Panacea

Panacea Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I certainly don't own Scarlet Nexus or any of its affliated properties.

"Scarlet Nexus": Speech (Bold for yelling or Boss level creature)

'Scarlet Nexus': Thought

Scarlet Nexus: Memories

[Scarlet Nexus]: Brain Talk

Chapter 9

Hikaru and Tsugumi were talking in her corner of the hideout after he arrived, the girl nervously glancing at him and wringing her hands a little.

"So are you okay? Did Arashi and Kyoka...have anything to say about...your sudden fainting spell?"

"Yeah. They did mention that I have to take it easy for a while though. Something about letting my power and body come to an agreement in terms of growth."

"In that case...perhaps you should stay here in the hideout for the night. You can sleep...next to me if you'd like?" Tsugumi said, looking away bashfully as Hikaru ruffled her hair with a fond smile.

"Alright-I guess it will be like old times again. I really missed you and Kagero you know? When Karen made me his aide, I rarely got anytime to even talk to anyone-it was hard having to ignore you guys because I was always so busy." Tsugumi then turned to him with a surprised look as she noticed his thousand yard stare as she pushed one of her bangs away from her eyes.

"Oh, I didn't realize...it must have been hard on you. I always thought you didn't...want to talk to us after Miyuki...died. I am glad to hear that you missed us though...I certainly did as well. You're my best friend Hikaru-even if you are a classic tsundere." Tsugumi said playfully, watching the man in question blush at her coquettish tone and look away awkwardly.

"Ah...right...whatever you say Tsugumi-I don't know what you're talking about. Yawn...I'm beat; where's the nearest futon at?" Hikaru said as he tried to change the subject, walking into the hideout storeroom as Tsugumi watched him go, giggling a little at his pouty face.

Later on in the night however, Hikaru woke up and left his futon next to Tsugumi as he walked outside the hideout. 'Ughhh...my body feels sick. I know the girls said I was fine but I just feel a little queasy-like if I just had some bad takeout.' Hikaru mused as he crouched down on his haunches and looked at the moon. When he looked at the night sky though, he suddenly got a hot flash spearing through his head, the inky night sky exploding into a psychedelic mixture of purple, pink and red. "What the hell was that?!" He said as he put his glowing left hand to his temple to try and ease the throbbing. In the midst of his healing though, he caught himself staring at his right arm, which was hanging freely at his side. Looking closer at the limb, he saw his right hand turn completely transparent for a second, spider web cracks crawling all over it.

'This transformation...I saw Naomi go through the same thing back in Osukuni station. I wonder why it's happening to me now?' Hikaru thought as he looked at his hand with a strange sense of detachment as if the very real possibility of him turning into an Other was naught but an afterthought. Fortunately for him, his hand turned back to normal after about second or so.

"Huh. So I didn't turn into a raging monster-maybe I am just seeing things...must be all the stress the OSF's been putting me through lately." Hikaru grumbled as he made his way back to his futon, unaware that for those brief seconds of pain, his eyes were glowing yellow.

.....

The next day, Hikaru left the hideout bright and early just so he could catch up on some training at the OSF headquarters. While it was true that he didn't like back to back deployments and the endless paperwork they brought with them in the form of after action reports, Hikaru was always down for some old fashioned combat training. As Hikaru entered Suoh, he saw the early morning bustle with people milling about in the streets-the people in the café district interesting him especially as he had left in a hurry and didn't get breakfast.