Chapter Text
Dr. Sayaka Igarashi's black doll shoes tapped the hard polished floor as she marched down the hall. Her long violet hair tied into a one-sided ponytail bounced lightly over the small of her back while she moved. Her blue blouse and pressed black slacks looked unwrinkled and crisp, as if she hadn't been working for the past nine hours. She was holding a clip board that read her new patient's information and she had flipped over it so many times already that everything was permanently engraved into her mind.
Name: Seiji Takahashi
Age: 26
Sex: Male
Diagnosis: Severe Sociopathy — (differing in sense of right and wrong from the average person)
Seiji Takahashi was the youngest of four siblings, each sibling only a year apart in age. Yui, the only sister, was the oldest at 29, Shoji, the oldest brother, was 28, and Ryu, the biggest, was 27.
Although Seiji was the 'baby' so to speak, he was the one calling the shots. His older siblings loved him in a dangerously dependent way. Sayaka suspected it had to do with their twisted sense of duty to protect the youngest sibling. This gave Seiji an extreme sense of entitlement that easily went to his head. It was Seiji who turned the siblings against their mother and started them on the massive killing spree across the country. Seiji Takahashi was dangerous. They all were. Which was why Sayaka was their doctor.
The young doctor stepped down the cement stairs and moved to the security desk placed in front of a shadowed metal door. The dangling florescent light hanging from the ceiling danced carelessly with her movement. It flickered as if it was threatening to blow out and leave Sayaka alone in the dark with the security guard.
Sayaka held out her badge to show the guard she was a doctor. She did this pointless action everyday for the past three years. She was literally the only doctor in the entire hospital qualified to work with the patients in the restricted area. It's not like there were a bunch of people going back and forth. The only ones allowed through this door were Sayaka, certain select guards, and the dean of the hospital. You'd think by now it wouldn't be necessary for her to show her ID, but protocol was protocol, she supposed.
The guard didn't look up from his book as she buzzed in Sayaka. The door slowly opened and as soon as Sayaka stepped inside, it slammed behind her, leaving the doctor with nothing but the echo of metal ringing melodically in the dark hallway.
She was now in the restricted area of the hospital. It was the lowest floor hidden away from the other less dangerous levels of the hospital. Dr. Igarashi knew this part of 'Infinity Mental Institution' better than she knew her own home. Her specialty was usually working with the most ruthless cases. So basically… everyone in the restricted area.
Upstairs were the less severe cases. Sure, the diagnoses could be the same; phobias, anxieties, anger issues, and the likes. But the actions resulting from those disorders were what placed you either in the upper level, with a soft bed and TV time, or here behind a thick bullet proof glass in an empty room with only a mattressless 'bed' and tin toilet. (They tried giving the high risk patients mattresses but too many would use the seams as weapons to strangle guards who cleaned their rooms.)
Dr. Igarashi's average day would be spent dealing with murders, rapists, and…
She stopped in front of Seiji Takahashi's confinement and stared through the glass at the handsome dark-haired man laying casually in bed.
Cannibals.
Sayaka pressed the intercom button that allowed them to communicate before sitting down in the chair provided for her in front of the glass.
"Good evening. My name is—"
"I know who you are," Seiji said without moving. He was laying with his arms crossed behind his head and his eyes closed. "My doctor... Igarashi, I believe your name is." He was wearing all white. White pants with a plain white tee. It was the same intensely glaring white as the lightly padded room the cannibal was locked in.
Sayaka briefly glanced down at her blouse and black slacks. She was glad that she never opted to wear her white lab coat. "Yes, you're correct. I'm your doctor. But you can call me Sayaka." She offered a formal smile.
Seiji turned his head just slightly to get a good look at his doctor. His eyes widened and he seemed a bit surprised. "Aren't you a little young to be a doctor?" He spoke smoothly, as if completely unaware of being caged like an animal.
Sayaka's practiced smile didn't waver. She answered the question just as smoothly. "Yes, I'm very young," she laughed lightly. "19 years old. But I assure you I'm completely qualified to help you."
Seiji whistled, impressed. "You must be if you're talking to someone like me." He said 'someone like me' with an unmistakable boast of pride, as if he were a force to be reckoned with. And Sayaka would let him believe that he was. "I imagine you're one of the best." Because surely only the best doctors could handle him.
Sayaka pulled out her pen and wrote Seiji's name, the date, and time on a clean sheet of paper. She held the clipboard over her elegantly crossed legs. "I would consider myself pretty good," she admitted, then waved off the compliment with her hand. "What do you mean 'someone like you,'?" she transitioned smoothly. "Do you feel like you're different from the rest?"
