Chapter 15.4 : Life

An unknown amount of time later, inside a random hospital.

As she looked at the young woman, who was sitting on the hospital bed motionlessly with a heat monitor next to her, Shinohawa Haru couldn't help but feel her heart crack.

An innocent little girl, just under seventeen years old, but at the moment, her life was slipping away from her, under the helpless eyes of Haru.

"Doctor, is it really not possible for us to do anything?" asked Haru as she turned her head towards the middle-aged doctor standing next to her.

Hearing this, the doctor, Miki Shigeo, shook his head.

"At most we can preserve her life for a few more days and prolong her suffering even further, but if we want to save her, there's really nothing that we can do at the moment," said Shigeo as he looked at Haru.

Although she already knew this, hearing the cold words of the doctor, Haru couldn't help but clench her fist, righteous indignation building up inside of her.

Looking at the innocent young doctor, Shigeo couldn't help but shake his head and pat Haru on the shoulder.

"Haru, you must remember, we merely men, not gods, no matter what we do, we cannot save every single person that comes here, we can only save as many as possible," said Shigeo, causing Haru to clench her fist even further.

Looking at this scene, Shigeo shook his head once again.

"Don't worry, I know it's hard at the moment, but you will get used to this with time," said Shigeo, causing Haru to stare at the floor below her.

Although she knew that the doctor's words were rational, Haru still couldn't accept it, she couldn't accept that she would become so used to death, and so indifferent to human life.

"I need to go look at the other patients, you can stay here and look after her," said Shigeo before once again patting Haru on the shoulder.

A few moments later, Shigeo had walked out of the room, leaving Haru all alone alongside the patient, who was quickly approaching death.

As she stared at the heart monitor, which was gradually weakening and flatlining under her eyes, Haru couldn't help but want to pick up a defibrillator and keep her alive.

At this moment though, Haru discovered something extremely weird, she could not move.

"What is happening to me?" asked Haru with a shocked look on her face as she struggled to move an inch.

Suddenly, though, Haru felt a hand touch her neck.

In only a brief moment, Haru's eyes moved to a nearby mirror, causing her to make an even more horrifying discovery.

There was nobody behind her, or so the mirror showed.

But even so, Haru could feel the hand continuing to touch her neck.

"Who are you, what are you doing?!" asked Haru as she contemplated screaming.

"Do you want to save her?" asked a mysterious voice from behind Haru, causing her to suddenly feel a chill in her heart.

The moment Haru heard the voice, the idea that she was hallucinating vanished from her mind for some reason.

But even so, Haru did not respond to the words of this man.

"You should make your choice soon," said the man, as he stretched out his finger in front of Haru and pointed towards the patient.

After looking at the heard monitor, which was weakening even further, Haru gritted her teeth for a few moments.

"I want to save her," said Haru, so focused on the patient that she even missed the fact that the hand of the man did not have any shadow.

...

Hearing the response of the young doctor, a faint smile appeared on Koji's face, causing him to suddenly take out a golden arrow from his pocket.

After looking at the arrow, which was given to him by his master, Koji faintly smiled before suddenly thrusting it into Haru's neck.

Under Koji's eyes, Haru did not fall to the ground after being pierced by the arrow, like how most of the other doctors reacted.

Slowly but surely, under the gaze of the rather hopeful Koji, Haru began shivering and shaking, causing the expectations in his eyes to disappear.

'These doctors really are useless, even after testing thirty of them, not even one managed to become a stand user,' thought Koji as she looked at Haru, who had slowly sunk to the floor.

Bit by bit, life disappeared out of Haru's eyes.

...

'Is this how my life will end?' thought Haru as she felt herself slowly but surely die.

At this moment though, Haru discovered something quite interesting, she had regained control of her body.

Slowly but surely, using whatever energy she had left, Haru raised her head and looked around the room, desiring to see the face of the one who had killed her.

But before she could do that, Haru suddenly froze, as she noticed something.

Looking at the nearby heart monitor, that had now flatlined, Haru froze and no longer shook.

...

Just as he was about to go and retrieve the arrow, Koji suddenly froze, as some surprise appeared on his face.

Around thirty seconds passed in silence, as the heard monitor of that girl lying on the bed had flatlined.

But suddenly, and without any warning, that silence was broken.

Looking at the heart monitor of the girl lying down on the bed, which had now begun beeping again, Koji couldn't help but smile before turning his attention back to the doctor lying on the floor.

Slowly but surely, life appeared in Haru's formerly lifeless eyes as another figure appeared next to her.

As he looked at the figure with green skin, who was standing over Haru, the smile on Koji's face finally became complete.

"Thank god, this is finally over," mumbled Koji as he carefully helped Haru get up from the ground.

After speaking with his Mistress around three weeks ago, the latter no longer contacted Koji, but even so, the knowledge that she would be coming to Japan haunted him, as he had not yet achieved his mission.

Suddenly, though, Koji heard a faint sound of footsteps coming from down the hallway, causing a faint frown to appear on his face.

"Looks like we can't stay here for long," mumbled Koji.