Part 3

Quick Payoff

Osamu spent the rest of the evening constructing the plan for the following morning, making some calls, looking up some things, he was pretty busy.

The doctor that came to check up on him, much to Junko's relief, was willing to listen to her concerns, and agreed to not discharge Osamu before morning. Osamu then complained that it's just creating more work for him, and Junko then told him that it would have been much more of a hassle if in the middle of explaining his plan to everyone she'd have to drive him back to the hospital, so he agreed to focus on laying down the groundworks and let Doppo tie all the loose ends when they meet him in the morning.

But staying in the hospital for the night wasn't fun for Osamu, his bed was uncomfortable, dinner was awful, and he wasn't allowed to drink alcohol under the medication he was given.
So Junko did her best to try and provide him with anything she could to make his stay there at the very least tolerable.

She got him some more pillows and a second blanket, she put on some music she had on her phone for him, she even got him his book for him, but he didn't really need any of those things - at first he appreciated the gestures, but at some point she could see that she was distracting him.

"Osamu-san, there's a convenience store across the street, do you want me to get you something?"
"Yes, yes, peasant girl," he haphazardly gestured towards his tray of untouched hospital dinner, "your king requires sustenance!"
She smiled and bowed theatrically, more than happy that even in this stressful situation he was still able to remain calm and keep his quirky sense of humour.
"At your service, my liege."

She wasn't exactly thrilled about it, but he needed to concentrate more than he needed attention right now, so she plugged his phone to a charger near his bed to make sure the battery doesn't run out, took her phone off silent in case he needs to call her, left him in his room to work in peace, and headed out to the convenience store.
She was worried about leaving him there, vulnerable and unsupervised, but she knew if she stayed and pestered him, he would have eventually ran out of patience - he had enough things to take care of, being an outlet for her compulsions would just distract him from what's really important.
Right now he didn't need to be taken care of or supported, he just needed to work.

'He doesn't need me right now.'

Even as she entered the store and walked around the isles, despite her best efforts to stay focused on the task at hand, she couldn't shake this thing that was bothering her... and the fact that it was bothering her... she's no longer of use to him, he has no reason to protect her anymore, she should be scared of no longer being surrounded by his defences, but instead of that very logical fear, she feared something much much stupider - if he doesn't need her anymore, she won't lose just the security he provided her with, she would also lose his company.

Of course she loved hanging out with him, she loved having friends, she enjoyed the company of others, of course she would have been worried in the face of potentially losing a close friend, of course it would have been a priority - but why was it the first priority?
Logic should come first, safety should come first, reason should come first, basic needs should come first —

「超人」

"Evening, Chōjin~"
Whatever it was that was going through Junko's head just a moment ago seemed to get crushed under the weight of the voice of the man in front of her.

She looked around. The isle was empty, the only other person in the store was the cashier, and she was on her phone in the front, she wouldn't have noticed them no matter what they did. There were surveillance cameras around the store, but the man was currently standing in one of the blind spots, and she was currently standing in a different one.
He seemed calm, peaceful even, as if he was in his own home standing in front of a beloved pet, and not in the middle of a battlefield standing in front of his enemy or target.