Seiji chuckled. "Well, look where I am. I must be." He was still laying in the same position.
"You think you're here because you're different."
"Aren't I?"
Sayaka kept her face unreadable as she wrote down a quick note of how the patient may feel misunderstood. Not uncommon. Most people felt that they weren't understood. Which was probably true. After all, how much could you really know someone without walking in their shoes? Sayaka knew firsthand that the most put together and successful person could also be the most broken.
A loud roar of thunder crashed outside and the lights flickered from the raging storm.
"Everyone is a little different," Sayaka spoke over the rumbling. "Even me."
Seiji turned to his side and rested his cheek on the palm of his hand. "Yeah, but the difference is that you're on that side of the glass," he pointed out.
Sayaka leaned forward ever so slightly. "Why do you think that is?"
The patient shrugged. "You didn't piss off the wrong people."
"And you did?"
Seiji nodded. "I did."
"How?" Sayaka knew how, but she needed to see if Seiji could comprehend that his actions were immoral or if his mind would unconsciously whip up an excuse to justify them. His file certainly indicated that he couldn't distinguish between right and wrong, but the young doctor needed to see that for herself.
"You know how."
"I do. But I'd like to hear your side."
"My side?"
It was Sayaka's turn to nod. "Yes. Everyone has their own side."
"Everyone." Seiji moved to a sitting position and bore his eyes into Sayaka's. "Everyone is different. Everyone has a side." The cannibal was no longer the careless man that Sayaka was talking to before. His once handsome face twisted into something between a smile and a snarl. He looked, for the first time that day, like a killer. "Do I seem like everyone to you?"
"You don't like being compared to everyone else," Sayaka stated, leaning back on her seat. "You want to be different."
Seiji's voice was meticulous and he spoke in a dusky whisper. "Don't characterize me." The ominous thunder rumbling above them accentuated his unspoken threat.
Sayaka's mind was running a mile a minute with theories and analysis. Seiji was allowing Sayaka to see who he really was, but the young doctor had to be careful. If she pushed her patient too far she'd close him up during future appointments. "Tell me about your mother. I read that she was pretty close to you."
Seiji was stagnant for a few moments, then he suddenly erupted in joyous laughter. His evil demeanor washed away in the unexpected sound. "You're really something, doctor." He continued laughing at Sayaka's unintended joke. "I'm pretty impressed. And you're only 19? A prodigy then. Your parents must be proud."
Sayaka winced at the mention of her parents but cleared her throat to hide the action. Her patient didn't seem to notice as he kept talking.
Seiji's eyes glazed over in memory. "She did always say I was her favorite."
Sayaka wrote a note to remind herself to pick up milk after work. She was trying appear slightly puzzled since she knew Seiji needed to feel as if he were a complicated soul the young doctor just couldn't figure out. To his credit, Sayaka still was a little unsure about everything that went on in the cannibal's mind.
"She died though." Seiji titled his chin up in a small attempt to look at what his doctor was writing. "It does say in that?"
His files did in fact say she died. But it was how she died that disturbed Sayaka. "Yes," she answered.
"Does it say how?" Seiji was sitting up straighter now, obviously excited. "Does it say how she died?"
Sayaka kept her cool, but on the inside her heart was beginning to speed up. "Yes."
Seiji's expression twisted into something cruel and monstrous as he smiled. "It was my idea. My siblings thought it was brilliant." His voiced picked up like a child bragging about getting an A on his report card. "She tasted so sweet."
Sayaka nodded, pretending not to care about the sudden shift in mood. As if their decision to eat their mother was a perfectly logical one. "And so she was the first?"
Seiji's dark expression faded away and he looked bored. "Of many," he finished. "But they died faster." Then he looked at the young doctor. He noticed Sayaka was a very attractive woman. Long dark strands of violet hair that ran softly to the smooth expanse of her back, her skin looking so soft and lovely, and her eyes tiptoeing between an entrancing shade of purple and black.
"I'd want to savor you though, doctor." Seiji snaked his way over to the glass and made sure to look Sayaka in the eyes as he slowly licked the surface of the glass. "I suspect you taste as sweet as you look."
Sayaka stood up. This session was over. Once a patient started to act out Sayaka would refuse to reward the behavior by entertaining them. The best course of action was to ignore them and come back once they've calmed down.
