"Iwasaki, that doesn't go on the head!"

The teen of orange hair rotated around, appearing absolutely frazzled.

"Psst, down here!"

Ryu's head tilted in the direction alongside the the delinquent he was treating. I let out a squeak, ducking my head further under the infirmary bed.

"What the...?"

"Reina, you are not an animal." Someone's arm came flinging under the bed. By the white coat, I traced it back to Dad. "This is ridiculous."

I slashed at him to disappear, hissing, "Don't give away my position!"

"Ow!" he yelped, retreating his hand. "You scratched me!"

"Shh! He'll notice I'm here!"

"Do you have a cat?" the gruff voice belonging to the delinquent Ryu was attending to reached my ears.

I perked, cowering further. Oh no. He caught me...

"It's a special kind of species," was Ryu's response—monotone loud and clear. "Called Kikuchi—"

"Orange!"

From where I was I spotted Ryu freeze. I clasped my hand over my mouth to keep from saying anything else.

Ryu growled. "I told you to not call me—"

"The cat's name is Kikuchi Orange?" the delinquent cut off his yell. "That's messed up."

I grounded my teeth, inching closer to the wall. Why was this delinquent still here? He'd been occupying that spot for at least five minutes now...

"I can assure you it's human," Dad interjected to answer him.

My heart stopped. No... what was he doing?

"Human?" he asked. "And his parents named him Kikuchi Orange? Did they hate him?"

I held back a retort. Was he kidding me right now? Why hadn't he left yet? The sooner he exited the premises the sooner I could mentally prepare myself for the next delinquent.

As I stayed curled up in my safe ball, listening to what was going on outside, I was caught off guard when somebody's forearms swung out and seized my shoulders, yanking me forward. Before I could process what had happened, I was already out from under the bed and exposed to the light of the room, dangling from Ryu's hands which were gripping me from under the armpits. My jaw fell when my eyes locked with the equally shocked delinquent, currently oozing blood from his forehead.

As angered as I was because of Ryu, in that moment, I was overwhelmed by the immense nauseousness I felt at the sight of all the blood.

"Holy," I breathed, immediately covering my eyes. "He's dying."

"I'm what?" screeched the delinquent, leaping to his feet.

"You are not dying," Dad interjected.

I peeked through an eyelid just in time to see him usher the delinquent back down, making sure to shoot me a glare.

"Don't scare the patients," he said sternly. He took a seat on the stool next to the bed, grabbing a bandage from the first-aid kit. "It's a small scratch," he reassured him.

I let my hands fall to my sides as Dad treated the delinquent who remained quiet. I peeked past the crevice between the curtains only to locate more delinquents waiting to come in and readied myself in case some of them lunged in with a knife or pounded on the wall, threatening to enter like they always did. Despite expecting the such, it surprised me when nothing came. For once, it was completely silent. The amount of peace made my skin crawl.

What was going on? Weren't the delinquents waiting to ambush us? Honestly, if I thought about it, the most disruption I heard all lunch was small-scale arguments and cursing, but even that died down. In fact, the delinquents I was assured to be fighting outside were instead having a series of intense arm wrestling competitions, courtesy of Dad asking them to settle who'd be his first patient when they came in.

Regardless, this quiet put me on edge. I was so frightened hiding underneath the bed that I was unaware of the actual state of the infirmary. Putting down my guard like this didn't leave me as scared as I imagined.

I twitched a little.

Though, uncomfortable I sure was.

"Iwasaki, let me go."

The said male lifted me up and down as if he were doing bicep curls. "Have you always been this tiny?"

My face burned. "Hey!"

"How tall are you?"

"Not as tall as you." I wriggled my feet, digging my palm into his cheek. "Now put me down!"

"You're probably four foot something."

My embarrassment grew. "No!"

"Three feet...?"

"I'm five foot three!"

He paused. "You're really short—"

"I know that already, shut up!"

Seeing my teeming mortification, Ryu finally allowed it, setting me down on my feet like I were a little kid. I glowered at him, resisting the urge to stomp on his foot. He met my gaze and completely oblivious to my mood, positioned his hand at his forehead, drawing it out to portray the huge height difference.

"Iwasaki!" I cried, blushing hard. Was he kidding me right now?

