half of his heart

10

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." You put aside the cup of coffee he made, leaning in to give him a hug. You hear a soft thud beside you, he places his cup next to him, returning the hug. You slowly let go of the hug, but he doesn't release you from the hug, "Can we stay like this for a few more seconds?" he asked with a muffled voice, his head resting on your shoulder. 

"Sure." He probably needed a long hug, you didn't push him away, not the slightest bit. It's not wrong for him to want support after everything that has happened to him, at the same time it's comforting knowing he trusts you enough to open up and seek comfort.

-

"What on earth do you mean, he got away?" The lady had braided purple hair, she seemed extremely annoyed. She stands before an agent, wearing a dark colored bodysuit under a lavender kimono. Her expression tired and fed up, she looks at the agent she trusted with bringing her adopted son back to her, unimpressed. 

"Apologies, ma'am. He managed to outrun me." his head down, disappointed in himself as well. The white haired boy knew he could've done better. She sighs loudly, making sure the agent knows how disappointed she is in him. "Do you think he is alive, Kazuha? Do you think he could have survived, until now?" she asked him in a satire tone.

"No, ma'am. From what I saw, without any resources whatsoever he could not have survived. Even if he isn't being eaten alive by the savages out there, he could have died of hunger etc." The agent's face still staring at the black floor tiles, no daring to look up.

"Kazuha, you're dismissed." he bows and swiftly walks out of Raiden Ei's office. She sits in the office chair, now she would have to find other survivors with half a heart, if there was any left. Suddenly a knock on the door interrupts her thought, "Come in." she said as the door creaks open.

"Sara, what is it?" her personal assistant comes into the office, closing the door behind her, carrying a few files in her arms. "It's about the virus, ma'am." Sara walks towards her table, placing the files in front of her. "Do you have time for it, or shall I come in later?" she asked, standing in front of Raiden Ei.

"Go ahead." Although tired, she is adamant about learning anything new about the virus. "So..." her assistant begins, "It is confirmed that this virus begins affecting the left side of the heart, The multiple experiments we ran already confirmed that. So it concludes that only people with the left heart syndrome can survive the virus." Sara flips through the files.

"We are still not sure why it affects the left side of the heart, the doctor in charge of the experiment hypothesizes that because the left side of the heart pumps oxygenated blood to rest of the body, therefore the virus strikes at the left side of the heart." Sara continues, she puts down the files in her head onto the table. 

Raiden Ei gives her a long sigh, "Any possible way can we make a cure or vaccine?" Sara looks hesitant to reply her question, "We need to experiment on more people with no left heart." Raiden shakes her head, "Didn't you and the team experiment on 3 already?" she lashed out, clearly crossed.

Sara goes on, "Ma'am, one of them has unfortunately passed." Sitting in her office chair, Raiden Ei raises her voice, "I hope I miss heard that, Sara. The left heart syndrome is very rare, we cannot afford to lose anyone else with that damn syndrome. Scaramouche is probably dead out there so you have one less person to run tests on."

Sara doesn't look at her while she scolds her, Raiden Ei continues yelling, "Don't disappoint me with this type of new again. You are dismissed." Sara quickly picks up the files from the table and leaves. Once outside the office, she sees Kazuha in the hallway, catching up to him, "Kazuha, is Scaramouche dead?"

Kazuha nods, "I'm afraid so. Even if he did survive, he will die of hunger or injuries sooner or later. The school he was sent to, infested. I doubt anyone can survive." Sara sighs, "She's in an extremally horrid mood now, it's tiring talking to her. I do admire her for her hard work, but when she's like this, it's tiring."

Kazuha nods again, "Shall we continue this conversation else where?" Sara smile weakly and nods. They arrive at the cafe, there was barely anyone there because of this outbreak, everyone is working in their office. Getting a tea and coffee, they take a seat in the empty cafe.

"I've always been meaning to ask you, Kazuha. Why do you work for the Shogun." The shogun, a title, or cover name for Raiden Ei, everyone working for her has one, they are only used when in public. Now 20 feet underground, locked away from the public with only authorized agents in, there was no fear using your own name. 

"I'm a criminal, Sara. I would have been killed if I didn't agree to work for her." he begins. "I will not say much, but she knows what I am capable of, she had interest in me. So she gave me an offer, work for her, or die." Sara nods, "I see. I will not pry anymore, I shall get back to work, good luck Kazuha." she walks away with her coffee in a paper cup, entering an elevator, looking at Kazuha with a tired face and weak smile before the doors close before her.

-

"Thanks." he lets go of the hug. HIs face looks slightly flushed, not making eye contact with you. You let out a chuckle, "You know, you could've just asked for hug. I would give you one anytime." He picks up his cup with the cold coffee in it, being already cooled down and no longer hot, still avoiding eye contact, "I doubt I'll need any more hugs." He gets up and walks towards a table, taking the biscuits placed there the night before, he sit in front of you again. 

You roll your eyes, "It's not wrong for wanting affection you know." You take a sip of the cold coffee, it tastes weird but you still drink it. "You're talking as if I'm love deprived." he scoffs. "Maybe you are. But fear not, with me around you I'll give you a hug everyday so you are never deprived on love." you say jokingly.

"You're so weird honestly." he says, still not looking at you. "As if you weren't asking for a few more seconds when I gave you a hug." you teased him, noticing he's trying his best not to look at you. "Stop that." he finally makes eye contact with you, his face flushed.

You decide to tease him more, it was funny seeing him like this. "Oh my goodness, are you, blushing?" you say with sarcasm and a smile, he quickly puts his hand over his mouth. "I'm not. It's just humid here." You smirk at him, "Ok, ok I'll stop." You turn your head away from him, laughing to yourself.

Suddenly, you find a hand grabbing your face, making you turn towards the person grabbing your face. Scara sit in front of you, his face close enough to yours, making your face feel hot. He didn't grab your face harshly though, it felt gentle in some way. Your lips part, trying to say something but you only end up stuttering words. 

"Please don't do that again." he says before putting a biscuit in your mouth, letting go of your red face. You turn away flushed, you cuss yourself for blushing right in front of him. "And you should stop doing that too." you say in an embarrassed voice. He nods, sipping on the cold weird tasting coffee.

a/n : how did the book just get 1.2k views. (thank u btw <3)