"I'll see you in a few days, Seiji." Sayaka lightly smiled then turned to walk away. As she was leaving she heard Mr. Takahashi whisper something about tasting the blood off Sayaka's neck.
The doctor quickly made her way back to the main floor and then collapsed against the wall. She was exhausted. She arrived at work extremely early that morning to catch up on the Takahashi siblings' paperwork and her session with Seiji lasted much longer than she expected. Thank the stars it was Friday... She really needed a relaxing weekend of baths and books to get her mind off her new patient. She certainly hoped talking to the other three siblings wouldn't be this much trouble. She hoped. But she knew it would mostly likely be just as stressful.
"Sayaka! It's the end of the day. Why are you still here?" Doctor Yumeko Jabami lightly nudged the violet-haired doctor with her shoulder. Yumeko was a young doctor who could be a bit of a flirt sometimes, but Sayaka kind of liked her because behind all that seemingly inscrutable flirtatious exterior was a sweetheart.
A bolt of lightning crashed and the rain pounded mercilessly against the hospital building.
"I had a new patient today." Sayaka smiled up at the doctor, attempting to appear friendly. She knew that Yumeko had liked her for quite a while and it made her feel a little guilty sometimes. "I guess I lost track of time," she admitted.
Yumeko chuckled sweetly. "That sounds like you!" She paused for a moment and Sayaka knew what was coming next. Yumeko was about to ask her out again. And Sayaka would be forced to decline… again. "Well… It's Friday night, Sayaka! I suppose you don't have anything planned out for this weekend?"
Sayaka cringed. It's not that she wouldn't want to give Yumeko a shot, but it's just that she didn't think it would be a good idea to date someone she worked with. More importantly… Sayaka had a rule about getting too close to anyone. Starting serious relationships with people was not something she did.
"Actually, I have a lot of errands to run so I should go," Sayaka quickly interrupted before Yumeko had a chance fully to ask her out. "Before the storm gets any worse, anyway." As if on cue, another bolt of lightning struck.
Yumeko was blushing, but the bashful smile on her face was as big as ever. "You're right! Well, I'll see you on Monday then," she called, but Sayaka was already out the front door.
Heavy raindrops pelted the doctor's unguarded head as she jogged to her car. She quickly opened the door and retreated inside. Her car was small and old. Although she was a great doctor, she was pretty cheap. She owned a standard car and lived in a standard house in a standard neighborhood. Everything she owned was either something she bought used or on sale. Her life was not filled with excitement or fun. It was boring and every day was usually exactly like the last.
But she loved every second of her boring life. She liked not having to worry about surprises and she adored waking up to the same routine. It gave her life order and structure. But most importantly it made her feel in control.
Sayaka turned the key and the engine revved up for a few seconds before it stopped. "Come on, not now," she mumbled. She didn't want to ask Yumeko for a ride home again. Not after she practically ran away from her date invite. She tried again and this time the car started.
Sayaka let out a relieved sigh. She pulled out the parking lot and started driving home.
The storm had gotten worse in the forty-five minutes she was driving. Sayaka had to drive extra slow in order to keep the car from gliding over the water and veering off the road. Her windshield wipers were on the fastest setting and yet she still had to lean forward and squint her eyes just to see a few feet in front of her. She thought about pulling over and waiting out the storm but decided against it since her house was now just down the street.
Lightening crashed again, temporarily blinding her. Sayaka blinked a few times to regain her eyesight and when she did, she saw a lifeless form laying in the middle of the street.
Sayaka cursed and jerked the steering wheel to the side, making the car hydroplane over the water and slam into a fire hydrant.
Water sprayed all over the front of the car, mixing in with the pouring rain. Sayaka's windshield wipers were still going and the young doctor forcefully pushed the airbag down so she could undue her seatbelt.
After freeing herself, she jumped out the car and was instantly assaulted with the freezing water that poured down on her head and covered the streets. She was horrified when she noticed that the water was almost to her calves. Did the figure on the road already drown?
"Hey!" Sayaka rushed to the body. "Hey! Are you okay?!" she screamed as another bolt of lightning struck. It was dark and she almost had trouble finding the unmoving form.
"Hello! Are you okay?" She lifted up the head and noticed that it was a girl. A girl few inches taller, with long strands of silver hair, and almost the same figure as her.
Sayaka rested the girl's head in her lap and tried to shield the stranger's unconscious face from the angry storm.
