"Hey Simon, how are you doing?" You asked, hoping to hear good news from the lawyer. However, when you saw his dull expression, you knew that you'd hoped for too much. He attempted to hide his anxiety by giving you a kind smile.

"The hospital didn't find any poison when they did a screening, so I'm probably fine..." Simon assured, "Um... why did you think I was poisoned in the first place?"

"Haha... I probably watch too many crime shows," You awkwardly scratched the back of your head. That answer wouldn't surprise you if it was actually true- you DID watch a lot of crime shows where people were killed in all sorts of unique ways. Who and what would have poisoned him anyways? You couldn't think of anybody that would want to do that to him.

Simon opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, his eyes suddenly grew wide. He quickly reached over to a nearby counter, where there were puke bags at arm's reach from the bed. He snatched one and opened it, barely having enough time to actually land his own puke in the bag. To your horror, it was still just blood...

"S-sorry you had to witness that! I assure you I'm fine, though!" Simon quickly apologized, throwing the puke bag into a trash can and using paper towels to wipe the excess blood from his mouth. Was he seriously worried with how he looked when he was vomiting blood?!

"Dude, you don't have to be sorry. You could possibly die so like... I don't think how you look really matters," You walked over to the boy and gave him a small pat on the shoulder, hoping that would somehow make him care less about how he appeared to you. It kind of hurt to see that even when he was sick, he wasn't expressing much about his concerns for himself. He seemed to care more about how you perceived him and your own comfort.

"I won't die," Simon declared with a determined look, though you weren't sure if you could believe him. "Ah, please excuse me for a few minutes," Simon suddenly broke the silence as he stood up, walking into the bathroom connected to his hospital room.

You waited patiently for Simon, expecting the trip to not take very long. However, a few minutes turned into several minutes, and several into many more. You had begun to grow worried, especially once thirty minutes had passed and Simon still had not left the bathroom. You were worried to intrude on his privacy, but you were too scared that something had happened to him...

After several minutes of contemplation, you slowly approached the door and knocked with caution, "Simon? Are you okay?"

A few long seconds passed without a response, and you were thinking about trying to knock again before you heard Simon reply, "I-I'm fine! My apologies for making you wait so long..."

You weren't sure what to do after that, and you stood there trying to think over your options. Just a few minutes later, however, two nurses suddenly rushed into the room, a necklace around their necks beeping red. In an automated voice they said something about an emergency, but before you could ask any questions, they quite literally pushed you out of the room and shut the door.

Nearly fifteen minutes passed until the door opened again, and the sight made you rather scared. The nurse that left the room had blood on her gloves, which she quickly tossed in the trash before you could get a good look.

"Sorry, Simon isn't stable enough right now to have visitors. If you like, you can leave your phone number with the hospital and we can call you when you can visit Simon again," the nurse offered. Without hesitation, you agreed, and the nurse wrote down your phone number on a piece of paper. Afterwards, you were escorted out of the hospital.

I really hope Simon will be okay... you thought to yourself as you left the building. You had no idea what could have possibly happened so suddenly that apparently created the emergency, but you hoped that whatever it was would turn out to be something minor. That was all you could really do.

As you entered your car, you suddenly remembered the offer that Ishikarai had given to you earlier. You'd always wanted to get a job, but you had always been too busy to get one. Although you were now in college and life would almost certainly get more busy, you still couldn't shake off the desire to have your first real job. You looked at the business card Ishikarai had given you. It was plain enough- simply stating his name, his occupation as a detective, the address of the police station, his contact email, his work phone number, and his business hours. The background was plain white except for simple art in the corner of a police badge, and the text was black. He was definitely not trying to attract anybody with fancy graphics.

After thinking about it for a while, you started up your car. You'd make the call once you got to your dorm. Might as well see what the job had to offer, right? Worst case scenario, you decide it's not for you. All you had to lose was a few minutes.

~~~

"You've reached Ishikarai Saihara," Ishikarai answered the phone with a patient tone.

"U-uh, it's me, (Y/N)-"

"Ah, Ms. (Y/N)! Have you decided on if you're going to join or not, or did you have a question?" Ishikarai asked politely, his voice warm and inviting. It made you feel more open to speak with him, which was a pleasant surprise.

"I was actually thinking about joining," You admitted, feeling your nerves start to rise as soon as you said it. What if for some reason he didn't actually need another forensics scientist? What if-

"Oh, that's wonderful! Come down to the station at your earliest convenience so you can start the application process, okay? It's mostly just paperwork for the HR employees, and I'll have somebody show you around too. Just tell the receptionist your name, I'll let them know to expect you," Ishikarai instructed. You paused for a few seconds to let the information sink in, and it seemed easily do-able.

"Okay, that sounds good," You agreed to the plan.

"Great. I'd love to chat with you more but unfortunately I have to attend a meeting soon, so I must hang up on you. I'll be looking forward to seeing you later, though," Ishikarai almost happily spoke, which mildly surprised you. You said goodbye to the older man and the two of you hung up, making you sigh. You'd heard that getting a job was really difficult... but you knew you'd never experience that because you were an Ultimate. There were so many stories of Ultimates practically being begged and harassed by companies to work for them, which kind of scared you.

"Ah, I've been looking for you, (Y/N)," Shuichi suddenly spoke up, which made you turn around to face him. Henry of all people stood beside him, both of their expressions dark. Shuichi seemed to hesitate a little before asking, "Did you hear about Simon...?"

"I know he's in the hospital because he was puking blood. Did something else happen? 'Cuz I just left the hospital not that long ago," You looked between the two boys, but after what you said, their expressions seemed to just get darker.

Henry almost hesitated before he informed you, "Simon was transported to the ICU. His condition is becoming less stable, and if he shows no response to treatment, he will be dead within the next seventy-two hours. So goes the prognosis. He currently has no known cause for his sudden illness."

"Wait, what?!" You practically shouted, your eyes instantly going wide. You hadn't known Simon for very long, but you knew that he didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve to be so sick in the hospital when all he'd shown you and everyone around him was kindness...

"I'm sorry we had to tell you..." Shuichi sighed, looking at the floor with guilt. Henry's eyes seemed to hold the same emotion for several seconds, but he quickly busied himself with writing something down in a notepad he took from one of his lab coat pockets.

"S-Simon will get better. He won't die," You tried to assure yourself, but the three of you all knew it was meaningless and hollow. All of you knew those words meant absolutely nothing.

"It is more likely that he will die. Finding a diagnosis for something that is likely rare within three days is extremely difficult. I advise you prepare for the worst," Henry advised. Merely seconds after he said that, he turned around and left silently. He failed to hide his trembling hands as he left.

Was everything really going downhill that fast...?

~~~
Word count: 1498

I HATE SCHOOL I HATE SCHOOL I HATE SCHOOL I HATE SCHOOL I-

Sorry, I've been SUPER caught up in school and this book totally went in the background. Good news is now it's not in the background because once I finish writing this book, I'm probably gonna leave Wattpad... and since I genuinely wanna get off of Wattpad, I have a pretty good motivator to finish this book. P.S. I'm slowly transitioning to AO3.