163 CH_5.20 (163)

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Takuma slowly opened his eyes and was greeted by such a blurry mess that he couldn't tell where he was. It took blinking dozens of times to get his eyes to focus, and even then, they went out of focus when he tried to look around.

From the beige ceiling above, the green curtain to his sides, and the smell of disinfectant in the air, Takuma deciphered that he was in a hospital. He felt a rush of relief—he had made it out of the assassination attempt alive. He tried to recall what had happened, only to find that he didn't remember anything after he had taken No#2's head off. It made him wonder what happened to No#1 and how he was still alive. Maybe the precinct nearby was alerted somehow, and they rushed to save him—if that was the case, he was so happy they did because he didn't think he would've been able to take out No#1 even if he tried his best.

Now that he was awake, Takuma had to alert the nurses of the fact. But as he tried to get up, his body refused to budge. It was as if his body was pumped with lead, and Thor had put the Mjolnir on his chest to nail him to the bed. When he tried to push it, pain shot through his body. He let go and rested his body, breathing heavily with a sheen of sweat on his body.

What had happened to his body?

Takuma craned his neck up with great difficulty to see that he still had his arms and legs. Apart from the breathing mask on his face and a few IVs in his arm, he didn't seem to be plugged into any other life-preserving equipment, which was a good sign. If something happened to his body, his life would be over.

He wanted to call out to a nurse, but he didn't have the energy to shout, so he continued to lay there on the bed.

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long as a nurse entered his room a few minutes later.

"Oh my, I see you're awake now," said the nurse.

Takuma frowned when he heard the nurse. "What happened to my hearing?" he asked. His ears were trained to replace his eyes under the fog of the Hidden Mist Jutsu. He could immediately tell that his hearing was different—it was so dull that he felt nauseous. "I feel drowsy," Takuma groaned.

"You're on some powerful medication," the nurse patiently explained. "You'll be fine when we take you off it. I hope soon."

"How long?"

"Nine days," she replied.

"What?! Urgh!" Takuma groaned. He convulsed as pain clutched his body.

"Easy now, you're out of danger, but your body still needs time to recover naturally," the nurse fixed his oxygen mask. "You were in an induced coma to protect your brain from a traumatic injury and lessen its load. Your condition became stable enough today to wake you up. How are you feeling? Any discomfort?" The nurse pulled off the sheet on his body and began checking him.

"I can't move my body, and I'm drowsy," Takuma muttered.

"You were ripped apart; it'll take time and physical therapy to get you back to your peak," she said.

"Fuck," Takuma muttered tiredly—now, there was no possibility he wouldn't lose position in the Narcotics Taskforce. "Who brought me in? My memories are hazy."

"The Police Force brought you in. I heard it was an assassination attempt, but not more than that. It must've been serious; they have around-the-clock protection assigned to you?" said the nurse

"Protection?"

"There are Police Force members outside your room."

"…Can you send them in, please."

The nurse helped him drink some water before leaving to get the doctor in charge of Takuma. A moment later, two Police Force officers came into the room. It took a moment, but Takuma recognized them as chunin—a Fuma and a Uchiha.

"Is No#1… I mean, is the last assassin still alive?" he asked.

They looked at each other. "They're all dead," Uchiha replied.

"Then why is there a chunin security detail on me?" Takuma asked.

"It's not every day a Police Force officer is the target of an assassination attempt. We must be careful until we find who was behind this," said Fuma.

"Any leads? Which one of the fucking drug lords tried to get me out of the way," asked Takuma—he would need to talk to Enomoto to verify if his "partner" wasn't the one to order the hit.

"We are working on it," said Uchiha.

"… You can tell me, you know," said Takuma. "I work in the Narcotics Taskforce. This comes under my purview."

They looked hesitant, but the Uchiha eventually said, "We haven't been able to connect the hit to any drug lords. Apparently, no one even knew this happened before the papers blew it up."

That was bad news. If they hadn't been able to pick even a rumor of the street chatter, then it meant someone had been meticulous about how they did things. Takuma didn't appreciate that the papers had publicized his incident, but it seemed inevitable.

But then the Uchiha stepped closer to the bed and whispered into Takuma's body. "The bodies of the assassins have gone missing…"

"WHAT?!" Takuma yelled before his body clutched up in pain.

The Fuma hushed him. "Be quiet, it's not public information."

"H-How did that happen?" Takuma shivered in pain.

"We don't know that information. You'll have to ask the ones handling the investigation. They will come by later now that you're awake."

He had barely been awake for a few minutes, and he was already feeling more exhausted than he ever had. Not to mention, his mind was now filled with the shocking information. The assassins' body had gone missing. How could four bodies go missing when the Police Force was the first to arrive at the scene? He couldn't imagine how someone could even pull something like that off. No wonder they had two chunin on guard duty—they must've been worried that if someone could steal four dead bodies without anyone knowing, they could finish the job with Takuma.

"You're awake!"

Takuma turned his head and was surprised to see Ai on the door. She wore a standard Hidden Leaf shinobi uniform and had a book bag and lunch box in her hand.

"So, I'm at your hospital, huh," Takuma smiled, happy to see his friend.

Ai entered the room. "When did you wake up?" she asked with a wide smile.

"Just now," Takuma said. Seeing that the guards had let Ai inside, she must've visited him before; that made him happy. "How did you know about me? Did you read about it in the papers?"

"…. I was there when they wheeled you back in," Ai said heavily. "Your heart had already stopped by the time you came in. They had to bring you back."

Takuma's eyes widened. Not because his heart had stopped; with his condition, that wasn't surprising—but he couldn't imagine how Ai had felt by seeing him in the condition he was just after the fight. It must've been horrible.

