Rory slowly awoke, her eyelids fluttering open to a white scene, a ceiling. Spotless and blindingly white.

She rubbed her eyes awake, wincing as she felt a sharp sting on her face. With a groan, she pressed a palm to her cheek. “…Agh. Right. Got clobbered.”

Slowly, she pushed herself up. A blanket slipped down her lap, which helped her figure out that she was on an infirmary bed. Not to mention there were curtains hung around her like a partition.

She inhaled a little, catching the scent of herbs and antiseptic. Her ears caught the rustle of papers and the squeak of a cart’s wheel somewhere nearby.

“…In an infirmary indeed,” she mumbled. “Figures.”

It was probably Saint Maribelle’s main infirmary. The largest on campus, smack near the outdoor fields, designed exactly for incidents like this.

She knew of three smaller ones scattered throughout the academy, but those were just for convenience. The main infirmary is where you go for serious problems.

“…Of all the places to end up, it had to be here…” she stared at the ceiling again, rubbing her cheek.

“How long was I even out?”

Surely it wasn’t that bad of a hit.

No way a ball to the face could’ve knocked her down for hours… right?

Just then, she heard voices through the curtains.

“Miss Angel, I’ll go fetch the new herbs you requested,” came a nurse’s voice.

Rory immediately froze up at the next voice she heard as it answered. It was a flat and monotone one with no signs of enthusiasm.

And to Rory’s ears, it was definitely familiar.

“…Mm. Go on. I’ll finish treating this fox here.”

Her tail instantly fluffed out in alarm. “No… no way.”

Next, she heard footsteps getting closer, slow and steady, right toward her bed.

“Please don’t tell me it’s—"

Panicked, she scrambled backwards, pressing herself as hard as she could against the headboard. But wood and wall had their limits, for she couldn’t sink any further.

The curtains swung open.

“Please no!” Rory yelped while her tail curled around her body.

And there she was.

The short cat-folk known across the academy as the Cheshire or the ghost cat of the school, Mizu Angel. Same white doctor’s coat as the first time Rory had ever seen her, same silver hair, and the same flat, deadpan stare that could kill.

She held a small tray in her hands. On it sat the obvious: cotton swabs, gauze pads, a cold compress, and a little vial of antiseptic. All perfectly reasonable things to treat a nosebleed and minor bruising.

And then, sitting beside them, was a small plate with a single piece of bread.

The two of them stared at each other in silence.

Until at last, Mizu moved first, setting the tray down on the bedside table. Then she sighed.

Rory swallowed hard. “…Y-yes?”

Without warning, Mizu slipped a hand into her coat pocket and drew out a syringe. The liquid inside was purple, viscous and vaguely ominous.

Tap! Tap!

She flicked the barrel with her finger, making it sound like a death knell to Rory’s ears.

“Wh-what are you gonna do with that?! And… and what about the bandages and ice pack?!”

“Those are irrelevant now that you’re conscious. This is faster,” Mizu answered as she held the syringe upward and gave it a few more taps. “Better this way. So you can leave my infirmary immediately.”

“Wh-what?!”

“This is an experimental serum. It will accelerate healing on that idiotic, ill-prepared face of yours. Works best when the subject is awake enough to experience the results.”

“…E-experience the what now?!”

“Stay still,” Mizu instructed as she reached for the fox-folk’s arm.

But Rory yanked it away immediately, clutching it against her chest. “N-no! Don’t! I’m… I’m really afraid of needles!”

For a bit, Mizu only blankly stared at her, not falling for Rory’s excuse.  “…No, you aren’t.”

“Yes, I am!”

“You’re not. Now act like an adult and sit still so I can finish and deal with the other idiots in this place.”

Rory’s lip quivered. “P-please, anything but an injection! I’ll drink herbs, I’ll eat chalk, I’ll… I’ll even sit on ice for an hour! Just not a needle!”

“…You’re insufferable, you know that? I’ve had enough of people ruining my day already. You and your panther-folk friend; both getting on my nerves.”

“Raveena? What happened between them?!” Rory thought in the midst of her terror, before attempting to beg for her life once more.

 “O-okay, sure, you’ve clearly got some random grudge against Raveena, but me? What did I do?! At least spare me!”

Out of nowhere, Rory’s body was pulled strongly toward Mizu by an unseen force, yanking her closer to the bed’s edge. “H-hey! What the?! Come on, what did I do?!”

“Nothing in particular. But the fact that you’re acquainted with that overgrown cat irritates me.”

Rory’s tail then began to try to reach and whip at Mizu repeatedly. “That’s unreasonable! You’re supposed to be the logical type, right? All about reason and science and… creepy experiments!”

Mizu tilted her head and slightly widened her sole visible eye eerily. “…Me? Reasonable? Yes. Always. That’s why I’m always correct. My irritation is justified.”

Rory nodded quickly. “Okay, I am not sure about you being always correct but that’s a good start! So you’re a reasonabl—Ahh!"

But the fox-folk was being pulled closer once more, the force stronger this time. In an effort to save herself, she gripped the sheets tight.

Mizu pulled Rory closer again, stronger this time. “Look, the sooner I finish with you, the sooner I can finish the others. And the sooner I finish the others, the sooner I can go back to Aya.”

“What?!”

“Do. You. Understand?”

“Come on! Can’t you just… find another way to treat me?! And hold on, what’s this about Aya? You mad at Raveena just because she’s friends with Aya? What are you, jealous or something? Like… like you’re Aya’s girlfriend?”

The last few words snapped something in the cat-folk’s head. And slowly, her pupils slowly narrowed to vertical slits as her irritation flared.

Then the magical force pulling on Rory slackened, letting her stumble back to bed with a small bounce.

“Oh, thank the stars and saints,” Rory panted, pressing a hand to her chest. “See? That wasn’t so hard! Now, be a good little doctor-cat and find something normal to—”

Ka-shick!

Mizu, without so much as a warning, drove the syringe cleanly into her arm and pressed the plunger.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”