Chronostasis x Overhaul

Chapter 16 ~ Hindrance

Kai hardly noticed the time when Nemoto walked in, handing him a few more files before telling him he was heading home. Kai always left a little bit later than Nemoto, and after checking the time he realised it was in fact 7pm. He also realised how tired he was, which was odd as he couldn't remember doing anything all day. Maybe talking to Joi had just drained him of his will to live. Kai said his goodbyes to Nemoto before grabbing his bag and tidying up his desk. He hated leaving his office messy, as he knew it would upset him the next day.

7:24pm. That was the time when Kai walked out of his office and began heading down the hall. That was the time when a woman, presumably a nurse, approached him and poked him on the shoulder. Kai hissed quietly at the physical contact and pulled away, walking to the edge of the hall and facing the clearly irritated woman.

"How can I help you?" Kai asked her. He didn't know the woman, he hadn't seen her around at all but judging by the look on her face, she knew something of him.

"That patient of yours, Hari Kurono. Would you mind talking to him about the importance of eating or something? I just wasted around two hours watching him stare at a plate of food." She crossed her arms and glared at Kai who scoffed and shrugged his shoulders.

"That doesn't sound like my problem. I'm here to help him get better, you know, recover from trauma. I'm not here to teach him of 'the importance of eating' or whatever you said. Maybe I'll worry about that when I know he's not suicidal anymore, hmm?" He plastered a clearly fake smile on his face and glared down at the woman, who was very clearly not happy about the responce she had received.

"He's going to starve himself or something! Or I'm going to end up killing him for wasting my time. You're a therapist, Kai Chisaki, how about you do your job?"

Kai stared at her in silence for a few seconds before smirking and shaking his head. "And you're a nurse, isn't that your job? I'm not Jesus Christ, I don't work miracles, I work here as a therapist who can only do a certain amount of things at once. How about you try talking to people who no longer see themselves as worth it? How about you talk to Hari and try to help him? Oh that's right, you can't! Because you've got one of the worst, or most easily acquired jobs here, aside from a janitor of course. But I suppose a janitor could do your job just as easily huh? Tell you what, I have a good idea. How about you do your job and leave me alone?"

The woman was silent for a few seconds and that was all Kai really needed. He spun on his heels and stalked off down the hall. Why were so many people talking to him? It made him feel sick. He was grateful that the nurse didn't try following him, she just huffed and puffed before storming off down the hall to probably cry about how awful her life is or something. Kai chuckled at the thought before letting his mind drift elsewhere. He was lucky to not run into anyone else on his way out. Until he reached reception, and saw Joi smiling and waving. This was not what he needed.

Nemoto couldn't help but feel slightly guilty. He had pretended to leave, lying to Kai's face. At least he had bought it. Nemoto pushed his glasses up his nose and took a deep breath, knocking quietly on the door and pushing it open. Hari tilted his head at Nemoto, not looking all too happy about seeing him again.

"I'm sorry for dropping by so suddenly, I just wanted to... talk?" He faked a smile and slit his eyes at Hari, analysing his every move. Hari swallowed hard and slowly nodded, trying his hardest to not look unnerved. It sort of worked. Nemoto walked over to Hari and sat down on the bed next to him, tilting his head lightly. "What do you think of Kai personally? Not of his skills, of his personality. How much do you like him?"

Hari stared at Nemoto, a look of shock plastered across his pale, feminine face. Did he somehow know already? No, no. He was probably just curious. "Um well- I like him? Not like- y'know... I just.. don't really know. I've not known him for long but he seems nice enough. Although I suppose therapists have to be nice, don't they? But anyway- yeah. I like him enough."

Nemoto chuckled and slit his eyes at Hari, nodding slowly. He then placed a hand on Hari's cheek and frowned ever so slightly, ignoring Hari's frightened expression. He pulled his hand away and lent a bit closer, eyes still locked on Hari's face, expression now unreadable. "How much do you think he likes you?"

Hari just stayed completely still, mostly concentrating on calming his quick breathing. "Uh- I don't- I don't know. How would I know? He's never talked about his feelings before, that's not his job.." He was lying of course, and couldn't help but feel as if Nemoto knew he was lying. It seemed like Nemoto was about to start speaking again before the door clicked and swung open. Joi looked at the two and nodded before turning to a mildly irritated looking Kai. Nemoto pulled away from Hari and got to his feet. Fuck.

"Ah, Kai. What a coincidence, I was just about to leave actually." Hari relaxed when he moved away and looked at the two in the doorway. He didn't recognize the large man standing next to Kai but seeing that one familiar face, calmed him a lot more than he would like to admit. Nemoto walked over to the door and slipped past the two, walking out into the hall. Neither stopped him.

Kai sighed before looking at Joi and nodding towards Nemoto. "Go interrogate him or whatever. I want to know what happened."

Joi looked down the hall at Nemoto and nodded. "I'll call you later k?" Kai nodded and watched Joi leave the room and jog towards Nemoto as he turned the corner.

Kai was snapped back to reality when Hari spoke up. "How did you know he was here?" Kai turned to Hari and closed the door, sitting in the spot Nemoto was just in.

"Some bitchy nurse was trying to get at me by saying that I made Nemoto help you rather than doing it myself or something. Didn't pay much attention to her, she was annoying. Apparently it's my job to get you to eat." He looked over at the man sitting next to him and tried to smile reassuringly. "You alright? Did he say anything bad? What was he saying?"

Hari stared at Kai for a second before looking down at his lap and shrugging. "He didn't do anything bad. He was just asking about how much I like you and how much you liked me? I think he may already be suspicious. I'm an awful liar..."

Kai swore under his breath before shaking his head. "He's my assistant, even if he is suspicious, I'm sure he won't say anything. He praises me like a god. It's... strange. I'll hopefully get the chance to talk to him about it tomorrow, chances are, he's already left."

Hari looked up and smiled lightly. "I don't want to be the cause of you getting fired. If you think someone will find out and tell another person, please just end whatever this is. It will hurt me but the knowledge that I got you fired will only hurt me more."

Kai looked over at him and nodded, wrapping an arm around Hari's shoulders and pulling him closer. "I will don't worry. This job is all I have, I loose this, I loose everything. But really, don't worry, I'm pretty positive I won't get caught."

Hari looked up at him and smiled, leaning on his shoulder. "Good. I'm sure you want to get home now, I won't hold you hostage any longer." He slipped free of Kai's grasp and glanced over at the door. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Seeing Hari smile, even if it did look so weak, made Kai feel happy. Like he had achieved something. "Yeah, I'm scheduled to talk to you tomorrow. See you." He got to his feet and walked over to the door, looking back once to smile and wave at Hari who had already calmed down from the strange confrontation. He opened the door and left the room without another word, checking both ways for anyone looking suspicious. Of course he was just being paranoid and there was no one but better safe than sorry. Now, he can finally go home.

♡~°isn't quite as long as a few of the other chapters but I kinda rushed this. Well yeah, I'm back again and will hopefully start updating once or twice a week. School is coming up and I dunno how that's gonna affect my mental state, but I'm hoping it will be fine! Hope you enjoyed this~°~♡