Chapter 53

“Someone call Kaoru, this is serious!”

“But Aneko, we can’t! Minowa is-“

“It doesn’t matter. If Kaoru is truly a healer, he will help!”

“R-right.” A young woman no older than twenty with short dark hair ran from the infirmary and the body which she’d helped onto a bed and into the hallways of the castle, while the other woman, Aneko, began to tend to it. A red haired boy with ghostly white skin lay on the mattress, his body convulsing, and the woman reached down to where she pulled up a bucket full of water. She picked up a pink cloth off of the end table, dipped it in, and then placed the bucket onto the table and began to rub the moist towel upon Minowa’s head. His lips were parting and closing, as if he was trying to say something but could not.

“Minowa, can you hear me? Minowa?”

“A-aneko?” His voice was rough and broken, as if he’d been screaming.

“Yes, it’s me! Are you okay?”

“Help…me…please…it’s…ahh…” He closed his eyes and began to writhe, grinding his teeth through his lower lip as blood began to run from his mouth. “MAKE IT STOP!!” Aneko tried to hold the boy in place as she held onto his wrists, but he swiftly kicked her in her large stomach, and she staggered back. The woman shrieked as she fell onto the floor.

“D-dammit! M-my child…!” She held onto her pregnant stomach as tears of denial streamed down from her cheeks, and as she felt the injured fetus growing restless, she began to scream out for help. Above, the boy with his flaming hair was beating so hard that his body was flipping up and down off of the bed, and the metal frames which supported it were creaking and turning.

“What’s happening?” called a voice from behind a curtain.

“Please help me!” Aneko begged. The woman was in charge of the medical department of Mahou, and here she found herself on the floor and unable to make use of any of her years of training whatsoever. A dazed Maxie emerged from behind the curtain, rubbing his eyes and awakening to the horrifying sight before him. “Please!” begged the woman, turning and holding out a desperate hand, “Please! Help me!”

Acting at once, Maxie reached for her, and with their hands laced, he pulled her back into his makeshift bedroom, behind the curtain, and propped her up against the wall.

“P-please!” She continued to plead. “My baby…is coming!” At this idea, Maxie became as red as Minowa’s hair, and froze in place. “Quickly, there’s not much time!”

Meanwhile, on the other side, a door burst open and a drowsy and unaware Kaoru was pushed through by the nurse from earlier.

“Ms. Aneko?” she called. But her attention was stolen by the boy on the bed who continued to spasm, growing more and more wild and violent.

“What…what the fuck…what do you think you’re doing, having me come down for him!?” There was disgust in Kaoru’s voice as he looked at the possessed boy.

“K-Kaoru, you don’t have a choice! You have to help him or you’ll lose your job!”

“I don’t-“

“That means Maxie!”

At this, Kaoru calmed down, taking a second glance at Minowa.

“F-Fine…” The boy with blue hair walked over to the bed of the explosive patient, taking a moment to examine him. And as he did, the other became strangely subdued.

“K-Kaoru…” he rasped, his face covered in blood.

“Minowa.”

“That…I…hate that…about you…you’re always so…calm…rrrrrrrrrrrahhhhhh!” The boy began to dig at his skin with his fingernails, still screaming. Occasionally words about pain could be made out, though it was mostly unintelligible.

“I-I can’t!” The female nurse turned to the curtain, and realizing that Aneko was gone, she quickly rushed in, leaving Kaoru to deal with the patient.

The male nurse stared down at the boy, secretly gaining pleasure from the miserable writhing.

“So Minowa, what happened?”

“T-the girl…woke up…I…tried…”

“Hmph.” Kaoru folded his arms. It was obvious that he had the power to heal the other boy at any time, but simply refused.

“P-please…help me…”

“I can’t. We need a host.”

Minowa did not respond, but continued to moan in pain as he turned and twisted his body every which way, digging his face into the pillow as he began to lose all control, finally crying.

On the other side of the curtain, Maxie sat in the corner in a cold sweat, unable to believe what he’d just seen. The young nurse had cast some sort of spell which had slashed open Aneko’s stomach, and though she, the baby, and the nurse seemed to be okay, he could not get over the gruesome image which he’d just been exposed to. Was this really the world he was living in? Where dentistry was a slow torture and child birth was macabre?

The nurse quickly cast a healing spell, sealing the wound upon the woman’s stomach, and cradled the baby.

“Congratulations, Miss Aneko!” the girl squealed, “You have a beautiful baby boy!” The woman smiled, and held her arms out to the child, in her own world away from the nearby chaos. But almost the instant in which she received the baby, the curtain was torn open, and Kaoru stood menacingly above the three who were situated on the floor.

“Konton!” he yelled, and an explosion of both light and dark smoke accompanied by a high pitched screeching noise erupted within the room. And although it was brief, it cleared shortly after being pierced by Aneko’s scream who revealed that her child had disappeared. As Maxie climbed up from the spot where he’d hidden, he pushed through the curtain just in time to watch Kaoru tossing the newborn baby into the air.

“Kyomeru!” A pink helix emerged from the boy’s outstretched palm, crashing through Minowa’s body. And then, the familiar shape of Nanashi’s spirit was pushed forth, and pulled almost magnetically into the baby. Kaoru managed to catch it, though he quickly placed it onto the floor. And when he turned and saw Maxie staring at him in fear, he suddenly felt the gravity of what he’d just done.