"Help!" The young doctor screamed over the fierce crack of lightning. "Somebody help!" Her voice was drowned out by the heavy rain and it was so dark that unless someone highlighted them with their car, they wouldn't be seen. "Someone please!" Sayaka screamed one last time.
Sayaka's frantic eyes darted between the lifeless woman in her lap and her home. Her house was about two houses down. Not that far for a stroll during the day, but very far for a small girl such as herself to drag this stranger in the pouring rain.
But what other choice did she have?
Sayaka stood up and cupped her hands firmly under the unmoving girl's arms. She grunted as she started to drag the girl toward her house. The water in the road was rising and the extra friction from it pushing against them made Sayaka struggle that much more. She felt her ankle twist under the weight and she fell backwards into the dirty rainwater with a splash.
"Damn it," Sayaka whispered as she slowly stood back to her feet. She cried out in pain when she put pressure on her twisted ankle. She knew that walking on it would only make it worse and a less foolish woman would have left this most likely dead body in the street and hopped the rest of the way home.
But not Sayaka. Maybe it was the doctor in her. Maybe it was her determination or her constantly misplaced drive to be number one. Or maybe it was just pure stupidity. Whatever it was, Sayaka grabbed the girl again and started to drag her, crying out in pain each time she stepped on her own injured ankle.
Her cries blended in with the roars of the storm and the tears streaming down her face mixed in with the rain. But she didn't care. Still, she kept foolishly dragging the heavy body toward her house until eventually after what seemed like hours, she made it to her front door.
With one hand, Sayaka pulled out her keys and unlocked the door, then with one final burst of energy she dragged the girl inside, closed the front door behind them, and then collapsed on the floor.
Her once neat ponytail had come undone and she was soaked to the bone. The young doctor allowed herself to catch her breath for a few seconds. Then she got up and dragged the girl in front of her fireplace.
The first thing Sayaka did once she was satisfied with the stranger's placement was to check and see if she was even alive. It'd really suck if she twisted her ankle and crashed her car for a dead body.
She felt the woman's pulse. It was slow, but present.
Then Sayaka finally was able to take a look at the face of this stranger. Silence fell over her for a minute, because this girl was... beautiful, to say the very least. With long silver eyelashes and pretty bow of lips, though marred with dirt and droplets of rain, she looked devastatingly beautiful.
Sayaka shook her head at the thought. She used her coffee table to aid herself to a standing position, pathetically grunting as she hopped on her good foot and made her way into her bedroom. It took some serious effort but Sayaka managed to change into some dry clothes, sweats and a white shirt, and put her soaking waist length hair into a towel.
Groaning, Sayaka sat on her soft queen sized bed and wrapped herself up in her forest green comforter as she looked at her phone. Her cellphone, to her dismay, was ruined in the rain. She didn't bother to have a house phone simply because she never thought she'd need one. Clearly, that wasn't a smart decision.
Now, what was she supposed to do? It's not like she could get in her car and drive them to a hospital. And she certainly was not going to walk anywhere anytime soon.
Reality suddenly hit her right in her stupid risk taking face.
She just dragged some random unconscious stranger into her house. Sayaka learned at a very young age not to trust anyone. This stranger could have been a murderer or criminal. What was she thinking? Sayaka of all people should know better than to put herself in pointless danger.
"Ugh!" Sayaka fell backwards on her bed and glared at the ceiling.
It would have been the smart thing to leave the girl in the road.
It would've been. But…
Sayaka knew in her heart of hearts that she would never be able to do that. She couldn't live with herself if she knew she could've saved someone's life and she turned her back on them. Even if it meant putting herself at risk.
"I'm an idiot," she mumbled. Then she got out of bed and hopped all the way back into the living room.
The girl was still lying in front of the fireplace with her eyes closed and limbs unmoving.
"Nice to see you made yourself at home," Sayaka said under her breath as she threw some dry wood in the holding rack and started a fire to warm up the troublesome stranger.
To make the night even worse, Sayaka discovered that the storm had knocked out all the power. No light or heat for her unless she wanted to snuggle up to this stranger here. That's not going to happen.
After the fire started, Sayaka grabbed a throw blanket off the counter then huddled up to herself on the couch.
The fire crackled and Sayaka jealously eyed the sleeping girl who was lucky enough to be directly in front of their only source of warmth. "Don't get too comfortable," she warned as if the girl was actually even awake to listen to her. "As soon as this storm is gone, so are you."
The young doctor nestled deeper into her blanket, still eyeing the stranger. Then, slowly, her violet eyes closed and it didn't take long before her body fell into a deep exhausted slumber.