Achieving Thermal Equilibrium | ac

4. FIRESTORM

The boy opened his eyes and Kayano's stomach gave a sickening lurch.

His yellow eyes, a shade lighter than hers, had demonic black streaks running through the irises. There was no anger, no sadness in his eyes, just eerie, unmoving emptiness. Kayano wanted to throw up.

What the fuck did Yanagisawa do to this kid? Did he kidnap the boy? Aggravated by Kayano's anger, her tentacles thrashed inside her. Intense pain sprouted from her neck. Of course her bloodlust would make the pain worse.

Kayano stiffly strode to the vacant machine and allowed the researcher to strap her limbs to the machine. While she appeared to be calm and collected, her mind was in a complete whirl. She was heavily disturbed by what she just saw. She needed answers from Yanagisawa. She would ask him right after her treatment. It didn't matter if he didn't want to see her; once Kayano put her mind on something, she would keep on rolling.

She would force the damn answers out of Yanagisawa's mouth if she had to.

The researcher left, leaving Kayano and the boy in the room. If she strained her ears, she could hear him fidget and whimper amongst the buzzing of the machines–

The needles injected something cool and soothing. They alleviated the burning pain almost immediately. Kayano let out a breath she didn't know she was holding–maybe she'd been holding it ever since Aguri died.

And so Kayano spent an uncomfortable hour and a half sitting in the machine. Physical relief was good and all that, but Kayano remained on high alert. She would like to be prepared if Yanagisawa did something unexpected, thank you very much. Besides, she hadn't forgotten the other boy in the room. She could occasionally hear him gasp and cry out. The sounds chilled her to the bone. Even after Kayano had finished her treatment, the boy was still there. Her heart clenched. How long had he been suffering? What did Yanagisawa do?

The same researcher from earlier entered. In seconds, her pity gave way to righteous anger, propelling her to act. "May I see Shiro-san?" she asked directly.

The researcher raised an eyebrow. "You must know that Shiro-san is very busy at the moment."

Kayano squared her shoulders and tried to look taller than she was. "It's important. He knows me personally. Please make a call."

The researcher looked like he was going to laugh. "Alright, alright," he drawled, humouring her. He spoke into an intercom, and to Kayano's satisfaction, the amusement on his face quickly melted. He glared at Kayano. "You may see him in his office."

"Thank you," Kayano replied coolly. Served the researcher right for being patronizing. Without the pain of the tentacles hindering her, Kayano could dedicate all of her focus to dealing with Yanagisawa. When she finally reached his office, without even bothering to exchange pleasantries, she demanded,

"Who's that other boy?"

***

"Who's that girl?" Itona roared. His head throbbed, his neck was on fire, his wrists were scratched and bleeding, everything hurt but nothing hurt as much as that damned girl–

–a girl his age

with green hair

and amber eyes

looking at him–

with pity.

He hated it. He hated being pitied. It had been an hour since she left the room and her gaze still haunted him. He was strong, damnit! Why was she looking at him like that? Why, damnit, why?