Chapter 44: Ch 44: Hospital Visit

’My whole body hurts...Did that bullet explode...? What...Alan, that bastard knocked me out. Where am I now?’

Noah’s mind felt a little slow after he woke up, and that was why it took him some time to notice where he was. But once he looked around, he immediately recognized the medical wing...which also told him why his whole body was hurting.

’Riku must have patched me up. Ugh, I wish there were a less painful way to heal me. Now, should I try sitting up-’

The pain from his burns started back up, but it was much fainter now that he had been healed. He could bear it, but three pairs of hands pushed him back against the bed.

"Don’t get up. The doctor said that your internal injuries have not healed yet. You need to rest for now."

Daniel warned him, and his voice sounded strained. His voice made Noah turn his eyes toward him, and he flinched at the expressions the trio wore on their faces. It made Noah feel guilty, almost as if he had done something bad.

’This is unfair. Don’t give me that look. It is not my fault that the bullet ended up exploding...’

Noah tried to make a joke, but his throat felt raw, and it hurt to even try. It assured Noah that he had thoroughly strained it...

Which would also explain why the trio looked so concerned.

"How are you feeling?"

Alan asked in a concerned voice, but his tone told Noah that he expected an answer. And he expected it fast.

Noah tried to gesture to them that he was fine, but he was not getting through to them. He was about to give up when he saw another person coming toward him from behind the trio.

Riku extended his hand toward Noah’s face, which startled the other three, and they instantly took defensive positions around Noah. Noah noticed Alan’s hand moving, and he instinctively grabbed it before the medical esper could be hurt.

"You all are far too wound up right now. Just relax for now. I need to check up on my patient to make sure he’s fine."

Riku ignored the startled and guarded looks he was getting and instead chose to grab Noah’s chin to examine his face.

Noah had a hard time focusing on the face in front of him, and his right eye felt weak. Well, that was on top of his body screaming that it was in pain.

"I..."

Noah was sure he had opened his mouth and tried to get some words out. But he was not able to speak because he had injured his throat.

The medical esper looked annoyed by this, and he grabbed Noah’s throat to examine it. He moved his hand up and down Noah’s throat to check for damage before he gave up.

"It looks like you strained your throat while screaming. Sorry, kid, but you’ll have to endure a little more pain right now."

That was all the warning Riku gave Noah before he started healing his throat.

’Fucking hell! Is he reconstructing my throat? It hurts so much...!’

Noah was sure he had fainted a few times while receiving treatment, but he could not be certain. The only reason he thought this was because the trio standing behind Riku kept changing positions.

He swore they had been much farther away just seconds ago...

"Doctor-"

"I’m done. I wouldn’t usually heal someone who just woke up while they were in extreme pain, but the more I delay, the more it will hurt him. It’s better to get the annoying healing out of the way."

The medical esper defended himself, but no one believed him.

Daniel decided it would be better to push Riku aside and took his place beside Noah.

"Woah-! You pushed the doctor-"

"Can you see me? What about your hand? Can you see through your right eye? Do you remember what happened to you?"

Daniel fired off one question after another, his expression growing more and more concerned with each second Noah failed to answer.

"Hey, you are going too fast. Take a deep breath and give Noah a chance to answer, alright?"

Ethan came to Noah’s rescue as he pulled Daniel back, and Noah finally felt like he could breathe freely. That also meant that it was time for him to give Daniel an answer.

"I do remember going to the training, and then the gun exploded. Did the teachers find out why this happened?"

Noah already knew the reason, but he wanted to see if the teachers would try to cover it up or not.

"Tsk, they have not announced anything, but they better put their full effort behind this investigation. They already overlooked that incident with our room, but this is too much. A student could have died."

Daniel was looking more and more stressed by the second. Noah wanted to make him stop talking, but he did not want Daniel to feel worse. However, he could see Alan and Ethan showing far too much interest in the topic of their room.

’Shit! I need to change the topic before it gets worse.’

Noah was busy thinking when Riku decided his sanctuary had been disturbed long enough.

"You all have spent enough time here. Class is about to start, so I would like you brats out of here. Too much company will disturb my patient’s sleep. So I am restricting visitation starting today."

Riku declared, and he threw Daniel and Ethan out. Alan was a lot harder to deal with, and Noah could see him starting to argue. But then the doctor said something to him, which made Alan nod, and he left as well.

Once the room was empty, Riku finally turned to look at Noah with a regretful expression.

"Kid, I am limiting outside visitation for your sake, so you better be grateful. You have no idea what kind of headache I am about to deal with because of you over the next few days."

Riku complained, and just as he had said, he did suffer from headaches. But it was not for the reason Noah had thought it would be.

Instead of Daniel, Alan, or even Ethan, the ones causing Riku’s headache turned out to be the other faculty members.