Mended Branch (DR3 x OC)

Chapter 3: Deserted Arrival

Katsumi walked out to the school garden, taking in the sunlight from outside that she so desperately needed during break.

A few distant, scattered memories floated around in her mind from the summer festival earlier that week.

Weird. I still can't remember what happened near the end. I woke up in my dorm but I don't even know if I walked back there myself. It'd be weird if asked though... They might think I'm crazy...

After walking to the fountain, she spotted Hajime sitting down at the bench. "Ah, Hinata-kun." Katsumi raised a hand to greet him.

Hajime lifted his head to look at her. "Oh, it's you, Hirata. What are you doing here?"

"The same as you, probably." She sat down on the bench next to him. "Taking a little break. I realized I can only stay in the lab for so long..." She had a serious look on her face. "In approximately five minutes, I'm going straight back to work."

"O-Oh, I see... but isn't break longer than that?"

Katsumi gave him an unnaturally serious look as if he had just suggested something horrible. "Are you telling me that I should rest for the entire break? That sounds unreal."

He tilted his head in confusion. "Huh? Really?"

"Ideally, I shouldn't even be resting, but I needed to clear my head for a few minutes. Other than that it's really not necessary. After all, there's no recognition in not working. That's just laziness."

She suddenly clutched her head, trying to conceal the bout of dizziness that she felt. It was taking quite a lot of energy to keep her arms up too.

"There might be a certain threshold, though..." Hajime murmured.

"Huh?"

"Nothing..." He averted his gaze. "Anyways, just curious, what are you working on?"

It was like a ray of warmth filled up inside of Katsumi.

He's interested?

"Oh, quite a lot of things..." she said, trying to her best to hold in her excitement. "But the school has placed a lot of heavy emphasis on neuroscience research so far. My last deadline got extended a little, so I'm not submitting the report in another week."

Thank God. I can't believe I've been incompetent enough to not finish it yet.

"Anyways," she continued. "I've heard it's the last one too, so I'm going to have to compile every last bit of information that I've researched."

"What type of research is it?" Hajime continued to ask.

"Well, the school itself surprisingly had done extensive research, so when I first received their findings, I was baffled by how many new things they discovered. I had a lot to build off of from there. Most of it was rigorous research and experimentation on the subject of neurosurgery, but any data we received was regarded as important. My research partner is especially well versed in that."

"Could you... explain a little more?" Katsumi hadn't even realized how much Hajime was probing into the subject.

"Well, we just looked into the specifics of how specific brain alterations can affect the human mind and how they think." She saw the look on Hajime's face. "Uh... oh, right... I know neurosurgery is a sensitive subject since a lot of people have become afraid of it, but it's done for a reason. For those with serious medical issues that require it, their other options aren't pretty. The scare is mostly caused by inhumane or inexperienced surgeries that were done in the past, but things as extreme as lobotomies are rarely performed nowadays. Just knowing and recognizing the risks through ethical research is sufficient. Even now, we're finding ways to lower the risk even further."