Chapter 12:

Walking in a hospital at night feels pretty good. The dim lights in the corridor set up some kind of indescribable mood.

There weren't many patients in the hospital at this time. We walked to the couples room and Mizuhara san knocked the door.

" Excuse me, may we enter?"

" Yes please"

We entered the room and saw them holding hands and making out.

" Tch" The nurse clicked her tongue, probably feeling jealous.

" That's why I told the director to keep them in Separate rooms."

In the near future, she's probably gonna take revenge over all the couples in the world.

" Uhh.... Nice to meet you, I'm Sugawara Daichi." How many times did I just introduce myself today?

The woman looked terrified. She held her husband's hand tightly. They both looked pretty young and they might've gotten married recently.

" Ah nice to meet you too. I'm Joro and this is my wife." She put the blanket over her face and hid.

" Ah sorry, she's a bit terrified. She hasn't been able to assess things properly after she got attacked."

" Very sorry about that" Mizuhara San did not seem sorry.

" Is something wrong?" He asked.

" Uhh....it's about the monster."

His wife trembled from hearing the word.

" Is it alright if I ask you something?"

At first, he hesitated and looked at his wife. He put his hand on her head and rubbed it.

" It's alright. I think it's time we spoke something instead of sitting here doing nothing."

" It's nothing much. I wanted to ask you where you were attacked."

" That's all?" Somehow Joro san was relieved.

" Yeah"

He took a breath and had a determined face.

" Well me and my wife work in the same office. I had some work to do, so we both stayed in the office a little late. On our way back home, we...."

Joro san looked at his wife and then turned away shutting his eyes tight, as if he was refusing to stop.

" If it's hard we'll come back another day." Mizuhara san was worried about them (even though she envied them).

" No, they need to say it now." I told her.

" Sugawara kun I think that's enough. There's no need to ask them about something that we just need to verify." Mizuhara san moved to calm down the patient.

I ignored her and told Joro san to continue. He was about to speak, but then his wife stopped him. She was sweating and breathing heavily.

" What's wrong? Please continue."

Mizuhara san turned around and faced me with an angry face.

" Hey, stop that you brat!! You don't know what a trauma is and what it can do to people!! They won't get healed so easily, especially if it's a woman!! I know you fought with that thing, but sometimes you just get lucky." Mizuhara san caught my arm and tried pulling me back

I was unsatisfied. I wanted to know why the monster dragged his victims and why he wanted to instill fear in the rest of us. But there was something else also that I wanted to do.

I looked at the knife that was stuck on an apple. I plucked it out and came closer to them.

" Wait wait wait!! Don't tell me you're gonna threaten them??!!!" Mizuhara san stood in front of them. I walked slowly with the knife in my hand. As I was closing in, Mizuhara San realized how big of a person I was. Not because of my height, but my determined face. She staggered back and closed her eyes covering her face with her arms. Everyone turned silent.

" Eh?" Mizuhara san opened her eyes. I gave her the knife.

" Throw this at me."

" What do you mean??"

" Take this and throw it at me." I repeated.

" That's a bit dangerous but why do you want to do this??"

I remembered what Mizuhara san just said about me coming back alive.

" Lucky huh...? You said I got lucky didn't you?" I took out a handkerchief from my pocket and covered my eyes with it.

" Why are you covering your eyes?"

" Let's find out if I'm really lucky." I walked back and my back touched the wall," I'm ready whenever you are." I told Mizuhara san and kept my chest and stomach uncovered

Mizuhara san started trembling with the knife in her hand.

" I won't do this. Especially as a nurse towards a patient." She lowered her hand.

" Why? You must have opened up bodies during surgeries, haven't you?"

" That is different!!" Her voice sounded agitated.

" Sigh....Joro san. Do you think I can catch the knife before it stabs me?" I turned my face to the bed.

" I don't know but I think you shouldn't do this. I don't think you're lucky enough to not get hit by the knife." He said

I turned to his wife and asked her the same thing again," Well what do you think?"

" I-I don't know too....but please st-stop this." Her voice wavered.

" Mizuhara san, there's not much time. I have someone waiting for me at home." I told her.

" That's why I can't do it you brat!! What if you don't return to your parents??" She argued.

I took a deep breath and calmly said

" In this world, the only way to win someone's trust is to show results. And when I want to show someone my results.... I don't do it in a half assed way."

Everyone in the room were shocked by my resolve. Mizuhara san gripped the knife tightly and then asked me

" Are you really sure?"

" Yeah"

" Are you really doing this?" Joro San was about to get out of bed.

" Yeah"

" Okay then Sugawara kun. I'll prepare a nice funeral for you then" Mizuhara san aimed the knife at me.

I didn't reply. I wondered why I was going through such lengths just to earn some stranger's trust. No, I wasn't trying to earn their trust. There was something I was looking for inside them. Then I remembered their faces when I first entered the room. Eyes brimming with fear and anxiety, faces covered up with fake smiles and under them were unsightly pieces of despair. It must've been scary for them, especially for people who's future just started together. I wanted to do something....

Mizuhara san's face was dripping with cold sweat. The suspenseful atmosphere was too much to handle for Joro san and his wife. The room was so silent that you could hear Mizuhara san's sweat dropping on the floor. Finally....

WHOOOOOOSH...

The knife cut through the air and flew at it's highest speed.

HISSSSSSS....

My danger sense showed up at my left liver and....

KACHIKKK...

Joro's wife cried out and covered her self with the blanket. She stayed under the blanket for five seconds or so. When she couldn't take it anymore, she slowly put the blanket and gasped.

The first thing she saw was me smiling with the knife between my index and middle finger, held like a cigarette. She let go of the blanket and lost all power in her hands. Tears of relief rolled down her cheeks. Mizuhara san too lost all power in her legs and fell to the ground.

" I don't believe in good luck. If such a thing existed, I'd probably turn out to be a better person."

I pulled my sleeves up once again and showed them my bandaged arm. They looked at it with shocked eyes.

" I fought with the monster that attacked you. I gave it a good beating but wasn't able to take it down"

They couldn't believe what they were hearing.

" Y-You mean....you fought with that thing that almost killed us in an instant?"

I nodded and looked at his wife.

" You don't have to be scared now. I know it's hard to get rid of that fear. But if you help me by giving some info, then I can help you get rid of your fears."

His wife wiped her tears and then went under the sheets.

" No use huh.... Well who trusts someone just because they saw a magic show. If someone trusted me like that and spoke up, that person must be an idiot."

" I-I can tell you what happened...." Joro's wife spoke under the blanket.

" There was an idiot here...."

" Are you sure?" Joro san was worried. She nodded and continued.

" W-We were attacked in a dark place. My husband went unconscious because of the blood loss. I was hurt too but I was still awake due to the pain.... The monster picked us up and carried us somewhere.... When he brought us in a bright place, he put us down and disappeared into the dark...."

I looked at Mizuhara san and nodded.

" It seems like Hachi was right. This monster is trying to do something to scare someone...."

" Did the police ask you guys anything?" I asked.

" No.... They didn't come yet." Joro san replied.

" Hmm.... well thank you for your help" Mizuhara san signaled me that it's time to leave.

" Uh.... yeah thank you very much...." I bowed.

As we were about to leave, Joro's wife got up

" Are you.... Are you going to win?" She looked nervous.

" I was aiming to win from the start" I put a thumbs up and left the room.

Now I understood what I wanted to see . It was a silly thing, but seeing a person's face after standing up to fear is a sight to behold. I smiled quietly and Mizuhara san looked at me.

" You're into married women?"

" Shut up"