First Sight

93: What Can I Do?

"Well it's good that Dahlia confessed about something like this instead of making this harder for you." Takashi said. 

"Mn...." Takashi could tell Izumi was troubled about what she'd heard Dahlia tell her. 

"Is something wrong, Izumi?" 

"It's just... I had no idea Dahlia was going through something like this. I'm just surprised she was willing to talk about it to someone, I'm sure must've been pretty scared." Izumi said. 

"Stuff like this happens a lot when we get patients who are dealing with abuse. They're usually afraid to trust anyone, but they're more afraid of the abuser because they don't want to be abused any worse than they already have. We've experienced abuse cases in this hospital more than you'd think. But you're lucky Dahlia was willing to talk about this, because most of the time, it's the beatings we find on the patient first before they can tell us what they're going through. And Dahlia's... it seems Rose knew how to and where to beat her daughter." Takashi said.

"What?" 

"After we did the surgery on Dahlia's arm, I realized there were marks covering her back and ribs. But because no one tends to check those places, you wouldn't think Dahlia was being abused. Dahlia didn't have any bruises or marks on her arms or legs, it was just her back, but they were pretty severe." Takashi said.

"So... what should we do?" Izumi asked. 

"We have no choice, we'll have to report this to the police and have Rose arrested for child abuse. And because Dahlia said that she chose to live with Rose for 3 months, this will also prevent Rose from seeing Dahlia again due to custody problems. This also means Rose will have to pay for Child Support as well." Takashi said, Izumi looked confused.

"Hmph, I only know this stuff because one of my brothers is a lawyer." Takashi said. 

"Ah- but wait- how did you know Dahlia said she would live with her mom for 3 months? I was the only person in the room with Dahlia." 

"Or so you think." Takashi said, as he pulled out a small box from his pocket. 

"What's-" 

"It's a voice recorder, I stuck it in Dahlia's room before she woke up. I figured something like this would happen so I hid it in her room, and soon I turned it on to hear everything she told you. I'm only doing this for safety reasons, and because it's evidence that the child explained everything, the case will be closed in an instant." Takashi said. 

"But- won't they think this was planned evidence?" 

"Would you believe someone the way Dahlia acted?" Takashi asked. 

"I-I would... This was the first time I'd seen Dahlia cry and talk like this, and I'd never seen her so scared...." 

"That's all the proof you need."

Izumi was leaving the hospital after talking with Takashi about Dahlia and Eri's recovery, and it seemed that since Dahlia confessed, the greenette was relieved. 

'At least Dahlia was willing to talk to someone about this, I'm sure she's been so scared and frustrated these past few months.' she thought.

"Huh? Izumi?" 

Izumi slowly looked up and was surprised to see Mina, Kirishima, Kaminari and Sero staring at her. 

"O-Oh, Mina." 

"Ha- I thought it was you! How've you been?" Mina asked, as they walked up to the greenette.