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Preparing for a killing game wasn’t easy work, and your hands had the burns to show for it. Usually, when you and Miss Junko were working on a machine in the basement and one of you got hurt, you’d both just laugh it off.
“Kazumi-chan, won’t you kiss it better?” she’d ask, extending her freshly slashed finger to you with a giggle. You’d always say yes, of course, and you’d kiss the bleeding wound. She’d then reach up and wipe the blood from your lips.
Today, though, you’d gotten a pretty nasty gash, so bad that the usually-nonchalant Miss Junko winced when you showed her. “Yuck!” she’d said, laughing. “That’s gonna get infected if you don’t go clean it. Don’t want my gorgeous mechanic dying at anyone’s hands but my own. Especially not by some...bacteria.”
You hated to part with her, but she was right. “Got anything for this?” you’d asked, hoping you wouldn’t have to stray too far from her.
She’d told you to go to the infirmary, and of course it was just your rotten luck that Tsumiki happened to be in there when you arrived, stocking blood bags into a refrigerator. Her eyes blew wide, but her feet stayed firmly planted at the opposite end of the infirmary.
“Hey,” you called cautiously, gesturing towards your bleeding arm. “I, uh, kinda got fucked up down there. Mind helpin’ me find something for this?”
Her eyes narrowed, but she agreed with a silent nod. “H-Have a seat on one of the beds,” she said, beginning to search for supplies.
You did as asked, watching Tsumiki from the corner as she moved. Her back stayed turned to you, which was why her question caught you off-guard:
"Why are you looking at me?”
“Huh?” You blinked. “I’m just...waiting. I dunno.”
“You’re staring,” she murmured airily, turning to face you. “Could it be...you don’t trust me?”
“I do,” you countered.
“Y-You’re not the only one,” she continued, like she didn’t hear you at all. “They all are. The others. Even Nidai-san, h-he...flinches.”
She made wide strides towards you, carrying a bottle of antiseptic, a few cotton pads, a pair of scissors, and a roll of bandages. She took a seat on the bed, legs hanging off the edge, and uncapped the bottle. She poured a generous amount of liquid onto one of the pads.
Without warning, she touched the pad to your injury. It stung like hell. You jerked your arm away instinctively, shouting an expletive.
“Please hold still,” she said, tugging your arm back into place. The burning returned quickly, again without warning. Despite your squirming, she finished the job (pretty slowly, you note), casting aside the blood-soaked cotton. Next was the bandage.
The cut ran from the middle of your forearm to just below your knuckle, jagged and deep. Tsumiki started from the top of the gash and wound the wrappings around your arm slowly, pulling the cloth taut.
“It’s, uh. A little tight,” you noted aloud. She looked up at you, briefly, before continuing.
“I h-hope it’s clear that I’m doing this for Junko and not for you,” she mumbled.
“Clear as day.” Not like you were enjoying this. You wondered if it would’ve been less painful to bleed out and die.
“Did she tell you to come here?” Tsumiki asked. “Or did you decide by yourself?”
“She said I should go to the infirmary to fix myself up.”
“Y-You didn’t need to.”
“Huh? I’m bleedin’ like a stuck pig, man—”
“I noticed that Junko was getting hurt quite o-often while working on her machines. I left a first-aid kit near her workspace and told her. She’s been using it since then.”
You blinked. “...I didn’t know it was there. She didn’t say.”
“Is that true?” she wondered aloud, grasping your hand a little too tightly as she wrapped your wrist, “Or did you come here to taunt me?”
You tried to pull away, but her grip became iron. “I didn’t,” you said. “I’m being honest, really.”
“You know that I could kill you. That I want to.” Her eyes flickered towards the scissors resting by her side. “But I won’t, because of her. Isn’t that funny? The girl who turned me into a murderer, is the reason you’re still alive.”
She was down to your knuckle now. Her thumb pressed hard into your hand, jagged nail biting crescent moons into the flesh. “Isn’t that funny. You should thank her for that, don’t you think? I’m sure you don’t do it often enough. None of you do.”
As she said that, she wound the bandage around your hand one more time and snipped off the end. “All done,” she said flatly. “You should get back to her.”
You retracted your arm, running your fingers along the bandaged surface. “I’m not sure I can, uh. Work like this.” Even if the injury didn’t hurt like a bitch, the tight bandaging left your arm too stiff to work right.
“Oh,” Tsumiki hummed. “That’s too bad. W-Well, you should still find something useful to do. I’m sure you don’t want to disappoint Junko.”
“Of course not.” You pushed yourself out of the bed with your free hand and stood up. “Look, I’ll... I’ll go figure something out. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” she chirped as you left the infirmary. Her tone was the happiest you’d heard from her in a long time.