-Chapter 4: The Man in the Red Jacket
"Dad, why didn't you tell me that she knew about the Kamen Riders?" Hiiro asks his father as I sit down, stabbing my fork into a piece of delicious cake. "She just witnessed a fight and Taiga Hanaya taking Emu's gashat!"
"You didn't say anything, right?" Mr. Kagami asks me and I shake my head.
"She didn't have to say anything. She obviously knew about it because she didn't seem shock to see what was going on. Why didn't you say anything? She's in danger just by knowing about this." Hiiro is so angry right now! "She could have been killed!"
"I'm sorry for not telling you, Hiiro. But I had my reasons not to tell you. You would have been upset to find out she knew about it," Mr. Kagami tells him.
"Dad, she could have been seriously injured during the fight. I can't imagine what would have happened to her if the Bugster stepped out of the stage area. I can't operate like this at all!" Is he not wanting to operate because of me? How sweet! He does care about me!
"What are you saying son?"
"I'm only going to operate if she joins the CR. But she can't become a rider at all. She can join as our support along with her friend."
"Hiiro, you are wanting a lot from me right now. What if Kuroto finds out about this? He's going to be angry."
"Well, we can't do anything about that now. He's going to have to deal with it because they know about it. We can't just force them to stay silent and live in a horrible way. I'm not even that cruel," Hiiro says.
"Fine, they can join. However, if Kuroto finds out about this you'll be giving him the reasons why they know about it and why they are here. Got it?"
"Got it." Hiiro nods.
"Good. I'm going to go to a meeting now. It is between me and the Minister of Health. Kuroto Dan will probably be there and I'm going to have to hide this from him." Who is this Kuroto Dan guy? He sounds filthy rich and annoying.
"Thank you, father. I will be sure they won't tell anyone."
"I'll see you later." Mr. Kagami turns and leaves the CR, leaving me with Hiiro. I look at Hiiro and he moves towards me, looking absolutely sinister. Am I going to die here?
"Um..." I look away, removing my hand from the fork. I can't stand to look at him right now. It is so scary!
"Hey, don't be shy towards me. We have stared each other a lot and you never acted this way. Well, minus when you confessed to me and I agreed to give you a chance."
"I enjoyed staring at you when we were together."
"Why does that matter now? Can't we look at each other outside of our relationship that has ended months ago?" he asks me. Well, he is right. We can. "You came here for me didn't you? Don't you want to win me back? You know that you can't act this way if you want me back."
"How do you know that?" I look at him and he sits down beside me.
"Why else would you bother coming here? You weren't that interested in the language, I can tell you that." He is right on that. I only learned it so I could talk to him and become Mrs. Kagami without any issues.
"We ended the relationship mutually after I told you I wanted us to end."
"I remember."
"I know."
He leans in a bit. "I will always remember how I allowed you to run off and how you were crying all alone. I didn't even have the guts to comfort you." Now this is the side of him that I absolutely love! "I regret it." What does he regret? Spending time working over his almost wife?
"Hiiro, I didn't know."
He kisses the tip of my nose gently. "You didn't ask me." He turns away. "You need to work now. I'm going to go and find Emu now. If you need anything, you can ask for help from the others around you. If they question it, tell them that I will get on their case if they don't help you. Everyone will help if they know I'm involved."
"But I already worked for so long! I am so tired!" I whine.
"Too bad. You decided to come here and my dad has you near me so you will do as I say. You're going to work and you're going to love it."
"You're so evil..."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing! I'm going to go work now! You can have my cake!" I get up and move around my chair and his chair, rushing towards the exit. "Bye!"
"Wait!"
"What?" I stop.
"Do you know where Poppy is?"
"Huh?"
"Forget it. Go to work."
"Fine." I exit the room and up to the elevator. I press a button and it opens. I enter it and close my eyes. I seriously hate him.
I press the floor I want to go to on the list of numbers and the door closes. The elevator bounces a bit, scaring me. I hate it when it does that.
The elevator stops and opens up as a guy walks in playing a hand-held game console. Wait a moment! Is that the cute guy I saw before?
"Hey, are you that guy I saw earlier?" I ask him and he looks up, smiling brighter than the sun. Sorry sun, no one can beat this guy's smile.
"Oh, Kara! I didn't know you were using this," he says, looking back down at his game. "I'm going to get off with you so I can find my friend."
"Alright." The elevator door closes and it bounces again. Great.
I hate elevators so much and they're always so troubling to use. I'm afraid I'm going to get stuck in one eventually or fall to my death in one. How do people not freak out over this kind of thing everyday inside of an elevator? Besides, they make me dizzy!
