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His heart was not supposed to beat as loud, not as frantic as it did, Kaito thought dully, but there wasn’t anything he could possibly do to get it back under control. His chest groaned. He could feel tremors running down his spine, all the exhaustion grabbing at his muscles until there was nothing left but the burning sensation in his legs and the pain in his shoulders. The duel disk he wielded pulled at his wrist, hard and cold, biting through the sturdy fabric of his training suit and into his skin. Just like a metal chain.
Break free, Kaito. All you have to do is overcome the limits of your body. You’re stronger than the others. You’re stronger than that.
With sheer willpower, Kaito forced some air into his lungs, fighting to stay conscious. The ground beneath him swayed. Blue tiles. Icy. Unyielding. He was quite familiar with them by now. Forget the floor! Just forget where you are. Focus! You got a job to do. But the fire in his legs was still there. The cut on his thigh, he had received earlier in this training session, throbbed. Somewhere on his neck there was blood slowly dripping under the collar of the suit. You've been through worse, he told himself, but fact was he couldn't remember ever feeling so exhausted. Pull yourself together, Kaito! There are still other tests to come. They will be more difficult. More brutal. Haruto is counting on you!
Haruto! The thought of his little brother shot through him like an electric shock. Tense, Kaito pressed his teeth together, clenching the fists at his sides. In the fog of dizziness and debility that tore at him, the pain in his skull was suddenly a clear, sharp sensation that almost knocked him off his feet. With a scream, Kaito straightened up, letting his instincts take over his body. Somewhere in a distant part of his mind he was aware that his throat was aching, that he should breathe, but the fear of choking was just a fleeting shadow. His surroundings were slowly getting blurry. He could barely make out Chris at the other end of the hall. Chris. His mentor’s long hair had come loose from the familiar ponytail, fluttering impetuously behind his back along with his lab coat, horrific and beautiful at the same time, and the look he gave him made Kaito's knees go weak.
“That's it, Kaito. That’s all I need."
The next thing Kaito noticed when he woke up was the cold surface of a tabletop under his cheek and the constant clacking of fingers on a keyboard. He blinked dazedly and a weak groan slipped past his lips. God why was his throat so dry?
The typing stopped, only for a split second. With some difficulty, Kaito managed to move his head, trying his best to orientate himself. Chris sat next to him, the glow of the computer screen bathing his delicate appearance in a harsh blue light and the confusing flicker of numbers and diagrams that immediately caused a violent headache to explode behind Kaito's forehead. He hastily squinted his eyes shut.
Everything felt incredibly heavy, every muscle, every breath, even the ridiculous weight of the clothes on his body seemed to crush him. The cuts on his face prickled in the cool air of the room while he lay there motionless, but it was a familiar chemical prickle. Disinfectant, Kaito realized. Then the clacking of the keyboard subsided again, longer this time, and when he opened his eyes again, Chris had turned to him. The light from the screen wasn't quite as bright now. The warm gleam in his mentor's eyes, that he had caught right before he had passed out however, was still there.
“Well done, Kaito. That was exactly the kind of energy I was referring to. I knew you would be able to find it. "
The memory of what exactly had happened was a mess in Kaito's mind. Too many diffuse impressions that he couldn’t grasp because pain and exhaustion had burned through his body until he could no longer think clearly, but despite all that tiredness, he felt a shy smile twitching in the corners of his mouth. Weakly, Kaito lifted his head up.
"Lay down," Chris ordered quietly. As he gently pushed him back down on the table, Kaito caught a glimpse of the heavy white fabric of the coat that covered him, easing the light trembling of his limbs.
"I have to evaluate some of the data we have gathered," Chris said. "And we still need a few more tests."
Even more tests that would push him to his limits. Even more scrapes and bruises and the frantic echo of his racing heartbeat in his chest.
That's it, Kaito. That’s all I need.
But he would get through this. If he could help Haruto with that. If it made Chris feel proud. Then he would take it.
"But you can rest a little until I've finished."
"Okay," Kaito muttered weakly.
Chris had turned his face back to the endless row of numbers on the monitor and in a brief, drunken moment of silly embarrassment, Kaito carefully moved his hand over to him. For a split second Chris just stared at him. Then he wordlessly slipped his fingers between Kaito‘s. The silence soon gave way to the rhythmic clacking of the keyboard again, just a little slower now. Kaito obediently closed his eyes. An absurd, persistent grin hung in the corner of his mouth and as darkness washed over him this time, he felt warm and strangely comfortable under Chris‘ heavy coat.