Red Ink

Part 22 - Angel

With the parlor now closed to visitors, it was just Kirishima and Red.

He wasn't quite sure what she was doing as she puttered around the room– something with a noisy printer. Once the machine spat out the stencil, she set it neatly on her desk and crossed the room to the large hutch, peeking inside to retrieve a few unlabeled bottles.

He was laid out on one of her tattooing chairs when she approached him and placed her tools meticulously at the table beside him. "Can you remove your shirt?"

"Well, since you asked so nicely." He reached back and pulled it off over his head, dropping it on the ground next to his chair. "How're you gonna reach my back in this thing?"

"It reclines." Without warning, she reached underneath the lounge seat and twisted a crank that made the contraption lay flat, making Kirishima yelp a bit. "You'll need to lay on your–" She froze, eyes locked on his torso. "Eijirou!"

"What? What's wrong?"

"What happened?" She demanded, reaching towards him and touching his torso. "This bruise is bad. Why didn't you say anything? Aren't you in pain?" When she looked up at him again, her eyes were big with concern and frustration.

Kirishima blinked and dropped his gaze to his stomach. He'd almost forgotten about the giant wound in his side, now a bit self conscious. It was an ugly mark; a mix of painful purples and yellows. He didn't care about the wound, though. What he did care about was Red's hands against his skin, even if it was with gloves.

"It's not that bad," he offered. "It'll go away in a week or two."

"I have something that'll help. Give me just a minute, alright?" Red climbed to her feet and rushed back to the medicine closet with more determination than he'd ever seen from her. While rummaging through the bottles and fancy potions, she peeked behind the door at him. "Drink that, okay? The one on the left."

Her finger was pointed towards the table beside him, but his eyes were trailed firmly on her. Did she really care that much about a silly bruise? He got injuries like that almost daily. He blinked again in confusion, trying to figure out why she was so adamant about this. She was rarely this expressive.

He popped the bottle top and downed the liquid inside. Unfortunately, it was a lot grosser than he was anticipating. He gagged and grimaced at the revolting taste. "What did I just drink? Poison?" he grunted.

Red stopped her search in the closet and frowned. Poison? It shouldn't taste that bad. In fact, the drink she put on the table was cherry flavored. In her experience, it was quite nice.

Something wasn't right.

Once again, she peeked around the closet door at Kirishima. Her stomach dropped when she realized what he was holding. Uh oh.

"Eijirou," she breathed slowly, trying not to panic, "I said the one on the left."

Kirishima's mouth fell open when he realized what she was implying. No. No way. "This is the one on your left."

"Your left! I pointed to it! Why would I–" Red cut herself off with a worried huff and marched back over to his chair, snatching the bottle from his grasp to confirm her suspicions. She held it upside down to confirm– unfortunately, Kirishima drank the entire bottle. For a moment, all she could do was close her eyes and sigh.

"So... Do I need to go puke or something?"

Red slumped down in the chair beside him and took a deep, long breath. "Puking won't help. It affects the bloodstream."

"Am I gonna die?"

"No no no," Red reassured, resting a hand on his arm rest and chuckling softly. "No, you're not gonna die. You'll be fine. You just..." She sighed. "You were supposed to drink this. It's a mild painkiller. What you actually drank," She said, wiggling the empty bottle in front of him, "Was a relaxant."