A Man and A Stomach.

POV: Hoga Yasahiro.

Date: 26th Nov – Wednesday.

Timeline: *After the talk with the demon*

"Should we take him on? If it's both of us, I think we can win!" Junzo suggested while squeezing his stomach with one of his hands and pointing at the demon lying on the bed with another.

Why is he squeezing his stomach?

"I don't think we have any chance of winning, let's not pick a fight when it's not needed," I refused then asked him, "but what is with your stomach? Does it hurt?"

He looked troubled and whispered, "to be honest, after I use my ability I always get stomachache, and I had to use mine three times today, so the pain is unbearable."

Yet he suggested fighting a demon, is he in his right mind?

"Then you should have refused when we suggested helping that girl," I told him and headed toward Izumi's body, he followed me and said, "but it was better to do it as soon as possible."

"Not like, you knew the girl, would it have mattered if you were late and she died?" I asked him as I looked at the clock on the wall.

It's been 14 minutes, he is still not healing up.

"Do you think it's okay to kill other people if they are strangers?" Junzo asked me with a serious tone, "well, I guess it won't be okay," I answered awkwardly at this sudden question.

"It's the same, if I didn't help her and she died even though I could have helped her, her death would be my fault," Junzo explained with a sad expression appearing on his face he mumbled, "helping those who are in need is a must for a detective."

A natural expression that shows his feelings of sadness…

"Why do you have that expression?" I asked him bluntly, he was shocked and answered, "uh well, it just reminded me of my father, he also was a detective, he tried to help someone and got shot instead of them."

"Did he die?" I asked him carefully inspecting the change in his expression as he smiled and answered, "yeah."

Now his expression is forced…

Suddenly, the blood on the floor started returning to Izumi's neck and without leaving a drop it all went inside his body.

I quickly shifted my eyes toward the clock and mumbled, "15 minutes?"

It took him 15 minutes to heal? This is great! There was an entry that had 15 minutes as the reviving time, I'll check the similarities between them and then finding the timing would be-

"This is fascinating, he really is healing," Junzo said as he continued to squeeze his stomach.

He sure is sweating a lot, he must be in so much pain.

"Do you want a pain reliever?" I suggested, he had surprised expression and answered, "it's fine, they don't work on me, it will get better soon."

I guess his useful ability comes with setbacks, huh?

He started grinning while looking at me, I felt his creepy grin and asked, "what's wrong? Why are you staring at me like that?" he laughed and answered, "it just that you seemed like a cold heartless guy, but you actually care when someone feel pain in front of you."

Did he think of me like that all along!?

"I'm sorry if I was rude to you, I'm not really that great at expressing myself," I explained, he looked at me and nodded then agreed, "that's obvious."

Admitting it myself is one thing but getting others to tell it to me feels a bit strange. But this guy … isn't that bad, he sure expresses his feelings on his face a lot.

"But even though Izumi healed, why isn't he waking up?" Junzo asked with a worried look on his face.

This is not the time to be analyzing another person, I have to focus on Izumi's ability for now.

"I have no idea, maybe he's sleeping?" I guessed and started slapping Izumi's face.

Wait a minute, last time I took twelve hours to revive Izumi slapped me as well… did I just do the same thing Izumi did? Somehow, I feel idiotic…

"He really isn't waking up," I stated as no reaction came from Izumi.

It seems awfully similar to the time I died in and didn't wake up for 12 hours…

"What if he really died?!" Junzo panicked.

But Junzo's reactions are sure amusing to watch.

"Are you an idiot!? Why would he die after healing!?" I exclaimed.

But it sure is strange, his body is all healed up, and he seem to be breathing yet he isn't waking up.

Suddenly, a high-pitched laughter filled the room, and we both shifted our eyes toward the source to see the demon standing next to Izumi's head.

Is he going to go back inside Izumi again? Is he the reason for Izumi not waking up? Should he go inside him again so that he would wake up? Then I guess I'll have to let him go inside and see for myself-

Suddenly, Izumi's dying thoughts echoed through my head, 'if I kill myself…I'll meet him…'

If he goes back inside Izumi, they won't be able to meet…

"Junzo, grab him before he goes inside Izumi's body," I whispered in Junzo's ear and Junzo nodded.

We both jumped at him at the same time, but Junzo went through him, and only I managed to grab him.

Damn, Junzo, what the hell are you doing?

"What are you doing?" the demon asked while glaring at us, "can't you meet Izumi before you go back inside him?" I asked.

"Why the hell can't I grab him!?" Junzo yelled as he waved his hand through the demon.

Eh? He can't touch him? But I can?

The demon suddenly waved his hand and threw me back, till I hit the wall.

Damn, I forgot he's strong…

Junzo ran up to me and asked worryingly, "are you alright?"

