Chapter 24: Eshima Aoi
The smell of disinfectant permeating the air and the coarse touch of the medical bedsheets underneath, along with the slight pressure of restraint straps securing his body, pulled Akai Shuichi back to reality from a half-conscious state.
The pain in his body had dulled under the medication, but his thinking remained as sharp as ever.
He didn't open his eyes immediately. Instead, he maintained steady breathing, using his senses to read his surroundings.
The hospital room was quiet, with only the occasional electronic beep from the monitors. From a distance, the faint chatter of nurses and the sound of rolling cart wheels sliding across the floor drifted in.
"Tap, tap, tap..."
A set of unhurried footsteps pierced through the hallway noise, clearly entering his ears. The pace was steady, the stride wide, carrying an almost leisurely sense of ease.
A tall man.
The door lock turned quietly. No knocking, no asking, just pushing the door open to step inside.
The visitor seemed to walk toward the inner side of the room, finding a spot to sit down with a soft squeak. The source of the sound was precisely the vacant bed directly opposite his own.
Miyano Akemi wasn't there. Even with his eyes closed, Akai Shuichi could guess who was sitting across from him right now.
"This is really... getting a bit troublesome."
According to his original plan, if his identity hadn't raised suspicion, Caesar should have left long ago, handing the remaining matters over to Miyano Akemi, the "driver at fault."
Yet the person guarding the room now was Caesar, while that woman was nowhere to be found.
"Sending her away to stay alone with me... why?"
Identity exposed?
That thought shot up like an icy venomous snake, rearing its head in his mind. But right after came an even deeper confusion—if his identity were truly exposed, he wouldn't have been brought to a public hospital room with so much effort, nor would the other person wait so patiently for him to wake up.
Or could it be... this was simply a cat-and-mouse game beyond an ordinary person's understanding, where Caesar enjoyed watching his prey struggle in a conscious state?
Countless questions kept spinning in Akai Shuichi's mind, but he knew continuing to fake sleep was pointless.
Caesar could easily sense when he regained consciousness. Deliberately dragging it out would only look suspicious instead.
The eyelashes of the handsome youth with bandages wrapped around his head trembled a few times, slowly opening his eyes. His vision seemed to take a second to focus.
He looked at the stranger sitting by the bed, his face appropriately showing a bit of confusion from just waking up, speaking in a raspy voice: "You... are...?"
The white-haired youth's soft lips curved into a faint arc, making it hard to tell whether it carried good intentions, malice, or something else entirely.
"The doctor has checked you over and done preliminary treatment. Broken ribs and internal bruising, but nothing too severe. Continuing conservative treatment and staying under observation for about a week will do."
"Also, the medical fees are paid."
Akai Shuichi stayed silent for a moment, as if processing the information, before speaking in a low voice: "...Thanks." His gaze reflexively searched the room, asking with a touch of uncertainty: "Though if I remember correctly, the one who hit me seemed to be that young lady? Where is she... right now?"
This question was completely normal. After all, as the person responsible for the traffic accident, Miyano Akemi should naturally be present.
"Well..."
The man deliberately dragged out his tone, his voice turning a bit subtle: "She suddenly had urgent matters to handle, so she left first."
"Right now, you've been handed over to my care, you see."
...
Half an hour ago, outside the hallway of the hospital radiology department.
After Akai Shuichi was pushed in for a CT scan, Gojo Satoru called out to Miyano Akemi, who kept looking toward the examination room.
"Miss Akemi." His voice made her jump, turning around hurriedly: "Are you a bit curious why I care so much about someone you hit?"
"Because you claimed to be a helpful, 'enthusiastic citizen'... maybe?"
Miyano Akemi swallowed the sentence that almost slipped out, answering cautiously and respectfully: "Yes, I really don't quite understand..."
Gojo Satoru lowered his voice, speaking in a mysterious tone: "Actually... he's someone I know."
"You know him?"
Miyano Akemi froze.
"To be exact..." Gojo Satoru started making up a lie without blinking: "He's my friend's ex-boyfriend. He got dumped cold turkey recently and took a huge blow. He's been completely out of it all day, even spacing out while walking, otherwise he wouldn't have missed your car."
"I'm just too kind-hearted, really couldn't bear to see him so down. Taking this chance, I wanted to chat with him alone to get him out of that dead end."
