Chapter 48: Chapter 48

Fallen Angel 13

 

Rukia Kazumoto did not like the hospital. Although it was the place of healing where someone could regain their lost hope, it was also the congregation of grief filled with people who slowly depleted their willpower. For Rukia, the only experience she had there was the last one.

She was the second, and now, the only daughter in her family. Rukia used to have an older sister called Hisana, before she passed away due to ALS. Her parents were from the rural area of Mishima, and they never had the resources to pay for Hisana's medical fee even after they sold almost all their assets.

Hisana was a gentle soul, someone who would never harm anyone. Seeing her parents struggling to pay her bills, she decided to reject the treatment she was offered by the hospital. Facing the death sentence early in her twenties, she tried her best to maintain the cheerful facade in front of everyone.

But living in one house meant that she could never hide her tears from her family, especially her sister. A five years old Rukia was forced to watch as her elder sister deteriorated physically and mentally. Finally, her condition forced Hisana to be hospitalized once again.

The innocent Rukia was forced to acknowledge the futile struggle of mortals' lives, as her sister slowly lost her will to live.

After Hisana's passing, Rukia had never once willingly stepped into the accursed place that took her dear sister away. Life went on, and she slowly put the pain behind her. Only for those memories to resurface all at once today.

She was shocked, of course, when she received a text from her new boss, Hinata Yamashina, that their mutual lover was hospitalized after he was buried by the fallen ceiling from Hinata's living room. Rukia sat in her workroom, her face was stuck in disbelief.

Then, the petite manager grabbed her car key, locked her room, and went directly to the RJ Tokyo General Hospital. It was only midway through when she remembered that her artist, Yuko Ikezawa, happened to take a gig as an MC of a wedding right around the block she was currently in.

Rukia then took a right on the next intersection, and prayed to whichever god was listening to not let anything bad happen to Kogoro. Just when she was about to reach the place where Yuko was supposed to be working, she saw the brown-haired woman frantically looking for something across the street.

'Probably a taxi!' Rukia thought, as she pulled over, and told Yuko to get in the car.

Yuko was relieved when she realized it was her manager, and rushed into the passenger seat. From how runed her make up was, Rukia knew that she must also have received the same text.

"Rukia-nee…" Yuko called her in an almost pleading tone, but Rukia just concentrated on driving as fast as she could. Seeing that her manager was not in the mood for a conversation, shs silently looked onto the road ahead of them while her hands were both clenching her seatbelt.

They drove in silence, the tense atmosphere was only fueled by a couple of close calls the car had been along the way. Rukia was not a reckless driver normally, but the desperate feeling she failed to shed was weighing on her.

Fortunately, they arrived safely. Rukia parked the car, and they made a run to the receptionist. After they received permission from the staff, the two women made their way to the room where Kogoro was in.

Their heart was beating so fast, they threatened to jump out of their chest. The anxiety that came from their own imagination was a big part of it, but the running around they just did certainly did not help either.

Strangely, the two slowed down in front of the door instead of rushing into the room. After a silent glance to each other, Rukia took the lead and pushed open the glass door. They had to walk around the curtain, but what awaited them was more shocking than they thought!

***

"So,,, this is awkward." Kogoro said as he sat up on the bed. He was wearing a hospital gown, with braces wrapped around his right hand and leg. His head was covered by bandages, his wounds there having received the most attention from the medics. He was actually barely holding onto his consciousness. It was no doubt thanks to his enhanced body that he could hold on for this long.

Around him, almost all of his harem members were present, except for Hinata.

His wife Eri and their daughter Ran were sitting on his left, while Rukia, Velma, Yuko, Miwako, and Yoko were standing on the other side of his hospital bed.

'Maybe Hinata still felt guilty?' Kogoro thought as the throbbing pain on his bandaged head was dulled by the painkiller the doctor gave him.

And his thoughts made sense. Not only was she out of line with what she did behind his back; Hinata must be feeling some sort of guilt from him being hurt inside her house. Kogoro would have felt the same way if it was the other way around, and he did feel that way when Yoko nearly died from her fall.

When Kogoro was about to start his inner monologue, Velma's voice interrupted him from his thoughts.

"What exactly happened, Kogoro?" Kogoro could count on Velma to be the usual direct self. He then went on to explain what went on. At first, he considered not telling the truth; but then Kogoro recalled what he asked Hinata to promise him, and he ended up telling the girls all the events that lead to him getting injured. He left out the matter about Conan and the whole Black Organization, of course. He was sober enough not to talk about sensitive information in an unsecure venue.

"...and I'm pretty sure someone was actually targeting Hinata instead of me. I don't know why, and I don't know how, but we'll find out once I get out of this-"

The detective tried to focus their attention to the one who made the trap, but his women were not having it!

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"What was that woman thinking?

"DId she actually do that!?"

"I can't believe it!?"

All of them except for Eri, and strangely Rukia, were starting to lose their tempers. Kogoro spoke in a hurried tone.

"Okay, okay, that's enough! I can't believe I'm the one who has to say this, but this is a hospital! You can't just yell however you want!"

Yuko, ever the one with the most spice to her, wanted to argue. "But-"

Having had enough of this, Eri interrupted her.

"There's no but! We can talk about this later. Right now, my HUSBAND-" She emphasized the word 'husband' to make all of them back off.

"-still needs to rest."

Subconsciously, the ghost of a smile appeared briefly on his face, before it was gone. Truly, appointing Eri as the head honcho of his harem was a great decision. But just when the women were calming down, Kogoro let out a pained grunt.

"Ugh…"

Ran was the first one to react. "Dad!? What's wrong?"

Kogoro didn't respond, and he just held his head in his relatively unharmed left hand, before he slowly drifted to unconsciousness.

Miwako went out to call the doctor, while Eri gently pushed him to lay down once more. The rest were left feeling useless, because they knew that there was nothing they could do to alleviate his pain.

The last thing Kogoro saw that day was what appeared to be a female doctor rushing into the room, with Miwako closely following her from behind.

 

~To Be Continued~

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A/N: Thank you to my patrons, Dragon_knight240, phil, XOL, anime addict, omar amurrio, and to all the loyal readers of KMPE!

Chapter 49 and 50 were up on my patréon and ko-fi (epub only). You can support me there under the username segalengko69 and read ahead of the public release!

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segalengko69

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