12 Roses

42 | Families that Love Anyways

Your phone lit up, vibrating the table you rested your elbow on. You glanced at it, about to decline the call, until you realized that Megumi's name was on the screen.

"Hello?"

"Y/N." His tone was serious, low, as if he was hiding from someone.

You knew that he was on that mission at his old middle school, with three people who graduated from it some two decades ago being killed, but you heard nothing in the background but the wind blowing against the microphone.

"What's the matter?"

"The mission I'm on... Tsumiki might be in danger."

You stood from your chair. "What? How?"

"She got cursed back in middle school. Remember the bridge?"

"Yeah, I do. How is it connected?"

"Anyone that did the test of courage at that bridge got cursed and are being followed and killed. I need to exorcise it before it gets to Tsumiki - it's been on the move recently. It tried targeting Fujinuma, so that means that the curse is going to be after her soon."

You grabbed your coat and ran out of your dorm room. "I'll go to Tsumiki. You stay on the mission."

"But-"

"It's already targeted Fujinuma, so it's bound to start targeting her and she has no form of defense. If I'm there, then she at least had a chance. Be safe, you hear me? Or I'll make Toge tell you to be."

"Right... Okay. Be careful."

"You be careful. Meet me at the hospital when you're finished, Shoko won't be awake by the time you're done."

"You got it."

You heard him hang up the phone and you ran to catch the first train heading in the direction of the hospital.

•••

You got to the hospital and, while waiting for the receptionist to finish a phone call, you noticed a newspaper talking about three men who had disappeared into thin air, caught on a security camera.

You picked up the newspaper, furrowing your brow as you read the article.

The missing men hadn't walked off-camera, nor had they been dragged away, but they disappeared, seemingly unaware of the reason as the last frame displays each of their shocked expressions, all three frames on the front page.

Strange...

The receptionist hung up the phone. "Sorry, ma'am, who do you want to visit?"

"Tsumiki Fushiguro."

"Alright, room 302."

"Thank you."

You ran down the hall, seeing the door wide open, and your heart dropped.

When you scrambled into the room, you found her lying soundly in her bed, and you sighed, clutching your heart as its thumping slowed.

You shut the door and sat down, taking off your hearing aids and placing your hand over her heart, feeling the thrumming of her heartbeat. Again, just like every other time, you felt your cursed energy move through you and go to her, trying to heal what was wrong, except even something as fickle as cursed energy couldn't find something to heal.

You placed your hearing aids back in. "By the time you're awake, you'll be immortal or something from how many times I've healed you."

The hospital was quiet, save for the periodic beeping of the heart monitor. None of the workers there knew what was wrong with her, even with the myriad of tests they did on her.