"So, what are you up to?"
"Work," I answer, being simple with my answer. I don't know what to say to this stranger. What do I talk about with a stranger?
"That sucks. Anyways, I told you we would meet again. It is fate," he responds.
"Yeah, it must be. Oh, since we have you owe me a name. What is your name?" I cross my arms and he looks up. Did he finish his game now? I am curious about why he's hooked to it.
"Oh, I do have a name," he states, lips curving upwards into a cute smile."My name is Parad."
"Parad?" What kind of name is that? Who names their child 'Parad' of all things in the world?
"I am named after a certain word," he says. Named after a certain word? Oh, this is easy!
"Paradox?" I know it ain't parade. I wonder if my phone would autocorrect it into that though.
"Bingo!" He holds up a hand and snaps his finger, pointing it at me. "You're smart! You must really be a nurse then. Not that I was doubting that you were since you're obviously one." He seems happy with himself right now.
"That is very interesting." What an interesting name he has! "I never heard of such a name before."
"Do you like playing games?" he asks me, holding up his game console. He just ignored part of my response. "I love playing games. Life is kind of a like a video game you know." I guess so.
"Yeah, I used to play them all the time before I became a nurse." Miyuki is a game character. Imagine the shock I had when I discovered her in my room after turning on the game.
"Hey, is your job like a game? I'm curious to know about it."
"No, it isn't. Lives aren't a game to play. You can't..." One doesn't get a second chance in real life sometimes. In games...well you can have three lives.
"I see."
The elevator door opens and we exit, leaving the elevator to be used by some other poor lost soul. We stop and stare at each other as he slides the game behind his back. He is hiding his game from me. Does he think I will steal it from him?
"Are you happy here?" he asks me. That is so random to ask someone. Why would he think I'm not happy here?
"I guess I am. However...one thing is wrong." I am not fully happy because I don't have what I want yet.
"What is it?" He asks curiously.
I look away, my face starting to burn a little. "Hiiro Kagami, he is a surgeon here."
Parad laughs. Oh, his laugh is nice! I love how he laughs!
"Do you like him at all?"
"How did you know?" I look back at him. "Is it that obvious that I like him a lot?"
"I can tell based on how you said his name. So, what is the story? Did he hurt you or did you hurt him?" Parad questions.
"Not exactly," I say. "Our jobs got in our way and that is what ruined our story. I shouldn't be answering this right now but for some reason I am."
"Really? How strange." Parad grins. "I came to see my friend but they might have been released. If you don't mind, I'm going to check their room soon after we catch up. A lot can happen when we're away from each other you know." He's not wrong about that.
"If they are gone, just pretend that you came here to meet someone up. You know, like me?" I suggest. "That way I can seem popular." I want to seem like I have guys chasing after me already just to get on Hiiro's nerves.
"More like you can use me to make that surgeon guy jealous," he states, laughing. "Oh, I just noticed. You're not Japanese. How did you learn it?"
How did he figure that out? Also, he figured out that I'm not a native speaker of Japanese? I think that is how to word that.
"Oh, Hiiro taught me how to speak it. I also did some studying on it on my own," I explain. "I helped him learn English when we were together since he was working in America with me at this hospital. Gosh, I can't shut up now." How am I am to talk to this random dude so freely? He literally just came out of nowhere and I can talk easily to him.
"Kara, it is fine."
I don't think it is. "Is it?"
"Yeah, absolutely. Kara, you should really consider gaming," Parad tells me. "You'll love it so much you know? It is fun getting away from the real world. Forget about your surgeon ex-boyfriend. He isn't worth it." He isn't worth getting back? Why isn't he worth getting back?
"I'll think about doing that." Maybe.
"Good. I'll see you around. I'm going to go and find my friend now."
"Alright! See you later, Parad!"
He is such a nice guy who is so strange. His clothing style is strange. Maybe that is a trend here in Japan. Not like I have seen any of the actual trends yet. Parad might be onto something though.
~.~
"Emu, don't pout!" I say, placing a tray next to his arm. "You totally look like a lost puppy right now! Did Taiga upset you that much?"
"I can't help it. I can't help anyone right now like this," he says, staring at the computer screen. He is probably looking to see who needs him the check them out right now.
"It doesn't matter if you're a rider or not," I tell him. "All that matters is if you can bring people the hope the want and they need." I smile. "Our job is to help people, not look like our soul is seeping out of us."
"Kara, shouldn't you be helping your friend with her rounds? She's easily confused on how to talk to patients."
