"Oi, Doc!"
Slamming the door open to a veterinary clinic, I stumbled in with a shout.
"W-what—?! Fucking hell!"
I snorted, only for a coughing fit to double me over as I vomited blood across the freshly cleaned floor.
"Sasaki-san, what the hell happened to you?!"
I felt Satoshi—the veterinarian who ran this place—grab me and half drag me toward a table.
"You need to hire new cleaners. This place looks like shit." I muttered, pointing behind me where bloody footprints trailed across the ground.
"Sasaki-san, this is no time for jokes!"
He gently, yet firmly, slammed me onto the table to check my injuries.
"Give it to me straight, Doc. Am I gonna live— Ack—fuck!"
I groaned as he started patching me up with all the gentleness of a street brawler.
"What the hell happened to you?"
I reached for my smokes, only to groan as I remembered I was still in my damn underwear.
"Got any—cough cough—damn, that hurts… Can't you do it gentler?"
He just snorted and kept working.
Satoshi sighed, finishing a stitch I hadn't even noticed. "You've got two broken ribs and a dislocated hip. And that's not counting the scratches and burns."
I nodded and sat up, waving him off. "I'll send some money your way once this shit's over."
He grimaced and walked to a cabinet, pulling out an unmarked bottle.
"No need, Sasaki-san. You helped my wife and me back in Antarctica."
I caught the bottle, popped the cap and eyed the contents.
"There's only enough for a few days." he added. "Sorry, Sasaki-san."
I waved him off again, gesturing down at my half-naked self. "Got any pants?"
With a tired nod, he walked through a door in the back. I waited, hoping he'd return with something that fit.
"You should've followed them, Ryou."
"Perhaps."
"I felt—"
I backhanded the illusion. My hand passed through nothing, but I still glared down at the false Kaede.
"You felt nothing. You're nothing more than a bundle of memories—her memories."
Silence.
My chest tightened—not just from the pain of my earlier fight, but from the ache of seeing the illusion look at me like that.
"You were only formed out of guilt and anger."
The words were barely more than a mumble, but both the illusion and I heard them loud and clear.
Leave me alone.
"You… sigh."
I winced at that before focusing on the sound of approaching footsteps.
"Sasaki-san, I've got a spare set of clothes."
Satoshi entered, his expression shifting from confusion to a softer look.
"I'm not sure what's happened, but I'm sure things will turn out well for you Sasaki-san."
I grunted, walking through the illusion and grabbing the clothes before starting to get dressed.
"What do you plan to do after this, Sasaki-san?"
I glanced at him and shrugged. "Probably head to the source of this mess I'm in."
He hummed thoughtfully as I pulled on a pair of purple slacks.
"And after that?"
I paused, throwing on the black dress shirt and tucking it in as I responded. "Once I fix things so they stop bothering me, I'll probably go grab some ramen."
I finished the outfit with a gray coat and a black belt.
"...Ramen?"
I nodded, leaning slightly to ease the pressure on my broken ribs. "Yeah. There's a good ramen shop not too far from here."
He sighed and nodded slowly.
"I… I don't think I'm in much of a position to comment on your life, Sasaki-san, but… I believe you don't need to punish yourself."
I raised an eyebrow at the slightly shorter man. He leaned against the wall behind him and continued.
"It seems like you don't see anything worth living for… and because of that, you're just waiting to die. But when someone actually threatens your life, you seem to fight back. Like you don't want to die unless it's on your terms."
I snorted and turned to leave. "I am waiting to die, Satoshi-san. I just refuse to die at someone else's hands."
"Correct." he had smirked, amusement twisting his face as he drove the blade deeper into my chest.
"Mortal, you've outlived your usefulness."
The world had darkened as steel pierced my heart.
"What was your name again?"
I shook the very old memory from my head as I stepped out of the clinic, sighing.
Now I needed to track down that Amanai girl.
"Fuck, my back hurts."
~Scene Change~
It wasn't hard to spot a group of four people who stood out like sore thumbs in a crowd.
First, the tall long black haired guy oozed emo energy and had this weird confident aura—it made finding him laughably easy.
Second, Amanai stood out in a school uniform, while everyone else around her— minus her two teen bodyguards— wore either suits or casual wear.
Third, her maid was dressed like a literal maid.
And lastly, the white haired brat had locked onto me the moment I entered his range—sharp senses for someone his age.
"Take a photo. It'll last longer." I remarked to the kid, who stood almost as tall as me.
"Haha!"
I ignored his laugh and walked past, dodging the hand he reached out to stop me.
"Ah! You're the old man from a few weeks ago!"
I looked down at Amanai, who stood behind the black haired guy—who was already on alert from the moment I approached.
"Yeah. And thanks to you, my cover's been blown, and now I've got a bunch of old geezers on my ass."
Their expressions shifted to confusion for a moment before the Gojo kid laughed again and tried to grab me—I sidestepped him with ease.
"You mean those old geezers? Damn, old man, you must be popular!"
'God help me, I might actually end this boy.' I thought.
Though... a small part of me doubted I could actually put the brat down that easily.
"Popular might be the word... maybe. Doesn't matter." I shrugged. "What does matter is whether you'll let me hang around Amanai Riko."
I tilted my head toward her as I spoke.
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{Author Here,
Just a reminder: this is both the second volume of my other fanfic, "My Cursed Life in DxD" and a multiverse story.....Should you wander those cursed pages…
may you return whole.}