"I'm telling you, I must find her no matter what," Sota insisted as his friends crowded into his hospital room next morning.
"And how exactly do we do that? Put up a wanted poster for a 'badass angel'?" Kaito chuckled. He looked like he had stepped straight out of a fashion magazine—long, silver-dyed hair styled with a side undercut, edgy earrings gleaming in his left ear, and a pair of designer sunglasses perched on his nose, despite being indoors.
"I can't even give a proper description; it was too dark. But I do remember one thing for sure. She smelled really nice."
At that moment, the door swung open, and the doctor walked in, trailed by a nurse. She was dressed in a crisp white uniform, her black hair neatly braided, her expression calm and unreadable.
Sota blinked. "Wait. She looked like that nurse. That might be her."
Tatsuya, who had been lounging lazily against the wall with his eyes closed, finally cracked one open. "I doubt it."
"Yeah, she doesn't exactly look like someone who would intimidate an attacker," Yasushi added, the one with a pleasent, kind face and the most modest appearance among them.
Kaito squinted at the nurse. "Hold on! Do you remember that harpy who kicked us out of the library for being 'too loud and inappropriate'?"
"The time when we were waiting for Yasushi? Yeah, hard to forget..." Tatsuya grumbled.
"Well, I think that's..." Kaito continued, but was interrupted by the doctor.
"As much as I'd love to hear the story, I'm afraid you're interrupting the visit. Mind stepping out until we're finished?" the man said with a surprisingly light tone and warm smile for what you would expect from a doctor.
In sharp contrast to his friendly manner, the nurse surveyed them with a cold stare—sending shivers down the guys' spines.
"Yeah, I might have been wrong. She can be quite intimidating," Yasushi whispered to the others.
They left the hospital room obediently, though not without taking the chance to check the nurse out. Each of them took a suspiciously deep breath as they passed her, as if trying to catch a trace of her scent to confirm her identity.
"So, how are you feeling today?" The doctor turned to the other patient—a boy of about six—switching effortlessly to sign language as he spoke.
The boy beamed and signed back with enthusiasm, proudly showing off his teddy bear.
I didn't know doctors could use sign language, Sota thought, amused.
"Oh, so your teddy bear was all better by the time you woke up?" The doctor repeated his signs, then took the bear for inspection. The stitches were still visible where it had been sewn back together.
"Ah…" he sighed. "Looks like this hospital has some secret angels who work miracles overnight," he said with mock seriousness, flashing a wink at the nurse, who responded with a faint flush.
Sota smiled. Yeah, she's definitely my badass angel.
A few minutes later, the doctor—Fujimoto Kota—checked Sota's charts.
"Sota Yamada," he said. "Consider yourself lucky. Thanks to our dedicated nurse tending to your injuries in time, things didn't turn out worse." He waved toward Saeko.
"I couldn't be more grateful!" he bowed flirtatiously, "I was just about to find my rescuer so that I could return the favour somehow..."
"There is no need for that. I was just doing my job," she said curtly, making it clear that she didn't want him to press the matter. Yet, he wasn't a guy to be put off so easily.
"Oh, really? I didn't know fighting back to criminals is a task of a nurse," he replied with a self-satisfied grin. Saeko shifted uncomfortably.
"She did what? That's new to me! Fill me in!" Mr. Fujimoto got all excited hearing this.
Sota told him about the fight, making Saeko even more embarrassed.
"Gosh! What have I missed? I've been trying to get on her nerves for a while now, but I've never managed to elicit anything fiercer from Saeko than a frown, like the one you see now," he pointed at her face, which showed a slight sign of irritation compared to what she might have been feeling.
How can someone that childish be a doctor? She sighed.
"Then I must be really lucky to get to know her wild side," Sota smiled teasingly.
He was that maddening type of men who remained acutely aware of his own charm and shamelessly took advantage of it, even in a dishevelled, worn-out state.
"Would you stop talking about me and get to the point?" she asked, rolling her eyes.
"Right, right! As I inspected, some of your injuries were old ones reopened, and they seemed quite severe," the doctor explained, "so, I want to make sure it won't get worse. I would like to keep you here for a few days to monitor how your wounds heal. If everything goes smoothly, you should be able to leave in four or five days."
"I'd be happy to stay even longer if it means I get to see my rescuer around," he replied without hesitation.
What a swagger.