"All's well that ends well," Takuma tried to sound reassuring.

Ai smiled, looking better. "What happened? The guards won't tell me anything, but the newspapers are saying it was an assassination attempt."

Takuma nodded. "Probably one of the drug lords whose business I harmed or someone who was worried I would come after them," he sighed.

"How can you be so nonchalant?" asked Ai.

"I would be angry if I had the energy," said Takuma before asking Ai what had happened in the days he was in the coma.

Ai was an outsider and didn't know any of the insider information, but Takuma valued her opinion. And when he realized that it was because of Ai calling people that he was alive, he felt indebted to her.

"So… what's in that lunch box? I haven't eaten in ages," asked Takuma.

Ai giggled. "It's too early for you to have solid foods."

As they talked, the iryo-nin in charge of Takuma walked in, and surprisingly, it was Taro's dad.

"How are you feeling, Takuma?" said Dr. Oichi. The man's smile was as kind as ever, and he even looked more scholarly in his white coat.

"Tired," Takuma replied.

Dr. Oichi checked Takuma. "A few more days, you'll be fit enough to be discharged. After that, it'll be physical therapy," she said.

"I hope there is no permanent damage," Takuma asked, hoping there was none.

"You were healed properly, so there shouldn't be any, but we will get to know during physical therapy."

Takuma wasn't looking forward to that at all.

Eventually, Ai and Dr. Oishi left for their work, and the next visitors were the ones Takuma wanted to listen to the most.

Takuma was resting with his eyes closed when he heard footsteps in his room; he opened his eyes to see Kano, but then he saw Mikoto and tried to sit up to greet her, only to be punished by the pain.

"W-Welcome, ma'am. You didn't have to come," said Takuma.

"Rubbish," Mikoto walked to his bedside and sat down on the chair. "I had to come when I heard you woke up. How are you feeling? I hope the iryo-nin did a good job. We wanted to send our own, but we heard that you already jonin iryo-nin treating you."

"What can I say, ma'am. I must've done something good in my last life to have such good people care about me." Takuma was extremely emotional when Ai told him what Maruboshi had done.

Kano sat beside her after putting a luxurious-looking premium fruit basket on the bedside table.

Takuma got right to the point after the small talk. "I heard that the assassins' bodies went missing. May I know how the fu–how that happened?" He reeled his words in Mikoto's presence. Takuma's "swearing switch" remained switched off in her presence.

"After you were taken to the hospital, the bodies were sent to the nearest morgue. It was already too late at night for an autopsy. The transport to a Police Force facility was scheduled in the morning, but by the time transport arrived, the bodies were already gone," said Kano.

"But how?!"

"When our officers arrived at the morgue to transport the body, the staff was surprised. According to them, some other officers had already taken the bodies…. Someone had impersonated Police Force officers and had done it well enough that the morgue staff had let them take away the body. They had used forged release papers, and the forgery was near perfect. It was enough to fool the morgue staff who have dealt with officers before."

"So, someone just took four bodies, and no one knows where they are?" Takuma said, trying to come to terms with the ridiculousness of the situation.

"Four?" Kano spoke up. "There were only three assassins."

"What? No, no, no, there were four assassins. I stabbed No#4's neck in a street near my house, blew No#3 up with an explosive bomb, and beheaded No#2. Don't tell me No#1 escaped?!" Takuma said, a bad feeling bubbling in his stomach.

"Takuma, we didn't find any bodies near your house. There were only three assassins where we found you. The last one was killed by a jonin who was passing," said Kano. Takuma could see the look in her eyes. She was hoping that Takuma would revise his statement.

"There was a fourth one, the iryo-nin of the group. I killed him first to take away their healer. And I made sure he was dead. So, he didn't just get up and leave. Someone took him. Come on!" Takuma couldn't help but yell. "Do we have anything? Anything at all."

Kano shook her head. "We didn't find anything in your home, and the rain washed away any usable evidence."

"And then we lost the bodies," Mikoto sighed.

The atmosphere in the room plummeted.

Takuma felt a headache come over, and he asked Kano and Mikoto to leave. He knew Kano was there to interview him, but he was in no mood to answer their questions. And maybe because Takuma was the victim, a Police Force officer, and knew both of them personally, they left without insisting.

If Takuma were in a better mood, he would've thanked them, but he didn't say anything when they left. Takuma asked the guards not to let anyone in except for the hospital staff, and the next time Dr. Oichi came by, he asked him to inform them that he wasn't feeling well enough to have visitors. He didn't want to see anyone until he had time to process his information and thoughts.

But it seemed that he couldn't even have that, as, in the evening, someone stopped by his room. Someone important enough that a Uchiha chunin couldn't just turn away directly.

"There's someone to see you," said Uchiha.

"Turn them away," Takuma replied.

"It's a jonin. He's the man who saved you."

Takuma opened his eyes and looked at the Uchiha. And after a few moments, he nodded. "Let him in." It would be insulting to turn away the person who had saved him and not thank him.

The man who entered the room wore a grey kimono-shirt and black pants with the Hidden Leaf headband around his forehead. The man had spiky black hair, and his features were that of a serious man. Even though his expressions were relaxed, his eyebrows were slightly slanted, making him look like he was displeased.

"Thank you very much for saving me. I'm sure I would've been dead if it wasn't for you," Takuma said. "I want to stand up to thank you properly, but unfortunately, it seems I'm not in the condition to do so. I hope you don't take offense."

"Of course not. I'm fine with just your words," said the man, even though his voice were serious and straightforward. "I'm glad to see that you're awake. I hope everything's fine and you'll recover fine."

"Yes, sir. I'll be fine," said Takuma. "May I know my name."

"Ah, my apologies. My name is Kinoto."

.

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