I trust her on doing rounds herself. "She's just unique," I state. And by that, I mean she's a video game character and is able to hack into stuff somehow. How is that even possible?
"She really is unique. She stood up to Taiga."
"I think that was a dumb move on her part. Who knows what Taiga could have done to her?" I look away. I doubt that it matters that she did what she did. She probably can't even die.
"Hey, can you help me out?" Miyuki steps in. "I don't know what to do when I need to tell a patient something. Like what do I tell someone if they're stressed out?"
"Ah!"
I look over at Emu and notice a guy next to him, looking at him like a creep. How did he get in and where did he come from? Did he just appear out of nowhere? Also, did Miyuki ignore him being there?
"Sorry for creeping up on you but I need to have you help me out with a patient. We made an appointment with you," the guys say, smiling. He is a creep. But a cool looking creep with a red jacket on. "He's my colleague, Yoshitaka Nishiwaki."
"I'm sorry but I can't help you," Emu tells him.
The guy smiles. "No worries. I can help you out you know? I can get what you need back from Taiga Hanaya. I know that he took your Might Action X from you."
"You can get it back for me?" Emu asks him in shock.
The guy nods. "Of course I can do that."
"Why should we trust you?" Miyuki asks him and the guy looks at her.
He smiles even wider. "You can't but I'm all he has to do this. I can and I will get it back for him. He will have his Mighty Action X back in his hands shortly. Then he can help me."
"Well, we have no choice but to let him help us. The only other thing he can do is take it from Taiga and keep it for himself," I say. "If he takes it, we'll get it back somehow. Even if I have to find a way to make it happen. I know I don't seem like much but I can really use a scalpel." I smirk.
"Okay, I'll let you do that for me! But you have to give it back to me or else I won't help your friend here." Emu smiles.
"Great. I'll get started on it." Red jacket boy smiles even wider than he did before, which shouldn't be possible but it is, and he moves away from Emu. "Oh, yeah...you have to help me with my skills in gaming. I lack in that department."
"Deal." Emu nods.
"Wait! How did you find us?" I ask him.
"I work here." The guy looks at me. "I'm Kiriya Kujo. I am a medical examiner here at the hospital. You know, the coroner?" So, dead bodies is what he looks at?
"Kiriya Kujo?" I blink. Nope, doesn't ring a bell.
"You may find out that I know about a lot of things that go on around here. Even your secrets might be something that I know."
"Do you know Hiiro Kagami?" Miyuki asks. I turn, glaring at her. She shrugs and I look back at Kiriya Kujo, the friendly neighborhood medical examiner.
"Everyone here knows him. You know, since he is the son of the director of this hospital. Besides, he is famous for his skills in the operating room."
I nod my head. "I see. Anyways, I'm going to head back to work before Hiiro scolds me for not doing my job. Take care boys and make sure you get Taiga back. He's nasty."
"He's a jerk..." Miyuki looks down as her voice trails off of what she just said.
"Isn't that true?" Kiriya laughs.
"Miyuki, are you okay?" I ask her and she nods. "Are you sure? Did Taiga do something to you?"
"I'm fine, don't worry. He didn't do anything to me. I am just thinking about things," she answers. She's only raising more concerns within my tiny little head.
"Okay?" I wave at the boys. "See you two later! Miyuki, go and get some fresh air. Come back once you feel a bit better and can think properly."
She nods and I exit the room, leaving her with the boys. I turn and stare at some stairs. Whoever invented stairs should hate themselves because I dislike going up them and down them all day long.
"Well, these stairs aren't going to climb themselves," I tell myself. It is true, they won't.
I move towards them and start going up them slowly. Going to take my time because it keeps me away from Hiiro as long as possible. Though I should be with him as soon as possible in order to win him back faster. I mean, that is if I feel like doing that at this point.
"Hey, Kara!"
I turn and look over my shoulder, some of my hair in my view. "Parad?"
"I came to see you about something," he states, climbing up to where I'm standing. He stops, looking down on me. Gosh, he's so tall! And so handsome.
"What do you want to talk to me about?"
"I want to give you this." He holds up a gaming console that is similar to his. "I got this for you. I spent some money on it and some games so you can play them. It is only stuff I like though so I hope you like it." He spent money on something for me? Is this my lucky day or am I just imagining this?
"I can't take this," I state. It is wrong to take something from him when I have nothing to give in return.
"Why not?"
"Because...it isn't right for you to give me something you don't have to give me. Besides, we barely know each other despite me telling you about all my issues. How can I trust you?" I hardly know this guy. How can he want to give me something already? We hardly know each other and it makes no sense.
