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Takeru is panicking.
It’s the overwhelming sort of panic, where his body is so anxious it can’t even feel it’s own fear anymore. He feels like his body has shut down, like a computer with a busted router. He tries to move, to speak but he just can’t. All he can do is stare at Ichika lying on the ground, shirt staining a violent red as she pants heavily.
She pushed him out of the way, protected him and in return she’d gotten shot in the stomach.
It felt like when he was a kid all over again.
The thing about a computer without a router is that it can’t function. Too shocked to process much of anything, Takeru doesn’t notice until it’s too late how his lungs are burning and his vision is splotched with black. The last thing he hears is Ichika calling his name (voice strained because she’s hurt and bleeding and-) before he finds his vision fading to black.
-
When he wakes up he finds himself staring up at the ceiling of a hospital.
At first, Takeru assumes that he’s in a room for himself and confusion clouds him because he doesn’t remember getting hurt. The more he wakes up though the better he can register his surroundings and it becomes clear that isn’t the case. Rather than a hospital bedroom he’s in the waiting room, propped awkwardly in one of the uncomfortable chairs with Yanagi sitting beside him. The sounds of conversations and announcements and all sorts of other things are overwhelming and Takeru winces as he’s assaulted with the noise, pushing himself into a more proper sitting position and rubbing the last remnants of grogginess from his eyes. “What’s going on?”
Yanagi frowned, sighing heavily as his fingers twitched against the arm rest (likely itching for a cigarette). Purple eyes raked over Takeru slowly, as if checking over him. Feeling irritation spark at Yanagi’s actions (since when had Yanagi been the kind to stretch things out? Especially with him?) Takeru went to demand an answer. Yanagi beat him to it though, glancing forward as he finally said, “Souda has been detained. Hoshino is currently in emergency surgery, they say it’s likely she’ll live but the shot was in a rather sensitive area so she wasn’t able to receive any form of anesthesia or pain medication before the procedure. Mineo is likely in the cafeteria alongside Shiraishi. Okazaki is still with Hoshino’s brother. You collapsed after Hoshino was shot so Minegishi called and asked me to handle you. I figured you’d want to be as close to Hoshino as possible so I brought you here with us.”
Running the information through his head the memories from before he’d passed out begin to come back to him. Takeru closed his eyes, leaning his head back and running a hand through his hair as he let out a shaky sigh. Ichika would likely live and that was good but… but she was likely in a lot of pain. ‘Stupid cat! Why did you push me out of the way like that?’
The frustrating thing is that Takeru isn’t even surprised. Ichika has always been the kind of person to put others before herself, sometimes to her detriment. It’s something that he usually admires but now all Takeru feels is frustration. It’s one thing to be selfless and another to sacrifice yourself.
Ignoring the fact that he’d been planning on taking the shot originally, it wasn’t the same.
“It was bound to happen eventually,” Yanagi muttered and though his tone was gentle Takeru couldn’t help but scoff and give the older a heated glare. “You know as well as I do the dangers of being a cop, Sasazuka. Especially right now. Hoshino knew what she signed up for.”
“Maybe that would be true if we were in America or some other place that handed deadly weapons out like candy but Japan wasn’t like that until a few months ago. None of us have truly been prepared to deal with that kind of situation.”
“If it hadn’t been a gun it would have been a knife or a bomb or some other form of weapon. No matter where you are, being a cop is dangerous; Hoshino knows that. She made her choice of her own accord.”
Takeru knows Yanagi is right but that doesn’t make him feel any better. In fact, it only makes him feel worse. He groans, leaning forward and rubbing his face tiredly. Despite being unconscious for at least a short amount of time Takeru felt as exhausted as ever. “Why does she have to be such an idiot?”
Before Yanagi can reply there's the sound of approaching footsteps and Takeru looks up to find Mineo approaching with multiple objects carefully balanced in his arms. How the idiot managed to maneuver all of that himself in a busy place with only one eye (considering the dumbass refuses to drop the eyepatch) Takeru doesn’t know. He is however surprised when Mineo hands him a tray with pudding and powdered donuts, a distinctly light colored coffee balanced on it. Mineo doesn’t try to tease him either or say anything stupid, quiet as he hands Yanagi and black coffee and sits down to eat his own food.
“What?” Mineo demands after a moment, words coming out muffled thanks to his mouth being full. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
Takeru’s nose curls but the usual irritation he feels when interacting with Mineo is… dulled. He’s exhausted and slightly anxious so despite everything Takeru can’t find it in him to bully Mineo. “Nothing. Don’t talk with your mouth full.”
Mineo scowls but gives in, continuing to eat in silence. Takeru follows his example, allowing the sugar to distract him from the anxiety and memories currently trying to eat away at him. There was nothing he could do for Ichika at the moment and what was done was done. For now he needed to focus on getting out of his own head so he could be there for her properly when she got out of surgery.
Because despite Takeru’s rule about not interacting with idiots he’d found himself falling for one anyway and damn it all if he wasn’t going to be there when she needed him.