Time slowly ticked by.
The operating room light still hadn't gone out, and the people waiting outside couldn't put their anxious hearts at ease. In a corner not far away, a middle-aged woman was quietly sobbing. She tried hard to suppress her emotions, but failed in the end, most likely because she already knew the surgery's chances of success were extremely low.
Even with enough medical knowledge to know that Kansuke's surgery itself wasn't particularly difficult, Ritsu still stared fixedly at the glowing red indicator light.
More than three and a half hours had already passed, yet the operation still wasn't over? It was taking longer than he expected. It seemed the lead surgeon probably wasn't a highly experienced specialist.
The operating room light finally switched to green just before midnight. Ritsu quickly stood and walked over to the assistant doctor who came out first, asking, "Excuse me, is the patient's condition stable?"
The assistant doctor was visibly exhausted. After hesitating for a few seconds, he nodded and said, "Don't worry, the surgery was very successful. Someone performed emergency treatment beforehand, right? Was that you?"
"Yeah, I've studied a bit of medicine," Ritsu replied modestly.
"Then you should already know about the left eye, right? Unfortunately, we couldn't save it."
Knowing the patient was a police officer, the assistant doctor gently patted Ritsu's shoulder and added, "And his left leg may require a cane in the future. We tried to treat it, but failed."
"I understand. I already prepared myself for the worst on the way here, so don't worry, we won't blame the doctors."
Ritsu was about to go pay the remaining hospitalization fees when he turned around to say something and discovered that Hayasaka had actually fallen asleep in her seat.
'She really could sleep anywhere...'
Though after running around all day and keeping her nerves tightly wound for so long, exhaustion was only natural.
Not wanting to wake her, but knowing they needed to move to the hospital room, Ritsu gently nudged her shoulder.
Before she could fully wake up, he explained, "Wake up. The surgery's over, we should head to the room."
The moment she heard the words "the surgery's over," the sleepy haze instantly vanished from Hayasaka's face.
"How did it go? Was it successful?"
"Yeah. Very successful."
"That's good."
The two of them followed the nurse to a private single-patient room. Kansuke lay asleep in the hospital bed. After the anesthesia and such a long operation, falling into deep sleep was perfectly normal.
Once the nurse left, Ritsu noticed Hayasaka secretly turning away to yawn. Pulling over a chair to sit down, he said, "If you're tired, go ahead and sleep."
"Hm? No, you should sleep instead." Hayasaka felt too embarrassed to keep dozing off. After all, Ritsu was the one who'd had the hardest day. He still hadn't rested at all.
"The Nagano Prefectural Police should arrive soon. I don't like sleeping without taking a shower first," Ritsu casually made up an excuse.
Because of the medication, it wasn't easy for him to fall asleep anyway. Even if he wanted to sleep, he couldn't.
"Alright then. Wake me up when they get here."
"Okay."
Judging from the time they'd been notified, it should take another two hours before they arrived. Ritsu glanced at the time on his wristwatch. He hadn't expected things to drag on this late into the night.
Another rare vacation ruined. Still, at least no major incident had occurred this time, and no one had died.
Ritsu stood up, planning to step outside for a cigarette. He had just put one between his lips and reached for his matchbox when his crimson pupils suddenly contracted. The cigarette slipped from his mouth and fell onto the tiled floor with a faint sound.
He sat back down in the chair, lowering his head as he tried to suppress the pain. His right hand tightly clutched the left side of his chest.
He could feel scorching heat radiating from his heart. The blood throughout his body felt boiling hot, and the scarred marks on his body sent waves of agony through him, as though blades were stabbing into his organs.
"Ugh."
His trembling hand reached for his pocket, only for him to remember that the medicine was still in his suitcase. He'd assumed he'd just be resting at the villa and wouldn't need to carry it with him.
Who would've thought... with all his attention focused on saving someone, he'd neglected such an important matter.
Suppressing the frenzy inside his body, Ritsu walked out of the hospital room as though nothing had happened. Going back to the villa to retrieve the medicine was obviously impossible now, so he had no choice but to find a way into the pharmacy room and get something to dull the pain.
Avoiding the surveillance cameras, he slipped into the changing room and casually grabbed a white lab coat that fit him. With a surgical mask and sterile cap on, it became difficult to recognize who he was. Ritsu quickly headed toward the dispensary.
Fortunately, there were only two nurses inside.
Switching to a gentler tone of voice, he said, "Please get me two ampoules of atropine, one midazolam, and two syringes."
"Certainly. Please show me the requisition slip."
"It's urgent, so it hasn't been written yet. I'll bring it afterward."
"…Alright, but remember to bring it."
After receiving the supplies, Ritsu returned the same way he came and put the borrowed clothes back where they belonged.
The best place for the injection was the hospital room, since there were no surveillance cameras there. Sitting in the chair, he skillfully injected himself with painkillers and sedatives. While they weren't nearly as effective as the drugs he formulated himself, they could at least delay the symptoms.
After hiding the syringes inside his inner pocket, Ritsu leaned back in the chair and looked up at the ceiling. Normally, a sedative injection would put someone to sleep within ten minutes.
But it had no effect on him.
After all, in order to get a decent night's sleep, his "senior," Vermouth, had tried countless methods. When things became truly unbearable, the only option left was relying on melatonin to fall asleep but that stuff was all harm and no benefit to the body, so they avoided taking it unless absolutely necessary.
After all, they were monsters that would never grow old.
Which also meant they possessed the key to immortality, something countless people envied. But only they understood how painful such a thing truly was.
He could clearly feel the burning sensation in his body gradually fading. Throughout this past year, the aftereffects left behind by that laboratory had tormented him nonstop. The feeling of his internal organs being slowly devoured by flesh-eating ants was worse than death itself.
But he still couldn't die.
It wasn't time for him to die yet.
Not because of the mission assigned to him by the National Police Agency, but because the people living comfortably within that rotten environment still needed to pay the price they deserved.
He had long since become disappointed in the National Police Agency.
During the period when "Sasajima Ritsu" was supposedly dead, he remained under the Organization's surveillance in Zurich. Yet even then, he still held onto a sliver of hope while quietly observing the Agency's movements.
But what response did he receive?
The higher-ups at the National Police Agency revoked his status as an undercover officer.
The higher-ups at the National Police Agency completely abandoned him, the failed chess piece.
Ritsu even felt that if he had survived... those people in power probably wouldn't have trusted him anyway. They might've even sent someone to kill him.
The only thing that gave him any comfort was the fact that Hiro had begged the Agency to leave him with at least a somewhat dignified gravestone.
A brief and careless ending,
—"Detective Sasajima Ritsu died unexpectedly during an operation."
Dying as a Metropolitan Police Department detective...
That truly was a fitting conclusion for the life of "Sasajima Ritsu."
Tilting his head back to stare at the white ceiling, Ritsu thought about how his five years of infiltration had been like a pile of dog shit nobody stepped on.
Those damned people in power all carefully walked around it, refusing to mention it, afraid it might stain their precious interests.
Using several years to see through what kind of people they really were...
'Heh. Better late than never.'
A sudden commotion came from outside the door. Ritsu quickly buttoned up his shirt, and the next second the door was violently shoved open.
Before he could even see who had entered, he heard that familiar nickname shouted out loud.
"Kan-chan!"