This is weird, he can hit me, and I can touch him, but why isn't that the case for Junzo?

"He's going inside Izumi! What should we do?" Junzo asked me panickily.

"Well, there is nothing much we can do," I answered.

Izumi would be sad but there's nothing we can do against a demon like that, I know that better than anyone.

We both silently watched as the demon went back inside of Izumi's body.

Will Izumi wake up now?

Despite Izumi healing, and the demon going inside him, he didn't wake up.

"Just why do you think that thing got out of Izumi for? He didn't do anything except lying on bed," Junzo asked me with a curious expression.

That's right, since he didn't have to kill anyone, and I doubt he got out to just read a magazine, why did he come out?

"I wonder if we're missing something," I mumbled as I stood and headed toward Izumi again, but not hearing the usual steps that followed me I turned and looked at Junzo.

Junzo crawled in and was shrieking in pain while grabbing his stomach, I rushed toward him and asked, "are you alright? Should we go to the hospital?"

I'm sure there must be a way to decrease the pain…

Junzo grabbed my shirt and pulled me, and said with a pained weak voice, "we can't go to a hospital ever…"

Why is he being stubborn even when he's in this state!?

"Do you think you are immortal? You should take care of yourself, what if this was life threatening?" I scolded him.

What am I doing, lecturing someone about this after trying to suicide?

"If we go to hospital," Junzo said while catching his breath, "is there something wrong with you going to a hospital?" I asked, and he explained, "they will try to do tests and other things…"

Is he afraid of hospitals? At his age?!

"But they will find a way to help you, let's go," I insisted, he continued explaining, "my blood is poisonous now, if I go and someone get hurt because of my blood…"

So, his blood is poisonous as well… Then do all Veiners have poisonous blood running in their veins? But Nana was different, her water was the poisonous one, wait a minute, Nana cut her finger, but she didn't bleed… so the water is like her blood? Nana was an exception since she can't bleed so her water became poisonous?

"If time pass, it will stop by itself, don't worry about it," Junzo said while groaning in pain, I made him lean on me and helped him stand up and told him, "go rest on the couch."

Before when I experimented, using my blood and Izumi's, mine wasn't poisonous but then turned poisonous when I transferred it to a fish, and Izumi's was poisonous from the start since he had already transferred it to me, does that mean Junzo transferred his blood to someone before? Who?

As I lied Junzo on the couch in the living room, I headed toward Izumi and dragged him toward the living room as well.

If all abilities transfer in the same way, then perhaps the way to disable them, might be similar as well?

"Then I might not have to die every time and risk wasting time," I mumbled as I sat next to Junzo after pulling Izumi on top of the table.

But as I thought, to learn a way to undo the abilities I must learn more about them. To do that, I still need to experiment with the immortality ability.

"What are you thinking of so deeply?" Junzo asked with his voice seeming less pained, "about our abilities, as I thought we might need to learn more about them, in details," I answered.

Junzo looked puzzled and hesitated before saying, "if you really, want to know, no matter what, and don't mind risking your mentality… I might know a way."

This sure doesn't sound like a sane suggestion from his way of describing it…

"What is it?" I asked, he fixed his posture and sat down formally and told me, "meet the doctor I mentioned before, she's a Veiner as well, and she knows about all of this way more than any of us."

I planned on meeting with her anyway.

"Fine, but let's wait till Izumi wakes up," I responded, "what is her ability?" I asked.

"It's really hard to explain, but to sum it briefly, she can know everything about any person!" Junzo explained.

Suddenly, a voice said, "let's go meet her."

We both fixed our eyes toward the source and saw Izumi sitting on the table smiling at us.

He woke up? It hasn't been twelve hours yet, was I mistaken?

"Woah! You really woke up!" Junzo yelled in surprise as he poked Izumi, "immortality sure is fascinating!" he continued yelling.

It seems he totally forgot about his stomach pain…

"I was wondering who it was," Izumi mumbled and grinned at Junzo and told him, "it's nice meeting you again, Junzo."

Hm? What is this so suddenly? Why is he being so formal? Did he forget Junzo helped me bring him here?

"Me too, it's nice meeting you again! Welcome back from death, Izumi!" Junzo said while smiling back.

Izumi laughed and nodded then said again, "let's go, shall we? To the know-it-all doctor."

Izumi does feel a bit off, I'll just read his thoughts just in case,

Izumi: 'a doctor, huh? This will be interesting~'

He doesn't seem to be out of ordinary, did I overthink it? In any case, since he's awake now, I don't see a reason not to go.

"Let's go, Junzo," I told Junzo, Junzo nodded and asked, "will you take the patrol car or your car, Hiro?"

Hiro?

"Let's go in my car, patrol car will grab attention," I responded.