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The former hospital that Taiga has blackmailed CR and Genm into giving him is dangerous in places, unhygienic outside of the area he’s made liveable and workable both, obviously, but also in some places unstable. He doesn’t venture out much, in fact.
Well, not usually.
It’s a coincidence that he finds himself wandering the abandoned halls that night to keep away the nightmares of death, people fading to pixels and blood on his driver and falling helpless before that monster known as Graphite.
Nonetheless, it’s a lucky one, as he will learn with time.
At first he thinks the quiet curses are hallucinations, or perhaps misheard plops of water from the rain above him.
But as they continue, he gives in and follows them to…
To…
A girl?
She can’t be more than 14, and she’s running a roll of ace bandages around a giant cut on her arm, over he also-cut shirt. And despite everything, Taiga is still a doctor, even if he’d failed and he’d lost Maki to his obsession along the way. He grabs her arm without thinking.
“Hey!” The girl cries. “Get off me you creep.”
She’s struggling, but Taiga pins her arm.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” he says. She rolls her eyes.
“Sure you aren’t,” she says.
“I’m… a doctor,” Taiga says. He lets go of her, and she glares at him still. “I have better supplies than that just down the hall.”
“And why should I trust you?” She asks.
“No one should trust me,” Taiga says. The girl rolls her eyes.
“Look, man, I’m guessing you have issues,” she says. “But I don’t think things can get worse, so sure. Patch me up, Doc.”
“I ran away from home, I guess,” the girl says. She still hasn’t introduced herself. Neither has Taiga. “I have the funds, but I need to find a place to stay that I can lay low at, for a bit.”
Taiga hmms. This is something he’s familiar with, the way some people open up when they’re sick or injured and receiving care.
“I ran into some trouble,” the girl continues. “Got in a fight. Made it out, obviously.”
“I’m sure,” Taiga says. He’d cut off her shirt sleeve to minimal protests, to work, so all it takes to finish is some adhesive.
“I guess I’ll just head back to my hotel now, then,” the girl says. “Thanks for the help. How much I owe you, doc?”
“How much do you have?” Taiga asks. The girl shrugs, pulling out a 2000 yen bill.
“This should cover it, right?”
Taiga usually charges more if he doesn’t know the person. He’ll need the money later to get his Driver back.
“Sure,” he says. The girl hops down from the table.
“Thanks, I guess,” she says. “I’ll be back if I get into another fight!”
“Try not to,” Taiga says dryly. He used to be so good with patients. Now he simply doesn’t care.
The girl leaves without ever introducing herself.
The thing is, she keeps coming back. Still not introducing herself, watching him work. Other times she sits in a corner playing games on her phone or some other device.
It should annoy him.
It doesn’t.
“If you’re gonna keep showing up, I should know your name,” he says. The girl looks up.
“Should you?”
“I can always kick you out.”
The girl rolls her eyes.
“The name’s Nico,” she says. “Saiba Nico. And you?”
“Hanaya Taiga.”
He fights the urge to smile. It’s been over a year since his failure, and still life feels endlessly empty. But Nico, for whatever reason, is a spark of life.
“You got an assistant?” One of his patients asks, peeking over at Nico. “Or is that your kid?”
She doesn’t even look up, but she replies.
“I’m his patient, same as you,” she says.
“Huh,” the man says.
“Mind if I crash here?”
“What?”
“Thanks.”
Nico comes in with a suitcase this time and runs down the hall to the furthermost of the six rooms Taiga keeps in working order. He follows her and she’s already half turned it into a living space in five seconds.
“… What are you doing?” He asks. Nico turns.
“Moving in,” she says. “Parents keep finding me?”
“…Why exactly did you run away?”
Nico shrugs.
“They sucked,” she says. “I make enough money to support myself. Need I say more?”
“But why are you here? ”
Nico shrugs.
“I like it here,” she says. “Despite the company.”
Taiga stares at her… and he sighs. He has a many arguments but they die when he looks at her. She’s a kid , and it seems like…
(She trusts him.)
“I’m charging,” he says. “A hundred thousand a month.”
Nico shrugs.
“I can work with that,” she says.
“Game Disease.”
Taiga turns to find Nico leaning over his shoulder.
“What’s that?” She asks.
“None of your business.”
“I’m a Gamer, Taiga,” she says. “Sounds like my business.”
“You wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try me.”
There’s a solidity to her stance. A challenge. He knows she’s competitive, figured out she played games for a living a while ago, but it’s odd to see like this.
In this context.
(She’d tried to get him to play with her. He’d refused. Games for him will always be tied up in… everything.)
“It’s a digital virus that can become a viral infection,” he says. “It’s deadly without an operation.”
She stares at him.
“Try again,” she says. “That sounds fake as hell.”
“It’s very true,” he says. “Will you go, now?”
“Is that what you do, then?” Nico asks. “Stop this… Game Disease?”
“I did,” Taiga says. “I will again, if it comes back.”
Nico talks him into playing a game with her. He has no idea how and loses horribly.
“When did you even move this setup in here?” He asks.
“Does it matter?” Nico replies.
He loses horribly. Nico laughs.
“Come on,” she says. “You say you use games to fight that… Game Disease, learn how to play the games!”
He tries again.
A patient comes in bad one day with a good amount of cash and a worried friend. Nico helps him.
She’s smiling, afterwards.
Taiga says nothing, but he does notice.
“I’m glad I met you,” Nico says. Taiga turns. “I mean it. Probably could have found another place, but… I trust you.”
“No one should trust me,” Taiga says. Nico laughs.
“Well too bad for you,” she says.
Taiga turns away to hide the smile on the edge of his face. He hasn’t smile since… since…
(Since before he went to fight Graphite.)
“I’m glad you came here, too,” he says anyways.
And it’s true.