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Jiro and Sei had been sitting quietly across from Yuri’s desk, documenting their findings from their second day at the museum while the doctor mumbled to himself and sorted through stacks of papers until a knock on the door startled them all out of their new mundane routine.
“Who could it possibly be at this hour!?” Yuri spat, standing up and brushing what seemed to be non-existent dirt off of his pristine lab coat. “Of all the times for someone to interrupt my work…!”
He threw open the door to the lab, revealing two general course students wearing blue ties and expensive-looking jewelry who looked just as pleased about the situation as the doctor did.
“We have our hands full with a mission!” he barked. “Why must we deal with patients at this hour!?”
But despite his yelling and bristling irritation, he still motioned to the students to follow him and began setting up the exam table, getting ready to start an examination. Sei smiled to herself. There was a chance that it was due to her being so exhausted and running on less than five hours of sleep over the last three days, but she had begun to really appreciate the teal-haired Ghoul in a way that she hadn’t before.
She had known Jiro for a lot longer than him, since he had been attending to her personal health checks since she arrived at Darkwick, and she had grown rather fond of him. The rest of the school referred to him as a monster, but she knew that he was the complete opposite of what people thought. He had always been so gentle with her, both during her check-ups and their first mission together. He always made sure she was comfortable in his presence, whether he realized it or not. His politeness around her was most likely a byproduct of his clinical training, but she appreciated it nonetheless. Walking with him to combat class a few days prior had made her feel very important- like she meant enough to him to stand by someone so impressive’s side.
But Yuri was the complete opposite of Jiro. At first, she was scared of Yuri. She could even say she disliked him. He was loud, dramatic, and ridiculously self-centered. He treated her like an experiment, but then again, it wasn’t like that was something she wasn’t used to. He also tended to insult her intelligence, and refused to take any of her suggestions when it came to dealing with anomalies. But the more time she spent with him, the more she realized that he really did care in his own way.
He had taken it upon himself to act as her teacher when it came to anomalous medicine, and he was always going out of his way to make sure that she was keeping up with her studies, even if he wasn’t always kind about it. And now, on their second mission together, he had started to trust her a little more- allowing her to monitor a whole sector of the museum by herself, and had even started conversing with her outside of reviewing their mission. She could have sworn that his eyes lit up when he told her about the neglected tropical diseases at the museum. And, of course, she couldn’t forget how hard he was working to break her curse. Mortkranken had been more help in progressing her investigation into the Kyklos than all of the other Houses combined. During the investigation into the mermaid meat, Yuri and Jiro’s flawless teamwork and their deep understanding of each other’s Stigmas had led to them capturing the anomaly they were after with relative ease, as opposed to every other mission she had been on.
And, above everything else, he cared about Jiro enough to prove to her that he was a very kind person underneath his prickly exterior. Yuri devoted most of his time to treating Jiro, and the pride he took in it always brought a smile to Sei’s face. He was always so proud to have the taller follow him around and listen to what he was teaching him. It was almost cute, in a strange sort of way.
Then again, she supposed she trusted him enough from the beginning to drink whatever crazy drugs he had concocted in an effort to cure her curse before they had even met, so maybe all of her justification of his good character was pointless.
And so, she watched with a fond smile as Yuri led the two Frostheim students deeper into the clinic and began to gather his tools. Jiro gave her a slight nod and put down his share of the papers that they had been working on together, and got up and made his way to Yuri’s side, eager to start helping him with his exam. Sei smiled sleepily, but decided that sitting around wouldn’t do anything to help either of the Ghouls, so she walked quietly to the exam room and sat on a chair next to where Yuri was standing. She half-expected him to yell at her and kick her out, but instead, he completely ignored her, and she had never been so happy to be invisible.
“We happened to be awake, yes, but you Frostheimers have a hospital at your beck-and-call already, don’t you!?” Yuri spat, glaring at the two while Jiro began to examine the student. She tried to suppress a smile at Yuri’s oddly domestic wording.
“It’s not like we wanted to come here either!” the male Frostheim student scoffed, rolling up his sleeve to reveal a particularly nasty gash along his forearm. “I thought I was being taken to Darkwick General!”
