-Chapter 26: Important Person Infected
"What is going on here?" I ask, stepping into the CR.
"The Deputy Director-General of Ministry of Health has been infected with the Bugster Virus," Hiiro's father tells me and I look at him. Ah! He looks like he has seen a Ghost!
I look over at Hiiro, who is sitting down with a grim expression on his face, and step forward. "Hiiro, is that true?"
"Obviously," he answers, simply answering my stupid question.
"Does Kuroto know about this? Those two are close right? You know since they work together to get rid of the Bugster Virus?" How is this even happening?
"Kara, you need to calm down and relax. We're doing everything we can for him right now," Hiiro tells me. "You aren't going to help anything if you freak out like Poppi."
"I'm going to go and check on him." I rush over to where the patients stay and open the door, entering the room. Emu looks up and so does a man on the bed. That must be the Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Health. "How is everything going so far?" I move closer and stop at Emu's side.
"Kyotaro is doing well for someone infected. He is trying to stay stress free."
I nod and look at Kyotaro. "Hey, you can trust us to fix this for you."
He nods his head. "You must be the newest Kamen Rider, Kara Amor. I heard that you came from the same hospital Hiiro was at when he was in the USA. Welcome to Seito University Hospital. Also, welcome to the CR."
"Thank you," I reply, smiling. "Do you need anything while you are here? I can try to make you more comfortable."
"Kara, he has gotten everything he needs so far so you don't have to ask." Emu smiles warmly at me.
I nod. "Alright. I'm going to go and handle some stuff for my job. I'll be back to check on you all soon."
Kyotaro nods his head and smiles. "It was nice to meet you despite the circumstance."
"Same."
~.~
"Parad!" I shout and he looks up. "What in the world is Graphite doing?"
"You know about that already? Word travels fast." Parad stands up, moving towards me at full speed. "I can't control what he does right now. He is doing whatever he wants to do."
"Well you should control him! He is trying to cripple the CR!" I shout and he looks at me with a serious expression on his face. "What is it? Why do you have that look on your face?"
"Because you're yelling at me when I haven't done anything wrong. You should be yelling at Graphite." He looks down, pouting a bit. Sometimes he can act like a total baby.
"You do know what is going to happen right, Parad? I bet a lot of people are going to get infected and we're not going to be able to treat them on time!" I look away from him. I am so mad at him but I'm even madder at Graphite. "You're letting him make my life miserable."
"What's the Princess of the CR being upset over?"
I turn and look at Graphite, who is in his Human form. "Graphite!"
"What is it?" He glares at me, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Why did you infect Kyotaro?" I ask, stepping towards him.
He steps towards me, removing his crossed arms from his chest. "What's it to you?" he asks.
Parad moves between us, keeping us from getting in each other's grill. "Stop it you two!" he exclaims. "You two shouldn't be fighting. We're on the same team."
"What team is that, Parad?" I look at him harshly. "What team do you think that is? Huh? Do you think I want to team with someone who is spreading the infection to people closest to those I love? Huh?"
"Don't turn this on me." Parad looks at me coldly.
"What are you trying to say right now to me, Parad? That he is allowed to infect anyone he wants to just to further your agenda? Should I just say where you are to the others and have them finally end this? Is that what you want me to do?"
"Is that what you want to do, Kara?"
I shake my head. "But I won't hesitate to turn you over if you keep this up."
"I doubt you would even do that. You owe me." Parad moves away from me, leaving me directly in front of Graphite.
Graphite laughs, looking off to the side. "Do whatever you want," he states, moving towards the side of the building. "I wish we could be somewhere more private but you insist on staying up here so she can find us easily. And look what that has caused us so far. Her annoying nagging on what we should be doing as Bugsters. Does she really think we can't do our job?"
"No one is saying you can't do your job, okay? Just don't interfere with my work," I state.
"And I'm not doing that really. I'm only messing with the CR which you don't really do anything for besides being backup."
"Graphite, chill."
"What? I'm just saying the truth."
"You don't have to sound like a jerk about it you know!" Parad shouts at him, glaring at the back of Graphite's head. "She's not just backup, okay? She's more than that. She's pretty helpful to them. If she wasn't around, they wouldn't be able to do somethings. She can provide a boost to them which is very much necessary to a team like that. Don't you play games?"
"I don't care for games like that. I only care about doing what I need to do and that is creating comrades for us," Graphite tells him, answering his question.
I sigh heavily. "I shouldn't have come here."
"You shouldn't have done that since the day you came here. Parad should have allowed you to die."
"Graphite!" Parad exclaims, looking at Graphite in shock. "You shouldn't say something like that to her. Especially when you started this."
"Why are you turning this on me?" Graphite looks at Parad coldly. Someone's pissed off!