"I just want you to be able to play games again. Is that so wrong?"
I shake my head. "No, it is just..."
"Just take it before I feel bad about coming here to see you," he says and I take it from him gently. "I downloaded everything on there by the way. Did you know you can download games on it? It is so amazing how much things are changing!"
"Yeah..." I look at what he just gave me. How can he go and buy me this?
"You should play Mighty Action X. It is an amazing game," he tells me, recommending me something to try out.
"It is?" I don't think I know that game, but it might be cool to try out. Should I try it?
"You heard of it, right?" He gives me a curious look.
I shrug. "I don't know if I have," I answer. I really don't know if I've I have or not, but it doesn't hurt to possibly play it sometime.
"Well, play it later then. Once you get off, okay? I don't want your surgeon ex-boyfriend to yell at you because you're playing games. Also, your work is very important." I wonder what his job is. He can afford to get me something like this so it must pay well enough for him to get a lot of things. Maybe a model?
"Oh, I should get going now! You just reminded me that I should be working."
"I should get going too." He looks away.
"Wait!" I move towards him and wrap my arms around him. "Thank you for the gift. It was much unexpected but it will be put to good use. I will enjoy playing the games on my free time."
He hugs me back. "No problem."
Dang, he smells pretty good! I don't know how to describe it at all. Kind of fresh and fancy. How can he have such a good smelling scent on his clothes and body?
We remove our arms from each other and I look at his face. "I'll see you later," I tell him. "It is fate that we keep meeting like this."
He nods, smiling. "Alright. Just hide the game console. You don't need to get yelled at and I certainly do not want that to happen to you. You've probably get enough crap from him as it is."
"I will."
"Okay, take care." He goes back down the stairs, leaving me alone on them. I miss his presence already. He is so calm and peaceful.
I go up the rest of the stairs and turn right, bumping into someone's arm. I look up and see Hiiro. I shove my new gaming system into a pocket on my uniform.
"Kara, why are you late?" he asks me.
"I have a few minutes before I clock back in. Why are you being so rude? Do you really want me to go back to work with some time left like this? You're putting me in a bad mood."
"Don't be this late again when you return from a break," he says, looking away from me. What is his deal? Did he get ticked off by someone?
"Hiiro, is something wrong?" I better not regret asking him this.
"No, nothing is wrong. Now get back to work." Did he see me with Parad and is acting like he didn't?
"Alright..." I walk over to the nurse's desk and look at my co-worker, Yuno Yoko. I clock back on and sit down beside her as she hands me a file.
"Mr. Uzuki had minor pains earlier but that is typical after surgery," Yuno tells me. "Can you check on him in a few to make sure he is alright and not in pain?"
"I will do that."
"So, I heard this rumor," Yuno says, sounding a bit nervous.
"What rumor?" I have to know what is being said around here. If it is about me, I definitely have the right to know.
She brushes her black hair away from her face and looks down at her hands. "Well....someone was saying that you were once with Hiiro Kagami back in America and that is why you're here." How did someone find that out? I didn't tell that to anyone around here. If did, I had to be on some drugs since that would never come out my mouth. I'm not trying to get murdered by Hiiro's eyes over here.
"I can't comment on such a thing because it isn't true and this is our workplace. If you have any issues with rumors and want to know more about them, I suggest keeping it to yourself and not asking the person about it. Besides, you should be only focused on your work. Not baseless rumors."
"I won't bother you again with this."
"Good." I don't want people to keep talking to me about Hiiro.
Who would know about that? Miyuki wouldn't say anything about me once being with Hiiro and she wouldn't dare tell some random nurse about it! Did someone see us or hear us talking about it?
"Kara, stop daydreaming," Hiiro orders. "Yuno, take a break."
"Alright." Yuno clocks off and she rushes away, leaving me with Hiiro. She must be afraid of him.
"Kara, someone is spreading rumors about us."
"Why do you care? This is our workplace and we shouldn't talk about baseless rumors." Take that Hiiro! I can be cold too.
"Don't pretend you don't care," he snaps.
"I don't care. I'll be fine once people forget them," I mutter out, not looking up at him. "I'm trying to work here so go."
Hiiro stares at me with his usual stare. "If anyone gives you a hard time, just tell me."
"Got it." I will let him know if anyone makes my life hell like he does for sure.
"I have to go now. I have a surgery to perform. Stay busy," he orders and he walks away, leaving me alone with my work. Jerk! Didn't even get to wish him good luck!