The other student, a girl who looked to be around their age spoke up next.
“We were told their beds were full and they couldn’t spare anyone to see us,” she explained, clearly trying to hide the hostility in her own voice. “They hustled us over here- what other choice did we have?”
Sei remained quiet, but bit her lip anxiously.
(Yuri can’t stand Frostheim…this is really bad timing…)
Thankfully, Jiro broke the silence with his usual monotone.
“It’s just a superficial abrasion,” he said calmly. “You’re not cursed, so I’ll just prescribe you an ointment you can apply yourself.”
Jiro handed a small bottle of pink paste to the injured student, seemingly undaunted by the hostile atmosphere.
“Hah!’ Yuri scoffed, putting his hands on his hips smugly, seemingly back to his usual self. “You shouldn’t be going on combat missions if you’re panicking over a scratch like that. Tell that muscle-head of a captain of yours that that’s our diagnosis!”
“How dare you!?” the male student shot back. “I take on these dangerous missions gladly, to honor my family’s name! Unlike you, who spent your days snuggled up under Kamurai’s protection!”
Sei and Yuri went stiff at the same time. At that moment, she could have sworn that the temperature in the clinic dropped by a few degrees.
“‘S-Snuggled up’!?” Yuri stammered, starting to back away from the students seemingly without realizing it. “H-How dare you!? You have no idea how I suffered conducting my research in that black hole of intelligence!”
“‘Black hole of intelligence’?” the student shot back. “Hah!”
His face twisted into an elated snarl as he met Yuri’s eyes.
“We still talk about how Kamurai hushed up that medical error of yours!” he said sharply.
The doctor’s eyes widened, and Sei could have sworn that he started to shake.
“Yeah!” the other student shot back, a grin on her lips as well. “And that’s not all we talk about. Kamurai did so much to support you…and you repaid him by betraying him and transferring to Mort-”
“I’m not the one who did the betraying!”
Sei went stiff, hearing him yell. He had never heard Yuri sound anything other than obnoxiously confident before. Taken aback by his outburst, she quickly jumped in.
“Y-Yuri…” she started, reaching out to him gently. “I-”
But the female Frostheim student cut her off, ignoring her.
“Are you saying that Kamurai was the one who betrayed you?” she asked, her perfect white teeth on display.
“Haha!’ the male student laughed. “I see you still blame everyone but yourself for your problems. I’d almost forgotten about that trait of yours. You were infamous for it amongst us general students!”
“Y-You…!” Yuri managed, fist clenched tight by his sides.
“The sight of you hobbling out of the front door with your tail between your legs…why, it’s still the highlight of many a lively conversation in our halls!”
“We often say that we should be thanking you, don’t we?” the girl giggled.
“Oh, yes,” the boy continued smugly. “Please allow me to take the opportunity on behalf of all of Frostheim.”
He got to his feet and walked up to a frozen Yuri.
“Truly, thank you for leaving Kamurai’s side before you disgraced our entire house!”
It was a black belt demonstration of sarcasm veiled in a polite social convention. Yuri sputtered, but couldn’t find his voice.
But Sei had found hers.
“Hey!” she yelled, standing up fast enough to send her chair clattering to the floor behind her. “What gives you the right to speak to him like that!?”
The crash seemed to startle Yuri out of his trance.
“W-What…?” he managed quietly. But she wasn’t done.
“He’s going out of his way to treat you, and that’s how you repay him!?”
“Stay out of this, ‘Honor Student,’” the girl giggled, overemphasizing her supposed title. “Like you have any right to act like you’re better than us. At least we got into this school on our own. We didn’t need to get ourselves cursed and rely on the teachers’ pity to admit us!”
Taken aback, Sei’s mouth snapped shut, not expecting the girl to shoot an insult back at her.
“What, that’s all it took to shut you up?” the boy asked. “So you do know how much everyone dislikes you- that’s great! Acceptance is the first step to recovery!”
He shot a grin at Yuri and Jiro.
“Although, I bet these two freaks could tell you more about ‘recovery’ than we could!”
She balled her fists tightly and grit her teeth, taking a step forward.
