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“Fuck,” Michizo moans, panting into the trash bin that Tecchou is holding up for him. There’s already quite a bit of vomit in there, and even though his eyes dart down to look only for a second, it’s long enough to make his stomach lurch, and force more of his stomach contents to shoot up to his mouth and hit the rest of it with a sickening splatter.
“It might not be a bad idea to have the nurses check you out,” Tecchou suggests, evidently surprised that Michizo still has something in his stomach to bring up. Michizo is surprised too. He’s lost count of how many times he’s puked.
“I bet those evil Port Mafia dogs tried to poison you…they must know your secret. You should abandon the mission,” Teruko suggests hastily, slamming her fist on the table.
“Okura, we don’t have the authority to suggest that,” Jouno says with a sigh. This certainly isn’t the first time she’s tried to get him to quit - he appreciates the concern, though, she only gets aggressive about it when he’s injured, or sick like this.
“Look at him, Jouno! Obviously he’s been poisoned, I’ve never seen him that sick!” she barks back at him.
Michizo shakes his head, not even bothering to conceal the pained moan. “No, it’s…one of the - hrrRRK - ”
Of course, he’s been having trouble making it through sentences with how sick his tummy is. Another splash of vomit ends up in the trash bin, and he somehow manages to avoid throwing up on Tecchou’s hand - although, Tecchou would be the last person to care.
“As you were saying?” Jouno asks. Michizo sinks back into the couch, and Tecchou stays close beside him. Jouno looks a little scary, standing in front of them with his arms crossed. Michizo wishes that the three of them weren’t all in here, but of course, Michizo is the one who started throwing up in the middle of a briefing.
“The…um, one of my - superiors, she’s sick too. We had…” he somehow manages. He’s truly just too nauseous to think straight, his stomach lurches every ten seconds, at least. “We had the same thing for dinner…last night.”
Michizo was out pretty late at some impromptu hot pot party some lower-ranking Port Mafia members set up, and Higuchi tagged along with him - only to text him several hours later to ask if he was feeling sick, because they both had quite a bit of pork belly. He’d had a few drinks and chalked it up to that, but when he arrived at the Hunting Dogs headquarters this morning, he realized his stomach was going to make sure whatever he had eaten was going to come out.
“We still have to be sure. That doesn’t rule out that you’ve been poisoned,” Tecchou reminds him sternly. Michizo is well aware of that, but if someone from the Port Mafia tried to poison him, they wouldn’t take Higuchi down with him. She’s far too valuable for that. At least, he thinks so.
“He’s right, Tachihara, as much as I hate to agree with him. I’ll call a nurse in here to get some blood tests run on you. Fluids wouldn’t hurt either,” Jouno says. Michizo presses a palm up to his forehead and groans. He feels terrible. They already offered to take him directly to the nurses, but he doesn’t trust himself to walk all the way over there.
Jouno had already vanished, and Teruko marched off behind him. Michizo lays his head on the side of the couch and Tecchou lowers the trash bin onto the ground, which he thinks he’s safe to do for a minute. He takes out the phone he uses for the Port Mafia, and sees a text from Higuchi.
nee-san 05:47 AM
Are you home? I have a tea that really helps for things like this. I’ll bring it to you.
Michizo huffs through his nose.
me 05:59 AM
aren’t you sick too nee-san?
He personally can’t imagine traveling to anyone in the state he’s in. He’s hoping that Higuchi is simply doing much better than he is right now, but it’s far more likely that she’s too selfless to put her health over anyone else. He’d never dream of making her bring him anything if she feels as sick as he does.
me 06:00 AM
i’m at the doctor. stay home and rest for once you crazy broad
A hiccup catches him by surprise and Tecchou brings up the trash bin, but fortunately, Michizo’s stomach seems to be calm for right now.
“Was that the woman you mentioned?” Tecchou asks, evidently snooping on Michizo’s messages. Really, Michizo has nothing to hide.
“Yeah,” Michizo nods, his head swaying a little.
“That was kind of her to offer,” Tecchou says. “If she’s as sick as you are.”
Michizo is surprised to hear that. Jouno or Teruko would certainly never dream of feeling any sort of positive emotion about anyone in the Port Mafia. Michizo struggles to play along sometimes, but he doesn’t know why.
“Yeah, she’s…she’s cool,” Michizo murmurs with a weak nod. “She’s always lookin’ out for us…”
“You know not to get too close with them, though, Tachihara,” Tecchou says. It’s hard to place the emotion in his tone. It’s almost like pity. Michizo’s heart sinks. Their future plans are something he wishes he could ignore. He’d rather be thinking about how much his stomach hurts right now.
His head is too jumbled for him to realize he’s about to throw up again, and it comes hot from the back of his throat and splatters over his lap. He somehow managed to avoid doing that until now. He groans, bringing a hand up to his mouth to burp into it, and Tecchou brings the bucket back up under his chin as is drips saliva and vomit into the bin. He feels so miserable. He screws his eyes shut.
He hopes Higuchi feels better than he does.