"Hey, Tatsuki, did you hear what happened? A Slime slipped past our line of defense! Should we go clean up the mess? I heard your son's fighting the thing." Oxgn worriedly asked. Since he's not in the jurisdiction of Japan, he never knew who Satoshi was, not until one of the reporters emphasized the fact that he's actually Tatsuki and Ayumu's one and only son.
"Should I go down there? Nah, my son can handle it. He's stronger than you think." Tatsuki stopped for a moment after sending a Slime away. Because there was no gravity in space, the Slimes couldn't help but harden themselves a little bit so their body wouldn't fly away and separate from them. This made it easier for physical heroes to attack them.
"What do you mean? Even two to three of our men can't take out a Slime alone. You should go back, Tatsuki. We can take care of these guys for now." Plataforma gritted his teeth.
"No, as I told you. It's fine... let's see here... hmmm... five minutes? In five minutes he'd be able to defeat that Slime, give or take. You can check the news later on, see if I'm right." Tatsuki responded once again before heading deeper into the battlefield to clobber a few Slimes away in order to buy some time for the exterminators (superheroes who have fire as their superpower)
'He's really confident with that son of his, huh. I'm a bit worried though, someone might die because we didn't send anyone there... but we need all the superheroes here right now. Oh well, I should just check on him after five minutes, and then if the situation's worse than I thought, I'll contact Fury and have him dispatch superheroes there. That Slime wouldn't cause a lot of damage in a short span of time, and also, Tatsuki's son is currently engaging it in combat. That would buy enough time, I think.'
And so the Space Wars continued.
.....
"Where are we going?" Satoshi mustered his courage to ask Shiroi who had been dragging her for a few minutes now.
As soon as he asked that, she abruptly stopped in her tracks and started panting. "The audacity, can't they see that we're trying to rest there? How could they be so insensitive? You should've shown them what you're capable of, Satoshi. If I were you, I'd have let your lion familiar run loose and tear them to pieces— I'm kidding, but they know what they were doing."
A few passersby saw the two and wondered why they were having a dramatic scene in the middle of the pedestrian lane. Seeing the people's reaction, it was Satoshi's turn to be embarrassed as he averted his gaze from everyone. It's as if his whole body just wanted to vanish without a trace right then and there. "We should probably go." Satoshi suggested as he slowly walked out of sight.
Shiroi, unabashed by the stares from the people around them, wondered why Satoshi was acting a bit flustered. Nonetheless, she still followed him.
Nighttime had already arrived, shifting the greyish atmosphere into a purplish-black blanket that covered a portion of the earth. Cold winds blew on the streets, causing some individuals to shiver due to the cold. It was an unusual kind of cold as if a storm was brewing. "Take this." Satoshi offered, giving Shiroi his coat which is part of the school uniform. He didn't want her to feel uncomfortable while he was snugly warm with his coat.
"T-thanks," Shiroi mumbled, gladly accepting the offer. A smile slightly appeared on her face before it reddened.
"Kuroe's hospital is nearby. Do you want to visit her for a bit? Or should I call your dad, he might be worried." Satoshi brought up, pointing at a nearby building with the cross sign on it, clearly showing that it's a hospital. This is the Kamakura Hospital, named after the de facto capital of Japan in the past. Even though the place was in no way related to Kamakura City, it was still named the Kamakura Hospital.
"Yeah, we should. I wonder if she's doing okay." Shiroi whispered under her breath.
"If it wasn't for her, all of us would've died as soon as our school bus crashed. There was a huge concrete on top of the bus, you know, and she held it there with her psychic power of sorts. Because of that, we didn't suffer any injuries. I think she even lessened the impact of the school bus when we crashed." Satoshi felt goosebumps all over his body as he remembered how gory Kuroe looked a few minutes ago. She had been impaled through and out of her stomach, then to one of his calves. A pool of blood almost bathed her legs since one of the main blood vessels was ruptured.
"We shouldn't forget to thank her. If I were in her shoes, I would've panicked my heart out. Good thing she was there."
The usual peak hours of the hospital were all but obvious when the two entered in. Doctors and civilians alike rushed in and out of the hospital, resembling a rush hour at a certain highway, except with people. Meekly, the two set foot inside the hospital and went straight to the medical receptionist and asked her where Kuroe was admitted. After a few confirmations about their identity, one of the nurses of the hospital ushered them towards a room on the second floor of the hospital. Apparently, Kuroe was admitted to one of the VIP Suites of Kamakura Hospital.
"I didn't know that Kuroe came from a rich family... or maybe the USA pulled some strings to admit her here?"
"Probably."
'What are you doing standing in front of the door. You can go in.' Satoshi suddenly heard in his mind, making him flinch and fall on his back. "What was that just now."
''Haha! That was a great reaction! Why were you surprised?' Kuroe continued talking in Satoshi's mind as if that was a normal thing to do.
"What are you doing, Satoshi?" Shiroi cluelessly asked, wondering why Satoshi lost his balance without a reason.