Kai responded easily. “Just because you’re not getting any. Come on, Soutarou. Don’t make me come over there.”
Soutarou shut off his workstation and made a hasty exit before Kai could make good on his threat and drag him forcibly out the room. Anticipation was a steadily growing heat low in his belly and it really wasn’t helped by Kai’s fingers brushing against his as they walked, or by the self-satisfied smirk on Kai’s face. All in all it was promising to be a very interesting evening indeed.
Kai stumbled and tottered sideways, sending Soutarou lurching into the wall with Kai squashed against him and for one brief moment Soutarou thought it was part of the ‘plans’ Kai had mentioned before, that he was planning on starting things right here where everyone could see them, but that was only until he took in the suddenly glazed expression on Kai’s face and all of the anticipation he’d been feeling vanished, replaced by an icy dread. “Kai?” he asked sharply. “Are you alright? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know,” Kai gasped. “Soutarou… I don’t feel so good.”
Damn, damn, damn. Of course it hadn’t just been a migraine, Soutarou cursed himself as he carefully pushed them both away from the wall and got an arm around Kai’s shoulders to keep him upright; Kai had never had migraines before, why would he start now? “Okay,” he said as calmly as he could. “We’ll go to sick bay, alright? Doctor Shiraki can take a look at you.”
When Kai only nodded instead of protesting that he didn’t need to go to sick bay, damn it, and Juri’s a pyscho with that hypospray, Soutarou, Soutarou’s apprehension rocketed up towards, but not quite reaching, panic. This was bad. This was really, really bad. And why did sick bay have to be three levels above them anyway? “The turbolift’s not far,” he said encouragingly. “We’ll be there soon.”
“It’s so loud,” Kai whispered, his free hand pressed tightly against the side of his head. “It’s so loud, Soutarou.”
“What’s so loud?”
“Everything. Everyone.”
Which wasn’t at all coherent and where was a doctor when you needed one? The doors to the turbolift slid shut and Soutarou sighed a little in relief; they were almost there, sick bay was just around the corner from the lift and… Kai slumped at his side, tugging Soutarou’s arm down as he sank to the floor.
“Kai?” he tried, kneeling at Kai’s side and shaking his shoulder gently. “Kai? Kai?” There was no response. Kai was out cold.
***
“It’s a virus,” was all Doctor Shiraki could - or would - tell him. “But it only attacks telepaths; it targets the paracortex - the part of the brain that enables telepathic communication - and their psilosynine
levels.”
“But Kai’s not telepathic,” Soutarou protested. He’d know about it by now if Kai was, he was sure of it.
“Not actively, no,” Juri agreed. “But he carries the DNA. You did know he’s part Betazoid, right?”
Did he? No, not that he… wait a minute. Kai had mentioned a cousin on Betazed once or twice, he’d just never put it together. “He might have mentioned it,” Soutarou admitted. “But it didn’t really come up.”
Juri nodded sympathetically and folded her arms across her chest. “Being an active telepath isn’t necessary for this,” she told him. “Anyone with the potential, latent or not, can fall victim to it.” She looked over at her other patients and sighed. “It probably only took so long with Kai because his abilities are latent instead of active.”
“But he’ll be okay, right?” Soutarou persisted. “You know what it is, you can fix it.”
“It’s not that simple.”
***
Onedera Yuusuke from security stopped by later, checking up on a couple of people, but he lingered for a bit by Kai’s bed, making meaningless small talk while they waited. The Bajoran was one of Kai’s friends outside the labs - which wasn’t usual, as most of the scientists tended to keep their relationships within their own social groups - and the two made a very effective double team when it came to making mischief so it was no wonder Kai’s partner in crime was worried.
“The captain’s turned the ship around,” Yuusuke said eventually, staring at the far wall. “They think something happened on Lt. Tendou’s last away mission so we’re going back there to see what we can dig up.”
“They think it was deliberate?” Soutarou asked in surprise and Yuusuke shrugged.
“No-one else from either of the away teams has been affected and he’s the only telepath that went down to the surface. Considering all the people hit by this are telepaths it’s just a bit too coincidental and the captain takes it personally when someone tries to pull this crap on his people.”
Soutarou nodded slowly; Captain Shishi was highly regarded among his crew, both Starfleet and civilian, for the loyalty he had demonstrated on their behalf time and time again. If there was an answer to be found back on that planet, Captain Shishi would find it.
***
Soutarou didn’t give much thought to the preparations going on around him, or the rumours flying around over the two days it would take to get back to the planet they’d last stopped at. Kai had been unconscious for three days now and showed no sign of waking up, no matter how much Soutarou talked to him, held his hand or stroked his hair. He was only concerned that even at warp nine it would still take two days to get back there, which was another two days of seeing Kai like this.
Yuusuke wasn’t the only person who stopped by, of course. Gai Yuuki had seated himself at Lt. Tendou’s side and wouldn’t be budged, while Domon and Akira kept vigil over Umeko. Other people stopped by in fits and stops for Hikaru, Gouki and Hino-san respectively and Sydney was the most familiar of the people who dropped in to see Kai, but very few of them stayed long. Soutarou didn’t mind; they’d come, that was the important thing and he knew Kai would appreciate it when he woke up, even if he made sarcastic comments about stupid sentimentality.
He just wished they had a solution and hoped desperately that they would find an answer on their return.
***
“It was one of the scientists,” Yuusuke sighed as he flopped down into the spare chair. “He has this thing about Betazoids apparently. He visited Betazed when he was younger, had a bad experience there and it just ate away at him under the surface. Tendou turning up gave him an unpleasant shock but it also gave him the chance to test something he’d been working on, which was apparently more effective than even he expected.”
“There’s an antidote, though, isn’t there?” Soutarou asked anxiously. “He can reverse this.”
Yuusuke smiled grimly. “He’s not been given a choice. He’s helping Doctor Shiraki right now and I think she’s got Doctor Mizuno in there as well. Between them they’ll work this out, it’s just a matter of time.”
And so it proved. Almost a week after he’d collapsed, Kai was blinking up at him blearily and asking him why he looked like hell.
“Long story,” Soutarou told him, squeezing his hand tightly. “I’ll tell you later.”