“A-At least I’m not a spoiled nepo-baby who relies on their parents’ money to live their ridiculously lavish and irritating lifestyle! I bet you both bribed your way into this school, didn’t you!?”
She didn’t expect her words to affect the two other students, but, to her surprise, they both took a step back, mouths wide.
“W-What did you…” the girl managed.
“W-We would never…!” the boy stammered. “Y-You’re just some random nobody- what makes you think you can talk to people like us!? We’re on a completely different level than you!”
“If you’re that rich and powerful, then why do you bow down like dogs and obey Jin’s every order, huh!?” she shot back. “All you do is let him walk all over you, and yet you kiss his feet and worship the ground he walks on! You’re the ones who are the nobodies in his eyes!”
Both the students’ and Yuri’s mouths fell open at her words. Whether they were surprised by her harsh words or hearing her using the Frostheim Captain’s first name so casually was anyone’s guess.
“Y-You…!” the boy growled. “How fucking dare you!?”
Without hesitation, he pulled something out of his jacket pocket and lunged at the girl, roaring. She tried to throw up her arms to protect herself, but she wasn’t fast enough. Some sort of pocket knife slashed clean through her school blazer, undershirt, and skin. Stunned by the blood running down her arm, she froze for just long enough for the boy to get another hit on her, opening a nasty gash on her right cheek.
He readied himself to strike again, but she grit her teeth and stood her ground. She had to have faith that he would know what she was thinking- if any of them fought back using violence, that could get them in just as much trouble as the Frostheim students, and Sei refused to risk compromising their mission by fighting back. She refused to make more work for Yuri and-
“Jiro!” she yelled, holding back tears, squeezing her eyes shut. She braced for another attack, but it never came. It shouldn’t have been possible for someone to move so quickly in so little time, but it wasn’t like human restraints meant anything to Darkwick’s Frankenstein.
In less than a second, he had darted in front of Sei and willingly took the incoming slash from the boy across his chest. He didn’t even flinch, his face remaining as stoic as always. And for a moment, nothing happened.
And then the Frostheim student coughed up a glob of blood and fell to his knees. Blood sprayed out from his chest, and a whimper ripped its way out of his throat.
The girl’s eyes widened.
“W-What did you do!?” the girl screamed. “W-What did you do to him!? W-What just happened!?”
Jiro had snuck up to her while she was distracted, and by the time she noticed him, he was less than a foot away from her, staring her down, still bleeding profusely and looking completely unbothered. He loomed over her like an anomaly.
“I’m afraid that his injuries are his fault,” he said blankly. “This is my Stigma. Any wound that I am afflicted with will be transferred back to whoever inflicted it.”
Some of the blood dripping from Jiro’s chest fell onto her shoes, and she started to back away slowly, her lips trembling.
“P-Please…” she whimpered. “P-Please don’t hurt me…!”
“J-Just leave!” Yuri yelled. “Just leave and never come back here, do you understand me!?”
“Y-Yes!” she cried, clearly having lost all of her will to argue. “W-We’re leaving!”
She struggled to her feet and all but dragged the boy behind her. He was clearly still conscious, but in shock. The two disappeared behind the door, leaving a trail of blood behind them.
For a second, the three of them stood there in silence.
And then a sob broke the silence.
Something bright fell from Yuri’s eyes, and he buried his face in his hands in an effort to stifle his cries.
“Y-Yuri…” Sei managed. “I-I…”
And then her legs gave out under her, and she fell to the floor, her arms and face still dripping blood. She tried to hold back a sob of her own.
“That’s enough.”
Jiro’s stern voice was loud enough to startle both Sei and Yuri out of their crying fits. They looked up at him, both unable to speak.
As if they weighed nothing, he scooped up Yuri in one arm and Sei in the other. He silently made his way to the back of the lab and placed them both on the exam table closest to the tank that the mermaid had been kept in.
He silently began cleaning and bandaging Sei’s cuts, after putting his bloody blazer around Yuri’s shoulders. Once he finished, he took a seat on the table next to them, and the three of them sat in silence until their tears dried, all of them falling asleep sitting up, leaning against one another.