The room we entered had three single-person mattresses built upon a smooth wood frame on the right side. On either side of each mattress was a pure white, embroidered curtain suspended from a mobile rack of steel bars. To the left, there stood several glass cabinets. Like the shelving below, each boasted more liquid-filled vials amongst a few miscellaneous items.
The kid nudged Agawa and Kamida, ordering them to lie Sato and Nakamura on their respective beds. But the two only met him with stares of hesitation.
"We probably shouldn't stay here too long." Agawa asserted to the kid. She then pointed to both Sato and Nakamura. "These two really need medical attention."
"Clinic." The kid remarked. "This is a clinic."
"Really?! We made it?!" Agawa chirped in excitement.
"Keep it down!" I commanded. I was skeptical of his claim, but we had nowhere else to go for the moment anyway. Though I wasn't convinced, I still felt relief on the off chance that we might've succeeded in our goal to save Sato.
Still giddy from the kid's declaration, Agawa wasted no time placing Sato on one of the beds. The wooden frame cried out an ear-grating grinding sound with each inch he'd sunk into the mattress.
Now free from the weight, she started performing stretches, loosening her tired muscles with a series of audible "pops."
Likewise, Kamida followed a similar process with the doctor, except Nakamura was the one crying when he'd made contact with the frame. Seeing his leg, I could tell why. Beyond the bandana bandage, the veins around his bite were blackened. Like the corpses from earlier, they coiled up his leg like a horde of thin snakes.
"Green Blight." The kid remarked, pointing at Nakamura's swollen ankle.
"Green blight?" He looked puzzled at the diagnosis. "Is there such an infection?"
The kid didn't answer; he only reached into a nearby cabinet to pull a vial of blue fluid from within it. He then marched to the doctor and thrust the small bottle into his face. "Drink." He commanded.
Nakamura politely refused, not wanting to drink a strange substance that a child had prescribed him.
The kid clenched his teeth and his hands in frustration. He'd been shaking so much that I thought he'd shatter the bottle in his hand. "Drink!" He ordered, practically throwing the vial in the doctor's face. "Or you'll die."
That last part startled everyone, unaware of whether the kid was warning or threatening us. Whichever it was, I wasn't going to let a kid push us around. "Hey, you little bra-" Cutting me off was the distinct sound of a "pop," followed by glugging.
I turned to see that the cork that had sealed the bottle was now beside Nakamura. Small driblets of blue ooze dripped down his neck while he chugged away the flask's contents.
"Stop that!" I ordered. After seeing an empty bottle, however, I knew I was too late.
pαпdα-ňᴏνê|·сóМ "Ugh," Nakamura groaned and wiped his mouth vigorously, "the best medicine always has the worst taste, doesn't it?" he clasped his hands and bowed his head. "I thank you!" He finished by parting his mouth, forming a full grin toward the distressed kid.
The kid's cheeks turned a rosy red, which he frantically tried to hide. Briefly, I noticed him glancing at Sato before returning to the cabinet where he'd retrieved the last vial.
While he clattered away within the shelf, shoving various vials and flasks aside, I noticed Agawa intently staring at him. Her eyes were focused like she'd been trying to discern a hazy figure standing far away. Then, a few seconds later, her eyes lit up with the spark of an epiphany.
"Ah!" She exclaimed, pointing at him. "You're that kid we saw in the clinic's window earlier!"
He ignored her, though, and continued his rummaging. Once he'd stopped, he turned to us, holding two bottles. One contained a deep, vibrant red liquid that shimmered in the candlelight, and the other contained some transparent, tar-like substance.
He paced up to Agawa, grunting at her and handing her the red vial. "Unconscious guy, drink."
"What is this?" Agawa questioned, appraising the vial from a nearby candlelight. It brightened as she swirled it, appearing to absorb the candlelight rather than reflect it.
"Medicine." He flatly responded.
Though Nakamura had accepted his treatment, Agawa hesitated. She was endlessly stuck analyzing the vial. I could tell that her decision to prescribe the mysterious fluid to Sato was paralyzing.
"It's alright." Nakamura urged Agawa. "It's fine."
Even given a doctor's approval, she still hesitated about what to do. I didn't blame her; I'd definitely never seen medicine like this. It reeked of shadiness. I wouldn't give that "medicine" to him, either.
I reached out to check it when the kid clicked his tongue in frustration and snatched it away.
"Watch." The kid pulled a scalpel from his pocket, holding it toward us.
Suspicious, I raised my fists and assumed a guarded stance. I knew he was just a child, but I won't underestimate anyone or anything in this town. If this kid wants a fight, I won't hold back!
I was ready to pounce on him at a moment's notice. At least I was until he slashed his arm with a single, deep, efficient cut.
"What are you doing?!" Agawa cried out. Following her were the loud concerns of the doctor as he struggled to stand up.
The kid responded by holding his reddened arm in full view of us. "Watch!" He ordered, wincing.
We all stopped and watched as a gout of blood gushed down his arm. He flicked the cork off of the vial and took a deep swig. Though I'm obviously no doctor, I knew what we witnessed was nothing short of a medical miracle.
With a few drops of whatever he'd just swallowed, we watched the skin on the kid's lacerated arm stitch itself back together. Like strands of lace, the flesh intertwined with itself, sealing the cut entirely. Before long, the only indication that his wound had ever existed were the stains of blood on the floor below.
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