"I'm going to go and do my job before I get a huge..." Ow...my head! I lift my hand up to my head and hold it.
"Kara!" Parad rushes to my side and holds me close to him. "What's wrong?"
"She's having one of her human moments," Graphite tells him.
"Graphite, stop whatever you're talking about. This isn't about being a Human. This is something that could be serious." Parad shakes me a bit. "Kara, say something."
"I..." Everything is getting black again. What in the world is going on with me?
"Kara!"
~.~
"You shouldn't have brought her here, Parad!"
"Where else would I take her? She can't go to the hospital with me suddenly! The Riders know what I look like and they would suspect her of knowing something she shouldn't know about," Parad replies. The person he is talking to sounds very familiar.
I lift my head off something soft, probably a cushion, and sit up. "What is going on? Where am I at?" I look around. This is Genm Corp! "Kuroto?"
"Great!" Dan sighs heavily and he moves over to the side of the couch. "Are you alright, Kara? Are you sick or something?"
"I'm fine." I smile. "I probably just work too much. I'm probably stressing myself out. I fainted the other day too." And the person that handled that was Kiriya Kujo.
"You should take a day off. You shouldn't be overworking yourself," Dan tells me, looking over at Parad. "Anyways, I guess I have no choice but to tell you that I'm working with the Bugsters. I'm working with Parad and his little buddy who has been infecting people."
"Graphite does what he wants to do." Parad leans back against a wall, looking off at the distance. "I'm sorry that you had to find out about this like this."
"Actually, I already knew about this." Kiriya Kujo warned me about it first. Isn't that great? That good for nothing coroner knows more about my lovers than I do!
"How did you figure out about this?" Dan looks at me questioningly and I look away. "Did that coroner get to you first?"
"No."
"Don't lie to me."
"He said something about getting tricked by you. He only brought it up because he knows I've been seeing you, Kuroto."
"Does he know about us, Kara?"
"I don't think so," I tell Parad, answering his question. "Anyways, let's not worry about him for now. There is nothing we need to talk about when it comes to him. He's just looking into things like he shouldn't be." I stand up, stumbling a bit.
"Kara, you should relax," Dan tells me.
I hold out my hand. "Stop, I'm fine. I can handle myself."
"Just take your time."
"I'll be fine after a few minutes. If it gets worse, I'll get an IV."
"Isn't that typical?"
"Yes."
Parad moves over from where he is standing and steps in front of me. "Kara, take my hand." He holds out his hand and I take it and he pulls me close to him. "You're going to be alright, right? I was worried when you just randomly passed out."
"Wait...didn't you say you fainted the other day?" Dan asks me. "Where did you faint at?"
"In the hospital in the room they keep the dead bodies. I was visiting Kiriya Kujo about something important relating to a patient I had. Why?" I need to lie about this. I can't let him know I was snooping around in Kiriya's business.
"You were with Lazer?" Dan asks me and I nod. "Why would you need to see him about something like that? Isn't that his job?"
"I was asking about something. Is that so wrong? I don't tell you how to do your job!" Actually, I probably have done that many times but this isn't the time to get technical about this!
"Just stay away from him. I don't trust him," Dan tells me.
Parad nods his head. "I don't trust him either."
"I know you two don't trust him but it is my job to trust him on things relating to medical stuff going on at the hospital. I was hoping to see if some sickness was spreading."
"Did you catch any sicknesses that might be going around? Maybe that is why you're fainting," Dan asks, looking at me with concern. It is nice to know he actually cares about me and doesn't see me as a piece of booty for him to grab onto.
Parad sighs. "Maybe she is just feeling overworked and she didn't catch anything on the job."
"I have to know how my girlfriend is doing."
"She's my girlfriend too." Parad holds me closer to him. "Kara's health is my concern too but we should trust her on what she says. If she's lying, it'll show. If she's not, that is great for us."
"Fine." Dan turns away and heads back over to his seat. "I moved the couch in here just for her to lay on. I am just going to leave it here for now."
"I helped you with moving it," a voice says and I look over to see Graphite.
"You're the reason she probably fainted. You're stressing her out over her job," Parad says, glaring at Graphite.
"Get over it. She's human and she'll face this eventually anyways. Humans are fragile unlike us, Bugsters."
"Don't treat her like she's nothing! Maybe you'll fall for a Human!"
"I don't care for that kind of stuff. I already experienced Human love before and I didn't like it one bit."
"Are you sure you didn't like it?"
"I don't have time to fool around like you do."
"You can at least try to find someone for you."
"I don't care for love."
"Enough!" Dan shouts. "We're not going to stand here and argue like five year olds over love, okay? If you hate love, that's great. But if you love it, that's great too."
"I'm just going to go back to work now. I'm going to see if I can get an IV. Kuroto, call the hospital and let them know I passed out."