Miyano Akemi listened in dumbfounded shock: "R-Really?" She blurted out another question on a whim: "Then... your friend's gender is..."
"Male, you know~" Gojo Satoru answered with a smile, pure and harmless.
Male... ex-boyfriend...?!
Miyano Akemi felt her brain's CPU overloading.
To be honest, even though the timing was totally wrong, the first time she saw that long-haired man, she felt he was completely her type. Now being told the guy had long bent into a mosquito coil—wasn't that a bit too dramatic?!
"Wait, could Lord Caesar be making up a friend out of nowhere?"
Yet the stranger-like look that man shot toward Caesar after getting hit... didn't look fake at all.
Before Miyano Akemi could sort out her messy thoughts, Gojo Satoru added: "Leave the follow-up treatment arrangements to me. Miss Akemi, it might be better for you to leave now."
"This..."
As the driver at fault, running off while the injured person was still receiving treatment—wasn't that a bit too much?
Seeing her hesitate to answer, Gojo Satoru spoke with a half-smile: "What are you worried about? Scared I'll 'dispose' of him the moment you turn around?"
"No! I just... felt this isn't very proper..."
"Even I don't have the interest to go on a killing spree inside a public hospital, you know? It's not elegant at all, and handling the cleanup afterward is a hassle... Miss Akemi, you should understand, right?"
Hearing such unhidden phrasing, Miyano Akemi visibly shrank back.
At the same time, she realized that him willing to waste words explaining to her was already quite generous.
She didn't want to see Lord Caesar lose his patience completely.
"I... I understand," the delicate-looking woman nodded in the end, saying softly: "Then I won't disturb you further."
Seeing Miyano Akemi about to leave, Gojo Satoru added one more line: "Right, if you ever get a chance to see him again in the future, it's best not to mention our conversation from just now."
"As for a return favor... I'll arrange for you to meet with Sherry a few more times later."
This promise was undoubtedly a massive temptation for Miyano Akemi.
She guaranteed hurriedly: "Rest assured, I definitely won't say a word!"
"Well, actually it doesn't matter much even if you do," the white-haired youth shrugged: "He'd just pretend he didn't understand anyway."
"Eh? Why?"
"Because that guy is a tsundere."
T-Tsundere?!
Miyano Akemi petrified once more, completely unable to link that word with that cold, pale, handsome face.
Could this be gap moe?
In short, despite feeling her act of running off was deeply unfair, under Lord Caesar's influence, she could only say "sorry" to that unknown long-haired handsome guy in her heart, then hurriedly left the hospital.
...
Time returned to the present.
Akai Shuichi knew zero about what happened behind the scenes, let alone that he had already been made into a "tsundere man who lost his soul over a breakup and got hit by a car" by a certain shameless white-haired man, leaving his image in Miyano Akemi's mind quite indescribable.
He only knew the target he wanted to approach had left, and the original plan could only be put on hold as a failure for now.
However, failure often meant a turning point.
A higher-risk opportunity that could yield far higher returns was rising right before him.
Compared to slowly penetrating through Miyano Akemi, gaining the favor of a core executive like Caesar was undoubtedly a shortcut straight to the top.
Of course, this also meant he had to face the most dangerous member in this Organization directly... perhaps with no exceptions.
The scale in his heart tilted for only a split second before leaning toward the decision to "take a gamble."
He needed to test Caesar's attitude more actively.
"I see... Sorry to trouble you." Akai Shuichi's voice remained weak, but his eyes cleared up a bit: "May I ask how I should address you?"
"Eshima Aoi. Just call me Eshima."
Eshima Aoi, as a fake name he made up on the fly, took inspiration for the surname from the "Jiang" character in his real name "Jiang Wu." As for "Aoi," that character came directly from the Limitless technique.
If he had to be honest, besides "Eshima," the only surname containing that "Jiang" character he could think of on the spot was "Edogawa."
Still, stealing a surname from a certain Grim Reaper elementary student was better left undone—it felt like it would bring weird karmic consequences along with it.
Akai Shuichi nodded, engraving this ninety-percent-fake name into his mind, and reported the identity he had prepared long ago: "My name is Moroboshi Dai. Pleased to meet you, Mr. Eshima."
"Pleased to meet you... Moroboshi-kun."
Gojo Satoru smiled slightly as a response.
"You aren't an ordinary person, are you?"