Stumbling Over Love | ✓

Chapter 14

_Chapter 14~ Nicer_

"Iwasaki, that doesn't go on the head!"

The teen of orange hair rotated around, appearing absolutely frazzled.

"Psst, down here!"

Ryu's head tilted in the direction alongside the the delinquent he was treating. I let out a squeak, ducking my head further under the infirmary bed.

"What the...?"

"Reina, you are not an animal." Someone's arm came flinging under the bed. By the white coat, I traced it back to Dad. "This is ridiculous."

I slashed at him to disappear, hissing, "Don't give away my position!"

"Ow!" he yelped, retreating his hand. "You scratched me!"

"Shh! He'll notice I'm here!"

"Do you have a cat?" the gruff voice belonging to the delinquent Ryu was attending to reached my ears.

I perked, cowering further. Oh no. He caught me...

"It's a special kind of species," was Ryu's response—monotone loud and clear. "Called Kikuchi—"

"Orange!"

From where I was I spotted Ryu freeze. I clasped my hand over my mouth to keep from saying anything else.

Ryu growled. "I told you to not call me—"

"The cat's name is Kikuchi Orange?" the delinquent cut off his yell. "That's messed up."

I grounded my teeth, inching closer to the wall. Why was this delinquent still here? He'd been occupying that spot for at least five minutes now...

"I can assure you it's human," Dad interjected to answer him.

My heart stopped. No... what was he doing?

"Human?" he asked. "And his parents named him Kikuchi Orange? Did they hate him?"

I held back a retort. Was he kidding me right now? Why hadn't he left yet? The sooner he exited the premises the sooner I could mentally prepare myself for the next delinquent.

As I stayed curled up in my safe ball, listening to what was going on outside, I was caught off guard when somebody's forearms swung out and seized my shoulders, yanking me forward. Before I could process what had happened, I was already out from under the bed and exposed to the light of the room, dangling from Ryu's hands which were gripping me from under the armpits. My jaw fell when my eyes locked with the equally shocked delinquent, currently oozing blood from his forehead.

As angered as I was because of Ryu, in that moment, I was overwhelmed by the immense nauseousness I felt at the sight of all the blood.

"Holy," I breathed, immediately covering my eyes. "He's dying."

"I'm what?" screeched the delinquent, leaping to his feet.

"You are not dying," Dad interjected.

I peeked through an eyelid just in time to see him usher the delinquent back down, making sure to shoot me a glare.

"Don't scare the patients," he said sternly. He took a seat on the stool next to the bed, grabbing a bandage from the first-aid kit. "It's a small scratch," he reassured him.

I let my hands fall to my sides as Dad treated the delinquent who remained quiet. I peeked past the crevice between the curtains only to locate more delinquents waiting to come in and readied myself in case some of them lunged in with a knife or pounded on the wall, threatening to enter like they always did. Despite expecting the such, it surprised me when nothing came. For once, it was completely silent. The amount of peace made my skin crawl.