"Can you two keep quiet!" Dad's snappy tone jolted me. We both faced him only to be met with an incredulous frown. "If you have enough time to argue, start doing first aid on the other patients."

I rotated my body towards Ryu. "You heard him."

"You too, Reina!"

Fear consumed me. "What?"

Dad gave me a warning stare, radiating I had no choice but to agree.

"But, I don't know first aid," I excused, batting my eyelashes innocently.

The delinquent Dad was treating stamped his foot against the linoleum floor. My heart leapt to my throat. More so, when I saw his scowl fixed in my direction. "Kikuchi Orange hurry and get the fuck out of here!"

I was outside the curtains in less than a second.

When I was, I clicked my tongue, hanging my head. Curse me and my excessive fright of delinquents. I didn't even correct him when he called me 'Orange.'

A sigh escaped my lips. Man, I hated this. And to think I could've entered this room through another door this entire time. Dad would definitely get an earful of this if he tried to lecture me later today of why I was late to getting here.

"Who are you?"

My eyelids fluttered open just in time to lock with aquamarine coloured eyes. I attempted to digest the unknown face—scrunched up and sour, thick blond eyebrows raised questioningly. My stomach churned once it settled in.

It was a delinquent.

"What's a girl doing here?"

"There's actually a girl?"

"Look, she's wearing a skirt."

"Don't tell me she works here now?"

One by one, all the wounded boys in the room formed a circle around me. My body became stricken. I was absolutely petrified as they all leaned in close, studying and even suffocating me within the minimal space I had. They were goggling at me almost as if I were a rare animal at the zoo.

"She's not saying anything," one said.

"Say, how would ya' feel about leaving here with me?"

A hand darted for mine from the crowd. I flinched away almost immediately. My heart rate exhilarated as even more lecherous whispers erupted all around me.

"Don't be afraid."

"I just want to show you off for a while."

"Forget him and come with me, cutie."

"U-uh." My breathing grew shallow, my mind a clogged mess. The faint sounds of Dad conversing with the delinquent who called me 'Orange' filled my ears, giving me the notice he wasn't available nor aware of the current situation to help me.

Paranoia spread inside of me like a wildfire. It took all I had to defend their lunging arms. And although I knew I should've tried to run, I couldn't move. While I was pushing off all their needy hands, extremities shaking furiously, somebody grasped my wrist hard. I traced it back to a redhead.

"Oh, c'mon," he said with a sharp grin. "Don't be like that—"

"Don't touch her."

I gaped as Iwasaki warded most of them off before standing in front of me, a protective arm raised to guard me. Sweet relief surged through my veins. Ryu promptly glared at them all—it being as terrifying and murderous as it typically was—but such a thing never worked against delinquents. If anything, it only put them more on edge.

"Who the hell are you?"

"The guy here to treat you," Ryu returned. "Now either disperse into a proper line or I'll have to ask you to leave."

"I'd rather be treated by her."

"Yeah, me too!"

"I don't care what you want. She's not going near you," Ryu decided firmly.

I watched this unfold from behind, completely openmouthed. Was this guy crazy? He was standing up against almost ten delinquents here! And why was he declaring that as if I didn't get a choice in this? Well, I didn't want one anyways, and I should be grateful that he was defending me, but at this rate they were going to hurt him!

"Then why the fuck is she here?" bellowed somebody from the back.

"That's none of your business," Ryu answered, his back now pressing against my body. They were closing in. "Do you all want to get treated or not?"

"Who the frick cares about that now."

"Move!"

Ryu was shoved resulting in him faltering a step. His foot landed on mine and a sharp pain consumed it.

"Ow!" I winced.

"Move out of the way!"

I cried out in more distress when they shoved Ryu once more. This time, his body slammed into mine hard enough for me to fumble. When Ryu regained his own balance, he retreated, as if fearful to hurt me again. But right at his moment of distraction and before I could follow it with my eyes, he was hit.

He collapsed to the ground at that.

My jaw fell, head whipping back and forth. All delinquents had their complete and utter focus on Ryu. I watched as some of them raised their foots to step on him while others reached into their pockets to pull out weapons I didn't even want to think about. Right when I was about to race to Dad to intercede before things could escalate in the horrific development it was leading towards, I spotted something glint off the light above.

A knife.

There wasn't enough time.