"Hello Satoru, what's up?" came Shoko's still cheerful voice through my smartphone.
"Prep your OR. Mayu's badly injured."
"Mayu? Isn't she the new one I saw briefly?"
"Yeah, that's her," I replied, more forcefully than I meant to.
"Very serious?"
"Worse."
"I'll wait for you!" she instructed me firmly and ended the call.
I briefly closed my eyes and leaned my cheek against Mayu's head before pressing my lips to her forehead. My brow furrowed in disbelief.
Was I imagining it, or was she actually getting even hotter?! I placed my hand on her burning and slightly damp forehead again.
She no longer responded to my touch. Not in the slightest. Her eyes remained closed, her body motionless against mine. Her breathing seemed to grow shallower and more erratic.
"What happened?" came Kiyotaka's concerned voice from the driver's seat.
"She got hit by the cursed spirit. But what worries me more is her rising body temperature."
While murmuring against her overheated skin, I looked down at her leg, battered from the fight. It looked unbearably deep and painful. Without hesitation, I took off my uniform jacket, gently placed it under her leg, and wrapped it around a part of it.
"I-it's s-o … hot," she let out, barely audible and swallowing her words.
She weakly unbuttoned the top of her uniform, so I rolled down the window and reached for a water bottle lying beside us on the backseat. Carefully, I held the bottle to her lips—she took only a sip before indicating she didn't want more.
Far too little, in my opinion, but at least something.
Annoyed, I exhaled sharply, set the bottle back, wrapped my arms around her frail body again, and rested my cheek once more against her head.
I should've known! My gut told me—screamed at me—not to leave her alone, and once again, it was right.
I was such an idiot!